Question

How can you say that the mir Qasim was not a puppet nawab

Answer 1

The early life of Mir Qasim is obscure like that of many other characters of Indian History. No chronicler thought it necessary to enquire into the details of his younger days, and he had no court historian of his own, who could have left a detailed account of his life and activities. The date and the place of his birth are un- known, and cannot be ascertained. All that can be said is that he came of an ancient and noble family of Persian extraction. His father, nominally an Imperial mansabdar, was one of the numerous jagirdars in Bengal.^ His name was very probably Razi Khan.® Mir Qasim’s grandfather was Imtiaz Khan, a distinguished poet, surnamed Khalis, ^ Khulasat-ut Tawarikh (J.B.O.R.S., V, p. 344). ® Ibid, There is a diversity of opinion in regard to this point. In the Siyar (Lucknow Text, p. 691), it is mentioned that Mir Qasim was a son of Sayyid Murtaza, although in Raymond’s Translation of the Siyar (Calcutta Reprint, II, p. 374) the name given is “ Seyd- Arizy-qhan.” According to the Riyazu-s-Salatin (A.S.B. Text, p. 379), Mir Qasim’s father was Nawab Imtiaz Khan, but this is a mistake, as the latter is stated to have been Mir Qasim’s grandfather by all other chroniclers including Kalyan Singh, and Ghulam Husain. Kalyan Singh, however, may be relied upon, as he expressly mentions, “ the author has heard from trustworthy persons that he was a sjjn of Mir Razi Khan