Muntakhab al-tawarikh 44: SULTĀN FĪROZ SHĀH BIN RAHĪB
Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 44
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SULTĀN FĪROZ SHĀH BIN RAHĪB
44.1.1
Who was the brother’s son of Sultān Ghiyāsu-d-Dīn Tughlaq and uncle’s son of Sultān Muhammad ‘Ādil, in accordance with the authority appointing him the heir-apparent of Sultan Muhammad ascended the throne of sovereignty and state, by the consent of the chiefs of the Shaikhs and the leading Amirs and Vazirs in the aforesaid year, in the vicinity of Thatha. It is said that the Makhdumzada-i-‘Abbasi of Baghdad, and Shaikh Nasiru-d-Din Chiragh-i-Dihli may God sanctify their sacred resting places were the cause of the allegiance thus sworn to Sultan Firoz, and it is currently reported that [Makhdum Shaikh Nasiru-d-Din Chiragh-i-Dihli may God sanctify his resting place] had secretly made Malik Firoz King during the absence of Sultan Muhammad. Some of the Muftis informed the Sultan of this, and his orders were that those two, master and disciple were to be taken in confinement from Dihli and brought to the camp. This was carried out, and Malik Firoz in some way or other gained over the guards, and made his way, just as he was, to the neighbourhood of Hansi to Shaikh Badru-d-Din who was one of the descendants of Shaikh Jamalu-d-Din of Hansi may God sanctify their resting-places. That holy man exclaimed “Great God! a man has been made prisoner and taken off to be Sultan, and he wots not of it”!
44.1.2
When they arrived at the camp of the Sultan in the vicinity of Thatha and the tidings of the arrival of these two holy men reached him he gave orders that they were to be put to death the instant of their arrival, and with that he lapsed into a state of intoxication. A son of his had gone on a hunting expedition, accordingly when the guards saw this state of affairs, they liberated the holy Shaikh and the Sultan; then Sultan Firoz by the consent of the nobles raised the banner of sovereignty and got the Sultan’s son out of the way by some crafty scheme, and after he had returned to Dihli he made the pargana of Chaurasi in the district of Hansi a present to the monastery and rest-house of Shaikh Badru-d Din, whom I have mentioned. This is what I have heard — God alone knows the real truth. They also say that Sultan Muhammad ibn Tughlaq Shah took the reverend Shaikh under his protection, till one day the Shaikh, may God sanctify his resting-place, tied a knot upon one of the Sultan’s robes and said “Nasiru-d-Din fastens and God opens” and that very day the Sultan died. Verse The only kingdom which sorrows not for the affliction of its decline, Hear my words freely spoken, is the kingdom of the darvesh.
44.1.3
However this may be, the Sultan Firoz at the outset of his reign issued this order that the Moghuls who had obtained influence over the soldiery should be brought apart from the camp, and inasmuch as their mutinous conduct had passed all bounds, the Sultan himself saw to their safe custody, and punishing those Moghuls effectually put a stop to their interfering with the discipline of the army. Verse Far better than giving a Moghul a hint to plunder Is it that you should rejoice him with a sight of Paradise.
44.1.4
Then he brought his army in safety into security, and proceeding by way of Siwistan made for Dihli by continuous marches, and Ahmad Aiyaz, styled Khwaja-i-Jahan, who in the absence of the Sultan had urged the claims of an obscure child to the throne, and had given him the title of Ghiyasu-d-Din Mahmud Shah, appointing himself Vakil, after considerable argument, and much correspondence, by reason of his helplessness and dejection, by the mediation of Ashrafu-l-Mulk and the other nobles and grandees, came with bared head, casting his turban on his neck, to the neighbourhood of Hansi, and had an interview with the Sultan, who washed out the writing of his fault with the water of forgiveness, and made him over to the Kotwal of Hansi, and as for the party who had been his companions in this faction and opposition, he dispersed them all in different directions. At Sarsuti tidings arrived of the birth of Shahzada Fath Khan, whose son eventually became Tughlaq Shah, and the news of the death of Taghi also reached him there from Gujrat; and on the second of Rajab in the aforesaid year, he graced the throne of Dihli by his accession and made a fresh distribution of appointments. And in the year 753 H. (1352 A.D.) he went to the Sirmur hills for the purpose of relaxation and sport, and returned thence, and in the month of Rajab of this year Shahzada Muhammad Khan, who eventually obtained the title of Nasiru-d-Din Muhammad Shah, was born.
44.1.5
And in the year 754 H. (1353 A.D.) he returned from Kalanor whither he had gone on a hunting expedition, and built a lofty building on the banks of the river Sarsuti and [gave it to Shaikh Sadru-d-Din Multani, may God sanctify his resting place, the Shaikhu-l-Islam] and Malik Qubul Naib Vazir he made Khan-i-Jahan, and at the close of this year he went to Lakhnauti with the intention of putting down the rebellion of Haji Ilyas who had assumed the title of Shamsu-d-Din. He accordingly took refuge in the fort of Ikdala, which is the strongest of the forts of Bangala, and after a desultory defence fought for a very short time, and threw his elephants and his material of war, with his servants and retainers to the winds, and all of them fell into the hands of the Sultan who, having made peace with him because of the rainy season, retraced his steps. And in the year 755 H. (1354 A.D.) having crossed by the ford of Manikpur he arrived at Dihli and built Firuzabad on the banks of the Jauna. And in the year 756 H. (1355 A.D.) he went to Dipalpur and bringing a canal from the river Satlaj led it as far as the Jahjar which is forty-eight kroh from there.
44.1.6
In the year 757 A.H. (1356 A.D.) he conducted a stream from the river Jamna from the vicinity of Mandui (Mandili) and Sarur, and having led seven other canals into it took it to Hansi and thence to Ras where he built a fortress which he called Hisar Firoza, and dug a spacious reservoir beneath the palace which was in that fortress, and filled it with water from the canal; he also led another stream from the canal of the Ghaghar underneath the fortress of Sarsuti, and from thence to Birni Khera, and in the space between them he built a fortress and named it Firozabad. At the end of this year on the occasion of the ‘Idu-z Zaha a robe of honour arrived for the Sultan from the Khalifah Al-Hakim bi-amr-illahi Abul Fath Abu Bakr ibn Abil Rabi‘ Suleiman from the Darul Khilafat of Egypt, with a patent conferring upon him the whole of Hindustan; and in this same year messengers from Haji Ilyas the ruler of Lakhnauti, having arrived bearing splendid presents and offerings, were distinguished with countless favours and kindnesses, after which they returned, and it was ordered that in return for these presents (handsome) elephants should be sent. The whole of Hindustan was now in possession of Sultan Firoz with the exception of Lakhnauti, which was held by Haji Ilyas, who had come to terms with the Sultan, and with the exception also of the Deccan, which, after the death of Sultan Muhammad, had come into the possession of Hasan Kangu.
44.1.7
And in the year 759 H. (1358 A.D.) having gone to Samana, he appointed Malik Qabul Sarbarahdar to proceed against the Mughuls who had arrived on the frontier of Dipalpur. The Mughuls upon hearing particulars of the Sultan’s army turned back and went to their own country, and the Sultan returned to Dihli; and in this year the Sultan despatched some Arabian horses and foreign fruits with all kinds of choice presents by the hands of the messengers of Sultan Shamsu-d-Din of Lakhnauti who had arrived at his Court, bearing many presents, and at Bihar they heard that the Sultan Shamsu-d-Din had died, and Sultan Sikandar his son had ascended the throne in the room of his father, so they sent the horses in accordance with orders to the Court at Bihar and conducted the messengers back to Karra.
44.1.8
And in the year 760 H., the Sultan having formed the design of attacking Lakhnauti with a vast army, left Khan-i-Jahan in Dehli, and after deputing Tatar Khan, that is to say Malik Tatar, to proceed from Samana to Multan, set out and passed the rainy season in Zafarabad, and at this place, A'zam Malik Shaikh-zada-i-Bustami who had become intimate during his absence with Malik Ahmad Aiyaz, and by the orders of the Sultan had been banished, brought from the Darul Khilafat of Egypt a robe of honour for the Sultan and received the title of A'zam Khan. Saiyyid was sent with the messengers of Lakhnauti to the Sultan Sikandar at Lakhnauti, and Sikandar despatched five fine elephants with other costly presents and offerings to the Court. The Sultan when the rains were over leaving Zafarabad shaped his course for Lakhnauti, and while on the way set apart the requirements of kingship, and elephants and a store of rubies which at that time were held in great estimation, for the Shahzada Fath Khan, they also struck coins in his name. When they arrived at the confines of Panduah, Sultan Sikandar shut himself up in the castle of Ikdala whither his father had been in the habit of going for refuge, and after the Sultan had laid siege to that fortress Sultan Sikandar asked for quarter, and sent thirty-seven elephants with other costly presents as his humble service.
44.2.1
And in the year 761 H. (1359-60 A.D.) the Sultan proceeded by continuous marches by way of Panduah to Jaunpur where he spent the rains, and at the close of this year he marched with a lightly equipped force by way of Behar towards Jajnagar, and sent his elephants and baggage to Karra; by uninterrupted marches arrived at Satgarh the Rai of which place withdrew, and thence he came to Baranasi which was the abode of the Chief Rai, and crossed the river Mahanadi, and the Rai of Baranasi having taken to flight made with all haste for Tilang. The Sultan pursued him, part of the way turned back to hunt, and arrived at the country of Rai Parihan Dev who sent a present of thirty-two elephants and other costly offerings. From thence the Sultan coming to Padmavati and Baram Talao which was the haunt of elephants of enormous size, engaged in hunting them and killed two [and they took the other three alive] and Malik ‘Ain-ul-Mulk wrote a quatrain upon this. Verse. The Shah who of right assumed a lasting kingdom Seized the ends of the earth like the glorious Sun To hunt elephants he came to Jajnagar, Two he killed and thirty-three he took alive. And thence by way of Karra he returned with all possible haste.
44.2.2
248. And in the year 762 H. (1360-61 A.D.) victorious and triumphant he came to Dehli, and after a short time he gave orders for an expedition to the river Salima, which is a river issuing from a large mound of sand and falling into the river Sutlej which they also call Satlaz. The Salima is also called the Sarsuti, and this river consists of two large streams which are always flowing, and situated between these two streams there is a high mound or dyke, and if this were dug through the water of the Sarsuti would flow into this stream, and it flows through Sihrind and Mansurpur and Samana. The Sultan gave orders for fifty thousand men with spades to be collected and to occupy themselves in digging through that barrier. Out of it they obtained many bones of elephants and human beings. Every bone belonging to the arm of a man was three gaz (in length). They were partly converted into remained bone dry as they were. That stream however could not be diverted, and in the meantime he made Sirhind and fourteen parganas into one district, which he put under the control of Ziaul Mulk Shamsu-d-Din Aburija, and ordered them to build a fort thereon and called it Firuzpur which is in fact Sirhind, and the Sultan from thence, went to Nagarkot whose Raja after a siege and some fighting came in and submitted and met with royal treatment.
44.2.3
The Sultan gave to Nagarkot the name of Muhammadabad after the deceased Sultan Muhammad, and when they brought the Sultan ice on that mountain fort he said, “when Sultan Muhammad who is now dead and whom I regarded as a god, arrived in this place they brought him a sharbat mixed with ice, but he had no inclination for that beverage because I was not with him.” Accordingly they made an iced sharbat with several elephant and camel loads of cane-sugar which was carried with Sultan Firuz, and he ordered them to read the whole of the Qur’an for the soul of Sultan Muhammad and distribute the sharbat among the entire army. Under these circumstances they informed the Sultan that from the time when Sultan Sikandar Zul Qarnayn arrived at this place the people of that city have preserved an image of Nushaba and keep it in a room, where they worship it. There are one thousand three hundred books of the Brahmans of olden time in that idol temple which is commonly known as Jawalamukhi, a flame of fire rises from it towards heaven and is not to be extinguished, No, not by thousands of mashks of water. The Sultan having summoned the Brahmans, ordered some of his translators to translate some of these books into Persian. Among these translators ‘Izzu-d-Dīn Khālid Khānī, who was one of the poets and mutribs of the time of Fīrūz wrote in verse a translation of a book on the risings and settings of the seven planets, and their good and evil import, and of auguries and omens.
44.2.4
Its name is called up to the present day Dalāil-i-Fīrūzī, and the author of this Muntakhab read it in Lāhor in the year 1000 H. (1591-92 A.D.) from beginning to end. It is moderately good, neither free from beauties nor defects; and I saw some other books before that also which were translated in the name of Sultān Fīrūz, some of them on the Science of Pingal that is to say on Music, and the kinds of Akhāra which they call Pātur bāzī, and some on other subjects. I found most of them to be profitless, and their paucity of interest is for the most part due to the triviality of their subject matter, and the difficulty of explaining it, as is evident. The Sultān leaving there proceeded to Thattha, and the Jām, by which title the ruler of Thattha is called, entrenched himself so that the Sultān was induced by the vehemence of the rainy season, and the amount of water which was out, as well as by the dearness of gram, to abandon the siege and make with all haste for Gujrat, which country he placed under the control of Zafar Khan, then having deposed Nizamu-l Mulk and appointed him Na'ib Wazir of Dihli, he returned to Thatha, and on this occasion the Jam, asking for quarter had an interview with the Sultan, and with all the Zamindars accompanied him to Dihli, and from there took his leave after being kindly treated and confirmed on his former footing as ruler of Thatha. In the year 772 H.
44.2.5
(1370 A.D.) Khan-i-Jahan the Vazir, died, and his son Juna Shah obtained that title, and the book Chandaban which is a Masnavi in the Hindi language relating the loves of Lurak and Chanda, a lover and his mistress, a very graphic work, was put into verse in his honour by Maulana Da'ud. There is no need for me to praise it because of its great fame in that country, and Makhdum Shaikh Taqi-u'd-Din Wa'iz Rabbani used to read some occasional poems of his from the pulpit, and the people used to be strangely influenced by hearing them, and when certain learned men of that time asked the Shaikh saying, what is the reason for this Hindi Masnavi being selected? he answered, the whole of it is divine truth and pleasing in subject, worthy of the ecstatic contemplation of devout lovers, and conformable to the interpretation of some of the Ayats of the Qur'an, and the sweet singers of Hindustan. Moreover by its public recitation human hearts are taken captive. In the year 773 H. (1371-72 A.D.) Zafar Khan died and the control of that province was confirmed to his son.
44.2.6
Rai and Governors and Commissioners, arrived at the capital. Summoning Maliku-l-Sharq Mardān Daulat, who held the title of Nasirul Mulk, from the district of Karra and Mahoba, he appointed him to the Multan district, with a view to close the door to Mughal intrigues. He then confirmed Karra and Mahoba together with all their dependencies upon the son of Maliku-l-Sharq Sulaiman the son of Malik Mardan, whose adopted son was Sayyid Khizr Khan, the grandfather of Sultan ‘Alau-d-Din Badaoni, who eventually succeeded to the kingdom of Dihli. And in the year 782 H. (1380 A.D.) he raised the standard for an expedition with the intention of taking vengeance on the Khukhar Chief of Kaithar, who had invited and put to death by treachery both Sayyid Muhammad and Sayyid ‘Alau-d-Din his brother, who were Governors of Badaon. The rebellious Khukhar fled towards the hills of Kumaon; accordingly after laying waste and plundering the whole of his country, he left Malik Khitab the Afghan in the country of Sambhal to deal with the rebellion of Khukhar, and turned back after having handed over Badaon to Malik Qabul; Qabulpura, which at present is a quarter of Badaon lying outside the fort, is called after his name; also he used to come every year for the purpose of sport and lay utterly waste the Kaithar country.
44.2.7
And in the year 787 H. he built a fortified town in a place called Babuli, which is seven krohs from Badaon and is better while the Firuz-Amirs and the mass of the people, in the month of Rajab 789 H. (1387 A.D.) he started with a strong force to attack Khan-i-Jahan, and having wounded him plundered his house and family. Khan-i-Jahan fled with a few followers towards Mewat, and took refuge there with one Kuka a zamindar, and the Shahzada destroyed certain of the Amirs who had been well disposed to Khan-i-Jahan. Subsequently to this the Shahzada became Vazir with full uncontrolled powers, and the Sultan having given him all the apparatus of royalty, elephants and horses, servants and insignia, and conferring upon him the title of Nasiru-d-Din wa-ud-Dunya Muhammad Shah, in the month of Sha'ban of the above mentioned year raised him to the throne, and betook himself to devotion and worship of the Most High, so that in the Friday prayers the names of both kings used to be mentioned. Sultan Muhammad ordered upon a new scale the appointments and salaries of the Amirs, and confirmed the distribution of districts, and having given Malik Ya'qub the title of Sikandar Khan appointed him to attack Khan-i-Jahan in Mewat; Kuka Chauhan a Zamindar of Mewat bound Khan-i-Jahan and sent him to Sikandar Khan, who put him to death, and having sent his head as a present to the Court of Muhammad Shah set out for Gujrat.
44.3.1
And in the year 790 H. (1388 A.D.) Muhammad Shah arrived on a hunting expedition at the Sirmur hills, and Malik Mufarrah who was in Gujrat, in unison with the Amirs of hundreds put Sikandar Khan to death, and the whole of his army being utterly despoiled came with them to Dihli; Shah, returning from the hill country, with the great carelessness which characterises youth took no thought for avenging Sikandar Khan, but spent his time in enjoyment and luxury, so that the affairs of the kingdom fell into great disorder; and the Sultan’s soldiers by reason of their enmity and jealousy against Samau-d-Din and Shamsu-d-Din, who were the prefects of Muhammad Shah, set themselves up in opposition to them, and assembled in a spacious plain, and stoned and wounded Malik Zahiru-d-Din Lahori whom the Shahzada had sent to admonish them. He came in that state before Muhammad Shah and informed him of what had happened, whereupon the Shahzada having collected forces set out to do battle with that party. The army of the Shahzada was victorious at first, and bore back the army of the Sultan, so that they took refuge with the Sultan Firuz. The battle raged fiercely for two days and when the Sultan’s body servants found themselves in straits, they bore the Sultan, who was little more than a puppet, to the field of battle and displayed him there, and when the troops of Muhammad Shah and his elephant drivers set eyes upon Sultan Firuz they left fighting and came over to the Sultan.
44.3.2
Muhammad Shah with the small following which remained to him, went towards the Sirmur hills, and the army of the Sultan, which was near a hundred thousand cavalry and infantry, fell upon the camp of Muhammad Shah, and entering his private apartments sacked them and swept them away. The Sultan at the instigation of some interested persons, unwillingly deposed Muhammad Shah from his position as heir apparent, and conferring upon Tughlaq Khan the son of Fath Khan, his grandson, the title of Tughlaq Shah raised him to the position of heir-apparent. Tughlaq Shah beheaded Mir Hasan the son-in-law of the Sultan, who was a special favourite of Muhammad Shah, and having exiled Ghalib Khan the governor of Samana, sent him to the country of Bihar. On the sixteenth of Ramazan in the year 790 H. Sultan Firuz attained deliverance from the tortures of existence, and hastened to the world of permanence, and was buried on the borders of the Hauz-i-Khāṣṣ, over his tomb a lofty dome was erected which is well known. They devised two chronograms for the date of his death, Wafāt-i-Fīrūz and Naql-i-Fīrūz Shāh, the second of these is deficient by one unit. The duration of his reign was thirty-eight years and some months.
44.3.3
All good fortune is till death and no longer, In the dust one man is no better than another. When a drop is thrown into the river It cannot again be recognized. The nature of the Heavens is to overthrow, It is of no use to oppose the decree of Fate. Who knows with the blood of what hearts This stirred up dust has been mixed? Every road, if the wise man is not blinded, Is the hide of the elk, and shagreen from the wild ass. Among the poets of the reign of Fīrūz Shāh and his boon companions, is Malik Aḥmad, the son of Amīr Khusrau, may God have mercy upon him, and although there is no famous anthology of his, still there are some imitations of the writings of the earlier poets which are entered in the writings of some of the learned men, and are well-known. Among them is an imitation of this poem of Zahīr: [Arabic/Persian text] Hail! thou whose cap of empire snatched in its exaltation the cap of empire of the heaven, by craftiness. And it is said that in the first hemistich we should read [Arabic/Persian text] Hail to thee! the blow of whose wrath, in thy supreme power and in place of (snatched) in the last hemistich we should read (thrown) ] ; and another is this verse This was extremely easy, that he asked for red sulphur : If he had asked bread from the Khwaja, what could I have done ? which was thus written, This would have been very easy had he asked for the water of life. Another is in this verse,
44.3.4
If the sky calls the dust of your door musk, do not grieve, For the jewel's worth is not affected by the abuse of the purchaser. The poet had written, If Jupiter calls the gravel at your door rubies, do not grieve. And some of his poems also I have seen, but I remember none of them, and since Malik Ahmad was the real son of Amir Khusru, and reminded them of his father, the King and his companions and the learned men of the age were greatly pleased with these imitations and thought them very valuable. Another poet was Maulana Mazhar Jurra, whose descendants are still living in the city of Lakhnauti and have been highly thought of and respected from generations back. There is an anthology of his consisting of fifteen or sixteen thousand verses, but inasmuch as he was more of a Mulla than a poet, his poetry is not so highly esteemed by the learned, although were they to search, they would bring to light many a good thing in the way of rarity (of expression). Another (poet) is Qazi ‘Abid who wrote this poem— My friends say, ‘Abid with this fine nature of yours How is it that you have not written more poems and odes? To whom shall I address poems and odes, since in our time No suitable lover and no generous patron has arisen. This is a translation of the following poem in Arabic—
44.3.5
They say, thou hast given up writing poems, I reply, yes! perforce; The door of claims and causes is closed. The land is empty—there is no benefactor from whom to hope for favours, nor is there any beauty to love. And the strange thing is that though no one will buy poetry Still in spite of this they appropriate and steal it.
Linked texts (1)
- Muntakhab al-tawārīkh — ʿAbd al-Qādir Badāʾūnī 1590, Persian