No More Learning

On July 6 a most destructive earthquake occurred in Āgra.
The area affected by it was extraordinarily large. It was general
throughout India, it is mentioned by Bābur in his memoirs, and it
is said by Budaunī to have extended to Persia.
In October, after the rainy season, Sikandar renewed hostilities
against Gwalior. After a short halt at Dholpur he established his
headquarters on the banks of Chambal, and, leaving his camp
there, led an expedition into Gwalior country. The direction in
which he marched is uncertain, but the Hindus, who fled to the
hills and jungles, were slaughtered and enslaved in large numbers,
and the country was laid waste. The work of devastation was so
1 In 77° 18' E. and 26° 18' N.


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IX ]
CAMPAIGNS AGAINST GWALIOR
243
complete that the invaders suffered from scarcity of food until a
large caravan of Banjāras, carrying grain and other provisions, was
captured. Mān Singh was not inactive, and Sikandar, as he ap-
proached his camp, observed precautions not habitual to him and
threw out an advanced guard on the march and outposts when
halted, suspecting some sudden manæuvre. His precautions were
opportune for, as he was retiring towards his camp on the Chambal,
Mān
Man Singh laid an ambush for his army. I he officers whose troops
were exposed to the sudden and unexpected attack displayed great
valour, and held the enemy until succour arrived from the main
body of the army, when the Hindus were defeated with great
slaughter. As the rainy season was approaching, in which operations
were difficult, the only result of this success was to secure Sikandar's
retreat, and he retired to Āgra, but as soon as the rains abated
marched to besiege the fortress of Utgir. The siege was pressed with
such vigour that the walls were soon breached in many places and
the fortress was carried by assault, the Hindus fighting desperately
to the last. Utgir shared the fate of Mandlāer, and Makan and
Mujahid Khān, the latter of whom had remained at Dholpur, were
appointed to the command of the new acquisition, but it was dis-
covered, after the capture of the fortress, that Mujāhid had been in
correspondence with the raja of Utgir, and had undertaken, in
consideration of a bribe, to dissuade Sikandar from attacking it.
Mullā Jaman, one of his principal followers, who was with the army,
was arrested, and orders for the arrest of Mubārak Khān himself
were sent to Dholpur. After the capture of Utgir, Sikandar again
retired to Āgra, and by some extraordinary error the army was led
by a route in which it endured the torments of thirst, and when
water was found many of the sufferers drank so greedily of it as to
cause death. The usual routes from Utgir to Āgra were well sup-
plied with water, and the selection of a waterless route suggests
apprehensions of another attack by Mān Singh.
Sikandar again spent the rainy season at Āgra, and early in 1508
marched to attack Narwar, usually included in the kingdom of
Mālwa, but now, apparently, subject to Gwalior. He first sent Jalāl
Khān Lodī, governor of Kālpi, against the fortress, and followed
him from Āgra. On his arrival at Narwar Jalāl Khān drew up his
army to receive him, and he was so impressed by its strength and
warlike appearance as to become jealous of its leader's power and
apprehensive of his motives, and resolved to degrade him.
Some days' desultory fighting was followed by a general attack
on the fortress, which was repulsed with heavy loss, and Sikandar
16-2


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244
(CH.
THE LODİ DYNASTY
invested the place with the object of reducing it by famine, During
this period of comparative leisure he was occupied in compassing
the ruin of Jalal Khān. Having attracted all his best officers into
his own service he broke up his contingent, and sent him in custody
in Utgir.
Under the stress of famine and want of water the garrison of
Utgir surrendered on terms and Sikandar entered the fortress and,
after his custom, destroyed Hindu temples and on their sites raised
mosques, which he endowed with lands in the district.
At this time Shihāb-ud-din, son of Nāsir-ud-din Khalji of Mālwa,
who had been in rebellion against his father and, having been
defeated by him, was now a fugitive, arrived at Sipri, near Narwar,
and expressed his readiness to enter Sikandar's service. Sikandar
sent him a horse and a robe of honour, but negotiations proceeded
no further.
Sikandar, on leaving Narwar, encamped on the banks of the
Sindh, in its neighbourhood. Considering the importance of the
fortress, and its distance from his capital, he judged it expedient to
strengthen its defences, and encircled it with a fresh line of fortifica-
tions. He then marched to the district of Athgāth, which was dis-
turbed by Hindu rebels, against whom he carried out some successful
and destructive operations, and, after establishing military posts
throughout the district, returned, in the summer of 1509, to Āgra.
At the close of the rainy season he indulged in a tour to Dholpur,
bent only on sport and pleasure, but while he was thus employed
fortune added another province to his kingdom. 'Ali Khān and
Abu Bakr, brothers of Muhammad Khān, the independent ruler of
the small state of Nāgaur, had conspired against their brother and,
on their guilt being detected, fled to Sikandar's court and endeavour-
ed to enlist his aid by stories of Muhammad's tyranny, but he
adroitly forestalled them by sending gifts to Sikandar and acknow-
ledging him as their sovereign.
Dūngar, lately raja of Utgir, had, after the capture of his strong-
hold, accepted Islam, and was now suffering at the hands of his
former co-religionists. Sulaimān, son of Khān Khānān Qarmalī,
was directed to go to his aid, but demurred, ostensibly on the
ground that he was unwilling to serve at a distance from court.
Sikandar, incensed by his pusillanimity, dismissed him in disgrace
to the pargana of Indrī, in the Sahāranpur district, which was
assigned to him for his maintenance, and permitted the army to
plunder his camp.
1 See Chapter XIV.


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ix]
DESIGNS ON MĀLWA
245
Troubles in Mālwa now supplied Sikandar with a pretext for
interfering in the affairs of that kingdom. Sāhib Khān, the eldest
son of Nāsir-ud-din Khalji, had been proclaimed king by a faction,
and had at first maintained himself against his younger brother,
Mahmūd II, but had eventually fled before him and was now, in
1513, under the protection of Bahjat Khān, governor of Chanderī,
who had proclaimed him under the title of Muhammad Shāh' and
sought aid of Sikandar. Sikandar recognised the prince as king of
Mālwa, but Sa'id Khān and 'Imād-ul-Mulk, whom he sent to his
aid with 12,000 horse, demanded that Bahjat Khān should cause
the Khutba to be recited in the name of the king of Delhi, and,
on his hesitating to comply with the request, retired, leaving him
exposed to the wrath of Mahmūd II, who, however, accepted his
conditional surrender and recognised Sāhib Khan as governor of
the districts of Rāisen, Bhilsa, and Dhāmoni ; but Sāhib Khān mis-
trusted Bahjat Khān and, on November 8, fled from Chanderi and
took refuge with Sikandar.
Sikandar sent Sa'id Khān Lodī, Shaikh Jamal Qarmalī, Rāi
Jagar Sen Kachhwāha, Khizr Khān, and Khvāja Ahmad to
Chanderi to establish his authority there and to govern the province
nominally on behalf of Muhammad Shāh of Mālwa, but actually as
a fief of Delhi.
Husain Khān Qarmali, governor of the recently acquired dis-
trict of Sāran, now fell into disfavour for some reason not recorded,
and, having been dismissed in favour of Hāji Sārang, fled to Bengal
and took refuge with 'Alā-ud-din Husain.
Sikandar had provided for ‘Ali Khān of Nāgaur, who had fled
from the wrath of his brother, Muhammad Khān, by giving him a
fief on the borders of the district of Ranthambhor, which was then
held for Mahmūd II of Mālwa by Daulat Khān, a prince of the
Khalji family. ‘Ali Khān tampered with Daulat Khān and, having
induced him to promise that he would transfer his allegiance to
Delhi, reported his success to Sikandar, who marched in
leisurely manner towards Ranthambhor. At Bayāna he was visited
by Daulat Khān and his mother, but discovered, when the topic
of the surrender of the fortress was broached, that 'Ali Khān
was playing a double game, and had secretly urged Daulat Khān
not to surrender it. 'Alī Khān was punished by being removed
from his fief, which was conferred on his brother Abu Bakr, and
Daulat Khān suffered nothing worse than reproaches for his
duplicity.
1 See Chapter XIV.
a


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246
(CH.
THE LODI DYNASTY
From Bayāna Sikandar returned by way of Dholpur to Āgra,
where he fell sick. He suffered from a quinsy and from fever, but
struggled against his malady and insisted on attending as usual to
business of state. He was choked in attempting to swallow a morsel
of food, and died on November 21, 1517.
He was the greatest of the three kings of his house and carried
out with conspicuous success the task left unfinished by his father.
We hear little of the Punjab during his reign and he drew no
troops from it to aid him in his eastern campaigns, but there are
indications that it was more tranquil and more obedient to the
crown than it had been in his father's reign. His vigorous adminis-
tration amply justified the choice of the minority which, in the
face of strong opposition, raised him to the throne, and his selec-
tion saved the kingdom from becoming the plaything of an oligarchy
of turbulent, ignorant, and haughty Afghāns. His weakest action
was his support of his hopelessly incompetent brother Bārbak, but
this weakness was an amiable trait in a character by no means
rich in such traits. He seems to have had a sincere affection for
his brother, and to have felt that he owed him some reparation for
having supplanted him in his birthright, but when he discovered
that leniency was a mistaken policy he knew how to act.
The greatest blot on his character was his relentless bigotry.
The accounts of his conquests, doubtless exaggerated by pious his-
torians, resemble those of the raids of the protagonists of Islam in
India. The wholesale destruction of temples was not the best
method of conciliating the Hindus of a conquered district and the
murder of a Brāhman whose only offence was the desire for an
accommodation between the religions of the conquerors and the
conquered was not a politic act, but Sikandar's mind was warped
by habitual association with theologians.
After his death the choice of the Lodi nobles fell upon his eldest
son, Ibrāhīm, who was raised to the throne at Āgra on November
21, 1517, but a turbulent faction advocated, for its own selfish ends,
a partition of the kingdom, and secured the elevation of Jalal Khān,
who was either a younger brother of Ibrāhīm or his uncle, the
youngest son of Buhlūl, to the throne of Jaunpur, and carried him
off to that city. Before he was established there the influence of
Khānjahān Lohānī, governor of Rāprī, who vehemently condemned
the suicidal policy of dividing the kingdom, secured an order for
his recall, the delivery of which was entrusted to prince Haibat
Khān, 'the Wolf-slayer'. His efforts were powerless to induce
Jalāl Khān, who was loth to forgo a kingdom, and naturally suş-


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IX ]
JALĀL KHĀN'S REBELLION
247
pected Ibrāhīm, to leave Jaunpur, and the envoy was reduced to
the necessity of tampering with the fidelity of Jalāl Khān's adhe-
rents in Jaunpur. With these his efforts and the profusion of
Ibrāhīm were more successful, and they forsook the prince's cause.
Jalāl Khān, on discovering their defection, retired from Jaunpur,
where he could no longer maintain himself, to Kālpi, where he
caused the khutba to be recited in his name and pretended to
independence. Here he found himself in proximity to A'zam. i.
Humāyūn Shirvāni, who was besieging Kālinjar in Ibrāhīm's in.
terest, though he was lukewarm in his cause. Jalāl Khān's position,
which interrupted A'zam-i-Humāyūn's communications with the
capital, enabled him to deal on very favourable terms with him,
and he experienced little difficulty in securing his adherence. The
two agreed that their first step should be the recovery of Jaunpur
and with this object in view they attacked Sa'id Khān, governor
of Oudh, who, having no force sufficient to oppose them, retired
to Lucknow and reported his situation to Ibrāhim, who secured
his position at Delhi by placing his brothers in confinement in
Hānsī, and led a large army against the rebels. Before he had
reached Kanauj his anxiety was allayed by the news that A'zam. i.
Humāyūn had quarrelled with Jalal Khān and was hastening to
make his submission. He received him well, and at the same time
was enabled to welcome Malik Qāsim Khān, governor of Sambhal,
who had suppressed a rebellion headed by a Hindu landholder in
the Koil district. He also received at Kanauj most of the fief-
holders of the province of Jaunpur, and dispatched Afzam-i-
Humāyūn and other officers against Jalal Khān, who was at Kālpi.
Before the arrival of this army Jalāl Khān, leaving a garrison in
Kālpi, marched with 30,000 horse and a number of elephants on
Agra. The royal troops captured Kālpi after a few days' siege,
and sacked the city, and Jalāl Khān announced his intention of
avenging its wrongs on Āgra, but Ibrāhīm dispatched a force under
Malik Ādam to cover the approach to Āgra. This detachment was
not strong enough to try conclusions with Jalāl Khān's great army,
but its leader was a host in himself, and contrived, by opening
negotiations to delay Jalál Khăn until reinforcements arrived,
when he changed his tone and demanded that the prince should
surrender his insignia of royalty and make his submission, pro-
mising, in return for compliance with the demand, to commend
him to Ibrāhīm and to recommend his retention of the government
of Kālpi. Jalāl Khān, who suspected the fidelity of his troops,
complied, but Ibrāhīm refused to ratify the terms half promised


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248
(CH.
THE LODI DYNASTY
1
1
1
by his lieutenant, and marched to attack the prince, who fled and
took refuge with the raja of Gwalior.
The king halted in Āgra, and found sufficient occupation in the
task of restoring order in the south-eastern districts of the kingdom,
which, owing to the prince's rebellion, had been in confusion since
Sikandar's death. Here he received the submission of the rebellious
nobles ; those, that is to say, who had either overtly or covertly
supported Jalāl Khān or had refrained from opposing him. He
also secured his communications with Delhi and sent Shaikhzāda
Manjhū to Chanderi to control the policy and behaviour of the
puppet Muhammad Shāh, who had failed, since Sikandar's death,
to acknowledge in an adequate manner the sovereignty of Delhi.
He also imprisoned Miyān Bhoda, one of his father's leading nobles,
against whom the only offence alleged was that he was careless of
forms and acted as he thought best in his master's interests without
always troubling to obtain formal approval of his proceedings. This
seems to have been the earliest of those encroachments on the
liberties and privileges of the great nobles which ultimately lost
Ibrāhīm both his throne and his life. The imprisoned noble's son
was generously treated, and was installed in the position which his
father had held, but the old man died in prison and his death sapped
his son's fidelity.
Ibrāhīm now resolved to pursue his father's design of annexing
Gwalior. The occasion was favourable, for the brave and generous
Mān Singh, who had so long withstood Sikandar, had recently died,
and had been succeeded by his son, Bikramājīt Singh, who lacked
his father's military and administrative capacity but, fearing an
attack, had considerably strengthened the defences of his fortress-
capital. A'zam-i-Humāyūn Shirvāni who had been rewarded for
his defection from Jalāl Khan with the government of Kara, was
ordered to take the field with 30,000 horse and 300 elephants, and
a large army was sent from Āgra to co-operate with him. On the
approach of the imperial troops Jalāl Khān fled from Gwalior and
took refuge with Mahmud II in Mālwa.
The siege of Gwalior was opened vigorously and an important
outwork was captured. While the siege was still in progress Jalal
Khān, who had furnished the pretext for the attack on Bikramājīt
Singh, fell into Ibrāhīm's hands. He had fled from the court of
Mālwa into the Gond principality of Katangi, and the Gonds sent
him as a prisoner to Ibrāhīm, who condemned him to imprisonment
in Hānsī, where the other Lodi princes were confined, but he was
murdered on the way thither.


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IX)
REBELLION OF THE AFGHAN NOBLES
249
Ibrāhim now gave rein to those groundless and unreasonable
suspicions of his nobles which prompted acts of capricious tyranny,
and at length drove those who might have been the staunchest
defenders of his throne into the arms of an invader. Immediately
before the surrender of Gwalior he summoned A'zam-i-Humāyün
Shirvāni and his son Fath Khān to Āgra and threw them into
prison. The tyrant was gartified by the fall of Gwalior, but his
elation was short-lived, for Islām Khān, another son of Afzam-i.
Humāyūn, headed a rebellion in Āgra, assumed command of his
father's troops and defended his property, and defeated Ahmad
Khān, the governor, as he was preparing to assert his authority.
As Ibrāhīm was assembling his army for the suppression of this
rebellion A'zam-i. Humāyūn Lodi and Sa'id Khān Lodi, two nobles
whose importance was due no less to the strength of the forces at
their command then to their influence in the clan, deserted him,
marched to Lucknow, which they held as a fief, and sent to Islām
Khān a message assuring him of their sympathy and support. The
King sent an army against the rebels, but it fell into an ambush
and was driven back with heavy loss. Ibrāhīm seriously damaged
his own cause by sending to the officers of his army a message
bitterly reproaching them, and warning them that if they failed
to crush the rebellion they would themselves be treated as rebels.
Fortunately for himself he did not confine his resentment to this
tactless and provocotive message, but took the field at the head of
40,000 horse. The danger in which he stood is veiled in Muslim
chronicles under the statement that when the two armies were
within striking distance Shaikh Rājū of Bukhārā intervened to
avert strife, but is displayed in the attitude of the rebellious nobles,
who demanded the release of A'zam-i-Humāyūn Shrivāni as the
price of their return to their allegiance. Ibrāhīm declined to accede
to this condition and, after summoning reinforcements to his
standard, attacked and defeated the rebels, slew Islām Khān, cap-
tured Sa'id Khān, and rewarded those who had remained faithful
to him by bestowing on them the fiefs which the rebels had held.
His triumph over his enemies served only to direct his thoughts
towards the disloyalty of those whom he had trusted, his suspicion
increased, A'zam. i-Humāyūn Shirvāni and other nobles died at this
time in prison, in circumstances which caused a fresh outburst of
disaffection, and Daryā Khān Lohāni, governor of Bihār, Khānjahān
Lodi, Miyān Husain Qarmalſ, and others raised the standard of
rebellion. Their resentment against the tyrant was increased by his
procuring the assassination in Chanderi of Shaikh Hasan Qarmalı


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250
[ CH. IX
THE LODI DYNASTY
governor of that district and a relative of one of their number.
Daryā Khān Lohānī, the leader of the revolt, died, and his son
Bahādur Khān was proclaimed king in his father's fief of Bihār,
and assumed the usual prerogatives of eastern royalty. This bold
act of defiance attracted many malcontents to his standard, and
he was soon at the head of an army of 100,000 horse, with which
he occupied the country to the east of the Ganges as far north as
Sambhal. Nasir Khān Lohāni, governor of Ghāzīpur, who had re-
belled on his own account, joined him, and he assumed the title of
Muhammad Shāh and was able, for several months, to set Ibrāhīm
at defiance.
In this position of affairs Ghāzi Khān, son of Daulat Khān Lodi,
the powerful governor of Lahore, visited Ibrāhīm at Delhi, and was
so impressed by the discontent which had alienated from him the
leading nobles of the kingdom that he returned to the Punjab a
bitter enemy of Ibrāhīm's rule, and warned his father that should
the king be successful in his campaign against the rebels in Hin-
dūstān and Bihār he would not leave him long in possession of
Lahore. From this time date Daulat Khān's virtual assumption of
independence and his intrigues with Bābur, which will be described
in Chapter 1 of Volume iv, and which led to Ibrāhīm's overthrow
and to the establishment of a new and foreign dynasty on the
throne of Delhi.
Daulat Khān died while Bābur was yet on the way to his great
conquest, and at the same time died Bahādur Khān, or Sultān
Muhammad, the de facto king of Bihār, but Ibrāhīm Shāh Lodi
was defeated and slain by Bābur at Pānipat on April 18, 1526,
after a reign of nine years, as will be related in the account of
Bābur's conquest of India.
I


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CHAPTER X
THE KINGDOM OF JAUNPUR
The eunuch Malik Sarvar, Khvāja Jahān, having, as minister,
placed on the throne of Delhi, in March, 1393, Nāsir-ud-din Mahmūd,
son of Muhammad and grandson of Firūz Tughluq, and suppressed
the Hindu rebellions in the Gangetic Doāb and Oudh, threw off his
allegiance to Delhi, and established himself at Jaunpur. He ex-
tended his authority not only over Oudh, but also over the Gan-
getic Doāb as far west as Koil and, on the east, into Tirhut and
Bihār. His advance in this direction alarmed the king of Bengal,
who propitiated him with the tribute of elephants, due under the
treaty with Fīrūz Tughluq, to the king of Delhi, who was no longer
strong enough to assert his claim to the tribute or to resent its
diversion to Jaunpur.
Khvāja Jahān sent no aid to Delhi when it was attacked by
Timūr, and it is not recorded that he paid any attention to the
invaders. He died in 1399, leaving his dominions intact to his
adopted son, Malik Qaranful, who adopted the royal style of
Mubārak Shāh, and struck coin and caused the khutba to be recited
in his name.
An account of the abortive expedition undertaken by Mallū and
Mahmūd Shāh of Delhi, who hoped, on Khvāja Jahān's death, to
recover Jaunpur, has already been given in Chapter VII. Jaunpur
was again menaced in 1401, and Mubārak prepared to repel an
invasion, but died suddenly in 1402, and was succeeded by his
younger brother, who ascended the throne under the title of
Shams-ud-din Ibrāhīm Shāh.
Ibrāhīm was a cultured prince and a liberal patron of learning,
which was then in sore need of a peaceful retreat, and found it at
his court, from which issued many works on theology and law. The
second expedition of Mallū and Mahmūd Shāh of Delhi against
Jaunpur ended, as has been already related, in Mahmūd's flight from
his overbearing minister. Ibrāhīm's pride forbade him to treat his
guest as his sovereign, and Mahmūd was so chagrined by his recep-
tion that he surprised Ibrāhīm's governor in Kanauj, expelled him
from the town, and made it his residence. Ibrāhīm hesitated to
take up arms against him, and returned to Jaunpur, while Mallū


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252
(CH.
THE KINGDOM OF JAUNPUR
returned to Delhi. In 1405 he was slain in battle by Khizr Khān
the Sayyid and Mahmūd Shāh returned to Delhi, leaving Malik
Mahmūd in command of Kanauj. Ibrāhīm attempted to expel him,
but Mahmūd Shāh marched to his relief, and Ibrāhīm retired, but
returned again in 1407 and, after a siege of four months, forced
Malik Mahmūd to surrender and marched on Delhi. He was
deterred by a report that Muzaffar I of Gujarāt had marched from
Mālwa to the assistance of Mahmūd Shāh from attacking the city,
but annexed the district of Sambhal, east of the Ganges, and
appointed his son governor there.
Between 1409 and 1414 Ibrāhim was persuaded by the saint
Qutb-ul-Alam to invade Bengal with the object of punishing Raja
Gānesh who, having acquired in that kingdom more power than its
nominal ruler, was persecuting Islam. Ganesh, on discovering that
his persecution of Muslims was raising up enemies against him on
all sides promised to desist from it, and permitted Qutb-ul-'Alam
to convert his son Jaimal to Islam, and the saint, satisfied with this
success, persuaded Ibrāhim Shāh to retire.
Ibrāhim's abortive attempt, early in 1428, to restore Muhammad
Khān Auhadi to Bayāna has been described in Chapter VIII. It
added nothing to his reputation.
In 1433 the idea of annexing the town and district of Kālpi
occurred simultaneously to Ibrāhīm and to Hüshang Shāh of Mālwa.
Each had advanced his frontier in this direction, and the district
lay between their dominions and was separated from Delhi, to which
it nominally owed allegiance, by the turbulent district of Etāwah.
The two kings met in the neighbourhood of Kālpi and hostilities
were imminent when Ibrāhīm was obliged to retreat by the news
that Mubārak Shāh of Delhi was marching on Jaunpur. His anxiety
was relieved by the assassination of Mubārak, but before he could
return Hüshang had profited by his absence to receive the surrender
of Sādir Khān, the governor, and had added Kālpi to his dominions.
Ibrāhīm died in 1436 and was succeeded by his son Mahmud
Shāh, who in 1443 opened with Mahmūd Shāh Khalji a friendly
correspondence followed by measures which involved the two states
in hostilities. Hūshang Shāh, Mahmūd Khaljī's cousin, had left
Qādir Khān at Kalpī as governor of the fortress and district and he
profited by the disputes regarding the succession to the throne
of Mālwa to assume independence, and even styled himself Qadir
Shāh'. Qadir was now dead and had been succeeded by his son, who
styled himself Nasir Shāh, and so conducted himself as to scandalise
all good Muslims. He destroyed a flourishing and populous town


## p. 253 (#299) ############################################

x)
WAR BETWEEN JAUNPUR AND MALWA
253
and handed over many Muslim girls to Hindus in order that they
might be taught to posture and dance, accomplishments held in the
East to be disreputable. Mahmūd of Jaunpur was among those
to whom Nasīr's behaviour gave offence, and he sent a mission to
Mahmūd Khalji to complain of his lieutenant's misconduct. The
king of Mālwa admitted that he had heard the reports which were
confirmed by the letter of Mahmūd Sharqi', and gave him per-
mission to punish Nasir. He marched to Kālpi, attacked Nasir, and
expelled him from the town, and, Nasīr, assuming now the character
of a vassal of Mālwa, wrote to Mahmud Khalji and complained that
the king of Jaunpur had expelled him from a fief which had been
bestowed upon his father by the king of Mālwa, and intended to
annex not only Kālpī, but Chanderi. Mahmūd Khaljī sent a message
to Mahmūd Sharqi, suggesting that as Nasīr had expressed contrition
he should be left in possession of the sub-district of Rāth in the
Kālpi district, but Mahmúd Sharqi, impelled either by ambition or
by a just appreciation of the offences of which Nasīr had been guilty,
refused to stay his hand, and on November 14, 1444, Mahmūd Khalji
marched against him. The armies met near Trij, and an indecisive
battle was ſought, but Mahmūd Sharqi occupied a strong position
from which he refused to be drawn, and desultory operations con-
tinued for some months, until Mahmūd Khalji and his protégé Nasir
withdrew to Chanderi for the rainy season. While they were in
quarters at Chanderī peace was concluded, Mahmūd Sharqi agreeing
to place Nasīr at once in possession of Rāth and to restore the rest
of the Kālpi district within four months, provided that Mahmūd
Khalji had retired, by that time, to Māndū. After some hesitation
on the part of Mahmūd Khalji these terms were accepted, and were
observed, and by the end of the year each monarch had returned to
his own capital and the district of Kālpi had been restored to Nasir,
whose chastisement was deemed to have been sufficient.
Mahmud Sharqi's adventure against Buhlūl Lodi of Delhi in
1452 and its unfortunate results for Jaunpur, have already been des-
cribed in Chapter ix. His rash attack on Delhi served but to open
Buhlūl's eyes to the danger with which the existence of an indepen-
dent kingdom of Jaunpur menaced him, and to convince him of the
necessity for its destruction.
After this unfortunate enterprise Mahmūd turned his attention
to the Chunār district, the greater part of which he annexed.
1 The dynasty of Jaunpur is known as the Sharqi, or Eastern, dynasty, both from
the title of Malik-ush-Sharq (“King of the East') held by its founder, and from the
situation of its dominions, to the cast of those of Delhi.


## p. 254 (#300) ############################################

254
[CH.
THE KINGDOM OF JAUNPUR
Nizām ud-din Ahmad gives him credit for an expedition against the
idolators of Orissa, whom, he says, he plundered, destroying their
idol-temples, but he may be acquitted of the folly of pursuing pur-
poseless adventures in foreign lands when the defence of his own
kingdom demanded all his energies.
The death of Mahmūd in 1457, just as he was about to meet
Buhlūl Lodi in the field, and the accession of his son Bhikan, who
assumed the title of Muhammad Shāh, have been described in the
preceding chapter. Buhlūl, having made peace with Muhammad
and retreated as far as Dhankaur, near the Jumna, about twenty-
eight miles south-east of Dehi, was reminded that he had left his
kinsman, Qutb Khān Lodī, in captivity at Jaunpur, and suddenly
returned to compel Muhammad Shāh to release him. Muhammad
turned with equal promptitude and marched to Shamsābād", from
which fief he expelled Raja Karan, Buhlūl's vassal, and installed
in his place Jaunān Khān, his own. His success attracted to his
standard Raja Partāb of Etāwah who openly transferred his alle-
giance from Delhi to Jaunpur. The two opposing armies marched
to the neighbourhood of Rāpri', on the Jumna, where, after some
desultory and inconclusive fighting that of Jaunpur was demoralised
by intestine strife. Muhammad Shāh, who, after his elevation to
the throne, had evinced a violent and bloodthirsty disposition, had
sent an order directing the chief magistrate of Jaunpur to put to
death Hasan Khān, a younger son of Mahmud Shāh, and Qutb Khān
Lodi. The magistrate replied that he could not carry out the order
as the king's mother was protecting the condemned men, and Mu-
hammad enticed his mother from the city by persuading her that
he wished to consult her regarding the assignment of a share of the
kingdom to his brother, Hassan Khān. She had no sooner left
Jaunpur than Hassan Khān was murdered, and as she remained at
Kanauj to mourn her son, Muhammad insulted her grief by the
brutal taunt that she would save herself trouble by mourning at
the same time for her other sons, who would presently follow Hasan
to the grave. The threat put the princes on their guard, and by
persuading the tyrant that Buhlūl was about to make a night attack
on his camp they induced him to place at their disposal 30,000 horse
and thirty elephants, wherewith to meet it. With this force Hussain
Khān, the king's elder surviving brother, withdrew from the camp,
followed by Buhlūl, who perceived in the movement a menace to
his lines of communication. He intercepted Hussain Khān's younger
1 In 27° 32' N. and 79° 30' E.
2 In 26° 58' N. and 78° 36' E.
a


## p. 255 (#301) ############################################

him as
x)
INVASION OF ORISSA
255
brother, Jalāl Khān, who was attempting to join him, and detained
a hostage for Qutb Khān Lodi, who had by some means
escaped assassination. Muhammad Shāh, now aware of the defection
of his brothers, retreated towards the Ganges, followed by Buhlūl,
but, on approaching Kanauj, discovered that his power was gone,
and that his brother Husain had there been acclaimed as king.
Muhammad was deserted by the few nobles who remained with him
and was slain while attempting, with a few personal adherents, to
defend himself against an attack from the army which had lately
been his own.
Husain Shāh surrendered Qutb Khān Lodī to Buhlūl, receiving
in return his brother, Jalāl Khān, and the two monarchs concluded
a four years' truce, which both observed, Husain because his am-
bition found another outlet, and Buhlūl because he required a
period of peace in which to consolidate his power and develop his
resources,
Husain's military strength far exceeded that of Buhlūl, ſor, if
the historians are to be believed, he was able, after concluding peace,
to assemble an army of 300,000, with 1,400 elephants, for a pre-
datory incursion into Orissa, where Kapileshwar Deva, of the Solar
line, had established his authority in 1434. The numbers may be
exaggerated, but without a very numerous army Husain could not
have risked an advance to distant Orissa through or along the fron-
tier of the intervening kingdom of Bengal, still less a retreat, laden
with spoil. His first step was to crush the now virtually independent
landholders of Tirhut, which province was devastated and plun-
dered. He then marched on to Orissa, where the depredations of
his great army overawed the raja and induced him to purchase
peace by the payment of an immense ransom in elephants, horses,
money, and valuable goods, which is represented by Muslim vanity
as the first instalment of an annual tribute.
In 1466, after his return from Orissa, he sent an army to capture
the fortress of Gwalior, where Raja Mān Singh still maintained his
independence of both Jaunpur and Delhi, but the expedition was
only partly successful, and after a protracted siege the army retired
on the payment of an indemnity by the raja.
The four years' truce with Delhi, concluded on the king's ac-
cession in 1458, was long expired, and in 1473 Husain, urged by his
wife Jalila, a daughter of 'Alam Shāh, the last Sayyid king of Delhi,
now living contentedly in inglorious retirement at Budaun, entered
upon a series of campaigns, having for their object the conquest and
annexation of Delhi.


## p. 256 (#302) ############################################

256
[ CH.
THE KINGDOM OF JAUNPUR
He marched with a large army to the eastern bank of the
Jumna, a few miles to the south-east of Delhi, and Buhlūl, who could
put into the field no more than 18,000 horse, was so dismayed by
,
the imminence of his peril that he attempted to secure peace by
offering to retain only the city of Delhi and the country for thirty-
six miles round it, and to govern this district as Husain's vassal.
The offer was rejected, and Buhlūl marched from the city to meet
his powerful enemy. The armies were encamped on opposite banks
of the Jumna, which, for some days, neither ventured to cross in
force, but Husain Shāh, in his contempt of his opponent, neglected
all military precautions, and was accustomed to permit nearly the
whole of his army to disperse for the purpose of plundering the rich
villages of the Doāb. Buhlūl, observing this, crossed the river in
force and suddenly attacked his camp. There was no force to
oppose him, and Husain was compelled to flee, leaving not only his
camp, but the ladies of his harem, in the victor's hands. The latter
were generously sent by Buhlūl unharmed to Jaunpur.
A new treaty was now made, and a truce of three years was
agreed upon, but was broken in the following year by Husain, who,
at the instigation of his wife, marched with an army of 100,000 horse
and 1000 elephants to Etāwah, held by Qutb Khān Lodi. Etāwah
was captured at once, and Husain marched on Delhi. Buhlül again
sued, in the humblest guise, for peace, but his entreaties were dis-
regarded, and when he took the field he again defeated Husain, but
was not strong enough to profit by his success and was fain to agree
to peace.
Shortly afterwards Husain marched on Delhi for the third
time, but was defeated at Sikhera, about twenty-five miles east
of the city, and retreated to Etāwah. Qutb Khān Lodi had been
permitted to retain his fief on swearing fealty to Husain, and now
waited on him. On learning that Husain still entertained the design
of conquering Delhi the wily Afghān went about to mislead him,
and, after disparaging Buhlūl, promised that he would never rest
until he had conquered Delhi for Jaunpur. Husain was completely
deceived and allowed Qutb Khān to leave his camp. He joined
Buhlūl at Delhi and put him on his guard against Husain, of whose
determination he warned him.
The fugitive 'Alam Shāh, Husain's father-in-law, now died, and
his death supplied Husain with a pretext for visiting Budaun, of
which district he dispossessed his brother-in-law, 'Alam Shāh's son.
From Budaun he marched to Sambhal, captured Tātār Khān Lodi,
who held the district for Buhlūl, and sent him a prisoner to 'Sāran,
in Tirhut. He then again assembled his army
for an attack on


## p. 257 (#303) ############################################

* ] DISCOMFITURE OF HUSAIN SHAH
257
Delhi, and in March, 1479, encamped on the eastern bank of the
Jumna. This appeared, of all Husain's campaigns, to offer the
fairest prospect of success. He had been victorious on the east of the
Ganges, his numbers were overwhelming, and Buhlūl Lodi and his
officers were even more depressed than on former occasions. Qutb
Khān was, however, enabled to serve his kinsman by appealing to
Husain's filial affection. He invoked the memory of Bibi Rājī,
Husain's mother, who had befriended him when he was a prisoner
at Jaunpur, and conjured the invader to leave Delhi unmolested.
Husain was so affected that he agreed to retire on obtaining
Buhlūl recognition of his tenure of his new conquests to the east of
the Ganges, corresponding to the modern province of Rohilkhand.
The recognition was readily accorded and Husain began a leisurely
retreat towards Jaunpur. He had so frequently violated treaties
that Buhlūl considered himself justified in following his example,
and perfidiously attacked the retreating army and captured a large
number of elephants and horses laden with spoil and treasure, and
the persons of Husain's minister and about forty of his principal
nobles.
This success marks the turn of the tide in favour of Delhi, and
Buhlūl pursued the demoralised army of Jaunpur and occupied and
annexed the sub-districts of Kampil, Patiāli, Shamsābād, Suket,
Koil, Mārahra, and Jalesar. Husain, when hard pressed by Buhlūl's
pursuit, turned and faced him, but was defeated, and when peace
was made was obliged to acquiesce in Buhlūl's retention of the con-
siderable tract which he had recovered, and to withdraw the frontier
of his kindom to Chhibrāman, sixteen miles south of the modern
town of Farrukhābād.
Buhlūl returned to Delhi and Husain retired to Rāpri, but was
soon in arms again to recover his lost territory, and met Buhlūl at
Suhnuhl. On this occasion he suffered the heaviest defeat which he
had yet experienced, and the plunder which fell into Buhlūl's hands,
and the military renown which he acquired with his victory turned
the scale in favour of Delhi. Buhlūl encamped at Chhibrāmau and
shortly afterwards resumed the offensive against Husain and de.
feated him at Rāpri. Husain fled towards Gwalior, and, after losing
some of his wives and children in his passage of the Jumna, was
attacked near Athgāth on the Chambal by the Bhadauriyas, a pre-
datory tribe, who plundered his camp. Kirat Singh of Gwalior, who
still retained confidence in his cause, supplied him with a large sum
of money, a contingent of troops, tents, horses, elephants, and
1 In 27° 21' N. and 78° 48' E.
C. H. I. III.
17


## p. 258 (#304) ############################################

258
[CH.
THE KINGDOM OF JAUNPUR
camels, and personally escorted him as far as Kālpi on his way back
to Jaunpur.
Buhlul marched, after his victory, on Etāwah, which was still
tributary to Jaunpur, captured the fort after a siege of three days,
and then turned to attack Husain, who awaited him opposite Rāigāon
Khāgā', on the Ganges, and was still strong enough to deter him for
some months from attempting to force the passage of the river, until
Raja Tilok Chand, whose estate lay on the north of the Ganges,
joined him, and led his army across by a ford. Husain then retreat-
ed to Phāphāmau, six miles north of Allahabad, the raja of which
place escorted him in safety to Jaunpur. Buhlūl marched directly on
Jaunpur, and Husain fled by a circuitous route towards Kanauj, but
Buhlūl pursued him, attacked him before he could reach that city,
and defeated him, capturing one of his wives. He then returned to
Jaunpur, took the city, placed Mubārak Khān Lohāni there as
governor, established a garrison under the command of Qutb Khăn
Lodi at Majhauli, beyond the Gogra, and marched to recover
Budaun, which was still nominally subject to Husain. Husain took
advantage of his absence from the neighbourhood of Jaunpur to
reassemble his army and march on that city, and Mubārak Khān,
who was not strong enough to withstand him, withdrew to Majhauli
and joined Qutb Khān. Husain followed him thither, and the Afghān
officers, who hesitated to risk a battle, ſeigned to negotiate, and thus
gave Buhlūl time to return from Budaun and reoccupy Jaunpur. A
force under his son Bārbak had already relieved the garrison of
Majhaulī, and Husain, at length despairing of recovering his
kingdom, fled into Bihar, followed by Buhlül as far as Haldi, on the
Ganges near Ballia.
With Husain's flight the line of the Sharqi kings of Jaunpur
came to an end. Buhlūl established his son Bārbak as governor of
Jaunpur, and gave him permission to use the royal title and to coin
money, specimens of which, issued by him before his father's death,
are extant.
Husain lived in Bengal under the protection of Shams-ud-din
Yusuf Shāh and his successors on the throne of that kingdom until
1500, but made no attempt to recover his throne beyond fomenting
the strife between Bārbak and his younger brother, Sikandar, who
succeeded their father on the throne of Delhi in 1489. His hope
that the quarrel might open a way for his return to his former
kingdom was frustrated, for Sikandar overcame Bārbak and Jaunpur
1 In 25° 53' N. and 81° 16' E.
2 In 26° 17' N. and 83° 57' E.


## p. 259 (#305) ############################################

X)
THE END OF THE KINGDOM
259
was absorbed in the kingdom of Delhi, and Husain died in exile in
circumstances not widely different from those in which his father-
in law, the former king of Delhi, died at Budaun.
The Sharqi dynasty reigned in Jaunpur for rather more than
eighty years, and in that period produced one king of happy
memory, Ibrāhīm, the patron of learning and of architecture. For
a dynasty whose rule was so brief the Sharqis have left very
creditable memorials in their public buildings, and the enlighten:
ment which earned for Jaunpur in Ibrāhīm's reign, the title of
'the Shīrāz of India' is surprising in one of negro blood. Malik
Sarvar, who founded the dynasty, was a eunuch, and could therefore
have no heirs of his body. His two successors were his adopted
sons, the brothers Mubārak Shāh and Ibrāhim Shāh, probably slaves.
Mubārık's name, before he assumed the royal title, was Qaranful,
'the Clove,' a contemptuous term of endearment appropriated to
African slaves. No portraits of the period are known to exist, but
there appears to be no reason to doubt that the kings of Jaunpur
were of negro descent. The character of Husain, the last of the line,
is perplexing and disappointing. He was a man of ideas, with wide
opportunities, and resources commensurate with both, ever on the
point of realising some great scheme of aggrandisement and ever
missing his opportunity through carelessness, folly, and perhaps
physical cowardice.


## p. 260 (#306) ############################################

CHAPTER Xi
THE KINGDOM OF BENGAL
İt must not be supposed that the province of Bengal, conquered
for Muhammad bin Sām and Qutb-ud-din Aibak by Muhammad
Bakhtyar the Khalj, was conterminous with the Lower Provinces
of Bengal which were governed until 1905 by a Lieutenant Gover-
nor. Before the Muhammadan conquest Bengal was divided into
five regions, (1) Rādha, the country west of the Hughli and south
of the Ganges; (2) Bāgdi, the delta of the Ganges and Brāhmaputra ;
(3) Banga, the country to the east of the delta ; (4) Bārendra, the
country to the north of the Padma and between the Karatoya and
the Mahānandā rivers ; and (5) Mithila, the country west of the
Mahānandā. Muhammad Bakhtyār took possession of the south-
eastern parts of Mithila, Bārendra, the northern district of Rādha,
and the north-western district of Bāgdi. The Muhammadan pro-
vince and kingdom of Bengal was long confined to this territory,
which was commonly known, from the name of its capital, as
Lakhnāwati, but was subsequently extended into Banga and the
western districts of Rādha, which included Jhārkhand, or Chota
Nagpur.
The course of events in Bengal during the period of its depen-
dence on Delhi, which was its normal condition until 1338, has
already been traced. Although the country was regarded until
time as a province the loyalty of its governors was always,
owing to the distance which separated Lakhnāwati from Delhi,
and climatic conditions which rendered military operations im-
possible for many months in each year, a very uncertain quantity.
It depended almost entirely on the king's ability to command
obedience, and the dubious attitude of the governors of Lakh-
nāwatí to the central authority became a byword at Delhi. The
royal title was occasionally assumed, as by 'Ali Mardān, who ob-
tained the government from Qutb-ud-din Aibak after the death
of Muhammad Bakhtyār, and by Ghiyās-ud-din the Khalj, who
succeeded 'Ali Mardān. The first serious rebellion against a strong
king of Delhi was that of Tughril against Balban, and the first
instance of the unquestioned use of the royal title in Bengal was
that of Nāsir-ud-din Mahmud, the contemptible father of the still
more contemptible Mu'izz-ud-din, Balban's successor on the throne


## p. 261 (#307) ############################################

CH. XI ]
THE HOUSE OF BALBAN
261
of Delhi. The father was content with the sovereignty of Bengal,
and outlived the son, who was unfit to wield the sceptre of Delhi.
Mahmūd, on his death in 1291, was succeeded by his next surviving
son, Rukn-ud-din Kaikāūs, who, though he used the royal title and
coined money in his own name, owned allegiance to 'Alā-ud-din
Khalji of Delhi.
Kaikāùs died in 1302, and was succeeded by his next brother,
Shams-ud-din Firüz, who reigned obscurely until his death in 1318,
when his eldest son, Shihāb-ud-din Bughrā and his third son,
MITHILA
R
Colgong
Mahananda
BARE NORA
BA NGA
Karatoya
R А он A
BAGAI
bolos
Chittagong
SKETCH MAP OF THE ANCIENT DIVISIONS OF BENGAL
Ghiyās-ud-din Bahādur, contended for the kingdom. The Muslims
had by this time extended their rule into Bang, or Eastern Bengal,
and Bahādur had established himself, before his father's death, at
Sonārgāon, in the present district of Dacca, and when Bughrā
ascended the throne in Lakhnāwati he attacked and defeated him.
Bughrā died, or was slain, and his next brother, Nāsir-ud-din, who
was older than Bahādur, ascended the throne and in 1324 sought
the assistance of Ghiyās-ud-din Tughluq' of Delhi against his
1 See Chapter VI,


## p. 262 (#308) ############################################

262
[CH.
THE KINGDOM GDOM OF
OF BENGAL
brother. Tughluq marched into Bengal, established Nāsir-ud-din
on the throne of Lakhnawati, and carried Bahādur a captive to
Delhi.
Muhammad Tughluq, immediately after his accession, restored
Bahādur to the government of Sonārgāon, or Eastern Bengal, but
associated with him, as a precautionary measure, Tātār Khān, better
known by his later title of Bahrām Khān. Shortly afterwards Mu-
hammad appointed Malik Bīdār Khaljī, Qadr Khān, to the govern-
ment of Lakhnāwati and 'Izz-ud-din A'zam-ul-Mulk to that of
Satgāon.
In 1330 Bahădur rebelled in Sonārgāon, but was defeated and
put to death and Bahrāın Khān remained sole governor of Eastern
Bengal. Muhammad Tughluq displayed the vindictive temper for
which he afterwards became notorious by causing Bahādur's skin,
stuffed with straw, to be exhibited throughout the provinces of the
kingdom as a warning to disaffected governors.
The history of Bengal during the period immediately preceding
and following Bahrām's death in 1336 is extraordinarily obscure.
Bahrām either died a natural death or was slain by his chief armour-
bearer, who had acquired great influence in the state and on his
master's death assumed in Sonārgāon the royal title of Fakhr-ud-
din Mubārak Shāh. In 1339 Qadr Khān died at Lakhnāwati, and
the muster-master of his forces caused himself to be proclaimed
king of Western Bengal under the title of 'Alā-ud-din 'Ali Shāh,
and removed his capital from Lakhnāwati to Pāndua.
Neither rebel had much to apprehend from Muhammad Tughluq,
whose long course of tyranny was now bearing fruit in these rebel-
lions which led to the disintegration of his kingdom, and 'Alā-ud-
din 'Ali's transfer of his capital to Pāndua seems to have been a
strategic move calculated to bring him within striking distance of
his rival's capital at Sonārgāon. Hostilities between the two con.
tinued for some years, and in 1349 Mubārak disappears from the
scene. He can hardly have been defeated and put to death, as
stated by the chroniclers, who place the event some years earlier,
by 'Alī, for he was succeeded in Eastern Bengal by his son,
Ikhtiyār-ud din Ghāzi Shāh, and 'Ali himself was no longer reigning
in 1349, for his foster-brother, Malik Iliyās, who had been con-
tending with varying success for the crown of Western Bengal ever
since ‘Ali had assumed the royal title, caused him to be assassinated
in 1345, and ascended the throne under the title of Shams-ud-din
Iliyās Shāh. He was nicknamed Bhangara from his addiction to
the preparation of hemp known as bhang. There is some authority
,


## p. 263 (#309) ############################################

XI ]
INDEPENDENCE OF BENGAL
263
a
for the statement that he captured and slew Mubārak of Sonārgāon,
but he did not obtain possession of Sonārgāon until 1352, when
Ghāzi Shāh was expelled. Iliyās is also said to have invaded
Jājnagar, as the Muslim historians style the kingdom of Jājpur!
in Orissa, and there to have taken many elephants and much
plunder. He also invaded the south-eastern provinces of the king-
dom of Delhi and overran Tirhut, thus incurring the resentment of
Firūz Tughluq, whose punitive expedition against him has already
been described? . Iliyās was compelled to leave his capital, Pāndua,
at the mercy of the invader, and to retire to Ikdāla, where he
offered a successful resistance. The victory described by the syco-
phantic historians of Delhi was infructuous, for Firūz was obliged
to retreat without obtaining from Iliyās even a formal recognition
of his sovereignty, and, though he is said to have remitted tribute
to Firuz in 1354 and 1358, the truth seems to be that he merely
accredited envoys to Delhi who bore with them the complimentary
presents which eastern custom demands on such occasions. In
December, 1356, Fīrūz formally recognised the independence of
Bengal, and the gifts borne by his mission were at least as valuable
as those received by him from Iliyās. These gifts, however, never
reached their destination, for the envoy, Saif-ud-din, heard when
he reached Bihār of the death of Iliyās and the accession of his
son Sikandar, and applied to his master for instructions regarding
their disposal. Firūz, notwithstanding his treaty with Iliyās, directed
that they should be distributed among the nobles of Bihār and
recalled Saif-ud-din to Delhi to assist in the preparations for an
invasion of Bengal. Some pretext for this breach of faith was
furnished by a refugee who had recently arrived at his court. This
was Zafar Khān, son-in-law to Mubārak of Eastern Bengal, whom,
according to his own account, he had had some expectation of
succeeding. The conquest of Eastern Bengal by Iliyās had com-
pelled him to seek safety in Aight, and after many vicissitudes he
reached Delhi, where he was well content with the position of a
courtier until his wrongs suggested themselves to the king as a
pretext for invading and conquering Bengal. His advance to Bengal
has already been described in Chapter vir, and while he halted at
Zaſarābād, engaged in superintending the building of Jaunpur, he
received envoys from Sikandar, bearing valuable gifts. These he
meanly retained, while persisting in his design of invading Bengal.
Sikandar, like his father, took refuge in Ikdāla, and so completely
1 In 20° 51' N. and 80° 20' E.
2 See Chapter VII,


## p. 264 (#310) ############################################

264
THE KINGDOM OF BENGAL
(CH.
baffled Firūz that when he opened negotiations for peace he de-
manded and obtained most favourable terms. He is said to have
been obliged to agree to send to Delhi an annual tribute of forty
elephants and to surrender Sonārgāon to Zafar Khān. The latter
condition was never fulfilled, owing, as the Delhi historians say, to
Zafar Khān's preferring the security of Delhi to the precarious
tenure of a fief in Sikandar's dominions, and if the tribute was
ever paid Sikandar obtained an equivalent in the formal recogni-
tion of his independence, a jewelled crown worth 80,000 tangas,
and 5000 Arab and Turkmān horses ; and Bengal was no more
molested.
Sikand ır had seventeen sons by his first wife, and only one,
Ghiyās-ud-din Aʻzam, the ablest and most promising of them all, by
his second. A'zam's stepmother, in order to secure the succession
of one of her own sons, lost no opportunity of traducing him to
his father, and at length succeeded in arousing his apprehensions
to such an extent that in 1370 he fled to Sonārgāon and assumed
the royal title in Eastern Bengal. Sikandar, who had never believed
the calumnies against A'zam, left him unmolested for several years,
but in 1389 marched against him. The armies of the father and the
son met at Goālpāra, and although A'zam had given orders that his
father was to be taken alive, Sikandar was mortally wounded, and
died, aſter the battle, in his son's arms, forgiving him with his latest
breath. The throne was the victor's prize, and one of A'zam's first
acts after his accession was to blind all his stepbrothers and send
their eyes to their mother. He is more pleasantly remembered as
the correspondent of the great poet Hāfiz', who sent him the ode
beginning
میرود
ساقی حدیث سرو وكل ولال میرود * وین بحث با ثلاث غساله
Of the circumstances in which the ode was composed and sent
a graceful story is told. A'zam, stricken down by a dangerous
malady, abandoned hope of life and directed that three girls of his
harem, named 'Cypress,' Rose,' and Tulip' should wash his corpse
and prepare it for burial. He escaped death and, attributing his
1 Dr Stanley Lane-Poole, at p. 307 of The Mohammadan Dynasties, gives 1389 as
the date of A'zam's accession in Pāndua, but Hāfiz died in 1388 so that unless A'zam's
accession in Pandua is antedated it must be assumed that he enjoyed royal honours in
Sonārgāon before his father's death. There is no doubt as to the identity of the king
addressed by Hāfiz, for the poet, after saying that he is sending some Persian sugar
to Bengal for the parrots of India, closes his ode thus;
a
حافظ ز شوق مجلس سلطان غیاث دین * خا مش مشو ك كار تو از ناله میرود


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XI ]
AN ODE OF HĀFIZ
265
recovery to the auspicious influence of the three girls, made them
his favourites. Their advancement excited the jealousy of the other
inmates of the harem, who applied to them the odious epithet
ghassāla, or corpse-washer. One day the king, in merry mood with
his three favourites, uttered as an impromptu the opening hemistich
for the ode, ‘Cupbearer, the tale now runs of the Cypress, the Rose,
and the Tulip,' and finding that neither he nor any poet at his court
could continue the theme satisfactorily, sent his effusion to Hāfiz at
Shiraz, who developed the hemistich into an ode and completed the
first couplet with the hemistich :
‘And the argument is sustained with the help of three morning draughts. '
the word used for 'morning draught' being the same as that used for
'corpse-washer‘l. The double entendre, said to have been fortuitous,
was more efficacious even than the king's favour, and secured the
three reigning beauties from molestation.
Another story also exhibits A'zam in a pleasing light. One day,
while practising with his bow and arrow he accidently wounded the
only son of a widow. The woman appealed for justice to the qăzi,
who sent an officer to summon the king to his court. The officer
gained access to the royal presence by a stratagem and unceremoni-
ously served the summons. A'zam, after concealing a short sword
beneath his arm, obeyed the summons and, on appearing before the
judge, was abruptly charged with his offence and commanded to
indemnify the complainant. After a short discussion of terms the
woman was compensated, and the judge, on ascertaining that she
was satisfied, rose, made his reverence to the king, and seated him
on a throne which had been prepared for his reception. The king,
drawing his sword, turned to the gāzī and said, 'Well, judge, you
have done your duty. If you had failed in it by a hair's breadth I
would have taken your head off with this sword! ' The qāzi placed
his hand under the cushion on which the king was seated, and, pro-
ducing a scourge, said, 'O king! You have obeyed the law. Had
you failed in this duty your back should have been scarified with
this scourge ! ' Aʻzam, appreciating the qāzī's manly independence,
richly rewarded him. If this story be true Bengal can boast of a
prince more law. abiding than Henry of Monmouth and of a judge
at least as firm as Gascoigne.
It is said that A'zam, alarmed by the growth of the power of
the eunuch Khvāja Jahān of Jaunpur remitted to him the arrears
of tribute due to the king of Delhi, but there is no evidence that
1 The analogy is apparent,


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266
(CH.
THE KINGDOM OF BENGAL
tribute had ever been remitted to Delhi, and the sum sent to Khvāja
Jahān was perhaps a complimentary present.
Little more is known of Afzam except that he died in 1396, and
even the manner of his death is uncertain. Most historians mention
it casually, as though it were due to natural causes, but one author
asserts that it was brought about by Raja Ganesh of Dinajpur, a
Hindu chieftain who is styled Raja Kāns by mɔst Muslim historians
and ultimately ruled Bengal for several years. A'zam was, how-
ever, peaceably succeeded by his son, Saif-ud-din Hamza Shāh, the
obscurity of whose reign ill accords with the grandiose title of
Sultān-us-Salātīn, or king of kings, bestowed upon him by some
chroniclers, though it does not appear on his known coins. He was
deſeated in 1404 by Ganesh, but continued to reign until his death
in 1406, though it appears that the influence of Ganesh was domi-
nant in Bengal from the time of his victory. Shams-ud-din, a son
or adopted son of Hamza, was permitted to ascend the throne, but
exercised no power, and died after a reign of little more than three
years. Muslim historians describe Ganesh as a sovereign ruling
Bengal in his own name, but he has left neither coins nor inscrip-
tions, and it would seem that he was content with the power of
royalty without aspiring to its outward tokens, for coins prove that
the puppet Shams-ud-din was succeeded by another puppet Shihāb-
ud-dīn Bāyazīd, whose parentage is doubtful. There is no less
difference of opinion regarding the character than regarding the
status of Ganesh. According to some accounts he secretly accepted
Islam, and according to one tolerated it and remained on the best
of terms with its professors, while remaining a Hindu, but the most
detailed record which has been preserved represents him as a Hindu
bigot whose persecution of Muslims caused Qutb-ul-'Alam, a well.
known Muslim saint of Bengal, to invoke the aid of Ibrāhim Shāh
of Jaunpur. Ibrāhīm invaded Bengal, and Ganesh is said to have
sought, in his terror, the intercession of Qutb-ul-'Alam, who re.
fused to intercede for a misbeliever. Ganesh considered conversion
as a means of escape from his difficulties, but eventually com-
pounded with Qutb-ul-'Alam by surrendering to him his son, Jadu
or Jatmall, in order that he might be converted to Islam and pro-
claimed king, by which means the country might escape the horrors
of a religious war. Qutb-ul-'Alam accepted the charge, but dis-
covered, after he had, with great difficulty, prevailed upon Ibrāhīm
Sharqi to retire, that he had been the dupe of Ganesh, who treated
the proclamation of his son as a farce, persecuted Muslims more
zealously than ever, and attempted to reclaim the renegade. The


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XI ]
PERSECUTION OF HINDUS
267
ceremonial purification of the lad was accomplished by the costly
rite of passing him through golden images of cows, which were
afterwards broken up and distributed in charity to Brāhmans, but
the young convert obstinately refused to return to the faith of his
fathers, and was imprisoned. The discredited saint suffered for his
folly by being compelled to witness the persecution of his nearest
and dearest, but in 1414 death came to the relief of the Muslims of
Bengal and the convert was raised to the throne under the title of
Jalāl-ud-din Muhammad, and persecuted the Hindus as his father
had persecuted the Muslims. The Brāhmans who had arranged or
profited by the ineffectual purification of the new king were per-
manently defiled by being obliged to swallow the flesh of the animal
which they adored, and hosts of Hindus are said to have been for.
cibly converted to Islam.
The general attitude of the Muslim rulers of Bengal to their
Hindu subjects was one of toleration, but it is evident, from the
numerical superiority in Eastern Bengal of Muslims who are cer.
tainly not the descendants of dominant invaders, that at some period
an immense wave of proselytisation must have swept over the
country, and it is most probable that that period was the reign of
Jalāl-ud-din Muhammad, who appears to have been inspired by the
zeal proper to a convert, and by a hatred of the religion which had
prompted his imprisonment, and had ample leisure, during a reign
of seventeen years, for the propagation of his new faith.
On his death in 1431 he was succeeded by his son, Shams-ud-
din Ahmad, who reigned until 1442, but of whose reign little is
known, except that Bengal suffered at this time from the aggression
of Ibrāhīm Sharqi of Jaunpur. Ahmad is said to have appealed
to Sultān Shāhrukh, son of Tīmūr, who addressed to Ibrāhīm a
remonstrance which proved effectual. Towards the end of Ahmad's
reign his tyranny became unbearable, and he was put to death by
conspirators headed by Shādi Khān and Nāsir Khān, two of his
principal officers of state, who had originally been slaves and owed
their advancement to his favour. Each had designs upon the throne,
but Nāsir Khān forestalled his confederate and, having put him to
death, assumed the sovereignty of Bengal under the title of Nāsir-
ud-din Mahmūd. He claimed descent from Iliyās, and in his person
the line of the house which had compelled Delhi to recognise the
independence of Bengal was restored.
Mahmūd reigned peacefully for seventeen years, for the warfare
between Jaunpur and Delhi relieved Bengal of the aggressions of
its western neighbour, and left the king leisure for the indulgence of


## p. 268 (#314) ############################################

268
[CH,
THE KINGDOM OF BENGAL
his taste in architecture. He rebuilt the old capital, Gaur, and
built a mosque at Satgāon, but we know little else of him. He died
in 1459, and was succeeded by his son, Rukn-ud-din Bārbak, who
died in 1474. He was the first king in India to advance African
slaves in large numbers to high rank, and is said to have had no
less than 8000 of these slaves, who afterwards became a danger to
the kingdom. He was succeeded on his death by his son Shams-ud-
din Yûsuf, a precisian who insisted on the rigid observance of the
Islamic law and prohibited the use of wine in his dominions. On
his death in 1481 the courtiers raised to the throne his son Sikandar,
a youth whose intellect was so deranged that he was almost imme-
diately deposed in favour of his great-uncle, Jalal-ud-din Fath Shāh,
a son of Mahmūd. Fath Shāh was a wise and beneficent ruler, but
incurred the hostility of the African slaves who thronged the court
by curbing their insolence and punishing their excesses. The mal.
contents elected as their leader a eunuch named Sultān Shāhzāda,
and took advantage of the absence from court, on a distant expe-
dition, of Indil Khān, who, though an African, was a loyal subject
of Fath Shāh and an able military commander, to compass the
king's death. The guard over the palace consisted of no less than
5000 men, and it was the king's custom to appear early in the
morning at the relief of the guard and receive the salutes of both
guards. The eunuch corrupted the officers of the palace guards, and
one morning in 1486, when the king came forth, as usual, to take
the salute, caused him to be assassinated and usurped the throne
under the title of Bārbak Shāh.
Indil Khān, at his distant post, heard of the tragedy and was
considering on what pretext he could lead his troops to the capital
to avenge his master's death when he received a summons from
Bārbak. He welcomed the opportunity and hastened with his troops
to Gaur, where his influence and the armed force at his command
rendered his position secure. He found that the eunuch's rule was
already unpopular, and allowed it to be understood that he was a
partisan of the old royal house, which was not yet extinct. Pārbak
was apprehensive of his designs, and when he appeared at court
insisted that he should take an oath not to injure or betray him.
A copy of the Koran was produced, and Indil Khān, who could not
refuse the oath, added to it the reservation that he would not injure
Bārbak so long as he was on the throne ; but he interpreted the
reservation literally, and, having bribed the ushers and doorkeepers
of the court, awaited an opportunity of avenging the murder of
Fath Shāh. This soon presented itself when the eunuch fell into a


## p. 269 (#315) ############################################

X1
DEATH OF BÀRBAK SHAH
269
drunken slumber. Indil Khān forced
forced his way into the royal
apartment, but finding that Bārbak had fallen asleep on the cushions
which composed the throne, hesitated to violate the letter of his
oath, and was about to withdraw when the drunkard rolled heavily
over on to the floor. Indil Khān at once struck at him with his
sword, but the blow failed of its effect, and Bārbak, suddenly waking
sprang upon him and grappled with him. His strength and weight
enabled him to throw his adversary and sit on his chest, but Indil
Khān called to Yaghrush Khān, a Turkish officer whom he had left
without, and who now rushed in with a number of faithful Africans.
The lamps had been overturned and extinguished in the struggle,
and Indil's followers hesitated to strike in the darkness, lest they
should injure their master, but he encouraged them by shouting
that their knives would not reach him through the eunuch’s gross
body, and they stabbed Bārbak repeatedly in the back. He rolled
over and feigned death, and they retired, satisfied that their task
was done. After they had left a slave entered to relight the lamps,
and Bārbak, fearing the return of Indil Khān, lay still. The slave
cried out that the king was dead, and Bārbak recognising his voice,
bade him be silent and asked what has become of Indil Khān. The
slave replied that he had gone home, and Bārbak, who believed
the man to be faithful to himself, issued an order for the execution
of Indil Khān. The slave left the chamber, but instead of delivering
the order to any who might have executed it, went at once to Indil
Khān and told him that his enemy yet lived. Indil Khān returned
to the palace, stabbed Bārbak to death, and, sending for the minister,
Khānjahān, consulted him regarding the filling of the vacant throne,
the rightful heir to which was a child of two years of age. In the
morning the courtiers waited upon Fath Shā'ı’s widow, who urged
the avenger of her husband's blood to ascend the throne. Indil
Khān, after a decent display of reluctance, accepted the charge,
and was proclaimed, a few months after the assassination of Fath
Shāh , by the title of Saif-ul-din Firuz. His elevation established
an unfortunate precedent, and historians observe that it was hence-
forth an accepted rule in Bengal that he who slew a king's murderer
acquired a right to the throne.
Firuz had already distinguished himself as a soldier and ad-
ministrator, and during his short reign of three years he healed the
disorders of the kingdoin and restored the discipline of the army.