Originally Khwaja Asim, he was made Samsam ud-Daula (Sword of the State) Khan-i Dauran and was the Mir Bakshi and Amir-ul-Umara.

He was the head of all the imperial nobility and the commander-in-chief of the Mughal army during the reign of Muhammad Shah,[1][2] and served the Emperor until his death at the Battle of Karnal.

His intimacy with the Prince was founded, however, on joining him in wrestling, archery, riding, polo-playing and other war-like exercises, of which Farrukhsiyar was passionately fond.

Farrukhsiyar attempted to raise Khan-i-Dauran as a favourite in order to establish independence from the rule of the Indian Muslim Sayyid Brothers.

[19][20] He had success in driving Asaf Jah I away from the court to the Deccan,[21] after which all power practically fell into the hands of the Mir Bakhshi, Khan-i-Dauran.

After the arrival of a contingent of Mughal forces under the command of Sa'adat Khan, the rearguard of this reinforcing column came under attack from Persian skirmishes who looted the baggage.

Khan Dowran's soldiers were decimated and he himself was badly injured and died later that evening after being carried back to the Mughal camp by his retainers.

Although Khan-i-Dauran had set out with his cavalry to engage the enemy, the rest of the army under the Nizam remained inert during battle, who, according to the Siyar-ul-Muhtakhrin, "probably hoped to take the places of these rivals at court if they perished".

[30] The wounded body of Khan-i-Dauran was brought back to the Mughal camp, where he regained consciousness and said in a weak voice, "I have myself finished my own business.

[11] Nawab Sadr-ud-Din Muhammad Khan Fa'iz, the first poet in Northern India who wrote a Diwan in Rekhta or Urdu in 1715, participated in Musha'irahs and academic gatherings at the residence of Khan-i-Dauran, and these he describes vividly in the Risala-i Manazrat.