The second prince was Sultan Muhammed Muzaffer, in Gujerāt.* He had departed this life a few days before Sultan Ibrahīm’s defeat. He was a prince well skilled in learning,* and fond of reading the Hadīs (or traditions). He was constantly employed in writing the Korān. They call this race Tānk. Their ancestors were cup-bearers to the Sultan Firoz that has been mentioned, and his family. After the death of Firoz Shah they took possession of the throne of Gujerāt.
KingdomThe third kingdom is that of the Bahmanis in the Dekhan, but at the present time the Sultans of the Dekhan have no authority or power left.* All the different districts of their kingdom have been seized by their most powerful nobles; and, when the prince needs anything, he is obliged to ask it of his own Amīrs.
KingdomThe fourth King was Sultan Mahmūd, who reigned in the country of Mālwa, which they likewise call Māndu. This dynasty was called the Khilji. Rana Sanka, a pagan, had defeated them and occupied a number of their provinces. This dynasty also had become weak. Their ancestors, too, had been originally brought forward and patronized by Sultan Firoz Shah, after whose demise they occupied the kingdom of Mālwa.*
Kingdom The fifth prince was Nasret Shah*
in the kingdom of
Bengal. His father had been King of Bengal, and was
a Syed of the name of Sultan Alā ed dīn. He had attained
Singular
custom.
this throne by hereditary succession. It is a singular
custom in Bengal, that there is little of hereditary descent in
succession to the sovereignty. There is a throne allotted
for the King; there is, in like manner, a seat or station
assigned for each of the Amīrs, Wazīrs, and Mansabdārs.*
It is that throne and these stations alone which engage the
reverence of the people of Bengal. A set of dependants,
servants, and attendants are annexed to each of these
situations. When the King wishes to dismiss or appoint
any person, whosoever is placed in the seat of the one
dismissed, is immediately attended and obeyed by the whole
establishment of dependants, servants, and retainers
annexed to the seat which he occupies. Nay, this rule
obtains even as to the royal throne itself. Whoever kills
the King and succeeds in placing himself on that throne,
is immediately acknowledged as King;*
all the Amīrs,
Wazīrs, soldiers, and peasants instantly obey and submit to
him, and consider him as being as much their sovereign
as they did their former prince, and obey his orders
implicitly. The people of Bengal say, ‘We are faithful to
the throne—whoever fills the throne, we are obedient
and true to it’. As, for instance, before the accession of
Nasrat Shah’s father, an Abyssinian having killed the
reigning King mounted the throne, and governed the kingdom
for some time.*
Sultan Alā ed dīn killed the Abyssinian,
ascended the throne, and was acknowledged as King. After
Sultan Alā ed dīn’s death, the kingdom devolved by succession
to his son, who now reigned. There is another usage in
Bengal; it is reckoned disgraceful and mean for any king to
spend or diminish the treasures of his predecessors. It is
reckoned necessary for every king, on mounting the throne,
to collect a new treasure for himself. To collect a treasure
is, by these people, deemed a great glory and ground of
distinction. There is another custom, that pergannas
have been assigned from ancient times to defray the expenses
of each department, the treasury, the stable, and all
the royal establishments; no expenses are paid in any other
manner.*
The five kings who have been mentioned are great princes,
and are all Musulmans, and possessed of formidable armies.*
Hindū
princes.
The most powerful of the pagan princes, in point of territory
and army, is the Raja of Bījnager.*
Another is the Rāna
Sanka,*
who has attained his present high eminence, only
in these later times, by his own valour and his sword. His
original principality was Chitūr.*
During the confusions
that prevailed among princes of the kingdom of Māndu, he
seized a number of provinces which had depended on Māndu,
such as Rantambhor,*
Sārangpūr, Bhīlsa, and Chanderi. In
A. D. 1528.
the year 934, by the divine favour, in the space of a few
hours, I took by storm Chanderi, which was commanded by
Medini Rao,*
one of the highest and most distinguished of
Rāna Sanka’s officers, put all the pagans to the sword, and
from the mansion of hostility which it had long been converted
it into the mansion of the faith, as will be hereafter
more fully detailed. There were a number of other Rais
and Rajas on the borders and within the territory of Hindustān*;
many of whom,*
on account of their remoteness, or
the difficulty of access into their country, have never submitted
to the Musulman kings.
Hindustān is situated in the first, second, and third
climates. No part of it is in the fourth. It is a remarkably
fine country. It is quite a different world, compared with
our countries. Its hills and rivers, its forests and plains,
its animals and plants, its inhabitants and their languages,
its winds and rains, are all of a different nature. Although
the garmsīls (or hot districts), in the territory of Kābul,
bear, in many respects, some resemblance to Hindustān,
while in other particulars they differ, yet you have no sooner
passed the river Sind than the country,*
the trees, the stones,
the wandering tribes, the manners and customs of the
Northern
hills.
people, are all entirely those of Hindustān. The northern
range of hills has been mentioned. Immediately on crossing
the river Sind, we come upon several countries in this
range of mountains, connected with Kashmīr, such as
Pakhli and Shemeng.*
Most of them, though now independent
of Kashmīr, were formerly included in its territories.
After leaving Kashmīr, these hills contain innumerable
tribes and states, pergannas and countries, and extend all
the way to Bengal and the shores of the Great Ocean.
Their inha-
bitants.
About these hills are other tribes of men.*
With all the
investigation and inquiry that I could make among the
natives of Hindustān, I could get no sort of description or
authentic information regarding them. All that I could
learn was, that the men of these hills were called Kas. It
struck me, that, as the Hindustānis frequently confound
shīn and sīn, and as Kashmīr is the chief, and indeed, as far
as I have heard, the only city in these hills, it may have
taken its name from that circumstance.*
The chief trade
of the inhabitants of these hills is in musk-bags, the tails of
the mountain-cow,*
saffron, lead, and copper. The natives
of Hind call these hills Sawālak-parbat. In the language of
Hind, sawalāk means a lak and a quarter (or one hundred
and twenty-five thousand), and parbat means a hill, that is,
the hundred and twenty-five thousand hills. On these hills
the snow never melts, and from some parts of Hindustān,
such as Lahore, Sirhind, and Sambal, it is seen white on
them all the year round. This range of hills takes the name
of Hindū-kūsh, near Kābul, and runs from Kābul eastward,
but inclining a little to the south. All to the south of this
range is Hindustān. To the north of these hills, and of
that unknown race of men whom they call Kas, lies Tibet.*
Rivers
from the
northern
hills.
A great number of rivers take their rise in these mountains,
and flow through Hindustān. To the north of Sirhind, six
rivers, the Sind, the Behāt, the Chenāb, the Rāvi, the Biās,
and the Satlej,*
take their rise in these mountains, and all
uniting with the Sind in the territory of Multān, take the
common name of the Sind, which, flowing down to the west,
passes through the country of Tatta, and disembogues into
the sea of Omān. Besides these six rivers, there are other
rivers, such as the Jumna, the Ganges, the Rahet,*
the
Gūmti, the Gogra, the Sirūd, the Gandak, and a number of
others, that all throw themselves into the Ganges,*
which,
preserving its name, proceeds towards the east, and, passing
through the midst of Bengal, empties itself into the Great
Ocean. The sources of all these rivers are in the Sawālak
Other
rivers.
mountains. There are, however, several other rivers, such
as the Chambal, the Banās, the Betwa, and the Son, which
rise from ranges of hills that are within Hindustān. In
these ranges, it never snows. These rivers likewise fall into
the Ganges.*