When Muzaffar Shāh mounted the throne in the city of Gaur, being very blood-thirsty and audacious, he slew many of the learned and the pious and the nobility of the city, and also killed the infidel Rajahs who were opposed to the sovereigns of Bengal. He bestowed on Syed Husain Sharif Makī the office of Vizier, and made him Administrator of the affairs of Government. And he became assiduous in hoarding treasure, and by the counsel of Syed Husain, he cut down pay of soldiers, and set about building a treasury, and he committed oppressions in the collection of revenue. Consequently the people, receiving injuries at the hands of Muzaffar Shāh, became disgusted with him. Gradually, Syed Husain’s mind was also changed, so that matters came to this pass, that in the year 903 A.H., most of the principal noblemen, seceding from the king, went out of the city, whilst Sultān Muzaffar Shāh with five thousand Abyssinians and three thousand Afghāns and Bengalīs entrenched himself in the fort of Gaur. For a period of four months, between the people inside, and outside, the city, fightings raged, and daily a large number of people were killed.* It is said that, during the period Sultān Muzaffar was entrenched in the fort, whenever any one was captured and brought before him, he used to kill him with the sword with his own hand, with a ferocity characteristic of the Abyssinians, so that the number of people killed by him amounted to four thousand. At length, Muzaffar Shāh,* sallying out with his force from the city, gave battle to the nobles, whose leader was Syed Husain Sharif; and from both sides, twenty thousand men fell, either by the sword or the arrow.

At length, the zephyr of victory wafted on the standard of the nobles. Muzaffar Shāh, with a number of his associates and adherents, was killed on the field. And according to the state­ment of Hajī Muhammad Qandaharī, during that time, from the beginning to the end of the war, one lakh and twenty thousand people, of both Musalman and Hindu persuasions, passed to the regions of destruction. And Syed Husain Sharif Makī, gaining the throne, raised the standard of sovereignty. And in the history of Nizamu-d-dīn Ahmad,* it is related that when the people got disgusted with the misconduct of Muzaffar Shāh, Syed Sharīf Makī becoming aware of this state of national disgust, won over to his side the Commandant of the Household troops and, one night, with thirteen men entering the inner chambers, slew Muzaffar Shāh, and next morning mounted the throne, and proclaimed himself Sultān ‘Alāu-d-dīn. The reign of Muzaffar Shāh lasted three years and five months. A mosque, amongst his other build­ings, exists at Gaur.

Syed Husain Sharīf Makī, during the period of his Vizarat, used to treat the people with affability. He used to tell them: “Muzaffar Shāh is very stingy, and rude in behaviour. Although I advise him to attend to the happiness of the army and the nobility, and dissuade him from evil pursuits, it is all in vain; for he is simply bent on hoarding wealth.” In consequence, the nobles looked upon Husain as their friend, patron and sympathiser. As his virtues and Muzaffar Shāh’s vices were known to the public and to the elite, on the day that Muzaffar Shāh was slain, all the nobles held a council for the purpose of electing a king, and favoured the installation of Syed Sharīf Makī, and said, “If we elect you king, in what way will you conduct yourself towards us?” Sharīf Makī said: “I will meet all your wishes, and immediately I will allot to you whatever may be found over-ground in the city, whilst all that is under-ground I will appropriate to myself.” The patricians as well as the plebeians fell in with this tempting offer, and hurried out to pillage the city of Gaur, which at this time eclipsed Cairo (in point of wealth).

Syed Sharīf Makī by this easy contrivance, seized the umbrella of sovereignty, and introduced the Khutba and the coin in his own name. Historians write that his name was Syed Sharīf Makī,* and that when he ascended the throne, he styled himself ‘Alau-d-dīn. But I note that throughout the kingdom of Bengal and in the neighbourhood of Gaur, his name as Husain Shāh is on the lips of the elité and the mass. Since I did not find the name of Husain Shāh in history, I was in doubt. After much research, by deciphering wordings of inscriptions which exist up to this day, and are engraved on the ruins of the City of Gaur, on the stone of the large gate-way of the Qadam Rasūl building,* and on the Golden Mosque, and also on some other shrines, which are amongst the edifices erected by Sultān Husain Shāh and his sons Naṣrat Shāh and Mahmūd Shāh, it appears that Syed ‘Alāu-d-dīn Abūl Muzaffar Husain Shāh is the son of Syed Ashrafal-Husainī. In regard to the months and years of Syed Sharīf Makī’s period, all these inscriptions tally, and thus all doubts are set at rest. It appears that apparently his venerable father— Syed Ashrafal Husainī— was Sharīf of Makka; hence the son also was known as Sharīf-i-Makī; or else, his name was Syed Ḥusain. In a pamphlet, I have noticed that Ḥusain Shāh and his brother Yūsuf, together with their father, Sayyid Ashrafal Ḥusainī, were residents of the town of Tarmūz.* By chance, they came to Bengal, and stayed in the mouzā of Chandpur in the ẓillā of Raḍha,* and both the brothers took their lessons from the Qāzī of that place. On knowing their noble pedigree, the Qāzī married his daughter to Ḥusain Shāh. After this, he entered the service of Muzaffar Shāh, and reached the office of Vizier, as has been related before. When he ascended the throne in the city of Gaur, after some days, he forbade the people from the pillage of the city, and when they did not cease, he slaughtered twelve thousand plunderers; then these stayed their hands from the work of pillage. And making search, he found much of the hidden treasures including thirteen hundred plates of gold. From ancient times, the custom in the country of Lakhnautī and East Bengal was that rich people preparing plates of gold, used to take their food thereon, and on days of carnivals and festivities, whoever displayed a large number of golden plates, became the object of pre-eminence. And this custom up to this time prevails amongst the rich and high-ranked people. Sultān ‘Alāu-d-dīn Ḥusain Shāh, since he was a wise and sagacious sovereign, shewed considerateness towards the influential nobles, and raised his select officers to high positions and trusty offices. And he prohibited the Paiks— whose faithlessness and regicides had become characteristic— from guarding the Palace, and totally dis­banded them, so that no harm might befal him. And in place of the Paiks, in the Guard-room and on the Band-stand, he appointed other body-guards. And he also expelled totally the Abyssinians from his entire dominions.

Since these Abyssinians were notorious for their wickedness, regicides and infamous conduct, obtaining no footing in Jaun­pur and Hindustan, they went to Gujrat and the Dakhīn. Sultān ‘Alāu-d-dīn Ḥusain Shāh, girding up the waist of justice, unlike other kings of Bengal, removed his seat of government to Ekdālā, which adjoins the city of Gaur. And excepting Ḥusain Shāh, no one amongst the kings of Bengal made his seat of government anywhere, except at Pandua and the city of Gaur. As he was himself of noble descent, according to the saying, “Every thing turns back to its origin” he took the Syeds, Mughals and A fghāns by the hand, and sent efficient District Officers to different places, so that peace in the country being secured, anarchy and revolutions which had occurred during the period of the Abyssinian kings, etc., vanished, and all disloyal elements were reduced to order. And subjugat­ing the Rajas of the environs and conquering up to Orissa, he levied tribute. After this, he planned to conquer Assam, which is north-east of Bengal. With an overwhelming army consisting of infantry and a numerous fleet, he marched towards that king­dom, and conquered it. And conquering the whole of that country up to Kāmrup, Kāmtah and other districts which were subject to powerful Rajas, like Rūp Narain, and Mal Kunwar, and Gasa Lakhan and Lachmī Narain and others, he collected much wealth from the conquered tracts; and the Afghāns demolishing those Rajas’ buildings, erected new buildings. The Raja of Assam not being able to oppose him, relinquishing his country, fled to the mountains. The king, leaving his son* with a large army to complete the settlement of the conquered country, returned triumphant and victorious to Bengal. After the withdrawal of the king, his son devoted himself to the pacification and defences of the conquered country. But when the rainy season set in, owing to floods, the roads and tracks became closed; and the Rajah with his adherents issued from the hills, surrounded the Royal army, engaged in warfare, cut off supplies of provisions, and in a short time put all to the sword. And the king, erecting a fort on the bank of the river Bhatah,* bestowed great efforts on the improvement and advancement of the Kingdom of Bengal. And erecting and establishing Mosques and Rest-houses at different places in every district, he conferred numerous gifts on saints and recluses.* And for the maintenance of the Rest-house in connec­tion with the eminent saint, Nur Qutbu-l-‘Alam, he endowed several villages, and every year, from Ekdālā, which was the seat of his government, he used to come to Pandua, for pilgrimage to the bright shrine of that holy saint.* And because of his meed-worthy courteousness and affable deportment, and owing to the exuberance of his good sense and wisdom, he ruled for a long period with complete independence. In the year 900 A.H., Sultān Ḥusain Sharqī, ruler of the Jaunpūr kingdom, on being defeated and pursued by Sultān Sikandar, proceeded to Colgong (Kahlgaon),* and took shelter with Sultān ‘Alāu-d-dīn Ḥusain Shāh. The latter, paying regard to the refugee’s rank, provided him with means of comfort, so that relinguishing anxieties and cares of sovereignty, Sultān Ḥusain Sharqī passed the rest of his life at the above place. Towards the end of ‘Alau-d-dīn’s reign, Muḥammad Babar the Emperor invaded Hindustan. Sultān Ḥusain Shāh, in the year 927 A.H., died a natural death. His reign lasted 27 years, and according to some, 24 years, and according to others, 29 years and 5 months. Amongst the sovereigns of Bengal, none has been equal to ‘Alāu-d-dīn Ḥusain Shāh. And traces of his beneficence in this country are well-known to all. He had eighteen sons. Naṣrat Shāh, after his father, became king of Bengal.