No More Learning

2 In 26° 17' N. and 83° 57' E.


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

## p. 265 (#311) ############################################

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

## p. 266 (#312) ############################################

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

## p. 267 (#313) ############################################

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

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

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

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

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

## p. 270 (#316) ############################################

270
[CH.
THE KINGDOM OF BENGAL
On his death in 1489 the nobles raised to the throne, under the
title of Nāsīr-ud-din Mahmūd II, the surviving son of Fath Shāh.
Owing to the king's youth the administration was necessarily carried
on by his counsellors, and all power in the state fell into the hands
of an African entitled Habash Khān, whose monopoly of power
excited the discontent of the other courtiers, one of whom, an
African known as Sidi Badr the Madman, slew him and took his
place. Sidi Badr's ambition was purely selfish, and in 1190 he
caused the young king to be put to death and himself ascended
the throne under the bombastic title of Shams-ud-din Abu-Nasr
Muzaffar Shāh. This bloodthirsty monster, in the course of a reign
of three years, put most of the leading men in the kingdom to
death. The only measure in which he displayed wisdom was his
choice of a minister, which rested on 'Alā-ud-din Husain, a Sayyid
of a family which came from Tirmiz, on the Oxus, and a man
respectable alike by reason of his lineage, his ability, and his
personal character. He probably restrained Muzaffar's violence,
and he served him faithfully as long as it was possible to do so,
but the African developed the vice of avarice, fatal to a ruler whose
authority depends upon the sword. and committed at once the crime
of enhancing the burdens of his people and the blunder of diminish-
ing the emoluments of his army. Sayyid Husain could no longer
maintain his master's authority, and, wearied by protests against
the tyranny with which his position in a measure identified him,
withdrew his supports, and immediately found himself the leader of
a revolt. The troops, placing him at their head, besieged the king
for four months in Gaur. The contest was terminated by the death
of the king, who perished in a sortie which he led from the fortress.
The nobles, after some consultation, elected Sayyid Husain king in
1493, on receiving from him guarantees which bore some resemblance
to a European constitution of 1848.
The new king's full title appears from inscriptions to have been
Sayyid-us-Sādāt ‘Alā-ud-din Abu-'l-Muzaffar Shāh Husain Sultan
bin Sayyid Ashraf al-Husainī, and it is pɔssible that to his father's
name Ashraf may be traced the belief of some historians that
he was descended from or connected with the Sharifs of Mecca.
He proved to be worthy of the confidence reposed in him, and
inaugurated his reign by issuing orders for the cessation of
plundering in Gaur. The orders were not at
not at once obeyed, and
the punishment of the refractory was prompt and severe, though
the statement that he put 12,000 plunderers to death on this
occasion is probably an exaggeration. The booty recovered from


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xi ]
EXPULSION OF AFRICANS
271
those who suffered for their disobedience enriched the royal
treasury.
Husain Shāh transferred his capital from Gaur to Ikdāla
probably with the object of punishing the people of Gaur for their
support of Muzaffar's cause, but his successor restored Gaur to its
former pre-eminence.
Husain was, with the exception of Iliyās, the greatest of the
Muslim kings of Bengal. Among his earliest reforms were two very
necessary measures, the first of which was the destruction of the
power of the large force of paiks, or Hindu infantry, which had
long been employed as the guards of the palace and of the royal
person, and had gradually, during several preceding reigns, acquired
a position analogous to that of the Praetorian Guards at Rome.
A great part of the corps was disbanded, and the remainder was
employed at a distance from the capital, and the duty of guarding
the king's person wis entrusted to Muslim troops. The second
reform was the expulsion from the kingdom of all Africans, whose
numbers had greatly increased and whose presence, since some of
them had tasted the sweets of power, was a danger to the throne.
During the seventeen years preceding Husain's accession three
kings of this race had occupied the throne, and there was some
reason to fear that the negroes might become a ruling caste. The
exiles in vain sought an asylum in Delhi and Jaunpur, where they
were too well known to be welcome, and most of them ultimately
drifted to the Deccan and Gujarāt, where men of their race had for
many years been largely employed.
In 1495 Husain Shāh, the last of the Sharqi kings of Jaunpur,
having been driven from his kingdom by Sikandar Lodi of Delhi,
fled for refuge to Bengal, and was hospitably accommodated by
‘Alā-ud-din Husain Shāh at Kahalgaon (Colgong), where he lived
in retirement until his death in 1500.
Husain, having established order in the neighbourhood of the
capital, carried his arms into those districts which had formerly
been included in the kingdom of Bengal, but had, during the dis-
orders of the six preceding reigns, fallen away from a trunk too
feeble to support branches. He recovered the lost provinces as far
as the borders of Orissa to the south, and, having thus established
his authority at home, turned his attention to foreign conquest,
and in 1498 invaded the kingdom of Assam, then ruled by
Nilāmbar, the third and last reign of the Khen dynasty. Husain
led his army as far as Kāmrūp and, after a long siege, captured
Kāmalapur, Nilāmbar's capital, by stratagem. Other rulers Rūp


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272
(CH.
THE KINGDOM OF BENGAL
Nārāyan, Māl Kunwar, Gosāl Khen, and Sachhmi Nārāyan, are
mentioned by a Muslim historian as having been overcome in
this campaign. They were probably governors of provinces of
Nilāmbar's kingdom.
Husain, on returning to his capital, placed one of his sons in
command of his new conquest, but the raja, who had fled to the
hills, took advantage of the rainy season, when the state of the
roads and rivers rendered the arrival of reinforcements and sup.
plies impossible, to descend into the plains and attack the foreign
garrison, which he put to the sword. Husain made no attempt to
avenge this defeat or to recover Assam, but devoted his attention
to securing his frontiers, and to the building of mosques and alms-
houses, for the maintenance of which he provided by endowments
of land. He died a natural death in 1518, after a reign of twenty-
five years and was succeeded by his eldest son, Nasib Khān, who
assumed the title of Nāsir-ud-din Nusrat Shāh.
Nusrat Shāh, whɔ had, before his accession, exercised almost
regal power as governor of Bāgdi, or the Ganges delta, and had
coined money in his own name, was a prince of gentle disposition
and strong natural affections, for he not only refrained from
following the barbarous eastern custom of slaying, mutilating, or
imprisoning his brothers, but doubled the provision which his
father had made for them. Early in his reign he invaded Tirhut,
attacked, defeated, and slew the raja, and appointed 'Alā-ud-din
and Makhdūm-i-Alam, his own brothers-in-law, to the government
of the reconquered province.
Nusrat had occupied the throne for seven years when Bābur
invaded India, and having defeated and slain Ibrāhīm Lodi, seated
himself on the throne of the kingdon of Delhi. Numbers of the
Afghān nobles of Delhi and many of the late royal family fled to
Bengal, and were well received by Nusrat, who bestowed fiefs upon
them for their support, and married the daughter of Ibrāhīm Lodi.
He made a demonstration against Bābur by sending Qutb Shāh,
one of his nobles, to occupy Bahrāich, but when Bābur established
his authority in Jaunpur attempted to conciliate him with gifts
which would not have turned him from his purpose had the time
been ripe for the invasion of Bengal.
In 1532, after Bābur's death,
Nusrat was alarmed by rumours of the hostile intentions of Humā.
yūn, and sent an envoy to Bahādur Shāh of Gujarāt in Māndū to
form an alliance. The envoy was well received, but his mission was
fruitless.
The Portuguese now made their first appearance in Bengal. In


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XI ]
THE PORTUGUESE IN BENGAL
273
a
a
so
1528 Martim Affonso de Mello Jusarte was sent by Nuno da Cunha,
governor of the Portuguese Indies, to gain a foothold in Bengal,
but was shipwrecked, and fell into the hands of Khudā Bakhsh Khān
of Chakiria, south of Chatgāoa (Chittagong), where he remained a
prisoner until he was ransomed for £1500 by Shihāb-ud-din, a
merchant of Chittagong. Shihāb-ud-din was soon afterwards in
difficulties with Nusrat Shāh, and appealed to the Portuguese for
help. Martim Affonso was sent in command of a trading expedition
to Chittagong, and sent a mission, with presents worth about £ 1200
to Nusrat Shāh in Gaur. The misconduct of the Portuguese in
Chittagong, and their disregard of the customs regulations incensed
the king, and he ordered their arrest and the confiscation of their
property. The governor of Chittagong treacherously seized their
leaders at a banquet to which he had invited them, slew the private
soldiers and sailors who had not time to escape to the ships, con-
fiscated property worth £100,000, and sent his prisoners to Gaur.
Nusrat Shāh demanded
ransoin
exorbitant that the
Portuguese authorities refused to pay it, but punished the king by
burning-Chittagong. This measure of reprisal in no way benefited
the captives, who had from the first been harshly treated, and were
now nearly starved.
Nusrat Shāh's character deteriorated towards the end of his
reign, probably as a result of bis debauchery, and his temper
became violent. One day in 1533, as he was paying a visit to his
father's tomb at Gaur he threatened with punishment for some
trivial fault one of the eunuchs in his train. The eunuch, in fear of
his life, persuaded his companions to join him in an attempt to
destroy the tyrant, and on returning to the palace the king was put
to death by the conspirators. He was succeeded by his son 'Alā-ud-
din Fīrūz, who had reigned for no more than three months when he
was murdered by his uncle, Ghiyās-ud-din Mahmūd, who had been
permitted by Nusrat to wield almost royal power throughout a great
part of the kingdom.
Mahmūd usurped his nephew's throne in 1533, and was almost
immediately involved in trouble by the rebellion of his brother-in-
law, Makhdūm-i-Alam, who held the fief of Hājīpur in Bihār and
was leagued with the Afghān, Sher Khān Sūr of Sasseram, who had
established himself in Bihār on the death of Muhammad Shāh, the
Afghān who had been proclaimed by the refractory Lodí nobles
king in Eastern Hindūstān. The two rebels defeated and slew Qutb
Khān, governor of Monghyr who was sent against them by Mahmud,
and Sher Khān captured the elephants, material of war, and treasure
C. H, I, III
18


## p. 274 (#320) ############################################

274
(CH.
THE KINGDOM OF BENGAL
of the defeated army, by means of which he was enabled immediately
to increase his power and extend his influence.
The successful issue of this rebellion and the great profit reaped
by Sher Khān emboldened Makhdūm-i-'Alam again to rise against
Mahmud without seeking, on this occasion, a partner who might
again appropriate all the spoils, but the task was beyond his power,
and he was defeated and slain. Sher Khān resolved to avenge the
death of his former confederate, sent his advance guard towards
Bengal, and followed it with all his available forces. The position
which Mahmūd elected to defend was the narrow passage between
the Rājmahall hills and the Ganges, which is strengthened by the
fortress of Teliyagarhi on the south and Sikrigali on the north bank
of the Ganges, and was known as the gate of Bengal, and he
turned for assistance to his Portuguese captives, all of whom, except
four, preferred action with a chance of freedom to their lingering
captivity.
In this chosen position the troops of Bengal were able to stem
the advance of Sher Khan's army for a whole month, and the
Portuguese were the life and soul of the defence, but the invaders at
length forced the position and advanced against the main body of
Mahmūd's army, which met them at some spot between Teliyagarhi
and Gaur, and was defeated. Mahmūd fled to Gaur, whither Sher
Khān followed him, and the capital was invested. The siege, which
was vigorously pressed, suffered little interruption from a rising in
Bihār, for Sher Khān, who returned to suppress the disorder, was
able to leave his son Jılāl Khān and Khavāss Khān, one of his
officers, in charge of the operations, which did not languish in their
hands, and the garrison was reduced to such straits by famine that
on April 6, 1538, Mahmūd led them forth and attacked the besiegers.
He was defeated and put to flight, his sons were captured, and Gaur
was sacked and occupied by Jalāl Khān.
Sher Khān, having restored order in Bihār, returned to Bengal
and pursued Mahmūd, who, when closely pressed, turned and gave
him battle, but was defeated and grievously wounded. Sher Khan
entered Gaur in triumph and assumed the royal title, while Mahmud
fled for protection to Humāyún, who, in response to an appeal
from him, had taken advantage of Sher Khān's preoccupation in
Bengal to capture Chunār from his officers, and had now advanced
to Darvishpur in Bihār. Sher Khān sent Jalāl Khān and Khavāss
Khān to hold the gate of Bengal, and Humāyūn sent Jahāngir Quli
Beg the Mughal to attack it. Jahāngir Quli's ſorce was surprised
at the end of a day's march and routed, the commander himself


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XI)
THE RISE OF SHER SHAH
275
being wounded. Humāyūn then advanced in force to attack the
position, and during his advance Mahmūd, the ex-king of Bengal,
died at Kahalgāon, after learning that Sher Khān had put his two
sons to death.
Jalāl Khān, who feared to encounter the whole strength of
Humāyūn's army, avoided it by escaping into the hills to the south
of his position, and fled thence to Gaur, where he joined his father,
while Humāyūn advanced steadily towards the same place. Sher
Khān, alarmed by his approach, collected his treasure and fled into
Rādha, and thence into the Chota Nāgpur hills. Humāyūn entered
Gaur without opposition, renamed the place Jannatābād, caused the
khutba to be recited and coin to be struck in his name, and spent
three months there in idleness and pleasure while his officers
annexed Sonārgāon, Chittagong, and other ports in his name. He
foolishly made no attempt to pursue Sher Khān, and lingered
aimlessly at Gaur until the climate bred sickness in his army and
destroyed many of his horses and camels. In the meantime Sher
Khān descended from the Chota Nāgpur hills, captured the fortress
of Rohtas, raided Monghyr, and put the Mughul officers there to
the sword. At the same time, in 1539, Humāyūn received news of
Hindāl Mirzā's rebellion at Delhi, and was overwhelmed by the
accumulation of evil tidings. After nominating Jahāngir Quli Beg
to the government of Bengal and placing at his disposal a contingent
of 5000 picked horse, he set out with all speed for Agra, but Sher
Khān intercepted his retreat by marching from Rohtas to Chausa,
on the Ganges. Here he was able to check Humāyūn's retreat for
three months, and extorted from the emperor, as the price of an
undisturbed passage for his troops, the recognition of his sovereignty
in Bengal. Having thus lulled Humāyūn into a sense of security,
he fell upon his army and defeated and dispersed it.
On his return to Bengal he was harassed for some time by the
active hostility of Humāyūn's lieutenant, Jahāngir Quli Beg, but
ultimately disposed of his enemy by inveigling him to an interview
and causing him to be assassinated. He thus became supreme in
Bengal, and the increasing confusion in the newly established
Mughul empire enabled him to oust Humāyün and ascend the
imperial throne.
When he marched from Bengal in 1540 to attack Humāyün he
leſt Khizr Khãn behind him as governor of the province. Khizr
Khān's head was turned by his elevation, and though he refrained
from assuming the royal title he affected so many of the airs of
royalty that Sher Shāh, as soon as he was established on the
18-2


## p. 276 (#322) ############################################

276
[ CH. XI ]
THE KINGDOM OF BENGAL
imperial throne, marched into Bengal with the object of nipping
his lieutenant's ambition in the bud. Khizr Khān, who was not
strong enough to try conclusions with the conqueror of Delhi,
welcomed his master with the customary ſormality of the East,
and was immediately seized and thrown into prison. Sher Shāh
obviated a recurrence of his offence by dividing Bengal into a
number of small prefectures, the governors of which were respon-
sible, for the regular collection and remittance of the revenue, to
Qāzi Fazilat of Agra, who was appointed supervisor of the now
disintegrated kingdom of Bengal.
The independence of Bengal, due partly to the weakness and
preoccupation of the sovereigns of Delhi between 1338 and 1539,
and partly to the existence, between 1394 and 1476, of the buffer
state of Jaunpur, dated from the later days of the reign of Muham•
mad Tughluq, and endured, despite the two abortive attempts of
Firūz Tughluq to subvert it in the reigns of Iliyās and his son
Sikandar, until Humāyūn destroyed it by establishing himself, for
three months in 1539, on the throne of Gaur. It was restored by
Sher Khān's defeat of Humāyūn at Chausa, but again destroyed
by Sher Shāh after his ascent of the imperial throne.
The annals of Bengal are stained with blood, and the long list
of Muslim kings contains the names of some monsters of cruelty,
but it would be unjust to class them all as uncultured bigots void
of sympathy with their Hindu subjects. Some certainly reciprocated
the attitude of the lower castes of the Hindus, who welcomed them
as their deliverers from the priestly yoke, and even described them
in popular poetry as the gods, come down to earth to punish the
wicked Brāhmans. Others were enlightened patrons of literature.
At the courts of Hindu rajas priestly influence maintained Sanskrit
as the literary language, and there was a tendency to despise the
vulgar tongue, but Muslim kings, who could not be expected to
learn Sanskrit, could both understand and appreciate the writings
of those who condescended to use the tongue in which they them-
selves communicated with their subjects, and it was the Muslim
sultan rather than the Hindu raja that encouraged vernacular
literature. Nāsir-ud-din Nusrat Shāh, anticipating Akbar, caused
the Mahābhārata to be translated from Sanskrit into Bengali, and
of the two earlier versions of the same work one possibly owed
something to Muslim patronage and the other was made to the
order of a Muslim officer at the court of Sayyid 'Alā-ud-din Husain
Shāh, Nusrat's father, who is mentioned in Bengali literature with
affection and respect.


## p. 277 (#323) ############################################

CHAPTER XII
THE KINGDOM OF KASHMIR
ISLAM was introduced into Kashmir at the beginning of the four-
teenth century of the Christian era by Shāh Mirzā, an adventurer
from Swāt, who in 1315 entered the service of Sinha Deva, a chief-
tain who had established his authority in the valley of Kashmir.
Sinha Deva was overthrown and slain by Rainchan, a Tibetan who
also was in his service and is said to have accepted Islam, probably
at the suggestion of Shāh Mirzā, whom he made his minister, en-
trusting him with the education of his children. On Rainchan's death
Udayana Deva, a scion of the old royal house, who had found an
asylum in Kishtwār during the usurpation, returned to the valley
married Kota Devī, Rainchan's widow, and ascended the throne.
He died after a reign of fifteen years, and his widow called upon
Shāh Mirzā to place upon the throne her son, but the minister,
during his long tenure of office, had formed a faction of his own, and
was no longer content with the second place in the state. The
circumstances in which he obtained the first are variously related.
According to one account he proposed marriage to the widowed
queen, who committed suicide rather than submit to the alliance,
but the more probable story is that on Shāh Mirzā's hesitating to
obey her command she assembled her forces, attacked him, and was
defeated. Shāh Mirzā then forcibly married her, and before she
had been his wife for twenty-four hours imprisoned her and ascended
the throne in 1316, under the title of Shams-ud-din Shāh.
The new king used wisely and beneficently the power which he
had thus acquired. The Hindu kings had been atrocious tyrants,
whose avowed policy bad been to leave their subjects nothing beyond
a bare subsistence. He ruled on more liberal principles, abolished
the arbitrary taxes and the cruel methods of extorting them, and
fixed the state's share of the produce of the land at one-sixth. He
was obliged, however, during his short reign, to suppress a rebellion
of the Lon tribe of Kishtwār. He died, after a reign of three years,
in 1349, leaving four sons, Jamshid, 'Ali Sher, Shīrāshāmak, and
Hindā), the eldest of whom succeeded him, but reigned for no more
than a year, being dethroned in 1350 by his next brother, 'Ali Sher,
who ascended the throne under the title of Alā-ud-din.
'Ala-ud-din, with a confidence rare among oriental rulers, made
his next brother, Shīrāshāmak, his minister, and seems to have had


## p. 278 (#324) ############################################

278
( ch.
THE KINGDOM OF KASHMIR
no reason to repent his choice. The events of his reign, which are
very briefly chronicled, included a severe famine, a conspiracy which
was frustrated, and the promulgation of a law, said to have been
effectual, depriving women of light character of any share in the
property left by their husbands.
'Alā-ud-din died in 13591, and was succeeded by his brother,
Shirāshāmak, who assumed the title of Shihāb-ud-din, which was
probably his real name, for that by which he was known before
his accession means 'the little milk-drinker', and was probably a
childish nickname.
Shihāb-ud-din has left a reputation both as an administrator and
as a warrior. He founded two towns and caused landed estates to
be carefully demarcated, to prevent encroachments on the crown
lands. At the beginning of his reign he led an army to the borders
of Sind, and defeated the Jām on the banks of the Indus. Returning
thence, he gained a victory over the Afghāns at Peshāwar, and
marched through Afghānistan to the borders of the Hindu Kush,
but was compelled to abandon his enterprise, whatever its object
may have been, by the difficulties which he encountered in attempt.
ing to cross that range. Returning to India he established a
cantonment in the plains, on the banks of the Sutlej, where he met,
in 1361, the raja of Nagarkot (Kängra), returning from a raid on
the dominions of Firūz Tughluq of Delhi. The raja, who is said to
have conciliated Shihāb-ud-din with a liberal share of his spoil,
suffered for his temerity? , and received no assistance from Shihāb-
ud-din, who returned to Kashmir.
For reasons which have not been recorded Shihāb-ud-din dis-
inherited and banished to Delhi his two sons, Hasan Khān and 'Ali
Khān, and designated as his heir his brother Hindāl, who succeeded
him, under the title of Qutb-ud-din, on his death in 1378. A rebel-
lion of some of his predecessor's officers obliged him to send an
expedition, which was successful, for the recovery of the fortress of
Lokarkot'.
Qutb-ud-din was for a long time childless and, recalling from
Delhi his nephew Hasan Khān, made him his heir, but Hasan's
impatience exceeded his gratitude, and he conspired with a Hindu
courtier against his patron. The plot was discovered, and Hasan
and his accomplice fled to Loharkot, but were seized by the land-
holders of that district and surrendered to Qutb-ud-din, who put
1 The chronology of the kings of Kashmir is bewildering. See 7 R. A. S. , 1918, p. 451.
2 See Chapter VII.
3 In 33° 50' N, and 74° 23' Ę.


## p. 279 (#325) ############################################

XII]
SIKANDAR THE ICONOCLAST
279
>
the Hindu to death and imprisoned his nephew, of whom no more
is heard.
Two sons were born to Qutb-ud-din in his late years, Sikandar
known before his accession as Sakār or Sankār, and Haibat Khān.
Qutb-ud-din died in 1394 and his widow, Sūra, placed Sikandar,
on the throne and to secure his undisputed retention of it put to
death her daughter and her son-in-law. It was probably at her
instigation that Rāi Madārī, a Hindu courtier, poisoned Sikandar's
brother, Haibat Khān, but this act incensed the young king, who
called the Hindu to account for it. Rāi Madārī, in order to escape
an embarrassing inquiry, sought and obtained leave to lead an ex-
pedition into Little Tibet. He was successful, and, having occupied
that country, rebelled. Sikandar marched against him, defeated
and captured him, and threw him into prison, where he committed
suicide by taking poison.
In 1398 the Amir Tīmūr, who was then at Delhi, and proposed
to retire by the road which skirted the spurs of the Himālaya, sent
his grandson Rustam and Mu'tamad Zain-ud-din as envoys to
Sikandar. They were well received, and when they left Kashmir
Sikandar sent with them as his envoy Maulānā Nūr-ud-din, and left
Srinagar with the intention of waiting personally on the conqueror.
The envoys reached Tīmūr's camp in the neighbourhood of Jammu
on February 24, 1399, and the rapacious courtiers, without their
master's knowledge, informed Nūr-ud-din that Tīmūr required
from Kashmir 30,000 horses and 100,000 golden dirhams. The envoy
returned to his master and informed him of this extravagant
demand. Sikandar, whose gifts did not approach in value those
required by the courtiers, turned back towards Srinagar, either in
despair or with a view to collecting such offerings as might be ac-
ceptable, and Tīmūr, who was expecting him, failed to understand
the delay in his coming. The members of Nür-ud-din's mission who
were still in the camp informed him of the demand and he was
incensed by the rapacity of his courtiers, and sent Mu'tamad Zain-
ud-din with the returning mission to request Sikandar to meet him
on the Indus on March 25, without fear of being troubled by ex-
orbitant demands. Sikandar again set out from Srinagar, but on
reaching Bāramūla learnt that Tīmūr had hurriedly left the Indian
frontier for Samarqand, and returned to his capital.
Hitherto the Muslim kings of Kashmir had been careless of the
religion of their subjects, and free from the persecuting spirit, but
Sikandar amply atoned for the lukewarmness of his predecessors.
He was devoted to the society of learned men of his own faith,


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280
[ch.
THE KINGDOM OF KASHMIR
whom his generosity attracted from Persia, Arabia, and Mesopo-
tamia, and it was perhaps the exhortations of bigots of this class
that aroused in him an iconoclastic zeal. He destroyed all the most
famous Hindu temples in Kashmir, and the idols which they con-
tained, converting the latter, when made of the precious metals,
into money. His enthusiasm was kept alive by his minister, Sinha
Bhat, a converted Brāhman with all a convert's zeal for his new
faith, who saw to it that his master's hostility extended to idolators
as well as to idols. With many innocuous Hindu rites the barbarous
practice of burning widows with their deceased husbands was pro-
hibited, and finally the Hindus of Kashmir were offered the choice
between Islam and exile. Of the numerous Brāhmans some chose
the latter, but many committed suicide rather than forsake either
their faith or their homes. Others, less steadfast, accepted Islam,
and the result of Sikandar's zeal are seen to-day in Kashmir, where
there are no more than 524 Hindus in every 10,000 of the popula-
tion. The ferocious bigot earned the title of Butshikan, or the
Iconoclast.
He died in 1416, leaving three sons, Nür Khān, Shāhi Khān and
Muhammad Khān, of whom the eldest succeeded him under the title
of 'Ali Shāh. The renegade Brāhman, Sinha Bhat, retained his office
until his death, and the persecution of Hindus was not relaxed.
Shortly before the end of the reign Sinha Bhat died, and 'Ali Shāh
appointed his own brother, Shāhi Khān, minister, and shortly after-
wards desiring, in an access of religious zeal, to perform the pil-
grimage to Mecca, nominated him as regent and left Srīnagar. He
had not, however, left the country before his father-in-law, the raja
of Jammū, and the raja of Rājāori succeeded in convincing him of
the folly of leaving a kingdom which, after his absence in a far land,
he could never expect to recover, and provided him with an army
which expelled Shāhi Khān and restored him to his throne.
Shāhi Khān fled and took refuge with Jasrat, chief of the tur-
bulent Khokar tribe, who had incurred the resentment of Tīmūr
by failing to keep his promise to aid him during his invasion of
India and by plundering his baggage, and had been carried off
to Samarqand, whence he had escaped on Tīmūr's death, which
occurred on February 28, 1405.
'Ali Shāh marched against Jasrat and Shāhi Khān, but foolishly
exhausted his army by a forced march, and Jasrat, on being in-
formed of its condition, suddenly attacked it in the hills near the
Tattakuti Pass, and overwhelmed it. Ali Shāh's fate is uncertain.
According to one account he escaped, but as he is no more heard


## p. 281 (#327) ############################################

XII ]
ZAIN-UL-ĀBIDIN
281
of it is more probable that, as is stated in other records, he was
captured by Jasrat's troops.
Shāhi Khān ascended the throne of Kashmir in June, 1420, under
the title of Zain-ul-'Ābidin, and was not unmindful of his benefactor,
whose successes in the Punjab, which slipped from the feeble grasp
of the Sayyid king of Delhi, were due in part to support received
from Kashmir.
Zain-ul-Abidin may be regarded as the Akbar of Kashmir. He
lacked the Mughul's natural genius, spirit of enterprise, and physical
vigour, and his outlook was restricted to the comparatively narrow
limits of his kingdom, but he possessed a stock of learning and ac-
complishments from which Akbar's youthful indolence had, to a
great extent, excluded him, his views were more enlightened than the
emperor's, and he practised a tolerance which Akbar only preached,
and found it possible to restrain, without persecution, the bigotry of
Muslim zealots. He was in all respects, save his love of learned
society, the antithesis of his father, the Iconoclast, and in the one
respect in which he most resembled him he most differed from him
in admitting to his society learned Hindus and cultural Brāhmans.
His learning delighted his hearers, and his practical benevolence
enriched his subjects and his country. He founded a city, bridged
rivers, restored temples, and conveyed water for the irrigation of the
land to nearly every village in the kingdom, employing in the exe-
cution of these public works the malefactors whom the ferocious
penal laws of his predecessors would have put to death. Theft and
highway robbery were diminished by the establishment of the
principle of the responsibility of village communities for offences
committed within their lands, and the authoritative determina-
tion of the prices of commodities, economically unsound though
it was, tended, with other regulations framed with the same object,
to prevent the hoarding of food supplies and imported goods.
The fierce intolerance of Sikandar had left in Kashmir no more
than eleven families of Brāhmans practising the ceremonies of their
faith. The exiles were recalled by Zain-ul-'Ābidin, and many of
those who had feigned acceptance of Islam now renounced it and
returned to the faith of their ancestors. The descendants of the
few who remained in Kashmir and of the exiles who returned are
still distinguished as Malmās and Banamās. All, on undertaking to
follow the rules of life contained in their sacred books, were free to
observe all the ordinances of their faith which had been prohibited,
even to the immolation of widows, which a ruler so enlightened
might well have excluded from his scheme of toleration. Prisoners


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282
[CH.
THE KINGDOM OF KASHMIR
undergoing sentences inflicted in former reigns were released, but
disobedience to the milder laws of Zain ul-'Ābidin did not go un-
punished. Alms was distributed in moderation to the deserving
poor, and the jizya, or poll-tax on non-Muslims, was abolished.
Accumulations of treasure in conquered territory were allotted to the
troops as prize-money, and the inhabitants were assessed for taxes at
the moderate rates which satisfied a king who was able to meet most
of the expenses of the administration from the produce of the royal
mines. The currency, which had been debased by the indiscrimi-
nate conversion into coin of idols composed of metal of varying
degrees of fineness, was gradually rehabilitated, and the king's de-
crees, engraved on sheets of copper and terminating with impreca.
tions on any of his descendants who should depart from them, were
distributed to the principal towns of the kingdom.
Zain-ul--Abidin was proficient in Persian, Hindi, and Tibetan,
besides his own language, and was a munificent patron of learning
poetry, music, and painting. He caused the Mahābhārata and the
Rājalarangini', the metrical history of the rajas of Kashmir, to be
translated from Sanskrit into Persian, and several Arabic and Persian
works to be translated into the Hindi language, and established
Persian as the language of the court and of public offices. He shared
Akbar's scruples with regard to the taking of life, forbade hunting,
and abstained entirely from flesh during the month of Ramzān; and
in other relations of life his morals were unquestionably superior to
Akbar's, for he was faithful throughout his life to one wife, and
never even allowed his eyes to rest on another woman. In other
respects he was no precisian, and singers, dancers, musicians, acro-
bats, tumblers, and rope dancers amused his lighter moments. A
skilled manufacturer of fireworks, whose knowledge of explosives was
not entirely devoted to the arts of peace, is mentioned as having
introduced firearms into Kashmir.
The enlightened monarch maintained a friendly correspondence
with several contemporary rulers. Abu Sa'id Shāh, Bābur's grand-
father, who reigned in Khurāsān from 1458 to 1468, Buhlūl Lodi,
who ascended the throne of Delhi in 1451, Jahān Shāh of Azarbāijān
and Gilān, Sultān Mahmud Begarha of Gujarāt, the Burji Mamlūks
of Egypt, the Sharif of Mecca, the Muslim Jām Nizām-ud-din of
Sind, and the Tonwār raja of Gwalior, between whom and the king
of Kashmir love of music formed a bond, were among those with
whom he exchanged letters and complimentary gifts.
1 This, which is believed to be the only genuinely historical work in the Sanskrit
language, has been admirably translated by Sir Aurel Stein,


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xu ]
FRATRICIDAL STRIFE
283
Early in his reign Zain-ul-'Ābidin associated with himself in the
government, and even designated as his heir, his younger brother
Muhammad, but Muhammad predeceased him, and though the king
admitted his son Haidar Khān to the confidential position which
his father had held the birth of three sons of his own excluded his
nephew from the succession. These were Adam Khān, Hāji Khān,
and Bahrām Khān, three headstrong young men whose striſe em-
bittered his declining years. Hāji Khān, his father's favourite, was
the least unworthy of the throne, and Bahrām employed himself
chiefly in fomenting dissensions between his two elder brothers.
Ādam Khān recovered Baltistān, or Little Tibet, and Hāji Khān
the fort and district of Loharkot, both of which provinces had
revolted. Adam Khān returned first to the capital, and, as the
brothers were clearly seeking an opportunity to measure their
strength against each other, his father detained him at Srīnagar,
Hāji Khān then returned from Loharkot with the object of attacking
both his father and his brother, who marched from the capital to
meet him. He was defeated, and fled to Bhimbar, where the main
road from the plains of the Punjab enters the Kashmir mountains,
and Zain-ul-Abidin celebrated his victory with a ferocity foreign
to his character by massacring his prisoners and erecting a column
of their heads.
Adam Khān now remained at Srinagar with his father for six
years, participating largely in the administration of the kingdom.
He slew many of the adherents of his fugitive brother and per-
secuted their families. At this period Kashmir suffered from a
severe famine, and the king was obliged temporarily to reduce the
land tax, in some districts to one-fourth and in others to one-seventh
of its normal amount.
After the famine Adam Khān was entrusted with the govern-
ment of the Kamrāj district, but complaints of his rapacity and
cruelty earned for him from his father a rebuke which provoked
him to rebellion, and he assembled his troops and marched against
his father. Zain-ul-'Ābidin succeeded in recalling him to a sense
of his duty, and permitted him to return to Kamrāj, but recalled
from exile at the same time Hāji Khān. The news of his brother's
recall again provoked Ādam Khān to rebel, and he attacked and
slew the governor of Sopur and occupied that city. His father
marched against him and defeated him, but he remained encamped
on the northern bank of the Jhelum, opposite to the royal camp,
until he heard of Hāji Khān's arrival at Bāramūla, when he fled to
the Indus. Zain-ul-'Abidin and his second son returned to Srīnagar,


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284
[CH.
THE KINGDOM OF KASHMIR
where Hāji Khān atoned by faithful service for past disobedience
and was rewarded by being designated heir to the throne.
Shortly after this time the king fell sick, and a faction persuaded
Ādam Khăn to return to the capital, but his arrival at Srinagar
was distasteful to his father, and he was ill received. Others, with
better intent, endeavoured to bring about a reconciliation between
the two elder brothers, but the attempt was foiled by Bahrām Khān,
and Ādam Khān retired to Qutb-ud-dinpur, near the city.
As the old king grew weaker his counsellors, dreading a fratri-
cidal war, begged him to abdicate in favour of one of his sons, but
he rejected their advice, and the three princes remained under
arms, It is needless to recite at length their intrigues. " Hāji Khān
was supported by his brother Bahrām, and by the majority of the
nobles, and Ādam Khān was obliged to leave Kashmir, so that
when Zain-ul-Abidin died, in November or December, 1470, Hāji
Khān ascended the throne without opposition as Haidar Shāh.
With the death of Zain-ul-Abidin the power of the royal line
founded by Shāh Mirzā declined, and the later kings were mere
puppets set up, pulled down, and set up again by factious and
powerful nobles, who were supported by their clansmen. The most
powerful and most turbulent of these tribes was the Chakk clan,
who even in the reign of Zain-ul-'Ābidin, became such a menace
to the public peace that he was obliged to expel them from the
Kashmir valley, but under his feebler successors they returned,
and, after exercising for a long time the power without the name
of royalty, eventually usurped the throne.
Haidar Shāh was a worthless and drunken wretch who entirely
neglected public business and permitted his ministers to misgovern
his people as they would. His indulgence of their misconduct was
tempered by violent outbursts of wrath which alienated them from
him, and his elder brother Adam Khān, learning of his un popularity,
returned towards Kashmir with a view to seizing the throne, but
on reaching Jammū was discouraged by the news of the death of
Hasan Kachhi and other nobles on whose support he had reckoned,
and who had been put to death on the advice of a barber named
Lūli. He remained at Jammū, and, in assisting the raja to expel
some invaders from his dominions, received a wound from the effects
of which he died.
The nobles now conspired to raise to the throne Bahrām Khān,
Haidar Shāh's younger brother, but Hasan Khān, his son, who had
been raiding the Punjab, returned to maintain his claim to the
throne, and when his father, in December, 1471, or January, 1472,
а


## p. 285 (#331) ############################################

xii ]
DECLINE OF THE ROYAL POWER
285
slipped, in a drunken fit, on a polished floor, and died of the injuries
which he received, Ahmad, Aswad, one of the most powerful of the
courtiers, caused him to be proclaimed king under the title of Hasan
Shāh.
Bahrām Khān and his son Yusuf Khān, who had intended to
contest Hasan's claim to the throne, were deserted by their troops,
and, leaving the valley of Kashmir, took refuge in the hills of Kama,
to the west of Kamrāj. Shortly afterwards a faction persuaded
them to return, but they were defeated by Hasan Shāh's army, and
both were captured. Bahrām was blinded and died within three
days of the operation.
Ahmad Aswad, who had been entitled Malik Ahmad, acquired
great influence over Hasan Shāh, who, though less apathetic than
his father, displayed little devotion to business. He sent an expe-
dition under Malik Yāri Bhat to co-operate with the troops of the
raja of Jammū in ravaging the northern districts of the Punjab,
where Tātār Khān Lodi represented the military oligarchy over
which his cousin Buhlūl presided at Delhi. The town of Sialkot
was sacked, and Malik Yāri Bhat returned with as much plunder
as enabled him to form a faction of his own, and when Hasan Shāh
required tutors and guardians for his two young sons he confided
Muhammad, the elder, to Malik Naurūz, son of Malik Ahmad, and
Husain, the younger, to Yāri Bhat. This impartiality encouraged
both factions, and their passions rose to such a height that Malik
Ahmad forfeited his master's favour by permitting his troops to
become embroiled, in the royal presence, with those of his rival,
and was thrown into prison, where he presently died.
The mother of the two young princes was a Sayyid, and the
king, after the death of Malik Ahmad, selected her father as his
minister. The Sayyids became, for a time, all powerful in the state,
Malik Yārī Bhat was imprisoned and many other nobles fled from
the valley of Kashmir. Among these was Jahāngir, chief of the
Mākū clan, who established himself in the fortress of Loharkot.
In 1489 Hasan Shāh, whose constitution had been enfeebled by
debauchery, died, and the Sayyid faction raised to the throne his
elder son, Muhammad in whose name they ruled the kingdom, but
their arrogance so exasperated the other nobles that they chose
as their candidate for the throne Fath Khān, the son of Hasan's
uncle, Adım Khān, and succeeded, before the child Muhammad
had occupied the throne for a year, in establishing Fath Shāh.
Muhammad was relegated to the women's quarters in the palace,
where he was well treated.
a


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286
(cui.
THE KINGDOM OF KASHMIR
The history of Kashmir for the next half century is no more
than a record of the strife of turbulent nobles, each with a puppet
king the least important actor on the stage, to place on the throne.
Their intrigues and conflicts are of little interest.
One solitary event during this period is worthy of record. This
was the appearance in Kashmir, during the first reign of Fath Shāh
(1489-1497) of a preacher from Tālish, on the shores of the Caspian,
named Shams-ud-din, who described himself as a disciple of Sayyid
Muhammad Nur Bakhsh of Khurāsān, and preached a strange
medley of doctrines. He named his sect Nür Bakhsh ('Enlighten-
ing'), after his master, but its tenets resembled in no way any
doctrines ever taught by Sayyid Muhammad.