No More Learning

In 1395-96 Sārang Khān of Dipālpūr quarrelled with Khizr Khan
the Sayyid, governor of Multān, expelled him from that city, and an-
nexed his fief. Emboldened by this success he marched, in June, 1397,
to Sāmāna, and there besieged the governor, Ghālib Khān, who fled
and joined Tātār Khān, Nusrat's minister, at Pānīpat. Nusrat Shāh
sent a small reinforcement to Tātār Khān, who on October 8 attacked
and defeated Sārang Khān and reinstated Ghālib Khān at Sāmāna.
At the close of this year a harbinger of the terrible Amir Tīmūr
appeared in India. Pir Muhammad, son of Jahāngir, the eldest son
of the great conqueror, crossed the Indus and besieged Uch, which
was held for Sārang Khān by 'Ali Malik. A force was sent to the
relief of Uch, but Pir Muhammad attacked it and drove it into
Multān, where Sārang Khān then was. In May, 1398, he was com-
pelled to surrender and Pir Muhammad occupied Multān.


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VII )
TIMŪR'S INVASION
195
In June, 1398, the deadlock at Delhi was brought to an end
by a series of acts of extraordinary perfidy and treachery, Mallū,
resenting the dominance of his benefactor, Muqarrab Khān, deserted
Mahmud and joined Nusrat, whom he conducted in triumph into
Jahānpanāh, after swearing allegiance to him on the Koran. Two
days later he suddenly attacked his new master and drove him to
Firūzābād and thence to Pānīpat, where he took refuge with Tātār
Khān. Although Nusrat had thus disappeared from the scene the
contest was maintained for two months by Mallū on the one hand
and Muqarrab Khān, with Mahmūd, on the other. At length Mallū
feigned a reconciliation with Muqarrab Khān, who entered Jahān.
panāh in triumph with Mahmūd Shāh while Mallü remained in
Siri. Almost immediately afterwards Mallū treacherously attacked
Muqarrab Khān in his house at Jahānpanāh, captured and slew
him, and, having gained possession of the person of Mahmūd Shāh
exercised the royal authority in his name.
There still remained Tātār Khān and Nusrat Shāh to be dealt
with, and in August Mallū, carrying Mahmūd with him, marched
to Pānīpat. Tātār Khān eluded him and marched to Delhi by
another road, but while engaged in a vain attempt to force an entry
into the capital learnt that Mallū had captured Pānīpat, taken all
his baggage and elephants, and was returning towards Delhi. Tātār
Khān fled and joined his father Zafar Khān, who had, two years
before this time, proclaimed his independence in Gujarāt, and was
now known as Muzaffar Shāh, and Nusrat Shāh found an asylum in
the Doāb.
This was the state of affairs at Delhi when, in October, 1398,
news was received that Tīmūr the Lame, 'Lord of the Fortunate
Conjunction,' Amir of Samarqand and conqueror of Persia, Afghāni-
stān, and Mesopotamia, had crossed the Indus, the Chenāb, and the
Ravī, taken Talamba, and occupied Multān, already held by his
grandson. Tīmūr seldom required either a pretext or a stimulus
for his depredations, but India supplied him with both. The pretext
was the toleration of idolatry by the Muslim rulers of Delhi and the
stimulus was the disintegration of the kingdom, unparalleled since
its earliest days. The invader's object was plunder, for if he ever
had any idea of the permanent conquest of India he certainly
abandoned it before he reached Delhi.
Tīmūr had left Samarqand in April, but had been delayed on
his way to India by an expedition in Kāfiristān, by the construction
of fortresses on the road which he followed, and by the business of
his vast empire. He left Kābul on August 15, crossed the Indus
13-2


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196
THE LATER TUGHLUQS
( CH.
on September 24, and two days later reached the Jhelum, where
he was delayed by the contumacy of a local ruler, Shihāb-ud-din
Mubārak, styling himself Shāh, who, having submitted to Pir-Mu-
hammad, had changed his policy when that prince appeared to be
in difficulties and ventured to oppose Tīmūr, who drove him from
his island fortress on the Jhelum. Mubārak and his whole family
perished in the river and Tīmūr crossed the Jhelum and the Rāvi
and on October 13 encamped before Talamba. He agreed to spare
the ancient town in consideration of a ransom, but differences
regarding its assessment or undue harshness in levying it provoked
resistance and furnished him with a pretext for a massacre.
His advance was delayed by the necessity for disposing of Jasrat,
brother of Shaikhā the Khokar, who had re-established himself in
Lahore when Sārang Khān was overcome by Pir Muhammad.
Jasrat had entrenched himself in a village near the north bank of the
Sutlej and menaced the invader's communications. His stronghold
was taken and he fled, and on October 25 Tīmūr reached the
northern bank of the Sutlej, where he met his baggage train and
the ladies of his harem. On the following day he was joined by
Pir Muhammad, whose movements had been retarded by an epi-
zootic disease which destroyed most of the horses of his army. Tīmūr's
resources, replenished by plunder, enabled him to supply 30,000
remounts for his grandson's troops and Pir Muhammad accompanied
him and commanded the right wing of his army during the rest of
the Indian campaign.
The camp was situated on the Sutlej about midway between
Ajūdhan (Pāk Pattan) and Dipālpūr, both of which towns had
incurred Tīmūr's resentment by rising against Pir Muhammad.
He marched to Pāk Pattan, where he visited the tomb of Shaikh
Farid-ud-din Ganj-i-Shakar, dispatched his harem and heavy bag-
gage by way of Dipālpūr to Sāmāna, started from Pāk Pattan on
November 6, and by the morning of the following day arrived,
after a march of eighty miles, at Bhatnair, where the fugitives
from Dipālpūr and Pāk Pattan had taken refuge. The ruler of
Bhatnair was a Bhāti Rājput named Dul Chand, but his tribe was
already undergoing the process of conversion to Islām, and his
brother bore the Muslim name of Kamāl-ud-din. The city was
captured, with great loss to the Hindus, and on November 9 Dul
Chand, who had shut himself up in the citadel, surrendered. The
refugees were collected and 500 of the citizens of Dīpālpūr were
put to death to avenge their slaughter of Pir Muhammad's garrison
in that town. The citizens of Pāk Pattan were flogged, plundered,


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VII )
ADVANCE OF THE INVADER
197
and enslaved. The assessment and collection of the ransom of
Bhatnair again provoked resistance on the part of the inhabitants,
and after a general massacre the city was burnt and laid waste, ‘so
that one would have said that no living being had ever drawn breath
in that neighbourhood. '
On November 13 Tīmūr left this scene of desolation, already
offensive from the putrefying bodies of the dead, and marched
through Sirsa and Fathābad, pursuing and slaughtering the in-
habitants, who fled before him. Aharwān was plundered and burnt,
at Tohāna about 2000 Jāts were slain, and on November 21 Tīmūr
reached the bank of the Ghaggar, near Sāmāna, where he halted for
four days to allow his heavy baggage to come up. On November 25,
near the bridge of Kotla, he was joined by the left wing of his army,
which had marched from Kābul by a more northerly route and had
captured and plundered every fortress which it had passed. On
November 29 the whole army was assembled at Kaithal and on
December 2 Tīmūr marched through a desolate country, whence
the inhabitants had fled to Delhi, to Pānīpat. On December 7 the
right wing of the army reached Jahānnumā, north of Delhi and
near the northern extremity of the famous Ridge, overlooking the
Jumna. On December 9 the army crossed the river and on the
following day captured Lonī, the Hindu inhabitants of which were
put to death. The fortress, which was surrounded by good pasture
land, was made the headquarters of the army.
The invader's rapid and davastating advance struck terror and
dismay into the hearts of Mahmud Shāh and Mallū, for the limits
and resources of what remained to them of the kingdom were so re-
stricted that no adequate preparations for resistance were possible,
but such troops as remained were collected within the walls of the
city which was also crowded with the host of fugitives who had
fled before Tīmūr's advance. On December 12, as Tīmūr, who had
led a reconnaissance in force across the river, was returning to Lonī,
Mallu attacked his rearguard. Two divisions were promptly sent to
its assistance, Mallū was defeated and driven back into Delhi, and
the only fruit of his enterprise was a terrible massacre. Tīmūr had
collected in his camp about 100,000 adult male Hindu captives, and
when Mallù delivered his attack these poor wretches could not
entirely conceal their joy at the prospect of a rescue. The demonst-
ration was fatal to them, for Tīmūr became apprehensive of the
presence in his camp of so large a number of disaffected captives,
and caused them all: o be put to death.
On December 15 Tīmūr, disregarding both the warnings of his


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198
THE LATER TUGHLUQS
[CH.
astrologers and the misgivings of his troops, whose inexperience
was not proof against absurd fables of the terrors of the elephant in
battle, crossed the Jumna, and early on the morning of the 17th
drew up his army for the attack, while Mallū and Mahmūd led
their forces out of Delhi. The Indian army consisted of 10,000
horse, 40,000 foot, and 120 elephants, which are described as being
clad in armour, with their tusks armed with poisoned scimitars, and
bearing on their backs strong wooden structures occupied by javelin
and quoit throwers, crossbow-men, and throwers of combustibles.
The mention of poison is probably a figure of speech, for poisoned
weapons were not a feature of Indian warfare.
The fighting line of the invading army entrenched itself with a
ditch and screens of thatch, before which buffaloes were hobbled
and bound together to break the onslaught of the elephants, and
the infantry carried calthrops. The Indian attack on the advanced
guard and right wing was vigorously met and failed utterly when
it was taken in rear by a detached force which circled round its
left flank; while the attack of Tīmūr's left on the Indian right,
after repulsing a few ineffectual counter-attacks, was entirely suc-
cessful, and the Indian army broke and fled. The dreaded elephants
were driven off, according to Tīmūr's memoirs, like cows. Mallu
and Mahmud reached the city and that night fled from it, the
former to Baran and the latter to Gujarāt, where he sought the
hospitality of Muzaffar Shāh. They were pursued, and two of
Mallū’s sons, Saif Khān and Khudādād, were captured, besides
many other prisoners and much spoil.
On the following day Tīmūr entered the city and held at the
'Idgāh a court which was attended by the principal citizens, who
obtained, by the mediation of the Sayyids and ecclesiastics, an
amnesty which proved, as usual, to be illusory. Within the next
few days the licence of the soldiery, the rigour of the search for fugi-
tives from other towns, who had not been included in the amnesty,
and the assessment of the ransom led to disturbances, and the
people rose against the foreigners and in many instances performed
the rite of jauhar. The troops, thus freed from all restraint, sacked
the city, and the work of bloodshed and rapine continued for several
days until so many captives had been taken that, in the words of
the chronicler, 'there was none so humble but he had at least
twenty slaves. ' Pillars were raised of the skulls of the slaughtered
Hindus, and their bodies were given as food to the birds and the
beasts and their souls sent to the depths of hell. ' The artisans
among the captives were sent to the various provinces of Tīmūr's


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VII ]
THE CAPTURE OF DELHI
199
empire, and those who were stonemasons to Samarqand for the
construction of the great Friday mosque which he designed to raise
in his capital.
We are indebted to Tīmūr for an interesting description of
Delhi as he found it. 'Alā-ud-din's palace-fortress of Siri, some
‘-
traces of which are still to be found to the east of the road from
modern Delhi to the Qutb Minār, was enclosed by a wall, and to
the south-west of this, and also surrounded by a wall, stood the
larger city of old Delhi, that is to say the town and fortress of
Prithvi Rāj, which had been the residential capital of the Muslim
kings until Kaiqubad built and Firūz Khalji occupied Kilokhri.
The walls of those two towns were connected by parallel walls,
begun by Muhammad Tughluq and finished by his successor, the
space between which was known as Jahānpanāh, 'the Refuge of
the World,' and the three towns had, in all, thirty gates towards
the open country. Fīrūzābād, the new city on the Jumna built by
Fīrūz Tughluq, lay some five miles to the north of Jahānpanāh.
The three towns of Sirī, Old Delhi, and Jahānpanāh were laid
waste by Tīmūr, who occupied them for fifteen days and on January
1, 1399, marched through Fīrūzābād, where he halted for an hour
or two, to Vazīrābād, where he crossed the Jumna. On this day
Bahādur Nāhir of Mewāt arrived in his camp with valuable gifts
and made his submission. At Delhi Tīmūr had already secured
the adhesion of a more important personage, Khizr Khān the
Sayyid, who had been living since his expulsion from Multān under
the protection of Shams Khān Auhadi at Bayāna, and, having
joined Tīmūr, accompanied his camp as far as the borders of
Kashmir.
Meerut refused to surrender to the invader but was taken by
storm on January 9, the Hindu citizens being massacred ; a detach-
ment plundered and destroyed the towns and villages on the
eastern bank of the Jumna, and Tīmūr himself marched to the
Ganges. After a battle on that river on January 12, in which he
captured and destroyed forty-eight great boat-loads of Hindus, he
crossed the river near Tughluqpur on January 13, defeated an army
of 10,000 horse and foot under Mubarak Khān, and on the same day
attacked and plundered two Hindu forces in the neighbourhood of
Hardwār. The course which he followed lay through the Siwālik,
the outermost and lowest range of the Himalaya, and his progress
was marked by the almost daily slaughter of large bodies of Hindus
who, though they assembled in arms to oppose him, were never
able to withstand the onslaught of the Mughul horse and, as they fled,


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200
( CH.
THE LATER TUGHLUQS
were slaughtered like sheep. On January 16 he captured Kāngra,
and between January 24 and February 23, when he reached the
neighbourhood of Jammū he fought twenty pitched battles and
took seven fortresses. Continuing his career of plunder and rapine
towards Jammū he arrived before that city on February 26, and
sacked it on the following day. Both Jammu and the neighbouring
village of Bāo were deserted, and he was disappointed of human
victims, but an ambuscade which he left behind him to surprise the
Hindus when they should attempt to return to their homes inter-
cepted and slew large numbers and captured the raja, who was
carried before Timūr and saved his life by accepting Islām and
swearing allegiance to the conqueror.
Shaikha the Khokar had sworn allegiance to Timūr after the
defeat of his brother Jusrat, but had broken his promise to join
the invading army, had given it no assistance, and had insolently
ignored the presence in Lahore of Hindū Shāh', Timur's treasurer,
who had come from Samarqand to join him in India. An expedition
was sent to Lahore, the city was captured and held to ransom, and
Shaikhā was led before Tīmūr, who put him to death.
On March 6 Tīmūr held a court for the purpose of bidding
farewell to the princes and officers of the army before dismissing
them to their provinces, and on this occasion appointed Khizr
Khān the Sayyid to the government of Multān, from which he
had been expelled by Sārang Khān, Lahore, and Dipālpūr. Some
historians add that he nominated him as his viceroy in Delhi, but
this addition was probably suggested by subsequent events.
On March 19 Tīmūr recrossed the Indus, and two days later
leſt Bannū, after inflicting on India more misery than had ever
before been inflicted by any conqueror in a single invasion.
Mahmūd's tale of slaughter from first to last probably exceeded
his, but in no single incursion did he approach Timūr's terrible
record.
After his departure the whole of northern India was in indes-
cribable disorder and confusion. Delhi, in ruins and almost depopu-
lated, was without a master, and the miserable remnant of the
inhabitants was afflicted with new calamities, in the form of famine
and pestilence. Famine was the natural consequence of the whole-
sale destruction of stores of gain and standing crops by the invading
army, and the pestilence probably had its origin in the pollution of
the air and water-supply of the city by the putrefying corpses of
the thousands of victims of the invader's wrath. So complete was
1 Hindū Shāh was an ancestor of the historian Firishta.
a


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VII]
DISRUPTION OF THE KINGDOM
201
the desolation that 'the city was utterly ruined, and those of the
inhabitants who were left died, while for two whole months not
a bird moved wing in Delhi. ' The kingdom was completely dis-
solved. It had been stripped of some of the fairest of its eastern
provinces by the eunuch Khvāja Jahān, who ruled an independent
kingdom from Jaunpur ; Bengal had long been independent ; Mu-
zaffar Shāh in Gujarāt owned no master ; Dilāvar Khān in Mālwa
forbore to use the royal title, but wielded royal authority ; the
Punjab and Upper Sind were governed by Khizr Khān as Tīmūr's
viceroy; Sāmāna was in the hands of Ghālib Khān and Bayāna in
those of Shams Khān Auhadi; and Kālpi and Mahoba formed a
small principality under Muhammad Khān. Mallū remained for
the present at Baran, but Nusrat Shāh, the pretender whom he had
driven from Delhi and who had since been lurking in the Doāb,
again raised his head, and with the assistance of 'Adil Khān became
for a space lord of the desolate capital. Mallū's influence with the
Hindus of the Doāb enabled him to defeat a force sent against him
from Delhi, and by the capture of its elephants and material of war
he obtained such superiority over Nusrat Shāh that he expelled
him from Delhi and forced him to take refuge in Mewāt, his old
home, where he soon afterwards died. In 1399 Mallū defeated
Shams Khān Auhadi of Bayāna, who had invaded territory con-
sidered to belong to Delhi, led an expedition into Katehr, and
compelled the turbulent Hindus of Etāwah to pay him tribute, but
failed to convince them of his supremacy and was obliged, in the
winter of 1407—01, to take the field against them. He defeated
them near Patiālī and marched on to Kanauj with the object of
invading the kingdom of Jaunpur, where Malik Qaranful had suc-
ceeded his adoptive father, the eunuch Khvāja Jahān, under the
title of Mubārak Shāh. On reaching Kanauj he found Mubārak
encamped on the opposite bank of the Ganges, but for two months
neither army ventured to attack the other and a peace was con-
cluded. He had been accompanied on this expedition by Shams Khān
Auhadi and Mubārak Khān, son of Bahādur Nāhir, but he regarded
both with suspicion, and during his retreat from Kanauj took the
opportunity of putting them to death,
In 1401, after his return to Delhi, Mallu perceived that the
prestige of the fugitive Mahmūd Shāh would be useful to him, and
persuaded him to return to the capital. The wanderer's experiences
had been bitterly humiliating. Muzaffar Shāh of Gujarāt would
not compromise his newborn independence by receiving him as
king of Delhi, and was at no pains to conceal from him that his
>


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202
[CH.
THE LATER TUGHLUQS
presence was distasteful until, aſter repeated slights, he retired to
Mālwa, where Dilāwar Khān Ghūrī, mindful of his obligations to
Mahmūd's father, received him with princely generosity and as-
signed to him a residence at Dhār. In this retreat he was probably
happier than in his gilded bonds at Delhi, but he could not refuse
the invitation to return, and Mallū, after receiving him with
every demonstration of respect interned him in one of the royal
palaces and continued to govern the remnant of the kingdom
with as little restraint as though Mahmūd had never returned from
Malwa.
In 1402 the death of Mubārak Shāh and the accession of Ibrāhīm
Shāh in Jaunpur appeared to Mallū to offer another opportunity
for the recovery of this territory, and he marched to Kanauj,
carrying Mahmūd with him, but again found the army of Jaunpur
confronting him on the opposite bank of the Ganges. Mahmūd,
chafing at his subjection to Mallū, fled from his camp by night and
took refuge with Ibrāhim Shāh, from whom he hoped for better
treatment, but he was so coldly received that he left Ibrāhim's
camp with a few followers who remained faithful to him, expelled
Ibrāhīm's governor from Kanauj, and made that city his resi-
dence. Here several old servants of his house assembled round
him, and Mallū, who was considerably weakened by his defection,
returned to Delhi, Ibrāhīm acquiesced in Mahmud's occupation of
Kanauj and returned to Jaunpur.
Latter in this year and again in the following year Mallu
attempted to recover Gwalior, which had been captured during
the confusion arising from Tīmūr's invasion by the Tonwār Rājput
Har Singh, and was now held by his son Bhairon, but although he
was able to defeat Bhairon in the field and to plunder the country
he could not capture the fortress, and was compelled to retire.
Bhairon harassed him by lending aid to the Rājputs of Etāwah,
and in 1 404 Mallū besieged that city for four months, but was fain
to retire on receiving a promise of an annual tribute of four
elephants, and marched to Kanauj, where he besieged Mahmud
Shāh. Here also he was baffled by the strength of the fortifications,
and returned to Delhi. In July, 1405, he marched against Bahrām
Khān, a turbulent noble of Turkish descent who had established
himself in Sāmāna. On his approach Bahrām fled towards the
Himālaya, and was pursued as far as Rūpar, where a pious Shaikh
composed the differences between the enemies and Bahrām joined
Mallū in an expedition against Khizr Khān. Their agreement was
of short duration, for on their march towards Pāk Pattan Mallū


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VII ]
DEATH OF MALLO
203
caused Bahrām to be flayed alive. As Mallū approached Khizr
Khān advanced from Dipālpur and on November 12 defeated and
slew him in the neighbourhood of Pāk Pattan.
On Mallū's death the direction of affairs at Delhi fell into the
hands of a body of nobles headed by Daulat Khān Lodi and
Ikhtiyar Khān, at whose invitation Mahmud Shāh returned, in
December, to the capital. Daulat Khān was appointed military
governor of the Doāb and Ikhtiyār Khān governor of Fīrūzābād.
In 1406 Mahmud sent Daulat Khān to reduce Sāmāna where,
since Bahrām's death, another of Firūz Shāh's Turkish slaves,
Bairam Khān by name, had established himself as Khizr Khān's
deputy, and himself marched to Kanauj with the intention of punish-
ing Ibrāhīm Shāh of Jaunpur for his contemptuous treatment of him
when he had fled to his camp from that of Mallū. Ibrāhīm again
marched to the Ganges and encamped opposite Kanauj, and after
some days of desultory fighting a peace was concluded, and each
monarch set out for his capital, but Ibrāhim immediately retraced
his steps and besieged Kanauj. Malik Mahmūd Tarmati, who com-
manded the fortress for Mahmud Shāh, held out for four months and
then, seeing no prospect of relief, surrendered, and Ibrāhīm, who
spent the rainy season at Kanauj, was joined by some discontented
nobles of the court at Delhi. This accession of strength encouraged
him, in October, 1407, to take the offensive against Mahmud Shāh,
and he marched to Sambhal, which was almost immediately surren-
dered to him by Asad Khān Lodī. Having placed Tātār Khān in
command of Sambhal he marched towards Delhi, and was on the
point of crossing the Jumna when he learnt that Muzaffar Shāh of
Gujarāt, having invaded Mālwa and captured Hüshang Shāh, who
had succeeded his father, Dilāvar Khān, in that country, intended
to pursue his career of conquest towards Jaunpur. He therefore
retreated towards his capital, leaving a garrison in Baran, but in
the summer of 1408 Mahmūd Shāh recovered both Baran and
Sambhal.
In the meantime Daulat Khān had, on December 22, 1406, driven
Bairam Khān from Sāmāna to Sirhind and had, after a short siege,
compelled him to surrender. He befriended and patronised his
defeated adversary and established himself at Sāmāna, but on the
approach of Khizr Khān fled into the Doāb, while most of his partisans
deserted to Khizr Khān. Besides Sāmāna Khizr Khān captured
and annexed Sirhind, Sunām, and Hissar, so that beyond the walls
of Delhi only the Doāb, Rohtak, and Sambhal remained subject to
Mahmud Shāh.


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204
(CH.
THE LATER TUGHLUQS
In 1408 Mahmūd recovered Hissar, but the temporary success
profited him little, for on January 28, 1409, Khizr Khān appeared
before the walls of Fīrūzābād and besieged the city, and at the same
time sent his lieutenant, Malik Tuhfa, to ravage the Doāb. The
country, wasted and impoverished by several years of famine, was no
longer capable of supporting an army, and Khizr Khān was therefore
compelled to retire, and in the following year was employed in recall-
ing to his allegiance Bairam Khān of Sirhind, who had again allied
himself to Daulat Khān; but in 1410 he reduced Rohtak after a siege
of six months, during which the mean-spirited Mahmūd made no
attempt to relieve the town, though it was within forty-five miles of
the capital. In the following year Khizr Khān marched to Nārnaul,
plundered that town and three others to the south of Delhi, and then,
turning north-wards, besieged Mahmud Shāh in Siri. Ikhtiyār Khān
prudently joined the stronger party, and surrendered Fīrūzābād to
Khizr Khān, who was thus enabled to cut off all supplies from
the direction of the Doāb, but Mahmūd was once more saved by
famine, for Khizr Khān was again compelled, by the failure of
supplies, to raise the siege and retire. In February, 1413, Mahmūd
died at Kaithal after a nominal reign of twenty years, during which
he had never wielded any authority and had more than once been
a fugitive from his capital, and with him died the line of Ghiyas-ud-
din Tughluq.
On his death the nobles transferred their allegiance to the strong.
est of their number, Daulat Khān Lodi, whose first act as ruler of
Delhi was to march into the Doāb and compel the Rājputs of
Etawāh and Mahabat Khān of Budaun to own him as their sover-
eign. His progress was checked by the discovery that Ibrāhim Shāh
of Jaunpur was besieging Qādir Khān, son of Mahmūd Khān, in
Kālpī, and in order to avoid an encounter with the superior forces of
Ibrāhim he returned to Delhi.
In December, 1413, Khizr Khān invaded Daulat Khān's territory
and, leaving a large force to besiege Rohtak, marched into Mewāt,
where he received the submission of Bahādur Nāhir's nephew, Jalāl
Khān. Thence he marched across the Doāb to Sambhal, plundered
that town, and in March, 1414, returned to Delhi with an army of
60,000 horse and besieged Daulat Khān in Siri. Daulat Khān held
out for four months, when some of his officers treacherously admitted
the besiegers, and he was forced to throw himself on his enemy's
mercy. On May 28 Khizr Khān entered Delhi as its sovereign and
founded a new dynasty, known as the Sayyids; and Daulat Khān
was imprisoned in Hissar,


## p. 205 (#249) ############################################

VII)
EXTINCTION OF THE DYNASTY
205
The empire of Muhammad Tughluq had included the whole
continent of India, with the exception of Kashmir, Cutch and a
part of Kāthīāwār, and Orissa. On the death of his grand-nephew
Mahmūd the extent of the kingdom was defined by the contem-
porary saying:
حکم خداور عالم از دهلی تا پالم
“The rule of the Lord of the World extends from Delhi to Pālam'-
a small town little more than nine miles south-west of the capital.
Independent kingdoms had been established in Bengal and the
Deccan before Muhammad's death, and the rebellion of the royal
officers in the south had enabled the Hindus to found the great
kingdom of Vijayanagar and had facilitated the establishment in
Telingāna of a Hindu state in subordinate alliance with the king-
dom of the Deccan, not with Delhi. During the reigns of the feeble
successors of Fīruz the province of Oudh and the country to the
east of the Ganges as far as the borders of Bengal were formed
into the independent kingdom of Jaunpur ; the great provinces of
Gujarāt and Mālwa and the smaller province of Khāndesh severed
their connexion with Delhi and became separate states ; a Hindu
principality was established in Gwalior and Muslim principalities
in Bayāna and Kālpi; the nominal allegiance of Mewāt was trans-
ferred from one prince to another at the caprice of the local chief-
tain ; the Hindus of the Doāb were almost continually in revolt
and the ruler of Delhi had to be content with the small contributions
which he could extort from them by armed force when he was not
otherwise engaged ; and the ruin of the state was completed by the
invasion of Tīmūr, who established in the Punjab a power which
eventually absorbed the kingdom of Delhi.


## p. 206 (#250) ############################################

CHAPTER VIII
THE SAYYID DYNASTY
The claim of Khizr Khān, who founded the dynasty known as
the Sayyids, to descent from the prophet of Arabia was dubious,
and rested chiefly on its causal recognition by the famous saint
Sayyid Jalāl-ud-dīn of Bukhārā. He assumed no title associated
with royalty, but was content with the position of viceroy of Shāh
Rukh, Tīmūr's fourth son and successor, to whom he is said to
have remitted tribute, and with the title of Rāyāt-i-Aʻlā, or 'the
Exalted Standards. ' His success reunited the Punjab to Delhi, but
the turbulent governors and fief-holders who had withheld their
allegiance from a lawful master hesitated at first to acknowledge
an upstart, until by degrees many of the old nobles of the late
dynasty submitted to him and were permitted to retain their
former offices and emoluments.
The Hindus of the Doāb and Katehr withheld payment of
tribute, and in the year of his accession Khizr Khān found it
necessary to send an army under Tāj-ul-Mulk to reduce to obedi.
ence Har Singh, the rebellious raja of Katehr. The raja fled into
the forests of Āonla, but a rigorous blockade compelled him to
submit and to give an undertaking to pay tribute in future.
Mahābat Khān, governor of Budaun, also made his submission, and
Táj-ul-Mulk recrossed the Ganges and compelled the fief-holders
and Hindu chieftains of the lower Doāb, among them Hasan of
Rāpril, Raja Sarwar of Etāwah, and the raja of Kampil, to own
allegiance to their new master. In Chandwar he restored Muslim
supremacy, which had been subverted by the Hindus, and returned
to Delhi with the tribute, or plunder, which he had collected in the
course of his expedition.
The chronicles of the Sayyid dynasty are chiefly a history of
expeditions of this nature. Khizr Khān was the most powerſul
ruler of a house the influence and dignity of which decayed with
an unvarying and unchecked rapidity seldom surpassed in the most
ephemeral of eastern dynasties, and even in his reign military
force was the normal means of collecting the revenue. Recalcitrants
were not treated as rebels, and the only punishment inflicted was
the exaction of the taxes due from them and of a promise, which
they usually violated on the first opportunity, to make regular
1 In 26° 58'N. and 78° 36'E. Then an important town.


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CH. VII)
SUPPRESSION OF REVOLTS
207
remittances in the future. Thus, in July, 1416, a most inconvenient
season for the collection of revenue, Tāj-ul-Mulk was sent to Bayāna
and Gwalior, not with a view to the reduction of these fortresses but
merely to recover, by plundering at random the unfortunate culti-
vators, the equivalent of the tribute which should have been paid.
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


## p. 209 (#253) ############################################

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.


## p. 210 (#254) ############################################

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


## p. 211 (#255) ############################################

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


## p. 215 (#259) ############################################

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.