[Several which appeared in Sir H. M. Elliot's original volume have been here omitted, as they have already been printed in the notices of the original works from which Núru-l Hakk copied them.]
[Abstracted from the Tabakát-i Násirí. See Vol. II. p. 333.]
[Abstracted from the Táríkh-i Fíroz-sháhí of Zíá Barní, Vol. III. p. 125.]
It was about this time that the whole of the Doáb became unable any longer to bear up against the grievous rack-renting and oppressive taxes. The people in despair set fire to their barns and stacks, and carrying away their cattle, became wanderers in the wide world. Upon this, the Sultán gave orders that every such peasant who might be seized should be put to death, and that the whole country should be ravaged and given up to indiscriminate plunder. He even himself marched out of the city for that purpose, as if he had been going on a hunting expedition, put to the sword all the remaining population, and ordered their heads to be displayed from the battlements of the fort. In this way he utterly depopulated whole tracts of his kingdom, and inflicted such rigorous punishment, that the whole world stood aghast. In short, the cruelties of this tyrant, whom some men call the Just, surpass all belief.
Upon the death of King Fíroz, Tughlik Sháh, the son of Prince Fath Khán, was raised to the throne in the palace of Fírozábád. Having distributed among his nobles the high offices of the empire, he despatched a large army against Sultán Muhammad Sháh, who, after a slight resistance, proceeded from Sirmúr to Suket, whence he fled to Nagarkot, being pursued by the army of Tughlik Sháh.
Under the influence of his youthful passions, Tughlik Sháh gave himself up to debauchery and frivolity, and having but little experience in the concerns of government, thought it incumbent on him to imprison his own brother, Khurram Arslán Sháh; upon which Abú Bakr, son of Zafar Khán, the son of Sultán Fíroz, actuated by the fear and suspicion arising from the fate of the Prince, took to flight. Malik Ruknu-d dín, the deputy wazír, and a number of other nobles, joined Abú Bakr, marched out and put Malik Mubárak Kabír to death, before the entrance of Tughlik Sháh's palace at Fírozábád, and the King, alarmed at the superior power of the rebels, fled with Khán Jahán through the gate facing the Jumna. Malik Ruknu-d dín pursued and seized him, and putting him and his followers to death, suspended their heads from that gate. “What pleasures are there under the sky? The kid frolics before the butcher's shambles.”
This event occurred on the 21st Safar, 791 A.H. Tughlik Sháh reigned six months and eighteen days.
Abú Bakr was placed on the throne with the title of Abú Bakr Sháh. After subjugating his enemies, and possessing himself of the treasure and retinue of Fíroz Sháh, he became all-powerful.
Sultán Muhammad, proceeding from Nagarkot to Sámána, proclaimed himself king, and commenced collecting an army. Hundreds of the nobles of Sámána and the owners of lands situated at the foot of the hills, acknowledged his supreme authority. Some of the nobles, deserting Abú Bakr Sháh, did Sultán Muhammad homage. The Sultán marched well equipped on Dehlí from Sámána, and by the time he reached the environs of that city, he had collected a body of cavalry to the amount of 50,000 men. On the 25th Rabí'u-l ákhir, 791 A.H., he reached the palace of Jahán-numái.
On the 2nd of Jumáda-l awwal a battle was fought between the Sultán Muhammad Jang and Abú Bakr Sháh, in which the former sustained a total defeat. Crossing the Jumna with 2000 horse, he entered the Doáb, and sent back his son, named Humáyún Khán, to Sámána, with orders to collect an army and join him. He himself continued at Jalesar, near the banks of the Jumna.
A fresh army of 50,000 horse and foot was accordingly raised. In the month of Sha'bán of the same year, Sultán Muhammad marched on Dehlí a second time, and again encountered Abú Bakr Sháh. But Sultán Muhammad's fortune being still unpropitious, he was defeated in this battle likewise. “Though you make the dust of battle rise like columns of smoke, yet will your bravery be unavailing, if fortune does not favour you. If the key is not in your hand, no force will enable you to wrench open the door of victory.”
Sultán Muhammad Sháh, still continuing at Jalesar, issued orders to the people of Multán, Láhore, and several other places, directing them to kill the dependents of Fíroz Sháh, wherever they might find them. Accordingly a general massacre and great devastation ensued, roads were closed, travelling ceased, and houses were desolated.
In the month of Muharram, 792 A.H., Prince Humáyún Khán marched out, accompanied by several of the nobles, and laid waste the environs of Dehlí, but Abú Bakr Sháh, despatching a force to oppose him, put him to flight.
About this time [900 A.H.] the scarcity of corn was so great that the people were relieved of the established zakát.
It is said that one day a Bráhman declared in the presence of several Muhammadans that the religion of Islám was true, but that his own religion was also true. When this declaration reached the ear of the Doctors, they reported it to the Sultán, and as he was remarkably fond of religious and legal questions and theological controversies, he summoned the learned from various quarters, and invited their opinion on what the Bráhman had asserted. The learned gave it unanimously as their opinion that he should be imprisoned, and that he should then be desired to embrace Islám, and if he should reject it, that he should be slain. Accordingly, when the Bráhman was desired to embrace the Muhammadan religion, he refused to do so, and he was put to death. Many other similar instances of his zeal for religion occurred during his reign.* * *
In his time, Hindú temples were razed to the ground, and neither name nor vestige of them was allowed to remain. In the city of Mathura, if a Hindú wished to have his head or beard shaved, there was not a barber that dared to comply. He prohibited the procession of the spear of Sálár Mas'ud Ghází, which went every year to Bahráich, and women were not allowed to go on pilgrimages to shrines.
In the year 950 H. Púran-mal, son of Salhdí, held occupation
of the fort of Ráísín, and brought several of the neighbouring
parganas under subjection. He had 1000 women in his harem,
from the east and from Sind, and amongst them several Musul-
After that, Sher Khán retired to Ágra, and after remaining there some time, set out on an expedition to Márwár, and at every stage he dug an entrenchment and raised a temporary fortress, advancing with the greatest care and circumspection. Whenever he met with a sandy soil and could not raise a fortress, he had sacks filled with sand, and heaping them up he constructed a defensible position out of them.* * * *
Sher Khán made the road which now runs from Dehlí to Ágra, by cutting through jungles, removing obstacles, and building saráís. Before that time, people had to travel through the Doáb between those two places. There was so much security in travelling during his reign, that if a lone woman were to sleep in a desert with silver and gold about her person, no one would dare to commit theft upon her; and if it ever did so happen that any one lost any property, the mukaddams of the village which was the scene of the robbery were subject to fine, and for fear of its infliction, the zamíndárs used to patrol the roads at night.*
Sher Khán founded many cities after his own name, as Sher-
It is said that once, when looking in a glass, he exclaimed, “Alas! that I have attained the empire only when I have reached old age, and when the time for evening prayer has arrived. Had it been otherwise, the world would have seen what I would have accomplished.” Sometimes he would say, by way of showing what difficult and even impossible objects he contemplated; “I would have made a bridge to span the ocean, and have so contrived that even a widowed and helpless woman might without difficulty perform the pilgrimage to Mecca.” To this day there exists a caravanserai of his building at Mecca, in which Afghán fakírs reside.