1839.] E. E. OK'WK— (him of the Mtlhamnmdan Kings of Gujarat. S 



succeed to the throne, whom they might select. I'timad Khan replied 

 that there was a relative of the Sultan at Ahmadabad, whose name was 

 Ahmad Khan ; they might send for him. Accordingly they sent Amir 

 Raziu-l-mulk to fetch the boy. When Razi came to Ahmad Khan's 

 house, the boy was standing at a grain-dealer's shop close by his own door, 

 and was bringing away in the skirt of his dress some grain which he 

 had bought for his pigeons. Raziu-l-mulk recognised him, got out of 

 the cart, carried him off, and placing him in it, turned it round, and 

 drove off, with very fast horses, to Mahmudabad. The Khan's nurse 

 wept, and made a disturbance, saying : " What is this ? Where are you 

 going to take him ?" Raziu-l-Mulk called out : " I am going to take him 

 to a place where all the world will to-morrow crowd round his house, 

 and where he will not find one friend." 



The Amir's prophecy proved true. The boy king's career was a 

 short and a sad one. He was placed on the throne on the loth Rabi'n-1- 

 awwal 961 H. as Ahmad II. ; the affairs of state meanwhile remaining 

 entirely in I'timad's hands. On the coins he calls himself " Qutbu-d-din, 

 the son of Mahmiid," titles also adopted by the succeeding puppet. Five 

 years later Ahmad is described as flying from his capital for refuge with 

 one of his courtiers, but as brought back defeated. On another occasion 

 he tried other means to get rid of his powerful minister, when the latter, 

 beginning to feel insecure, decided to get rid of the king. One account 

 says I'timad killed him, another that Ahmad was found murdered out- 

 side the Palace walls on the 5th Sha'ban 968 H. 



Having got rid of Ahmad, I'timad now raised a child named Nathii 

 to the throne, " who did not belong to the line of kings," but who he 

 swore was a son of Mahniud's. The mother, when pregnant, had been 

 handed over to him to make her miscarry, but, the child being five months 

 old, he had not carried out the order. The nobles had to swallow this 

 new variety of the story, and Nathu was placed on the throne as 

 Muzaffar III. 



It was the old story of a nominal king under a powerful minister, 

 who was the real head of the Government, and who, though several of the 

 Amirs had secured portions of the country and declined to recognise 

 his authority, had become practically independent. In the account of 

 the divisions and revenues of Gujarat, given in the Mirdt-i-Ahmadt, 

 I'timad's establishment and income is shown in 979 H. as all but equal 

 to the nominal kings ; he having 9,000 horse and 30 krors of " tank- 

 chahs," against Muzaffar's 10,000 horse and 33 krors of tankahahs ; the 

 remainder of a total of 30,000 horse and 90 krors of tankohahs, being 

 divided amongst some half dozen nobles. The result was incessant 

 feuds. In 980 Akbar was invited by I'timad to occupy Gujarat, and 



