In this state of affairs Ahmud Nizam Shah ap­plied for aid to Imad-ool-Moolk Gavully, the ruler of Berar, and fell back on Joonere. Jehangeer Khan, meanwhile, occupied Peitun; and this move­ment induced Ahmud Nizam Shah to approach the Jeeoor Ghat, where he was reinforced by Nus-seer-ool-Moolk Guzeratty, with a body of troops from Kadurabad, * and a convoy of provisions; upon which, having secured the Jeeoor pass, he remained among the hills. Jehangeer Khan crossed the hills by the ghat at Teesgam, * and encamped at Bingar, where both armies remained within six coss of each other for nearly a month; when Jehangeer Khan†, * fancying himself secure during the rains, gave himself up to his comforts and pleasures; an example which soon spread throughout his army.

Ahmud Nizam Shah, in the mean time, having good intelligence of the state of the enemy, made

Rujub 3.
A. H. 895.
May 28.
A. D. 1490.

a night-attack on the 3d of Rujub, A. H. 895, accompanied by Azim Khan.‡ * They entered the enemy's camp just as the day broke, and falling suddenly upon it, completely routed the Bahmuny troops. Jehangeer Khan, Syud Isaac, Syud Lootf Oolla, Nizam Khan, and Futteh Khan, all officers of distinction, were slain; and those who were taken prisoners were mounted on buffaloes, and led about the camp for the diversion of his soldiers; after which, they were sent back to Ahmudabad Bidur. This victory was called the Victory of the Garden, as on that spot Ahmud Nizam Shah built a palace, and laid out an elegant garden, which was beau­tified by his successors, who having constructed a fortification round it denominated it Bagh Nizam.§ * After this success, Ahmud Nizam Shah returned public thanks to God; and having given away the proprietory right of a village near the spot in cha­rity, as a residence for holy men, he returned to Joonere, without rival or enemy. By the advice of Yoosoof Adil Shah of Beejapoor, he soon dis­continued the names of the Bahmuny kings in the public prayers, for which he substituted his own, and assumed the white canopy; but Khwaja Jehan and some of his own officers remonstrating with him, he commanded his name to be discontinued in the public prayers; and to save appearances declared, that he used the canopy to screen him from the sun, and not to affect royalty. The officers, observing this to be the case, considered there would be no objection to their using um­brellas also, to which he assented; and from that day to this no distinction exists in the Deccan in that respect between the King and a subject, excepting in the colour of the canopy used by the King, which has a scarlet cloth on the inside, while the others are white; a custom which pre­vails in the Deccan, but not in Hindoostan. * The officers of Ahmud Nizam Shah's government, how­ever, shortly afterwards insisted on his re-assuming the regalia, by having his name read in the Khootba or public prayer, to which he assented, declaring it was only at their particular request.

Ahmud Nizam Shah now resolved to take the sea-port of Dunda Rajpoor, near Choul, which after a long siege he reduced; and having thus se­cured the peaceable possession of the Concan, he turned his thoughts towards Dowlutabad, and com­menced an intrigue with the governor, to induce him to deliver it into his hands. Mullik Wujee and Mullik Ashruf, two brothers, were originally servants of Khwaja Mahmood Gawan, after whose death they became enrolled among the corps of silehdars of Mahomed Shah Bahmuny, and were at length raised to the rank of nobles by the patronage of Mullik Hussun Nizam-ool-Moolk Bheiry, the father of Ahmud Nizam Shah. Mullik Wujee was by him appointed governor of Dowlutabad, and his brother Mullik Ashruf governor of the surrounding districts dependent on it. At this time, also, one of the Marratta chiefs, who, during the late com­motions in the Bahmuny court, had seized on the fort of Galna, was obliged to give it up to Mullik Ashruf, and to relinquish his predatory incursions on the neighbouring country. The brothers con­ducted their administration so admirably that the robbers, so long notorious about Dowlutabad, were brought under subjection, and the roads to the frontier of Sooltanpoor, Nundoorbar, Buglana, and Guzerat, for the first time, became so safe that merchants and travellers passed to and fro without guards; and the inhabitants being happy under their government, the country assumed a flourishing appearance. * Both the brothers, in gra­titude for the patronage of Nizam-ool-Moolk, kept on terms of friendship with his son Ahmud Nizam Shah, who, to cement their alliance still stronger, after the victory of Bagh Nizam, gave his sister Beeby Zeenut in marriage to Mullik Wujee. A son being born by this marriage, the younger brother, Mullik Ashruf, who had entertained the ambitious idea of succeeding Mullik Wujee, and founding a kingdom for himself, perceiving his hopes would be cut off by this event, atrociously assassinated both father and son; after which he assumed independence at Dowlutabad, and endea­voured to form alliances with the ruling princes of Boorhanpoor, Berar, and Guzerat. Beeby Zeenut, after the murder of her husband and child, making her escape to Joonere, sought protection with her

A. H. 899.
A. D. 1493.

brother, who marched in the year 899 against Mullik Ashruf in Dowlutabad. His army, however, had only reached Bagh Nizam, when he was met by letters from court, sent by Kasim Bereed, soliciting his aid against Yoosoof Adil Khan, who was now besieging Bidur; after which Kasim Bereed promised to assist him in reducing Dowlutabad. Ahmud Nizam Shah, abandoning his designs against Dowlutabad for the present, proceeded to Bidur, which he re­lieved in the manner related in the history of Yoo-soof Adil Shah, and then marched to Dowlutabad; to which fort he laid siege for two months without success, and returned towards Joonere.

On his arrival at the town of Bingar, a village situated equidistant between Joonere and Dow-lutabad, he resolved to found the capital of his dominions, from whence he determined to detach an army every year, to lay waste the country about Dowlutabad till he reduced it. With

A. H. 900.
A. D. 1494.

this view, in the year 900, he laid the foundation of a city in the vicinity of the Bagh Nizam, upon the bank of the Sena river, to which he gave the name of Ahmud-nuggur. So great exertions were made in erect­ing buildings by the King and his dependents, that in the short space of two years the new city rivalled Bagdad and Cairo in splendour; and it henceforward became a custom for the Ahmud-nuggur army to take the field twice a year * at stated periods to devastate and plunder the country contiguous to Dowlutabad, in order, if possible, to reduce it by famine. Mullik Ashruf, in the mean time, solicited the aid of Mahmood Shah Be-

A. H. 905.
A. D. 1499.

gurra† * of Guzerat; and in the year 905 that monarch marched for the double purpose of humbling the power of Adil Khan Farooky, the ruler of Kandeish, and also of relieving Dowlutabad, now besieged by Ahmud Nizam Shah. On the arrival of the Guzerat army at Sooltanpoor, Adil Khan Farooky requested the aid of Imad-ool-Moolk Gavully and Ahmud Nizam Shah to oppose Mahmood Shah of Guzerat; on which Ahmud Nizam Shah raised the siege of Dowlutabad, and repaired with fifteen thou­sand cavalry to Boorhanpoor. The united forces of Adil Khan Farooky, Imad-ool-Moolk Gavully, and Ahmud Nizam Shah Bheiry, encamped at that city, while Mahmood Shah Begurra still lay before Aseer. In this state of affairs, Nusseer-ool-Moolk Guzeratty, the general of Ahmud Nizam Shah, was deputed to the enemy's camp as ambas­sador. During his mission, at the instance of his master, he bribed the Guzerat elephant-keepers to be ready to let loose a must * elephant at a certain moment when required. On the night appointed, Nizam Shah, at the head of five thousand infantry, consisting of archers, rocketers, and matchlock-men, besides five thousand Coly† * cavalry, made a night-attack on the Guzerat camp, and at the same moment the must elephant being set free, as had been concerted, the consternation became general throughout the enemy's lines. Mahmood Shah Guzeratty and his officers, who did not apprehend an attack from so inferior a force, were sleeping quietly in their tents, but being alarmed at the uproar, sprung from their beds in dismay. At this instant, the elephant running towards the tents of the Guzerat seraglio, the ladies uttered fearful shrieks. The King of Guzerat, concluding the enemy had penetrated his camp and was com­mitting slaughter among his family, made his way through his pavilion, and fled with a few attendants to the distance of six miles. The Deccanies con­tinued on the limits of the camp, firing rockets, till the Guzerat officers had turned out their troops. They then quietly retreated. The con­fusion having in some measure subsided, the Gu­zerat chiefs hastened in a body to the royal tents to congratulate the King; but not finding him, they thought proper to follow the next morning with the whole army, and Ahmud Nizam Shah and the allies took up the ground the enemy had left. A peace being shortly after concluded with Mahmood Shah Guzeratty, Ahmud Nizam Shah returned towards Dowlutabad, and ascending the ghats from Berar, encamped at Elloora, and relaxed from his cares in a variety of amusements. The Guzerat historians have omitted to mention this defeat, desirous, perhaps, to conceal this blot on the fame of Mahmood Shah Begurra; so that God only knows whether it be true or false.