Sadr Nizámat Adálat, or chief criminal court, was still entrusted to a Darogá, or native judge, appointed by the Governor in Council. In each Court the judges were aided by native assessors skilled in expounding the subtleties of Hindu and Muhammadan law. All these changes were begun or effected during the first year of Hastings' government.
Nor was this the whole record of work done in that period on behalf of the new policy ordained from England. As the titular Nawáb of Bengal had now ceased to reign, the office of Náíb Súbah, or deputy-viceroy, was done away. The Nawáb's stipend was cut down by one half, to sixteen lakhs of rupees (£160,000) a year. The process of retrenchment was applied to the pension list and the expenses of the Nawáb's household. For guardian to the little prince who had lately succeeded to his father's titles, Hastings selected the Manni Begam, widow of the unfortunate Mír Jafar. To the office of Diwán, or controller of the household, he appointed Rájá Gurdás, son of his old enemy and future assailant, Mahárájá Nanda-Kumár, who had once held high office in Mír Jafar's government. From the time when he became Governor of Húglí under Súráj-ud-daulá to the year 1762, when Hastings helped to convict him of plotting against the Company, Nanda-Kumár's life had been one long intrigue. 'The man' — writes Hastings in 1772 — 'never was a favourite of mine, and was engaged in doing me many ill offices for seven years together.'
The misdeeds of that wily Bráhman, his plots, his
