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History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India (Briggs) 202 - **Language:** English ### MOOZUFFUR SHAH I. ### [202.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-briggs.202.1) ruler of Malwa. — War between Moozuffur Shah and his son and successor Hooshung. — Hooshung taken prisoner. — Moozuffur Shah leaves his brother, Noosrut Khan, in charge of the government of Malwa. — Noosrut Khan expelled from Malwa. — Hooshung reinstated, and the title of Sooltan and regalia conferred on him by Moozuffur Shah. — Death of Moozuffur Shah. In the reign of Feroze Toghluk of Dehly, Furhut-ool-Moolk was nominated to the government of Guzerat, in which office he was confirmed by that monarch’s successor, Gheias-ood-Deen Mahomed Toghluk II. Removed at a great distance from the capital, Furhut-ool-Moolk became desirous of establishing his independence; and in order to gain popularity for the furtherance of that object, he encouraged the Hindoo religion, and thus rather promoted than suppressed the worship of idols. In the year 793, the learned and orthodox Mahomedans of Guzerat, fearing lest this conduct should be the means of eventually superseding the true faith in those parts, addressed petitions to the throne, pointing out the probable political views of Furhut-ool-Moolk, as well as the danger to the true faith, if he were permitted to retain his government. On receipt of these addresses Mahomed Toghluk II. convened a meeting of the holy men at Dehly, and in conjunction with them appointed Zuffur, the son of Wujee-ool-Moolk, one of the most respectable noblemen of the court, to the office of viceroy of Guzerat; ### [202.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-briggs.202.2) and on the 1st day of Rubbee-oos-Sany of the same year he received the title of Moozuffur Khan, and was honoured with a dress of instalment. To add to his dignity, also, he was presented with a white canopy, and scarlet pavilion, such as are exclusively used by kings. Moozuffur Khan was born at Dehly on the 25th of the month of Mohurrum, in the year 743 (30th of June, A.D. 1342). His family had been elevated from menial stations in the household of the kings of Dehly; but the subject of the present history ranked among the most accomplished noblemen of the empire. It was on this account he received the honour of being appointed viceroy of Guzerat; and after making the necessary preparations for his journey, he left Dehly in the beginning of the year 794; about which period the wife of his son, Tartar Khan, was delivered of a son named Ahmud, of whom particular mention will be made hereafter. ### [202.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-briggs.202.3) On the arrival of Moozuffur Khan at Nagoor, many complaints against Furhut-ool-Moolk reached him from the inhabitants of Cambay, and other places, representing his oppression in the shape of accumulated taxes and imposts. Upon this he wrote to that officer, informing him of his approach as governor, and recommending him to repair to court, with the balances of revenue so long withheld from the crown. Furhut-ool-Moolk returned an answer sufficiently indicative of his determination not to yield his authority quietly; and instantly collecting a force, composed chiefly of Hindoos, marched to oppose Moozuffur Khan. The new governor advanced to Yessavul, and having ascertained that his rival’s army consisted of from ten to twelve thousand men, which he had collected with the intention of disputing his advance, he deputed an officer to him at Nehrwala (since called Puttun), warning him against opposing the legal authority, as in that case he must be considered, and would be treated, as a rebel. ### [202.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-briggs.202.4) Furhut-ool-Moolk not only insulted this officer, but returned an insolent answer to Moozuffur Khan, who at length being compelled to raise an army, in order to support his commission, he enlisted a body of four thousand cavalry, with which he made rapid marches to Nehrwala. Furhut-ool-Moolk with ten thousand of his troops, to whom he made liberal donations, marched as far as Sidpoor, situated within twenty-four miles of Puttun, where the armies met. An engagement ensued, in which the rebels were routed, and Furhut-ool-Moolk lost his life; after which Moozuffur Khan continued his march to Nehrwala. In the year 796, the Ray of Idur having refused to pay the customary tribute, Moozuffur Khan marched to enforce it. Several skirmishes ensued, in which the new governor was generally victorious, until he arrived before the town of Idur, which he closely invested. The siege being protracted, the garrison became so distressed for provisions, that it is said they consumed cats and dogs, not before these animals had begun to feed on each other. The Ray at length sent out his son to prostrate himself before Moozuffur Khan, and to beg the lives of the inhabitants; a boon which was granted on condition of the payment of a quantity of jewels and a large sum in specie. ### [202.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-briggs.202.5) Moozuffur Khan intended to have marched thence immediately to the city of Somnat, situated near the island of Diu; but he received information that Mullik Raja, entitled Adil Khan, not content with occupying that portion of the territory of Kandeish which lies contiguous to Talnere and Kuronde, had now extended his rapacity towards certain districts belonging to Guzerat, such as Sooltanpoor and Nundoorbar. Moozuffur Khan accordingly deemed it proper, in the first instance, to turn his arms towards Kandeish; but Adil Khan retreated to Talnere, and sent a person to negotiate with Moozuffur Khan, and so completely succeeded in appeasing him, that a treaty of alliance was formed in consequence. On the return of Moozuffur Khan to Guzerat, he learnt that in the western Puttun district the Ray of Jehrend, an idolater, refused allegiance to the Mahomedan authority. To this place Moozuffur Khan accordingly marched, and exacted tribute. He then proceeded to Somnat, where having destroyed all the Hindoo temples which he found standing, he built mosques in their stead; and leaving learned men for the propagation of the faith, and his own officers to govern the country, returned to Puttun in the year 798. ### [202.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-briggs.202.6) During the government of Furhut-ool-Moolk, the Rajpoots of Mundulgur acquired such strength as to expel the Mahomedans from their territories, refusing, also, to pay the usual tribute to the state. Moozuffur Khan accordingly moved in that direction. He besieged Mundulgur with battering rams and catapultas, and caused subterraneous passages to be dug, in order to enter the fort by that means; but all his endeavours would have proved futile had it not been for a pestilence which broke out in the town, and which induced the besieged ray, whose name was Doorga, to send out deputies to treat for a surrender. These persons came with shrouds on their shoulders and swords suspended from their necks; at the same time, several women and children exposed themselves almost naked on the works, begging for mercy. The Khan agreed, at length, to raise the siege, on the payment of a large sum in gold and jewels. From Mundulgur Moozuffur Khan marched to Ajmeer, to pay his devotions at the shrine of Khwaja Moyin-ood- Deen Hussun Sunjurry, from whence he went towards Guzerat. On reaching Julwara, he destroyed the temples; and after exacting heavy contributions, and establishing his authority, he returned to Puttun. It is related in the Tareekh-i-Alfy, that after his return from Julwara, in the year 799, Moozuffur Khan caused himself to be proclaimed King, under the title of Moozuffur Shah, and directed coin to be struck in his name. ### [202.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-briggs.202.7) In the Dehly histories we are informed, that Tartar Khan, the son of Moozuffur Shah, became prime minister to Gheias-ood-Deen Mahomed Toghluk II. of Dehly, and that he afterwards raised a force and rebelled. Mulloo Yekbal Khan, an officer of that government, was sent to oppose him, and proceeded to Paniput, where Tartar Khan was encamped. The latter, by a forced march, avoided a battle and reached Dehly; but being unsuccessful in his attempt on that city, he was obliged to relinquish his plans, and to fly precipitately to his father in Guzerat. Moozuffur Shah was induced, in consequence, in the year 800, to take the field in person, in support of his son; but hearing that Mirza Peer Mahomed Jehangeer, the grandson of Ameer Teimoor, had already advanced into Hindoostan, and occupied Mooltan, he suspended his intentions for the present; and we find him, in the year 801, engaged in another attack on Ray Runmul, Raja of Idur. The Ray was obliged, as on the former occasion, to purchase forbearance by the payment of tribute; and as the court of Dehly was now in a state of the utmost confusion, and many rivals were contending for the crown, Moozuffur Khan and Tartar Khan declined at present making any attempt in that quarter, but returned quietly to Puttun. In the year 803, Mahomed Toghluk, who had now been driven from his throne, fled to Guzerat; ### [202.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-briggs.202.8) but Moozuffur Shah, conceiving it impolitic to allow him to remain in his dominions, obliged him to quit them, and he took refuge in Malwa. Moozuffur Shah, in the same year, again marched to levy the tribute of Idur; but the Raja fled, on his approach, to Beesulnuggur, leaving the King to occupy Idur with his own troops. In the following year, 804, he marched to Somnat, and after a bloody action, in which the Mahomedans were victorious, the Ray fled to Diu. Moozuffur Shah having arrived before Diu laid siege to it, but it opened its gates without offering resistance. The garrison was, however, nearly all cut to pieces, while the Ray, with the rest of the members of his court, were trod to death by elephants. One large temple in the town was rased to the ground, and a mosque built on its site; after which, leaving his own troops in the place, Moozuffur Shah returned to Puttun. ### [202.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-briggs.202.9) One author relates that in the year 807 Moozuffur Shah projected the reduction of Dehly, and the placing of his son Tartar Khan on the throne; that he actually conferred on him the titles of Gheias-ood-Dowlaood-Deen Mahomed Shah; and that to this end he marched his army as far as the town of Suntpoor, where Tartar Khan, being taken dangerously ill, died. Other historians state, with more probability, that Tartar Khan, taking advantage of the age and infirmities of his father, seized and imprisoned him in the town of Yessavul, since called Ahmudabad; that he dignified his uncle Shums Khan with the title of Noosrut Khan, and causing himself to be proclaimed King, coined money under the name of Mahomed Shah Guzeratty, and then collecting an army, marched towards Dehly, for the purpose of assuming the title of King of Hindoostan; he, however, only reached the town of Suntpoor, when Moozuffur Shah procured a letter to be written to his own brother Shums Khan, entitled Noosrut Khan, pointing out the wickedness of Tartar Khan, in having deposed him, and the futility of his enterprise on the throne of Dehly. He concluded his letter by instigating his brother to put Tartar Khan, the usurper, to death, and to return to Yessavul. In consequence of this, Noosrut Khan is said to have poisoned his nephew that very night at supper, and on the following day marched back and replaced his brother on the throne. ### [202.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-briggs.202.10) About this period Dilawur Khan, the ruler of Malwa, died, and it was generally believed that his son Hooshung, who succeeded him, had poisoned him. A close alliance having subsisted between Moozuffur Shah and Dilawur Khan, the former marched with a force to D’har to avenge his untimely death, where he was opposed by Hooshung, who, after a severe action, was taken prisoner. Moozuffur Shah left his brother Shums Khan, entitled Noosrut Khan, in the government of Malwa. On the return of the army to Guzerat, Hooshung was delivered over to the Prince Ahmud, grandson of Moozuffur, and son of Tartar Khan, to be retained by him in a hill-fort. Hooshung had the address to gain the esteem of the young prince, his keeper, and some-time afterwards, when Noosrut Khan was obliged to fly from Malwa, the Prince Ahmud was prevailed on to write petitions in favour of Hooshung, which were graciously received at court, and he was permitted to accompany Hooshung, and reinstate him in his authority. At the same time he was directed to confer on him, in the name of Moozuffur Shah, the title of Sooltan, and the white canopy and scarlet pavilion. On the return of the Prince Ahmud to Guzerat, Moozuffur Shah was taken dangerously ill, and seeing his own end fast approaching, nominated his grandson to succeed him on the throne of Guzerat. He shortly afterwards died, on the 6th day of Rubbee-oos-Sany, in the year 814, in the seventy-first year of his age, after a reign of nearly twenty years. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-briggs.202](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-briggs.202) · Pramāṇa