No More Learning

With this, and with arrears of tribute which he collected from
Kampila and Patiāli, he returned to Delhi.
In 1415, Malik Sadhū Nādira had been sent to Sirhind as the
deputy of Khizr Khān's son Mubārak, on whom that district had
been bestowed, and in the following year the Turkish landholders,
kinsmen and dependants of Bairam Khān, the former governor,
rose under the leadership of Malik Tughān, put him to death, and
occupied the fortress. Zirak Khān was sent against them and
pursued them across the Sutlej and as far as the lower slopes of
the Himālaya, but did not venture to continue the pursuit into the
mountains, and returned to Delhi.
In the same year Khizr Khān himself took the field with the
object of chastising Ahmad I of Gujarāt who, by pursuing his
rebellious uncles to Nāgaur, which was nominally, at least, subject
to Delhi, had violated the fronties of the kingdom. Ahmad, on
learning of his approach, fled into Gujarāt, and Khizr Khān retired,
receiving on his homeward march tribute from Iliyās Khān, the
Muslim governor of Jhāin, the raja of Gwalior, and his own former
protector, Shams Khān Auhadi of Bayāna, whom he might well
have spared.
On his arrival at his capital he learnt that Tughān and his
followers had returned to Sirhind and were besieging Malik Kamāl
Badhan, who had been appointed deputy of Mubārak in the place
of the murdered Nādira. On this occasion Zīrak Khān was more
successful, for he overtook the fugitive Turks at Pāel, where Malik
Tughān submitted and surrendered his son as an hostage for his
good behaviour, for which subservience he was rewarded with the
fief of Jullundur.
Early in 1418 Har Singh of Katehr was again in revolt, and was
on this occasion brought to pay and suffered a complete defeat at
the hands of Tāj-ul-Mulk. He fled, and was pursued into the hills
of Kumāon, where Tāj-ul-Mulk, unable to seize the object of his
pursuit, contented himself with the ignoble but customary satisfac-
tion of plundering the people amongst whom the rebel had found
an asylum, and returned to the plains. From Katehr he marched to
Etāwah, and there besieged Raja Sarwar, who was again in rebel-
lion. Unable to reduce the fortress, he plundered the inhabitants


## p. 208 (#252) ############################################

208
CH.
.
THE SAYYID DYNASTY
of the district and returned to Delhi in May, but his devastating
progress, which had resembled rather the raid of a brigand chief
than an expedition for the permanent establishment of order, had
so exasperated the people of the region through which he had
passed that before the end of the year Khizr Khān found it neces-
sary to follow in the tracks of his lieutenant, and the record of his
progress exhibits both the frailty of the bond between him and his
subjects and the futility of the means which he employed for the
establishment of his authority. He was compelled to use force
against the people of Koil, within eighty miles of his capital, and
then, crossing the Ganges, laid waste the district of Sambhal. His
proceedings so alarmed Mahābat Khan of Budaun, who was in his
camp and was, perhaps, conscious of shortcomings in his adminis-
tration or apprehensive of the discovery of his traffickings with the
rebels, that he fled and shut himself up in Budaun, which Khizr
Khān besieged for six months without success. For the history of
this and the following reign the sole original authority is an
encomiast of the Sayyids, and it is impossible to fathom the under-
current of politics or to estimate the difficulties with which Khizr
Khān was confronted, but Mahābat Khān was an old noble of the
late dynasty, and there were in the royal camp several of his former
comrades who had formally submitted to the new order of things,
and in June, 1419, Khizr Khān discovered the existence among
them of a conspiracy to which Mahābat Khān was doubtless a party,
and, in order to separate his enemies, raised the siege and returned
towards Delhi. On June 14 he halted on the banks of the Ganges
and put the leading conspirators, Qavām-ul-Mulk and Ikhtiyār
Khān, to death.
In the following year he was reminded of his early misfortunes
by the appearance in Bajwāra, near Hoshiārpur, of an impostor
who pretended to be that Sārang Khān who had expelled him from
Multān. The real Sārang Khān had died in captivity shortly after
his surrender to Pir Muhammad, and this fact must have been
widely known, but interest may lead the intelligent, as ignorance
leads the vulgar, to espouse the cause of a pretender; and the
name of the man who had driven before him, as chaff before the
wind, the occupant of the throne of Delhi was well chosen by
the impostor. Khizr Khān was, however, well served. A family of
the Lodi clan of the great Ghilzai or Khalji tribe had recently been
domiciled in India, and its leader, Malik Sultān Shāh Bahrām,
subsequently styled Islām Khān, by which title he may now con-
veniently be known, had been appointed governor of Sirhind. He


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VIII ]
EXPULSION OF TUGHÂN KHẨN
209
was dispatched against the pretender, who marched to the Sutlej
to meet him but was defeated and compelled to retire. After the
battle Islām Khān was joined by Zirak Khān of Sāmāna and Malik
Tughān of Jullundur, and before their overwhelming force the
impostor fled, by way of Rūpar, which he had made his head-
quarters, into the mountains. He was ineffectually pursued but
emerged and fell a victim to the perfidy of Malik Tughān, who
inveighed him into his power and treacherously put him to death,
being prompted to this act rather by cupidity than by loyalty, for
the impostor had amassed great wealth.
In the same year Tāj-ul-Mulk was dispatched on another foray.
dignified by the name of an expedition against rebels, into the
districts of Koil and Etāwah. Raja Sarwar was besieged in his
fortress, but no important military success was gained. The
wretched inhabitants of the country were, as usual, plundered and
Sarwar purchased the retreat of the raiders by a contribution to
the royal coffers and one of his oft-repeated promises to pay with
more regularity in the future. On returning from Etāwah Tāj-ul-
Mulk plundered Chandwār and invaded Katehr, where he compelled
Mahābat Khān to pay the tribute due from him.
In August news was received at the capital that Malik Tughān,
whose resources had been replenished by the plunder of the pre-
tender, was again in rebellion and had marched from Jullundur to
Sirhind where, having plundered the country, he was besieging the
fortress. Malik Khair-ud-din was sent to its relief and, marching
by way of Sāmāna, was there joined by Zirak Khān. Tughān raised
the siege of Sirhind and retreated, and Khair-ud-din and Zīrak
Khān pursued him across the Sutlej and compelled him to seek
refuge with Jasrat the Khokar, the son of that Shaikhā who had
established his independence in the reign of Mahmūd Shāh. Jasrat
had been carried off into captivity by Tīmūr, with his father, but
on the conqueror's death had regained his freedom and returned
to his country, where having established for himself an independent
principality of considerable extent, he had gained over the army
of Kashmiri a victory which fostered in his mind extravagant
notions of his power and importance and inspired in him the belief
that the throne of Delhi was within his reach. Tughān's fief of
Jullundur was bestowed upon Zirak Khān.
In 1421 Khizr Khān marched into Mewāt to assert his authority
in that province, captured and destroyed the former stronghold of
Bahādur Nāhir and received the submission of most of the inhabitants.
1 See Chapter XII.
14
C. H. I. III.


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210
( CH.
THE SAYYID DYNASTY
He then turned to Gwalior, and on January 13, during his march
thither, his faithful minister, Tāj-ul-Mulk, died, and his office was
bestowed upon his son, Malik Sikandar Tuhfa, who received the
title of Malik-ush-Sharq. The raja of Gwalior took refuge within
his fortress and by means of the usual dole and the usual empty
promise relieved his subjects from the depredations of the royal
troops. Thence the king marched to Etāwah, where Sarwar Singh
had lately died and his son was prepared to purchase peace on the
customary terms, and here he fell sick and hastened back to Delhi,
where he died on May 20, 1421, having designated his son Mubārak
Khān his heir. He is extolled as a charitable ruler but his charity
was confined within the narrow limits of his territories and to the
members of his own faith.
Mubārak, beside whose weakness that of his father assumes
the appearance of strength, found it no longer necessary to feign
vassalage to any of the rulers who now governed the fragments of
Tīmūr's vast empire, and freely used the royal title of Shāh, which
his father had never assumed. On his coinage he was styled
Mu'izz-ud-dīn Mubārak Shāh, and another unmistakable claim to
complete independence was exhibited in his profession of allegiance
to the puppet Caliph alone. He confirmed most of the nobles in
the fiefs and appointments which they had held during the late
reign, but, conscious of his own weakness, pursued the fatuous
policy of perpetually transferring them from one fief to another.
He perhaps attained his object of preventing any one noble from
acquiring a dangerous local influence in any district of the kingdom,
but it was attained at the cost of efficient administration, and the
discontent of the nobles, harassed by these vexatious transfers, led
finally to his downfall. In pursuance of this policy Malik Rajab
Nādira, son of the late Sadhū Nādira, was transferred from Firūzā-
bād and Hānsī to Dīpālpūr, to make room for the king's nephew,
Malik Bada, who eventually succeeded him as Muhammad Shāh.
The early days of the reign were disturbed by the activity of
Jasrat the Khokar, who, with the interests of the fugitive Tughān
as a pretext and the throne of Delhi as a lure, crossed the Sutlej
and attacked Rāi Kamāl-ud-din, a vassal of Delhi, at Talwandi.
Rāi Firūz, a neighbouring fief-holder, fled towards the Jumna, and
Jasrat occupied Lūdhiāna, ravaged the country eastwards as far
as Rūpar, and returning across the Sutlej, besieged Zirak Khān in
Jullundur, when a composition not very creditable to either party
was effected.
Zirak Khān betrayed the interests of his master
by the surrender of the fortress and Jasrat betrayed his guest by


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VIII)
MUBĀRÁK SHÃH
211
was
sending his son to Delhi as an hostage for his father's good be-
haviour, and his former adversary, Zirak. by seizing and imprison.
ing him. With Jullundur as a base Jasrat again crossed the Sutlej
and on June 22 appeared before Sirhind, now held for Mubārak
Shāh by Islām Khān Lodi. In July, although the rainy season was
at its height, Mubārak Shāh marched to the relief of Sirhind, and
as he approached Sāmāna Jasrat, after releasing Zīrak Khān, who
rejoined his master, retreated to Lūdhiāna, whither Mubārak Shāh
followed him. Jasrat, having collected all available boats, crossed
the flooded river and encamped in security on the opposite bank.
As the rains abated Mubārak Shāh retired, in real or feigned
apprehension, along the bank of the river to Qabūlpūr, while
Jasrat, who had failed to observe that a force had been dispatched
up stream to search for a ford, followed him. The two armies were
still facing one another when Jasrat learnt that this force had
crossed the river and, fearing lest his retreat should be cut off,
retreated precipitately towards Jullundur, but was unable to rest
there owing to the vigour of Mubārak's pursuit, during which the
fugitives suffered heavy losses, and retired to the lower slopes of
the Kashmir highlands. Bhim, raja of Jammū, guided the royal
army to the principal stronghold of the Khokars, which
captured, with heavy loss to the defenders, and destroyed, but
Jasrat escaped. From the hills Mubārak Shāh marched to Lahore
ruinous and deserted since its capture by Tīmūr's troops and spent
a month in replacing its once formidable defences by a mud fort.
On returning to Delhi he left Malik Mahmūd Hasan, who had dis-
tinguished himself at the passage of the Sutlej and was hence-
forward the ablest and most active of his nobles, with a force of
2000 horse to hold the restored outpost of the kingdom. By May,
1422, Jasrat had reassembled his army, descended from the hills,
and attempted to carry the new citadel by assault, but was repulsed
and forced to retire. For more than a month he harassed Mahmud
Hasan by desultory skirmishes, but, finding his labour vain, retired
to Kalānaur, his principal place of residence in the plains. Here
he met Raja Bhīm of Jammū, who was marching to the assistance
of Mahmūd Hasan, and after one battle made peace with him and
retired towards the Beas. In the meantime Mubārak Shāh had
dispatched to the aid of Mahmūd Hasan the minister, Sikandar
Tuhfa, who crossed the Rāvī, once more drove Jasrat into the hills
and marched to Lahore, where he was welcomed by Mahmud Hasan
on September 28. Malik Rajab Nādira of Dipālpur arrived at
Lahore at the same time, and the three nobles marched to Kalānaur,
>
14–2


## p. 212 (#256) ############################################

212
[CH.
THE SAYYID DYNASTY
where they were met by Raja Bhim, to punish Jasrat's presump-
tion. They invaded the Khokar country, but Jasrat had escaped
into the higher ranges, and after plundering the homes of his
tribesmen the three nobles returned to Lahore.
During the absence of the minister, Sikandar Tuhfa, from the
capital the governor of Delhi, Sarvar-ul-Mulk, induced the feeble
king to order, for the benefit of himself and his son, a redistribution
of various important offices. Sikandar Tuhfa was dismissed from
the office of minister, to make way for Sarvar-ul-Mulk, who was
succeeded as governor of Delhi by his son Yusuf. Sikandar Tuhfa
received the fief of Lahore as compensation for the loss of the first
post in the kingdom, but his transfer thither necessitated the
removal of Mahmūd Hasan, who was transferred to Jullundur, but
was ordered for the time to wait on Mubārak Shāh with the con-
tingent maintained from his fief. These changes bred much dis-
content; to which may be traced the assassination of Mubārak Shāh
which took place twelve years later.
In 1423 Mubārak Shāh once more invaded Katehr, collected
tribute from the people in the usual fashion, and, crossing the
Ganges, entered the lower Doāb, where he treated the Rajputs with
great severity and behaved as though he were in an enemy's
country. Zīrak Khan was left as governor of Kampil, but his ill-
treatment of the Hindus so alarmed the son of Sarvar Singh that
he fled from the camp to Etāwah and successfully defended the town
against Malik Khair-ud-din Tuhfa, brother of Sikandar Tuhfa, who
was fain to raise the siege on receiving the usual nugatory promise
of tribute.
Recent successes encouraged Jasrat the Khokar again to invade
the kingdom. He had defeated, and slain in battle his old enemy,
Raja Bhīm of Jammū and now overran and plundered the districts
of Dipalpur and Lahore. Sikandar Tuhfa marched against him,
but retired before him leaving him free to prepare
for
extensive aggressions. At about the same time it was reported
that 'Alā-ul-Mulk, governor of Multān, had died and that Shaikh
‘Ali, the deputy in Kabul of Suyurghātmish, the fourth son of
Shahrukh, who had succeeded to the greater part of Tīmūr's
empire, proposed to invade and ravage the western Punjab and
Sind. Malik Mahmud Hasan was sent to Multān, and restored
some degree of conſidence to the people who had been plundered
by Shaikh 'Ali's troops.
Towards the end of the year Mubārak was obliged to march to
the aid of Gwalior, which was besieged by Hūshang Shāh of Mālwa.
more


## p. 213 (#257) ############################################

vin ]
REBELLION IN MEWĀT
213
Hüshang, on learning that Mubārak was marching towards Dholpur,
raised the siege and marched to the southern bank of the Chambal,
so that when Mubārak reached the northern bank he found most
of the fords held by the troops of Mālwa, but he discovered an
unguarded ford, crossed the river, and permitted his advanced
guard to attack some outlying parties of Hüshang's army. A trivial
advantage was gained and some prisoners and plunder were taken,
but neither party desired a general engagement or a protracted
campaign, and negotiations ended in the retreat of Hūshang to
Māndū. Mubārak returned to Delhi in June, 1424, and in the
following cold weather marched to Katehr, extorted three years'
arrears of tribute from the raja, Har Chand, plundered the country
as far as the foot of the Kumāon hills, and, marching down the
banks of the Rāmgangā,crossed the Ganges and entered the Doāb.
It had been his intention to remain in the neighbourhood of Kanauj,
and to establish his authority to the south of that district, but the
country had suffered from famine and would neither repay rapine
nor support the troops, and he was compelled to return. He turned
aside with the object of crushing a rebellion in Mewāt, but the
rebels laid waste their villages in the plains and retired into their
mountain fastnesses, and the king was obliged to retire, but returned
in 1425, when the rebels under Jallū, or Jalal Khān, and Qaddū,
or 'Abd-ul-Qādir repeated their tactics of the preceding year.
Mubārak on this occasion followed them into the hills, drove them
from one stronghold, and pursued them to Alwar, where they
surrendered. Jalāl Khān escaped, but Qaddū was carried prisoner
to Delhi.
In 1426 Mubārak traversed Mewāt, plundering the people, on
his way to Bayāna to attack Muhammad Khān, a rebellious member
of the Auhadi family. Most of the rebel's men deserted to the royal
standard and Muhammad Khān was sent, with all the members of
his family, to Delhi, where he was interned in Jahānnumā. The
district of Bayāna was divided into two fiefs. Bayāna itself being
granted to Muqbil Khān and Sīkrī, later to be known as Fathpūr,
to Khair-ud-din Tuhfa. Mubārak marched from Bayāna to Gwalior
and returned to Delhi, which he reached in March, 1427, by way
of the eastern bank of the Jumna. Shortly after his arrival at
Delhi Muhammad Khān Auhadi and his family escaped from the
capital and took refuge in Mewāt where many of his former followers
assembled around him. Muqbil was absent from Bayana on an
expedition, and Khair-ud-din Tuhfa held the fortress with an in-
adequate garrison. Muhammad Khan was joined by all classes of


## p. 214 (#258) ############################################

214
(ch.
THE SAYYID DYNASTY
the inhabitants and Khiar-ud-din was obliged to evacuate the
fortress and retire to Delhi. Malik Mubāriz was sent from Delhi to
recover Bayāna and besieged the place, but the garrison defended
it obstinately while Muhammad Auhadi withdrew to Jaunpur to
seek help of Ibrāhīm Shāh. Mubārak Shāh recalled Mubāriz and
marched in person to Bayāna, but before he could form the siege
was disturbed by an appeal from Qādir Khān of Kālpi, who implored
his aid against Ibrāhīm Shāh, who was marching on Kālpi with
the intention of annexing it. Mubācak abandoned for the time all
intention of reducing Bayāna and turned against Ibrāhim, who
having plundered the district of Bhongāon near Mainpurī, was
preparing to march on Budaun. Mubārak crossed the Jumna, and,
on reaching Atrauli, sixteen miles from Koil, learnt that Mukhtass
Khān, Ibrāhīm's brother, was threatening Etāwah. Mahmūd Hasan
was detached against him and forced him to join forces with his
brother, and the army of Jaunpur traversed the Doāb and crossed
the Jumna near Etāwah with a view to supporting the garrison of
Bayāna. Mubārak crossed the river near Chandwar (now Firūzābād)
and Ibrāhim, in February, 1428, marched towards Bayāna and en.
camped on the banks of the Gambhir, while Mubārak encamped
at a distance of ten miles from him. Neither was anxious to risk a
battle and for some time the operations were confined to affair of
outposts, but on April 2 Ibrāhim drew up his army for battle, and
Mubārak, who lacked even the ordinary merit of physical courage,
deputed his nobles to lead his army into the field. The two armies
fought, with moderate zeal and without any decisive result, from
midday until sunset, when each retired to its own camp, but on
the following day Ibrāhīm retreated tawards Jaunpur. He
followed for some distance, but Mubārak would not permit the
pursuit to be pressed, and ordered that it should be abandoned.
His encomiast praises his forbearance towards ſellow Muslims, but
we may believe that he did not choose to provoke too far an
adversary whose strength he had not fully gauged.
Mubārak then marched to Gwalior on his usual errand, and,
after collecting an instalment of tribute, returned towards Delhi
by way of Bayāna, still held by Muhammad Auhadī, who, on May 11,
evacuated the fortress and retired into Mewāt. Mahmud Hasan
was invested with the fief of Bayāna and Mubārak returned to
Delhi, where he found that his prisoner Qaddū, the grandson of
Bahādur Nāhir, had been in secret correspondence with Ibrāhim
during the late campaign. He was put to death and his execution
led to a fresh rebellion in Mewāt headed by his brother, Jalāl
was


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VIII ]
REBELLION IN THE PUNJAB
215
a
was
Khān. Sarwar-ul-Mulk, the minister, who was appointed to sup:
press it, followed the rebels into the hills in which they had after their
manner, taken refuge and returned to Delhi on their paying him the
empty compliment of a formal submission to his master.
Jasrat the Khokar was again active, and in August news
received that he was besieging Kalānaur and had driven back to
Lahore Sikandar Tuhfa, who had attempted to relieve the beleaguer-
ed town. Emboldened by his success he attacked Jullundur, and
though he failed to capture the town he plundered the district and
carried off into slavery large numbers of its inhabitants. Zirak Khān
from Sāmāna and Islām Khān Lodi from Sirhind marched to support
Sikandar Tuhfa at Lahore, but before they could reach him he had
succeeded in effecting a junction with Rai Ghālib, the defender of
Kalānur, and had defeated Jasrat, driven him into the hills, and
recovered all his spoil.
Mahmūd Hasan, having restored the royal authority in Bayāna,
returned to Delhi, and thence to Hissar, his former fief, and Mubārak
invaded the plains of Mewāt, where Jalāl Khān and other chieftains
of the country presented their tribute and were received at court.
In July, 1429, Rajab Nādira died at Multān and Mahmūd Hasan
received the title of 'Imād-ul-Mulk and was transferred to that
province, the government of which he had formerly held. In the
cold weather Mubārak marched to Gwalior and thence against the
contumacious raja of Athgāth”, who was defeated and compelled
to take refuge in the hills of Mewāt. His country was plundered
and many of his people carried off into slavery, and Mubārak
marched to Rāprī, expelled the son of Hasan Khān, and bestowed
the fief upon Malik Hamzah. On his way back to Delhi he learnt
of the death, at Bhātinda, of Sayyid Sālim, who had served his house
for thirty years. Mubārak, who seems to have been unacquainted
with the true character of the Sayyid, and was certainly ignorant of
that of his offspring, rewarded the father's long service by bestowing
on his elder son the title of Sālim Khān and on the younger that
of Shuja'-ul-mulk. The Sayyid had been both rapacious and parsi-
monious, and during his long tenure of the lucrative fief of Bhātinda
had amassed enormous wealth. The central situation of this district
in the province of which Khizr Khān had enjoyed the virtual
sovereignty for some time before his establishment on the throne
of Delhi had secured it from attack from without and from demands
for contributions to the defence of the frontiers. The customary
law of Muhammadan states in India, which made the ruler the heir
1 On the Chambal, in 26° 48' N. and 78° 46' E.


## p. 216 (#260) ############################################

216
( CH.
THE SAYYID DYNASTY
of his officials, was especially formidable to those who had defrauded
their sovereign and oppressed his subjects, and Sālim Khān and
Shujā'-ul-Mulk, who were in the king's power, attempted to secure
their wealth by instigating Fülād, a Turkish slave of their late
father, to rebel in Bhātinda. Their complicity in the rebellion was
discovered, they were thrown into prison, and Yusuf, son of Sarvar.
ul-Mulk, and Rāi Hansū Bhati were sent to treat with Fūlād and
to induce him to surrender the treasure, but Fūlād, who had no
intention of surrendering it either to the king or to his late master's
heirs, amused the envoys for a time with fair words and promises
and, having thrown them off their guard, made a sudden attack on
their troops, defeated them and was further enriched by the plunder
of their camp. Zirak Khān, Malik Kālū, and Islām Khān Lodi
were then sent to besiege the rebel in Bhātinda. Fülād announced
that he was prepared to consider terms of submission provided that
negotiations were conducted through 'Imād-ul-Mulk of Multān, in
whom he had confidence, and 'Imād-ul-Mulk was summoned and
arrived at court in August, 1430. He was sent to Bhātinda, but it
was discovered that the rebel's offer to treat with him had been
merely a device to gain time, the negotiations broke down, and he
returned to Multān after urging the officers before Bhātinda to
continue the siege.
Fülād, after holding out for six months, sent a large sum of
money to Shaikh 'Alī of Kābul and summoned him to his aid. In
January, 1431, he left Kābul and marched to Bhātinda, and on his
arriving within twenty miles of the town Mubārak's nobles hurriedly
raised the siege and fled to their fiefs. Fūlād issued from the fortress
to meet him, paid him 200,000 tangas as the price of his assistance,
and entrusted his family to his care, in order that they might be
removed to a place of safety. A passing remark of the historian of
this reign throws much light on the position of affairs in the Punjab
during Mubārak's futile attempts to establish his authority in the
Doāb, the trans-Gangetic region, and the south-eastern districts of
his kingdom. Sikandar Tuhfa paid to Shaikh 'Ali `the sum which
he had been wont to pay him annually,' and thus induced him to
refrain from molesting Lahore during his retreat. From the refer-
.
ence to the yearly payment of blackmail it is clear that the
kingdom had been exposed, during its intestine troubles, to the
danger of invasion from the direction of Lahore. In the direction
of Multān the worthless Mubārak was better served, and when
Shaikh 'Ali, during his retreat, attacked a fortress within the limits
of that province. Imād-ul-Mulk marched to Talamba and forced


## p. 217 (#261) ############################################

VID)
REBELLION IN MULTĀN
217
him to relinquish his prey. Unfortunately 'Imād-ul-Mulk received
orders to retire to Multān, and Shaikh 'Ali, attributing his retreat
to cowardice or a consciousness of weakness, crossed the Rāvī near
Khatībpur, plundered the country along the banks of the Chenāb,
and marched to within twenty miles of Multān. 'Imād-ul-Mulk
sent Islām Khān Lodi to stem his advance, but Islām Khān's
force, while still on the march, came unexpectedly on the invaders
and was defeated before it could form for attack or defence. Islām
Khān was slain, and the remnant of his force fled back to Multān.
Shaikh 'Ali advanced to Khairābād, near Multān, and encamped
there on May 15, 1431. On the following day he advanced to
attack one of the gates, but his troops were repulsed by a sortie
of the garrison, and he did not resume the offensive until June 8,
when he made a second attempt to carry the place by assault, but
was again repulsed with heavy loss, and thereafter contented him.
self with harassing the garrison in a series of skirmishes until the
arrival of a strong relieving force which attacked him and drove
him within his entrenched camp, whence he fled across the Rāvi.
He was pursued, and numbers of his army perished in the river
and by the swords of the pursuers, but he eventually threw himself
into Shorkot, leaving all his horses, camels, and equipment in the
hands of the victors. 'Imād-ul-Mulk and the army which had
marched to his relief followed the fugitives to Shorkot and Shaikh
'Alī fled with a small force to Kābul, leaving his nephew, Amir
Muzaffar, with the remainder of his army in Shorkot. Further
operations were stayed by the receipt of orders from the king,
recalling to Delhi the relieving force, and most imprudently re-
moving from Multān the able and energetic 'Imād-ul-Mulk, who
was relieved by Khair-ud-din Tuhfa. Misfortunes now fell thick
and fast on Mubārak. Jasrat the Khokar again rebelled and
marched on Jullundur. Sikandar Tuhfa, marching against him,
met him on the Dhauli Wain, but was defeated and taken alive,
and Jasrat marched to Lahore and besieged the city, which was
defended by Sayyid Najm-ud-din, Sikandar's lieutenant, and Malik
Khushkhabar, his slave. Meanwhile Shaikh 'Ali of Kābul had
again invaded the Multān province and on November 13 captured
Talamba, occupied the citadel, threw the leading citizens into prison,
and plundered all the surrounding country. At the same time
1 Yahyā b. Ahmad and his copyists have 'the Jihlam,' but the Jhelum, or Chenāb,
as it is called below its confluence with that river, has always flowed to the west of
Shorkot, to reach which Shaikh ‘Ali must have crossed the Rāvi. Had he crossed
the Chenab he would have placed that river between himself and Shorkot.
9


## p. 218 (#262) ############################################

218
(CH.
THE SAYYID DYNASTY
Fūlād, who still held Bhātinda, led an expedition against Rāi Fīrūz,
whose fief lay in the neighbourhood, slew him and plundered the
district which he had governed.
Mubārak, on receiving news of these calamities, acted with
unusual vigour and decision, and, having dispatched Sarvar-ul-Mulk
in advance, with a ſorce sufficient to check, if not to crush, Fūlād,
left Delhi, in January, 1432, for Lahore. The sudden flight of his
enemies occasioned a modification of his plans. Jasrat raised the
siege of Lahore and fled into the mountains, carrying with him his
captive, Sikandar Tuhfa, and Shaikh 'Ali evacuated Talamba and
retreated to Shorkot. Mubārak advanced no further, but bestowed
the fief of Lahore on Nusrat Khān Gurgandāz and sent Sarvar-ul-
Mulk to Lahore to escort the family of Sikandar to Delhi.
In August Jasrat was again active. He issued from his strong-
hold, plundered some districts in the plains, and attacked Gurgandāz
in Lahore, but, being worsted by him, retired again into the moun-
tains. Mubārak, who had marched as far as Pānīpat on hearing of
his renewed activity, returned to Delhi on learning of his retreat,
and sent 'Imād-ul-Mulk into the districts of Bayāna and Gwalior
In September he again left the capital to quell some disturbances
in the Sāmāna district, but returned to Delhi on hearing of his
mother's illness and arrived in time to be present at her obsequies.
Having rejoined his army he sent Sarvar-ul-Mulk with a large
force against Fūlād, and Sarvar-ul-Mulk, after completing all dis-
positions for the siege of Sāmāna, left Zirak Khān in charge of the
operations and returned to the royal camp at Pānīpat. Mubārak
now abandoned his intention of taking the field in person, and sent
Malik Ilāhdād Lodi to supersede Gurgandāz in the fiefs of Lahore
and Jullundur, but as he was approaching the latter town Jasrat fell
upon him at Bajwārā, near Hoshiārpur, defeated him, and drove
him into the lower slopes of the mountains.
In November Mubārak invaded Mewāt, where Jalal Khān was
again in revolt, and drove him from one stronghold to another,
compelling him to purchase peace on the usual terms of a present
payment and promise of amendment. He was joined by 'Imād-ul-
Mulk on his return from his successful foray into the Bayāna district
and dispatched Kamāl-ud-din and other officers on similar raids
into the districts of Etāwah and Gwalior, returning, in January,
1433, to Delhi, where he learnt that Shaikh 'Ali was again pre-
paring to march to the relief of Bhātinda, and dispatched 'Imād-ul.
Mulk with reinforcements for the besieging army. This measure
curtailed the extent of Shaikh 'Ali's activity, but he issued from


## p. 219 (#263) ############################################

VIII ]
RECOVERY OF THE PUNJAB
219
Shorkot, plundered the villages on the banks of the Rāvī, enslaved
their inhabitants, and marched on Lahore, which was held for the
king by Yūsuf, son of Sarvar-ul-Mulik, and Malk Ismāʻīl.
These two officers, after enduring a short siege, discovered that
the fidelity of the citizens, which had been sorely tried by constant
attacks against which the royal garrison could ill protect them,
was uncertain, and fled from the city with their troops. During
their Aight they suffered heavy losses at the hands of a force dis-
patched in pursuit of them by Shaikh 'Ali, who plundered Lahore,
placed a garrison of 10,000 horse in the city, marched to Dipālpūr,
where Yūsuf had taken refuge, and besieged that town. 'Imād-ul-
Mulk, who was still besieging Bhātinda sent his brother, Malik
Ahmad, to the relief of Yusuf, and Shaikh 'Alī raised the siege of
Dipālpūr, but occupied all the towns lying between that place and
Lahore.
Mubārak at length perceived that affairs in the north-western
provinces of his kingdom demanded his personal attention, and
marched to Sāmāna, where he was joined by Kamāl-ud-din and
the other officers who had been sent to Etāwah and Gwalior, and
advanced to Talwandī, where 'Imād-ul-Mulk joined him from Bhā.
tinda. The officers who still remained before that town were
summoned to the royal camp, and Mubārak advanced to the Rāvi.
Here Sikandar Tuhfa, who had escaped from Jasrat's custody,
appeared before him and received the ill-deserved title of Shams-
ul-Mulk and a grant of the fiefs of Lahore, Dipālpūr, and Jullundur.
In the meantime Shaikh 'Alī had retreated across the Chenāb,
and, as Shams-ul-Mulk advanced to take possession of his new
fiefs, fled precipitately, leaving most of his horses, and his baggage,
camp equipage, and booty, which were already bestowed in boats
for transport across the Chenāb, in his enemy's hands. Mubārak
crossed the Rāvi at Talamba and besieged Shorkot, which, after
the lapse of a month, was surrendered to him by Amir Muzaffar,
Shaikh 'Ali's nephew, who secured his safety by large gifts, and
by bestowing a daughter in marriage on Muhammad Khān, the
nephew and adopted son of Mubārāk. The king then retired
towards Multān after dispatching Shams-ul-Mulk to Lahore, where
the garrison left by Shaikh 'Alī purchased for itself a safe retreat
by the surrender of the town and citadel. Mubārak, after retiring
to Dīpālpūr, wisely removed Shams-ul-Mulk from the important
fiefs which he had recently bestowed upon him to Bayāna, and
conferred Lahore, Dipālpūr, and Jullundur on 'Imād-ul-Mulk. On
his return to Delhi he discovered that Sarvar-ul-Mulk had for


## p. 220 (#264) ############################################

220
(CH.
THE SAYYID DYNASTY
some time past been remiss in the performance of his duties as
minister of the kingdom, and appointed Kamāl-ud-din as his co-
adjutor in the hope that the two would work in harmony. He was
disappointed, for the influence of the abler and more energetic
Kamal-ud-din soon eclipsed that of Sarvar-ul-Mulk, who, resenting
his virtual supersession in office, formed a faction consisting of some
discontented Khatris, Miran Sadr, the deputy muster-master-general,
Qāzi 'Abd-us-Samad Khān, a royal chamberlain, and others, and
conspired against the king's life.
On November 1 the king founded Mubārakābād, on the Jumna,
and while superintending the building of this town learnt that the
protracted siege of Bhātinda had at length been brought to a success-
ful conclusion. The news was confirmed by the receipt of the head
of the rebel, Fūlād, which had been severed from his body after his
capture by Mirān Sadr. He marched to Bhātinda and, after ex-
tinguishing the smouldering embers of disaffection, learnt that a
dispute had arisen between Ibrāhīm Shāh of Jaunpur and Hūshang
Shāh of Mālwa regarding the town and district of Kālpī, which had
ever been included, in name at least, in the dominions of Delhi, and
that tney were marching to decide the question by an appeal to arms.
He could not but resent an insult so gross and returned to Delhi to
assemble his forces. On his way to Kālpi he turned aside to visit
Mubārakābad, and here, on February 19, 1434, Sarvar-ul-Mulk
found the opportunity which he had been seeking. Mirān Sadr
relieved the royal bodyguard with a force of his own troops, and
while the king was preparing for prayers entered his apartment on
the pretext of taking leave of him, posting Sidhāran, one of the
Khatrīs, at the door to prevent the entrance of any person not privy
to the plot. While he engaged the king in conversation Sidhū Pā),
another Khatri, cut him down with his sword, and Rānū and other
Hindus rushed in and completed the bloody work.
On the death of Mubārak Shāh, who had left no son, the nobles
at Delhi raised to the throne Muhammad, the son of his brother
Farid. Sarvar-ul-Mulk's complicity in the murder of the late king
could not be concealed, but as he held possession of the royal
treasury, armoury, and elephants he was too powerful to be touched
and though he was suspected of designs on the throne it was neces-
sary, for the time, to confirm him in his office, and he received
the title of Khānjahān, while his accomplice, Mīrān Sadr, received
that of Muſīn-ul-Mulk. Kamāl-ud-din, whose appointment had
been the cause of Sarvar-ul-Mulk's disaffection, and other of
Mubārak's nobles were desirous of avenging his death, but were


## p. 221 (#265) ############################################

VIII]
MUHAMMAD SHĀH
221
own
son
compelled to bide their time, and Sarvar-ul-Mulk, with a view to
intimidating them executed one officer of high rank and imprisoned
others, seized all the vacant fiefs in the kingdom and distributed
them among his creatures. Bayāna, Amroha, Nārnaul, Guhrām,
and some districts in the Doāb were granted to Sindhāran, Sidhū
Pāl, and their relatives who had been personally concerned in the
murder of the late king. Sidhū Pāl sent his slave Rānū, another
assassin, to Bayāna to collect the revenue, but Yusuf Khān Auhadi
marched from Hindaun to meet him, and when Rānū attempted to
take possession of the fort attacked, defeated, and slew him.
The nobles who still held their fiefs made preparations for over-
throwing Sarvar-ul-Mulk. Malik Ilāhdād Lodī, now governor
of
Sambhal and Āhār, Malik Chaman of Budaun, Amir 'Alī Gujarāti
Amir Kambal, and others agreed to stand or fall together and
raised the standard of revolt. Sarvar-ul-Mulk assembled an army
to crush them, and appointed to its command Kamāl-ul-din, who
had dissembled his hostility, associating with him his
Yusuf, Sayyid Khān, and Sidhāran the Khatri. This force advanced
from Delhi to Baran and Ilāhdād Lodi retired, but halted at Āhār
on learning that Kamāl-ud-din favoured his cause. His hostility
to the minister and sympathy with the faction in arms against
him could no longer be concealed, and Sarvar-ul-Mulk sent from
Delhi to the army his slave Hūshyār, nominally as Kamāl-ud-din's
assistant, but in fact as a spy upon his actions and a coadjutor of
Yūsuf and Sidhāran. Malik Chaman of Budaun now joined Ilāhdād
Lodi at Āhār and Kamāl-ud-din's attitude became so menacing
that Yusuf and Sidhāran returned to Delhi. On their departure
Ilāhdād and his allies joined Kamāl-ud-din, marched with him on
Delhi, defeated Sarvar-ul-Mulk's troops in a battle before the city,
and besieged him for three months in Siri. Sarvar-ul-Mulk dis-
covered, in the course of siege which lasted for three months,
that the king was in sympathy with the besiegers, and attempted
to slay him as he had slain his predecessor, but Muhammad was
prepared for the attempt and his armed attendants slew Sarvar-ul-
Mulk, and seizing the sons of Mirān Sadr, executed them on the
spot. Kamal-ud-din and the confederates were then summoned
into the city and the remaining conspirators retired to their houses.
Sidhū Pāl imitated the Rajput custom of jauhar, set fire to his house;
immolated his family, and died fighting, but Sidhāran and the other
Khatrīs were taken alive and put to death, and Hūshyār the slave
and Mubārak, police magistrate of the city, were executed at the
Lal Darwāza, or Red Gate.


## p. 222 (#266) ############################################

222
[ Ch.
THE SAYYID DYNASTY
was
The confederates repeated the ceremony of enthroning Mu-
hammad Shāh ahd swore allegiance to him, and in the new dis-
tribution of offices and fiefs Kamāl-ud-din became minister and
received the title of Kamāl Khān, Malik Chaman was entitled
Ghāzi-ul-Mulk and was confirmed in the fiefs of Budaun and Am-
roha, Ilāhdād Lodi, who would accept no title for himself, obtained
that of Daryā Khăn for his brother, who succeeded him in Sambhal,
Malik Khoīrāj retained Hissar, and Hāji Shudani entitled
Hisām Khān and appointed governor of the capital.
In October Muhammad Shāh made a pilgrimage to Multān to
visit the shrines of the saints, and in 1436 marched to Sāmāna and
dispatched thence an army which is said to have laid waste the
country of the Khokars.
Muhammad had been, until the fall of Sarvar-ul-Mulk, the
victim of factions and the sport of circumstances, but when he had
an opportunity of displaying his fitness for rule he so abused it as
to lose both the affection and the confidence of those who had freed
him from his enemies. After his return to Delhi from Sāmāna his
counsellors were perturbed by the news of successive calamities.
In Multān the Langāhs, an Afghān tribe recently settled in the
district, rebelled against Muhammad Shāh's governor ; in the oppo-
site direction Ibrāhīm Shāh of Jaunpur invaded and annexed some
of the south-eastern districts of the kingdon ; and to the south of
Delhi the raja of Gwalior and other Hindu chieftains, openly repu-
diated their liability to pay tribute. Even the forays undertaken
in his uncle's reign would have been preferable to inaction, but
Muhammad remained in his capital, sunk in indolence and pleasure,
until his nobles, losing heart, clearly perceived that if the ancient
prestige of Delhi were to be preserved they must seek another
leader. It was during this period that the commanding qualities
of Malik Buhlūl Lodi', nephew and adopted son of Islām Khān
and now governor of Sirhind, first attracted attention. As the
king's weakness and meanness of spirit became more apparent he
gradually extented his influence over the whole of the Punjab,
and began to withhold the revenue due to the royal treasury. The
condition of the remnant of the kingdom of Delhi was deplorable.
Muhammad's nominal authority did not extend beyond Pānipat to
the north ; on the south and south-east the raja of Gwalior, who
had during the previous reign periodically acknowledged the sove-
1 In English histories this name is usually written Bahlol,' as it is also pronounced
by the vulgar in India. Buhlul is the correct form. The word is Arabic, and means
one who laughs or smiles, or a prince endowed with every accomplishment.


## p. 223 (#267) ############################################

VI)
WAR AGAINST MÄLWA
223
reignty of Delhi, no longer made any pretence of fealty, and the
king of Jaunpur had invaded and annexed the districts bordering
on his kingdom. The Hindus of the Doāb, always refractory, dis-
regarded with impunity an authority which was never asserted,
and the turbulent tribesmen of Mewāt plundered the country to
within a short distance of the wall of the city. The Nobles of Delhi,
despairing of a king who was content to loiter in his palace while his
kingdom dissolved, had recourse, in 1440-41, to Mahmud Shāh
Khalji of Mālwa, an active and warlike prince who had in 1436 seized
the throne of that kingdom', and sent repeated messages to him
representing the miserable plight of the once glorious kingdom and
imploring him to march to Delhi for the purpose of restoring peace
and order. Mahmūd set out, and Muhammad Shāh, roused at
length from his disgraceful torpor, prepared to oppose him. Assem-
bling such troops as he could muster, he sent an appeal for help
to Buhlūl Lodi, whose readiness to respond had its origin not in
loyalty to Muhammad, but in the resolve to preserve the kingdom
for himself. He would not, however, lend his aid unconditionally,
and demanded as its price the death of Hisām Khān, governor of
the capital, in whom he recognised either a dangerous rival or too
staunch and powerful a champion of hereditary right. The
condition was fulfilled, and Buhlül led his forces to the support of the
king.
Meanwhile Mahmūd, marching from Mālwa by way of Hindaun,
was there joined by Yūsuf Khān Auhadi and continued his advance
to Delhi. Muhammad marched forth to meet him, and the two
armies confronted one another between Tughluqābād and the city.
Here Muhammad, who had already proved himself to be devoid
of the qualities of a leader of men, sank to the lowest depths of
contempt by showing that he lacked the mere physical courage
expected of the humblest soldier. He would not take the field
in person, but entrusted the command of his troops nominally to
his son 'Alā-ud-din, with whom he associated Sayyid Khān Daryā
Khān Lodī, Qutb Khān, and other officers. Like Muhammad, but
for a different reason, Mahmūd Khalji refrained from personally
engaging in the conflict. His courage was never impugned, and he
was, indeed, brave to rashness, but he would not deign to take the
field against Muhammad's officers, and was resolved to show that
his own subordinates were well able to cope with them. Retaining
for the protection of his person a small force of picked cavalry he
entrusted the command of the rest of his army to his two sons
1 See Chapter XIV.


## p. 224 (#268) ############################################

224
[CH
THE SAYYID DYNASTY
Ghiyās-ud-din and Nusrat Khān. The battle began at noon and
lasted, without any decisive advantage to either side, until nightfall,
when each army returned to its own camp. The pusillanimous
Muhammad, dreading the alternative prospects of being obliged
to take the field or falling into the hands of the enemy, hastened
to make undignified proposals for peace, which might have been
rejected with contempt, had not Mahmūd received reports which
necessitated an immediate return to his capital. A mob at Māndū
had removed the royal umbrella suspended over the tomb of
Hüshang Shāh and had raised it over the head of a pretender
whom they had proclaimed king of Mālwa as representative of the
Ghūri family'. Accordingly he welcomed the overtures for peace
and on the following day began his retreat. With flagrant disregard
of the agreement between the two kings Buhlūl Lodi followed and
attacked the retreating army, and obtained a trivial advantage
over its rearguard and some plunder. It need not be assumed that
Muhammad was privy to this act of treachery, 'for Buhlūl was
beyond his control, but he participated in its guilt by becoming,
in legal phrase; an accessory after the fact. The perfidious Afghān
was received on his return with extravagant demonstrations, his
mean and petty triumph was magnified into a victory over the army
of Mālwa, and the king distinguished him by styling him his son,
and conferred on him the title of Khān Khānān.
Buhlūl now consulted his interest by feigning loyalty to Muham-
mad and in the following year the king marched to Sāmāna and
there formally bestowed on him, in addition to the fiefs which he
already held by grant from the crown, Dipālpūr and Lahore,
which were
re no longer his to bestow. Buhlūl deigned to accept a
commission to attack Jasrat the Khokar, but, on discovering that
Jasrat was inclined to favour his designs on the throne of Delhi,
made peace with him on easy terms and withdrew to Sirhind, where
he strengthened himself by annexing the districts adjoining those
which he already held, and by enlisting large numbers of Afghāns,
especially of his own tribe>, in his army. He picked a quarrel, on
trivial grounds, with Muhammad Shāh, marched to Delhi, and
besieged it, but failed to capture it, or perhaps, for he returned
unmolested to his own dominions, where he styled himself Sultan
Buhlūl, was bought off, or retired on realising the magnitude
ISome historians attribute the retreat of Mahmūd Khalji to a report that Ahmad
I of Gujarāt had invaded or was about to invade his dominions, but the account of
the circumstances given in the text is to be preferred.
2 The Lodīs were Khaljis or Ghilzāis, Turks by origin, but so long resident in
Afghānistān that by the fifteenth century they could be correctly described as
Afghāns.


## p. 225 (#269) ############################################

VIII 1
RISE OF THE LODIS
225
of the task with which he would be
confronted after taking
the city.
After the siege of the capital the disorders of the kingdom
increased daily, and when Muhammad Shāh died, in 1444, no point
on his frontier was more than forty miles distant from Delhi, and
the kingdom inherited by his son 'Alā-ud-din, who assumed the
title of Ālam Shah, consisted of the city and the neighbouring
villages.
The new king was even more feeble and vacillating than his
father, and although Buhlūl humoured the nobles of Delhi by
formally acknowledging his accession he sedulously continued
his preparations for seizing the throne when the time should be
ripe.
Shortly after his accession 'Alam Shāh marched towards Sāmāna,
apparently with no other purpose than that of showing that a king
of Delhi yet dared to leave his palace, but was recalled by a rumour
that Mahmūd Shāh of Jaunpur was marching on the city. The
report, which he had not taken the trcuble to verify, proved to be
false, and an outspoken courtier incurred his displeasure by up-
braiding him for his undignified and unnecessary retreat. In 1447
he marched to Budaun, where he was received with respect, and
found the city so attractive that he resolved to reside there rather
than at Delhi. Having prepared a dwelling for himself he returned
to Delhi, where the same blunt courtier remonstrated with him on
the folly of the step which he contemplated, but gained nothing
but his own removal from office. The king appointed one of his
wife's brothers governor of the capital and in 1448 retired per- .
manently to Budaun, where he abandoned himself entirely to the
pursuit of pleasure.
It is now proper to examine the condition of the territories
over which Khizr Khân had established his authority. The pro-
vince of Multān had elected a ruler of its own, who never recog-
nised, even formally, the royal authority ; and the rest of the
Punjab, as far south as Pānīpat and Hissar, was in the possession
of Buhlūl, whose relative, Daryā Khān Lodi, held the district of
Sambhal, the western limit of which he had pushed forward as
far as the ford of Khvāja Khizr, on the Jumna near Delhi. Ad-
joining this petty state on the south, within the limits of the Doāb,
was the state of Koil, held by 'Isā Khān the Turk, and south of
this state Hasan Khān, another Aſghān, held Rāpri. The lower
central Doāb, including Bhongāon, Patiālī, and Kampil, was held
by the Rājput, Raja Partāb and to the west of the Jumna Dāūd
C. H, I, III.
15


## p. 226 (#270) ############################################

226
( ch.
THE SAYYID DYNASTY
Khān Auhadi was independent in Bayāna. All these rulers were
partisans of Buhlūl. Gwalior was an independent Hindu state, and
such tracts of Mewat as did not acknowledge the rule of Dāūd
Auhadi were held by native chieftains whose power extended
almost to the gates of Delhi.
'Alam Shāh, on his way to Budaun, took counsel with Qutb
Khān, cousin of Buhlūl, 'Isā Khān, and Raja Partāb, regarding the
possibility of rehabilitating the royal power. Hamid Khān, who
was now minister, was obnoxious to Raja Partāb, for his father,
Fath Khān, had formerly devastated Partāb's fief and carried off
his wife. The three courtiers promised to add to 'Ālam Shāh's
small kingdom forty parganas on condition that he put Hamid
Khān to death. He was imprisoned, but escaped and fled to
Delhi.
After the king's departure from the capital a quarrel broke out
between his two brothers-in-law, one of whom had been left there
as governor and the other as chief of the city police, and one of
them had been killed in a fight between their factions. The mob,
at the instigation of Hisām Khān, had risen against the survivor
and put him to death, and Hisām Khan and Hamid Khān remained
arbiters of the destinies of Delhi. The restoration of Alam Shah
was out of the question, and both desired to find a substitute who
would be content with no more than the royal title and would
permit them to govern in his name. The claims of the kings of
Jaunpur and Mālwa were considered and rejected, for the former
was connected by marriage with 'Alam Shāh and might attempt
to avenge
his
wrongs and the latter was so attached to his distant
kingdom that it was improbable that he would transfer his affec-
tions to Delhi. Their choice fell ultimately upon Buhlül, though
there was little probability of his becoming a pliable instrument
in their hands, and he was invited to Delhi. He responded with
such alacrity that he arrived with a force insufficient to establish
his authority, but he formally received from Hamid Khān, in
exchange for conciliatory promises, the keys of the city, and wrote
to "Alam Shāh a letter as masterly as it was insincere, in which he
explained that he was actuated solely by jealous zeal for the royal
authority, which he had seen set at naught.
naught. Buhlūl seated himself
on the throne on April 19, 1151, and set out at once to Dipālpūr
to collect the troops which in his haste he had left behind. His
letter to ·Alam Shāh elicited the desired reply. The mean-spirited
King, content with the ease and freedom from care which his resi-
dence in Budaun afforded, replied that he had had neither fruit


## p. 227 (#271) ############################################

VII)
USURPATION OF BUHLOL
227
nor profit of sovereignty, that his father had styled Buhlūl his son
and that he himself freely and cheerfully resigned his throne to
Buhlūl as to an elder brother. Thus Buhlūl, on his return to Delhi,
ascended the throne not merely as the creature of a successful
faction, but as the heir designate of a king who had voluntarily
abdicated. The contemptible 'Alam Shāh remained contentedly
in Budaun, where the revenue of the small territory which he
had been permitted to retain sufficed to defray the cost of his
pleasures.
15-2


## p. 228 (#272) ############################################

CHAPTER IX
THE LODI DYNASTY
The condition of the kingdom over which Buhlūl was called to
rule has already been described, but he differed from its late feeble
sovereign in being already, at the time of his elevation to the throne,
a powerful ruler. The greater part of the Punjab owned his sway,
and one of his kinsmen was virtual ruler of the country to the
east of Delhi, the northern Doāb, and the province now known as
Rohilkhand.
The new king was just such a ruler as the distracted state re-
quired. With sufficient political acumen to serve his purpose he
was active and warlike and had formed the resolution of restoring
the kingdom to its pre-eminence among the Muhammadan States
of Northern India. Among his Afghān kinsmen he was little more
than primus inter pares, and was well content with that position,
but he would tolerate no interference by strangers, and one of his
first acts was to overthrow the powerful Hamid Khan, by whom
he had been called to the throne and whose influence in Delhi
might at any time be sufficient to initiate a formidable movement
for the restoration of the old order of things, when everybody
was his own master. The Afghāns, acting under their leader's
instructions, behaved with grotesque boorishness at all his formal
meetings with Hamid Khān. The men-at-arms crowded into the
hall of audience on the pretext that all soldiers and fellowtribesmen
were equals, and their conduct, while it excited the surprise and
disgust of Hamid Khân, encouraged him to believe that he had
to deal with a horde of mere rustic simpletons. The Afghān troops
soon numerous enough to crush any disturbance which might
arise in the city, and their numbers at court were always sufficient
to enable Buhlūl to carry out any act of violence. At one
audience Qutb Khān Lodi, Buhlūl's cousin and brother-in-law, pro-
duced a chain and, casting it down before Hamīd Khān, informed
him that it was considered necessary for reasons of state that he
should be confined for a few days, but that in consideration of the
services which he had rendered his life would be spared. How this
promise was kept we do not know, but Hamid Khān disappears
henceforth from the scene.
were


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CH. IX ]
DEFEAT OF MAHMUD OF JAUNPUR
229
Shaikh Yūsuf, the popularly elected governor of Multan, who
had been expelled from that city by the Langāhst and had taken
refuge at Delhi, urged Buhlūl to recover the lost province, and late
in 1451 he left the capital for Multān, but as soon as his back was
turned some of the old nobles of 'Ālam Shāh, who found the ener-
getic personal rule of the new king little to their taste, invited
Mahinūd Shāh of Jaunpur to attack the city and expel the Afghāns.
Mahmūd responded to the appeal, and on his march towards Delhi
was joined by Buhlūl's relative, Daryā Khān Lodī, who remained
at heart loyal to his kinsman, and whose adherence to the invader
was a matter of necessity rather than choice. Mahmud advanced
to Delhi and besieged Buhlūl's eldest son, Khvāja Bāyazīd, who
had been left in charge of the city; and Buhlūl, who had reached
Dipālpur, immediately retraced his footsteps and was within thirty
miles of the capital before Mahmūd had succeeded in making any
impression on its defences. He was fortunate enough to capture
large numbers of Mahmūd's transport animals, which were at
pasture but immediately after this successful stroke was attacked
by Mahmūd's principal licutenant, Fath Khān of Herat, with 30,000
horse and thirty elephants. In the battle Qutb Khān Lodi, who
was an expert archer, checked the onset of Fath Khān's elephant
by wounding it with an arrow, and this mishap shook the ranks of
the Jaunpur troops. Qutb Khān was able to convey a message to
Daryā Khān Lodi, urging him to desert the enemy and join his
kinsmen, and Daryā Khān at once led his troops from the field.
The rest of the army of Jaunpur, demoralised by his defection,
broke and fled, and Fath Khān was taken alive and was beheaded
by Raja Khān, a Hindu officer of Buhlūl's who had a blood feud
with him.
Mahmūd, on the defeat of his army in the field, raised the siege
and returned to Jaunpur. His expedition convinced Buhlül that
the settlement of the trivial disorders in the Punjab, where Lodi
supremacy was assured, might, well be postponed until the turbulent
fief-holders of the Doāb and the petty princes of Mewāt, who had
long been independent, were once more brought into subjection
to the kingdom of Delhi and the power of the king of Jaunpur
which, during the reigns of Mubārak, Muhammad, and 'Alam Shāh,
had always equalled and frequently over-shadowed that of the king
of Delhi, had been broken. Buhlūl, whose reputation had been
greatly enhanced by his victory, marched to Mewāt, where he
received, without a battle, the submission of Ahmad Khān, who
1 Şee Chapters VIII and XIX,


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230
(CH.
THE LODI DYNASTY
1
surrendered seven parganas to him, agreed to holding the re-
mainder of his territory as a fief of Delhi, and placed his uncle,
Mubārak Khān, at Buhlūl's court, nominally as his agent, but in
fact as a hostage.
From Mewāt Buhlūl crossed the Jumna and marched to Baran,
where Daryā Khān Lodi waited on him and compounded for his
late adhesion to Mahmūd of Jaunpur by the surrender of seven
parganas of his great fief to the crown. It was Buhlūl's policy to
conciliate the great fief-holders of the Doāb, whose disobedience to
Delhi and subservience to Jaunpur had been forced upon them
by circumstances, and all were treated with leniency. “Isa Khān,
Mubārak Khān, and Raja Partāb submitted to him and were per-
mitted to retain the fiefs of Koil, Suket and Bhongaon, and even
Qutb Khān', son of Hasan Khān, who defended the fortress of
Rāpri against the royal troops, was permitted to retain his fief after
his submission.
From Rāpri Buhlūl marched to Etāwah and received the sub-
mission of the raja, but this assertion of his authority provoked
Mahmūd of Jaunpur, who claimed the allegiance of Etāwah and
invaded the district for the purpose of contesting Buhlūl's claim.
Neither king was in a position to proceed to extremities against the
other, and after one day's desultory fighting they concluded a truce,
in accordance with the terms of which the boundaries between the
two states were to be those which had been recognised in the reign
of Mubārak Shāh of Delhi, seven elephants taken from Fath Khān
were to be restored to Jaunpur, and Buhlūl was to be permitted,
after the rainy season, to wrest Shamsābād from Jaunān Khan, who
held it nominally as a fief of Jaunpur.
Mahmūd returned to Jaunpur and Buhlül . drove Jaunān Khān
from Shamsābād and placed his own vassal, Raja Karan, in posses-
sion of the fief. Mahmūd, though Buhlūl had violated none of the
conditions of the treaty, marched against him, and as the army of
Jaunpur approached Shamsābād it was attacked by night by a
force under Qutb Khān Lodi and Daryā Khān Lodī. The attack
failed and Qutb Khān was captured and sent to Jaunpur, where
he remained a prisoner for seven months. Just as the main bodies
of the two armies were about to join battle Mahmúd died, in 1457,
and his son Bhikan was raised to the throne under the title of
Muhammad Shāh, and made peace with Buhlūl, whose right to
retain Shamsābād he acknowledged. Buhlül returned towards
Delhi, but on reaching Dhankaur received a message from Qutb
1Not to be confounded with Qutb Khān Lodi, Buhlūl's cousin and brother. in-law.


## p. 231 (#275) ############################################

IX]
WAR AGAINST JAUNPUR
231
Khān's sister, reproaching him for having left her brother in cap-
tivity and urging him not to rest until he had liberated him, where-
upon he at once turned back to meet Muhammad Shāh, who
marched with equal promptness to Shamsābād, expelled Raja Karan,
and restored the fief to Jaunān Khān. His success attracted to his
standard the raja of Etāwah, who openly transferred his allegiance
from Delhi to Jaunpur, and Muhammad marched to Saraswati
while Buhlūl marched to the neighbouring town of Rāprī. After
some desultory fighting between the two armies intestine discord
deprived that of Jaunpur of the power of offensive action, and
Muhammad was deserted by one of his brother, who led away a
force of 30,000 horse and thirty elephants and halted on the banks
of the Jharna. Buhlūl, who regarded this move as a tactical man-
oeuvre against himself, followed them, and on his way captured
Jalāl Khān, a third brother of Muhammad, who was attempting to
join the deserter, and detained him as a hostage for the safety of
Qutb Khăn Lodi.
Muhammad retreated towards Kanauj, and was followed as far
as the Ganges by Buhlūl, but his brother Husain had already been
acclaimed as king at Kanauj and Muhammad was deserted by the
few courtiers who had remained with him, and was put to death.
Husain Shāh ascended the throne of Jaunpur in 1458, and at
once concluded a four years' truce with Buhlūl. Qutb Khān Lodi
was exchanged for Husain's brother, Jalāl Khān, and peace reigned
between Delhi and Jaunpur for the period for which the truce had
been concluded.
During this period Buhlūl's attention was fully occupied in the
administration of his dominions and late in 1472 he marched towards
Multān, to reduce to obedience Husain Shāh Langāh, who had
succeeded his father in that small kingdom.
In 1473 Husain Shāh of Jaunpur, instigated by his wife Jalila,
who was a daughter of ‘Ālam Shāh, marched on Delhi with a large
army, and this menace to his capital recalled Buhlūl, who however,
sent his third son, Bārbak Shāh, and Tātār Khān Lodī, governor
of Lahore, to Multān, where they suffered a crushing defeat at the
hands of Husain Langāh, and were compelled to retreat.
Buhlūl, on reaching Delhi, was dismayed by the imminence of
his peril and hastily sent a mission to Mahmud Khalji II of Mālwa,
imploring him to come to his aid and promising to cede to him the
whole country west of Bayāna, but Husain had reached the banks
of the Jumna, a short distance to the south-east of Delhi, before a
1 For the details of these disputes see Chapter X.


## p. 232 (#276) ############################################

232
[ CH.
THE LODI DYNASTY
reply could be received from Mahmūd, and Buhlūl attempted to
purchase peace by the most humiliating submission. Were he
allowed, he said, to retain Delhi and the country for thirty miles
around it he would cheerfully hold it in Husain's name. The offer
was haughtily rejected and Buhlūl marched forth at the head of
18,000 Afghān horse, to meet his powerful enemy. The armies
were encamped on opposite banks of the Jumna and for several
days neither ventured to cross the river in force to attack the other
until one day Husain who, in his contempt of his opponent neglected
all military precautions, permitted the whole of his army to disperse
for the purpose of plundering the fertile lands of the Doāb. His
was left unprotected, and Buhlūl crossed the river by a ford
and fell upon it. Even now Husain's insensate pride blinded him
to his danger and it was not until the Afghāns were actually plunder-
ing his tents that he sought safety in flight, then the only course left
open to him. The ladies of his harem, including his wife Jalila, were
captured by Buhlūl, who generously sent them unharmed to
Jaunpur.
A new treaty, in which a truce of three years was agreed upon,
was concluded and Buhlūl, besides turning his attention once more
to the improvement of his administration and the consolidation of
his power, marched into Mewāt for the purpose of dealing with
Ahmad Khān, a great fief-holder who had joined Husain Shāh in
his recent expedition. Ahmad Khān fled and joined Husain in
Jaunpur, thus furnishing him with a pretext for renewing hostilities,
to which course he was constantly urged by his wife Jalila.
Husain, after capturing Etāwah, marched on Delhi with an army
of 100,000 horse and 100 elephants, and Buhlūl again stooped to
supplication and promised, if Husain would refrain from molesting
him, to attend him in the field whenever in future he might require
assistance. Husain vouchsafed no answer to this piteous appeal
and Buhlūl was compelled to take the field. He again defeated
the army of Jaunpur, but was not strong enough to profit by his
success, and was fain to make peace. Shortly afterwards Husain
again marched against Buhlūl, who marched from Delhi and en-
countered him at Sikhera, about tewenty-five miles east of the city.
Husain was defeated but was again able to make peace on equal
terms and retired to Etāwah, where Qutb Khān Lodi and the son
of the raja of Gwalior waited on him. Qutb Khān, learning that
Husain still entertained designs on Delhi, ingratiated himself by
disparaging Buhlūl, and promised Husain that he would never rest
until he had conquered for him the country as far north as Delhi,


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IX)
HUSAIN OF JAUNPUR IS DEFEATED
233
Husain was duped, and allowed Qutb Khān to leave his camp. He
at once joined his cousin at Delhi, and warned him against Husain,
whose military strength was still great and who had not abandoned
the design of annexing Delhi to his dominions.
Husain once more assembled his army for an attack on Delhi,
and in March, 1479, arrived at the bank of the Jumna. This was
the most promising of all his campaigns and the effect of his nume-
rical superiority was everywhere apparent, but Qutb Khān Lodi,
by an appeal to the memory of Husain's mother, who had be.
friended him during his captivity in Jaunpur, so played upon the
invader's feelings that he induced him to make peace on obtaining
from Buhlūl formal recognition of his tenure of all districts east
of the Ganges, corresponding to the modern province of Rohilkhand.
After concluding this treaty Husain began a leisurely retreat and
Buhlūl perfidiously attacked him and captured a large number
of elephants and horses laden with spoil and treasure, Husain's
minister, and about forty of his principal nobles. This success,
disgracefully obtained, marks the turn of the tide in favour of
Delhi, and Buhlūl pursued the demoralised army of Jaunpur and
occupied the parganas of Kampil, Patiäli, Shamsābād, Suket, Koil,
Mārhara and Jalesar. Husain, hard pressed by Buhlūl's pursuit,
turned and faced him, but was again defeated and was now obliged
to acquiesce in Buhlūl's retention of the large tract of territory
which he had recovered and to agree that the frontier of the
kingdom of Jaunpur should be withdrawn to Chhibrāmau in the
district now known as Farrukhābād. Husain retired to Rāpri and
Buhlül to Delhi, but the former, after a brief period of repose,
again took the field to recover his lost territory and met Buhlūl at
Senhā, where he suffered the heaviest defeat he had yet expe-
rienced. The plunder which fell into the hands of Buhlūl and the
prestige which he gained with his victory established the supe-
riority of Delhi and Buhlūl encamped at Chhibrāmau and shortly
afterwards took the offensive against Husain and defeated him at
Rāpri. Husain fled towards Gwalior, and after losing some of his
wives and children in the passage of the Jumna, was attacked near
Athgāth by the Bhadauriyas, a predatory tribe, who plundered his
camp. Kirat Singh of Gwalior was still faithful to him, supplied
him with money, troops, and transport, and escorted him as far
as Kālpi on his way to Jaunpur. Buhlūl, aſter capturing Etāwah,
which surrendered to him after a siege of three days, marched to
attack Husain, who turned to meet him at Rāigāon Khāgā', where
1 In 25° 53'N, and 81° 16'E,


## p. 234 (#278) ############################################

234
( CH.
THE LODI DYNASTY
his front was protected by the Ganges, which postponed Buhlūl's
attack for some months until Raja Tilok Chand of Baksar? joined
his
army and led it across the river by a ford, when Husain re-
treated rapidly to Phāphāmau”, the raja of which place provided
him with money, horses, and elephants, and escorted him in safety
to Jaunpur. Buhlūl marched straight on Jaunpur and Husain fled
towards Kanauj by way of Bahrāich, an unnecessarily circuitous
route. Buhlūl followed him, overtook him on the banks of the
Rahab, attacked him, and defeated him, capturing one of his wives.
He then returned to Jaunpur, which he captured, and placed
Mubārak Khān Lohānī in the city as governor. He also placed
a garrison under the command of Qutb Khān Lodi in Majhauli,
beyond the Gogra and then marched to Budaun, which had been
nominally subject to Husain since the death of Ālam Shāh in
'
1478. Husain took advantage of his absence to re-assemble his
army and march to Jaunpur, compelling Mubārak Khān to with.
draw to Majhauli. Husain marched thither, and Buhlūl's officers,
who could not risk a battle, gained time by feigning to negotiate,
and while Husain was thus permitting himself to be delayed, Buhlūl
returned rapidly from Budaun, sent a force under his son Bārbak
to relieve Majhaulī, and re-occupied Jaunpur. Husain, in despair,
fled into Bihār, and Buhlul followed him as far as Haldī, on the
Ganges near Ballia, where he heard of the death of Qutb Khān
Lodi at Majhauli and, after halting to mourn for him, returned to
Jaunpur, where in 1486 he placed his eldest surviving son Bārbak
on the throne of that kingdom and permitted him to coin money
and to use the royal title. He then marched, by way of Chandwār,
to Dholpur where the raja, as earnest of his submission, presented
to him a large quantity of gold. From Dholpur he marched
eighteen miles westward to Bārī, where Iqbāl Khān, the Muslim
governor, also made his submission, and was permitted to retain
his fief. Thence he marched to 'Alampur, near Ranthambhor, plun-
dered that district, and destroyed all the standing crops. Returning
to Delhi he enjoyed some well-earned repose there and at Hissar,
and, thus refreshed, marched to Gwalior, where Kirat Singh had
for many years virtually maintained his independence by paying
tribute to Jaunpur. Buhlūl was ill-prepared for such an enterprise
as the siege of the fortress, and Kirat Singh was well content to
purchase peace and liberty by the payment of eight millions of
rupees. From Gwalior Buhlūl returned to Etāwah, where he made
1 Thirty-four miles southeast of Unao town. 2 In 25° 32'N. and 81° 56'E.
3 In 26° 17'N. and 83° 57' E.