346 
W. Irvine —The Later Mughals. 
proposed to set aside the imperial house altogether, the throne being 
transferred to one of the two brothers. 1 2 * * This would have been in 
accordance with Eastern precedent, where the successful rebel usually 
claims the crown as the prize of victory. And the virtues of the 
Mughal line as an instrument of rule being obviously expended, it 
would probably have been better, in most ways, if the sovereignty had 
been usurped by a newer and more vigorous family. Probably the 
difficulty, an insurmountable one as it proved, was to decide which 
brother should reign, neither being ready to give way to the other. 8 
A consultation was held in order to select a prince, and the lot 
fell upon Prince Bedar Dil, son of Bedar Bakht, grandson of ‘Alamgir, 
who was known as having the best understanding among all the princes. 
By the time that this had been decided, the outbreak in the city, as we 
have already related, had occurred. The case seemed urgent and the 
greatest haste was made. Qutb-ul-mulk sent his own master of the 
ceremonies, Qadir Dad Khan, and a number of the Jodhpur Rajah’s 
personal attendants, or Bhandaris , 8 to bring out the prince selected. 
When these messengers arrived at the door of the prince’s dwelling, 
where also were assembled the sons of Prince Rafi $ -ush-shan, the 
women jumped to the conclusion that, having made Farrukhslyar a 
prisoner, the Sayyads had now sent men to slay all the princes of the 
royal house, and thus make clear their own way to the throne. Under 
this impression, they barred the door, locked it on the inside, and hid 
the prince in a store-cupboard. In vain the messengers called out: 
“ We have come to escort Prince Bedar Dil, and place him on the 
throne.” Not a word was listened to, and the men were repelled with 
sticks and stones. As there was no possibility of searching or delaying 
longer, for the danger that the rioters in the street might get the 
upper hand increased every moment, the Nawab ordered a band of 
men with hatchets to break in the door. On forcing an entrance, their 
first effort was to find the particular prince who had been named to 
sit upon the throne. But his mother wept and wailed beyond measure, 
nor could they find the key of the store-room. In despair, they turned 
towards the sons of Rafi‘ush-shan, and out of them picked Rafi‘-ud- 
darajat. Although he was the youngest of the three, in intelligence 
1 The traditional account is that the idea was broached by Jalal Khan of 
Jalalabad (Muzaffarnagar district). But he was dead; it might have been sugges¬ 
ted, however, by his second son, Dlndar Khan, who was present at Dihli. 
2 Kam Raj, 67a ; Gahya Khan, 125a; Muhammad Qasim, Lahori, 239; Khushhar 
Cand, 413b; Ahwal-i-Khawqin, 145b, 146a. 
8 Bhandari, A house-steward, treasurer, purveyor (Shakespear, 411). 
