Nawab

“ The English had on their side in the Durbar the terror
of their arms, the faults of Siraj-ud-daula, the ruling influence
and the refined policy of the Seths, who, to conceal their game
more completely, and knowing that it pleased the Nawab,
often spoke all the ill they could think of about the English,
so as to excite him against them and at the same time gain
his confidence. The Nawab fell readily into the snare, and
said everything that came into his mind, thus enabling his
enemies to guard against all the evil which otherwise he
might have managed to do them. ”

“ Tell the Nawab Sahib that they are all asleep, and neither I, Mamoola, nor anyone else shall rouse them for the Nawab, or fifty Nawabs. Tell him this from me, Mamoola, and bid him go back as he came. The youth's spirit hovers between life and death, but, praise to the saints, he sleeps; and they all sleep, too, except Runga Naik, who watches the youth as though he were his own son. Begone, I say, and run at thy best speed, or we may have the crier shouting my lord's titles, and horns blowing, and a din enough to wake the dead. ”

“ All the Mussulmans are only poor weavers. Therefore, your slave begs permission to depart. She is full of grief; but, who can control destiny?"
"You are a cheat!" cried the Nawab, furiously. "A cheat, like all your people. Where are the rupees I gave you? Give them back; and may the Shytán burn you. I say, where is the money?"
"I left it at Moodgul, with the banker," returned the woman, whimpering. "Send some one with me, and I will give it back. But the Nawab Osman Beg's generosity is great," she added, soothingly; "and what is given is given. Who ever asks return of a gift?" ”

“ Though Clive had to retire when the whole army was roused, the slaughter amongst the enemy had been immense; and though he mockingly informed the Nawab that he had been careful to "injure none but those who got in his way," the Nawab himself narrowly escaped capture. The action, however, was in no sense decisive. Most of the Nawab's military leaders were eager to avenge their disgrace, but some of the chief nobles, notably his Hindu advisers, exaggerated the loss already incurred and the future danger, and advised him to make peace. ”

“ The Nawab had taken care of the thorn instead of the rose—Kulsam had truly said—"The ruler of Bengal is a fool."
The Nawab then said to the noblemen of his court, "Listen to me, it is beyond my power to retain this kingdom any more. The slave girl has truly said, that the ruler of Bengal is a fool. If you can save this kingdom from ruin, good and well—I shall take leave of you all and quit this place; I shall either take shelter within the female quarters in the castle at Ruhidas, or lead the life of a mendicant." ”

“ The many thousands of Mohammedans, however, who dwelt in the crowded streets and lanes of Chepauk, and who had looked upon the Nawab as their religious chief, would have been afflicted at the cessation of the Carnatic line; and after the Indian Mutiny the Government of India, respecting Mohammedan sentiment, recognized the succession of the nearest relative of the late Nawab and obtained for him from the King of England the hereditary title of Amir-i-Arcot, or 'Prince of Arcot'—an honorary title but higher than that of Nawab. ”

“ They were indeed passive instruments in the hands of a more experienced and powerful person who long before had taken a just measure of the Nawab's violent and treacherous character, and most especially dreaded his designs against the orphan girl who, as all knew, had no friends among her own people, except the poor inhabitants of the village in which she had lived all her life, and they were helpless to protect her. ”

“ To establish his reputation as a just and enlightened ruler, the Nawab has had to study carefully the important changes in public opinion, and to found his judgment on public affairs on a minute and elaborate consideration of the arguments for and against. He is sincerely religious-minded and God-fearing, and in matters, great or small, he never allows any prejudices to warp his judgment, and in all circumstances keeps his temper equable and unruffled. ”

“ After a while, the enemy’s shells began to fall on the Nawab’s tent. Thereupon, the Nawab rose up and unsheathing his sword, thrusted it, with his own hand, into the heart of his treacherous prisoner. Taki Khan fell on the ground dead, and the Nawab walked out of the tent. ”

“ Nawab's officers! At last, giving way to my entreaties,
and on my assuring them that I have no fears, I persuade
them to be quiet and to let me go.
"I presented myself before the Nawab, who returned my
salute in a kindly manner. As soon as I was seated, he told
me, in a shamefaced way, that I must either accept Mr.
Watts's proposals, or must certainly leave his territories.
Your nation is the cause, he said, of all the importunities I
now suffer from the English. I do not wish to put the whole country
in trouble for your sake. You are not strong enough to defend
yourselves ”

“ He was gorgeously dressed in cloth of gold, as befitted a ceremonial; but all the usual preparations for a marriage were wanting. No women sang the marriage greeting and blessing, or hung garlands of flowers about his neck. No marriage music was played without. His slaves and attendants stood around in silence, and some of the soldiers of the fort and petty officers came in one by one, saluted the Nawab, and sat down on their heels close to the wall, grimly, and with their swords resting across their knees. ”

“ Moorshedabad is still the residence of the Nawab of Bengal, who inhabits the Palace which I have described above. The present Nawab, Cowar Krishnath Roy, has been instructed in the English language. He is about thirty years of age; an English education has greatly improved him, and though he has not altogether [Pg 433] divested himself of his Mahomedan habits, still those who are personally acquainted with him, inform me, that his manners are those of a well-bred European, and that he is intelligent, and very fond of reading. ”

“ Then a small party emerged from the position they had taken up behind some rocks, which consisted of the Nawab and his cousin, and several attendants.
"We saw you from above," said the Nawab, saluting the Padré courteously, "but we did not like to disturb you. May we come down?"
"I do not like him," said Zóra, clinging to Maria; "he always looks at me when I chance to meet him, and his eyes are evil. Let me be near you. Oh that he would go away. Why does he intrude upon women?" ”

“ Little Mungloo, who was cunning as a Thug, acted with surprising talent; in fact, some of the Sahibs thought he rather overdid his part, for he dropped his hubble-bubble almost awkwardly, and even kicked,--which the real Nawab had too much self-respect to do,--so that he sent one of his slippers flying one way, and the other another. But he choked, and gasped, and showed the whites of his eyes, and turned black in the face, and shivered through all his frame, so very naturally, that his admiring companions clapped their hands vehemently, and cried, Wah, wah! with all their little lungs. ”

“ They wished to impress the Nawab, and so they sent a small force to Hugli, which lies above Chandernagore and Chinsurah, stormed the Muhammadan fort, burnt the town, and destroyed the magazines, which would have supplied the Nawab's army in an attack on Calcutta. The inhabitants of the country had never known anything so terrible as the big guns of the ships, and the Nawab actually believed the men-of-war could ascend the river and bombard him in his palace at Murshidabad. Calling on the French and Dutch for aid, which they refused, he determined to try his fortune a second time at Calcutta. ”

“ About the beginning of the eighteenth century, a Nawab of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, territories considerably larger than the United Kingdom, had removed his capital from Dacca to Murshedabad, about a hundred miles due north of Calcutta. Here he founded a dynasty, which reigned in peace for some forty years. About 1742 a usurper seized the throne of Murshedabad, and reigned as Nawab. He died of extreme old age in April, 1756, and was succeeded by a grandson, a young man timid and suspicious, surrounded by foes eager to take his life and throne. ”

“ I discovered, during my stay at Cabool, that the Nawab assumes no false character, but expresses himself, as he feels, with sincerity. Never was a man more modest, and more beloved: he will permit but a single attendant to follow him; and the people on the high and [135] by ways stop to bless him; the politicians assail him at home to enter into intrigues, and yet he possesses the respect of the whole community, and has, at the present moment, a greater moral influence than any of the Barukzye family in Afghanistan. ”

“ After Ulwar came the Nawab of Tonk, the descendant of an adventurer from Swat, on the Peshawar border, who had become possessed of considerable territory in Rajputana. The Nawab stood by us in the Mutiny, when his capital was plundered by Tantia Topi. ”

“ A son of Sher Mahammad Khan, Nawab of Chicacole, an agent to the Mogul Emperor, while out shooting, was seized and confined by a powerful Fittooridar at Rangavaka near Palasa in Ganjam. That part of the country, being covered with impenetrable clumps of bamboos, afforded no passage for the Nizam's cavalry. The Nawab, therefore, called for assistance from Rajah Lingappa Bahadur, who at once proceeded to Rangavaka with a strong force of his own, captured the Fittooridar in a single battle, rescued the boy, and restored him to his bereaved father. ”

“ As constancy of conduct and fixity of principle are the characteristics of the Nawab, characteristics which claim their attention by their very rarity, they are sure to impress any student of the history of our times with a feeling of high esteem for the illustrious personage in whom such virtues are united. ”

“ And they led out the prisoner, smoking his hubble-bubble,—and looking, as Metcalfe Sahib said of the real Nawab, "as if he had been accustomed to be hanged every day of his life,"—to the place of execution, an old saul-tree with low limbs. Then, having taken the rope with which the hurkaru's mail-bag was lashed to his buffalo, they slipped a noose over the Nawab's head, made the other end fast to the lower limb of the saul-tree, and led away the buffalo. ”

“ The town is still the residence of the nawab, who ranks as the first nobleman of the province with the style of nawab bahadur of Murshidabad, instead of nawab nazim of Bengal. His palace, dating from 1837, is a magnificent building in Italian style. The city is crowded with other palaces, mosques, tombs, and gardens, and retains such industries as carving in ivory, gold and silver embroidery, and silk-weaving. A college is maintained for the education of the nawab's family. ”

“ Thus, busy with the management of his estate and the control of his family affairs, the Nawab Bahadur lived his quiet uneventful life at Murshidabad until his death in 1906. The relatives of the Nawab were numerous and it required much tact to decide petty disputes and generally prevent friction among them. So numerous were they that the Nizamat College was built exclusively for their education at a cost of Rs. 1,20,000. The Palace in which the Nawab Bahadur resided is a splendid building, and one of the largest in Bengal being 425 ft. ”

“ This incident warned the Seths to be more cautious, but still the plot against the Nawab was well known in the country. Renault, who had been at this time a prisoner in Calcutta, says:—
"Never was a conspiracy conducted as publicly and with
such indiscretion as this was, both by the Moors and the
English. Nothing else was talked about in all the English
settlements, and whilst every place echoed with the noise of
it, the Nawab, who had a number of spies, was ignorant of
everything. Nothing can prove more clearly the general
hatred which was felt towards him." ”

“ The Nawab then married a lady from the well-known family of Nurul-umra Bahadur of Hyderabad. By the first wife the Nawab has three sons, namely Saiyid Ghulam Ali Khan Bahadur, Saiyid Asad Ali Khan Bahadur, Saiyid Hussain Ali Khan Bahadur, and a daughter. When the news of the death of his uncle reached Hyderabad, the Nawab accompanied by his father arrived in Banganapalli. There was a strong contest for succession between Imdad Hussainee Begum, the shadi- ividow of Saiyid Ghulam Ali Khan Bahadur ”

“ It was soon known, however, that they had crossed the river, and that Runga Naik and Burma had carried them off; and the Nawab would willingly have seized the Beydurs of the fort if he had dared; but they set him at defiance, and he was too weak to attempt interference [120] with more than a hundred stout, well-armed men. Nor, indeed, was the proper garrison of the fort in at all a placable mood. They were, for the most part, Mussulmans, and were disciples of the old Syud, and had Osman Beg meddled with them in any way, he might not have escaped with his life ”

“ For many years before his death he had given over the management of his estates to his eldest son, known later as the Nawab Sir Khawja Ahsanulla whom he had carefully trained as his successor and who so worthily followed in his father's footsteps. In 1896 Nawab Abdul Ghani died, full of years and honour, loved and respected by all who knew him. Throughout his long life he had been consistently loyal both to the British Government and to the interests of his own community. A keen businessman, he never aggrandised himself at the expense of others. ”