“I am submissive to thee, be thou submissive to me.”

The Sheikh replied, that if Mahomed Shah Ghazy * would, like his father, promote the ob­servance of the holy ordinances, by discouraging vice, and abstaining from wine in public, and by permitting the judges to execute the laws against those persons who offended in these instances, no one would be dearer to him. He also sent the following verse, written in his own hand:

“While I live I would do nought but good.
“I can have no views but loyalty and attachment.
“Even to those who have injured me,
“If in my power, I would for evil return good.”

Mahomed Shah was so much pleased with the appellation of Ghazy, given him by the Sheikh, that he commanded it to be hereafter added to his titles.

Having entrusted the government of Mahrut to Khan Mahomed, the King returned to Koolburga, when he commanded all the distilleries in his do­minions to be destroyed, and engaged earnestly in requiring a strict observance of the laws. He de­termined to root out entirely the banditti of the Deccan, so famous in all former ages for their dar­ing robberies on caravans. For which purpose, orders were issued to the governors of provinces to use their utmost endeavours to clear the country of thieves and highwaymen, by putting them to death without distinction, and to send their heads to the capital, as examples. The consequence was, that in six or seven months there remained not a vestige of these offenders within the King's dominions. Nearly eight thousand heads were brought to Kool-burga from different parts, and were piled up near the city gates.

Mahomed Shah, having attended to the admon­itions of Sheikh Ein-ood-Deen, maintained a friendly correspondence with that venerable per­sonage throughout his reign, observing towards him great deference and respect. The Sheikh, on his part, frequently sent exhortations to the King, in which he did not hesitate to deliver his senti­ments with honest freedom.

The Rajas of Beejanuggur and Tulingana, as well as all the zemindars of the Deccan, being now confirmed in their submission, and remitting their stipulated tributes, the kingdom was free from war; and Mahomed Shah, laying aside all views of further conquests, employed himself in promot­ing the happiness of his subjects; to effect which, he made a tour annually through one quarter of his dominions, attended by the governor, who escorted him back to the capital. In these excursions he was employed in investigating the state of the resources, in redressing complaints, and in executing plans of public utility. During his reign all ranks of people reposed in security and peace. Sensible of the value of a just king, they were grateful and obedient to his authority, and prayed earnestly for his long reign. But as the wolf of death, greedy of prey, constantly seizes a fresh Joseph, and a Jacob becomes plunged in grief, so the claws

Zeekad 19.
A. H. 776.
March 21.
A. D. 1375.

of the savage darted on his victim, and on the 19th of Zeekad, A. H. 776, snatched the King from the abode of this vain world, and overwhelmed mortals, like Jacob for his son, with lamentations and tears for his loss. Mahomed Shah was buried by the side of his father,—and the words

“All is vanity”

were engraved by his orders on his tomb. Happy the King who passes a reign like his, and of whom such memorials remain. He was respected in his life, and after his death remembered on account of his virtues.

According to the Siraj-oot-Towareekh, so much treasure and such numbers of elephants, as were collected in the household of Mahomed Shah Bahmuny, were never possessed by any other prince of that dynasty. He had three thousand male and female elephants; and in the reign of any other king we only read of two thou­sand. The sums of gold accumulated by him, according to the same author, exceeded those acquired by other princes a full half. No prince before him ever so far reduced the rajas and ze­mindars of the Carnatic, from whom he wrested much of the accumulated riches of seven hundred years; and it is computed that in his reign nearly five hundred thousand unbelievers fell by the swords of the warriors of Islam, by which the population of the Carnatic was so reduced, that it did not re­cover for several ages. * —Mahomed Shah reigned seventeen years.