At this period information was received that the Prince Oomr Ghoory, the younger brother of Musaood, who had first fled to Guzerat, had subse­quently gone to the country of Rana Koombho of Chittoor. This prince was now at the head of a force; and having entered Malwa, had occupied Chundery, where the inhabitants and soldiers un­der Hajy Kaloo, revolting from him, had received the Prince with every demonstration of joy. This news having reached Ahmud Shah of Guzerat, he detached his son Mahomed Khan, with a force consisting of five thousand cavalry and thirty elephants, to Sarungpoor to make a diversion in favour of the Prince; and the governor of Sarung-poor, unable to oppose him, joined his standard. Sooltan Mahmood now resolved no longer to re­main within Mando; but calling a council of war, it was agreed that Azim Hoomayoon should be left in charge of the fort, and that the King should take the field in person. Sooltan Mahmood marched out, therefore, with the army by the Tarapoor gate, without being opposed, and proceeded towards Sa-rungpoor, having sent Taj Khan in advance. This officer falling in with a detachment of Guzeratties under the command of Hajy Ally of Guzerat, who occupied a ford on the Chumbul river, attacked and defeated it. Ahmud Shah, hearing of Sooltan Mah-mood's being in the field, directed his son Mahomed Khan to fall back from Sarungpoor on Oojein, to which place he himself proceeded, where the two Guzerat divisions formed a junction. Intimation of the movement of the Guzeratties was afforded to Sooltan Mahmood by Mullik Isak, the late governor of Sarungpoor, who wrote a petition, soliciting pardon for surrendering the place to the Prince Mahomed Khan, and now informed his master of the march of the former to Oojein in order to unite with his father's army: he stated, also, that the Prince Oomr Ghoory was advancing with a force from Chundery to occupy Sarungpoor. Sooltan Mahmood, rejoiced at having obtained this inform­ation, pardoned Mullik Isak, and detaching Taj Khan with a party of light cavalry to make forced marches to occupy Sarungpoor, followed with the main body to that place. Upon his arrival he con­ferred on Mullik Isak the title of Dowlut Khan, and paid him ten thousand tunkas from the royal treasury; he presented him at the same time with a standard and an honorary dress, and increased his pay. He also gave horses and other presents to several other officers, among whom he distri­buted a donation of fifty thousand tunkas. In­timation was now received that the Prince Oomr, having burned the town of Bhilsa, was advancing to the Sarungpoor frontier, and that Ahmud Shah, with thirty thousand cavalry, and three hundred elephants, had left Oojein, and was in full march to the same place. Sooltan Mahmood, perceiv­ing the object was to hem him in between the Prince Oomr and the Guzerat army, determined to prevent this manœuvre, by attacking the Prince Oomr. He therefore marched the same night, but halted when the army arrived within twelve miles of the enemy, and sent Nizam-ool-Moolk and Mullik Ahmud Silehdar to reconnoitre his position. On the following morning, the two armies moved about the same time to the attack; and as the lines approached, the Prince Oomr, with a select party, took post in the rear of a hill, to fall upon the flanks of Sooltan Mahmood's army. This movement being perceived by the King, he pushed on in person, and suddenly coming upon him, cut off his division from the main body. The Prince's party fought desperately; but the bold charge made by Sooltan Mahmood in person threw it into confusion. The Prince was taken prisoner, and decapitated. His head was elevated on the point of the royal standard; and the King marched towards the army of Chundery, which had not yet been engaged. The officers of the Prince's army, having learnt his fate, agreed on a truce till next day; but during the night they fled to Chundery, where they placed Mullik Sooliman Ghoory, a relation of the Prince Oomr, on the throne, and saluted him with the title of Sooltan Shahab-ood-Deen. Sooltan Mahmood having de­tached a force to pursue the Chundery army, marched to attack Ahmud Shah of Guzerat; but a raging disease breaking out in the Guzerat camp, the effects of which were so sudden and fatal that the soldiers had not time to bury the dead, Ahmud Shah was compelled to retreat; and taking the route of Ashta, proceeded to Guze­rat in the most expeditious manner, promising the Prince Musaood Ghoory that he would return on the following year and restore him to his rights.

Sooltan Mahmood, on the first intimation of Ahmud Shah's march, supposing it to be directed against his capital, proceeded to Mando, in order to reinforce that garrison; but after halting seven­teen days, and finding that Ahmud Shah had retreated to Guzerat, he returned to the attack of Chundery. Here he was opposed by the pre­tender Mullik Sooliman, who, unable to withstand Sooltan Mahmood's troops, took refuge in the fort, and in the course of two or three days died sud­denly. The officers of Chundery, however, still obstinately persisting in resistance, raised another person to the throne; and marching out of the fort, attacked the King, but met with a repulse. The siege of Chundery occupied eight months, when Sooltan Mahmood, becoming impatient, resolved to take it, if possible, by surprise; and heading a party himself, he escaladed the lower town in the dead of the night, and carried it, putting many of the enemy to the sword. Some few made their escape into the hill-fort, but they were closely besieged; and Ismael Khan, under whom the garrison acted, after a few days, sent a flag of truce, offering to surrender, on receiving a promise that the lives of himself and the garrison should be spared. The terms eventually granted were, that the besieged should bring all their private property, and their families, and place them in the public bazar, that the whole army might be witness of their complete subjection, but that their lives should be spared. After which, having put Chundery under the go­vernment of Mullik Moozuffur Ibrahim, the King intended to return to his capital, when he heard that Dongur Sing, the Raja of Gualiar, had marched to the southward, and laid siege to the fort of Nurwur. Sooltan Mahmood, notwithstanding the approach of the rains, and the arduous campaign in which his army had just been engaged, marched towards Gualiar, laying waste the Raja's country. The Rajpoots, sallying from the fort, attacked his troops, but they were defeated, and obliged to retreat. Dongur Sing, in consequence, was in­duced to raise the siege of Nurwur, in order to protect his own capital. The object of Sooltan Mahmood in relieving Nurwur being thus gained, he did not lay siege to Gualiar, but returned to

A. H. 843.
A. D. 1439.

Mando. In the year 843, he com­menced the repairs of the palace of the late Sooltan Hooshung, and the musjid built in commemoration of that monarch, near the Rampoora gate. This splendid edifice has two hundred and thirty minarets and three hundred and sixty arches.

A. H. 844.
A. D. 1440. In the year 844, Sooltan Mahmood received petitions from the chiefs of Mewat and Dehly, stating, that Syud Mahomed, King of Dehly, the nephew and suc­cessor of Syud Moobarik, was totally incapable of supporting the weighty affairs of the government of his vast empire; that the oppressed were calling out on all sides for redress, and that the nation was anxious for Sooltan Mahmood to march to Dehly, and ascend the throne. In consequence of these overtures, in the latter end of the same year, Sooltan Mahmood put his army in motion for that purpose. On his arrival in the neighbour­hood of the town of Hindown he was joined by Yoosoof Khan Hindowny, whence he proceeded towards the capital. Syud Mahomed, although he had a large force at his disposal, became alarmed, and proposed to quit Dehly, and fly to the Pun-jab. He was dissuaded, however, by his officers, and directed, that as there was no occasion for his own presence in camp, the army should march against the enemy under his son. The advance guard, consisting of a select body of archers, was commanded by Mullik Bheilole Lody. Sooltan Mahmood, hearing that the King was not with the Dehly forces, and conceiving it derogatory to proceed in person, retained with him a few thou­sand of his cavalry, and ordered the rest of his army under his two sons, Gheias-ood-Deen and Fidwy Khan, to oppose the enemy. An engage­ment took place, in which both armies fought desperately from mid-day till sunset, when the retreat was mutually sounded. On that night, Sooltan Mahmood dreamed that he saw an un­known person placed on the throne at Mando, who afterwards went to the shrine of Sooltan Hooshung, when the officers placed upon his head the canopy from the tomb of that monarch. Being much distressed in mind on account of this dream, he was deliberating how to act, when on a sudden a messenger arrived from Syud Ma-homed, ordering his son to make peace upon any terms. An accommodation immediately suc­ceeded, and the army of Sooltan Mahmood com­menced its retreat to Malwa. It is a remarkable coincidence, that on the very night of Sooltan Mahmood's dream an insurrection did take place in the city of Mando, which was put a stop to only by the resolute and timely exertions of his father, Azim Hoomayoon, an account of which reached him on the road to his capital. But I find it stated in some histories, that the cause of Sooltan Mah-mood's return originated in his having received intimation of the intended attack of the King of Guzerat; and certainly this appears most probable.