Muntakhab al-tawarikh 43.1

Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 43.1

Language: English

43.1.1

Verse. There where the heart-ravishing one used to toy with her friends in the garden, The wolf and the fox had their home, and the rhinoceros and vulture their abode.

This state of affairs also led to a diminution of the public funds. Among other sources of loss to the treasury was this that the Sultan enacted that the muhar of copper should become current on an equal footing with the muhar of silver, and any one who shewed reluctance to receive it used to be instantly punished severely. This enactment led to many corrupt practices in the kingdom as a matter of course, and unscrupulous and contumacious rascals used everywhere in their own houses to set up mints and stamp coins, and taking them into the cities used to purchase with them silver and horses, weapons and fine things, and thus rose to great wealth and dignity. But inasmuch as copper had no value as a currency in places at a distance and one tanka of gold rose to the value of fifty or sixty copper coins, the Sultan perceived the worthlessness of the copper coinage, and issued an edict to the effect that every one who had in his house a copper tanka should, if he brought them to the public treasury, receive for them golden tankas in equal value. The people profited greatly by this arrangement, till at last copper became copper and silver silver, and those copper tankas were lying in heaps in Tughlaqabad as late as the time of Sultan Mubarak Shah according to the author of the Tarikh-i-Alfi, and had no more value than stones. God knows the truth.

43.1.3

And in the year 738 A.H. (1337 A.D.) he despatched a force of eighty thousand cavalry under eminent commanders to capture the mountain of Himachal, which stands between the country of Chin and Hindustan, and which they also call Qarachal, with orders to leave garrisons in each successive place so that the line of communications for transport and supplies might remain open and the road of return might be easy. After the entry of this army into this country, by reason of the peculiar features of that mountain, on which heavy clouds form and rain pours in torrents at the sound of men’s voices and their shouts and the neighing of horses, in consequence also of the narrowness of the paths and the scarcity of fodder, the patrols were not able to stand to their posts, and the hill tribes getting the upper hand drove back the army, and falling upon the rear of the force killed many of them with poisoned arrows and stone showers, and sending the most of them to the eternal world enabled them to attain martyrdom, taking the rest prisoners. For a long time they wandered helplessly among the mountains, and those who escaped after countless hardships the Sultan visited with condign punishment. And after this calamity so great an army never gathered round the Sultan and all that money expended in their pay was thrown away.

43.1.4

And in the year 739 A.H. (1338 A.D.) Bahram Khan Governor of Sunargaon died, and Malik Fakhru-d-Din Silahdar became rebellious and assumed the title of Sultan, and having fought with Qadr Khan the ruler of Lakhnauti in conjunction with Malik Husamu-d-Din Aburija the Mustaufi, and ‘Izzu-d-Din Yahya A‘zamu-l-Mulk, was defeated, and all his sources of grandeur, his treasure and his retainers fell into the hands of Qadr Khan; and when the rainy season had arrived the horses belonging to Qadr Khan died, and he had collected much money and had stored it up in heaps in his own house with the object of presenting it to the Sultan. In spite of all that Husamu-d-Din Aburija could do to dissuade him from amassing wealth and inducing men to covet it and thus leading to disorder, Qadr Khan would not listen, till eventually the very result predicted by Husamu-d-Din ensued; Malik Fakhru-d-Din returned, and the soldiery of Husamu-d-Din joined him and killed their own master, and all the money fell to the lot of Fakhru-d-Din. The absolute control of Sunargaon was given him; he appointed one Mukhlis a servant of his, to Lakhnauti, and ‘Ali Mubarak Inspector of Troops; Qadr Khan put Mukhlis to death and aspired at independence, writing diplomatic letters to the court of the Sultan. The Sultan appointed Malik Yusuf, but he died by the way, and the Sultan, having other affairs to attend to, omitted to send any one else to that district.

43.1.5

At this juncture ‘Ali Mubarak, by reason of the enmity he bore to Fakhru-d-Din, displayed the insignia of royalty, and assumed the title of Sultan ‘Alau-d-Din, and Malik Ilyas Haji who was a man of family and retinue, after a few days put ‘Alau-d-Din to death with the assistance of some of the Amirs and Maliks of Lakhnauti, and himself assumed the title of Sultan Shamsu-d-Din. And in the year 741 A.H. (1340 A.D.) Sultan Muhammad having left with the object of reducing Sunargaon, seized Fakhru-d-Din and brought him prisoner to Lakhnauti, where he put him to death and returned. Shamsu-d-Din became absolute monarch of that region, and the kingly power and authority over that country descended for a lengthened period in the hands of his sons, and never again returned to the possession of Sultan Muhammad ‘Adil.

43.1.6

And in the year 742 A.H. (1341 A.D.) Saiyyid Hasan Kaithali the father of Malik Ibrahim, a feoffee of the Sultan, who was generally known as Hasan Kangu, and who eventually obtained the sovereignty of the Deccan with the title of ‘Alau-d-Din Bahman Shah, fermented a revolt in Ma‘bar on the grounds of the severity of the Sultan's governors, and the innovations introduced in the laws, and the number of executions, and gained over to his own party nearly all the great men of Dihli who had been appointed to that district. He put to death the leaders of the opposite party. The Sultan proceeded from Lakhnauti to Deogir for the purpose of quelling that disturbance, and on his arrival at Tilang was taken ill, and was forced to return by uninterrupted marches to Dihli. He left Qutlugh Khan in Daulatabad; thus the rebellion in Ma‘bar remained unchecked and Hasan’s influence increased rapidly. And in the year 743 (1342 A.D.) they put to death by treachery Malik Halajun and Kul Chandar Khakhar and Malik Tatar Khani, the Governor of Lahore, and when Khwaja-i Jahan came up against them, they came out to do battle with him, but the scoundrels suffered a severe defeat and were sorely punished.

43.1.7

And in the year 744 A.H. (1343 A.D.) the Sultan passing through Samrati and Samrana gave orders to the Saiyyids and all the Muslims in opposition to the advice of Hasan Kanku, for a general massacre, but he kept the chief men of those districts in their posts, conveyed them to the suburbs of the city, and conferred upon them villages and districts, and bestowing many rich robes of honour, and purses of gold gave them a place of abode there; and when a general famine arose he issued an edict that any one who wished should proceed to the eastern part of Hindustan and spend the days of dearness and scarcity there, without let or hindrance, and in the same way if any person wishing to give up living in Daulatabad should return to Dihli, no one would molest him. Moreover in that year so many people arrived in Hindustan from the countries of Khurasan and ‘Iraq and Samarqand, in the hope of receiving the bounty of the Sultan, that hardly any other races were to be seen in that country. And in this year Haji Sa‘id Sarsari arrived from Egypt bearing the diploma of the Khalifah with a banner and a robe of honour, conferring upon the Sultan the title of Nasir-i-Amir-l-Mu’minin from the Khalifah of the Abbasides who were still extant. The Sultan ordered decorations and illuminations in the city, and proceeded with all the Shaikhs and Saiyyids and his retainers to give him an honourable reception, then, dismounting, he kissed the feet of Haji Sa‘id and joined his retinue.

43.1.8

He then re-established the Friday prayers and the ‘Id, which all this time he had kept in abeyance waiting for the orders and sanction of the Khalifah, he read the Khutbah in the name of the Khalifah, and struck out the names of those kings who had not received authority from the Dar-ul-Khilafah, with the exception of Sultan Mahmud. He then gave largesse of money and valuables to such an extent that his treasury became exhausted, he also despatched to Egypt a precious jewel, the like of which he had not in his treasury, by the hands of Haji Barq'ai, with other rarities and presents, and having become, in his own opinion the rightful Khalifah, and keeping constantly placed before him the Qur'an and the honorary presents and the patent of the Khalifah, would issue commands as though he were the Khalifah, and used to say "The Khalifah says" this or that. He compelled the people to profess allegiance to the Khalifah, and went to Sarkdawan which is in the vicinity of Shamsabad, and on two or three occasions in Bariij and Kanbbayat also he received patents from the Khalifah, and a second time the Makhdumzada Baghdadi came to visit him, and the Sultan went on foot to Palam to receive him, and when he saw him from afar off he advanced to meet him, and seated him upon the throne beside himself and made over to him without reservation, the city of Siri with the garden and the palace and all the buildings.