Imad Shah, convinced of the integrity of Assud Khan, heartily espoused his cause, and conducted him on the same day to Ibrahim Adil Shah, to whom he also soon made clear the error into which he had been led. Ibrahim Adil Shah clasped Assud Khan in his embrace, expressing contrition for his ill usage of him; and in order to convince him of his sincerity, he not only imprisoned Yoo-soof and his agents, who had abused his confi-ence, but conferred his estates on Ein-ool-Moolk Geelany, an officer of distinction whom Assud Khan had prevailed to quit the service of Ameer Bereed. The reconciliation between the King and his minister soon changed the state of affairs, and Ibrahim Adil Shah and Imad Shah marched to give the allies battle, who retreated with expe­dition towards Dowlutabad. They were hotly pursued by the Beejapoor and Berar troops, who took ample revenge for the depredations the enemy had committed in the Beejapoor territory. An event occurred, however, which brought about a peace. Ameer Bereed dying suddenly, Boorhan Nizam Shah was reduced to sue for terms; and the venerable Shah Tahir was sent as his ambassador to make the overtures. In the treaty which en­sued, it was agreed that the Sholapoor five districts, which had been taken by the allies, should be re­stored to Ibrahim Adil Shah, and Boorhan Nizam Shah promised never again to lay claim to them. The treaty being signed and exchanged, each of the sovereigns returned to their respective capitals.

A. H. 950.
A. D. 1543. In the following year, 950, Ibrahim Adil Shah married the daughter of Alla-ood-Deen Imad Shah, * named Rubeea Sool-tana, and the nuptials were celebrated with great splendour. Boorhan Nizam Shah, jealous of his military reputation, and vexed at the termination of the late war, declared he should enjoy no rest till he recovered the five districts he had been compelled to relinquish to Beejapoor. Accord­ingly, shortly after, availing himself of some dis­agreement which occurred between Ibrahim Adil Shah and Imad Shah, Boorhan Nizam Shah formed secret alliances with Ramraj of Beejanuggur, and Jumsheed Kootb Shah of Golconda, to wage war against the Beejapoor territories on the south and east, while with his own army, and the troops of Ally Bereed and Khwaja Jehan, he invaded them on the north-east. With this force he laid waste many districts, and on several occasions de­feated the Beejapoor troops sent to oppose his pro­gress. Jumsheed Kootb Shah, entering the king­dom on the east, seized the district of Kakny, in which he built a strong fort, and occupied the whole country to the walls of Koolburga, and, moreover, laid siege to the fortress of Etgeer, near the city of Sagur; while on the south Ramraj deputed his brother Venkatadry to reduce the fort of Rachore; so that the kingdom of Beejapoor, attacked at once by three powerful armies in separate quarters, seemed on the brink of destruction.

Ibrahim Adil Shah, at a loss how to act, and with­out confidence in the opinions of his counsellors, sent for Assud Khan from Belgam, and asked his advice. Assud Khan observed, that Boorhan Nizam Shah was the true enemy, who had instigated the rest to hostility, and that if he could be removed, it would be easy to manage the others. He advised, therefore, that peace should be concluded with him, by resigning the five districts dependent on Sholapoor. He recommended, also, that separate overtures should be made to Ramraj, and presents sent to propitiate his friendship; observing, that small concessions would suffice to ensure his for­bearance, as his own country, the Carnatic, was as yet by no means in a settled state, many of the de­pendent rays being still in revolt. In conclusion, he stated, that when free from the attacks of these two powers, Assud Khan would himself undertake the chastisement of Kootb Shah, and promised in a short time to recover all the places he had taken from Beejapoor.

Ibrahim Adil Shah acted according to this ad­vice, and peace being concluded with Boorhan Nizam Shah and Ramraj, Assud Khan marched against Jumsheed Kootb Shah, and reduced the newly-erected fort of Kakny after a siege of three months, and levelled it with the ground. He then moved on towards Etgeer, of which place the enemy raised the siege on his approach, and not thinking it prudent to hazard an engage­ment, retreated to his own dominions. Assud Khan followed him closely to the walls of Gol­conda, when Jumsheed Kootb Shah halting gave him battle. On this occasion, the King of Gol­conda was defeated in a severe action, and re­ceived a sabre wound in his cheek from Assud Khan as they fought hand to hand, which disfi­gured him for life. Thus Assud Khan, after a glorious campaign, returned triumphant to Bee-japoor, where he was received by the King with honour, having fulfilled to the utmost all that he had promised.

Some time after this campaign, Boorhan Nizam Shah was instigated by Ramraj to march for the purpose of reducing Koolburga, and Ibrahim Adil Shah moved from Beejapoor to oppose him. On his arrival near the town of Hoorchean, the Bee-japoor troops found Boorhan Nizam Shah strongly posted on the opposite bank of the river Beema; and seeing it impossible to cross at that spot, Ibrahim Adil Shah encamped on the right bank. Both armies lay inactive during three months of the rains, in sight of each other, with the river between them. At length, Ibrahim Adil Shah, tired of delay, found means to cross, and a general action ensued, in which the army of Boorhan Nizam Shah was totally routed with heavy loss, leaving on the field of battle two hundred and fifty elephants, one hundred and seventy pieces of cannon, besides ammunition, waggons, and all the royal insignia and camp-equipage. Ibrahim Adil Shah, in this action, fought personally with the utmost bravery, and slew three antagonists with his own hand; but he had the generosity to at­tribute his victory solely to the conduct of Assud Khan, on whom he conferred several districts in addition to his jageer.

The King, elated by vain-glory, treated the ambassadors of Boorhan Nizam Shah who came to treat for peace in a contemptuous manner; and from this time he behaved tyrannically even towards his own subjects, putting to death some of his best officers, and severely punishing others on slight pretences, measures which occasioned great disaffection in his government. Boorhan Nizam Shah, taking advantage of these discontents, again made war on the King of Beejapoor, and defeated him in two engagements in the space of six months, on which occasions he took many elephants; and the Nizam Shahy troops committed such ravages as seemed to threaten the very existence of Ibrahim Adil Shah's power. The Beejapoor king, fancying his losses were occasioned by the disaffection of his officers and by the intrigues of the bramins at the head of civil affairs, caused forty Hindoos and seventy Mussulmans of rank to be put to death in the short space of two months, on vague suspicions. At last, numbers of the nobility, reduced to despair, formed a conspiracy to dethrone the King, and to raise his brother Abdoolla to the throne. Matters had gone far, when one of the conspirators, in hope of obtaining a considerable reward, betrayed the plot to Ibrahim, who put him to death with most of those against whom he had informed. His brother Abdoolla, with much difficulty, made his escape to Goa, where he was honourably received by the Portuguese, who afforded him protection. * The King, enraged at his flight, punished all the bramins whose office it was to superintend the police with tortures, in the great square of Beejapoor, where they expired in ex­cruciating agonies. At this time, also, renewing his suspicions of the fidelity of Assud Khan, the King conducted himself so, that the old mi­nister was induced to withdraw for self-protec­tion to his estates at Belgam, from whence he sent a confidential friend with an offering of nine elephants, nine horses, and many valuable curio­sities, with the following letter to the King:—

“Why, ah! why, art thou thus estranged from “me? What have I done, what hast thou heard, “what hast thou seen in me?

“If I have committed a crime, let my head fall “beneath the stroke of the sabre; but it is neither “generous nor just to be incensed without cause.

“I know not the reason of this unkindness, nor “what can have occasioned such coldness.

“Whatever crimes interested persons have attri-“buted to my charge, I may have committed an “hundred times; but I know not their accusations; “and, like the wolf accused of destroying Yoosoof, “I am innocent, and condemned unseen or un-“heard. The language they attribute to me has “never passed my lips, nor have evil designs been “conceived in my mind.

“The reason of my delay in this fortress, and “of my absence from the court, is to avoid the “designs of my enemies, who daily misrepresent “the purity of my intentions, and the sincerity of “my attachment. They have already tainted my “character with the stain of disaffection, and have “made the peaceful recess of the King's heart “a cave of spleen, nay, of grief, and a recess of “burning fire. By accusing me of treachery, they “diminish the glow of cheerfulness on the part “of the King. They pollute, with the alloy of “suspicion, the pure gold of my loyalty, and dis-“solve thine heart in the tormenting crucible of ‘jealousy.