Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 225.6
History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India (Briggs) 225.6
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225.6.1
In this year Sooltan Mahmood caused the public accounts to be kept according to the lunar year, abolishing the system of the solar year. In the same year, also, the famous Sheikh Alla-ood-Deen, one of the most holy men of his age, arrived near Mando; on which occasion, Sooltan Mahmood paid him the compliment to go out and meet him. at the Howz-i-Rany; and in order to preserve the dignity of each, the parties embraced on horseback. Shortly after, Mowlana Imad having been deputed by the reverend Syud Noor Bukhsh (the founder of a sect of Mahomedans in Kashmeer denominated Noorbukhshies), delivered to the King of Malwa the garment worn by that holy personage. Sooltan Mahmood, considering it a valuable gift, put it on, and in honour of the event distributed alms to all the holy men and the poor of the city. In the month of Mohurrum, information was brought that Mukbool Khan, the governor of Kehrla, having plundered the town, and secured a large booty, had retired to the south, and put himself under the protection of the King of the Deccan. It was, moreover, stated, that he had delivered over all the public elephants and the fort to the young raja of Kehrla, in consequence of which a general massacre of the Mahomedans ensued; and the Raja was joined by the inhabitants of Gondwara, many of whom had entered his service. With these bands he waylaid travellers, and acted the part of a common robber.
225.6.2
Sooltan Mahmood, under these circumstances, ordered Taj Khan and Ahmud Khan with their divisions to attack the Raja, while he himself remained to organise the army at Nalcha. The troops under Taj Khan having made rapid marches to Kehrla were opposed on the plain by the young raja, who made a desperate resistance, and fought a severe action; but being defeated in the end, and obliged to fly, he threw himself on the protection of the Gond zemindars, by one of whom he was seized and delivered up to the King’s forces, who, in the mean time re-occupied Kehrla. Sooltan Mahmood, on hearing of this success, marched in the direction of Sarungpoor, in order to receive Khwaja Jumal-ood-Deen, ambassador from the court of Aboo-Syeed Mirza, King of Bokhara. Flattered by this mark of attention, Sooltan Mahmood loaded the ambassador with honours and presents, sending him back to his master with a variety of the rarities of India, such as muslins of all descriptions, Arab horses, dancing women, and singers mounted on elephants superbly caparisoned, together with a number of Indian and Abyssinian slaves for the seraglio, and also a few meinas and parrots which had been taught the Persian language; added to this, the King deputed Alla-ood-Deen as ambassador, to accompany Jumal-ood-Deen on his return to Bokhara.
225.6.3
Jumal-ood-Deen was the bearer of a poem composed by himself on the virtues of Aboo Syeed, written in the Indian language, which he read, and which was translated by Aboo Syeed’s ambassador. It is said, this poem gratified the King of Bokhara more than any of the numerous rarities which the ambassador brought. In the year 873 advices were brought from Ghazy Khan, stating that the zemindars of Keechiwara had laid hands on part of the Malwa territory. On this information the King proceeded to punish them, sending a force in advance into the country of the Keechies; but being aware of the difficulty of carrying on operations in the interior, he built a fort which he called Julalpoor, leaving Meer Khan to keep the surrounding zemindars in subjection. After this campaign Sooltan Mahmood returned towards Mando; but having suffered severely from the heat of the weather before he left Keechiwara, he fell dangerously ill on the road, and died on the 19th of Zeekad, A. H. 873, at the age of sixty-eight. شد چو سلطان محمود مغفور سوی عقبی بفرمان داور از خرد خواستم سال فوتش گفت هاتف شدش جای در خلد “When the illustrious Sooltan Mahmood, according to the will of God, went on his long journey, ‘I asked of a courtier the date of his death, and a voice answered, “He has a place in heaven.”’”
225.6.4
Sooltan Mahmood of Malwa ascended the throne in the 34th year of his age, and reigned thirty-four years. It is a remarkable coincidence that this sovereign should have reigned as a king the same number of years he lived as a subject, more particularly as Ameer Teimoor Korkan, his contemporary, ascended the throne in the 86th year of his age, and reigned exactly thirty-six years.
225.6.5
Sooltan Mahmood was polite, brave, just, and learned, and during his reign his subjects, Mahomedans as well as Hindoos, were happy, and maintained a friendly intercourse with each other. Scarcely a year passed that he did not take the field, so that his tent became his home, and his resting-place the field of battle. His leisure hours were devoted to hearing the histories and memoirs of the courts of different kings of the earth read. He prided himself (not without reason) on his intimate knowledge of human nature, a subject to which he devoted much attention. His justice was so prompt and exact that it frequently happened when a merchant had been plundered during the night in Mando, and the fact was fully established, that he was instantly reimbursed for his losses from the public treasury; and a sum equal to the amount was levied from the police officers whose business it was to trace the robbers, and to protect that part of the city. On hearing that a traveller had been carried off by a tiger, he ordered the governors of the different provinces to send out parties and destroy these wild beasts; proclaiming, that if after the period of two years he ascertained a human being were killed by a wild beast, unless in attacking him, he would hold the governor responsible. The promptitude he observed in making his actions accord with his words was so well understood that for many years after his death wild beasts of any description were scarce throughout the kingdom.