Note 87 — The Fifteenth New Year’s Feast after the Auspicious Accession
Alexander Rogers translation
On this day the Qāẓī and the Chief Justice represented to me that ʿAbdu-l-Wahhāb, the son of Ḥakīm ʿAlī, claimed Rs. 80,000 from the Sayyids of Lahore, and produced a bond with the seal of Qāẓī Nūru-llah. He said that his father had placed that sum in deposit with Sayyid Walī, the father of these men, who denied it.87 If an order were given, the Ḥakīm’s son, by way of caution,88 would swear an oath on the Qoran, and would take what was his due from them. I told them to do whatever was right by the Divine Law. The next day Muʿtamid K͟hān represented that the Sayyids showed great humility and submissiveness. The matter was a complicated89 one. The greater reflection shown in ascertaining the truth in the matter the better. I accordingly ordered that Āṣaf K. should take exceeding trouble and forethought in ascertaining the truth of this quarrel, and point out such a way (of unravelling it) that no doubt whatever should remain. With all this, if it could not be cleared up, I would examine them in my own presence. Immediately he heard these words, the Ḥakīm’s son lost both his hands and his heart in the affair, and made a number of his friends intercessors, and proposed a withdrawal. His representation was that if the Sayyids would not90 refer the matter to Āṣaf K. he would give a release, and that hereafter he would have no right against nor claim from them. Whenever Āṣaf K. sent to fetch him, as he was a low deceiver, he passed his time in making excuses, and did not appear until he handed over the deed of release to one of his friends, and the true state of affairs became evident to Āṣaf K. They brought him by force into the place of examination, and, having no choice, he confessed that the deed had been prepared by one of his servants, who himself witnessed it, and had misled him. He gave a writing to this effect. When Āṣaf K. informed me of the real state of matters, I took away his mansab and jagir, and cast him out of my presence, and gave the Sayyids leave to return to Lahore in all honour and respect.