54 
W. Irvine —The Later Mu ff h ah. 
[No. 1, 
this time, the two Sayyads gave np attendance at darbar, and persisted 
in demanding the acceptance of their resignation of rank and office. 
Meanwhile they fortified their houses, and after Farrukhsiyar’s return 
to the palace, negotiations went on for nine days. Among the messages 
they sent was one asking for a grant of several lakhs of dams , payable 
from the country round their home, to which they would retire; or they 
offered to recover Balkh and Badakhshan, which might be given them 
in jdglr if they were successful. On the other hand, if they failed 
they would have earned a name which would survive until the Day of 
Judgment. If this request, too, was refused, let the plotters against 
them appear and fig-lit them on the sands of the Jamnah below the 
palace windows ( jharokah ), the Emperor becoming spectator and umpire. 
Power would belong to the survivors. To all these importunities the 
Emperor’s answer was that no plot against them was in existence. 1 
The conspirators told the Emperor that as the Sayyads were strongly 
supported by a large army and a numerous following of relations and 
adherents, their only object in offering to resign was to secure an 
unopposed withdrawal from the city, where they saw that it was im¬ 
possible to carry out a successful revolt. Once in their home country, 
they would be certain to break out into rebellion. From this stage, the 
quarrel having become public, concealment was no longer possible and 
the principal nobles were called into consultation by Farrukhslyar. 
Finally it was resolved not to interfere openly with the Sayyads, but 
to appoint a new wazlr, in the hope that their adherents would fall 
away from them. Most of these had resorted to them with the object 
of obtaining assignments on the land revenue. Deserted, as they pro¬ 
bably would be, by these men, their party would be weakened and their 
consequence would gradually diminish. 
It is said that the leader in giving this advice was Mohammad 
Amin Khan, 1‘timad-ud-daulah. His idea was that, since in length of 
service, nobility of family, fertility of resource, and ability as a soldier, 
there was in his opinion no one his equal or rival, the Emperor’s choice 
must fall upon him. And it is quite likely that, if he had been sup¬ 
ported and given authority to act, he could have carried the affair to a 
successful termination. But the Emperor’s advisers foresaw that if 
the present danger were overcome through his aid, and their first 
enemies removed out of their way, to get rid afterwards of the victor 
would be a still more arduous enterprize than the one at present before 
them. They preferred that Mir Jumlah should receive the robes of Diwan 
and assume the office of chief minister. Now, as a contemporary writer 
remarks, Mir Jumlah and Khan Dauran “ were only carpet knights 
1 Kam Raj, 536, Mirza Muhammad, 193. 
