The Raja of Beejanuggur, notwithstanding his vast army,
consisting of thirty thousand cavalry, besides infantry, was so
alarmed, that he sent off his treasure and elephants towards his
capital the next morning, preparatory to engaging or retreating,
as he might deem most advisable. The night being stormy and
heavy rain falling, the elephants and other beasts of burden stuck
frequently in the mud, and were unable to advance above four
miles from the camp. Mahomed Shah, hearing of the movement
of the Hindoos, immediately marched against them, leaving his
tents standing. Towards the dawn he arrived at the Raja's
camp; and the alarm being given, so great was the consternation,
that the infidels fled, with the utmost precipitation, to Adony,
leaving everything behind them. Mahomed Shah fell in with
that part of the camp composing their market and baggage, and
put to death, without distinction, men, women, and children, free
and slave, to the number of seventy thousand souls. According
to the Tohfut-oos-Sulateen, two thousand elephants, three hundred
gun-carriages and battering rams, seven hundred Arabian horses
and a sing'hasun set with jewels, were included in the booty of
the King; all other articles were left to the officers and soldiers.
Mahomed Shah, regarding this victory as the omen of others,
after passing the rainy season near Moodkul, and being reinforced
by Khan Mahomed from Dowlutabad, marched against the infidels
in Adony, on the plains of which place, near the Toong-
At this time, a favourite remarked to the King, “that he had only sworn to slaughter one hundred thousand Hindoos, and not to destroy their race altogether.” The King replied, “that though twice the number required by his vow might have been slain, yet till the Ray satisfied the musicians, he would neither make peace nor spare the lives of his subjects.” To this the ambassadors, who had full powers, immediately agreed, and the money was paid on the instant. Mahomed Shah then said, “Praise be to God, that what I ordered has been performed! I would not let a light word be recorded of me in the pages of history.”
The ambassadors, seeing the King pleased, bowed their foreheads to the ground, and besought him to hear from them a few words. Being permitted to speak, they observed, that no religion required the innocent to be punished for the crimes of the guilty, more especially helpless women and children; if Krishn Ray had been in fault, the poor and feeble inhabitants had not been accessary to his errors. Mahomed Shah replied, that the decrees of Providence had ordered what had been done, and that he had no power to alter them. The ambassadors observed, that as the bestower of kingdoms had conferred on him the government of the Deccan, it was probable that his successors and the princes of the Carnatic might long remain neighbours, which made it advisable to avoid cruelty in war; and they proposed, therefore, that a treaty should be made not to slaughter the helpless and unarmed inhabitants in future battles. Mahomed Shah, struck with the good sense of this proposal, took an oath, that he would not, hereafter, put to death a single enemy after a victory, and would bind his successors to observe the same line of conduct. From that time to this, it has been the general custom in the Deccan to spare the lives of prisoners in war, and not to shed the blood of an enemy's unarmed subjects. Mahomed Shah, after he had thus received satisfaction, returned to Koolburga, visiting on his way Sheikh Siraj-ood-deen, to whose prayers as well as to the charities sent to Meeca with his mother, he ascribed his successes over the Hindoos. * * *
Mahomed Shah was buried by the side of his father,—and the words “All is vanity” were engraved by his orders on his tomb. Happy the king who passes a reign like his, and of whom such memorials remain! He was respected in his life, and after his death remembered on account of his virtues.
According to the Siraj-ool-Towareekh, so much treasure and such numbers of elephants, as were collected in the household of Mahomed Shah Bahmuny, were never possessed by any other prince of that dynasty. He had three thousand male and female elephants; and in the reign of any other king we only read of two thousand. The sums of gold accumulated by him, according to the same author, exceeded those acquired by other princes a full half. No prince before him ever so far reduced the Rajas and Zemindars of the Carnatic, from whom he wrested much of the accumulated riches of seven hundred years; and it is computed that in his reign nearly five hundred thousand unbelievers fell by the swords of the warriors of Islam, by which the population of the Carnatic was so reduced, that it did not recover for several ages. Mahomed Shah reigned seventeen years.
Ahmud Shah, without waiting to besiege the Hindoo capital, overran the open country, and wherever he went, put to death men, women, and children, without mercy, contrary to the compact made between his uncle and predecessor, Mahomed Shah, and the Rays of Beejanuggur. Wherever the number of slain amounted to twenty thousand, he halted three days, and made a festival in celebration of the bloody event. He broke down, also, the idolatrous temples, and destroyed the colleges of the Brahmins. During these operations, a body of five thousand Hindoos, urged by desperation at the destruction of their religious buildings, and at the insults offered to their deities, united in taking an oath to sacrifice their lives in an attempt to kill the King as the author of all their sufferings. * * *
* In the year 829 Ahmud Shah marched to reduce a rebellious Zemindar of Mahoor, who still retained several strong places which held out against his troops. The rebel soon submitted; but Ahmud Shah, though he had assured him of pardon, put him to death in violation of his promise, as soon as he fell into his hands, together with five or six thousand of his followers, compelling, at the same time, all the captive women and children to embrace the true faith. During this campaign, the King obtained possession of a diamond mine at Kullum, a place dependent on Gondwana, in which territory he razed many idolatrous temples, and, erecting mosques on their sites, appropriated to each some tracts of land to maintain holy men and to supply lamps and oil for religious purposes. * * *
Alla-ood-Deen Shah, upon this, wrote to him, that he valued the lives of the two chiefs equal to that of two hundred thousand common men. Therefore, as it was a rule with the princes of his family to slay a hundred thousand Hindoos in revenge for the death of a single Mussulman, he swore, should Dew Raj take away the lives of the two captive officers, he would revenge the death of each by the slaughter of a hundred thousand Hindoos. * * *
To every part of his dominions he sent censors of morals and just judges; and though he drank wine himself, he forbade the use of it to others, as also the practice of gaming. He put chains on the necks of Kullendurs, and idle, dissipated vagabonds, whom he punished by employing them in removing filth from the streets, in dragging heavy stones, and in the performance of all manner of laborious work, in order that they might reform, and either earn their livelihood by industry, or quit the country altogether. If any person, after admonition and moderate correction, was convicted of drinking wine, it was enacted, that melted lead should be poured down his throat, whatever might be the rank of the offender. * * *
* On the fourth day, however, they prevailed on the chiefs to come to an entertainment in the fort, at which all the principal foreigners, in number about three hundred, attended, with the exception of Kasim Beg (Suff Shikun) Kurra Khan Khoord and Ahmud Beg of Mecca. While in the act of eating, a number of armed men, on a signal given by Sher-ool-moolk, rushed upon them, and put every soul to the sword. At the same instant four thousand Deccanies outside the fort attacked the camp of the foreigners and put every male to death, even the very infants at the breast. After this tragedy, they plundered the tents, and treated the women with all the insult that lust or brutality could provoke. Since the time of Hoossein, the Syuds were never so maltreated; but is it not astonishing, that men who called themselves servants of the Prophet should so basely misuse his descendants? * * *
Hoomayoon Shah, now abandoning himself to the full indulgence
of his cruel propensities, and mad with rage, directed
stakes to be set up on both sides of the King's chouk, or marketplace,
and caused vicious elephants and wild beasts to be placed
in different parts of the square, in other places cauldrons of
scalding oil and boiling water were also prepared as instruments
of torture. The King, ascending a balcony in order to glut his
eyes on the spectacle, first cast his brother, Hussun Khan, before
a ferocious tiger, who soon tore the wretched Prince to pieces,
and devoured him on the spot. Yoosoof Toork, and his seven
associates, were then beheaded in the King's presence, and the
females of their innocent and helpless families, being dragged
from their houses, were violated and ill-treated in the palace-
The author of the Towareekh Mahmood Shahy states, he learned from the royal attendants, that upon the King's first hearing of the escape of the Prince Hussun Khan, rage and passion so overcame him, he tore his robes, bit his pillows, and often his own lips, in such a manner that they dropped with blood. Alarmed at the example of Hussun Khan, he put to death several innocent persons of the royal family who were confined in different fortresses. Nor did his suspicions rest here; many other persons of his own court fell the innocent victims of his indiscriminate cruelty. From this moment Hoomayoon threw off all restraint, and seized at will the children of his subjects, tearing them from their parents to gratify his passions. He would frequently stop nuptial processions in the street, and seizing the bride, after enjoying her, send her to the bridegroom's house. He was in the habit of putting the females of his own house to death for the most trivial offences; and when any of the nobility were obliged to attend him, so great was their dread, that they took leave of their families, as if preparing for death.