Page:Siyar-ul-Mutakherin.djvu/401

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
SIYAR-UL-MUTAKHERIN.
385

Shujah-khan resolved to procure for Alia Verdi-khan new titles and honours from court. In addition to his military grade, he wished to raise him to the command of five thousand horse, and to procure for him the titles of Bahadur and Mahabah-jung, for which honours he applied through his agents to the emperor and Khan Dowran. Zinet-en-nissa being informed of the new appointment, expressed her approbation; she sent, therefore, for Alia Verdi-khan to the door of her apartment, and having ordered a rich dress to be put upon his shoulders, she appointed him to the government of Behar, as from herself.[1] It was only after this investiture, that Shujah-khan himself sent for him, and presented him on his part with the robes of the niabet, or deputy of Azimabad Patna, to which he joined the commission, and gave him an elephant, a sabre, and a set of jewels. A military force was also appointed to serve under him; after which he was dismissed, with injunctions to bring the province under proper subjection. I ought to remark that a few days before this elevation, a grandson was born to Alia Verdi-khan by his youngest daughter, the wife of his youngest nephew Zein-ed-din Ahmed-khan, and as he had

VOL. I.
2 C
  1. Zinet-en-nissa seems to have insisted on her husband recognising her as the heiress to the government, and considered him rather as the viceroy-consort than viceroy in his own right.