"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.