"
Motamul-ul-Mulk, Mubarak-ud-Daulla, Feroze Jang (
Guardian of the Country, Auspicious to the State, Victor in War)" Nawab Mubarak-ud-Daulla, the son of Mir Jafar by Babbu Begum, became Nawab, when a boy of only 12 years.
Warren Hastings appointed Munny Begum (
Gaddinashin Begum), the Nawab's stepmother his guardian though his mother Babbu Begum,
was alive. The reason why the guardianship was not given to his mother has never
been satisfactorily explained. In the subsequent examination of her accounts for
the period of her guardianship, a large sum was discovered to be unaccounted
for; Munny Begum was placed under restraint and in the inquiry that was held she stated that a considerable sum had been paid to the Governor General.
On the 21
st March, 1770 AD, a treaty was concluded with Mubarak-ud-Daulla, and the East India Company and the Stipend was further reduced to Rs 31,81,991 and 9 Anas; of which Rs 15,81,99 and 9 Anas were alloted for the Nawab's household and Rs 16,00,000 for the support of the Nizamat. The Directors of the Company, while not disapproving the preserving of the succession in the family of Mir Jafar, and while admitting that both justice and policy recommended a measure which at once corresponded with the customs and inclinations of the people of Bengal, disapproved of the continuance of
a so large Pension, which was accordingly further reduced in January, 1772 AD, to Rs 16,00,000 only, representing the income of the imperial
Jagirs once enjoyed by the Nawabs Nazim. The savings thus effected were to form a fund to provide for military exigencies.
Hastings visited Murshidabad in 1772 AD, and Muhammad Reza Khan having failed to collect the revenues properly was imprisoned and sent to Calcutta. Nandakumar's son,
Gurudas, a youth of twenty, was appointed Dewan.
The revenue offices were now transferred from Murshidabad to Calcutta. Dullavram's son, Raja Rajballav, was appointed by the Company their first
Roy Royan to supervise the work of collection. The council of Calcutta took into their hands the Criminal
jurisdiction hitherto exercised by the Nizamat, but this was after four years of experiment, transferred to the Nawab's officers. Nandakumar
having been hanged in a charge of forgery, Muhammad Reza Khan attained a triumph and was reinstated at Murshidabad and Munny Begum and Gurudas
were removed. In 1790 A criminal jurisdiction again began to be exercised by the English Government and the
Nizamat Adalat (court) was removed to Calcutta. In 1792, all power virtually passed into the hands of the English, to the ordinary jurisdiction of the English judiciary, the Nawab's Fort alone remaining an exception. The last of the treaties was made with Mubarak-ud-Daulla. The military power and the revenue administration had already been transferred to the Company before his time and Civil and Criminal jurisdiction passed over to them during Mubarak-ud-Daulla's Nazimship.
The French envied the English for their power and authority in the country. This led to hostilities
and disputes, which reached a crisis in 1775, when the French erected several factories without the sanction
of the Nazim. The Governor-General, informing the Nazim of the matter, to maintain the dignity and
authority of the Nazim razed the newly built French factories to the ground.
In the year 1777 Nawab Mubarak-ud-Daulla abolished the
Murshidabad mint at the request of the
Governor General. The Nazim issued
Parwana's to the French and Dutch, asking them to have their
money coined at Calcutta.
About this time Mr.
William Jones, an English merchant, came to Bengal in hopes of carrying
on his trade here, side by side with
The East India Company. The Governor General, at the instance of the Court
of Directors, requested the Nawab to forbid Mr. Jones to land his merchandise in his (the Nazim's)
dominions. The Nawab directed the different
Foujdars to enforce this order,
and Mr. Jones had no alternative but to go back, disappointed. In this year also the Nazim, at the age of
eighteen, took the household affairs into his own hands, and sent farmans to the Foujdars of the
different places under him to check the high-handedness of the French in respect of their erecting
factories at Birbhum, and Rajshyee, and maintaining soldiers in them.
In 1786
Lord Cornwallis came to India as Governor General. The Nazim, being informed,
wrote a letter of welcome, dated September 13
th, 1786, to the new Governor General. The Governor
General, Lord Cornwallis addressed a letter of introduction to the Nawab, dated October 2
nd 1786
announcing his arrival in Calcutta and acknowledging the Nazim's friendship, and alliance with
the Company, assuring him that the bonds of friendship between him and the Governor would go on
increasing daily.
On the 3
rd of October the Governor General wrote, in reply to the Nazim's congratulatory letter,
the following : "
I have been sent to the country to maintain the peace and safety of its people and for
the welfare of the well-wishers of the Company; so it is my bounden duty to devote myself to
the same. I shall try to maintain the friendly relation which has existed between us and your family,
for a long time". The Governor-General sent another letter to the Nazim on the 17
th of October,
I in which he spoke highly of the friendship of the Nawab to the Company, and the friendship they
had for him. The Nawab, after receiving these friendly letters from the Governor-General, intimated his
intention to visit Calcutta in November, 1786.
In 1790 the Queen of the Emperor, Shah Alam II of Delhi, asked, through Lord Cornwallis, for
one of Nawab Mubarak-ud-Daulla's daughters in marriage for her son. The Nawab rejected the
offer in the following terms, in a letter to the Governor-General : "
Please request the Queen to
pass over the matter. I cannot, by any means, accede to the proposal. There are many obstacles in
the matter. Moreover, there is a long standing usage in my family, that our daughters can
never be given in marriage to any one other than Syuds. If I act contrary to this, my family
custom, I shall be ruined. At all events, my mother and I cannot accept the offer".
Although Nawab Mubarak-ud-Daulla had thirteen daughters, and to some extent regarded
himself as a servant of the Emperor, he, for family reasons, did not allow the marriage of one
of the thirteen with even such an honourable prince as the Prince of Delhi.
Mubarak-ud-Daulla died in 6
th September 1793 AD, mourned by a large family and a very large number of friends, relatives and dependants, to whom he was always kind and generous.
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Family Tree :: Najafi Dynasty
Mubarak-ud-Daulla married (first) at Murshidabad Fort on November 1770 a daughter of Muhammad Fazl Ali Khan Bahadur
and niece of Syud Muhammad Reza Khan Naib Nazim of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Married (second)
Faiz-un-nisa Walida
Begum Sahiba (
Gaddinashin Begum, born ca. 1756; died at Murshidabad 30th December 1820; burried at Jafarganj), daughter of
Fazlullah Khan, by his wife Nadira Begum Sahiba (daughter of Mirza Hafizullah Khan). Married (third)
Jahan Begum
Sahiba. Married (fourth)
Amir-un-nisa Begum Sahiba.
His
Mut'ah wives
(1)
Sharaf-un-nisa Khanum (She died at Murshidabad, before December 1833).
(2)
Mubaraq-un-nisa Khanum [
Nawab Bai].
(3)
Lutf-un-nisa Khanum.
(4)
Bunnu Khanum.
(a) Brij Mahal Bakhsh.
(b) Adda Kunwar (She died at Murshidabad, 14th April 1838).
Mubarak-ud-Daulla had twelve sons and fifteen daughters from his four wives.
-
H.H. Nasir ul-Mulk, Azad ud-Daulla, Nawab Syud Babar Ali Khan Bahadur, Diler Jang (s/o Faiz-un-nisa)
- Ali Jah, Shuja ul-Mulk, Mubaraq ud-Daula, Nawab Syud Zain ud-din Ali Khan Bahadur, Firuz Jang, Nawab Nazim of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa
- Wala Jah, Burhan ul-Mulk, Ihtisham ud-Daula, Nawab Syud Ahmad Ali Khan Bahadur, Mahabat Jang, Nawab Nazim of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa
-
Nawab Syud Abul Kasim Khan Bahadur [Mir Mungli] (s/o Sharaf-un-nisa).
Married (a) Izzat-un-nisa (b) Guhan (c) Sultan Qajah Sari (d) Mul Jan.
He died at Murshidabad on 30th September 1830, having three sons and three daughters.
- Syud Asad Ali Khan Bahadur. Married Idi Begum Sahiba, nee Mushir-un-nisa Begum Sahiba (daughter of Mir Mahdi Ali Khan by his muta wife Fazilat-un-nisa Khanum)
- Syud Ashraf Ali Khan Bahadur
- Nawab Sayud Safdar Ali Khan Bahadur, Safdar Jang.
He married Rahat-un-nisa Begum Sahiba (daughter of Nawab Syud Akbar Ali Khan Bahadur Shamsher Jang, by his muta wife Aziz-un-nisa Khanum)
- Lutf-un-nisa Begum Sahiba [Shahzadi Begum].
Born 1807. Married Syud Wahid Husain Khan, elder son of Nawab Syud Talib Husain Khan Bahadur, of Rajmahal,
by his wife Umdat-un-nisa Begum Sahiba, daughter of Mubarak-ud-Daulla
- Sani un-nisa Begum Sahiba. Born 1813
-
Ulfat-un-nisa Begum Sahiba. Married Zia-ud-Daulla, Nawab Syud Jafar Ali Khan Bahadur,
son of her paternal uncle, Najam ul-Mulk, Roshan-ud-Daulla, Nawab Syud Tamiz Abidin Ali Khan Bahadur,
Nasir Jang
- Mukram ul-Mulk, Iftiqar ud-Daulla, Nawab Syud Husain Ali Khan Bahadur, Firuz Jang (s/o Nawab Bai). He died at Murshidabad on 31st August 1810
- Nawab Mir Mehndi (s/o Lutf-un-nisa Khanum). He died at Murshidabad on February 1826
-
Najam ul-Mulk, Roshan ud-Daulla, Nawab Syud Tamiz Abidin Ali Khan Bahadur, Nasir Jang.
He died at Rajabazar Deori, Murshidabad, 9th September 1840. He had one son and one daughter
-
Zia ud-Daulla, Nawab Syud Jafar Ali Khan Bahadur.
Married (first) Ulfat-un-nisa Begum Sahiba (Daughter of Nawab Syud Abul Kasim Khan Bahadur [Mir Mungli] She died at Murshidabad, 19th November 1850),
younger daughter of his paternal uncle, Nawab Syud Abul Kasim Khan Bahadur.
Married (i) Ashraf un-nisa Khanum. Married (a) Bi Bakhtawar (b) Bi Naznim
- Gowhar-un-nisa Begum Sahiba
- Nawab Syud Mir Muhammad Ali Khan Bahadur (s/o Mubaraq-un-nisa Khanum). He died before 20th June 1827
- Nawab Syud Zainal-Abidin Ali Khan Bahadur (s/o Sharaf-un-nisa). He died at Murshidabad on February 1826
- Nawab Syud Abul Husain Khan Bahadur (s/o Lutf-un-nisa Khanum)
- Zulfikar ud-Daulla, Nawab Syud Zulfikar Ali Khan Bahadur [Nawab Jan] (s/o Nawab Bai). He died at Murshidabad on 12th November 1840
- Nawab Syud Nasir ud-din Haidar Khan Bahadur. He died at Murshidabad on 23rd May 1821
- Nawab Syud Ali Reza Khan Bahadur [Maulvi Sahib]. He died at Murshidabad on June 1813
- Nawab Syud Ahmed Ali Khan Bahadur [Mir Mughal Sahib]. He died at Murshidabad on June 1816
- Zinat-un-nisa Begum Sahiba (d/o Sharaf-un-nisa Khanum)
- Hayat-un-nisa Begum Sahiba [Rabia Begum]
- Mubaraq-un-nisa Begum Sahiba (d/o Faiz-un-nisa Walida Begum). She died at Murshidabad before 5th May 1827.
- Badr-un-nisa Begum Sahiba (d/o Faiz-un-nisa Walida Begum). She died at Dacca on 13th September 1856.
- Lutf-un-nisa Begum Sahiba [Sahibzadi Begum] (d/o Faiz-un-nisa Walida Begum). She died at Murshidabad on 18th August 1846.
- Said-un-nisa Begum Sahiba
- Dudur-un-nisa Begum Sahiba
- Afzal-un-nisa Begum Sahiba (d/o Lutf-un-nisa Khanum)
- Fakhr-un-nisa Begum Sahiba
- Rahim-un-nisa Begum Sahiba (d/o Luft-un-nisa Khanum). She died at Murshidabad on 17th December 1844.
- Jigri-Begum Sahiba (d/o Mubaraq-un-nisa Khanum). She died at Murshidabad on 13th January 1859.
- Saleh-un-nisa Begum Sahiba [Moti Begum] (d/o Faiz-un-nisa Walida Begum)
She married Amin ul-Mulk, Sarfaraz ud-Daula, Nawab Syud Daud Ali Khan Bahadur,
son of Mumtaz-ud-Daulla, Nawab Syud Abul Kasim Khan Bahadur, by his wife, Moti Begum
- Nur-un-nisa Begum Sahiba. She died at Murshidabad on 25th June 1846.
- Umdat-un-nisa Begum Sahiba (d/o Brij Mahal Bakhsh).
Married Nawab Syud Talib Husain Khan Bahadur, son of Mumtaz-ud-Daula, Nawab Syud Abdul Kasim Khan Bahadur of Rajmahal.
She died on 10th November 1842
- Wahid-un-nisa Begum Sahiba
Reference : Christopher Buyers, Murshidabad, The Najafi Dynasty Genealogy,
Royal Ark