Queen Chand obtains the release of Bahadur Nizam Shah. — He is formally crowned. — Mahomed Khan appointed peshwa — he raises his relatives to high offices. — The old chiefs dis­gusted. — The peshwa seizes many of them. — Queen Chand applies for aid to her nephew, Ibrahim Adil Shah of Bee-japoor, who sends an army under his general Soheil Khan to her assistance. — The peshwa Mahomed Khan intrigues with the Mogul general Khan Khanan. — Mahomed Khan's treachery discovered — he is seized by the garrison of Ah-mudnuggur, and made over to Queen Chand for punish­ment. — The Moguls seize districts not included in the late treaty. — A formidable army, composed of the troops of Ah-mudnuggur, Beejapoor, and Golconda, under Soheil Khan, amounting to sixty thousand men, advances towards Berar. — Battle of Sonput. — The Deccan troops are eventually defeated on the second day. — The Mogul forces canton at Jalna. — Nehung Khan is created peshwa by Queen Chand. — He attempts to seize her — is excluded from the fort — lays siege to it — recovers some of the districts south of the Goda-very occupied by the Moguls. — The Prince Moorad Mirza dies — is succeeded in the command of the army of the Deccan by his brother Daniel Mirza. — Akbur Padshah proceeds to the Deccan — besieges Aseer, while his son Daniel advances to attack Ahmudnuggur. — Nehung Khan attempts to oppose their march, but eventually retires to Joonere. — Second siege of Ahmudnuggur. — Queen Chand calls a council of war — she recommends the surrender of the fort — her opinion overruled — she is seized by the garrison, and murdered. — Ahmudnug-gur taken by storm, and the garrison put to the sword. — Ba­hadur Nizam Shah conveyed prisoner to the fort of Gualiar.

THE Queen Chand having succeeded in obtaining the person of Bahadur Nizam Shah from his im­prisonment in Chawund, he was publicly pro­claimed King of Ahmudnuggur, when she ap­pointed her friend and adviser, Mahomed Khan, to the office of peshwa; but he in a short time (as is the way of the world) after establishing his authority promoted his own adherents and re­latives to the chief offices of the empire. It was unlikely, however, that those persons who had distinguished themselves in the war should now tamely submit to degradation; he thought it po­litic, therefore, to seize and confine Nehung Khan and Shumsheer Khan, Abyssinians. On which the rest of the chiefs, apprehensive of a similar fate, fled the kingdom.

The Dehly troops had occupied Berar, and were still in that quarter. Mahomed Khan's influence and power at the capital was unrestrained; and Queen Chand saw, at this period, the approaching dissolution of her authority. She accordingly wrote a letter to her nephew, Ibrahim Adil Shah, begging his interference, and requesting that a considerable force might be sent to re-organise the government, now usurped by Mahomed Khan. Soheil Khan was despatched for this purpose with an army to Ahmudnuggur, with instructions to regulate his conduct agreeably to the wishes of Queen Chand.

A. H. 1005.
A. D. 1596. In the beginning of the year 1005 Soheil Khan arrived; and as Mahomed Khan opposed his entry, he invested the fort, the blockade of which continued for four months. Mahomed Khan, finding a strong party against him, addressed letters to Khan Khanan, the commander-in-chief of the Mogul force then in Berar, to join him, promising to hold the country of the Emperor of Dehly. The garrison, when they heard of this desperate measure, seized Ma-homed Khan, and delivered him over to the Queen. This step at once restored her authority: on which she instantly released Nehung Khan Abyssinian, and appointed him peshwa; and having presented Soheil Khan with an honorary robe, and some presents, permitted him to return to Beejapoor. On the road to that city, at the village of Rajapoor, on the banks of the Beema, he heard that the Moguls had not only occupied the kingdom of Berar, but had laid violent hands on the town of Patry, &c., which was not included in the Berar cessions. He accordingly halted, and wrote to Ibrahim Adil Shah informing him of the circumstance, and Queen Chand also sent advices to the same effect from Ahmudnuggur to the Beejapoor and Hydurabad sovereigns. Soheil Khan now received orders to march against the invaders; and Mahomed Koolly Sooltan, with a force from Golconda, was directed to co-operate with Soheil Khan, who having been also joined by twenty thousand Nizam Shahy troops, sent from Ahmudnuggur, marched towards Berar with an army consisting of nearly sixty thousand horse, and encamped at the town of Sonput.

Khan Khanan, the Mogul general, who was at that period in cantonments at Jalna, called in all his detachments, and himself went to Shahpoor to receive instructions from the Prince Moorad. He was there joined by Raja Ally Khan of Kandeish, Raja Jugnat, and several other officers of distinc­tion, and returning to Jalna, marched direct to­wards the Deccanies, and encamped on the banks of the Godavery, where, taking up a position close to the enemy, he intrenched his camp. During fifteen days no action beyond partial skirmishes took place between the cavalry. The object of the Mogul in this was to know something of the Dec-canies as soldiers; but on the fifteenth day he

Jumad-oos-
Sany 18.
A. H. 1005.
January 26.
A. D. 1597.

formed his line to attack them, being the 18th of Jumad-oos-Sany, A. H. 1005. It was about nine o'clock in the morn­ing when the battle commenced, though no close engagement took place till about three in the afternoon, at which time the action be­came general; and Raja Ally Khan of Kandeish and Raja Jugnat were both killed by the Beejapoor artillery. The Nizam Shahy and Kootb Shahy troops, unable to withstand the brunt of the Mogul cavalry, fell back before sunset; Soheil Khan, how­ever, still gallantly maintained his position singly; and the Adil Shahy cavalry breaking through the Moguls, drove them before them as far as Shahpoor; where the Prince Moorad was on the eve of eva­cuating his camp, till he heard that Khan Khanan still maintained his ground. The Deccanies, looking upon this as a victory, imprudently began plun­dering during the night, notwithstanding the ex­ertions of Soheil Khan to prevent it, and taking their spoils with them, retreated to their capitals.

Some hours of the night elapsed before Khan Khanan and Soheil Khan discovered that they were within musket-shot of each other, upon which they both made exertions to collect their scattered troops. The dawn discovered to each his enemy ready mounted for the attack. Khan Khanan pro­posed overtures of peace; but Soheil Khan, refus­ing any accommodation, immediately opened his guns on the Moguls. A severer action than that of the preceding day now ensued; when the Adil Shahies being at length defeated, Soheil Khan was compelled, with a few retainers, to make good his retreat to Shahdoorg; while the Nizam Shahies and Kootb Shahies, who had fled on the former day, continued their route, the former to Ahmud-nuggur, and the latter to Hydurabad. After this victory Khan Khanan despatched the greater part of his army to reduce the forts of Nurnala and Gavul in Berar, while he himself remained en­camped at Jalna.*

The Prince Moorad (at the instigation of his tutor Sadik Mahomed Khan, an officer of five thousand horse,) recommended that the late victory should be followed up, and that the Mogul troops should march immediately for the reduction of Ah-mudnuggur and the occupation of that country. Khan Khanan replied, that there were still many strong forts in Berar to be taken, and it appeared advisable to wait till the following year for the invasion of the Nizam Shahy territories. The Prince, offended at this difference of opinion, wrote complaints to his father Akbur Padshah at Dehly, which he procured to be supported by other pri­vate letters from his camp at Shahpoor, till at length

A. H. 1006.
A. D. 1597.

his Majesty recalled Khan Khanan, and deputed Sheikh Abool Fuzl * to the situation of commander-in-chief of the army of the Deccan.

Meanwhile Nehung Khan, the peshwa of Ah-mudnuggur, having obtained unlimited power, con­certed a scheme to seize Queen Chand, and to take upon himself the management of the orphan King and the government. The Queen, gaining intimation of his intentions, shut the gates against him; and securing the person of the King, re­fused the former admittance, saying that he might transact the public business in the town, but not in the fort as hitherto. Nehung Khan for some days submitted quietly; but at length, throwing off the mask, attacked the fort. Several partial skirmishes between the royalists and the rebels took place; and although Ibrahim Adil Shah made overtures to effect a reconciliation, they were invariably re­jected by both parties; each of whom would only be satisfied by the unqualified submission of his enemy. Nehung Khan, who had gradually ac­quired strength from his local position, now took advantage of the absence of Khan Khanan from the Deccan, and also of the rainy season, when the Godavery was full, and not fordable, to send a detachment, and retake the town of Beer from the Moguls. Sheer Khwaja, the governor of Beer, marched twelve miles to oppose the Nizam Shahies, but being wounded, and his party defeated, he with great difficulty reached Beer, when the Nizam Shahies invested the place. Sheer Khwaja wrote petitions to the Emperor at Dehly, complaining that no reinforcements were sent to him, and re­presenting his situation. Akbur was on the point of sending Khan Khanan again to the Deccan, and recalling Abool Fuzl, when information was re­ceived of the death of the Prince Moorad, at Shah-poor, an event brought on by extreme dissipation. His Majesty accordingly deputed his youngest son, the Prince Daniel Mirza, to the government of the Deccan, attended by Khan Khanan as com­mander-in-chief. They had scarcely reached the frontier when his Imperial Majesty, at the earnest entreaties of Sheikh Abool Fuzl, marched in

A. H. 1008.
A. D. 1599.

person to the south, in the beginning of the year 1008. Upon his arrival at Boorhanpoor, having enquired into the Deccan politics, and finding that the Nizam Shahy government was still distracted by the factions of Queen Chand and Nehung Khan, Akbur laid siege to the fort of Aseer, and detached the Prince Daniel Mirza and Khan Khanan against Ahmudnuggur. Nehung Khan Abyssinian immediately raised the siege, and marched with fifteen thousand horse and foot to occupy the Jeipoor Kotly G'hat, and there to oppose the Moguls; but having intimation of this movement, the Prince marched round by the village of Manoory, and avoided the pass. Ne-hung Khan, finding himself out-manœuvred, and unable to withstand the Mogul forces, set fire to his heavy baggage, and retreated to Ahmud-nuggur, where he wished to compromise matters with the Queen, who refusing to listen to him, he fled to Joonere. The Mogul forces reached the fort without opposition, and having laid siege to it as before, commenced mining. At this period the unfortunate, though heroic, Queen Chand, placing no reliance on the persons about her, applied to Humeed Khan an eunuch, and an officer of rank in the fort, for advice. He recommended that they should fight, and defend the place against the Moguls, while the Queen declared, that after the conduct of the several officers whom she had seen within the last few years she could place no re­liance on them, and for her own part she con­sidered it most advisable to negotiate for the evacuation of the fort, on condition of obtaining security for the lives of the garrison and private property, and then to retire to Joonere with the young King. Humeed Khan ran out into the streets, declaring that Chand Sooltana was in treaty with the Moguls for the delivery of the fort; and the shortsighted and ungrateful Deccanies, headed by Humeed Khan, rushed into her private apart­ments, and put her to death. In the course of a few days the mines were sprung with effect, and several breaches made. The Moguls stormed and carried the place, giving little or no quarter. Bahadur Shah with all the children of both sexes of the royal family were taken prisoners; and the unfortunate King, with the regalia and jewels, were sent to Akbur Padshah at Boorhanpoor. The fort of Aseer falling also at the same time, his Im­perial Majesty made over Kandeish and the Deccan conquests to the Prince Daniel, and returned to his capital of Akburabad Agra; notwithstanding which, the Nizam Shahy officers having declared Moortuza, the son of Shah Ally, King, for some time made Purenda the capital.

Bahadur Nizam Shah's reign lasted for three years; and that unfortunate prince is, at the pre­sent day, confined in the fortress of Gualiar.