The rebellion of the people of the district of Koorg, and the march of the victorious standards of the Sultán to punish the insubordinate inhabitants of that quarter, and the capture there of eighty thousand men and women, with other occurrences of that year, 1198, Hijri.— A. D. 1783.
WHEN Zein ool Abidín Khán, Mehdivi, the Foujdár of Koorg, from his intimacy with the Sultán, and the confidence he reposed in him was placed in uncontrolled authority there, he filled all parts of the kingdom with rebellion, and regulated the affairs of the government according merely to his caprice and folly;— insomuch that from the inherent vices of his disposition, he extended the hand of lust to the women of the peasantry, and compelled the handsomest among them to submit to his will and pleasure. In consequence of this tyrannical conduct, the whole of the people of Koorg advanced into the field of enmity and defiance, and every one in his own district prepared for battle, and Momuti Náír and Runga Náír, the ministers of the Poligar of that place, who eagerly looked out for such an opportunity to attack the Sultán’s troops, assembled all their retainers and peasantry, surrounded and besieged Zufurabád, plundered all the country in its vicinity, and had reduced the besieged to such extremities, that even during the light of day they were afraid to quit the walls of the fort. In addition to these misfortunes, they had neglected to provide themselves with a sufficient stock of provisions and ammunition. The Khán, who was the source and origin of these troubles, at these occurrences began to be ashamed of himself, he being shut up with the rest; however, by disguising a Jasoos, or spy, he despatched him to the presence, with an account of what had occurred and the insolence of the besiegers.
When the Jasoos had delivered the letter, and and had detailed the situation of affairs, the Sultán determined himself to punish the people of Koorg, who had frequently before rebelled against his government, and had blocked up the path of duty and obedience with the thorns and stakes of sedition and rebellion, and had also given the troops of the Sultán unceasing trouble.
He therefore issued orders to the quarter master general, to proceed with the Tiger standard and the blue Pavilion, and pitch them in the vicinity of Sultán Peeth, a town lately built at the distance of one fursung and a half west from the capital, and Zein ul Abidín Shoostri, Sipahdár with his Kushoon and abundance of stores, and two thousand Ahshám or irregular foot was sent in advance as a warning to the rebels. The Sultán giving him orders to proceed without delay, by forced marches to the fort of Zufurabád, and give the rebels such a lesson as would in some measure restore the peace of the country until the arrival of the royal army, and likewise to inform the inexperienced Foujdár there of the speedy arrival of the Sultán, and to give him every assurance of succour and support.
The Sipahdár above mentioned, who was a notorious coward, although, according to the Sultán’s orders he marched on quickly, and arrived at the gate of the Ghaut; still, as the rebels, as soon as they became aware of his arrival attacked him on all sides with their arrows and muskets, they soon dissipated his senses and manhood. He, therefore, being a person who had never before seen fighting, but had spent his life in religious studies, lost all confidence, and retired under the protection of the Kotul or pass of Sudapoor; and there fortified his encampment, and notwithstanding all the Risaldárs and Sipahdárs accompanying him, men who had been trained to war under the instruction of the brave commandant, Muhammad Alí, could say, in prompting and urging him to move on, still the Sipahdár, struck with fear, made the ague and fever and a pain in the stomach his excuse, and refused to move forward a step. “Truly,— how can the hard duties of soldiers be expected from luxurious and effeminate men:”— when these circumstances became known to the Sultán, he bestowed a few maledictions on his worthless officer, and after making his arrangements and paying his troops all which took up a fortnight, the dispenser of justice with twenty thousand regular infantry, twelve thousand irregular foot, ten thousand good horse, and twenty-two guns on the fifteenth of the month of Zi-huj, with all the pomp and circumstance of war marched towards that quarter.
After the Sultán had arrived and encamped near the stockade, or bound hedge of the Koorg district, leaving all his horse at the Ghaut of Sudapoor, Puria Puttun, and Munzurabád; he with his irregular foot, Kushoons and artillery, crossing the Ghaut, threw himself like a raging lion into the midst of that frightful forest, the Koorg country.— Verses,— “What can I say of this wonderful wilderness.”— “The pen trembles at its mention alone.” Its bamboo brakes intricate as the woolly curls of an Abyssinian:— the roads or paths as confused as the lines of the galaxy.* The high and low lands of that country unequal as the souls of the generous and miserly. The hills and valleys impassable. The low grounds covered with rice crops as high as the waist. The elephant of fancy is here immersed in its quagmires to the breast. The boughs of many kinds of trees such as the teak, the tall sandal, the white gum and the ood, (a sweet smelling wood) reach with their highest branches the Palm tree of Toba, (in Paradise), and the tendrils of the black pepper vine spread the net of deceit over all other shrubs and trees. The fields of Kakila, that is to say, cardamums, like fields of wheat and barley blooming over hill and dale,— cinnamon trees, also, like the light and clouds of the heavens distilling life and vigour over all the herbs of the field— and the fruits of the gardens, such as falsa, (a berry used in making sherbet) citrons, the custard apple, the Burheil, and jamoo, (a kind of plum) the plantain, are the dispensers of honey and sugar, to the bitter palates of the unfortunate. The rivers in that country like the eyes of the sorrowful, always overflowing. The tanks and reservoirs on the roads like the eyes of the forsaken, full day and night. The bride of the verdant earth drowned in the dew of modesty, veils herself from the eyes of the sun in the dark shades of the forest;— parterres of the buds, or flowerets, of the Mehdí, Velvet, and hundred-leaved, roses, always blossoming, like wanton girls, take off their modest veils to shew their beauties. Wild elephants resembling mountains, both male and female, like troops of buffaloes wander about at their perfect freedom, and the young elephants like young Abyssinians making chowkans (a kind of cricket bat) of their trunks play at ball.*