Mubariz Khan was the Mughal governor of Gujarat and Hyderabad Subah. He was the governor of Golconda from 1713 to 1724 until he was killed during the Battle of Shakar Kheda where he fought against Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah I. His is known to have ruled Golconda with a free hand and brought it under stable rule from constant Maratha Raids to extract Chauth. He is generally described as a proto-dynastic figure by John F Richards.
Early life
Mubariz Khan, a Turani officer under the service of Aurangzeb, was born as Khwaja Mohammad in Balkh. Of a relative obscure background, he entered the Mughal service as a clerk and got employment in various courts, but he soon got his big career break when he married the daughter of Inayat Khan Kashmiri, a noble in the favour of Aurangzeb. His brother-in-law was Sayyid Dilawar Ali Khan Barha, a nephew and a partisan of the Sayyid Brothers. He was appointed as the Bakshi of Prince Kam Baksh and later Faujdar of Sangamner. In the year 1703-1704 of Aurangzeb's reign, he was given the title Amanat Khan and was appointed as the faujdar of Baizapur. His highest ranking was 1500(Zat) during Aurangzeb's rule. During the reign of Bahadur Shah, he was given the charge of Surat and later became governor of Gujarat after the demise of Firuz Jang. He was removed from Gujarat to Malwa during Jahandar Shah's reign. He received the title of Shahamat Khan. It was in 1713 that he was appointed as the governor of Hyderabad during Farrukhsiyar's reign. He was given the title of Mubariz Khan with which he was later to be known.
Governor of Golconda
When he was given the charge of governor, he was given with much more powers than his predecessors in administering the province. With the death of Aurangzeb, Golconda lost its prominence and splendour was subjected to numerous plunder raids by the Marathas to extract Chauth. The rise in social banditry resulted in the decline of trade. Its governors had proven a failure in putting a check on its decline but Mubariz Khan was someone with a difference.
Upon taking up his charge, he was given the charge of Srikakulam which was under the charge of a renegade faujdar named Abid Khan who was ruling it with autonomy. Unlike various governors he began to bring back Golconda into stable Mughal rule. In the early months of 1714, he defeated a Maratha raid party near Hyderabad in which the raiders suffered 150 dead and 100 as casualties. He also drove off Krishna Malhar, the Maratha chief who was occupying Elgandel town.
Mubariz Khan in his efforts to bring back Mughal rule resorted to, extreme violence. An incident will suffice to indicate his position vis-a-vis opponents. A local Telugu Nayak named Venkat held the fort of Changapettah. Mubariz at first laid a 40-day siege to the fort in the thick hot summer and personally ordered for an assault on the fort. In the thick of the battle, Venkat and his son-in-law Birmal was killed. The Army of Islam (Laskar-I-Islam) took 400 prisoners and suffered 260 dead, 350 injured as casualties. To proclaim his victory he erected in true Central Asian fashion a tower of skulls to instill fear to his opponents and to the locals. Changapettah and its fort was renamed as Farrukhnagar and the decapitated trunk of Venkat was crushed by the feet of an elephant and the decapitated head of Venkat was sent to the Mughal Emperor at Delhi.
When Saiyyad Husain Ali Khan was appointed as viceroy of Deccan, he was met with hostilities of the local imperial agents (Daud Khan Panni for one instance) .This was due to letters sent by Farrukhsiyar to officials to not co-operate with the Sayyid. Instead of joining the emperor's side, Mubariz Khan joined the Sayyid's side . In December 1715, Mubariz Khan went to Aurangabad to meet Hussain Ali Khan and he got the confirmation of the Governorship of Golconda and he was appointed as Diwan which gave him more powers to control and exact revenue. This resulted in the total abdication of the central Mughal regime from the financial structure of Golconda.