That is to say Ulugh Khān, by the agreement of the Amīrs and officers of the Court ascended the royal throne in the year 725 226. A.H. (1325 A.D.),302 and after performing the ceremonial mourning for the space of forty days,302a went to the treasure house of the kings of former ages, and gave largesse such as exceeds all bounds of description, and having distributed appointments and offices among the Amīrs, he made Malik Fīroz his uncle's son (who is the same person as Sulṭān Fīroz) Nāibu-l-Mulk, and advanced the dignity of his near relations in the same manner. Ḥamīd Lawīkī, too, was raised to an exalted position and Malik Sartez obtained the title of ‘Imādu-l-Mulk, Malik Khurram that of Ẓahīru-l-Juyū sh (Inspector of the Forces) Malik Pindār Khiljī was given the title of Qadr Khān, and Malik Izzu-d-Dīn Yahyā that of Ā‘ẓamu-l-Mulk, the district of Satgānw being also confirmed to him.
And in the year 727 A.H. (1326-1327 A.D.) the Sulṭān having formed the design of proceeding to Deogīr, posted a chain of dhāwa,302b that is to say pāiks, or runners, as guards at distances of one kroh along the whole road302c from Dihlī to Deogīr, built a palace and a monastery at each stage and appointed302d a Shaikh to each. They used to keep in constant readiness food and drink, betel-leaf302e and all provisions for hospitality; and in both303 (palaces and monasteries) guides were stationed who were ordered to see that travellers suffered no annoyance. The traces of these (rest-houses) remained for many years. He gave Deogīr the name of Daulatābād303a and considering it as the centre of his dominions303b made it the metropolis, and conveyed Makhdūma-i-Jahān his mother, with all his family and relations, the Amīrs and Maliks, the notables of the city, his servants and dependents, and all his treasure to Daulatābād: all the Saiyyids and Shaikhs and ‘Ulamā303c also proceeded thither in the following of Makhdūma-i-Jahān, and the stipends and emoluments of all of them were doubled, but in accordance with the saying “Exile is the gravest of all calamities and banishment is the sorest of all afflictions” this desolation of Dihlī and its desertion was a source of great discomfort to the inhabitants, large numbers of the feeble and widows, the helpless and indigent perished by the way, while even those who arrived in safety, could not settle there; and towards the end of the above-mentioned year Malik Bahādur Gurshasp 227. the Inspector-General of the Forces, raised a rebellion in Dihlī,304 and Malik Aiyāz, who held the title of Khwāja-i-Jahān, fought with Bahādur and defeated him. Bahādur was taken prisoner and brought before the Sulṭān and met his punishment. After that, Malik Bahrām Ība the adopted brother of Sulṭān Tughlaq raised a rebellion in Multān,304a and put to death ‘Alī Khaṭaṭī who had been sent from Dihlī to summon him thither. The Sulṭān, in order to put down this rebellion, left Daulatābād for Dihlī and thence by uninterrupted marches reached Multān. Bahrām having come out304b against him fought with him, but was defeated and eventually put to death, his head was brought to the Sulṭān who intended to set the blood of the Multānīs flowing like rivers on account of his crime, but when the Shaikhu-l-Islām Quṭbu-l-‘Ālam Shaikh Ruknu-l-Haqq wau-d-Dīn Quraishī,304c may God sanctify his holy resting place, having bared his venerable head presented himself at the Court of the Sulṭān and made intercession, the Sulṭān pardoned the offences of the people.
Verse.From the earliest times of Adam till the days of the king.
Great men have shewn mercy304d mean men have committed
faults.
And the Sulṭān having bestowed Multān upon Qiwāmu-l-Mulk Maqbūl retraced his steps, but after some little time304e having turned against him despatched Behzād to replace him, but Shāhū Lodi the Afghān305 killed Behzād and broke out into open rebellion. The Sulṭān on his arrival at Dīpālpūr found that Shāhū had fled into the hill country,305a so he turned back.
And in the year 729 A.H. (1329 A.D.) Narma Shīrīn the Mughul,305b the brother of Qutlugh Khwāja the Mughul King of Khurāsān who had formerly invaded Hindūstān, having entered 228. the Dihlī territory305c with an enormous army, reduced the majority of the forts, and proceeded slaughtering and taking captives from Lāhor and Sāmāna and Indarī to the borders of Badāon; and when the victorious troops of Islām came up with him, he retreated as they advanced; the Sulṭān pursued him305d as far as the frontier of Kālānor and defeated him, and leaving the destruction of that fort in the hands of Mujīru-d-Dīn Abūrijā returned in the direction of Dihlī. At this time the Sulṭān formed the opinion that in consequence of the refractory conduct of his subjects in the Doāb it was advisable to double the taxes levied on that country; he also instituted numbering their cattle and a house census, and other vexatious and oppressive measures, which were the cause of the complete ruin and desolation of the country,305e the weak were utterly destroyed and the strong laid the foundations of rebellion. The Sulṭān gave orders for the remainder of the inhabitants of Dihlī and the adjoining towns to start for Daulatābād, caravan by caravan, the houses were to be purchased from their owners, and the price of them to be paid in cash out of the public treasury, in addition to which large rewards were to be offered. By these means Daulatābād was populated, and Dihlī became so deserted that there was not left even a dog or a cat in the city. The following verse describes its condition:—
Verse.There where the heart-ravishing one used to toy with her
friends in the garden,
The wolf and the fox had their home, and the rhinoceros
and vulture their abode.
This state of affairs also led to a diminution of the public funds. Among other sources of loss to the treasury was this that the Sulṭān enacted that the muhar306 of copper should become current on an equal footing with the muhar of silver, and any one who shewed reluctance to receive it used to be instantly punished severely. This enactment led to many corrupt practices in the kingdom as a matter of course, and unscrupulous and 229. contumacious rascals used everywhere in their own houses to set up mints and stamp coins,306a and taking them into the cities used to purchase with them silver and horses, weapons and fine things, and thus rose to great wealth and dignity. But inasmuch as copper had no value as a currency in places at a distance and one tanka of gold rose to the value of fifty or sixty copper coins, the Sulṭān perceived the worthlessness of the copper coinage, and issued an edict to the effect that every one who had in his house a copper tanka should, if he brought them to the public treasury, receive for them golden tankas in equal value.306b The people profited greatly by this arrangement, till at last copper became copper and silver silver, and those copper tankas were lying in heaps in Tughlaqābād as late as the time of Sulṭān Mubārak Shāh according to the author of the Tārīkh-i-Mubārak Shāhī, and had no more value than stones. God knows the truth.
And in the year307 738 A.H. (1337 A.D.) he despatched a force of eighty thousand307a cavalry under eminent commanders to capture the mountain of Himāchal307b which stands between the country of Chīn and Hindustān, and which they also call Qarāchal307c with orders to leave garrisons in each successive place so that the line of communications for transport and supplies might remain open and the road of return might be easy. After the entry of this army into this country, by reason of the peculiar features of that mountain, on which heavy clouds form and rain pours in torrents at the sound of men's voices and their shouts and the neighing of horses, in consequence also of the narrowness of the paths and the scarcity of fodder, the patrols were not able to stand to their posts, and the hill tribes getting the upper hand drove back the army, and falling upon the rear of the force killed many of them with poisoned arrows and stone showers, and sending the most of them to the eternal world enabled them to attain martyrdom, taking the rest prisoners.308 For a long time they wandered helplessly among the mountains, and those who escaped after countless hardships the Sulṭān visited with condign punishment.308a And after this calamity so great an army never gathered round 230. the Sulṭān and all that money expended in their pay was thrown away.
And in the year 739 A.H. (1338 A.D.) Bahrām Khān Governor of Sunargānw died, and Malik Fakhru-d-Dīn Silāḥdār became rebellious and assumed the title of Sulṭān, and having fought with Qadr Khān the ruler of Lakhnautī in conjunction with Malik Ḥusamu-d-Dīn Abūrijā the Mustaufī, and ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Yahyā A‘ẓamu-l-Mulk, was defeated, and all his sources of grandeur, his treasure and his retainers fell into the hands of Qadr Khān; and when the rainy season had arrived the horses belonging to Qadr Khān died, and he had collected much money308b and had stored it up in heaps in his own house with the object of presenting it to the Sulṭān. In spite of all that Ḥusāmu-d-Dīn Aburjā could do to dissuade him from amassing wealth and inducing men to covet it and thus leading to disorder, Qadr Khān would not listen, till eventually the very result predicted by Ḥusamu-d-Dīn ensued; Malik Fakhru-d-Dīn returned, and the soldiery of Ḥusā-mu-d-Dīn joined him and killed their own master, and all the money fell to the lot of Fakhru-d-Dīn. The absolute control of Sunārgānw was given him; he appointed one Mukhliṣ a servant of his, to Lakhnautī, and ‘Alī Mubārak Inspector of Troops; Qadr Khān put Mukhliṣ to death and aspired at independence, writing diplomatic letters to the court of the Sulṭān. The Sulṭān appointed Malik Yūsuf, but he died by the way, and the Sulṭān, having other affairs to attend to, omitted to send any one else to that district.308c At this juncture ‘Alī Mubārak by reason of the enmity he bore to Fakhru-d-Dīn, displayed the insignia of royalty, and assumed the title of Sulṭān ‘Alāu-d-Dīn, and Malik Ilyās Ḥäjī who was a man of family and retinue, after a few days put ‘Alāu-d-Dīn to death with the assistance of some of the Amīrs and Maliks of Lakh-nautī, and himself assumed the title of Sulṭān Shamsu-d-Dīn. 231.
And in the year 741 A.H. (1340 A.D.) Sulṭān Muḥammad having left with the object of reducing Sunārgānw, seized Fakhru-d-Dīn and brought him prisoner to Lakhnautī, where he put him to death and returned. Shamsu-d-Dīn became absolute monarch of that region, and the kingly power and authority over that country descended for a lengthened period in the hands of his sons,309 and never again returned to the possession of Sulṭān Muḥammad ‘Ādil.
And in the year 742 A.H. (1341 A.D.) Saiyyid Ḥasan Kaithalï the father of Malik Ibrāhīm a feofee of the Sulṭān, who was generally known as Ḥasan Kāngū, and who eventually obtained the sovereignty of the Deccan with the title of ‘Alāu-d-Dīn Bahman Shāh, fermented a revolt in Ma‘bar on the grounds of the severity of the Sulṭān's governors, and the innovations introduced in the laws, and the number of executions,309a and gained over to his own party nearly all the great men of Dihlī who had been appointed to that district. He put to death the leaders of the opposite party. The Sulṭān proceeded from Lakhnautī to Deogīr for the purpose of quelling that disturbance, and on his arrival at Tilang was taken ill, and was forced to return by uninterrupted marches to Dihlī. He left Qutlugh Khān in Daulatābād; thus the rebellion in Ma‘bar remained unchecked and Ḥasan's influence increased rapidly.
And in the year 743 (1342 A.D.) they put to death by treachery Malik Halājun and Kul Chander Khākhar and Malik Tātār Khurd, the Governor of Lāhore,309b and when Khwāja-i-Jahān came up against them,309c they came cut to do battle with him, but the scoundrels suffered a severe defeat and were sorely punished.
And in the year 744 A.H. (1343 A.D.) the Sulṭān passing through Sanām and Sāmāna gave orders to the Saiyyids and all 232. the Muslims in opposition to the advice of Ḥasan Kānkū, for a general massacre, but he kept the chief men of those districts in their posts, conveyed them to the suburbs of the city, and conferred upon them villages and districts, and bestowing many rich robes of honour, and purses of gold gave them a place of abode there; and when a general famine arose he issued an edict that any one who wished should proceed to the eastern part of Hindustān and spend the days of dearness and scarcity there, without let or hindrance, and in the same way if any person wishing to give up living in Daulatābād should return to Dihlī, no one would molest him. Moreover in that year so many people arrived in Hindustān from the countries of Khurāsān and ‘Irāq and Samarqand, in the hope of receiving the bounty of the Sulṭān, that hardly any other races were to be seen in that country.
And in this year Ḥājī Sa‘īd Ṣarṣarī310 arrived from Egypt bearing the diploma of the Khalīfah310a with a banner and a robe of honour, conferring upon the Sulṭān the title of Nāṣir-i-Amīru-l-Mū'minīn from the Khalīfah of the Abbāsides who were still extant. The Sulṭān ordered decorations and illuminations in the city, and proceeded with all the Shaikhs and Saiyyids and his retainers to give him an honourable reception, then, dismounting, he kissed the feet of Hājī Sa‘īd and joined his retinue. He then re-established the Friday prayers and the ‘Īd, which all this time he had kept in abeyance waiting for the orders and sanction of the Khalīfah, he read the Khuṭbah in the name of the Khalīfah, and struck out the names of those kings who had not received authority from the Dār-ul-Khilāfah, with the exception of Sulṭān Maḥmūd. He then gave largesse310b of money and valuables to such an extent that his treasury became exhausted, he also despatched to Egypt a precious jewel, the like of which he had not in his treasury, by the hands of Hāji Barq‘aī, with other rarities and presents; and having become, in his own opinion, the rightful Khalīfah, and keeping constantly placed before him the Qur'ān311 and the honorary presents and the patent of the Khalīfah, would issue commands as though he were the Khalīfah, and used to say 233. “The Khalīfah says” this or that. He compelled the people to profess allegiance to the Khalīfah, and went to Sarkdawārī which is in the vicinity of Shamsābād, and on two or three occasions311a in Barūj and Kanbhāyat also311b he received patents from the Khalīfah, and a second time the Makhdūmzāda-i-Baghdādī311c came to visit him, and the Sulṭān went on foot to Pālam to receive him; and when he saw him from afar off he advanced to meet him, and seated him upon the throne beside himself and made over to him without reservation, the city of Kīlī311d with the garden and the palace and all the buildings.
And in the year 745 A. H. (1344 A.D.) Malik Niẓāmu-l-Mulk governor of Karra, raised a rebellion, Shahr-u-llah the brother of ‘Ainu-l-Mulk brought up an army against him from Oudh and took him prisoner, but the rebellion was quelled. Then Shihābu-d-dīn Sulṭān waxed riotous in Bīdar, and Qutlugh Khān was despatched against him, and Shihābu-d-dīn coming out with his son to do battle was besieged in the fortress, and Qutlugh Khān inducing him to come out by promises of quarter, sent him to the royal presence.
And in the year 746 A.H. (1345 A D.) ‘Alī Sher sister's son to Ẓafar Khān ‘Alā‘ī gained possession of Gulbarga311e in strong force, having put to death the ruler of Bīdar, and taking much spoil, fought with Qutlugh Khān, but was defeated and obliged to retreat to the fortress of Bīdar where he shut himself up. Qutlugh Khān however took him also prisoner, and sent him to Sarkdawārī which was the camp of the Sulṭān's army. The Sulṭān in the first instance sent the captives to Ghaznīn in exile, but afterwards recalled them thence and put them all to death.
And in the year 747 A.H. (1346 A.D.) at the time when the 234. Sulṭān had made Sarkdawārī his camp, ‘Ainu-l-Mulk arrived at the Court, bringing from Ẓafarābād and Oudh much property and rarities of great value as presents; then the Sulṭān came to the conclusion that it was advisable to recall Qutlugh Khān from the Dakkan, and send ‘Ainu-l-Mulk to replace him. ‘Ainu-l-Mulk got some idea into his head, and fled by night from Sarkdawārī and crossing the river Ganges made for Oudh, and his brothor Shahru-llāh laid hands upon certain of the elephants and horses312 belonging to the king, which had been left behind to graze, and carried them off. The Sulṭān went in pursuit of them as far as Qanauj, and ‘Ainu-l-Mulk, at the instigation of his brothers and a party of the followers of Malik Fīroz Nāib Barbak, who had been placed in charge of the elephants and horses, crossed the river Ganges and coming over to this side312a attacked the army of the Sulṭān, and like the thieves and Gawārs (of India)312b took to the woods and fought on foot, but not being ablo to stand against the elephants and archers of the king took to flight,312c and Shahru-llah and his other brother together with the majority of the sirdārs of ‘Ainu-l-Mulk were drowned, and the remainder fell by the swords of the soldiers, and the fugitives were taken prisoners by the Gawārs, who having found ‘Ainu-l-Mulk alive took him on their shoulders312d and brought him bareheaded312e to the court and gave him a few days respite,312f and the Sulṭān in consideration of his excellent services gave him his freedom, and in accordance with his former custom treated him well, and giving him a district sent him back to Dihlī; then he recalled Qutlugh Khān from the Dakkan, but inasmuch as Qutlugh Khān had reduced that country to excellent order and had gained the good will of the people, his recall was the cause of great discontent (and disaffection)313 and ‘Azīz Khumār313a who was one of the canaille, proceeding to Mālwa put to death many centurions (or Amīrs of a hundred) which is the meaning of the word Yūzbāshī313b in accordance with the Sulṭān's orders, and thence arose many insurrections.
And in the year 748 A.H. (1347 A.D.) the captains of hundreds, 235. stirred up rebellion and sedition in Gujrāt against Muqbil the servant of Khwāja-i-Jahān who was nāib-vazīr of Gujrāt, and was bringing treasure to the Court, and attacked him by night, getting possession of the treasure and horses and property belonging to the king. The Sulṭān arrived at Gujrāt with the object of quelling this rebellion, and sent some of the trustworthy Amīrs as for instance Malik ‘Alī Sarjāndār, and Aḥmad Lāchīn to Daulatābād to bind the Amīrs of hundreds who were there and bring them to Court. As soon as Malīk Aḥmad Lāchīn arrived at the pass of Manikganj, the Amīrs of hundreds in their alarm313c came to a common understanding, and put Malīk Aḥmad Lāchīn to death; Azīz Khumār who had gone from Gujrāt to oppose the Amīrs of hundreds of Dabho‘ī313d and Baroda, on coming face to face with the insurgents lost his head,313e fell from his horse and was taken prisoner. This news had reached the Sulṭān and had augmented his wrath considerably. And after the defeat of Muqbil and the murder of ‘Azīz, the Amīrs of hundreds waxed bold, and sent for their families and relations from all directions, and with one consent turned against the Sulṭān313f and having captured the fortress of Daulatābād from the the governors of Malik ‘Alam took possession of it, and raising to the throne one Isma‘īl Fatḥ gave him the title of Sulṭān Nāṣiru-d-Dīn. After this the Amīrs of hundreds of Dabho'ī and Baroda over whom the Sulṭān had appointed other Amīrs, being defeated by the army opposed to them joined hands with the Amīrs of hundreds of Daulatābād. When the Sulṭān went to Daulatābād Isma‘īl Fatḥ prepared to give him battle, but being defeated shut himself up in the fortress of Dhārānagar by which is meant the citadel314 of Daulatābād; many Muslims of Daulatābād were slain in this rebellion, or were made prisoners, and Malik314a ‘Imādul Mulk Sartez was ordered to pursue314b the 236. fngitive Amīrs of hundreds towards Bīdar. In the meantime tidings arrived of the rebellion in Gujrāt of Malik Taghī, who, having put to death Malik Muẓaffar the governor of that place, had obtained possession314c of a large number of horses and much property. Thereupon the Sulṭān leaving in Dhārānagar Malik Jauhar and Khudāwandzāda Qiwāmu-d-Dīn and Shaikh Burhānu-d-Dīn Balārāmī314d left to quell the rebellion of Taghī;314e the army which had fled from Daulatābād under the leadership of Ḥasan Kāngū, coming out of hiding attacked314f ‘Imādu-l-Mulk Sartez. ‘Imādu-l-Mulk was slain, and his army fled to Daulatābād and sought shelter there, and Malik Jauhar with Khudāwandzāda Qiwāmu-d-Dīn and the other Amīrs not being able to withstand Ḥasan in Daulatābād evacuated those districts and made for Dhārānagar. Ḥasan Kāngū pursued them and came to Daulatābād,314g and having driven out Isma‘īl Fatḥ assumed the title of ‘Alāu-d-Dīn and usurped the government, and from that time forward the rule of the districts of Daulatābād and the sovereignty of that kingdom remained in his family. The history called Futūḥu-s-Salāṭīn314h was written in his honour. And Taghī the rebel, after the arrival of the Sulṭān at Gujrāt, ventured a second time to fight with him and was again defeated, and giving himself up to brigandage roamed about from place to place, the Sulṭān however continued to pursue him and followed him wherever he went. And in this expedition the Sulṭān having sent for Malik Fīroz from Dihlī attached him to his Court; and315 in this year Malik Gīr the son of Malik Qabūl Khālīfatī, to whom the Sulṭān had delegated the control of all his important affairs, and on whose behalf he had written a letter expressing submis- 237. sion to the Egyptian Khalīfah, and had sent it by the hand of Hājī Barqa‘ī, died, and Aḥmad Aiyāz, who is also called Khwāja-i-Jahān, and Malik Qabūl Qiwāmu-l-Mulk were carrying on the government in Dihlī. Towards the end of the reign of Muḥam-mad, disaffection and rebellion, mischief and sedition became increasedly evident day by day,315a so that if he turned his attention to curing one evil, another was not wanting to supply its place,315b and matters were past all remedy,315c and the glory315d of the kingdom, and prosperity315e of the country was entirely subverted. Tyranny supplanted equity, and infidelity flourished in place of Islām. There were many reasons for this, which by their cooperation led to ruin and dissension, and the decline of the kingdom. These causes are given in detail in the original history315f the Firozshāhī, and also in the Mubārakshāhī. The results are here given in brief arranged under seven heads. Firstly.—The greater part of the people and inhabitauts of the towns and districts were ruined by the rapine of Tarma Shīrīn, and never again recovered their prosperity. Secondly.—The tribute to be paid by the inhabitants of the Doāb, which district comprises some of the chief towns of Hindustān, was increased from ten per cent. to twenty per cent., besides which there was the numbering of the cattle, and the house-census, and other taxes316 over and above these, and316a in this way the more needy portion of the people left their property and cattle and attached themselves316b to the richer folk, while the wealthier subjects plotted rebellion and sedition and took to highway robbery, and pillaged the country in all directions316c so that from all these causes the revenue of the country began to dwindle.316d Thirdly.—An universal famine, and (consequent) dearness of grain, for it so happened that for seven whole years not a single drop of rain fell from heaven. It should be remembered that this statement has been copied as it stands from the Mubārakshāhī, but I cannot say whether the author of that work has been guilty of exaggeration or if in reality the facts were as 238. stated.316e Fourthly.—the desertion of Dihlī, and the population of Daulatābād, because after Dihlī was laid waste they brought people from the towns and other places into that city and populated it, and then again removed them thence to Daulatābād, so that all their hereditary estates and family holdings, and all the property and effects316f they possessed were wasted and dissipated, so that they never saw anything more of them. Fifthly.—The massacre of the eighty thousand cavalry in a body in the hills of Himāchal, and the consequent desolation of their families. Sixthly.—The daily occurrence of rebellion and mutiny in every place where people were in dread of their lives, some of them fell in battle but the greater number were put to death with their families upon false charges, so that in every way that wretched country was being ruined. Seventhly.—The blood thirstiness of the Sulṭān, and his system of Government of his people, which made Saiyyids, ‘Ulamā, Shaikhs, ragamuffins and scoundrels, artisans,317 peasants,317a and soldiers, all alike in his eyes. Moreover there was constantly in front of his royal pavilion and his Civil Court a mound of dead bodies and a heap of corpses, while the sweepers and executioners were wearied out with their work of dragging (the wretched victims) and putting them to death in crowds. So that317b the people were never tired of rebelling nor the king of punishing (the rebels).317c At last the Sulṭān was at his wit's end what to do, but for all this he did not keep his foot out of the stirrup, nor did his sword rest from punishment, but all to no purpose, till the flood of sedition waxed violent, and the nobles of the kingdom by degrees grew317d feeble, at length disease overcame him, and the Sulṭān was freed from his people and the people from their Sulṭān.
Verse.Of all the people of the world, although most of them 239.
Are gone astray, and few of them are in the right path,
Do thou so live that when thou diest thou mayest escape
(punishment),
Not so that when thou diest the people may escape (thy
tyranny).
They relate an extraordinary story of one of the irregular acts of the Sulṭān which was that he kept such strict watch over all matters involving punishment, that he used to keep four Muftīs317e to whom he allotted quarters in the precincts of his own palace, and used to see that they kept to their appointed places,317f so that when anyone who was arrested upon any charge, he might in the first place argue with the Muftīs about his due punishment, so far as he was able,318 and had said, Be very careful that you do not fail in the slightest degree by defect in speaking that which you consider right, because if any one should be put to death wrongfully and the oversight should have been on your side, the blood of that man will be upon your head. Then if after long discussion they convicted (the prisoner), even though it were midnight318a he would pass orders for his execution,318b and if he himself found for conviction 318c he would refer it to another meeting, and would endeavour to find a means of upsetting their arguments,318d and would come and make a speech, and when the Muftīs were at a loss for a further argument, he would put (the prisoner) to death on the instant or else release him on the spot.
They say318e that one day Sulṭān318f Muḥammad wearing his shoes went on foot into the Court of Justice318g of Qāẓī Kamālu-d-Dīn Ṣadr-i-Jahān and said, The Shaikhzāda-i-Jāmī has called me a tyrant, send for him that he may substantiate his charge of tyranny against me, or, if he fails, that you may pronounce318h against him the sentence of such punishment according to law as the case may require. When the Shaikhzāda was summoned he confessed (to having said it) and the Sulṭān enquired (what his grounds were). He replied, every one whom you punish (with death) lawfully or unlawfully, that is your prerogative, but that you should hand over his wife 240. and children to the executioners as you do, to do what they will with them, in what religion and under what sacred law do you find this? The Sulṭān was silent and rose up from the Court,318i and ordered that the Shaikhzāda should be bound; this order was carried out and he was put into an iron cage; then he had him carried in that very way on the journey to Daulatābād on the back of an elephant. When he returned and arrived at Dihlī, he brought him before the same Court,318j and bringing him out of the cage gave orders in obedience to which the poor wretch was cut in two in his presence. From this it is clear that the Sulṭān was a mixture of opposites, and318k for this reason his name has been handed down in tradition, aye and even in some books also as “the Bloody” not as “the Just.” There are many stories bearing upon this which I have heard, but to write or speak of them would lead me too far afield. So “Take example from it ye that are endowed with sight.”319 In short319a after great havoc had been wrought in the affairs of the state by the excessive tyranny and oppression of the Sulṭān, which he however regarded as the essence of justice, and great breaches had been which the wise and learned were powerless to repair,319b by reason of his various toils and his evil designs, the disease of Phthisis319c found its way to his constitution; notwithstanding this he set himself to follow up Taghī, and in the hope of exterminating him set out for the kingdom of Thatha where320 Taghī had fled for safety; and320a in that expedition Qarghan Nāib of the king of Khurāsān sent Altūn Bahādur with five thousand cavalry to assist the Sulṭān. The Sulṭān's illness was at that time slightly less urgent320b and when he arrived at Thatha he fasted on the day of the ‘Āshūra,320c which was in the very middle of the hot season, and after breaking his fast he ate some fish, whereupon his illness returned, and on the twenty-first of Muḥarram in the year 752 H. (1351 A.D.) he took his way to the next world,320d the duration of his reign having been twenty-seven years.
When the Empire of justice arose with ease, like the sun.
The land of Hindustān came under his sway like that of 241.
Khurāsān;
A fortress like that of the Haft Khwān321 he built of Haft
Jūsh321a which in loftiness
Would need the Nasr-i-Ṭāir321b to fly to its pinnacle inaccessible
as Harumān.321c
So strong that it registered a vow to last till the Resurrection-
day, but by reason of the vicissitudes of time, it became
destroyed in many places like the web of a spider.
You will find nothing upon the top of its walls but the voice
of the owl.
In its topmost garden you will see nothing by the ill-omened
raven.
It befits the duration and pride of Empire that its condition
should become in accordance with the words “God most
High is far above all that the tyrants of men say of Him.”321d
And among the celebrated poets of the time of Sulṭān Muḥam-mad is Badar Shāshī321e who wrote a Shāhnāma in his honour, of some thousand verses321f and for the very reason that it is a history in poetry it is a valuable acquisition.
Who was the brother's son of Sulṭān Ghīyāṯu-d-Dīn Tughlaq and uncle's son of Sulṭān Muḥammad ‘Ādil, in accordance with the authority appointing him the heir-apparent of Sulṭān Muḥammad ascended the throne of sovereignty and state, by the consent of the chiefs of the Shaikhs and the leading Amīrs and Vazīrs in the aforesaid year, in the vicinity of Thatha. It is said that the Makhdūmzāda-i-‘Abbāsi of Baghdād, and Shaikh Naṣīru-d-Dīn Chirāgh-i-Dihlī may God sanctify their sacred resting places were322 the cause of the allegiance thus sworn to Sulṭān Fīroz, and it is currently reported that [Makhdūm Shaikh Naṣīru-d-Dīn Chirāgh-i-Dihlī 242. may God sanctify his resting place]322a had secretly made Malik Fīroz King during the absence of Sulṭān Muḥammad. Some of the Muftīs informed the Sulṭān of this, and his orders were that those two, master and disciple322b were to be taken in confinement from Dihlī and brought to the camp. This was carried out,322c and Malik Fīroz in some way or other gained over the guards, and made his way, just as he was, to the neighbourhood of Hānsī to Shaikh Badru-d-Dīn who was one of the descendants of Shaikh Jamālu-d-Dīn of Hānsī322d may God sanctify theìr resting-places. That holy man exclaimed “Great God! a man has been made prisoner and taken off to be Sulṭān, and he wots not of it”! When they arrived322e at the camp of the Sulṭān in the vicinity of Thatha and the tidings of the arrival of these two holy men reached him322f he gave orders that they were to be put to death the instant of their arrival, and with that he lapsed into a state of intoxication. A son of his had gone on a hunting expedition, accordingly when the guards saw322g this state of affairs, they liberated the holy Shaikh and the Sulṭān;322h then Sulṭān Fīroz by the consent of the nobles raised the banner of sovereignty and got the Sulṭān's son out of the way by some crafty scheme, and after that323 he had returned to Dihlī he made the pargana of Chaurāsī in the district of Hānsī a present to the monastery and rest house of Shaikh Badru-d-Dīn, whom I have mentioned. This is what I have heard—God alone knows the real truth. They also say that Sulṭān Muḥammad ibn Tughlaq Shāh took the reverend Shaikh under his protection, till one day the Shaikh, may God sanctify his resting-place, tied a knot upon one of the Sulṭān's robes and said “Naṣīru-d-Dīn fastens and God opens” and that very day the Sulṭān died.
Verse.The only kingdom which sorrows not for the affliction of its
decline,
Hear my words freely spoken, is the kingdom of the darvesh. 243.
However this may be, the Sulṭān Firoz at the outset of his reign issued this order that the Mughuls who had obtained influence over the soldiery should be brought apart from the camp, and inasmuch as their mutinous conduct had passed all bounds, the Sulṭān himself saw to their safe custody, and punishing these Mughuls effectually put a stop to their interfering with the discipline of the army.
Verse.Far better than giving a Mughul a hint to plunder
Is it that you should rejoice him with a sight of Paradise.
Then he brought his army in safety into security, and proceeding by way of Sīwistān made for Dihlī by continuous marches, and Aḥmad Aiyāz, styled Khwāja-i-Jahān, who in the absence323a of the Sulṭān had urged the claims of an obscure child323b to the throne, and had given him the title of Ghiyāṣu-d-Dīn Maḥmūd Shāh, appointing himself Vakīl, after considerable argument,324 and much correspondence, by reason of his helplessness and dejection, by the mediation of Ashraful-Mulk and the other nobles and grandees, came with bared head, casting his turban on his neck, to the neighbourhood of Hānsī, and had an interview with the Sulṭān, who washed out the writing of his fault with the water of forgiveness, and made him over to the Kotwāl of Hānsī, and as for the party who had been his companions in this faction and opposition, he dispersed them all in different directions. At Sarsutī tidings arrived of the birth of Shāhzāda Fatḥ Khān,324a whose son eventually became Tughlaq Shāh, and the news of the death324b of Taghī Tāghī also reached him there from Gujrāt; and on the second of Rajab in the aforesaid year, he graced the throne of Dihlī by his accession and made a fresh distribution of appointments.
244. And in the year 753 H. (1352 A.D.) he went to the Sirmūr hills for the purpose of relaxation and sport, and returned thence, and in the month of Rajab of this year Shāhzāda Muḥammad Khān, who eventually obtained the title of Nāṣiru-d-Dīn Muḥammad Shāh, was born.
And in the year 754 H. (1353 A.D.) he returned from Kalānor whither he had gone on a hunting expedition, and built a lofty building on the banks of the river Sarsutī and [gave it to Shaikh Ṣadru-d-Dīn Multānī, may God sanctify his resting place, the Shaikhu-l-Islām] and Malik Qubūl324c Nāib Vazīr he made Khān-i-Jahān ,324d and at the close of this year he went to Lakhnautī with the intention of putting down the rebellion of Ḥājī Ilyās who had assumed the title of Shamsu-d-Dīn. He accordingly took refuge in the fort of Ikdāla,324e which is the strongest of the forts of Bangāla, and after a desultory325 defence fought for a very short time, and threw his elephants and his material of war, with his servants and retainers to the winds, and all of them fell into the hands of the Sulṭān who, having made peace with him because of the rainy season,325a retraced his steps.
And in the year 755 H. (1354 A.D.) having crossed by the ford of Manikpūr he arrived at Dihlī and built Fīrozābād325b on the banks of the Jamna. And in the year 756 H. (1355 A.D.) he went to Dīpālpūr and bringing a canal from the river Satlaj326 led it as far as the Jahjar which is forty-eight kroh from there.
In the year 757 A.H. (1356 A.D.) he conducted a stream from the river Jamna from the vicinity of Mandūī (Mandilī) and 245. Sarūr,326a and having led seven other canals into it took it to Hānsī and thence to Rās327 where he built a fortress which he called Hiṣār Fīroza, and dug327a a spacious reservoir beneath the palace which was in that fortress, and filled it with water from the canal; he also led another stream from the canal of the Ghaghar underneath the fortress of Sarsutī, and from thence to Birnī Kheṛa,327b and in the space between them he built a fortress327c and named it Fīrozābād.327d At the end of this year on the occasion of the ‘Īdu-ẓ-Ẓuhā a robe of honour arrived for the Sulṭān from the Khalīfah Al-Hākim bi amrillāhi Abūl Fatḥ Abū Bakr ibn Abil Rabī‘ Suleimān327e from the Dārul Khilāfat of Egypt, with a patent conferring upon him the whole of Hindustān: and327f in this same year messengers from Ḥājī Ilyās the ruler of Lakhnautī, having arrived bearing splendid presents and offerings, were distinguished with countless favours and kindnesses, after which they returned, and it was ordered that in return for these presents (handsome) elephants327g should be sent. The whole of Hindustān was now in possession of Sulṭān Fīroz with the exception of Lakhnautī which was held by Ḥajī Ilyās,327h who had come to terms with the Sulṭān,327i and with the exception also of the Deccan, which, after the death of Sulṭān Muḥammad, had come into the possession of Ḥasan Kāngū.
And in the year 759 H. (1358 A.D.) having gone to Samāna, he appointed Malik Qabūl Sarbardadār328 to proceed against328a the Mughuls who had arrived on the frontier of Dīpālpūr. The Mughuls upon hearing particulars of the Sulṭān's army turned back 246. and went to their own country, and the Sulṭān returned to Dihlī;328b and in this year the Sulṭān despatched some Arabian horses and foreign fruits328c with all kinds of choice presents by the hands of the messengers of Sulṭān Shamsu-d-Dīn of Lakhnautī who had arrived at his Court bearing many presents,328d and at Bihār they heard that the Sulṭān Shamsu-d-Dīn had died, and Sulṭān Sikandar his son had ascended the throne in the room of his father, so they sent the horses in accordance with orders to the Court at Bihār and conducted the messengers back to Kaṛṛa.
328e And in the year 760 H., the Sulṭān having formed the design of attacking Lakhnautī with a vast army, left Khān-i-Jahān in Dehli, and after deputing Tātār Khān, that is to say Malik Tātār, to proceed from Ghaznīn to Multān, set out and passed the rainy season in Ẓafarābād, and at this place, Ā‘ẓam Malik Shaikhzāda-i-Busṭāmī 328f who had become intimate during his absence with Malik Aḥmad Aiyāz, and by the orders of the Sulṭān had been banished, brought from the Dārul Khilāfat of Egypt a robe of honour for the Sulṭān and received the title of A‘ẓam Khān. Saiyyid Rusūldār was sent with the messengers of Lakhnautī328g to the Sulṭān Sikan-dar at Lakhnautī, and Sikandar despatched five fine elephants with other costly presents and offerings to the Court. The Sulṭān when the rains were over leaving Ẓafarābād shaped his course for Lakhnautī, and while on the way set apart the requirements of kingship, and elephants and a store of rubies which at that time were held in great estimation, for the Shābzāda Fatḥ Khān, they 247. also struck coins in his name. When they arrived at the confines of Panḍūah, Sulṭān Sikandar shut himself up in the castle of Ikdāla329 whither his father had been in the habit of going for refuge, and after the Sulṭān had laid siege to that fortress Sulṭān Sikandar asked for quarter, and sent thirty-seven elephants with other costly presents as his humble service.
And in the year 761 H. (1359-60 A.D.) the Sulṭān proceeded by continuous marches by way of Pauḍūah329a to Jaunpūr where he spent the rains, and at the close of this year he marched with a lightly equipped force329b by way of Behār towards Jājnagar, and sent his elephants and baggage to Kaṛṛa, and by uninterrupted marches arrived at Satgaṛh329c the Rāi of which place329d withdrew, and thence he came to Bārānasī329e which was the abode of the Chief Rāi, and crossed the river Mahandūrī,329f and the Rāi of Bārānasī having taken to flight made with all haste for Tilang. The Sulṭān pursued him part of the way turned back to hunt,329g and arrived at the country of Rāi Parīhān Dev329h who sent a present of thirty-two 329i elephants and other costly offerings. From thence the Sulṭān coming to Padmāwatī and Param Talāo329j which was the haunt of elephants of enormous size, engaged in hunting them and killed two [and they took the other three alive]329k and Malik Ẓīau-l-Mulk329l wrote a quatrain upon this:
Verse.
And thence by way of Kaṛṛa he returned with all possible haste.330b
248. And in the year 762 H. (1360-61 A.D.) victorious and triumphant he came to Dehli, and after a short time he gave orders for an expedition to the river Salīma,330c which is a river issuing from a large mound of sand and falling into the river Sutlej which they also call Satlaz.330d The Salīma is also called the Sarsuti,330e and this river consists of two large streams which are always flowing, and situated between these two streams there is a high mound or dyke, and if this were dug through the water of the Sarsuti would flow into this stream, and it flows through Sihrind and Mansūrpūr and Sāmāna.330f
The Sulṭān gave orders for fifty thousand men with spades to be collected and to occupy themselves in digging through that barrier. Out of it they obtained many bones of elephants and human beings. Every bone belonging to the arm of a man was three gaz330g (in length). They were partly converted into stone and had partly remained bone, just as they were. That stream however could not be diverted,331 and331a in the meantime he made Sihrind and for ten krohs beyond into one district, which he put under the control of Ẓīāul Mulk Shamsu-d-Dīn Abū Rijā, and ordered them to build a fort there and called it Fīrūzpūr which is in fact Sihrind,331b and the Sulṭān from thence, went to Nagarkoṭ whose Rājā after a siege and some fighting came in and submitted and met with royal treatment.331c The Sulṭān gave to Nagarkoṭ the name of Muḥammadābād after the deceased Sulṭān Muḥam-mad; and when they brought the Sulṭān ice on that mountain fort he said,331d “when Sulṭān Muḥammad, who is now dead and whom I regarded as a god, arrived in this place they brought him a sharbat mixed with ice, but he had331e no inclination for that beverage because I was not with him.” Accordingly they made an iced sharbat with several elephant and camel loads of cane-sugar which was carried with Sulṭān Fīrūz, and he ordered them to read the whole of the Qur'ān for the soul of Sulṭān Maḥammad and distribute the sharbat among the entire army. Under these cir- 249. cumstances they informed the Sulṭān331f that from the time when Sulṭān Sikandar Zūl Qarnain arrived at this place the people of that city have preserved an image of Noshāba331g and keep it in a room, where they worship it. There are one thousand three hundred books of the Brahmans of olden time in that idol temple which is commonly known as Jawālamukhī;331h a flame of fire rises from it towards heaven and is not to be extinguished, No, not by thousands of mashks331i of water. The Sulṭān having summoned the Brahmans, ordered some of his translators to translate some of those books332 into Persian. Among those translators ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Khālid Khānī,332a who was one of the poets and mūnshīs of the time of Fīrūz wrote in verse a translation of a book on the risings and settings of the seven planets, and their good and evil import, and of auguries and omens. Its name is called up to the present day332b Dalāil-i-Fīrūzī, and the author of this Muntakhab read it in Lāhor in the year 1000 H. (1591-92 A.D.) from beginning to end. It is moderately good, neither free from beauties nor defects; and I saw some other books before that also which were translated in the name of Sulṭān Fīrūz, some of them on the Science of “Pingal”332c that is to say on Music, and the kinds of Akhāra332d which they call Pātur bāzī, and some on other subjects. I found most of them to be profitless, and their paucity of interest is for the most part due to the triviality of their subject matter, and the difficulty of explaining it, as is evident.
The Sulṭān leaving there proceeded to Thatha, and the Jām,332e by which title the ruler of Thatha is called, entrenched himself so that the Sulṭān was induced by the vehemence of the rainy season, and the amount of water which was out, as well as by the dearness of grain, to abandon the siege and make with all haste for Gujrāt,333 which country he placed under the control of Ẓafar Khān; then having deposed Niẓāmu-l Mulk333a and appointed him Nāib Wazīr of Dihlī, he returned to Thatha; and on this occasion the Jām asking for quarter333b had an interview with the Sulṭān, and with all the Zamīndārs accompanied him to Dihlī, and from there took 250. his leave after being kindly treated and confirmed on his former footing as ruler of Thatha.333c In the year 772 H. (1370 A.D.) Khān-i-jahān the Vazīr, died, and his son Jūnā Shāh obtained that title;333d and the book Chandāban333e which is a Maṯnavī in the Hindī language relating the loves of Lūrak and Chāndā, a lover and his mistress, a very graphic work, was put into verse in his honour by Maulānā Dā'ūd. There is no need for me to praise it because of its great fame in that country, and Makhdūm Shaikh333f Taqīu-d-Dīn Wāiẓ Rabbānī used to read some occasional poems of his from the pulpit,333g and the people used to be strangely influenced by hearing them, and333h when certain learned men of that time asked the Shaikh333i saying, what is the reason for this Hindī Maṯnavī being selected? he answered, the whole of it is divine truth and pleasing in subject, worthy of the ecstatic contemplation of devout lovers, and conformable to the interpretation of some of the Āyats of the Qur‘ān, and the sweet singers of Hindūstān. Moreover by its public recitation human hearts are taken captive.
In the year 773 H. (1371-72 A.D.) Ẓafar Khān died and the control of that province was confirmed to his son.333j
Then in the year 776 H. (1374-75 A.D.) an event distressing to the people (death) happened to Fatḥ Khān; and in this year Shamsu-d-Dīn Dāmaghāni having obtained the yellow girdle and the Chanḍol of silver, that is to say, the palanquin of honour, was appointed governor of Gujrāt in place of Ẓafar Khān; and since he had boasted when accepting the post on his departure, that he would send to the Court every year a hundred splendid elephants, two hundred Arab horses, and four hundred slaves, Muqaddam-zādas 334 and Abyssinians, together with valuables and money, when 251. he found that he could not perform his promises he was compelled to rebel.
And in the year 778 H. (1376-77 A.D.) the Amīrs of hundreds334a of Gujrāt put him to death and sent his head to the Court; thus that rebellion was quelled, and thereafter Gujrāt was put under the control of Farḥatu-l-Mulk, otherwise known as Malik Mufarriḥ Sulṭānī.334b
And in the year 779 H. (1377-78 A.D.) he marched towards Itāwa and Akchak334c and having sent the Rāis of these districts with their families to Dihlī, built many fortresses on these frontiers; then having left Fīrozpūr and Batlāhī,334d in charge of the son of Malik Tāju-d-Dīn, and having given Akchak to Malik Afghān returned to Dihlī. In this year also Malik Niẓāmu-d-Dīn the ruler of Oudh, who was in attendance on the Sulṭān, died, and the governorship of that province devolved upon Malik Ṣaifu-d-Dīn his eldest son.
In the year 781 H. (1379 A.D.) having gone334e to Sāmāna and passing through Shāhābād and Ambāla, he came to the country at the foot of Sintūr hills,334f and receiving many presents from the Rāis and Governors and Commissioners, arrived at the capital and summoning Maliku-sh-Sharq Marwān-i-Daulat, who held the title of Nuṣrat Khān,335 from the district of Karra and Mahoba, appointed him to the Multān district,335a with a view to close the door to Mughul intrigues: he then confirmed Karra and335b Mahoba together with all their dependencies upon the son of Maliku-sh-Sharq335c Suleimān the son of Malik Marwān, whose adopted son was Saiyyid Khizr Khān, the grandfather of Sulṭān ‘Alāu-d-Dīn Badāonī who eventually succeeded to the kingdom of Dihli.
And in the year 782 H. (1380 A.D) he raised the standard for an expedition with the intention of taking vengeance on the Khūkhar Rāi Chief of Kaithar,335d who had invited and put to death by 252. treachery both Saiyyid Muḥammad and Saiyyid ‘Alāu-d-Dīn his brother,335e who were Governors of Badāon. The rebellious Khūkhar335f fled towards the hills of Kumāon, accordingly after laying waste and plundering the whole of his country, he left Malik Khiṭāb the Afghān in the country of Sambhal335g to deal with the rebellion of Khūkhar, and turned back after having made over Badāon to Malik Qabūl; Qabūlpūra which at present is a quarter of Badāon lying outside the fort is called after his name; also he used to come every year for the purpose of sport and lay utterly waste the Kaithal335h country.
And in the year 787 H. he built a fortified town in a place called Babūlī335i which is seven krohs from Badāon and is better known as Mawās,336 and gave it the name336a of Fīrūzpūr, and since in later times no other building was ever erected by the Sulṭān it became commonly known as Ākhirīnpūr.336b Now-a-days although not a trace of that building remains, still from the old bricks and the foundations and general lie of that high ground it is evident that once upon a time there was a building on that site.336c The age of the Sulṭān was now nearly ninety years, and how truly had these verses come to pass—
When thou reachest eighty or ninety years
Great is the vexation thou reapest from the world;
And going further when thou reachest the hundredth stage
Death will then be to thee a form of life.
Khān-i-Jahān336d the Vazīr who had obtained great influence in the affairs of the state, and was in a position to overthrow those who opposed his schemes of self-aggrandisement, at a hint from the Sulṭān destroyed one party and put to death another, and making 253. accusations of conspiracy against Shāhzāda Muḥammad Khān and some of the other Maliks who were hand in glove with him, by this means turned the Sulṭān against him, and gave him a fixed idea336e that this confederacy had for their object to raise the Shāhzāda to the throne; accordingly the Sulṭān set his heart upon the defeat and extinction of those Amīrs. The Shāhzāda, however, after that he had been in terror for some days and had omitted to pay his respects to the Sulṭān, one day in private336f came into the Sulṭān's presence and loyally told him the whole truth, and informed him also of the treacherous designs of Khān-i-Jahān, so that the tables were turned.336g Obtaining carte blanche from the Sulṭān to defeat and exterminate Khān-i-Jahān, and having brought over to his side337 the Fīrūzī Amīrs and the mass of the people, in the month of Rajab 789 H. (1387 A.D.) he started with a strong force to attack Khān-i-Jahān, and having wounded him plundered his house and family. Khān-i-Jahān fled337a with a few followers towards Mīwāt, and took refuge there with one Kūkā a Zamīndār;337b and the Shāhzāda destroyed certain of the Amīrs who had been well-disposed to Khān-i-Jahān. Subsequently to this the Shāh-zāda became Vazīr with full uncontrolled powers, and the Sulṭān having given him all the apparatus of royalty, elephants and horses, servants and insignia, and conferring upon him the title of Nāṣiru-d-Dīn wa-ud Dunyā Muḥammad Shāh, in the month of Sha‘bān of the above mentioned year raised him to the throne, and betook himself to devotion and worship of the Most High, so that in the Friday Khuṭbah the names of both kings used to be mentioned;337c Sulṭān Muḥammad ordered upon a new scale the appointments and salaries of the Amīrs, and confirmed the distribution of districts, and having given Malik Ya‘qūb the title337d of Sikandar Khān appointed him to attack Khān-i-Jahān in Mīwāt; Kūkā Chūhān a Zamīndār of Mīwāt337e bound Khān-i-Jahān and sent him to Sikandar Khān, who put him to death,337f and having sent 254. his head as a present to the Court of Muḥammad Shāh set out337g for Gujrat.
And in the year 790 H. (1388 A.D.) Muḥammad Shāh arrived on a hunting expedition at the Sirmūr hills, and Malik Mufarriḥ who was in Gujrāt, in unison with the Amīrs of hundreds put Sikandar Khān to death, and the whole of his army being utterly despoiled came with the Sipahsālār to Dihlī; Muḥammad Shāh, returning from the hill country, with the great carelessness which charac-terises youth took no thought for avenging Sikandar Khān, but spent his time in enjoyment and luxury, so that the affairs of the kingdom fell into great disorder; and the Sulṭān's soldiery by reason of their enmity and jealousy against Samāu-d-Dīn and Kamālu-d-Dīn, who were the protégés of Muḥammad Shāh, set themselves up in opposition to them, and assembled in a spacious plain, and stoned and wounded Malik Ẓahīru-d-Dīn Lāhorī whom the Shāhzāda had sent to admonish them. He came in that state before Muḥammad Shāh and informed him of what had happened, whereupon the Shāhzāda having collected forces set out to do battle with that party. The army of the Shāhzāda was victorious at first, and bore back the army of the Sulṭān, so that they took refuge with the Sulṭān Fīrūz. The battle raged fiercely for two days and when the Sulṭān's body servants found themselves in straits, they bore the Sulṭān, who was little more than a puppet, to the field of battle and displayed him there, and when the troops of Muḥammad Shāh and his elephant drivers set eyes upon Sulṭān Fīrūz they left fighting and came over to the Sulṭān. Muḥammad Shāh with the small following which remained to him, went towards the Sirmūr hills, and the army of the Sulṭān, which was near a hundred thousand cavalry and infantry, fell upon the camp of Muḥammad Shāh, and entering his private apartments sacked them and swept them away. The Sulṭān at the instigation of some interested persons, unwillingly deposed Muḥammad Shāh 255. from his position as heir apparent, and conferring upon Tughlaq Khān338 the son of Fatḥ Khān, his grandson, the title of Tughlaq Shāh raised him to the position of heir-apparent. Tughlaq Shāh beheaded Mīr Ḥasan the son-in-law of the Sulṭān, who was a special favourite of Muḥammad Shāh, and having exiled Ghālib Khān the governor of Sāmāna, sent him to the country of Bihār. On the sixteenth of Ramaẓān in the year 790 H. Sulṭān Fīrūz attained deliverance from the tortures of existence, and hastened to the world of permanence, and was buried on the borders of the Hauẓ-i-Khāṣṣ, over his tomb a lofty dome was erected which is well-known. They devised two chronograms for the date of his death Wafāt-i-Fīrūz and Naql-i-Fīrūz Shāh, the second of these is deficient by one unit.339 The duration of his reign was thirty-eight years and some months.339a
All good fortune is till death and no longer,
In the dust one man is no better than another.
When a drop is thrown into the river
It cannot again be recognized.
The nature of the Heavens is to overthrow,
It is of no use to oppose the decree of Fate.
Who knows with the blood of what hearts
This stirred up dust has been mixed!
Every road, if the wise man is not blinded,
Is the hide of the elk, and shagreen from the wild ass.339b
Among the poets of the reign of Fīrūz Shāh and his boon-companions, is Malik Aḥmad, the son of Amīr Khusrū, may God have 256. mercy upon him, and although there is no famous anthology of his, still there are some imitations of the writings of the earlier poets which are entered in the writings of some of the learned men; and are well-known. Among them is an imitation of this poem of Ẓahīr339c
Hail! thou whose cap of empire snatched in its exaltation the
cap of empire of the heaven, by craftiness.
And it is said that in the first hemistich we should read
[◌Hail to thee! the blow of whose wrath, in thy supreme power
and in place of ◌ (snatched) in the last hemistich we should read ◌ (thrown)];340 and another is this verse
◌This was extremely easy, that he asked for red sulphur:340a
If he had asked bread from the Khwāja, what could I have
done?
which was thus written,
◌This would have been very easy had he asked for the water
of life.
Another is in this verse,
◌If the sky calls the dust of your door musk, do not grieve,
For the jewel's worth is not affected by the abuse of the purchaser.
The poet had written,
◌If Jupiter calls the gravel at your door rubies, do not grieve.
257. And some of his poems also I have seen, but I remember none of them, and since Malik Aḥmad was the real son of Amīr Khusrū, and reminded them of his father, the King and his companions and the learned men of the age were greatly pleased with these imitations and thought them very valuable.
Another poet was Maulānā Maẓhar Karra,341 whose descendants are still living in the city of Lakhnautī and have been highly thought of and respected from generations back. There is an anthology of his consisting of fifteen or sixteen thousand verses, but inasmuch as he was more of a Mulla than a poet, his poetry is not so highly esteemed by the learned, although were they to search, they would bring to light many a good thing in the way of rarity (of expression).
Another (poet) is Qāẓī ‘Ābid341a who wrote this poem—
My friends say, ‘Ābid with this fine nature of yours
How is it that you have not written more poems and odes?
To whom shall I address poems and odes, since in our time
No suitable lover and no generous patron has arisen.
This is a translation of the following poem in Arabic—
They say, thou hast given up writing poems, I reply, yes!
perforce;
The door of claims and causes is closed.
The land is empty—there is no benefactor from whom to
hope for favours, nor is there any beauty to love.
And the strange thing is that though no one will buy poetry
Still in spite of this they appropriate and steal it.
Ascended the throne of sovereignty and power by the consent of the Amīrs in the year 790 A.H. (1388 A.D.) in accordance with 258. the will of his grandfather, assuming the title of Ghīyaṯu-d-Dīn Tughlaq Shāh, and despatched several famous Amīrs to oppose Muḥammad Shāh towards the foot of the hills (of Sirmūr). Muḥam-mad Shāh after fighting for a little betook himself to Nagar Kot, and the army of Tughlaq Shāh on account of the difficulty341b of the way turned back (to Dihlī) and Abu Bakr Khān son of Ẓafar Khān and grandson of Fatḥ Khān, who was his brother's son, being panic-stricken and terrified, went to his father,341c and Malik Ruknu-d-Dīn Chanda Wazīr, in concert with other Amīrs, made friends with Abu Bakr Khān, and killed Malik (Mubārak) Kabīr342 in Fīrū-zābād at the door of the rest house of Tughlaq Shāh, and having pursued Tughlaq Shāh and Khān-i-Jahān the Wazīr342a when they fled, put them to death and hung up their heads342b over the gate of the city; this event occurred in the month of Ṣafar342c in the year 791 H. (1389 A.D.); the duration of the reign of Tughlaq Shāh, was five months and eighteen days.342d
Verse.[He laid low in the dust that rose of kingdom which the garden
of the king
Had cherished in its breast with endless care.]342e
After the martyrdom of Tughlaq Shāh, by the ill-judged agreement of the Amīrs assumed the Government under the above title, and at the commencement of his reign distributed appointments among the Amīrs, and raised Ruknu-d-Dīn Chanda to the dignity of Vazīr, and eventually, when he heard that Ruknu-d-Dīn in concert with certain of the Amīrs, was plotting sedition, 259. and entertained ambitious designs upon the kingdom, got rid of him together with his following, taking possession of his elephants and treasure, obtained complete hold over Dihlī and increased in power daily. In the meantime the Amīrs of hundreds of Sāmāna cut to pieces Malik Sulṭān Shāh Khushdil, the Amīr of Sāmāna, who had been sent against the Sulṭān Muḥammad Shāh to the country at the foot of the hills, at the head of the reservoir of Sāmāna and sacked his house, and sending his head to the Shāhzāda Muḥam-mad Shāh at Nagarkot invited him to come; Muḥammad Shāh accordingly left Nagarkot, and came to Sāmāna by way of Jalan-dhar by continuous marches, and having gathered together the paraphernalia of royal magnificence, for the second time raised the standard of royalty in the month of Rabī‘ul Awwal in the year 791 H. (1389 A.D.), and in the following month of Rabī‘ul Ākhir of the same year, set out to capture Dihlī with a force of 50,000, and alighted at the palace of Jahān Numā where he bestowed upon the Amīrs suitable appointments; among others343 he conferred upon the Governor of Multān the title of Khiẓr Khān; and Abū Bakr Shāh having raised an army for the assistance of Bahādur Nāhir Khān Zāda of Mīwāt, on the (2nd) of Jumādīu-l Awwal343a of the aforesaid year engaged in battle on the plains of Fīrūzābād with Muḥammad Shāh, and gained the day. Muḥammad Shāh, with two thousand cavalry, crossed the river Jamna and entered the Doāb, and sent Humāyūn Khān his younger son to Sāmāna, and having obtained thence a great following and the requirements of sovereignty, and taking with him certain Amīrs of Hindustān with fifty thousand cavalry, a second time marched his standards towards Dihlī. As it chanced he became engaged in battle with Abū Bakr 260. Shāh and was again defeated, and Abū Bakr Shāh pursued him part of the way, but considered it an excellent opportunity to return. Muḥammad Shāh arrived at Chaptar,343b which is a town on the banks of the Ganges, and giving over his following to destruction once more attempted to fight. And in the month of Muḥarram of the year 792 H. (1389-90 A.D.) Shāhzāda Humāyūn Khān having called together many Amīrs from the frontier of Sāmāna to reinforce him, laid waste the country round Dihlī, engaged in battle in the neighbourhood343c of Pānīpath with ‘Imādu-l-Mulk who had been sent by Abū Bakr (Shāh)343d with four thousand cavalry to oppose him, and being defeated retreated towards Sāmāna. And in the month of Jamādīu-l Awwal of the aforesaid year Abū Bakr Shāh marched for Chaptar (Chītar) with a strong force, with the object of opposing Muḥammad Shāh, and had encamped at a distance of twenty kroh from Dihlī, when Muḥammad Shāh with four thousand men,344 passing unobserved round his right flank,344a reached Dihlī by another route and entered the palace of Humā-yūn, where the populace both great and small declared in favour of him; Abū Bakr Shāh pursued him and arrived at Dihlī, and having put to death Malik Bahāu-d-Dīn Jangī whom Muḥammad Shāh had left to guard the gates, without hesitation made for the palace of Humāyūn, and Muḥammad Shāh, being taken off his guard, was not able to oppose him and leaving by way of the door of the Ḥauẓ-i-Khāṣṣ fled again with all haste to Chaptar (Chītar) his original abode and asylum.344b Many of his noted Amīrs and of his body servants were put to death, and although Sulṭān Muḥam-mad Shāh was no longer able to stand against Abū Bakr Shāh, still344c the soldiery and people were very ill-disposed towards Abū 261. Bakr Shāh, and in the month of Ramaẓān in the aforesaid year, Mubashir Chap and some of the slaves of Fīrūz Shāh's party who had been promoted to the rank of Amīr, and for one reason or another bore a grudge against Abū Bakr Shāh, opened a secret correspondence 344d with Muḥammad Shāh, and invited him;344e Abū Bakr Shāh when he came to know of this was utterly dumbfounded, and under pretext of asking assistance from Bahādur Nāhir set his face to go to Kotila344f of Mīwāt, and set out leaving Malik Shāhīn and ‘Imādu-l-Mulk and Malik Baḥrī and Ṣafdar Khān in Dihlī; then Muḥammad Shāh in obedience to the invitation of the Amīrs entered Dihlī for the third time and ascended the throne of royalty in the palace of Fīrūzābād with great ceremony; and Mubashīr Chap, having received the title of Islām Khān, was promoted to the rank of Vazīr, and after some time he left Fīrūzābād and went to the palace of Humāyūn, Jahān (Numā),345 and gave orders for the slaves of the Firūzī party who had been a source of disturbance in the days of tumult and riot to be put to death without distinction, and many of the free men also, who came from the eastern quarters of Hindustān were taken for slaves by reason of the imperfection of their pronunciation,345a and were put to the sword. Abū Bakr Shāh after this misfortune could not recover himself, and remained at the Kotila (of Mīwāt) just as he was till Muḥammad Shāh345b by continuous marches came against him, and Bahādur Nāhir Mīwātī and Abū Bakr Shāh who had taken refuge with him, after fighting for a long time begged for quarter and had an interview with Sulṭān Muḥammad Shāh. Bahādur Nāhir received a robe of honour and other marks of favour, but they imprisoned Abū Bakr Shāh in the fort of Mīrath. In that selfsame prison he escaped from the prison house of the world. This event took place in the year 793 H. (1390-91 A.D.)345c the duration of the reign of Abū Bakr Shāh was a year and a half.
Verse.He reckoned certain days and then he came to nothing
The time smiled to think that he too had passed away.Verse.262. This world is like a corpse upon which there are
thousands of vultures
[One continually tears another with its talons,
The other rends it constantly with its beak]346
At last, they all take to flight and
All that remains of them all is the corpse.
After the death of his brother's son Abū Bakr, this monarch ascended the throne of Dihlī in the abovementioned year by the consent of the grandees and nobles of the State,346a and assumed absolute power there being now no one left to oppose him in the kingdom. And in this same year Mufarriḥ Sulṭānī governor of Gujrāt revolted, and Ẓafar Khān ibn Wajīhu-l-Mulk was ordered to proceed thither.
In the year 794 H. (1391-92 A.D.) the zamīndārs (land-holders) of the Doāb346b breaking out into rebellion attacked the town of Balārām, and Islām Khān being appointed to proceed against Harsingrāi346c defeated him, while the Sulṭān went as far as Qanauj and Itāwa, and after punishing the infidels of that district and laying waste Itāwa, returned to Chītrā346d which was a favourite resort of his, and there built the city of Muḥammadābād.
In the year 795 H. (1392-93 A.D.) he appointed Malik Muqar-rabu-l-Mulk to proceed against the mutineers in the district of Itāwa, who by promises and engagements347 induced the rebels to come in, and took them to Qanauj, where he put them to death and returned to Muḥammadābād. And in the month of Shawwāl in this year, the Sulṭān was attacked by illness; taking advantage 263. of this Bahādur Nāhir made an inroad upon some of the towns around Dihlī. The Sulṭān notwithstanding his weakness proceeded to Kotla; Bahādur gave battle once and then fled, and the Sulṭān victorious and triumphant returned to Muḥammadābād, and was engaged in superintending the building of the city when his illness returned.
In the year 796 H. (1393-94 A.D.) he appointed Shāhzāda Humāyūn Khān to oppose Shaikhā Khūkhar who had rebelled and gained possession of Lahore, but the Shāhzāda was still in the city when the Sulṭān347a took his departure from the populous city of existence to the deserted regions of annihilation, and was buried in the mausoleum of his father on the banks of the Hauẓ-i-Khāṣṣ:347b the duration of his reign was six years and seven months.
Maṯnavī.What is the world, but a wayside abode of trouble and evil?
A house of labour and toil, a mansion of pain and affliction?
Here is no truth and no faithfulness; here are no friends and
no friendship;
Hundreds of times have I seen this, and proved it by frequent
experience.347c
FĪROZ SHĀH,
Who bore the name of Humāyūn Khān, ascended the imperial throne in virtue of his being heir apparent, on the nineteenth of Rabī‘u-l-Awwal in the year 795 H. (1393 A.D.) and after one month and sixteen days he bid farewell to this hired rest-house, and removed his effects to the permanent mansion.348
So long as the world has been, thus has it been, and thus will
it ever be.
264. The issue of affairs will be at last the same for all.
[And during the time that he was Shāhzāda, a learned man wrote and composed in his honour an imitation of the Maqāmāti Ḥarīrī I have seen a Maqāmah from this work].348a
Who was his youngest son,348b ascended the throne348c on the twentieth of Jumādīu-l-Awwal348d in the aforesaid year relying upon the allegiance of the Amīrs,348e with the title of Sulṭān Nāṣiru-d-Dīn Maḥmūd, and having bestowed upon Muqarrabu-l-Mulk the title of Muqarrab Khān, he made him his heir apparent,348f and confirmed to the Amīrs their appointments348g districts and titles; and with a view to restoring order in the important affairs of State, which had suffered in consequence of the dominance of the perverse infidels, he bestowed the title of Sulṭānu-sh-Sharq348h upon Khwāja-i-Jahān, and transferred him from Qanauj to Bihār with full powers and uncontrolled authority, and despatched him thither. He proceeded as far as Jājnagar348i and took possession of it, acquiring a large number of elephants and much valuable property, and from that time the king of Lakhnautī began to send elephants annually as presents to Dihlī.
He also rebuilt349 the greater number of the forts which the infidels had destroyed, in the districts of Karra, Oudh, Sandīla, Malūta,349a Bahraich and Tirhut, and despatched Sārang Khān to the district of Dībālpūr to quell the rising of Shaikhā Khūkhar. And in the month of Zū Qa‘dah of the same year Shaikhā Khūkhar 349b fought a sharp engagement with Sārang Khān, at a place called Sāmothala349c which is twelve krohs from Lahore, but was defeated and retired to the hill country of Jamūn; Sārang Khān thereupon left Lahore in charge of his brother ‘Ādil Khān,349d and returned towards Dībālpūr.
And in the month of Sha‘bān of this year Sulṭān349e Maḥmūd leaving Muqarrab Khān as his Viceroy in Dihlī, and taking with 265. him Sa‘ādat Khān, who was commonly known349f as ‘Abdu-r-Rashīd Sulṭānī, marched in the direction of Bīāna and Gwāliār. In obedience to the order of the Sulṭān a spacious chief mosque349g built of stone was erected in the town of Basāwar, and is standing at the present time, and when349h the Sulṭān arrived near Gwāliār, Malik ‘Alāu-d-Dīn Dbārwāl, and Malloo Khān349i the brother of Sārang Khān, and Mubārak Khān son of Malik Rājū349j conspired against Sa‘ādat Khān, but he, bcoming aware of their design, arrested Malik ‘Alāu-d-Dīn and Mubārak Khān and had them put to death.349k
Malloo Khān fled to Muqarrab Khān in Dihlī. The Sulṭān having returned to the Capital, encamped at some distance from the city, and Muqarrab Khān fearing his displeasure because he had given asylum to Malloo Khān,350 entrenched himself and prepared to fight350a and remained in his fortified position three months, and war arose between Muqarrab Khān and Sa‘ādat Khān.350b
And in the month of Muḥarram in the year 797 H. (Nov. 1394 A.D.) Sulṭān Maḥmūd was induced by the deceitfulness of certain friends of Muqarrab Khān to leave Sa‘ādat Khān, to enter the fort and come to terms with Muqarrab Khān, who thus obtained the assistance he needed. The following day Muqarrab Khān and Sa‘ādat Khān met on the field of battle, and Muqarrab Khān being defeated again entered the fort. Sa‘ādat Khān went to Fīrūz-ābād, 350c and acting in concert with some of the Amīrs summoned Nuṣrat Khān son of Fatḥ Khān and grandson of Sulṭān Fīrūz Shāh350d from Mīwāt, and set him upon the throne in the month of Rabī‘u-l-Awwal of the aforesaid year, with the title of Nāṣiru-d-Dīn 266. Nuṣrat Shāh. Nuṣrat Shāh was nothing more than a puppet, for Sa‘ādat Khān assumed the whole of the authority in state matters, and some slaves of the Fīrūzī party and some elephant drivers joined with Sulṭān Nuṣrat Shāh, and by some clever artifice placed him upon an elephant, and without warning fell upon Sa‘ādat Khān unawares in full force; Sa‘ādat Khān was paralysed and helpless, and350e of necessity took to flight and came to Dihlī, where he sought the protection of Muqarrab Khān, and was treacherously351 put to death by him: then the Amīrs of Nuṣrat Shah's faction such as Muḥammad Muẓaffar Vazīr and Shihāb Nāhir and Malik Faẓlu-llāh Balkhī,351a and the slaves of Fīrūz Shāh's party one and all351b renewed their declaration of allegiance to Sulṭān Nuṣrat Shāh and divided the appointments afresh.
Sulṭān Maḥmud was known as King in Dihlī, while in Fīrūz-ābād Nuṣrat Shāh enjoyed that title,351c and Muqarrab Khān placed the citadel of old Dihlī under the command of Bahādur Nāhir Mīwātī, and bestowed upon Malloo Khān351d the title of Iqbāl Khān,351e and day by day battles were fought between these two kings,351f who were like the two kings in the game of chess.351g Sulṭān Nuṣrat Shāh retained possession of the country of the Doāb, and Sanbhal, Pānīpath, Rohtak, and Jahjar,351h while a few old ruined forts such as Dihlī and Sīrī and the rest, remained in the hands of Sulṭān Maḥmūd, and from that time forward this proverb became a common expression: The rule of the Lord of the world (Khudāwand-i-‘Ālam) is from Dihlī to Pālam.351i And all over Hindustān there arose various parties each with its own Malik.351j
Verse.Say, either you rule in the city, or let me rule
For the affairs of the state go to ruin between two rulers.
The affairs of the kingdom continued in this state for a space of three years, at one time the Dihlī party got the better of the Fīrūzābād351k party and at another time the positions were reversed.
Verse.267. Like the kite which is six months female and six months male.352
And in the year 798 H. (1395 A.D.) many battles took place between the Masnad-i-‘Alī,352a Khiẓr Khān, the Amīr of Mulṭān, and Sārang Khān the ruler of Dīpālpūr, and, eventually, owing to the treachery of certain of the slaves of Malik Marwān, who was the tutor of Malik Suleimān the father of Khiẓr Khān, and in consequence of their throwing in their lot with Sārang Khān the governor of Dīpālpūr,352b Multān passed from the possession of Khiẓr Khān to that of Sārang Khān and his party began to grow weaker and weaker every day.
And in the year 799 H. (1396 A.D.) Sārang Khān having overcome352c Ghālib Khān the governor of Sāmāna, and Tātār Khān the Wālī of Pānīpath, gained possession of the country as far as the outskirts of Dihlī.352d Sulṭān Nuṣrat Shāh sent Malik Ilyās352e a slave of the Fīrūz Shāhī party with elephants and an army to reinforce Tātār Khān. He accordingly drove Sārang Khān out of Sāmāna and delivered it to Ghālib Khān.352f
And in the month of Muḥarram 800 H. (1397 A.D.) a severe engagement took place between the two parties in the neighbourhood of the village of Kotla; Sārang Khān was defeated352g and fled towards Multān, and Tātār Khān proceeded to the frontier of Tilaundī, and sending Kamālu-d-Dīn Mubīn in pursuit of Sārang Khān, returned. And in the month of Rabī‘u-l-Awwal in the year already mentioned,352h Mīrzā Pīr Muḥammad, grandson352i of the great Amīr Tīmūr Gūrgān353 King of Khurāsān and Māwarā-an-Nahr, had crossed the river Indus,353a and was besieging the fortress of Uchh.353b ‘Alī Malik, Sārang Khān's lieutenant fought and held the fort for a month, and when Malik Tāju-d-Dīn Bakhtyār arrived 268. at the fort of Uchh with a thousand cavalry given him by Sārang Khān, Mīrzā Pīr Muḥammad left Uchh, and taking Malik Tāju-d-Dīn Bakhtyār and his thousand sowārs353c unawares in their position on the banks of the river Bīāh, attacked them. The greater number of Malik Tāju-d-Dīn's force fell by the sword, while those who escaped the sword were drowned in the floods of destruction;353d and Mīrzā Pīr Muḥammad353e after gaining this victory pursued them with all speed,353f and invested the fortress of Multān.353g Sārang Khān held out against him for six months engaging him frequently, but at last begged for quarter, and had an interview with the Mīrzā,353h who took up his station in Multān pending the arrival of the great Tīmūr.
And in the month of Shawwāl in the aforesaid year Iqbāl Khān, who is better known as Malloo, swore many oaths of allegiance to Sulṭān Nuṣrat Shāh, whom he deported to the fortress of Jahān-numā, 354 taking him away with elephants and an armed force; and Sulṭān Maḥmūd and Muqarrab Khān and Bahādur Nāhir shut themselves up in old Dihlī. On the third day from this Iqbāl Khān made a sudden attack in strong force upon Nuṣrat Shāh hoping to take him by surprise; Nuṣrat Shāh fled from Jahān-numā and came to Fīrūzābād,354a and leaving there crossed the Jamna and went to join Tātār Khān his Vazīr at Pānīpath. The whole354b of the army and elephants of Nuṣrat Shāh fell into the hands of the astute Iqbāl Khān, and for two whole months daily battles were fought between Muqarrab Khān and Iqbāl Khān, until by the intervention of certain Amīrs peace was established between these two leaders; but after a few days354c Iqbāl Khān proceeded against Muqarrab Khān,354d and without warning suddenly surrounded him and besieged him; and after giving him assurances of safety raised him to the dignity of martyrdom, and getting Sulṭān Maḥmūd into his power made a puppet of him and took the management of the state into his own hands. Then in the month 269. of Ẕū Qa‘dah of the aforesaid354e year Iqbāl Khān wrested Pānī-path by force from the followers of Tātār Khān, and seized all his baggage and his elephants and army. Tātār Khān previously to this expedition of Iqbāl Khān, had left Pānīpath with the intention of attempting to reduce Dihlī but found himself quite unequal to the task, and throwing his country354f to the winds left Dihlī and went to Gujrāt with a large following to join his father.354g Iqbāl Khān coming to Dihlī bestowed upon Malik Naṣīru-l-Mulk, a relation of Tātār Khān who had joined him, the title of ‘Ādil Khān, and placed under his control the district of the Doāb.
And in the month of Ṣafar of the year 801 H. (1398 A.D.) Amīr Tīmūr the Great attacked the town of Tulumba,355 and taking Multān, put to the sword355a the whole of the prisoners of the army of Sārang Khān whom Mīrzā Pīr Muḥammad had kept in confinement; proceeding thence by continuous marches he also took the fort of Bhaṭ,355b and having taken prisoner Rāī Jaljīn355c Bhatī put him to death together with the garrison and inhabitants of the fort.
Leaving there355d and taking Sāmāna, he put to death crowds of fugitives from Dīpālpūr and Ajūdhan and Sarsutī,355e who were helplessly fleeing in all directions in terror of their lives, and taking large numbers of them prisoners he took them along with him, and covering great distances he crossed the river Jamna, and entered the Doāb,355f and sweeping the greater part of the country with the bitter whirlwind of rapine and pillage, camped on the banks of the river Jamna opposite the town of Lūnī356 not far from Dihlī;356a and at this camp he put to the sword about fifty thousand prisoners who had fallen356b into the hands of his soldiery before reaching the river Ganges; and some of the ecclesiastical dignitaries of his army also, who had not the slightest acquaintance with the sword, taking all these Hindustānī Muslims for Hindūs, in their desire for the reward of holy war356c sent many of them with their own hands into the next world.
270. Then in the month of Jamaidu-l-Awwal 801 H. the great Tīmūr crossed the Jamna and encamped at Fīrūzābād356d and the next day encamped above the Ḥauẓ-i-Khāṣṣ. Iqbāl Khān having got ready a force of men and elephants, came out against him and engaged his troops, but was defeated in the first engagement, and in spite of all their efforts they were not able to withdraw even a portion of the elephants into the city,356e so complete was the rout. And in this defeat356f many were killed, and when the glittering soldiers of the army of the night had routed the troops of the day, Iqbāl Khān and Sulṭān Maḥmūd leaving their families and friends in the bonds of shame and disgrace, took flight.357 Sulṭān Maḥmūd fled straight to Gujrāt, and Iqbāl Khān crossing the Jamna escaped to the town of Baran. On the following day the Great Tīmūr gave quarter to the inhabitants of Dihlī, receiving from them much valuable property and many presents as the price of quarter. In the meantime however, the people of the city killed some of the soldiers, accordingly on the fourth day he ordered all the inhabitants to be made prisoners,357a and took them all off towards Transoxiāna; eventually Shaikh Aḥmad Kathū357b whose tomb is well known at Sar Khez357c in Gujarāt near to Aḥmadābād, went along with the army and had an interview with the Great Tīmūr, and made apparent to him his condition as a Darvesh, and his surpassing knowledge, moreover he argued with and confuted over and over again357d the learned doctors who were with the Transoxiāna force, and begged for the prisoners' lives. The Great Tīmūr conceived such a strong liking for him that he acceded358 to his request and liberated all the prisoners.
This signal service of the Shaikh remained ever as a debt upon the people of Hindustān; and a full detail of this circumstance is given at length in the Maqāmāt of the Shaikh. A few days after 271. this victory Khiẓr Khān and Bahādur Nāhir Mīwātī,358a who had taken alarm and fled to the hill country of Mīwāt, came in and paid their respects to the Great Tīmūr;358b orders were issued to make all of their party prisoners, with the exception of Khiẓr Khān, who had apparently done some former good service which saved him. After this he raised the banner of return and seized the country at the foot of the Siwālik hills,358c and greatly shook that hill country as it were with an earthquake, ere he reached Lāhor.
For the date of this victory they assigned the two words ◌ (Rakhā, affluence, prosperity) and ◌ (Khār,358d a thorn); and Shaikhā Khūkhar358e also, who had formerly served the Amīr and had taken Lāhor by fraud from Sārang Khān, fell into his hands. He accordingly imprisoned him together with his wife and family, and gave orders to sack Lāhor and take the inhabitants prisoners. Then having made over Dipālpūr and Multān to Khiẓr Khān he said to him359 ‘I have taken Dihlī and have made a present of it to you.’ Leaving Lāhor he proceeded by uninterrupted marches by way of Kābul to his capital Samarqand while Khiẓr Khān went to his own territory (jāgīr).
At this time such a famine and pestilence fell upon Dihlī that the city was utterly ruined, and those of the inhabitants who were left died, while for two whole months not a bird moved a wing in Dihlī. In this interval Sulṭān Nuṣrat Shāh, who after his defeat by Iqbāl Khān had gone into the Doāb, seeing that he had an open field, went first to Mīrath and thence to Fīrūzābād, and fortified the city of Dihlī. ‘Ādil Khān and the other folk who had escaped from the hands of the Mughuls, coming out of the various holes and corners where they had been hiding, gathered round him; when he had got together this company he nominated Shihāb Khān to proceed to Baran against Iqbāl Khān. Whilst he was on the way, a body of Hindūs attacked Shihāb Khān suddenly by night, and raised him to the dignity of martyrdom. Iqbāl Khān with great energy and promptitude obtained possession of his elephants and army, so that from day to day his power increased, while the affairs of Nuṣrat Shāh, became more and more entangled. Iqbāl Khān leaving Baran, started in the direction of Dihlī, and Nuṣrat Shāh leaving Fīrūzābād made for Mīwāt where 272. he died, and the four quarters of Hindustān came under the dominion of Maliks of the various tribes.359a
Then in the year 802 H. (1399 A.D.) Iqbāl Khān marched against Shams Khān Auḥadī359b the ruler of Baiāna, and the hostile forces met in the vicinity of Nūh and Patal; fortune favoured Iqbāl Khān and Shams Khān proceeded to Baiāna. Iqbāl Khān led his army towards Kaithar and exacted contributions of money and services from Rāi Harsingh.359c And in this same year Khwājai-Jahān was received into the mercy of God in Jaunpūr.
Quatrain.How long wilt thou say “Who has drunk the cup of pleasure?”
How long wilt thou say “Who has gained the palm of fortune?”
What avail all these idle tales, for we must depart,
What profit in all these empty stories, since death must come.
And Malik Mubārak Qaranqal,360 having assumed the title of Mubārak Shāh, took his place.
And in Jamaidu-l-Awwal360a in the year 803 H. (1400 A.D.) Shams Khān of Baiāna and Mubārak Khān son of Bahādur Nāhir had an interview with Iqbāl Khān, who taking them with him fought a battle near Baitālī on the banks of the Blackwater, which is known as the Kālāpānī, with Rāī Sīr360b the ruler of that district, and overcame him, and pursued the infidels as far as the confines of Itāwa; and on his arrival at Qanauj, Sulṭānu-sh-Sharq Mubārak Shāh came up from Jaunpūr and sat down over against him on the other bank of the river Ganges, but inasmuch as neither of them could effect a crossing, they each returned360c to their own 273. country without doing anything. As he returned, Iqbāl Khān treacherously put to death Shams Khān and Mubārak Khān.360d In this same year Turkbacha Sulṭānī, the son-in-law of Ghālib Khān of Sāmāna, collected a large army, and on the ninth of Rajab of this year fought a battle with Khiẓr Khān near Ajūdhan, and being defeated went to the town of Bhūhar, where Ghālib Khān in concert with the other Amīrs put him to death.
And in the year 804 H. (1401 A.D.) Sulṭān Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Shāh arrived at Dihlī from Dhār, and although Iqbāl Khān went out to receive him, and caused him to alight at the Jahān Numā361 palace with all expressions of service and manifestations of respect, still, since Iqbāl Khān was in possession of all the paraphernalia of royalty, Sulṭān Maḥmūd became very jealous of him and took him with him towards Qanauj. And in this year Maliku-sh-Sharq Mubārak Shāh died, and his younger brother Sulṭān Ibrāhīm succeeded him, and came out to fight with Sulṭān Maḥmūd and Iqbāl Khān. Sulṭān Maḥmūd before engaging in conflict left the army of Iqbāl Khān under pretence of a hunting expedition, and had an interview with Sulṭān Ibrāhīm who treated him with seant ceremony; Sulṭān Maḥmūd accordingly removed Shāhzāda Fatḥ Khān of Herāt, who was holding Qanauj on behalf of Mubārak Shāh, and took that fortress under his own control. The populace of Qanauj, both people and soldiery, joined Sulṭān Maḥmūd, and Sulṭān Ibrāhīm returned to Jaunpūr, while Iqbāl Khān retraced his steps towards Dihlī, so that Sulṭān Maḥmūd was left in undisputed and contented possession of Qanauj.
And in the year 805 H. (1402 A.D.) Iqbāl Khān made an 274. attack upon the country round the fortress of Gwāliār, which Rāi Harsingh361a had taken by treachery from the Muslims during the invasion of Tīmūr, and wresting it from the possession of Bairām Dev the son of Harsingh,361b took it into his own control.
And in the year 806 H. (1403 A.D.) Tātār Khān the son of Ẓafar Khān, forgetting his filial duty took his father prisoner by treachery and sent him to Asāwal, assuming to himself the title of Sulṭān Nāṣiru-d-Dīn Muḥammad Shāh, and set out at the head of a large army with the intention of attempting to reduce Dihlī. While he was on the way his uncle Shams Khān administered poison to him and removed him, then he released Ẓafar Khān and the whole army joined him.
Verse.A parricide is not fitted to be a king,
And even if he is fitted he will not last for more than six
months.
And in the year 807 H. (1404 A.D.) Iqbāl Khān marched towards Gwāliār and Itāwa, the Rāis of which districts all took refuge within the fortress of Itāwa, and stood siege for four months; at last they made overtures for peace, sending four elephants aud other presents of suitable nature. Iqbāl Khān leaving there came to Qanauj, and fought with Sulṭān Maḥmūd, but was unable to effect his purpose owing to the strength of the fortifications, so returned to Dihlī without accomplishing his object.
And in the Muḥarram of the year 808 H. (1405 A.D.) he marched for Sāmāna, and from thence came to Rūpar,362 and by stratagem laid hands upon Bahrām Khān Turkbacha, who had been an antagonist of Sārang Khān, and flayed his head. Leaving Rūpar he proceeded towards Multān, intending to fight with Khiẓr Khān, and at Talaundi taking with him Rāi Kamāln-d-Dīn Mubīn and the other Zamīndārs, on the nineteenth of the month of Jumādīu-l-Awwal in the abovementioned year, he engaged in battle with Khiẓr Khān in the neighbourhood of 275. Ajūdhan,362a on the banks of a tributary (of the Satlaj);362b and since ill-fortune attended Iqbāl Khān,363 he was defeated in the very first engagement, and his horse being wounded could not bear him off the field, so that the soldiers of Khiẓr Khān pursued him, and cutting off his head sent it to Fatḥpur, one of the dependencies of Multān. And in the month of Jumaidu-l-Ākhir of this year Sulṭān Maḥmūd came from Qanauj at the invitation of the Amīrs of Dihlī, and once more sat upon the throne of Dihlī, and conferred appointments upon the Amīrs, and sent the family of Mubārak Khān to Kol. And in the month of Jumaidu-l-Awwal of the year 809 H. (1406 A.D.) Sulṭān Maḥmūd marched with a force towards Qanauj, and Sulṭān Ibrāhim came out thence and crossed the Ganges, but they both turned back without fighting.363a
Sulṭān Ibrāhīm went towards Jaunpūr, and Sulṭān Maḥmūd towards Dihlī, but seeing that the Amīrs of Sulṭān Maḥmūd's army one after the other left for their own districts as they came to them in the march, Sulṭān Ibrāhīm turned back and besieged Qanauj; Malik Maḥmūd Tarmati, who was holding Qanauj for Sulṭān Maḥmūd, kept Sulṭān Ibrāhīm engaged in fighting for four months, but when he saw that no reinforcements were arriving from any quarter he was forced to sue for peace, and surrendered Qanauj to Sulṭān Ibrāhīm.363b Sulṭān Ibrāhīm passed the rainy season at Qanauj, and then having made over that district to Ikhtiyār Khān the grandson of Malik Daulat Yār of Kanpila, started to reduce Dihlī.
And in the year 810 H. (1407 A.D.) Nuṣrat Khān Karkandāz,364 and Tātār Khān the son of Sārang Khān, and Malik Marḥabā the slave of Iqbāl Khān, turned against Sulṭān Maḥmūd and joined Sulṭān Ibrāhīm, and Asad Khān Lodi fortified himself in Sam-bhal. The following day Sulṭān Ibrāhīm reduced the fortress of Sambhal and gave it to Tātār Khān: then crossing the Ganges he encamped on the banks of the Jamnā near the fort of Kicha in the vicinity of Dihlī, where he learned that Ẓafar Khān had taken the district of Dhār364a and was making his way to Jaunpūr;364b accordingly leaving Malik Marḥabā in Baran, he reached Jaunpūr by continuous marches; Sulṭān Maḥmūd pursued him and having killed Malik Marḥabā in battle, and taking Sambhal364c without a fight, left there Bāsad Khān after his usual custom. Tātār Khān marched to Qanauj and the Sulṭān came to Dihlī. And in this year Khiẓr Khān came with a large force and drove Daulat Khān out of Sāmāna.364d The Amīrs of that district all sought an interview with him, and the whole country as far as to the outskirts of Dihlī fell into his hands; only Rohtak and the Doāb remained in the possession of Sulṭān Maḥmūd.
And in the year 811 H. (1408 A.D.) Sulṭān Maḥmūd proceeding to Ḥissār Fīrūz took it364e from Qiwām Khān to whom Khiẓr Khān had given it, and having taken possession of it, on arriving at the village of Rata364f turned back towards Dihlī: Khiẓr Khān then came by way of Rohtak with a large army from Fatḥābād to oppose Sulṭān Maḥmūd,365 and laid siege to Dihlī, but was not able to maintain the siege by reason of the severe famine which prevailed in Dihlī, then having taken possession of the Doāb he returned to Fatḥpūr.365a
And in the year 812 H. (1409 A.D.)365b Bairām Khān Turkbacha,365c who after the death of Bahrām Khān Turkbacha had become master of Sāmāna, and had been defeated in a battle with Daulat 277. Khān, and again revolting against Khiẓr Khān had had a second interview with Daulat Khān, now offered his services to Khiẓr Khān, and received a confirmation of the grant of the districts formerly held by him in fief. And in the year 813 H. (1410 A.D.) Khiẓr Khān besieged the fortress of Rohtak365d for six months, and after reducing it proceeded to Fatḥpūr.365e In this year Sulṭān Maḥmūd made an expedition to Kaithar and arrived at the capital Dihlī.
In the year 814 H. (1411 A.D.) Khiẓr Khān came to Narnūl365f and Mīwāt365g and ravaged that country, and blockading Sulṭān Maḥmūd in the fortress of Sīrī, which is part of Dihlī,366 and Ikhtiyār Khān in Fīrozābād, and fighting several fierce battles, was prevented from maintaining the siege366a by reason of the dearness of grain, and returned to Fatḥpūr by way of Pānīpath.366b
And in the year 815 H. (1412 A.D.)366c Sulṭān Maḥmūd departed from this world, and the kingdom passed from the family of Fīrūz Shāh. The duration of his reign, full as it was of turmoil and vicissitudes, was twenty years366d and two months, during which Sulṭān Maḥmūd had had only the name of sovereignty.
Verse.Who is there in this long-enduring world
Who can say “Mine is the kingdom” save the Almighty?Verse.A head which the fates exalt to a lofty position
They later on entangle its neck in a noose.
Save the blood of kings there is nought in this bowl,
Save367 the dust of lovers there is nought in this desert.
Of the poets of the reign of Sulṭān Maḥmūd is Qāzī Ẓahīr Dihlavī367a who has left a Dīwān (anthology) full of qaṣīdahs in eulogy (of Maḥmūd) of which this is one.
Heir to the mighty monarchy, Sulṭān Maḥmūd,
Who succeeded his father and grandfather in the sovereignty 278.
of the world;
He removed Dabarān367b from the sky to serve as his signet,
While Taurus complained saying I have but this one eye
left.367c
By the first strain of his bow string he has wakened the Lion,
And after that he has stretched him out in sleep with the
deep-piercing arrow.
The whole world boasts of full satiation at the board of thy
favour,
Save only the lute which complains that its belly is empty.367d
Oh thou whose world-conquering sword flashes in the darkness of infidelity like to the lightning flashing through the
darkness of night,
Although the heaven has made thine enemies intoxicated
like the eyes of the beloved idols for some time, still at last
it has overthrown them.
It is envy of thy generous hand which throws the ocean into
tumult, for if it be not so, the ocean is never so disturbed
by the winds of heaven.
The following is also by the same author:
Thou art a monarch before whom the heavens bow in adoration,
Thou art a King in whose reign time itself exults.
Qiblah368 of the nation, and mainstay of kingdoms and religion, Maḥmūd
Whom the assemblies of Sulṭān have chosen as their Imām.368a
The Qāẓī of the heavens368b comes out on foot to receive him
279. When the Governor of his unerring judgment sends the
summons.
He keeps constant watch368c lest sedition should make a night
assault,
Thy vigilance stands with a drawn sword in its hand while
the people sleep (in safety).
In order that thy enemy may not enjoy the sweet breezes
of the garden of thy favour
The heavens have afflicted him with fever and headache in
addition to catarrh.368d
The heavens have apportioned every arrow of thine to one
of the various families,
It were not possible to allot the arrows369 in any better way
than this.
The following is also his:
My love has gone outside, do thou my life also go outside,
For if thou art not outside with my love, thou wilt be outside
the pale of love.
Specially that now, in order to uproot the infidels and rebels,369a
The royal standards have gone out clothed in good fortune.
Shāh Maḥmūd, he who when he sallied forth against the
infidels,
Thou would'st say ‘Īsa has come forth to slay Dajjāl.369b
Thy reign has cast sedition into the bondage of annihilation.
I said to the heavens, Beware! this is a prisoner369c of the
Sulṭān, free him not!
This is also his:
The month of Dai370 has arrived, and the air has in consequence become so cold370a
That nothing save the icy breeze can move from its place.
The earth is cold and frost bound,370b the air is even colder than
the earth,
In very truth the air is chill with the weariness of age.
In the garden the fire of the tulip and Gulnār have died
down,
280. From the cold the (graceful) trees of the garden have become
mere sticks.
The water is hard frozen from the cold, and says with petulance,
I will break if anyone places his foot upon my head.
No single bud comes out from its resting place in the heart of
the tree, although it wears upon its cypress-like body a cap
and mantle.
The bird has ceased its song when it saw the havoc wrought
by autumn,
When a general pillage is going on, lamentation is futile.
Seek not for leaves and seed-bearing fruit in the garden, for
to-day
The leaves have been scattered by the wind, the seeds
remain hidden beneath the earth.
The morning breeze draws every breath like a deep drawn sigh,
Seeing that it has cast to the winds so beauteous a being as
the rose.
So far has the rose gone that should you search the East and
the West,
You will not find it save in the assembly of the King of the
World.
Shāh Maḥmūd from the splendour of whose assemblies, there
is eternal spring in the month of Dai, and the world is like
Paradise.
He who when he draws up his array, and orders it for battle,
The lines of the enemies at the very sight of him pale with
terror.371
His heart is the rising place of sacred knowledge,371a and he has
knowledge,
Because371b he fathoms the secrets of Fate with a glance.
Oh thou who in the rules of Government art an example to
vazīrs,
The vazīrs have issued no order save on the authority of thy
judgment.
If it be not the intention of the wind to write a memorial
of thy virtues371c
Why does it scatter the leaves of the rose in the garden, 281.
The sun in comparison with thy (brilliant) judgment looks
like Suhā371d
Although Suhā cannot be seen in the bright light of the Sun.
Thou slayest thine enemies, and Time confesses thy excelleuce;
Thou art the refuge of the people, and the evil doers take
shelter under thy wing.
The cupbearer of thy feast bears a cup of joy in his hand,
The herald of thy fame has the whole world beneath his feet.
The banquet of Truth cannot be spread save in praise of thee
Although the whole feast terminates with the distribution of
sweetmeats.
Hail Khusrū! even should I remain excluded from attendance
upon thee
I shall not take one moment's rest from praising and eulogising thee.
My duty is thy service, since were I to refrain from that
I have no other occupation save singing thy praises.
Thou hast led thine army against thy enemies, and I follow
thee
Sending early and late the army of benediction to thy
assistance.
As long as the nights of the month of Dai are longer than
its days,
And until the season of Nauroz comes round unpreceded by
winter,
May the garden of thy enjoyment blossom like the season of
spring.
May the life of thy enemies be shorter than the days of winter.
This is another of his compositions.
The scent of the rose has arisen, haste my companion to the
rose-garden,
Seek for the old wine, and re-call that old love of thine.
282. The branch of the rose, like the date-palm of ‘Īsā, refreshes
the soul in the garden
Because the breeze gently shakes it continually like Mariam.372
Although the tender branch inclines with the wind, from one
side to the other
Yet a stream flows, Praise be to God, up to the Ṣirāṭ-i-mus-
taqīm.372a
The branch is full of leaves, why does the nightingale complain in its song?
How is it possible that Moses should have patience when he
has Khiẓr for companion?372b
The wind draws lines across the stream like the scribe as
he drives his pen,
The eye of the narcissus points to the sky like the eye of the
astronomer as he prepares his tables.
The parrots flaunt in green attire, the ringdove wears white
garments,
The crow is devoid of any such honourable vestments, wearing as it does a black blanket.373
You would say373a that the narcissus has produced a transcript
of these people (umam) who sleep below the dust. Look!
it has for each alif two mīms.373b
The sumbul and narcissus are copies of the locks and eyes
of the fair ones;
Of those two, one falls prostrate stricken with blackness,
the other comes intoxicated (with love).373c
The rose-bud has blossomed by the blast of the breeze of
the garden,
In truth, he who has a resigned heart rejoices even when
misfortune befalls him.
You would say that the black spot which has come in the
heart of the tulip from the cruelty of autumn
Is a Hindū who has fallen374 into the flames of hell.
She stands there on one foot lifting upwards two eyes374a
Beseeching the merciful Lord374b to grant the King eternal life.
283. He in comparison with whose youthful fortune the heaven is
as an old man bowed with age,374c
And for instructing his judgment, abstract Wisdom374d is as an
intelligent child.
When once the power of growth374e has obtained sufficient
intensity from his sharp sword, it splits the fruit-stone, as
his sword does the enemy, into two halves beneath the
earth.
The star of sovereignty,374f which has left its orbit to seek thy
auspicious presence,
Will find its proper orbit if it becomes stationary at thy
court.
And in truth after Qāzī Ẓahīr no poet arose in Hindūstān whose poetry repaid the trouble of reading. After the death of Sulṭān Maḥmūd the great Amīrs of Hindūstān as for instance Mubāriz Khān and Malik Idrīs who was the ruler of Rohtak, quarrelled with Khiẓr Khān and were disposed to make common cause with Daulat Khān, Khiẓr Khān accordingly stood fast in Fatḥpūr and made no expeditions to any country.
In Muḥarram of the year 816 H. (1414 A.D.) Daulat Khān having gone towards Kaithar on a hunting expedition and having brought the Rāis of that district into his toils, went to Baitālī, and Mahābat Khān the Wālī of Badāon came thither and joined him. And in this year Sulṭān Ibrāhīm besieged Qādir Khān the son of Maḥmūd Khān in Kālpī, and Daulat Khān being very short handed, ignored him, and omitted to send reinforcements to either of these places; and Khiẓr Khān in Ẕū-l-qa‘da of this year came to the fortress of Fīrūzābād,375 the Amīrs of which district came into him, and Malik Idrīs was besieged in Rohtak. Khiẓr Khān marched by that route to Mīwāt and taking with him Jalāl Khān Mīwātī the brother's son of Bahādur Nāhir, conveyed him to Sanbal which place he pillaged, and in Ẕū Hijjah of that same year he encamped before the gates of Dihlī with the intention 284. of taking it; Daulat Khān held out for four months, but at last was compelled by the want of agreement with Malik Lonā and the other supporters of Khiẓr Khān to sue for peace, humbly and earnestly. He had an interview with Khiẓr Khān who threw him into prison, and delivered him to Qiwām Khān who conveyed him to the fortress of Fīrūza and slew him. This happened in the year 816 H. (1414 A.D.) on the seventeenth of Rabī‘u-l-Awwal.375a
Verse.Everyone whom the world favours, she at last375b spills his blood,
What can be the condition of that child, whose mother is
his enemy.
SULEIMĀN,
In the year before mentioned after the conquest of Dilhī, having raised the standards of monarchy, became firmly established upon the throne of sovereignty.
This Malik Suleimān had been exalted in his childhood by Malik Naṣīru-l-Mulk Marwān Fīrūz Shāhī to the rank of a son, and had been educated accordingly. In real truth he was a Saiyyidzāda of high family, so that on one occasion Makhdūm-i-Jahāniyān Saiyyidu-s-Sādāt, the fountain of dignities, Shaikh Jalālu-l-Haqq wau-s-Shara‘wau-d-dīn al-Bukhārī may God sanctify his soul, came for some important purpose into the house of Malik Marwān Daulat; food was served, and Malik Suleimān brought the ewer and bason to Makhdūm intending to pour water over his august hands. Makhdūm addressing him by the title of Malik Marwān Daulat, said, This lad is a Saiyyid Zāda, and it is derogatory to him to allot him such a menial service. From that 285. day forth, it was known that Malik Suleimān was an undoubted Saiyyid; but besides this, the signs of Saiyyidship, and good qualities and praiseworthy traits became manifestly visible in the character of Masnad-i-‘Ālī Saiyyid Khiẓr Khān.
Verse.The Saiyyid was a man in whom were manifested
The virtues of Muḥammad, and the grace of ‘Alī the accepted.
The following is an epitome of the career of Malik Marwān Daulat. He was governor of Multān in the time of Fīrūz Shāh, and after the death of Malik Marwān Daulat, the Government of that district devolved upon his son Malik Shaikh, shortly after whose death it was confirmed to Malīk Suleimān. He also bade farewell to this world in that reign, and the country of Multān with its dependencies was conferred upon Saiyyid Khiẓr Khān on behalf of Sulṭān Fīrūz Shāh, up to the date when the aforesaid Saiyyid was advanced to the Sulṭānate by the Amīrs. He however would not assume the title of King; but received the title of Rāyāt-i-A‘ala.376
On the date mentioned he alighted at the palace of Sulṭān Maḥmūd, and gained over the hearts of great and small by public largesse and unbounded favours, distributing titles, offices, and territories among his personal attendants; in the very first year of his accession he conferred upon Malik Naḥv376a (Tuḥfa) the title of Tāju-l-Mulk, and appointed him with a considerable following to the command of the eastern districts of Hindūstān; he accordingly crossed the river Ganges at the ford of Pīrāhā,377 and entered the country of Kaithar. Rāi Har Singh and the rebels of that district sought refuge in the forests of that country377a and lay hid there. Then he gave over Kaithar to rapine and plunder, whereupon Mahābat Khān Ḥākim of Badāon also came in and had an interview with him, and Rāi Har Singh being reduced to extremities submitted to him, agreeing to the conditions imposed of the payment of tribute and of a yearly offering. Tāju-l-Mulk and Mahābat Khān seized the banks of the river Rahab, and on arriving at the ford of Sargdawārī crossed the Ganges, chastised 286. the infidels of Kahwar (which is now known by the name of Shamsābād)377b Kanpila and Baitālī, and passing by the towns of Sakīna377c and Pādham came to Rāparī;377d and Hasan Khān and Malik Ḥamra his brother, who held the government of Rāparī, and Rāi Sar the governor of Chandawār, together with the infidels of Gwāliār all came and joined hands with him, agreeing to pay tribute, and voluntarily assuming the yoke of obedience. From thence Malik Tāju-l-Mulk came to the township of Jālesar,377e which he wrested from the grasp of the infidels of Chandawār, and restored as of old to the control of the Muslims who had held it in days of yore, and gave fresh currency to the Muḥam-madan religion. Then having appointed his own agents and having seized the right bank of the Black water,378 inflicted condign punishment upon the infidels of Etāwah, and then returned towards the city.
And in the year 818 H. (1415 A.D.) he gave to Saiyyid Khiẓr Khān the younger son378a of Malik Mubārak, whose countenance betokened royal dignity, the territory of Fīrūzpūr and Sihrind, together with the whole of the districts which were in the possession of Bairam Khān Turkbacha, and subjected the supreme control and administration of that tract of country to his will and pleasure, while Malik Sadhū Nādir,378b having assumed the control of the western portion of Hindūstān, was appointed to this office with the rank of Nāib-i-Shāhzāda (i.e., vicegerent of the Prince).
And in the aforesaid year the Prince here alluded to having, in concert with Malik378c Sadhū Nādira and Zīrak Khān the Amīr of Sāmāna and other Amīrs and Maliks,378d set in order the important affairs of that province, and put everything upon a satisfactory footing, returned to Dihlī his capital city.
And in the year 819 H. (1416 A.D.) he appointed Malik Tāju-l-Mulk 378e with a large army to carry the standards of Khiẓr Khān378f towards Baiāna and Gwāliār; Malik Karīmu-l-Mulk, the brother of Shams Khān Auḥadī came and had an interview with him. 287. Having cleared those regions of the thorns of infidelity he returned; and in this selfsame year some of the Turkbachas of Bairam Khān's party seized by treachery Malik Sadhū Nādira, who was holding the district of Sihrind as the Shahzāda's deputy, raised him to the dignity of martyrdom, and took possession of Sihrind. Khiẓr Khān thereupon sent Zīrak Khān to put down this rebellion, and he accordingly went thence to the foot of the hills in pursuit of those rebels, but after encountering many difficulties he returned.
In this year also Sulṭān Aḥmad, who was the ruler of Gujerāt, laid seige to Nāgor,379 but upon hearing of the march of Khiẓr Khān abandoned the siege and withdrew. Khiẓr Khān came to Chhāin,379a and Alyās Khān the governor of Chhāīn gave in his allegiance to him. Thence he proceeded to Gwāliār, and although he did not reduce that fortress, still he levied tribute and offerings from it, and thence came to Baiāna where Shams Khān Auḥadī gave in his submission. And in the year 820 H. (1417 A.D.) Tūghān the Ra'īs with his band who had been the murderers of Malik Sadhū revolted. Zīrak Khān was again appointed (to chastise them), and scattered that gathering in all directions.
And in the year 821 H. (1418 A.D.) Khiẓr Khān went up against Kaithar, and Har Singh Dev, who has already been mentioned, laid waste the whole of Kaithar, and took to the forest of Ānwla, the circumference of which is twenty-four krohs. After several engagements he was defeated, and eventually withdrew to the hill country of Kumāon. Tāju-l-Mulk crossed the river Rahab and pursued him as far as the hills, and from there came to Badāon, and taking with him Mahābat Khān, the governor of Badāon, crossed the Ganges by the crossing of Bajlāna: then having dismissed Mahābat Khān, he himself went on to Itāwa, whence he returned to Dihlī laden with spoil. In this same year, 288. also, Khiẓr Khān379b again led an army against Kaithar, and proceeding by way of Kol arrived at Baitālī, where he crossed the Ganges and came to Badāon. On this occasion Mahābat Khān Badāonī being afraid of him, shut himself up in the fortress, and opposed Khiẓr Khān for a space of six months; he was on the point of being defeated, when Qiwām Khān and Ikhtīyār Khān, and certain of the other Maḥmūd Shāhī Amīrs who had seceded from Daulat Khān and had espoused the cause of Khiẓr Khān, meditated treason against Khiẓr Khān: but Khiẓr Khāṇ becoming aware of this state of things380 abandoned (the siege of) Badāon, and returned to Dihlī. And in the year 822 H. (1419 A.D.) he put those traitor Amīrs to death on the banks of the Ganges, in vengeance for the treachery of which they had been guilty. In the same year also an obscure person on the confines of Bajwāra,380a falsely gave himself out to be Sārang Khān who had been killed some time before, and upon his assuming this name several adventurers flocked to him. Khiẓr Khān deputed Sulṭān Shāh Lodī380b to proceed against him. They fought a fierce battle in the neighbourhood of Sihrind, and Sārang Khān the impostor fled and took to the mountains. Sulṭān Shāh made Rūpar his head quarters.380c In this same year Khiẓr Khān sent Tāju-l-Mulk to Itāwa. Rāi Sipar was holding out in that fort, but sought for quarter, and consented to pay revenue to Tāju-l-Mulk. 380d Thence he came to Chandwār, and having laid it waste and pillaged it, proceeded by way of Kaithar to Dihlī. In this same year Malik Tāju-d-Dīn died, and the duties of his Vazīrship were entrusted to his elder son Malik Sikandar. Tūghān Ra'īs again raised an insurrection in Sihrind, and Malik Khairu-d-Dīn was appointed to oppose him, and returned after having satisfactorily quelled his rebellion.
And in the year 824 H. (1421 A.D.) Khiẓr Khān proceeded to 289. Mīwāt and took Kotla; thence he hastened to Gwāliār, from the Rāi of which place he levied considerable sums and returned to Itāwa. Rāi Sipar had gone to hell, and381 his son had tendered his submission. In this interval381a a severe illness attacked Khiẓr Khān which led to his return towards Dihlī. Having arrived at that city on the seventeenth of Jumādīu-l-Awwal in the above year, he was received into the mercy of God and passed away from the world.
Verse.Every evening is followed by the morning.
At last there comes an end to every labour.
The duration of his reign was seven years and some months.381b
In accordance with his rights as heir-presumptive ascended the throne with the consent of the Amīrs in the year 824 H. (1421 A.D.)381c and became firmly settled in the administration of his kingdom. In this year Jasrat Khūkar381d the son of Shaikhā Khūkar raised a rebellion, the reason of which was that he had taken unawares Sulṭān ‘Alī the king of Kashmīr, who had started with the intention of conquering Tatta381e and had defeated him in one of the mountain passes,381f a vast amount of plunder falling into his hands. Emboldened by this victory, he used the royal treasures which he had obtained to further an attempt to seize the kingdom of Dihlī, and having crossed the rivers Biāh and Sutlej with a large army, and assaulted Talaunḍī which was in the possession of Rāi Kamālu-d-Dīn Mubīn,382 and Rāi Fīrūz fled from before him. 290. Jasrat came to Ludhiāna382a and plundered and pillaged along the banks of the river Sutlej as far as the boundaries of Rūpar;382b there he crossed the river and came to Jālandhar.382c Zīrak Khān had taken refuge in the fort of Jālandhar. Jasrat descended the bank of the river Sarsuti whereupon the question of peace arose; Jasrat by some treachery made Zīrak Khān prisoner. Sulṭān Mubārak Shāh moved towards Sihrind, upon hearing which Jasrat Shaikhā382d released Zīrak Khān who went to Sāmāna and offered his services to Mubārak Shāh who proceeded to Ludhiāna. Jasrat having crossed the Ludhiāna river drew up to oppose him, being in possession of the whole of the boats. The army of Mubārak Shāh was unable to cross the river, until after the rising of Canopus382e when the river became fordable. The Sulṭān then crossed the river; Jasrat fled and having crossed the river Chhināb383 came to Talhar383a in the hill tracts. The troops of Mubārak Khān followed him and the greater part of his infantry and cavalry were killed, and all his wealth and treasure was plundered and lost. Rāi Bhīm383b the chief of Jammoo offered his services to Mubārak Shāh and guided his army.383c Mubārak Shāh returned thence to Lāhor.
And in the year 825 H. (A.D. 1421) he remained encamped on the bank of the river Rāvī for nearly a month, rebuilt the city of Lāhor which had been laid in ruins during the late invasion, and completely repaired the citadel where it had been breached and levelled;383d then having left there Malik Maḥmūd Hasan who bore the title of Maliku-sh-Sharq, returned to Dihlī. Five months later Jasrat Khūkar again came against Lāhor with a large army and encamped at the abode of Shaikhu-l-Mashāikh Shaikh Hasan Zinjānī,383e may God sanctify him, and every day for a month made repeated efforts to take the city by assault, but eventually failing to attain his object383f withdrew to Kalānor383g and fought a battle with Rāi Bhīm, and when both sides were in the midst of the fight they agreed to make peace. 291.
Malik Sikander Tuḥfa who had been despatched from Dihlī to reinforce Malik383h Maḥmūd Hasan crossed the Rāvī by the ford of Pūhī383i and encamped at Lāhor, and Jasrat feeling that he was not able to cope with the conjoint forces383j crossed the Chhināb river and proceeded to the hills of Talwāra,384 and the army of Mubārak Shāh having put down that rebellion returned to Dihlī.
In the year 826 H. (1422 A.D.) Mubārak Shāh proceeded to Kaithar, and Mahābat Khān of Badāon who had revolted against Khiẓr Khān came in and submitted himself, and was distinguished by special marks of favour. Leaving there384a he crossed the Ganges and attacked the country of the Panwārs384b in the neighbourhood of Khor otherwise known as Shamsābād,384c and having put the majority of them to the sword ravaged the country; then having left Malik Mubāriz and Zīrak Khān and Kamāl Khān with a large force in the fortress of Kanpila to quell the insurrection of the rebels he returned to Dihlī.
And in this year Alp Khān Governor of Dhār384d came with the object of chastising the Rāi of Gwāliār and with the intention of subduing that region; Mubāral Shāh upon receiving intelligence of this proceeded towards Gwāliār; when he arrived in the neighbourhood of Baiāna, Shams Khān Auḥadī385 the son of Auḥad Khān Auḥadī, Governor of Baiāna, who had put to death by treacherous means his uncle Mubārak Khān, became alarmed and revolted, and after laying waste Baiāna entrenched himself385a in the fortress, but eventually submitted.
Mubārak Shāh left that place and marched towards Gwāliār, but Alp Khān proceeding along the banks of the Chambal river385b would not permit the army of Mubārak Shāh to cross: however the soldiers of Mubārak Shāh crossed by another ford, scattered the forces of Alp Khān, and returned triumphant. This 292. engagement led to a peaceful settlement, and Alp Khān sent in many presents and returned towards Dhār, while Mubārak Shāh proceeded to Dihlī.
And in the year 827 H. (1423 A.D.) he again ordered an expedition towards the hills of Kumāon and Kaithar, on returning whence he laid waste Mīwāt. In this year a severe famine occurred throughout the whole of Hindūstān. In the year 829 H. he again proceeded towards Mīwāt and reduced the fortresses of Indor and Alwar.
And in the year 830 H. he took Baiāna from Muḥammad Khān Auḥadī, and sent the family of Auḥadī to the palace known as Jahān Numā,386 and assigned it to them as a residence. He then gave Baiāna to Malik Muqbil Khān one of his retainers, and Sīkrī to Malik Khairu-d-Dīn Tuḥfa, while he himself led an army against Gwāliār receiving the submission of the Rāis of that district.
And in the year 831 H. (1427 A.D.) ambassadors arrived in Dihlī from Qādir Khan, governor of Kālpī, bringing tidings that Sharqī386a was besieging him. Mubārak Shāh marched to oppose Sharqī; but in the meantime tidings arrived that Sharqī had attacked Bhūngāon386b and was encamped there, intending to proceed to Badāon.386c Mubārak Shāh, who had crossed the river Jamna at the ford of Nūh Patal, and had attacked Jartaulī,386d on arrival at the township of Atraulī386e received intelligence that Mukhtaṣṣ Khān386f the brother of Sharqī had arrived on the borders of Itāwa with an army and many elephants; Mubārak Shāh detailed Maliku-sh-Sharq Maḥmūd Ḥasan with ten thousand cavalry to oppose Mukhtaṣṣ Khān. Mukhtaṣṣ Khān joined hands with Sharqī who proceeded along the banks of the Black-Water, 293. otherwise known as the Kālinī,386g and arrived in the vicinity of the township of Burhānābād one of the dependencies of Itāwa. Mubārak Shāh marching from Atraulī encamped at the town of Kota,387 but Sharqī declined battle and withdrew towards Rāprī, and thence, after crossing the Jamna, proceeded to Baiāna and encamped on the bank of the river of Kaithar. Mubārak Shāh pursued him as far as Chandwār; a space of four krohs lay between the two armies so that the outposts of the forces could see each other. They remained thus confronting each other for twenty days; at last Sharqī came out in force, and from mid-day till nightfall hard fighting went on between the two armies, and the event was not decided on that day; on the following day Sharqī turned back towards his own country,387a and Mubārak Shāh, considering that both sides were Muslims, no longer pursued him, but went towards Satgāna,387b and having conquered that country followed the bank of the Chanbal river and came down to Baiāna.
Muḥammad Khān Auḥadī, who on account of having had an (unsatisfactory) interview with Sharqī had taken fright, and had entrenched himself in the fortress, came and sought protection in an interview with Mubārak Shāh.387c Mubārak Shāh thereupon retraced his steps to Dihlī.
And in the year 832 H. Maliku-sh-Sharq Maḥmūd Ḥasan, who had been left in Baiāna by Mubārak Shāh as his Viceroy, and had put the affairs of that place in order, and had also chastised387d those infidels who had made common cause with Muḥammad Khān and had raised disturbances, came to Court and received substantial favours, and the fortress of Fīroza was confirmed to him. In that same year Malik Rajab Nādira, governor of Multān died, and Malik Maḥmūd Ḥasan received the title of ‘Imādu-l-Mulk (Pillar of the State) and proceeded to Multān.
And in the year 833 H. (1429 A.D.) Mubārak Shāh went to Gwāliār by way of Baiāna, and having taken the Rāprī district from the son of Ḥasan Khān gave it to Malik Ḥamza, and returned 294. to the city (Dihlī). On the way thither Saiyyid Sālim, who had served Khiẓr Khān for thirty years,388 and held the fief of Tabar-hinda, died. The title of Saiyyid Khān was conferred upon one of his sons, and that of Shujā‘u-l-Mulk upon the other.388a And Fūlād, a Turkbacha slave, one of the servants of the aforesaid Saiyyid Sālim, raised a rebellion in Tabarhinda and took possession of the enormous wealth which had been amassed by Saiyyid Sālim. Mubārak Shāh imprisoned the sons of Saiyyid Sālim, and appointed Malik Yūsuf Sarūr and Rāi Hansū Bhatī388b to oppose him (Fūlād). Fūlād Turkbacha made a night attack upon them and scattered their forces, and much valuable booty fell into his hands. Mubārak Shāh led an army against Tabar-hīnda, and the Turkbacha slave was besieged there. Mubārak Shāh summoned ‘Imādu-l-Mulk from Multān, and sent him with a message to the Turkbacha slave, who, after suing for quarter, came out from the fort and had an interview with ‘Imādu-l-Mulk, but did not rely upon his assurances, and returned in alarm to the fort and continued to fight. Mubārak Shāh permitted ‘Imādu-l-Mulk to proceed to Multān and himself returned to Dihlī. The slave (Fūlād) continued to engage in battle at intervals with the troops of Mubārak Shāh during the six months during which he was absent. At last he sent considerable sums of money388c by way of presents to Shaikh ‘Alī Mughul who was the ruler of Kābul. Shaikh ‘Alī accordingly came to his assistance from Kābul with a vast army, which was reinforced by a large number of men from the borders of the Panjāb. He removed the slave (Fūlād) together with all his family and relations from Tabar-hīnda and taking them with himself returned, and having crossed the river Bīāh came to Lāhor. Maliku-sh-Sharq Malik Sikander, governor of Lāhor, who used to pay a yearly tribute to Shaikh ‘Alī, discharged his obligation and induced him to turn his attentions elsewhere. Accordingly Shaikh ‘Alī passing by Lāhor without sacking it389 made towards Depālpūr, and ‘Imādu-l-Mulk came out from Multān to oppose him. Shaikh ‘Alī taking the 295. bank of the river Rāvī, proceeded to within a short distance of Ṭulumba,389a and turning aside from thence came to Khūṭpūr.389b (‘Imādu-l-Mulk) fought with Shaikh ‘Alī but was defeated, and Malik Suleiman Shāh Lodī, who was with the advance guard of the army of ‘Imādu-l-Mulk, fell in this battle;389c [and Shaikh ‘Alī came to Khusrūābād and for a long time daily engagements were fought between him and ‘Imādu-l-Mulk].389d
And in the year 834 H. (1430 A.D.) Mubārak Shāh sent a vast army to the assistance of ‘Imādu-l-Mulk, and appointed Fatḥ Khān ibn-i-Sulṭān Muẓaffar Khān of Gujrāt to the command of that force. Shaikh ‘Alī was not able to stand against them,389e so changed front, and retired under cover of night into an entrenchment which he had thrown up around his position; when they surrounded his entrenchment he retreated towards Jhīlam, and having crossed the river there lost the greater part of his men by drowning, some were killed and some taken prisoners.389f Shaikh ‘Alī and Amīr Muẓaffar proceeded with a certain number of men to the town of Shīwar;389g all their baggage and property having been taken, the army of ‘Imādu-l-Mulk pursued them up to that point. Amīr Muẓaffar remained entrenched within the fortress while Shaikh ‘Alī set his face to go to Kābul. The victorious army abandoned the siege and returned to Dihlī. Multān was taken away from ‘Imādu-l-Mulk and given to Malik Khairu-d-Dīn Khān which led to great disturbances on the borders of Multān.
And in the year 835 H. (1431 A.D.) Malīk Sikander,390 governor of Lāhor, set out to quell the rebellion which Jasrat Khūkhar had stirred up at the foot of the hills. Jasrat took him390a unawares and engaged him in battle; Sikander falling into the hands of 296. Jasrat Khūkhar was taken prisoner near Jālandhar. Jasrat took his prisoner to Lāhor and besieged the city, and Saiyyid Najmu-d-Dīn the regent of Sikander, and Malik Khushkhabr390b the slave of Sikander, fought several battles with him. In the meantime Shaikh ‘Alī collected an army and again came on to the borders of Multān,390c and assaulted Khūṭpūr,390d taking prisoners the greater portion of the inhabitants of Jhīlam and its vicinity, and seized Ṭulumba, pillaging and despoiling all the inhabitants and making them prisoners; most of them he put to death, and took the rest of them, great and small, to his own country.
In the meantime Fūlād Turkbacha, who has been mentioned above, left Tabarhīnda and invaded the territory of Rāi Fīroz390e who engaged him in battle and was slain, Fūlād sending his head to Tabarhinda.
In this year also the Sulṭān again led an army towards Lāhor and Multān; when he arrived in the vicinity of Sāmāna, Jasrat withdrew from in front of Lāhor towards the foot of the hills, and Shaikh ‘Alī also retired to his own country. Lāhor and Jālandhar were taken from Shamsu-l-Mulk and given to Nuṣrat Khān Gurgandāz, and Mubārak Shāh gave orders for the family and relations of Shamsu-l-Mulk to be removed390f from Lāhor to Dihlī, whither he himself returned.
And in the year 836 H. (1433 A.D.) Mubārak Shāh once more hastened to Sāmāna391 to put down the rebellion of Jasrat; when he arrived at Pānīpath he received intelligence of the death of his mother, who was called Makhdūma-i-Jahān (Mistress of the world), and turned back with a small retinue391a to Dihlī, and having remained there ten days to perform his mourning for her, again joined his army, and detailed Yūsuf Surūru-l-Mulk to proceed to Tabarhinda to put down the insurrection of Fūlād. Mubārak Shāh after taking Lāhor and Jālandhar from Nuṣrat Khān gave them to Malik Allahdād Kālū Lodī. When391b he arrived near Jālandhar, Jasrat, having crossed the river Bīāh, had engaged Allahdād Kālū391c at Bajwāra,391d and had defeated him. 297. Malik Allahdād had fled to the hill-country.
In this year the Sulṭān brought an army into Mīwāt against Jalāl Khān, and from thence despatching a force to operate towards Gwāliār and Itāwa, returned (to Dihlī). In this same year Shaikh ‘Alī coming down into the Panjāb again caused disturbances there. Mubārak Shāh accordingly nominated ‘Imādu-l-mulk to reinforce the Amīrs of that district. Shaikh ‘Alī invaded the country from Shīwar to the banks of the Bīāh, and taking great numbers prisoners and plundering, went to Lāhor. Zīrak Khān and the other Amīrs391e who were in Lāhor fortified themselves there, and fought repeated engagements with him, till, one night, the inhabitants of Lāhor were careless about their guards and sentries, and Malik Yūsuf Surūru-l-Mulk and Malik Isma‘īl under cover of night succeeded in joining Zīrak Khān; then sallying from the fort,391f gave battle and were defeated. Shaikh ‘Alī pursued them, some of the fugitives were put to death, and some were taken prisoners. The following day Shaikh ‘Alī took Lāhor and put to death great and small,391g and taking many prisoners remained there. And after some days, he came to Debālpūr, which Malik Yūsuf Surūru-l-Mulk was intending to abandon. Malik ‘Imādu-l-Mulk392 on hearing of this despatched his brother Malik Aḥmad from Tabarhinda to the fort of Debālpūr with orders to hold it. Shaikh ‘Alī becoming aware of this returned from that direction: Sulṭān Mubārak Shāh proceeded as far as Sāmāna in order to quell these disturbances.392a From Sāmāna he proceeded to Talaundi and thence to the ford of Pūhī, where he crossed the the Bīāh and came to Debālpūr. Thence he marched along the banks392b of the Rāvī, and Shaikh ‘Alī crossed the Jhīlam and fled,392c Mubārak Shāh pursued him as far as the fortress of Shīwar and crossed the Rāvī near Ṭulumba.392d Amīr Muẓaffar 298. Khān, brother's son to Shaikh ‘Alī, who was holding the fort with Shaikh ‘Alī's troops, fought against the king for a month, and at last sued for quarter, and gave his daughter together with a large amount of money and valuables to the prince. A part of Shaikh ‘Alī's forces who were besieged in Lāhor sought quarter from Shamsu-l-Mulk and evacuated the fort. As soon as Mubārak Shāh had completed the affair of Shīwar and the conquest of Lāhor, he procceded with a small retinue to visit the holy shrines of the Shaikhs at Multān, and returning almost immediately came to Debālpūr and remained there for some days. Having regard to Shaikh ‘Alī (as a source of danger), he gave the districts of Lāhor and Debālpūr to Maliku-sh-Sharq ‘Imādu-l-Mulk, and taking away the districts of Baiāna from ‘Imādu-l-Mulk he gave them to Shamsu-d-dīn. Marching thence in light order by forced marches, he reached Dihlī on the day of the ‘Īd-i-Qurbān392e and conferred the office of vazīr upon Sarwaru-l-Mulk and gave to Malik Kamālu-l-Mulk,393 who was the Military Secretary (Nāib-i-La shkar), charge of the civil administration in conjunction with Sarwaru-l-Mulk.
There was a hypocritical bond of fellowship between these two,393a inasmuch as Sarwaru-l-Mulk had a grievous thorn rankling in his breast on account of the deprivation of Debālpūr, and bore a grudge against Mubārak Shāh: so that at such a juncture, seeing that he had less than ever to hope from him, he entered on a course of secret treachery and deceit. He entered into a conspiracy with the sons of Kāngū Khatrī and Kajwī Khatrī and Mīrān Ṣadr Nāib-i-‘Arz, (who for generations had been protégés of the Mubārak Shāhī family, and held several high offices) and also with another party of Muslim vagabonds, to seek an opportunity of destroying Mubārak Shāh.393b
And in the year 837 H. (1433 A.D.)393c Mubārak Shāh built a city on the banks of the river Jamna,393d and gave it the name of Mubārakābād (City of Prosperity), though in reality it should have been called Kharābābād (City of Ruin), and was so zealous in building it that he spared no pains in its superintendence. In 299. the meanwhile news of the capture of the fortress of Tabarhinda reached the court, accompanied by the head of the slave Fūlād Turkbacha.393e Mubārak Shāh could not contain himself for joy at this intelligence, and proceeded by forced marches to Tabarhinda393f and returned thence speedily to Mubārakābād. In this year tidings arrived that hostilities were going on between Sulṭān Ibrahīm Sharqī and Alp Khān, governor of Kālpī, who had received the title of Hoshang.394 Mubārak Shāh accordingly sent commands in all directions for forces to be collected and held in readiness to march towards Kālpī, and that they should assemble at the Court. At this juncture Mubārak Shāh persisted in his invariable custom of visiting the site of the new city in season and out of season. One day when he had ridden out there with a body of attendants without ceremony, and was preparing to say the Friday prayers,394a the infidels under Mīrān Ṣadr, who had continually lain in wait for him at the instigation of Sarwaru-l-Mulk, seeking an opportunity (to slay him),394b with one accord entered the private apartment of Mubārak Shāh on some pretext or another, and Sidh Pāl,394c the grandson of the scoundrel Kajwī Khatrī, put that auspicious monarch to a martyr's death. This event took place in the year 837 H. The days of his reign were thirteen years three months and sixteen days.
Verse.Wonder not at the vicissitudes of time, for the heavens
Retain a recollection of thousands of such stories as this.
Set not your affections upon that which passeth away, for the
river Dajla394d
Will continue to pass by Baghdād, while many Khalīfahs
come and go.
The period of three days only is enjoined on Muḥammadans, except in the case of widows who must perform the special ceremony of mourning called Iḥdād for four months and ten days. Among Hindūs the period of mourning is thirty days. (See Matthew, Mishkātu-l-Maṣābīh I. 389).
↩The medicinal virtues of the Chavica betle are supposed to be great. The leaves smeared with mustard oil and applied hot to the chest in several layers are used as poultices in pulmonary catarrhs, or in painful affections of the liver. They are said also to arrest the secretion of milk when applied to the breasts. A form of cancer known as “betle-chewer's cancer” has been described by Dr. Elliott of Colombo.
The plant is said to be a native of Java whence it has been introduced. It grows best in a hot moist climate such as that of Lower Bengal where it is largely cultivated. (Drury, Useful Plants of India).
↩Shaikh (◌) is a term of honour denoting some considerable reputation in the religious world: a doctor of religion and law, a head or chief of some religious order, a chief of a tribe: or a reputed saint.
The two first Khalīfahs Abū Bakr and ‘Umar are known as ◌. Ash-Shaikhan. The two Shaikhs.
The term ‘Ulamā (◌) includes all religious teachers as Imāms, Muftīs, Qāẓīs, Maulavīs, (see Hughes Dictionary of Islam, also D'Herbelot.)
↩Although Brigg's translation leaves us in doubt as to this, the text of Firishta is perfectly clear on the subject: and we see that these copper tankas were issued as tokens with an artificial value, and it was when the Sulṭān found that the copper currency was distrusted by his people who found it was not received in foreign countries, that he hit upon the expedient of offering to exchange the copper tankas for silver or gold tankas, hoping thereby, as Firishta says, to rehabilitate the copper tanka, but the people were too wise for this, and threw the whole stock genuine and couuterfeit alike upon the Treasury which was thus drained of gold and silver. Firishta (Bo. Ed. p. 239).
For a full account of this forced currency See Thomas Pathān Kings pp. 239, et seqq.
↩Barnī gives a good account of the events preceding this mark of favour from the Khalīfah, a course of fulsome adulation seems to have been then, as in more modern times, the royal road to favour.
↩MS. (A) reads (as does the printed text) ◌ but the better reading seems to be that given, without reference to the authority, in the footnote to the printed text ◌. This would distinguish the Tārīkh-i-Fīroz Shāhī of Barnī as the original history of that name. The Tārīkh-i-Mubārak Shāhī is that of Yahyā ibn Aḥmad. (See Elliott, IV., pp. 6 and seqq).
↩◌.
The fever called “Diqq” is when the heat which arises from the constitution seizes upon the chief essential organs, especially the heart, and the moisture of the body disappears. Another opinion is that this is an extraneous fever which attacks the body by means of its generation in some of its members.
The Burhān-i-Qāti‘ states that it is called ◌ because it emaciates the body.
Sadīdī's account is as follows. The fever ◌ is usually fatal,…It is either simple or complicated with putrid fever. The signs of this complication are persistence of the fever, with an exacerbation on the day of the paroxysm of the putrid fever, shivering is also present. The worst complication of all is (he says) when “diqq” is complicated with one of the fevers which require treatment by purges, because the treatment of “diqq” is the opposite to this.
The pulse in uncomplicated “diqq” is hard, frequent, and slender…The surface of the body is not very hot at the first feel, but after a few moments it feels scorching, hottest of all over the arteries, the heat increases especially in the face and upper parts of the body.
Food should be nourishing…Some unskilful physicians withhold food and kill the patient speedily. Food should be moist and cooling. If the fever passes on to the degree called ◌ ẕabūl the pulse increases in hardness and tenuity, the eyes change and become covered with sordes, the cartilages of all the bones are prominent, the temples sink in, the skin of the forehead tightens, the skin loses its lustre, and has a dusty appearance, the eyelids become heavy; all this is the result of rapid dissolution, and the abundance of dryness and disappearance of the natural moisture. There also appears in the urinary excretion, oiliness and a scaly deposit; the nose becomes sharp, the hair grows long, and lice are of frequent occurrence on the body because of the excessive amount of exhalation. The abdomen falls in till it touches the backbone, the skin of the chest is also retracted, and the nails become long (◌) then the diarrhœa recurs, the hair falls out and death occurs.
It will be observed that there is no mention here of any of the lung symptoms of Phthisis, all that we have described is a continued fever of remittent type running a moderately long course as is shown by the symptoms described. No mention is made of any eruption, nor is diarrhœa apparently more than an intercurrent symptom appearing late in the disease.
This was probably one of the fevers so common in India for which for want of a better name “typho-malarial” has been suggested.
Probably the complication of “diqq” with “putrid fever” of which Sadīdī speaks was more comparable to the “enteric fever” of modern science. Sadīdī speaks elsewhere of three degrees of severity of this fever. The first is called “diqq” the second more severe is called zabūl and the most severe of all is called “ḥashf.”
I have only been able to epitomise Sadīdī's account which will be found at pages 427-428 of his work. (Al Mughnī fī Sharḥ il Mūjaz).
↩He asserts the Khwāja-i-Jahān who was on terms of great intimacy with Fīroz Shāh received false tidings that Tātar Khān and the Amīr-Ḥājib Fīroz Shāh were missing and either dead or prisoners. “After the days of mourning were completed, the Khwāja, believing this report to be correct, placed a son of Sulṭān Muḥammad Shāh upon the throne, and thus through adverse fate committed a blunder.” Elliott, III. 279-280.
↩This Fīrozābād (see J. A. S. B., 1870), was situated five kos (ten miles) from Dihlī, and included according to Shams-i-Sirāj ‘Afīf, eighteen places, the qasba (townships) of Indarpat and others a list of which will be found in Elliott, III. 303. At page 298 will also be found an account of the founding of the city of Hissār (Hiṣār Fīrozah) and of the construction of two canals leading to it one from the Sutlej and the other from the Jumna. The modern representation of the latter canal, which was called Rajīwa, is found in the Western Jumna Canal passing through Karnāl (see Hunter's Imp. Gaz., Vol. VII. 258 for an account of this canal). The canal leading from the Sutlej was called Alagh Khāni (Ulugh Khānī). In modern maps there is a trace of this canal, but it is called the Jureah canal, which is probably the word Rajīwa converted and applied in error to this canal. Rennell's map (Tieff. Vol. III) shews the supposed canal of Fīroz Shāh, and it is evident from our author's statement that this canal was commenced not from the Hissār end but from Dīpālpūr, which lay at the junction of the Bīās and Sutlej on the banks of the Bīās, and passed south-east near Fatḥabad, if not actually through it, to join the river Jahjar, which in Rennell's map is called the Jidjer, its nearest point measured from Dīpālpūr being exactly 100 miles (forty-eight kroh) on this map, whereas the town of Jhajhar Lat. 28° 16' N. Long. 77° 42' 15" E. is 200 miles (Hunter's Imp. Gaz., Vol. VII. 195). (The river Jahjar flowed southeast through Fateḥpūr joining the Jumna near Etawah). For this reason it appears likely that the canal was led not to Jhajhar but into the river Jajhar as above stated. (See Bo: Firishta, Text I. 263).
Shams-i-Sirāj ‘Afīf makes no mention of Dīpālpūr in connection with any canal, and there is one difficulty in his account as he says that both the canals, the Rajīwah and Ulugh Khānī, were conducted through the vicinity of Karnāl. If this was so the “supposed canal of Firoz Shāh” in Rennell's map cannot be the Ulugh Khānī. His words are as follows:—
◌.
Dahāna-i īn har do jū az ittisāl i karnāl bīrūn āwarda mīyān i hashtād kroh kroh dar shahr i Hiṣar Fīrūza burda.
It is not to be supposed that Fīroz Shāh would take his canal from Dīpālpūr to Karnāl when his objective was Hissār; we have also Badāoni's clear statement that a canal was brought from the Sutlej and led as far as the Jahjar, this canal would coincide with the line of that shewn in Rennell's map, but not with that of Shams-i-Sirāj.
The canal mentioned in the next paragraph is evidently the one to which Shams-i-Sirāj ‘Afīf refers (Elliott, III. 299-300), although it is not very evident what the exact course of this canal was: I can find no trace of any places named Mandūī (Mandilī) or Surūr anywhere in the maps, while Rās mentioned here by Badāoni must be what ‘Afīf calls Great Larās, as he states that it was in the neighbourhood of Great Larās that Sulṭān Fīroz built the city of Hiṣār Fīroza. (Elliott, p. 299). Rennell (memoir p. 72, quoting from Dow I. 327 has Beraisen, which is a mistaken reading of bi Rāsain in the original, that is to say the two Rāses, Great Larās and Little Larās.
It would seem that there were in all three canals to Hiṣār Fīroza, one from Dīpālpūr to Hīssār and on to the Jajhar, this was brought from the Sutlej. A second from the Jumna as far as Karnāl (Rajīwah). A third from the Sutlej as far as Karnāl (Ulugh Khānī). At Karnāl according to ‘Afīf's account these two last joined. The only way this can have been possible is by the courses of the Sutlej and Jumna being very different from their present courses or even from the beds of these rivers in 1782 when Rennell made his map.
By bringing the Sutlej further south-east near to the course of the Ghaggar say near to Thanesar, we should have a point from which we can understand that it would have been advantageons to bring water from both the Sutlej and Jumna viâ Karnāl.
See Journal, Asiatic Society Bengal, 1833, p. 105 and 1840, p. 688.
See also Thomas' Pathān Kings, 294 and notes.
↩Presumably it is the short gaz which is here meant but even this would be about 26 inches, and taking the author's meaning to be the bones of the forearm, an ulna measuring 26 inches is hardly likely to have been human.
↩Briggs in his translation adds the words “the wife of Alexander the Great,” but upon what authority does not appear. The wives of Alexander were Roxāna the daughter of Oxyartes, whom he married in 327 B.C. and (2ndly) at Susa, 324 B.C., Barsine or Stateira the eldest daughter of Darius III, while according to some accounts (Arrian) he also took as his wife Parysatis the daughter of Ochus, at Susa, B.C. 325. Arrian is the only author who mentions this last wife. (Smith, D. G. R. Biography).
It ◌ represents in reality either of the wives of Alexander it must be the first named whose name might have been written ◌ Rushūna and by copyist errors perverted to ◌ Nūshāba.
Firishta's original however gives no countenance to the statement in Briggs' translation.
↩He died in the year 598. H. and is buried at Surkhāb of Tabrīz which has been called “the Sepulchre of the Poets.” His poetry was held in great estimation. (Majma‘ul-Fuṣaḥā I. 330) see also Beale O. B. D., p. 286.
↩It has various beneficial qualities (Burhān-i-qāṭi‘.)
↩By this Kotila however, Kotila of Mīwāt, we may understand probably Hardwār or a town in its vicinity, which appears in Rennell's map G. n. as “Coupele” see Elliott, III 455, n. and 458.
↩> ◌
Muḥammad Shāh said “whoever among you instead of Kharā says Kharī, is a native of the country,” and since (as the King in fact desired) they were not able to pronounce these words, but followed the pronunciation of people of the East and of Bengal they were put to death.
The word Khārī signified brackish as applied to water: natives of Eastern Bengal however use the word Khārā in place of Khārī, using the word as if it were an adjective agreeing with the masculine word pānī, water.
↩↩> ◌
This place appears to be the same as Jalesar judging from Firishta's account.
For Jalesar see Hunter Imp. Gaz., VII, 103.
↩See also Thomas Pathān Kings, 310 note 1.
↩MS. (A) reads ◌ and taking this together with Firishta's roading, we should, I think read ◌. “relying upon the allegiance.”
Firishta reads: ◌.
↩↩> ◌
◌
It is a male for six months and a female for six months, some say one year male and one year female
The Ḥaiyātu-l-Ḥaiwān says nothing about this (art. ◌ and ◌) but mentions a statement that the ◌ ‘uqāb eagle or kite has no male, but the females are impregnated by the fox. See also I. K. (Slane) iii, 305.
↩For fuller particulars see note, page 278 of the Tārīkh-i-Rashīdī by Elias and Ross, from which the above is extracted. In M. Pavet de Courteille's Turkī Dictionary we find “◌ prince de la race de Timour qui épouse une fille de la race de Djenguiz-Khān: prince de race royale qui épouse une fille do roi: prince né de parents issus de Khans qui épouse la fille d'un Khakan: surnom de Timour; savant, beau, poli.” see also Āīn-i-Akbarī (B) I. 464. n.
↩Firishta says. “Arrived at a place where the river of Jamū and the Chenāb meet where there was a strong fortress called Talanbha.” Briggs says “to the conflux of the Chunab with the Ravy.”
From Ṭulumba Firishta tells us Timūr marched to Shāhnawāz where they took all the grain they required and burned the remainder. From thence he went to Ajūdhan and Bhatnīr. Shāhnawāz is shewn in Rennell's map on the Eastern bank of the Rāvī, Long. 72° E. Lat. 30.5. N. Ajūdhan is Pāk Pattan, and is about 80 miles S.-W. of Shāhnawāz. Here is the tomb of Shaikh Farīdu-d-Dīn Ganji Shakkar which was visited by Tīmūr. From Ajūdhan to Bhatnīr is about 90 miles. Firishta says from Khāliṣkol to Bhatnīr is fifty Kroh. See Elliott III. 415 et seqq, for the description of this campaign translated from the Malfuẓāt-i-Tīmūrī. Tīmūr calls Khāliṣ kol, Khāliṣ Kotalī, and says it is ten kos from Ajūdhan and fifty from Bhatnīr.
↩The ◌ jihād or holy war is a duty enjoined in several passages in the Qur‘ān and the Traditions, and its rewards are those of Paradise. (See Hughes Dict. of Islām, Art. Jihād).
↩The date given by Badāonī is apparently wrong, as the Malfūẓāt-i-Tīmūrī says that Timūr crossed the Jamna on the 5th Rabī‘u-l-Ākhir. See Elliott, III. 443 and note 1.
↩Shaikh Aḥmad Khaṭṭu was born at Dihlī A.H. 737 (A.D. 1336) of a noble family of that city. His name was Naṣīru-d-Dīn. He was a disciple of Bābā Isḥāq Maghribī, and came to Gujarāt in the reign of Sulṭān Aḥmad Gujarātī (A.D. 1411-13). He was buried in Sarkhech near Aḥmadābād, (Āīn-i-Akbarī [Jarrett], III. 371).
Shaikh Aḥmad Khaṭṭu surnamed Ganjbakhsh was surnamed from Khaṭṭu a village near Nāgor, the residence of his spiritual guide Bābā Isḥāq Maghribī. After his return from a pilgrimage to the holy places he came back to Gujarāt and settled first at Sarkhej and afterwards at Aḥmadābād, in the building of which he was associated with Sulṭān Aḥmad, A.H. 813-20.
He died at Sarkhej in 849 A.H., aged 111 years, and his mausoleum with the buildings attached are said to have been begun by Muḥammad Shāh I, the son of Aḥmad Shāh, and to have been completed by his son and successor Quṭbu-d-Dīn Shāh. See Bayley, History of Gujarāt, pp. 90-91, notes.
↩The text of Badāonī reads ◌ MS. (A) reads ◌.
Tieffenthaler, I. 377 speaks of it as follows:—“A trois milles de Guzarate so trouve Sarkés, village où est le mausolce construit à grands frais par Gaus Ahmad Roi du Guzarate” again at page 375 we find “Gaus Ahmad, dont le magnifique tombean porté par des arcades voutées, a rendu fameux le village de Sarkés, distant de 3 milles de la ville.”
Sarkhej was three miles South-East from Asāwal in the vicinity of which Aḥmadābād was built by Sulṭān Aḥmad, 820 A.H. (1417 A.D.).
↩↩◌ = 200 + 600 + 1 = 801
◌ = 600 + 1 + 200 = 801.
Whence he arrived at the township of Baitālī on the banks of the Ganges Rāi Sanīṛ … came out to oppose him.
Briggs says:—“When he reached the village of Puttyaly on the Ganges the Ray of Serinagar … opposed him”
The Kālāpānī is the Kālī Naddī or Kālinī (see Hunter Imp. Gazett. VII. 327) lying between the Jumna and Ganges. Tīmūr calls it the Karāsū (Black water), Elliott, III. 452.
↩See Hunter Imp. Gaz. X. 532-533, also Cunningham (A. G. I.) 214-219.
↩The text has the words ◌ which seem to be superfluous. They are not in MS. (A).
↩Sulṭān Ibrāhīm built at Jaunpūr the Atala Masjid, using for this purpose the stones of a Hindū temple the votive offering of Jai Chand which he destroyed. See Hunter Imp. Gaz. VII 152.
↩The editor of the text gives a footnote to say that all three MSS. give 712 II.
↩Firishta says that Ikhtiyār Khān joined Khiẓr Khān seeing he was the stronger.
↩The Meos, a tribe which gave their name to this province were of obscure origin claiming to be Rājpūts, but probably a combination from various stocks and sources and nearly allied to the Mīnas. The original Meos probably became converts to Islam at the time of Maḥmūd of Ghaznīn; their customs are a mixture of Hindū and Musulmān observances.
The province of Mīwāt lay south of Dihlī and in Mughul times formed part of the Ṣūbah of Agra. Its most famous towns were Narnaul, Ulwur, Tijāra and Rewārī. Bahādur Nāhir (who is frequently mentioned in the text) was the founder of the Khanzāda race, long the rulers of Mīwāt.
The province of Mīwāt included part of the British districts of Muttra, Gurgāon, a considerable portion of Ulwur, and some of Bhartpūr.
See Tieffenthaler. Vol. III. Map. where the province is marked.
↩See Elliott, III. p. 447, also Thomas Pathān Kings, p. 313, note 3.
↩See Hunter Imp. Gaz. XI. 44.
↩Firishta has almost the same words but says ◌ twenty years as in the text. So also the Tārīkh-i-Mubārak Shāhī.
Firishta's statement is not very clear as to the year in which Maḥmūd died, but as he goes on to say that after his death the Amīrs gave in their allegiance to Daulat Khān Lodī, who struck the coinage, &c., in Muḥarram of 816 H. it is tolerably clear that he means Zu-l-Qa‘da 815 H. as the date of Maḥmūd's death, and not 814 H. as Briggs would have it.
↩Ancient astronomers were not agreed as to the number of stars included in the Hyades. Thales reckoned two only (◌ and ◌) the two eyes of the Bull. (Smith, Dict. Greek and Rom. Antiq. 150 a).
↩> ◌
A foot-note to the Calcutta text states that the reading there given is the same in all three MSS. of Badāonī and that probably the word ◌ has dropped out after the word ◌. This is a quite unnecessary supposition. The reading above given fulfils all requirements. MS. (B) corresponds save that for ◌ it reads ◌ an evident copyist's error.
◌ Qiblah. This is the direction in which Muslims are bound to turn during prayer: This is laid down in the Qur'ān, Sura II. “We see thee often turn thy face about in the heavens, but we will surely turn thee to a qiblah thou shalt like. Turn then thy face towards the sacred Mosque, wherever ye be turn your faces towards it” (v. 139). From the Hijra, Muḥammad at first directed his followers to turn towards the temple at Jerusalem, but in the second year of the Hijra the Ka‘bah at Mekka was fixed as the qiblah. See Hughes' Dict. of Islam, s. v. Qiblah.
↩The remaining three arrows were blanks and gained no share. Their names were ◌ safīḥ, ◌ manīḥ, ◌ waghd. The name of each arrow was written upon it and they were all put into a bag called ◌ ribābah, and given into the charge of a trustworthy man known as ◌ al-mujīl or ◌ al-mufīẓ whose duty was to shake the arrows up and draw out one for each in turn. Whoever drew a blank had to pay the cost of the camel, while those who drew a winning arrow received a proportionate share according to the value of the arrow. See Majma‘u-l-Baḥrain, Maqāmah, XIII. p. 99.
↩Qur‘ān, I. 5, Hughes art Ṣirāṭ. It is also interpreted to mean the religion of Islām. Qur‘ān, III. 44. See also Lane, s. v.
↩Sakīt lies in the direct route indicated between Kanpila and Rāparī, 12 miles South-East of Etah town. It was here that Bahlol Lodi died on his return to Dihlī from an expedition against Gwāliār (Āīn-i-Akbarī).
↩In Brigg's (I. 509) we find this place called Jalwur, with a footnote: “I have some doubt as to the true name: it is differently written in my various MSS.” In the lithographed edition of Firishta the name is written plainly enough ◌ Jānūr (Bombay Edn. I, 294), and it is said that without waiting for Khiẓr Khān to advance, Aḥmad withdrew in the direction of Mālwa, and that when Khiẓr Khān arrived at Jānūr, Alyās Khān who was governor of the new city called ‘Arūs-i-Jahān, which was one of the cities built by ‘Alāu-d-Dīn Khiljī, came to pay his homage. Evidently, then, the city mentioned in our text and this “‘Arūs-i-Jahān” are the same.
↩It is mentioned by Ptolemy by the name of Kulindrine or Sulindrine, see Cunningham, A. G. I., pp. 135, etc., and Hunter, Gaz. Ind., VII. 91.
↩For a full account of the Panwārs see Sherring (Hindū Tribes and Castes), II. p. 93, see also Elliot, (Races of N.-W. P. of India).
↩Sulṭān Hoshang sued for peace sending in suitable offerings, and withdrew towards Dhār. Mubārak Shāh halted on the banks of the Chhanbal levying taxes on the old scale from the landholders of that district, and eventually arrived at Dihlī in the month of Rajab 827 H.
The Chambal or Chhanbal river is a river of Central India and one of the principal tributaries of the Jamna, it rises in Mālwa; about eight or nine miles south-west of Mhow it is joined by the Kali-Sind, Parbatī and Banas, flows past Dholpūr into Etāwah and joins the Jamna 40 miles below Etāwah town. The Charmanwati of Sanskrit writers. (See Hunter, Imp. Gaz., III. 331).
↩In Firishta we find ◌, The troops of Sharqī attacked Bhūgāon. Bhongāon is in the Mainpūrī District, 91/2 miles east from Mainpūrī at the junction of the Agra and Grand Trunk roads. The town was founded according to tradition, by Rājā Bhim Sen who was cured of leprosy by bathing in the jhīl or lake. (Hunter, Imp. Gaz. II. 403.)
↩“The Tigris is navigable for light steamers up to Baghdād, but owing to the rapidity of the current, the traffic is all down stream carried on mainly by a primitive style of craft, which is broken up at Baghdād and transported by camels back to Mosul.”
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