No More Learning

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

## p. 235 (#279) ############################################

IX]
SIKANDAR SHAH
235
a
some administrative changes, and, on returning towards Delhi, was
overtaken, near Suket, by his last illness, which produced a crop of
intrigues regarding the succession. Buhlūl himself, who had pro-
vided for his second and eldest surviving son, Bārbak, by placing
him on the throne of Jaunpur, seems to have intended that his third
son, Nizām Khān (Sikandar Shāh) should succeed him, but the
Afghān nobles objected to him on the ground that his mother, a
favourite wiſe or concubine, was the daughter of a goldsmith, and
prevailed upon the dying king to summon him to the camp, lest he
should usurp the throne in Delhi; but the prince's mother and a
few who favoured his cause were in the camp and secretly warned
him that if he obeyed the order he would certainly be imprisoned
by his father. Nizām Khān temporised and the nobles, who were
almost unanimous in opposing his succession, some supporting
Bārbak Shāh of Jaunpur, and others A'zam-i-Humāyān, son of
Khvāja Bāyazid, Buhlūl's eldest son, urged Buhlūl to assert his
authority, and an order was sent to Nizām Khān, warning him that
if he did not immediately obey the summons his father would march
to Delhi and punish him. Nizām Khān pitched his camp beyond
the walls and announced that he was about to set out, but needed
few days in which to prepare for the journey. Meanwhile Buhlūl
suddenly died, in the second week of July, 1489. Zibā, the gold-
smith's daughter, boldly confronted the Lodi nobles with an assertion
of her son's claim to the throne, and was abused to her face by 'Isā
Khān, Buhlūl's first cousin, who brusquely told her that the son of
a goldsmith's daughter was not the man to fill a throne. His dis-
courtesy injured his cause by exciting sympathy for the widow, and
Khān Khānān Qarmali rebuked him. Isā Khān angrily replied
that a servant had no right to interſere in the family affairs of the
Lodīs, and the Khān Khānān retorted that if he was a servant he
was the servant of Sikandar Shāh, the title by which Nizām Khān
was already known to his adherents, and of none other. The army
moved to Jalālī, where it was met by Nizām Khān, who, on July 17,
1489, was proclaimed king under the title of Sikandar Shāh.
Sikandar was undoubtedly the fittest of all Buhlūl's sons to fill
his father's throne, and his promptitude in joining the army settled
the question of the succession, but some of the courtiers with-
drew in sullen disaffection to their fiefs and Sikandar soon found
it necessary to attack his uncle', 'Ālam Khān, who was making
1 According to Nizām-ud-din Ahmad 'Alam Khān was Sikandar's brother but
he may be satisfactorily identified with the ‘Ālam Khān (Jalāl Shāh) who was a
younger brother of Buhlul,


## p. 236 (#280) ############################################

236
[CH.
THE LODI DYNASTY
pretensions to independence in Rāpri and Chandwār. Ālam Khān,
after enduring a few days' siege in Rāpri, fled and took refuge in
Patiālī with Isā Khān, who was in rebellion in consequence of the
insult which he had hurled at the king's mother. Sikandar con-
ferred the fief of Rāpri on Khăn Khānān Lohāni and retired to
Etāwah, where he spent seven months in reorganising the adminis-
tration of the provinces, which had been thrown into conſusion
by governors and fief-holders appointed during the late reign and
disaffected to his rule and in conciliating those who were prepared
to accept his succession as an accomplished fact. He succeeded in
persuading 'Alam Khān to leave the protection of 'Isā Khān and
endeavoured to secure his fidelity by bestowing on him the fief of
Etāwah, and he sent an embassy to his brother Bārbak in Jaunpur
with the object of concluding a permanent treaty between that
kingdom and Delhi, and marched in person against 'Isā Khān in
Patiāli. "Isā met him in the field, but was defeated, and so severely
wounded that he survived his reconciliation with his nephew but a
few days. Raja Ganesh, a Hindu officer who had espoused Bārbak's
cause, submitted to Sikandar and was rewarded with the fief of
Patiāli.
The mission to Jaunpur failed. Husain Sharqi, from his retreat
in Bihār, had assiduously instigated Bārbak to attack his brother,
in the hope that their quarrels would open a way for his return to
Jaunpur, and Sikandar, apprised of his brother's designs, marched
to attack him. Bārbak advanced to Kanauj to meet him and
suffered a defeat, in consequence of which he fled to Budaun.
Sikandar pursued him, besieged him in that city, and after a few
days compelled him to surrender. He was treated with great
leniency and was replaced on the throne of Jaunpur, but merely
as a king in name, for Sikandar distributed the rich fiefs of the
kingdom among his own adherents, and even placed confidential
agents in Bārbak's household.
After this success Sikandar marched to Kotala and Kālpī, dis-
possessed his nephew, A'zam-i-Humāyūn, who had been a cadidate
for the crown, of these fiefs, and bestowed them upon Muhammad
Khān Lodi. He next attacked, in Jhatra, Tātār Khān Lodi, who
had been one of his bitterest opponents, compelled him to submit
and generously restored him to his fiefs. Marching thence to Gwalior
he received the submission of Raja Kirat Singh, invested him with
a robe of honour as governor of the fortress and district, and march-
ed to Bayāna, where the governor, Sharaf, son of Ahmad Jalvāni,
appeared before him and, by a feigned submission, obtained


## p. 237 (#281) ############################################

IX )
REBELLION IN JAUNPUR
237
a promise of the fiefs of Jalesar, Chandwār, Mārhara, and Suket on
condition of his surrendering the keys of Bayāna. He was per-
mitted to return for the keys but had no sooner regained the
shelter of the fortress than he prepared to stand a siege. Sikandar
marched to Āgra, which was held by Haibat Khān, a dependant of
Sharaf, and, having entrusted the siege of that town to some of
his officers, returned to Bayāna and after a short siege compelled
Sharaf to surrender. He was permitted to retire to Gwalior, the
fief of Bayāna was granted to Khān Khānān, and the king returned
to Delhi.
He had rested for no longer than four days in the capital when
he received news of a serious rebellion in Jaunpur, where the
Hindu landholders assembled an army of 100,000 horse and foot
and put to death Sher Khān, brother of Mubārak Khān Lohāni,
governor of Kara. Mubārak himself escaped from Kara, but was
seized by his Hindu boatmen at a ford near the present city of
Allahabad and delivered to the raja of Phāphāmau, who imprisoned
him. Bārbak Shāh of Jaunpur was utterly unable to cope with this
formidable insurrection, which seems to have been due to the
intrigues of Husain Sharqi, in Bihār and withdrew to Daryābād,
between Lucknow and Gonda, whence he joined Sikandar, who
was marching on Jaunpur, at Dalmau on the Ganges. The raja of
Phāphāmau, alarmed at Sikandar's approach, released Mubārak
Khān and sent him to the royal camp, but the king's advance on
Jaunpur was opposed by the rebel army, but he attacked it, de-
feated it with great slaughter, dispersed it, and took much plunder,
and, continuing his march to Jaunpur, reinstated his brother and
retired towards Oudh, where he proposed to enjoy the chase, but
was almost immediately recalled by the news that Bārbak was help-
less before the rebels. The facts of the case are obscure, but it
appears that Bārbak had been coquetting with the rebels and also
with Husain. Sikandar dealt promptly with him by sending some
of his principal nobles to Jaunpur to arrest him, and he was brought
before the king and delivered into the custody of Haibat Khān and
'Umar Khān Shirvānī. From the neighbourhood of Jaunpur Sikandar
marched to Chunār, where a number of Husain's nobles were as-
sembled. He defeated them but was not strong enough to attempt
the siege of the fortress, and marched to Kuntit, on the Ganges, a
dependency of Phāphāmau, where Bhil, the raja of Phāphāmau,
made his obeisance, and was confirmed in the possession of Kuntit,
as a fief. Sikandar marched on to Arāil, opposite to Allahabad,
and the raja, who accompanied him, became apprehensive for his
a


## p. 238 (#282) ############################################

238
(CH.
THE LODİ DYNASTY
personal safety and fled, leaving his camp and baggage in the king's
hands. Sikandar, to reassure him, courteously sent his property
after him. Arāil was laid waste, and the army marched to Dalmau
by way of Kara, and thence to Shamsābād, where Sikandar halted
for six months, visited Sambhal, and returned to Shamsābād, de.
stroying on the way the inhabitants of two villages who had been
guilty either of rebellion or brigandage.
In October, 1494, after spending the rainy season at Shamsābād
he marched against Bhil of Phāphāmau, who remained obdurate,
laid waste his territory, and defeated his son Narsingh in the field.
The raja fled in the direction of Sundha', but died on the way, and
Sikandar, unable, owing to scarcity of provisions, was obliged to
push on to Jaunpur, where most of the horses of his army died, from
the hardships of the campaign according, to the chroniclers, but in
fact owing to the improvident habit of destroying both crops and
stores of grain in a hostile province. The rebellious landholders, at
whose head was Lakhmi Chand, a son of Raja Bhīl, urged Husain
Sharqi to attack Sikandar, assuring him that nine-tenths of the
latter's cavalry horses had perished, and Husain marched from Bihār
with all the forces which he could assemble and 100 elephants.
Sikandar, whose losses had been exaggerated and had not proved
to be irreparable, marched southward, crossed the Ganges by the fort
at Kuntit, placed a garrison in Chunār, and advanced to Benares,
sending Khān Khānān to conciliate Sālibāhan, another son of Raja
Bhil. Thence he marched to attack Husain, who was within thirty-
six miles of the city, and on his way was joined by Sālibāhan, whose
adhesion had been secured by the promise of his father's territory.
He had repaired his losses, and he inflicted a crushing def
Husain, and pursued him towards Patna with 100,000 horse. On
learning that Husain had continued his flight from Patna he marched
with his whole army to Bīhār, and Husain, leaving Malik Kandū in
the fortress of Bihār, fled to Kahalgāon (Colgong). Sikandar, after
detaching a force which drove Kandū from Bihār, left some officers
to complete the subjugation of that province and marched into
Tirhut, where he received the allegiance of the raja and, having left
Mubārak Khān Lohānī to collect the tribute imposed upon him,
returned to Bihār.
This invasion of Bihār which, though held by the kings of
Jaunpur in the day of their strength, had always been regarded as
a province of Bengal, aroused the hostility of ‘Alā-ud-din Husain
Shāh, the active and warlike king of that country, who resented
i In 82° 38'E, and 25° 17'N.


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IX)
TURBULENCE OF THE NOBLES
239
both the pursuit of his protege and the violation of his frontiers.
He hesitated to march in person against the king of Delhi, and sent
his son Dāniyāl with an army to Bāch, where he was met by a force
under Mahmūd Khān Lodi and Mubārak Khān Lohānī. Neither
party had anything to gain by proceeding to extremities and the
treaty executed by both contained the usual stipulation, meaning-
less when boundaries fluctuate and are ill defined, that neither the
king of Delhi nor the sultan of Bengal was to invade the dominions
of his neighbour, but the latter's promise to abstain from harbouring
Sikandar's enemies was an admission that he had erred in espousing
Husain's cause.
Sikandar remained for some time in Bihār and his
army
suffered
from famine, perhaps the result of climatic conditions, but more
probably caused and certainly aggravated by the devastation cam-
paign in which it had been engaged. Grain became so dear that
one of the taxes levied under the Islamic law was remitted, and
Sikandar marched to Sāran, asserted his authority by removing some
of the landholders from their fiefs and appointing nobles of his own
clan in their place, and returned to Jaunpur, where he reorganised
the adıninistration of the distracted province and, having accomplish-
ed this task, demanded a daughter in marriage from Sālibāhan of
Phāphāmau. He met with a refusal and attacked Sālibāhan's strong-
hold, but failed to capture it and returned to Jaunpur, where he
demanded from Mabārak Khān Lodi, to whom the collection of the
revenue had been entrusted since the imprisonment of Bārbak, an
account of his stewardship. Mubārak Khān, who had been guilty
.
of wholesale peculation, was much alarmed and sought the inter-
cession of several influential courtiers with a view to avoiding an
inquiry, but his anxiety betrayed his guilt, and he was ordered to
pay into the treasury the large sums which he had embezzled.
During the king's stay at Jaunpur the turbulent conduct of
some of his nobles aroused his displeasure and his suspicions. One
accidentally struck another on the head with his stick while playing
polo with the king and the injured man's brother promptly attacked
Haibat Khān the unintentional offender, and a disturbance arose.
The combatants were separated, but renewed their combat on the
polo ground on the following day, and the king caused one of them
to be flogged. Being apprehensive of the effect of this punishment
on his nobles, and of the temper of men who did not hesitate to
belabour one another with sticks in his presence, he took precau-
tions to secure his personal safety. Selecting a number of nobles on
a
whom he believed he could rely, he placed them on a roster for the


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240
(CH.
THE LODİ DYNASTY
were
duty of mounting guard over his palace and person at night. These
nobles, either originally disaffected or rendered so by an irksome
duty, conspired to depose him and to raise to the throne his younger
brother Fath Khān, the seventh son of Buhlūl. The young prince
privately repeated their proposals to his mother and a holy man,
who advised him to disclose the matter to the king without delay.
This he did, and the conspirators, twenty-two in number,
,
,
banished from court.
In 1499 Sikandar left Jaunpur for Sambhal, where he remained
for four years, engaged in organising the administration of the
trans-Gangetic province, and in pleasure, sport, and polo. Shortly
after his arrival at Sambhal he received complaints of the oppressive
behaviour of Asghar, whom he had left at Delhi as governor of the
city, and ordered Khavāss Khān, who held the fief of Māchiwāra,
in the present district of Lūdhiāna, to march to Delhi, seize the
offender, and send him to court. Before Khavāss Khān could reach
the city Asghar left it and submitted himself to the king, who caused
him to be imprisoned and Khavāss Khān occupied Delhi without
opposition and assumed the vacant office of governor.
Sikandar had an opportunity while at Sambhal of displaying the
bigotry which was a prominent feature of his character. A Brāh-
man of Bengal excited some interest and, among precisians, much
indignation, by publicly maintaining that the Muhammadan and
Hindu religions were both true, and were but different paths by
which God might be approached. A'zam-i-Humāyün, governor of
Bihār, was directed to send the daring preacher and two rival doctors
of the Islamic law to court, and theologians were summoned
from various parts of the kingdom to consider whether it was per.
missible to preach peace. They decided that since the Brāhman had
ad nitted the truth of Islam he should be invited to embrace it, with
the alternative of death in the event of refusal. The decision
commended itself to Sikandar and the penalty was exacted from the
Brāhman, who refused to change his faith.
An incident which happened at this time throws some light on
the nature of the dominion of the Lodīs in the Punjab, the province
in which they had originally established themselves. They should
certainly have been able, had they commanded the resources of this
province, to crush at once the kingdom of Jaunpur, which for a long
time contended with them on equal terms, to establish themselves
as undisputed lords of the Doāb, and to recover the fortress and
province of Gwalior, which had been a Muhammadan possession for
more than a century and a half until, in the troublous times of


## p. 240 (#285) ############################################

The Cambridge History of India, Vol. ili
Map ś

88
72
76
80
84
88
02
35
35
Kabul
Packshor
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30
30
Multan
Sutlej
ULTAN
Brabmaputra
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Indus
DELHI
Ganges
¡RAJ PUTA NA
Lumno
D E + H 1
Agra
Gumi
SIND AND
Ajmer
Ajudhry
Jaunpur
Biabmepata
25
i Luni
Gaggen
B NH A R
BUNDELKHANDS
Gaur
Chitor
Kälinjar
Tropic of
Cancer
IMĀL WAL
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To Ahmadabad
GONDWA NA
Narbada
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GU
KHĀNDESH
Tapi
BERAR
Wardba
Mobonadi
20
Pengangg
AHMADNAGAR
Ahmadnagar
Godovali
T
Bijapur
Bida' COCOND
Bbime
ORIS
lejo Colconda
lei
Krisbach
IĀ PUR
Raichur
15
16
Vijayanagar
Penner
Kaveri
NIA YSA NA GARI
10
INDIA
in 1525
The Political boundaries are shown thus:--
10 Countries and Peoples thus. . . BENGAL
Towns.
Parashûr
Rivers
Mahanadi
Scales
30 0 50 100 200
English Miles
100 0 100 200 300
Kilometres
LL
60
72
76
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84
ва


## p. 240 (#286) ############################################



## p. 241 (#287) ############################################

IX)
CAPTURE OF DHOLPUR
241
Tīmūr's invasion, it was annexed by the Tonwar Rājputs; but the
hold of the Lodīs on the Punjab was precarious. It was held for
them by their relations and dependants, but solidarity has never
been an Afghan characteristic, and the Lodis seem never to have
ventured to tax the loyalty of their officials in the Punjab too highly.
In the discontents of the next twenty-five years the Punjab was the
only part of their dominions to welcome a foreign invader, and
Buhlūl, Sikandar, and Ibrāhīm were content with such acknowledge-
ment of their supremacy as was indicated by occasional remittances
of tribute or revenue, and did not call upon their officers in the
Punjab to furnish large contingents for the subjugation of Hindustān.
In 1500 Sa'id Khān Shirvāni came from Lahore to Sambhal to pay
his respects to the king, but was banished on suspicions of disaffection
and, with some other discontented nobles took refuge with Mān
Singh, raja of Gwalior. The raja, with a view to deprecating
Sikandar's wrath, sent as envoy to his court a eunuch named Raihān,
with valuable presents, but the envoy was less conciliatory than his
master, and returned impudent answers to some questions put to
him by Sikandar. He was accordingly dismissed with an intimation
that the raja would do well to look to himself.
Sikandar soon found the opportunity which he sought. Khān
Jahān Qarmali, governor of Bayāna, died, and though his two sons
were for a short time permitted to manage the affairs of their father's
fief their experience was not equal to the task, and they were
summoned to Sambhal, where less important fiefs were bestowed
upon them. Khavāss Khān, governor of Delhi, was appointed to
Bayāna, and his son Ismā‘il Khān succeeded him in the capital. His
hands were strengthened in his new post by the appointment of
Safdar Khān as governor of Āgra, then a dependency of Bayāna,
and 'Alam Khān, governor of Mewāt, and Khān Khānān Lohāni,
governor of Rāpri, were ordered to co-operate with him against
Bināyik Deo, raja of Dholpur. A combined attack was made on
Dholpur, but the royal officers were repulsed with loss and Sikandar
marched, on March 15, 1502, from Sambhal towards Dholpur. On
his approach Bināyik Deo fled to Gwalior, leaving his officers to
defend Dholpur, but they followed their master's example and
Sikandar occupied the fortress and sacked the town. The conquerors
committed a senseless act of revenge by destroying the groves of trees
which extended for a distance of fourteen miles round it.
Sikandar halted for a month at Dholpur, placed Ādam Khān Lodi
there as governor, and marched towards Gwalior. He crossed the
Chambal and halted for two months on the banks of the Asan, where
C. H, I. III.
16


## p. 242 (#288) ############################################

242
[ch.
THE LODÍ DYNASTY
the army suffered so much from a pestilence, probably cholera, that
all thought of advancing to Gwalior was abandoned. The Muslim
chroniclers state that Mān Singh expelled from Gwalior Sikandar's
nobles who had taken reſuge with him, visited the camp to make
his submission, and left his son Bikramājit, or Vikramāditya, in
attendance on the king, but as Sikandar was in no position to bring
pressure to bear upon Mān Singh, and found it necessary to receive
Bināyik Deo and to reinstate him in Dholpur it is improbable that
Mān Singh visited the royal camp. If he sent his son thither it was
in the capacity of an envoy and the reinstatement of Bināyik Deo
was demanded as the price of the expulsion of the refugees, for
Sikandar was at the moment eager for peace, though the peace
which he made was illusory, for on his return to Āgra he transferred
his capital from Delhi to that city, in order to facilitate the prose-
cution of his designs against Gwalior. This is the first occasion on
which Āgra, which acquired such importance under the Mughul
emperors, comes prominently into notice, for it had hitherto been a
dependency of the more important fortress of Bayāna.
The account of Sikandar's subsequent operations illustrates the
strength of the raja of Gwalior and the extent of his territories, for
the king did not venture to attack Gwalior itself, but attempted the
systematic reduction and conquest of fortresses and districts subject
or tributary to Mān Singh. The first of these was Mandrāel', for
the siege of which he prepared by devastating the villages between
it and Gwalior. In March, 1505, he marched against Mandrāel,
which surrendered to him. He destroyed Hindu temples in the town
and erected mosques on their sites, and plundered and laid waste
the districts surrounding the fortress. This success emboldened him
to remove Bināyik Deo from Dholpur on his return to Āgra and to
appoint Malik Qamar-ud-dīn governor of that fortress and district.
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.


## p. 243 (#289) ############################################

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


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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.


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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.