Page:Studies in Mughal India.djvu/227

This page needs to be proofread.
ORISSA IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
221
  • Mir Ismail, ?-October, 1660.
  • Mirza Ibrahim, Bakhshi, officiates as diwan also, October, 1660-March, 1661, dismissed.
  • Muhammad Hashim, March 1661-c. 1663, dismissed.
  • Muhammad Tahir, died in the province.
  • Muhammad Taqi, c. October, 1664-1665?
  • Khwajah Muhammad Mumin, c. 1665-?

Owing to the political disturbances through which the province had passed at the end of Shah Jahan's reign, the loss of financial papers, and the appointment of an almost entirely new staff of officials, the revenue department was in a very unsatisfactory and confused condition during the first few years of Aurangzib's reign. Some of the provincial diwans seem to have been inefficient, slack or dishonest; otherwise we cannot account for their rapid succession and frequent dismissal. A permanent diwan arrived in March 1661 in the person of Muhammad Hashim. This man set to work with the proverbial energy of a new broom. Proud of having been appointed from the Court by the officiating Imperial Chancellor (Rajah Raghunath), and no doubt charged with a mission to reform the administration of the department and realize the State dues fully, he reached the province with a contempt for his predecessors in office and a deep-rooted suspicion that the Subahdar had been robbing the State in collusion with the local diwans.

Muhammad Hashim, diwan, started by rudely quarrelling with Khan-i-Dauran. The Subahdar wrote to him on 1st July. 1661, "Your predecessors were

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.