CHAPTER II
gurgan khan
HE name of the person to whom Dalani's letter was carried, was Gurgan Khan. Gurgan Khan was the highest and the ablest of all the officers of the Nawab, in Bengal, at the time. He was an Armenian by nationality. Ispahan was his birth place. Rumour has it that he was originally a cloth-dealer. But he was a man of uncommon parts and abilities. Within the short period of his service under the Nawab, he obtained the exalted post of the Commander-in-chief. Nor was that all; after his appointment as the Commander-in-chief, he organised a rifle-corps and trained and armed it after the European fashion. The guns and rifles which he got made in Bengal under his supervision, surpassed in quality even those made in Europe. His rifle-corps in every respect became equal to that of the English. Mir Kasim had hoped so far that with Gurgan Khan's help he would overthrow the English. Gurgan Khan's influence consequently became
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