But Kunduri was soon deposed and then put to death...

But Kunduri was soon deposed and then put to death, it is said,[^18]on the advice of Nizam al-Mulk, who had then become the full-fledged Prime Minister of the Saljuq Empire.

He became the real master of the whole realm with the succession of Malik-shah to his father’s throne in 465/1072, which he owed entirely to Nizam al-Mulk’s efforts.[^19] From the capital of the Saljuqs, his influence spread to the capital of the ‘Abbasid Caliph, who is said to have dignified him with the title of Radi-u Amir al-Mu’minin , never before conferred on a vizier.[^20] He had done much to stabilize the power of the Saljuqs, and to improve their administration, and, therefore, when Malik shah once threatened him with dismissal he dare to reply that the kingship was linked with his vizierate.[^21] In his last days, he came into collision with the Isma‘iliyyah movement of Hassan b.

Sabbah, in whose activities he saw danger to the Saljuq Empire. He had actually once deputed Abu Muslim Radi to arrest Hassan,[^22] but Abu Muslim was himself assassinated by one of the fida’is (the Assassins) in 485/1092.

It will be in place here to refer to the two Persian works of Nizam al-Mulk, which are the chief sources for the study of his political ideas: the Sayasat Nameh (The Book on State-craft) and the Dastur al-Wuzara’ (The Conduct of Ministers) or, as it is more generally known, the Wasaya-i Khuwaja Nizam al-Mulk (The Precepts of Khuwaja Nizam al-Mulk).

He is said to have written yet another work entitled as Safar Nameh (The Book of Travels) which is now extinct.[^23] Certain changes and additions may have been made to the original text in a later period, but the Siyasat Nameh has generally been recognized as the genuine composition of Nizam al-Mulk himself.

There has been some controversy among scholars about the authenticity of the Wasaya on account of the doubtful “Tale of the Three School Fellows,” which has been set out in detail in the preface of the treatise. There is no need to revive this half a century old controversy[^24] as it has nothing to do with the study of his political thought. The Wasaya is not claimed to be the composition of Nizam al-Mulk himself in the sense in which the Siyasat Nameh is considered to be his work.

It was compiled in the ninth/15th[^25] century by an anonymous person whose family, as he claims in the preface, descended from Nizam al-Mulk.