Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 101.11

101.11

Among these believers was Jumal Khan, commonly called Mehdvy, and who was considered as the leader of that sect in the service of Ismael Nizam Shah. He had at different times distinguished himself by his personal courage, and particularly on the occasion of the accession of the King, who was now a mere pageant in the hands of this wily chieftain. He commenced his power by persecuting all those not of his own persuasion, and by promoting to high offices, and retaining about his person, such as were Mehdvies. Among the discontented nobles were the chiefs of Berar, who, being at some distance from the capital, released Sulabut Khan, who had long been confined in the fort of Kehrla, on the Berar frontier. They joined his standard to oppose the Mehdvies, whom the Berar chiefs determined to expel from Ahmudnuggur; for which purpose they marched towards the capital. At the same period, also, Dilawur Khan, the Regent of Beejapoor, during the minority of Ibrahim Adil Shah, marched from the southward for the same purpose. Jumal Khan, undismayed at this double invasion, and encouraged by his adherents, marched, in the first place, against Sulabut Khan, and gave him a total defeat at the town of Peitun, on the Godavery, obliging him to retreat to Boorhanpoor. Thence he countermarched to oppose the Beejapoories, whom he encountered at the village of Ashty, where the two armies halted in the vicinity of each other for fifteen days, without making any hostile movement.