When the royal standard reached the city of Beejapoor, Mahomed Shah, at the request of Khwaja Mahmood Gawan, halted to repose from his fatigues; and the minister endeavoured to divert his grief from the death of his mother. Admiring the situation of Beejapoor, the King would willingly have remained there during the rainy season; but so severe a drought prevailed throughout the Deccan, that the wells dried up, and the King, contrary to his inclination, was obliged to move with his army to Ahmudabad Bidur. No rain fell during the next year either, and the towns in consequence became almost de­populated. Many of the inhabitants died of fa­mine, and numbers emigrated, for food, to Malwa, Jajnuggur, and Guzerat. In Tulingana, Marhutt, * and throughout the Bahmuny dominions, no grain was sown for two years; and on the third, when the Almighty showered his mercy upon the earth, scarcely any farmers remained in the country to cultivate the lands.†*

Not long after this dreadful visitation, while the country was just reviving from depopulation, intel­ligence came that the garrison of Condapilly had, in a state of mutiny, murdered their governor, seized the property of his dependents, and given up the fort to Bhimraj Oorea, a person originally pa­tronised by Mahomed Shah. Bhimraj, on this ac­quisition, sent persons to wait on the Ray of Orissa, representing, that if he wished to recover his hereditary dominions in Tulingana, now was the time, as the resources of the Deccan were ex­hausted by two years of famine, and the armies were reduced to small numbers. Bhimraj also promised to join him, provided he were admitted to share in the conquests made from the Mussul-mans; and engaged for the present to allow him to retain the fort and district of Condapilly. The Ray of Orissa, availing himself of these offers, collected ten thousand horse, and eight thousand foot, and having summoned the Raja of Jajnuggur to his assistance, entered Tulingana without delay. Nizam-ool-Moolk, governor of Rajmundry, unable to cope with so large a force, shut himself up in that fortress, and sent accounts to court of his situation.

Mahomed Shah, by the advice of Khwaja Mah-mood Gawan, resolved to march against the infidels in person. Having, therefore, advanced one year's pay to the troops, he began his journey with all practicable expedition. On his arrival near Raj-mundry, the enemy declined meeting him in the field, Bhimraj retired to the fortress of Conda-pilly, and the Ray of Orissa, crossing the river at Rajmundry, retreated towards his own dominions. Mahomed Shah, enraged at this unprovoked ag­gression, left Khwaja Mahmood Gawan, with the Prince Mahmood Khan, at Rajmundry, and march­ed with twenty thousand horse to punish the re­bellious idolater. In the latter part of the year

A. H. 882.
A. D. 1477.

882, the King penetrated to the capital of Orissa, and slew without mercy the inhabitants, at the same time devas­tating the enemy's country. The Ray having withdrawn his troops to the very extremity of his possessions, the Mahomedans ranged unmolested, and collected contributions from the people. The King, at length, determined to send for his son and Khwaja Mahmood Gawan, and to establish them in the province, which he determined to occupy as a permanent conquest.

The Ray of Orissa, hearing of the King's inten­tions, sent repeated embassies, with presents of elephants and other valuable articles, to open the door of forgiveness, declaring, solemnly, that he would never, on any future occasion, assist the zemindars of Tulingana. To this the King replied, that if he would give him up twenty-five elephants, which he named, and which had belonged to the late Ray, his predecessor, he would make peace. Although the Ray prized these elephants next to his life, he durst not refuse; they were accord­ingly sent, clothed in rich trappings, bearing in their trunks chains of gold and silver. After which, the King commenced his return from Orissa.

On the road, while one day engaged at some distance from his route in hunting, he saw a fort on a high hill, and going to view it nearer with his attendants, asked some of the country people to whom it belonged. They replied, that it was the property of the Ray of Orissa, and that no power dared be so rash as to cast even a look of con­quest upon it. The King, incensed at this remark, halted at the foot of the hill, and the next day be­gan the siege, which continued a month and a half without success. At the expiration of that period, the Ray sent an apology for the rudeness of his subjects, whom he called clowns unacquainted with politeness, and entreated his Majesty would con­sider the fort his own by conquest, but bestow it upon him as one of his vassals. This ingenious apology pleasing the King, he raised the siege, and continued his march.

Mahomed Shah now sat down before Condapilly, and Bhim Raj, after six months, being much dis­tressed, sued for pardon; which being granted, at the intercession of some of the nobility, he surren­dered the fort and town to the royal troops. The King having gone to view the fort, broke down an idolatrous temple, and killed some bramins, who officiated at it, with his own hands, as a point of religion. He then gave orders for a mosque to be erected on the foundation of the temple, and ascending a pulpit, repeated a few prayers, distri­buted alms, and commanded the Khootba to be read in his name. Khwaja Mahmood Gawan now re­presented, that as his Majesty had slain some infi­dels with his own hands, he might fairly assume the title of Ghazy, an appellation of which he was very proud. Mahmood Shah was the first of his race who had slain a bramin; * and it is the belief of the Deccanies that this act was inaus­picious, and led to the troubles which soon after perplexed the affairs of himself and his family, and ended in the dissolution of the dynasty.

Mahomed Shah, according to the advice of Khwaja Mahmood, remained nearly three years at Rajmundry, settling the conquered country, and establishing proper military posts on that fron­tier. Having secured the whole of Tulingana, by expelling all the refractory zemindars, he re­solved on the conquest of the territory of Nursing Ray, and consulted his minister on the subject of establishing a governor for the province of Tulin-gana. The minister replied, that no one was more capable of such a charge than Nizam-ool-Moolk Bheiry; and the King, approving of the choice, committed to his care Rajmundry, Condapilly, and several other places. Wurungole, and other dis­tricts, he conferred on Azim Khan, after which he began his march towards the territory of Nursing Ray. Nizam-ool-Moolk, disappointed that Azim Khan should have a distinct charge within his pro­vince, represented, that he wished to leave his government in charge of one of his sons, and attend the royal stirrup. To this application the King replied, that his object was to afford protection to the country, and he was, therefore, indifferent by whom that should be effected. It is said that Khwaja Mahmood, perceiving Nizam-ool-Moolk to be extremely ambitious, did not wish that his son, Mullik Ahmud, who had lately married a lady from the King's haram, and was more aspiring even than his father, should be stationed with him in the same province. At the time when Nizam-ool-Moolk was originally appointed governor of Raj-mundry, he persuaded the King to station Mullik Ahmud under Khodawund Khan Hubshy, giving him an estate in the Mahoor district, with the rank of an officer of three hundred. Mahomed Shah, however, now complying with the request of Nizam-ool-Moolk, recalled his son Mullik Ahmud to camp, promoted him to the rank of commander of a thousand men, and permitted him to proceed as his father's deputy to Rajmundry.

Nursing Ray was a powerful raja possessing the country lying between the Carnatic and Tulin-gana , * extending along the sea-coast to Muchly-puttun† * (fish-town), and had added much of the Bee-januggur territory to his own by conquest, together with several strong forts. He had frequently excited the zemindars on the Bahmuny frontier to rebel; and the officers on the borders, unable to control his power, had more than once represented his conduct to court, which had, at length, induced the King to attack him.

Mahomed Shah, in the beginning of this expe­dition, marching by a ruined fort‡, * and being told that it had been erected by one of the kings of Dehly to overawe the borderers, halted, and com­manded it to be repaired without delay. Khwaja Mahmood Gawan made such exertions that the ordinary work of two years was accomplished in the short space of six months, a garrison established, and ample stores of all kinds laid in for its de­fence. On Mahomed Shah finding the works completed in so short a time, he exclaimed, “The Almighty hath bountifully conferred upon me “two incalculable blessings; a great kingdom, and “such a servant as Mahmood Gawan!” Having said this, he took off his upper robe, and putting it on the shoulders of Khwaja Mahmood, took his in return, and put it on his own person. No his­tory, I believe, records an instance of so great an honour being conferred by any king on a subject. But as the attainment of supreme favour often leads to distrust, and sometimes even to a downfall, so it happened to Khwaja Mahmood Gawan, as will be hereafter related.