Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 105: AHMUD, THE SON OF SHAH TAHIR.
History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India (Briggs) 105
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AHMUD, THE SON OF SHAH TAHIR.
105.1
As Yekhlas Khan and his adherents, with the other chiefs, had by their folly and imprudence ruined the thoughtless young man, Ibrahim Nizam Shah, Meean Munjoo, arriving at Ahmudnuggur, took possession of the treasury and fortress. Upon the arrival of Yekhlas Khan and the other officers, Meean Munjoo sent for them into the fort, to consider the most advisable plan for conducting the government. Most of the Abyssinians espoused the cause of Chand Beeby, aunt to the late king, and proposed that the King's only son Bahadur, an infant in arms, should be proclaimed under her regency. Meean Munjoo, deprecating this plan, it was agreed that Ahmud, said to be descended from the Nizam Shahies, then at Dowlutabad, should be placed on the throne; and accordingly a formal deputation was sent there with great pomp, to bring Ahmud the son of Shah Tahir, who was crowned on the 10th of Zeehuj, A. H. 1003, and the Khootba read in the name of the twelve Imams. The chiefs divided almost the whole of the kingdom into estates for themselves; and having removed Bahadur, the late king's orphan son, from the charge of his aunt, sent him by force to the fortress of Chawund. Shortly afterwards it was discovered that Ahmud Shah was not of the Nizam Shahy family, and that his pretensions to the crown were unfounded. On which Yekhlas Khan, and the other Abyssinians, repented of their consenting to his accession. The following is the true account of this youth's pedigree.
105.2
When Boorhan Nizam Shah the First, son of Ahmud Nizam Shah, died, and was succeeded by his son (Hoossein Nizam Shah), his five brothers, 1. Mahomed Khoodabunda, 2. Shah Ally, 3. Mahomed Bakur, 4. Abdool Kadur, 5. Shah Heidur, concluding that they should fall victims to the jealousy of their brother on the throne, fled the kingdom. In the latter end of the reign of Moortuza Nizam Shah, a person calling himself Shah Tahir, arrived at Dowlutabad, giving out that Mahomed Khoodabunda died on a certain day in Bengal, and that he (Shah Tahir) was his own begotten son, and that being reduced to distress, he had come into the Deccan. The nobles of Moortuza Nizam Shah, desirous of ascertaining the fact, represented the circumstance to the King, and particularly to the famous Sulabut Khan. The facts were not then satisfactorily cleared up, owing to the distance of Bengal, and with reference to the period which had elapsed; but as Shah Tahir claimed royal descent, and might one day set up pretensions to the throne, he was confined in a fortress. Some time afterwards persons of respectability, acquainted with the late Prince Khoodabunda, were sent to Agra to Boorhan Nizam Shah, afterwards King of Ahmudnuggur, but then at Akbur Padshah's court, in order to ascertain the fact. That prince refuted Shah Tahir's story, by stating that his uncle, the Prince Khoodabunda, died in his (Boorhan Nizam's) house; that his family, male and female, who were still alive, were at present with him at Agra;
105.3
and if any person had stated himself to be the son of the Prince Khoodabunda, the assertion was false, and the individual an impostor. The minister Sulabut Khan, however, said, that as this person had declared himself to be the son of Prince Khoodabunda, it would be difficult to persuade the people of the fraud; and it would always give him a plea on which to found pretensions to the crown; it therefore appeared advisable that he should be confined in some fort for life. Shah Tahir was accordingly imprisoned, and died some years afterwards, leaving a son whose name was Ahmud, and whose claim to affinity to the blood royal was supported by Meean Munjoo, who proposed his elevation, as we have seen. Yekhlas Khan, with the Movullids and Abyssinians, when they discovered the truth, deserted his cause; and Meean Munjoo, with the Deccanies, encamped in a large body on the plain of the Kala Chubootra, near the fort of Ahmudnuggur. Meean Munjoo despatched his son Meean Hussun, with seven hundred horse, to disperse the mob under Yekhlas Khan; and himself, accompanied by Ahmud, went upon a cavalier, from whence they could see the result. The two parties engaged, and the struggle was long doubtful, till a shot from the insurgents striking the King's canopy occasioned great confusion in the fort. The people exclaimed that he was killed, which being reiterated from the walls, soon spread through the engaging armies. Meean Hussun immediately took to flight, and threw himself into the fort;
105.4
while Yekhlas Khan's party, gaining confidence, advanced, and laid siege to the place, both by a close blockade and regular approaches; at the same time he sent a message to the governor of Dowlutabad to release Nehung Khan, the Abyssinian, and Hubbush Khan Movullid, who had been in close confinement ever since the reign of Boorhan Nizam Shah II. This order was immediately complied with; not so the order which he sent to Chawund for the delivery of the Prince Bahadur into his hands, with which the governor refused to comply, without the express command of Meean Munjoo. Yekhlas Khan, in the mean time, procuring a child of the same age in the bazar of Ahmudnuggur, proclaimed him as the descendant and lawful heir of the late Ibrahim Nizam Shah, and by this means collected between ten and twelve thousand cavalry. Meean Munjoo, alarmed at the progress which Yekhlas Khan and the Abyssinians made, wrote in a fit of desperation a letter to the Prince Moorad Mirza, the son of Akbur Padshah, then in Guzerat, to march to his assistance, promising to give up the revenues of the Ahmudnuggur state to him. Moorad Mirza, who was deputed for the eventual purpose of taking advantage of the first opportunity to invade the Deccan, availed himself of the invitation; but before the letter could even have reached him, the Abyssinian chiefs fell out about the distribution of places, and a mutiny took place in Yekhlas Khan's camp.
105.5
At this period a large body of Deccanies deserted him, and joined Meean Munjoo in the fort, who now acquired such confidence from their description of Yekhlas Khan's affairs, that he marched out on the following day, being Saturday, the 25th of Mohurrum, A. H. 1004, to the neighbourhood of the Eedgah, where he attacked and completely routed the Abyssinians. Among the prisoners was the bazar boy, who had been created king. Some time after this affair, the Prince Moorad Mirza, at the head of thirty thousand Mogul and Rajpoot horse, accompanied by Raja Ally Khan, ruler of Kandeish, and Khan Khanan, one of Akbur's generals, arrived at the fort of Ahmudnuggur. Meean Munjoo, who during the interval had gained an advantage over the Abyssinians, and was in a fair way of settling matters according to his own wishes, repented of having made overtures to the Prince Moorad. He accordingly prepared to resist any attempt on the capital, and having supplied it with provisions for a long siege, and leaving Ansar Khan, one of his adherents, to defend the place, and Chand Beeby as regent of the kingdom, he took the route of Owsa, to implore the assistance of the Adil Shahy and Kootb Shahy sovereigns, and conveyed along with him the young king, Ahmud Shah. From the moment that Meean Munjoo and Ahmud Shah left the fort, Chand Beeby directed all the operations of the siege;
105.6
and in the course of a few days she procured the assassination of Ansar Khan, and proclaimed Ba- Bahadur Shah King of Ahmudnuggur, taking the whole management of affairs into her own hands, assisted by Mahomed Khan. She also induced Shumsheer Khan Abyssinian, and Afzul Khan Borishy, with many of their adherents, to join her in the fort. On the 23d of Rubbee-oos-Sany of the same year, the Prince Moorad Mirza appeared on the northern face of Ahmudnuggur; and upon his arrival at the Eedgah, a few shot passed between his line and the fort. The Mogul army encamped in the Husht-i-Behisht gardens, formed by Boorhan Nizam Shah I. The Prince Moorad immediately sent off a strong guard to protect the inhabitants of Boorhanabad, (founded by Boorhan Nizam Shah II.) with directions to treat them with lenity; and the troops were also ordered to proclaim protection to all the natives, so that they relied entirely on the good disposition of the Moguls towards them. On the second day the Prince in person went out, and, with the advice of his engineers, marked out the ground for the trenches against the fort, and allotted to each division of the army its separate post round the garrison.
105.7
On the 27th of the same month, Shahbaz Khan, one of the Mogul generals, (who was notorious for his tyranny over his troops, and cruelty to all classes of inhabitants,) mounted, and, under pretence of hunting, sallied forth towards Boorhanabad, and there, in spite of the Prince's orders, encouraged his men to plunder, himself setting the example: the consequence was, that in the course of an hour the towns of Ahmudnuggur and Boorhanabad were completely sacked. The Prince no sooner heard of this transaction than he ordered several of those actually taken with plunder to be hanged in front of the lines; but the inhabitants, no longer relying on the faith of the Prince's promises, deserted both towns during that night. At this period it must be observed, that besides the government in the fort the Nizam Shahies were divided into three other parties. First, Meean Munjoo and his minion Ahmud Shah, who were encamped on the Adil Shahy borders soliciting the assistance of Ibrahim Adil Shah. Secondly, Yekhlas Khan, in the vicinity of Dowlutabad, who had procured another child, called Moty, in that neighbourhood, declaring him to be the rightful heir to the crown. Thirdly, Nehung Khan, the Abyssinian, who went to the Beejapoor territories, and induced Shah Ally, the son of Boorhan Nizam Shah I., then upwards of seventy years of age, to emerge from his retirement at Beejapoor, and consent to assume the royal canopy.
105.8
Yekhlas Khan, with a force of twelve thousand men, was on his march to the capital when Dowlut Khan Lody, with a body of six thousand Mogul cavalry, being directed to attack him, gave him a total defeat on the banks of the Godavery; and from thence, following up his success, arrived at Peitun, at that period a flourishing town, and sacking it, he scarcely left the inhabitants sufficient to cover themselves. Chand Beeby, although she had proclaimed Bahadur Nizam Shah, yet, as he was still in confinement at Chawund, and Meeran Munjoo with the present king also in force on the Beejapoor frontier, thought it advisable to make overtures to Nehung Khan and Shah Ally to join her in the fort. Nehung Khan, accordingly, put his troops in motion, consisting of seven thousand men, and arrived within twelve miles of Ahmudnuggur, from whence he sent a messenger to ascertain the position of the Moguls, and the possibility of throwing himself into the place. Being informed that the east face of the fort was not invested, and that it was the only road by which he could make good his entry, Nehung Khan marched during the night, taking the precaution of having flankers and scouts all round him. On his arrival within about three miles of the place, he discovered that part of the Mogul camp was on the direct road pointed out for his entry.
105.9
This division had been sent during that very day from the Husht-i-Behisht, and consisted of a piquet of three thousand men under Khan Khanan, in consequence of the oversight in not investing that part of the fort having been observed on the former morning by the Prince when visiting the different posts. Nehung Khan, however, resolved to force his way; and coming upon the party unexpectedly, cut off a number of the Moguls, and upon the post being reinforced, he dashed on with a few followers into the fort. Shah Ally, unable to make his way good, attempted to retreat; but his followers, to the number of seven hundred, were cut off by the Moguls under Dowlut Khan Lody. Ibrahim Adil Shah of Beejapoor no sooner heard of this defeat, and of the great power of the Moguls, than he despatched Soheil Khan, an eunuch, with twenty-five thousand horse to Shahdoorg, on his frontier, there to await further orders. Here he was immediately joined by Meean Munjoo and Ahmud Shah, as well as by Yekhlas Khan, who had for the present laid aside every private consideration, in the hope, by forming a union, of saving the government. This army was soon after joined by Mehdy Koolly Sooltan Toorkoman with six thousand Kootb Shahy horse, sent express from Hydurabad.
105.10
When the Prince Moorad Mirza heard of the assemblage of this force at Shahdoorg (he and his commander-in-chief having lately disagreed on some subjects), he assembled a council of war, when it was resolved that the fort should be attacked as soon as possible, before the allies could relieve it. In a few days five mines were accordingly carried under the bastions, on one face of the fort: they were all charged with gunpowder, and built up with mortar and stones, excepting where the train was to be laid, by Tuesday night the 1st of Rujub, and it was resolved on the following morning to explode them. During the night, Khwaja Mahomed Khan Shirazy, admiring the resolution of the besieged, and unwilling they should be sacrificed, made good his way to the walls, and informed them of their danger. The garrison immediately commenced countermining, at the instance of Chand Beeby, who herself showed the example; and by daylight they had destroyed two mines, and were searching for the others, when the Prince Moorad Mirza, without communicating with Khan Khanan, ordered out the line, and resolved to storm without him. The besieged were in the act of removing the powder from the third mine which was the largest, when the Prince ordered them to be sprung. Many of the counterminers were killed, and several yards of the wall fell. Immediately as the breach was made, many of the principal officers of the besieged prepared for flight.
105.11
Chand Beeby, on the contrary, put on armour, and with a veil on her face, and a naked sword in her hand, flew to defend the breach. This instance of intrepidity brought back the fugitives, who now one and all joined her; and as the Prince and the Mogul storming party were waiting for the springing of the other mines, time was afforded to the besieged to throw rockets, powder, and other combustibles into the ditch, and to bring guns to bear up on the breach. The Moguls at length advanced to storm. An obstinate defence took place at the foot of the breach, where the assailants suffered severely from the heavy fire of the besieged. The ditch was nearly filled with dead carcasses; and although several storming parties succeeded each other from four o'clock in the evening till night-fall, they were successfully repulsed. The feats of the valiant heroine, Chand Beeby, who had been seen by all defending the breach, became the subject of universal admiration and conversation in the enemy's lines. From that day the Regent, who had been always called Chand Beeby, now acquired the title of Chand Sooltana. During the whole night she superintended in person the repairs of the breach, and by dawn of day it was built up to the height of seven or eight feet. On the following day she despatched letters to the allied armies, then at Beer, to hasten their approach, representing the distress of the garrison for supplies.
105.12
These despatches fell into the enemy's hands, who forwarded them to their destination, with a letter from the Prince Moorad, inviting them to hasten, as he was most anxious to meet them. "The sooner," said he, "the better." The allies, on receiving these letters, marched by the Manickdown hills to Ahmudnuggur. By this time the Mogul camp, already much distressed for provisions, became more so from the approach of the allies, who continued to circumscribe the resources of the besiegers. The Prince Moorad, therefore, thought it advisable to make overtures to the fort, and agreed to quit the country, on condition of receiving a grant for the cession of Berar, the sovereignty of which was required to be formally renounced by Ahmudnuggur. Chand Sooltana at first refused these terms; but upon reflecting that if the allies were defeated, she might not obtain even such conditions, she signed the treaty in the name of Bahadur Shah; and the Moguls retreated by the route of Dowlutabad, and the Jeipoor Kotly Ghat.
105.13
The allies arrived three days after the raising of the siege by the Moguls, — and Meean Munjoo expected allegiance to be paid to Ahmud Shah. To this, however, the nobles in the fort would by no means consent; and Nehung Khan, shutting the gate of the fort against him, sent a force to bring Bahadur Shah from his confinement in the fort of Chawund. Chand Sooltana now requested the assistance of her nephew, the King of Beejapoor, to quell the internal commotions of the Ahmudnuggur state, when Ibrahim Adil Shah deputed Moostufa Khan with a body of four thousand horse to her aid. At the same time he addressed a letter to Meean Munjoo, requiring him to desist from pressing the claims of Ahmud Shah, and to repair to Beejapoor, when all things should be taken into consideration. Meean Munjoo accordingly proceeded with Soheil Khan and Moostufa Khan to that capital. Upon his arrival at Beejapoor, Ibrahim Adil Shah having satisfactorily ascertained that Ahmud was not a lineal descendant of the Nizam Shahy family gave him a handsome estate for life, and enrolled Meean Munjoo among the nobles of his own kingdom.