Much interesting light is thrown on the life of medium level bureaucrats under the Mughals if one studies the life of I‘timād ‘Alī Khān, who held around twenty administrative posts, spanning over a period of at least three decades (1693–1726). The attempt to reconstruct a sketch of his life becomes possible due to the survival of his ‘diary’. Unfortunately, I‘timād ‘Alī Khān is not very forthcoming as far as his personal life is concerned, and does not provide us any details of his family, except, of course, mentioning his father, who like him had been a manṣabdār. Thus we do not know how many sons or daughters I‘timād ‘Alī Khān had and what happened to them. He just briefly mentions two sons, both of whom also appear to have been officials.
This very interesting diary is preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, as a part of the Fraser Collection, No. 124. It is part of a larger volume of mixed contents compiled by I‘timād Alī Khān himself, under the title Mīrāt-ul Haqā’iq.
1
The MS is divided into two distinct parts: the first is, subdivided into eight chapters, each of which deals with a short history of the Mughal Emperors from Aurangzeb to the reign of Muhammad Shah.
2
It is to this portion of the volume that the author, I‘timād ‘Alī Khān, ascribes the name of Mīrāt-ul Haqā’iq.
3
The second part of the manuscript includes the revenue statistics of the customs of Cambay, Surat and Broach,
4
a memoir on the Surat Fort,
5
list of the kārkhānas and Maḥals (revenue-circles) of Surat and Broach,
6
revenue statistics and taxes at Surat,
7
the jangnāma or the account of the struggle between Rustam ‘Alī Khān and Hāmid Khān to control Surat,
8
and lastly his own diary which constitutes the bulk of the volume.
9
To both the parts, the author and compiler gives the title of Taṣnif-i I‘timād ‘Alī Khān wald I‘timād Khān marḥūm har do ‘Alamgiri: Iqbālnāma wa Akhbārnāma,
10
which he says, he completed in 1139 ah/1727 ad.
11
I‘timād ‘Alī Khān’s father, Mullā Muḥammad T]āhir, an Irani, initially holding the title of Amānat Khān, was granted the title I‘timād Khān by ‘Aurangzeb in 1688.
12
In this particular year he was also granted an increase in his mansab, raising it to 200 zāt.
13
He was then given charge of the port of Surat as mutaṣaddī in addition to the post of Dīwān of the sūba of Ahmadabad.
14
After a year he was also made the dīwān and faujdār of the port of Surat.
15
The family seems to have been serving in Gujarat for sometime. The author mentions his paternal uncle, Idrīs Khān and his son Saiyid Muḥsin, who was the nā’ib dīwān of Ahmadabad during Mulla T]āhir I‘timād Khān’s dīwān ship.
16
I‘timād ‘Alī Khān, himself had at least two sons viz. Muḥammad Hādi Khān and Muḥammad Durwesh. Muḥammad Hādī is mentioned in 1721 as the nā’ib of Nawāb Shujā‘at Khān at the port of Gogha.
17
In the same year, Muḥammad Durwesh is mentioned as the karori of Kotha Pārcha (cloth market) and Sāir.
18
In regard to one of his sons, whose name he does not specify, I‘timād ‘Alī Khān mentions the rank of 200.
19
He further mentions Mirzā Sult]ān Muḥammad, a cousin, who resided at Shāhjahānabād (Delhi), and his father Mirzā Khalīl Khān.
20
Though our author does not mention any of his sisters by name, he informs us of his sister’s son, Saiyid ‘Abdullāh, who was killed in one of the battles waged by Nawāb Hāmid Khān in October 1725.
21
Named Muḥammad Muḥsin by his parents,
22
the author was given the title of I‘timād Khān after his father’s death, by Emperor ‘Aurangzeb in 1697.
23
In the reign of Jahāndār Shāh his title was changed to Muḥsin Khān
24
and finally under Farrukh Siyar (1713–19) he was designated I‘timād ‘Alī Khān.
25
It was in the 37th regnal year of ‘Aurangzeb (1693) that Muḥammad Muḥsin I‘timād ‘Alī Khān was given his first appointment as the mutaṣaddī of the port of Cambay after the transfer of Mir Muḥammad Ṣādiq.
26
Shortly after this, when his father I‘timād Khān fell ill at Surat, he was ordered to deputise for his father at the port.
27
When his father I‘timād Khān died on 25 March 1695,
28
Muḥammad Muḥsin, in his place, was made the dīwān of the Ṣūba.
29
He records in his diary that a robe of honour (
kh
il‘at) was also conferred upon him. After giving over charge of Surat and the undertakings (muchalka) given by the English to Amānat Khān, the new Bakhshi, who later came to condole him, our author started for Ahmadabad to take up his new assignment.
30
The important functionaries at Ahmadabad such as Shujā‘at Khān, the Ṣūbadār, Mirzā Ghiyāṣ, the Bakhshī, Shaikh Akramuddīn the Ṣadr, Mīr Isḥāq, the Kotwal and others we are informed, came to condole him.
31
After a year (i.e., in 1696–97) he was transferred from the post of dīwān of the Ṣuba and left for Islampur alias Behrampur, where the Emperor (Aurangzeb) was then encamped.
32
There he reportedly made a peshkash (offering) of a copy of Qu‘rān and three horses to the Emperor. In return the Emperor bestowed upon him the title of I‘timād Khān, and after increasing his manṣab, assigned him to the service of Prince Muḥammad Bedār Bakht.
33
There the posts of Bakhshī I, Wāqi‘a Nigār, Sawāniḥ Nigār, Dārogha-i Topkhāna and Darogha-i Dagh-wa Taṣḥīḥa were granted to him.
34
The Emperor also conferred upon him a robe of honour and ordered the prince to confer on him another robe of honour the day he joined his service.
35
In 1699 Muḥammad Muḥsin I‘timād Khān was ordered to take over as dīwān and bakhshi of the army of Prince Bedār Bakht.
36
Being reluctant to take the post of dīwān, he petitioned the Prince not to assign him this duty. He then notes that the Prince agreed and instead made him his nāib (Deputy).
37
During the time that he was with Prince Bedār Bakht at a place called ‘But Patha’, orders under the seal of Tarbiyat Khān reached him, summoning him to the royal presence. In compliance our author along with 300 manṣabdārs, arrived at the Emperor’s camp at Murtuẓābād alias Mirkh.
38
A robe of honour was again conferred upon him, and apart from his other assignments the post of the dārogha of the topkhāna of Prince Bedār Bakht (upon the transfer of Darāyat Khān) was granted to him.
39
He was also given charge of fifty-eight boats to help the Prince and his retinue to cross the River Krishna.
40
After rejoining the Prince at ‘But Patha’, I‘timād Khān now held the posts of dārogha-i topkhāna, Bakhshī, wāqi‘a-nawīs and sawāṇih-nawīs.
41
In 1703, I‘timād Khān was transferred from the service of the Prince, and, on the orders of Prince Muḥammad A‘z]am Shāh, was appointed the mutaṣaddī of the port of Cambay,
42
after the transfer of Muḥammad Kāz]im against whom there were complaints of tyranny.
43
He says he was summoned to the royal presence to test him about the knowledge of horses, presumably since the duty assigned to him involved selection of horses imported oversea for the royal stables.
44
After a year of his taking charge of the port of Cambay, that is, in 1704 ad another transfer awaited him. The port of Cambay was placed under the jurisdiction of the port of Surat.
45
According to his diary the transfer was brought about because the two ports needed to be put under the same jurisdiction, and Aurangzeb wrote on the order of his transfer the words Be-taqṣīr, ‘without fault’. However, the author of Mīrāt-i Aḥmadī, ‘Alī Muḥammad Khān, reports that after the transfer, Amānat Khān informed the Emperor that I‘timād Khān had kept ₹1,345 from the revenues of Port Gogha (which was under Cambay).
46
The Emperor thereupon ordered the dīwān of the ṣūba to recover the amount from him and deposit it in the treasury.
47
At the time of transfer as there seems to have been no other complaint against I‘timād Khān, his manṣab was raised by 100/100, to 700/200.
48
This led I‘timād Khān to write:
By the Grace of God from the time I have been transferred, I am in the eyes of the Emperor who has enhanced my rank and thinks well of me …
49
After the transfer from the port of Cambay, I‘timād Khān was made dīwān of the army of Nawāb Ghāzīu’ddīn Khān Fīroz Jang, the Ṣūbadār of Gujarat.
50
A conditional (mashrūt]) enhancement of 100/40 was also granted, thus bringing his rank to 800/240.
51
After a few months, in 1705, he was once again transferred, to be appointed the Bakhshī I, Wāqi‘a Nigār and Dārogha of the Topkhāna (Artillery) of Prince Bedār Bakht.
52
We now find him in the Ṣūba of Ujjain where he started performing his duties.
53
He remained there till the 2nd RY of Bahādur Shāh when in 1708 on the recommendation of Prince Jahāndār Shāh, he was appointed the Faujdār of Baroda, Bakhera and Sonkher,
54
where he remained for 16 months.
55
He informs us that at the village of Sonkher the jama‘ (revenue-assessment) ultimately increased to 40,000 maḥmūdīs, while at the time he was writing it was no more than 7,000 maḥmūdīs.
56
At this time, his mansab was 1,000/800. For his endeavours he was awarded an in‘ām of 80 lakh dāms by Prince Jahāndār Shāh, who also conferred upon him a robe of honour.
57
The diary notes that during his tenure ₹220,000 were collected from pargana Nadiad as revenue, which he constantly dispatched through hundis (bills) to the dīwān of the Sarkar of Kokaltāsh Khān at Burhanpur and Hyderabad.
58
At this time the duty of maintenance of the muster roll of servants of the gateway of the palace (Chehra bāb khāna-i ‘ālī) of Jahāndār Shāh was also assigned to him.
59
In 1709 Ghāzīu’ddin Khān Fīroz Jang, proposed his name for the post of mutaṣaddī of the port of Cambay (vice Amānat Khān) and the thānadārī of Kajnah (vice Saiyid ‘Alī Khān), and ordered him to take charge of the new posts.
60
He was also assigned the parganas of Sanawli and Bahadurpur.
61
During his tenure I‘timād Khān collected 2,10,000 mahmudis and ₹30,000, respectively, from the two parganas.
62
In 1710 he was once again transferred and the office of mutaṣaddī of Cambay was conferred upon Sayyid Aḥsānullah Khān.
63
When the news of the death of I‘tibār Khān, the mutassadi of Surat
64
reached Ghāzīu’ddin Khān, this post was now conferred upon our author.
65
In November 1710, I‘timād Khān says, he reached Surat and started performing his duties.
66
At the beginning of Jahandar Shah’s reign in 1712 I‘timād Khān received the title of Muḥsin Khān and was appointed to the post of bakhshī and wāqi‘a nigār of the port of Surat.
67
He notes that during his tenure as the Bakhshī and Wāqi‘a Nigār of the port of Surat, he did not appoint any other Bakhshī as his assistant. He also says that for this, as emolument, he used to take ₹1,000 for each lac of rupees collected from the forts of Konkan.
68
During his tenure, the maḥṣul of the customs (farẓa) of the port of Surat was ₹11,700 which was deposited in the treasury.
69
From his diary not much information is forthcoming regarding his further postings and appointments. This is perhaps due to the fact that there is an unfortunate gap in his diary for the period between 1712 and 1717. It was sometimes during these 5 years that Farrukh Siyar conferred on him the title of I‘timād ‘Alī Khān. From his subsequent notings it is not clear whether during this period he continued as the bakhshī and wāqi‘a nigār of the port of Surat or not. What, however, is known is that in January 1718 he was at Ahmadabad, from where he started his journey to Delhi on 21 January.
70
On 5th February 1719 an entry in his diary suggests that he had also held the position of nāib (deputy) of the Ahmadabad mint which now was conferred on his son, Muḥammad Hādī.
71
Probably from the time he moved out of Ahmadabad, I‘timād ‘Alī Khān was not any longer in service. Was he dismissed from his posts in 1718 or he had himself resigned is not clear. His subsequent travels are probably not aimless, but possibly an attempt to gain some permanent footing elsewhere in pursuit of appointment with some noble or the other.
After having travelled for around 2 months, we find him reaching Agra on 10th March where he stayed for around 2 weeks. On 24 March he moved out of Agra and proceeded towards Delhi, where for sometimes he reportedly stayed in a sarāi located in Chandni Chowk. He boastfully remarks that one of the guests occupying the sarāi was the ambassador of the Sharīf of Mecca to the Mughal Court.
72
Soon he was afflicted with cholera and shifted to the ḥavelī (mansion) of Ḥakīm Muḥammad Rafī‘, the physician who treated him. He informs us that he was paying a rent of ₹40 per month for this accommodation.
73
Having served the Mughal bureaucracy for a long period, I‘timād ‘Alī Khān had many well-wishers. He boastfully records that during his illness a number of bureaucrats and functionaries ‘entertained him’ and kept him in good humour. Among those who visited him, he names a certain Mirza Jalīl Beg A‘z]am Shāhī, Ghiyās]uddin Khān (the dārogha of Delhi) and Quli Khān, the dīwān and
kh
ān-i sāmān in the establishment of a daughter of Aurangzeb.
74
And when he recovered, the wife of Nawāb Khudā Bakhsh Khān (whom he identifies as the mother of Khiẓr Khān) presented a ṣadaqa (gift) of ₹40.
75
Next month (May 1718), I‘timād ‘Alī Khān took on rent the ḥavelī (mansion) of Muḥammad Amīn Khān, the bakhshī-i tan,
76
and again in June he shifted to the house of Mirzā Jalīl Beg, where he intended to stay for another 2 months.
77
But, the same month, on the invitation of Chhabelā Rām, Governor of Sūba Allahabad, he started for Allahabad.
78
Passing through Hasanpur, Sambhal, Bāns Barreilly, Fatehpur and other places, he reached Allahabad on 7 July 1718, where he was very hospitably received by Chhabelā Rām, who presented him with a sum of ₹500.
79
At the beginning of August 1718, we again find I‘timād ‘Alī Khān headed back for Delhi. On his way back, apart from other places, he stayed at the house of Mirzā Rukn Bedār, at Ghat Rasulabad, near Firozabad.
80
In September he arrived at Delhi and took on rent a ḥavelī in the Ajmeri Gate area.
81
In October 1718, I‘timād ‘Alī Khān mentions his appointment on some post under Nawāb Saifullāh Khān, the Bakhshī III of Farrukh Siyar.
82
Sometimes during this period he took on rent the ḥavelī of Aḥmad Beg, which was situated in the Pahārganj quarter of Delhi.
83
On 13 February 1719 I‘timād ‘Alī Khān again moved out and left Delhi for Ahmadabad.
84
While nearing his destination in April 1719, in the jungles at Sanjaur, near Raipur, he found such a paucity of sweet potable water, that it was being sold at one copper coin per bucket. By now he appears to be short of money for he records borrowing ₹500 from a banya who accompanied him to Ahmadabad.
85
The same month, he arrived at his house at Ahmadabad.
86
He was entertained at this city by the watandār of Ma‘sūmābād, Kāzim Beg Khān and others.
It is not clear for what purpose I‘timād ‘Alī Khān made these long journeys. Perhaps, as suggested earlier, he was looking for a suitable job, but could not find it.
In June 1720, he again set out on a journey. This time we find him headed towards Aurangabad.
87
Passing through Cambay
88
and Maqbulabad, and other towns he reached Aurangabad on 25 October 1720. There he stayed at the ḥavelī of Sharafuddīn ‘Alī Khān (Mīr Muḥammad Taqī), the Superintendent (dārogha) of the Imperial Library and royal ammunitions.
89
Within a few weeks, he was again on the move. On 13 January 1721, while he was suffering from fever, he started for Burhanpur.
90
On the way, as he passed through their jurisdictions, officers such as ‘Abdul Ma‘āli Khān, the son of ‘Abdul Haq, bakhshi, wāqi‘a nigār and faujdar of Malkapur Rustam Beg Khān, the faujdar or Kharbol and others, came to meet him.
91
On 16 February, he was asked by the Raja of Mohān to stay for sometime at Mohān.
92
I‘timād ‘Alī Khān presented the Rājā with a daggar studded with cornelian, and four hubble bubbles.
93
He also presented two hubble bubbles and one gun to the son of the Rājā.
94
The Rājā in return, bestowed upon him and his sons a village, the jama‘ of which was assessed at 700 mahmūdis
95
and a Kamīt horse.
96
On 18 November 1721, I‘timād ‘Alī Khān arrived at the port of Bharuch, where he met the nāib of Qamaruddin Khān, Bakhshi II, who offered him ₹150.
97
In the beginning of December, I‘timād ‘Alī Khān started for Surat.
98
On the way, at Chaurand, near ḥavelī Baroda, a certain Dayā Rām sent ₹100 for him.
99
He also informs us that Nawab Shujā‘at Khān sent him ₹1,000 as expenses for his journey to Islam Nagar (Nāvānagar), where the Nawab was staying.
100
This offer I‘timād ‘Alī Khān accepted, and on 21 August 1723, when he was at Islam Nagar, he was appointed incharge of the horses.
101
But his tenure there was again very short. In the first week of November 1723, he arrived at Surat, where, he was met by the mutaṣaddī, Momin Khān.
102
Later our author claims that he was appointed on the same post.
On 14 February 1724, the diary notes:
On Sunday 19th Jamadi I, 6th ry, i.e. 1136 ah, the letter of Nawab Rustam ‘Alī Khān Bahadur Jiu, addressed to the Qil‘adār, came that the servant has been appointed (mutasaddi?) on the transfer of Momim Khān.
103
Momim Khān, we know, was the mutaṣaddī of Surat till 1724
104
and soon after him Suhrāb Khān was appointed to that post.
105
This means that, if at all, I‘timād ‘Alī Khān was appointed only as an acting-mutasaddi till the arrival of Suhrāb Khān, the mutasaddi-designate. His desperation for a permanent job is clear from another entry made on 2 August 1726 in the diary. He appears still hopeful of an official career.
106
He writes:
I have started the nazr of Hazrat Pīr Dastgir Ghaus Saqalain (Abdul Qādir Jilāni) for my promotion (taraqqi). I started the nazr on 17th Zīqāda, Thursday, on 111/2 copper coins and every Thursday I keep increasing it so that the nazr may be befitting and accepted.
107
But life was not as generous to him at Surat as he had hoped. He complains of a paucity of money,
108
and he had to live in the ḥavelī of a ship-captain Muḥammad Ja‘far, since his arrival in Surat on 14 November 1723. The good captain did not charge any rent from him being a friend.
109
Some petty official duties could still be assigned to him. Thus we find I‘timād ‘Alī Khān in 1726 with an amount of ₹2,000, which as per orders of Suhrāb Khān, the Mutaṣaddī, was delivered by him to the agent of the Sharif of Mecca. The Emperor had granted the Sharif an annual sum of rupees ₹1 lakh to be paid from Surat.
110
By now I‘timād ‘Alī Khān’s frustration is clear from remarks in his diary. In April 1726 he is found trying to retrieve an amount which his slave, who had by now died, deposited with a banya (baqqāl). The banya refused to pay. The matter was brought before Gadā Beg Khān and Tegh Beg Khān, the mutaṣaddīs who deputed their munshī to summon the banya. Obviously by this time our author seems to have lost much of his influence in the official world, for the case was decided in the banya’s favour. I‘timād ‘Alī Khān alleges that the munshī of the mutaṣaddīs had actually taken a bribe of ₹500 from the banya and manipulated the case. He further sadly notes that inspite of both the mutaṣaddīs being his friends in the past, they preferred the interests of their munshī as against those of his.
111
Inspite of being out of job, our author continued to take up odd jobs on the basis of his past experience.
He gives many instances where he offered himself as a wakil over a number of disputes among officials. He narrates with much pride how he even mediated between important persons.
In August 1711, when there was a clash between two feuding nobles, Shahāmat Khān and Muḥammad Beg Khān, I‘timād ‘Alī Khān, along with two others, intervened and affected peace.
112
In 1718–19, he says, he mediated between Haidar Qūli Khān Bahādur Muizuddaula and Shujā‘at Khān.
113
Again in June 1721, he settled a dispute between Nāhir Khān and Shujā‘at Khān and brought about peace between them.
114
While dealing with the conflict between Rustam ‘Alī Khān, the mutaṣaddī-designate and Hāmid Khān, in 1724–25 at Surat, I‘timād ‘Alī Khān affirms his closeness to the former, who, he says, asked him to deliver a hundi worth ₹5,000 to his deputy, Ibrāhīm Qūlī Khān, to facilitate the latter in bringing succour.
115
I‘timād ‘Alī Khān, throughout shows a religious bent of mind. Wherever he would go, he would stop to pay respects at the tombs of Muslim saints. In July 1718, he visited the tombs of Maulana Shaikh Ismā‘īl, Shāh Taqi and Shāh ‘Alī, on the bank of Ganges at Allahabad.
116
On first of June, 1719 at Sar Khair (Sarkhej?) near Ahmadabad, he made a pilgrimage to the tombs of two local saints, Bābā ‘Alī Sher and Hazrat Ganj Aḥmad.
117
At Surat, in November 1725, he became a disciple of a saint whom he calls Shah Asadullah Durwesh.
118
A perusal of his diary shows that I‘timād ‘Alī Khān was not insensitive of the political turmoils of his age. He notes though briefly, about the disturbances created in and around Agra in 1718 due to the rebellion of Chūrāman Jāt.
119
Dealing with the political conditions prevailing in India during the reign of Rafi-ud-darjāt and Muḥammad Shāh, he says:
How strange has become the fate of the Sultanate of Hindustan, that the prerogatives of the monarchs are in the hands of their servants, and whatever they want, whatever wickedness they want to perpetuate, the Emperor does that.
120
During the days of dominance of the Sayyid Brothers, he rhetorically says that unless Qut]b-ul Mulk and Hasan ‘Alī Khān will say so, food cannot be served to the Emperor.
121
The King was a prisoner in the hands of these two brothers.
122
He further notes:
The clansmen of the two brothers think themselves to be princes.
123
The period covered by I‘timād ‘Alī Khān in his diary was a period when the Mughal officials, themselves hard pressed, tried to squeeze the merchants to the utmost.
124
I‘timād ‘Alī Khān describes many such instances in his diary from first-hand observation. He tells us about the Surat merchants’ agitation which occurred on 27 January 1723.
125
He tells us of the charter of demands put forward by them, and its approval by Momin Khān, the mutaṣaddī in 1723.
126
When even after the theoretical approval of the demands, matters remained unaltered, the merchants, says I‘timād ‘Alī Khān, protested once again.
127
I‘timād ‘Alī Khān reveals in his diary that the nāib khufiyah nawīs (Deputy Intelligencer) Gada Beg Khān, who was also a nephew of Beglar Khān, the Qil‘edār, had in one of his despatches in 1726, accused Ahmad Chalebi, a leading merchant, of being an oppressor of the people.
128
I‘timād ‘Alī Khān makes it clear that during this period there was much social interaction between the Mughal officials and the merchants. On several occasions, he speaks of the gardens of Mulla Muḥammad Tāhir and Ahmad Chalebi, as the meeting ground where the mutaṣaddīs and others were entertained.
129
I‘timād ‘Alī Khān’s diary in the present manuscript, which is defective at end breaks off on 20 January 1727. Thereafter, we cannot trace a reference to our author in any other source. This autobiography is of immense interest since we can see how a medium-level official fared as the Mughal Empire entered its period of crisis after Aurangzeb’s death. All was not at once over; but the avenues of employment and promotion were being narrowed. I‘timād ‘Alī Khān was obviously one of the victims of that inexorable process.
