Editing Muhammad Shah (section)

=== Loss of Deccan ''subahs'' ===
[[File:Emperor Muhammad Shah LACMA AC1997.127.1.jpg|thumb|The Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah and his family]]
On 21 February 1722, Muhammad Shah appointed the Asaf Jah I as Grand Vizier. He advised Muhammad Shah to be "as cautious as [[Akbar]] and as brave as [[Aurangzeb]]". Asaf Jah used his influence with the emperor to fulfil his territorial ambitions in the Deccan. He lost the emperor's confidence when he appointed Hamid Khan, a relative to [[Saadullah Khan (Mughal Empire)|Saadullah Khan]] and his maternal uncle, to administer Gujarat after having sending him on the pretext of restoring order to the province.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jaswant Lal Mehta |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1wUgKKzawoC |title=Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707–1813 |date=2005 |publisher=New Dawn Press, Incorporated |isbn=9781932705546 |page=145}}</ref> Realising his loss of influence and trust from the emperor, Asaf Jah resigned as Grand Vizier and returned to the Deccan.<ref>{{cite book |author=Ronald Vivian Smith |title=The Delhi that No-one Knows |date=2005 |publisher=DC Publishers |page=60}}</ref>

Asaf Jah I appointed commander Ewaz Khan as the master of the garrison at [[Aurangabad, Maharashtra|Aurangabad]], and much of his logistical duties were carried out by Inayatullah Kashmiri.<ref name="google2">{{cite book |author=Mehta, J.L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d1wUgKKzawoC |title=Advanced Study in the History of Modern India 1707–1813 |publisher=New Dawn Press, Incorporated |year=2005 |isbn=9781932705546}}</ref> In 1723 he set out on an expedition to the Deccan, where he fought [[Mubariz Khan]], the Mughal [[Subahdar]] of the Deccan, who had kept the ravaging [[Maratha Empire]] at bay. Mubariz Khan was a former ally of the Barha Sayyids, who was appointed by Muhammad Shah to kill Asaf Jah I.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bkRxDwAAQBAJ&dq=muhammad+shah+appointed+mubariz+khan&pg=PA6 |title=A New Look at Modern Indian History (From 1707 to The Modern Times), 32e |date=2018 |publisher=S Chand Limited |isbn=9789352534340 |page=6}}</ref> Taking advantage of Mubariz Khan's conventional weaknesses, Asaf Jah I defeated and eliminated his opponent during the [[Battle of Shakar Kheda]]. Asaf Jah I then established the [[Hyderabad State]] and appointed himself the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]] in 1725. 

The Mughal-Maratha Wars (1728–1763)<ref>{{cite book |author=Tony Jaques |title=Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A–E |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2007 |isbn=978-0313335372 |series=Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity Through the Twenty-first Century |volume=1 |page=xxxix}}</ref> would cause irreparable devastation to six Deccan ''[[Subah|subahs]]''–[[Khandesh]], [[Bijapur]], [[Berar Subah|Berar]], [[Aurangabad]], [[Hyderabad Subah|Hyderabad]] and [[Bidar]]. Asaf Jah would the Marathas to invade [[Malwa Subah|Malwa]] and the northern territories of the Mughal empire to protect his newfound independence.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p5VYH7FhoTsC&q=It+is+necessary+to+take+our+hands+off+Malwa.+God+willing,+I+will+enter+into+an+understanding+with+them |title=Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Poona: Volumes 51–53 |date=1970 |publisher=Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute |page=94 |quote=The Mughal court was hostile to Nizam-ul-Mulk. If it had the power, it would have crushed him. To save himself from the hostile intentions of the Emperor, the Nizam did not interfere with the Maratha activities in Malwa and Gujarat. As revealed in the anecdotes narrated b Lala Mansaram, the Nizam-ul-Mulk considered the Maratha army operating in Malwa and Gujarat as his own}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1BY9AAAAIAAJ&dq=Finally+,+in+the+following+year+,+the+nizam+entered+into+a+secret+agreement+with+the+peshwa+by+which+he+offered+to&pg=PA549 |title=The New Cambridge Modern History |date=1957 |publisher=University Press |page=549}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Shripid Rama Sharma |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h6Y9AAAAMAAJ&q=connived |title=Mughal Empire in India, 1526–1761: Volume 3 |date=1934 |publisher=Karnatak Printing Press}}</ref> The Nizam described the [[Maratha Army|Maratha army]] to be an instrument to be wielded to his own advantage in the ''Maasir-i Nizami'':<ref>{{cite book |author=Richard M. Eaton |title=Expanding Frontiers in South Asian and World History Essays in Honour of John F. Richards |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=21}}</ref><blockquote>
"I consider all this army (Marathas) as my own and I will get my work done through them. It is necessary to take our hands off Malwa. God willing, I will enter into an understanding with them and entrust the ''Mulukgiri'' (raiding) on that side of the [[Narmada River|Narmada]] to them."
</blockquote>The ears of the Muhammed Shah were possessed by the Amir-ul-Umara, Khan-i Dauran.<ref>{{cite book |author=William Irvine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ak5oFjTys8MC&dq=khan+dauran+ears+muhammad+shah&pg=RA1-PA336 |title=Later Mughals |date=1971 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri |page=336}}</ref> Muhammad Shah appointed [[Itimad-ad-Daula, Qamar-ud-Din Khan|Qamar-ud-Din Khan]] as Grand Wazir to succeed Asaf Jah. However, he was quickly dismissed in favour of [[Roshan-ud-Daulah|Roshan-ud-Daulah Turrah Baz Khan]], a native of Panipat,<ref>{{cite book |author=V D. Mahajan  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vDscEAAAQBAJ&dq=raushan+daulah+panipati&pg=PA13 |title=Modern Indian History |date=2020 |publisher=Publisher: S Chand & Company Limited |isbn=9789352836192 |page=13}}</ref> who was appointed the Grand Wazir, in order to reduce the influence of the Turani family.<ref>{{cite book |author=Jagadish Narayan Sarkar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dohDAAAAYAAJ&q=nizam+nephew+qamaruddin |title=A Study of Eighteenth Century India: Political history, 1707–1761 |date=1976 |publisher=the University of Virginia |page=31}}</ref> 

Despite the loss of the Deccan ''subahs'' in 1724, the [[Nawab of Awadh]] [[Saadat Ali Khan I|Saadat Ali Khan]] and the Mughal ''subahdar'' Dilawar Khan (r. 1726–1756) remained loyal to the emperor and established a well-protected bastion on the [[Malabar Coast]].