condillieanimenaal 



1922.] Numismatic Supplement No. XXX VI. eS Fae 
be more explicit or more germane to the matter than this 
simultaneous mention of both puppets with their individual 
names and the qualifying epithets ‘new elected, and ‘ late.’ 
{t is true that the necessary corroborative evidence from the 
indigenous chronicies is not yet forthcoming, but there is every 
reason to hope, if not to believe, that it will be discovered when 
these sources of information are published and examined by 
competent scholars. 
t is common knowledge that the king-maker very soon 
became dissatisfied with Bedar Bakht on account of his stupidi- 
vy and childishness. It is said that the favourite amusement 
of the new titular, who had passed all his life as a prisoner in the 
Deorhi-i-Salatin (q.v. Elliot and Dowson, VIII, 141, 247 n), was 
the flying of kites in the streets of the metropolis. Keene writes 
that *on the 3rd of August, Gholam Kadir gave proof of the de- 
graded barbarity of which Hindustani Pathans can be guilty 
by lounging on the throne on the Diwan Khas, side by side 
with the nominal emperor whom he covered with abuse and 
ridicule as he smoked the hookah in his face. Qn the 7th he 
visited the Emperor in his confinement and offered to put on the 
throne Mirza Akbar, the Emperor's favourite son who did in fact 
ultimately succeed. The only answer to these overtures was a 
request by Shah Alam that he might be left alone.” (Op. 
cit. 179-80.) (The italics are mine.) 
This last statement is interesting and demands notice. It 
shows that the idea of raising Muhammad Akbar to the throne 
had occurred to Ghulam Qadir three days, at least, before the 
Perpetration of those barbarities which have made him in- 
famous for all time.‘ ; 
Jt is true that Keene, or rather his authority, does not 
assert that Muhammad Akbar was at this time, or at any other, 
actually elevated to the Masnad, but the statement may, even 
as it stands, be fairly said to support the allegation of the see 
temporary newswriter. And this taken in conjunction wie 
the numismatic testimony, which is now fairly clear, may enti rf 
us to hold that at some time during the Revolution, Muhamma 
Akbar, the second son of Shah ‘Alam, was set up as Emperor 
by the Kohilla. ; 
When this exactly took place, it is in the oe » 
knowleage impossible to say, but it may be worth while in 
: : z ; é . o fix 
ing attention to certain considerations which enable * sen 
the time within very narrow limits. The Hijri date on 
in the Panjab Museum (P.M.C. 3277) as well as the copper 
coins in Mr. Whitehead’s own cabinet is 1203. Now if her 

; ye ion, the 
' If the ‘Calcutta Gazette’ or the sources of its informati 
: ** did not 
<* Dehlee papers” are to be credited, Isma‘il Beg from the first 
: ‘ o ungrate- 
Approve the choice formed by Ghoolam Cadir to fill the throne so ung! 
fully made vacant by him.” (Loe. cit., 264.) 
