Succeeds his brother on the throne. — An imposter, called Shah Arif, enters Kashmeer. — The King gives him his daughter in marriage. — The imposter exposed and expelled from the country. — An embassy from Dehly. — Death of Ally Chuk.
ON the death of Hoossein, his brother Ally was formally crowned at Serinuggur; and Dookna, the late minister to Hoossein Shah, received from the new monarch the seals of office. At this time, Shah Arif, a dervish of the Sheea persuasion, and who claimed relationship to Shah Tahmasp of Persia, arrived in Kashmeer from Lahore; where he had for some time lived under the protection of Hoossein Kooly Khan, governor of the Punjab. Ally, who was himself a Sheea, was so pleased with this stranger, that he gave him his daughter in marriage; while Ally Chuk, the son of Nowroze Chuk, and Ibrahim, the son of Ghazy Khan, absolutely worshipped this holy personage, and declared him to be the Imam Mehdy, who is to appear again in the last days. This infatuation carried them so far, that they resolved to dethrone Ally, and to raise Shah Arif to the government. The moment the King heard this, he took measures to persecute the dervish. The holy man gave out that he would, by means of his sanctity, convey himself to Lahore in one day; and on the following morning having disappeared, his disciples concluded that he had been transported by means of his art to some other country; but he was discovered to have paid a large sum to the ferryman to carry him across the river, and was taken at Baramoola, whither he had travelled. He again escaped, and was taken at the hill of Mehtur Sooliman; after which the King fined him in the sum of one thousand ashrufies, and taking away his daughter from him, compelled
A. H. 979.
A. D. 1571.
him to quit the kingdom. In the year 979, Ally, the son of Nowroze Chuk, represented that the minister, Dookna, had plundered the country, and that when spoken to on the subject he had conducted himself with great insolence. The King accordingly caused Dookna to be seized and sent to Gujraj, whence he effected his escape to the court of Hoossein Kooly Khan, governor of the Punjab; but that chief not receiving him with the cordiality he expected, he returned to Nowshehra, in Kashmeer, where he was apprehended, and sent to Serinuggur.
A. H. 980.
A. D. 1572.
In the year 980 Ally Shah marched at
the head of his army to Gunwar, commonly
called Kishtwar, and having espoused
the daughter of the prince of that country,
returned to his capital, where he received an embassy,
consisting of Moolla Eshky and Kazy Sudr-
A. H. 984.
A. D. 1575.
be married to the Prince Sulim.† * In the year 984 a severe famine was experienced in Kashmeer, in which many thousands of the inhabitants died. In
A. H. 986.
A. D. 1578.
the year 986 Ally Shah was killed by a fall from his horse, after a reign of nine years.