Harking back: When “qazis were tosspots and muftis tipplers”

In the brief one-year reign of the eighth Mughal emperor Jahandar Shah (1712 – 1713), the royal court at Lahore went completely wild. The historian Khafi Khan was to write: “Qazis turned tosspots and Muftis became tipplers.”

What was there that completely changed conditions at Lahore in just one year? When the seventh Mughal emperor Muhammad Mu’azzam Shah Alam suddenly died in March 1711, the entire Mughal court was in a state of confusion. The four sons of the emperor were now set on a course of conflict for the throne. Initially the four brothers decided that the best way forward was to divide the empire, as well as the property belonging to the throne, into four parts. Prince Rafi’ush Shah was to get Multan, Thatta and Kashmir, Prince Jahan Shah was to get the Deccan, and the rest would be divided between Prince Jahandar Shah and Prince Azimush Shan. But they started fighting over every detail and talks broke down.

Three brothers united against Azimush Shan and attacked his forces outside Lahore. Suddenly the prince disappeared from the battlefield and was not seen again. Witnesses tell of him drowning in the River Ravi outside Lahore after being defeated in battle. He was the ‘subedar’ (Viceroy) of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa appointed by Aurangzeb and his major miscalculation was that he was the first Mughal to grant permission to Dutch and French traders to build ‘trading forts’ in India, opening up the fight of the colonial powers for possession of the sub-continent.

Now Jahandar Shah and Rafi’ush Shan decided to join hands. Jahandar Shah attacked the forces of Jahan Shah, who was killed in battle after a cannon ball hit him. His army immediately laid down their arms and joined the forces of Prince Jahandar Shah. This first victory resulted in Jahandar immediately sending a message to Prince Rafi’ush Shan to talk peace and settle all matters. On the night before the talks a detachment of horsemen attacked Rafi’ush Shan and killed him. So it was that in 1712, almost a year after Mu’aazam Shah died, that the eighth Mughal emperor was crowned and named Abul Fateh Muhammad Muizuddin Jahandar Shah.

As most of the fighting had taken place in and near Lahore, he immediately appointed an Afghan warrior Zabardast Khan as Governor of Lahore and gave him the title ‘Ali Mardan Khan’, the second person to be given a title by this name. In Lahore, Jahandar Shah had a special affection for a beautiful lady by the name of La’l Kunwar. She had become his secret adviser and accounts tell of him consulting her at every stage of the struggle for power. One account in ‘Muntakhubal Lubab’ even suggests that it was she who forced him to attack and kill Rafi’ush Shan before peace talks had even started on the pretext that he was planning the same. But all said, she did, if this account is true, propel Jahandar Shah to become the eighth Mughal emperor of India.

She also advised that he crown himself emperor in Lahore, so when he reaches Delhi he should be the emperor. However, the sudden appointment of Zabardast Khan did not go down well with her, as this powerful general tried to cut down her influence. La’l Kunwar, who was originally a courtesan of Jahandar, started using the emperor to bestow ‘mansabs’ on her relatives. This meant that within a year her family, which lived mostly in the Tibbi area of the walled city, had become rich and influential.

As the newly-crowned emperor started off for Delhi, hardly had he crossed the River Ravi, which then flowed around the fort and the walled city, that a rider brought news that Prince Farrukh Siyar, who was the second son of the late Azim’ush Shan, had grouped up with the Syeds of Barah, near Lucknow, and was heading towards Lahore with an army. To meet this threat Jahandar Shah sent an army under his son Azizuddin Khan, to check Farrukh Siyar. Amazingly, when the two armies came in sight of each other Azizuddin Khan panicked and his army fled.

By this time the new emperor had reached Delhi. On hearing of the defeat he headed a new army to meet the forces of Siyar, who now changed direction to head to Agra, where the two armies met. The fierce attack by the Syeds completely threw the emperor’s forces in disarray and Jahandar Shah fled towards Delhi. Farrukh Siyar sent his trusted general to take Jahandar to the fort there on the pretext of peace talks. But Siyar knew of the ways of Jahandar Shah and he got him executed in the fort on the 13th of February 1713.

But he still had to tackle the powerful Ali Mardan Khan, the governor of Lahore, which is where the power base of the new emperor lay. One account states that Farrukh Siyar had, through his spies, made contact with La’l Kunwar, who by then was becoming a very powerful person in Lahore. Her family now possessed a small army of their own. Suddenly after the spies had made their contact, La’l Kunwar became friendly with Ali Mardan Khan and as news of the misfortunes of Jahandar Shah filtered through he even started consulting the lady. Then suddenly news came of the death of Jahandar and, amazingly, news also filtered through of a new governor for Lahore being considered.

After a meeting of the La’l Kunwar and Ali Mardan Khan, the powerful governor suddenly died. Rumours of the lady poisoning the governor floated around. People started fearing that the powerful lady would be made the new ruler of Lahore. But Farrukh Siyar was a much wiser man and he appointed Abdus Samad Khan Bahadar the new governor. A period of genocide, especially related to the Sikhs, was about to start. But the first thing that happened was that the beautiful La’l Kunwar mysteriously disappeared.

Suddenly the city of Lahore, which was becoming famous for violence and debauchery all over the sub-continent, fell into austere ways. One account tells of drunk ‘mullahs’ walking away from the house of La’l Kunwar and others in the Tibbi area, for the residents of Tibbi there were now much richer than their clients. A detailed account of the jokes about this period can be read in Qasim Lahori’s ‘Ibratnama’. So it was that the one-year reign of the eighth Mughal emperor, Adul Fateh Muhammad Muizuddin Jahandar Shah, came to an end …. And what a colourful end it was.