Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 35.3
History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India (Briggs) 35.3
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35.3.1
Siddy Mowla suffered himself to be deluded, and privately began to bestow titles and offices upon his disciples, and to assume a tone and manner sufficiently indicative of his design on the throne. He engaged Meer Mohsun Kotwal and Nutty Pyhlwan, two of his followers, to join in the King's retinue on Friday, as he went to the public mosque, and to assassinate him; while he himself prepared about 10,000 of his adherents to support his usurpation. One of his followers, however, dissatisfied with the part assigned to him in the approaching revolution, went privately to the King, and disclosed the plot.
35.3.2
The King caused both Siddy Mowla and Kazy Julal-ood-Deen Kashany to be apprehended, and brought before him for examination. They persisted in their innocence, and as no other witness appeared against them, the accusation was rendered doubtful. The King, therefore, caused a fire to be prepared in the plain of Bahadurpoor, in order that they might be submitted to the fiery ordeal to purge themselves of their guilt; and having left the city to see the ceremony, he ordered a circle to be railed off round the pile. Siddy Mowla, and the others accused, were then brought, in order that they might walk through the flames to prove their innocence. Having said their prayers, they were just about to plunge into the fire, when the King stopped them, and turning to his ministers, asked, if it was lawful to try Mussulmans by the fiery ordeal? They unanimously declared, that it was the nature of fire to consume, paying no respect to the righteous more than to the wicked; and they also pronounced the practice to be heathenish, and contrary to the Mahomedan law, as well as to reason.
35.3.3
The King now directed Kazy Julal-ood-Deen Kashany to be sent prisoner to Budaoon, and Siddy Mowla to be confined in a vault under the palace, and two other men, who had engaged to perpetrate the King's assassination, to be publicly executed. At the same time, he banished a number of those who were suspected of being accessories. While the police were carrying Siddy Mowla through the court to his prison, the King pointed him out to some Kalendars who stood near the throne, and said, "Behold the man who was projecting such an evil against us. I leave him to be judged by you, according to his deserts." At these words a Kalendar, whose name was Sunjurry, started forth, and running towards the prisoner, began to cut him with a razor.
35.3.4
Siddy Mowla, without offering resistance, entreated him to be more expeditious in sending him to God. He then addressed himself to the King, who was looking over the balcony, and said, "I am rejoiced that you have thought of putting a period to my life at once; yet it is sinful to distress the pious and the innocent; and be assured that my curse will lie heavy upon you and your unfortunate posterity." The King, hearing these words, became pensive and perplexed. His son, the Prince Arkully Khan, who hated Siddy Mowla for the great intimacy which existed between him and his elder brother, Khan Khanan, seeing the Emperor's irresolution, beckoned to an elephant rider, who was in the court ready mounted, to advance, and tread Siddy Mowla to death. Zeea Burny, the author of the history of Julal-ood-Deen Feroze, informs us that he himself was then in Dehly, and that immediately after the death of Siddy Mowla, a black whirlwind arose, which, for the space of half an hour, changed day into night, and drove the people in the streets against one another, so that they could scarce grope their way to their own habitations. The same author relates, that no rain fell in these provinces during that year, A.H. 690; and a famine ensued, by which thousands of Hindoos daily died in the streets and highways, while whole families drowned themselves in the river.
35.3.5
The prosperity of the King began visibly to decline; for every day new factions and disputes arose, which greatly disturbed his administration. Domestic calamities also pressed hard upon him, among which was the illness of his eldest son Khan Khanan. Medicines were of no avail; and the distemper gaining ground, that Prince fell a victim to the disease in a few days.
35.3.6
The King, after the decease of his son, marched his army towards Runtunbhore, to quell an insurrection in those parts, leaving his son Arkully Khan in Dehly, to manage affairs in his absence. The enemy retired into the fort of Runtunbhore, and the King reconnoitred the place, but, despairing of reducing it, marched towards Oojein, which he sacked. At the same time, also, he broke down many of the temples of Malwa, and after plundering them of much wealth, returned to Runtunbhore. He summoned the fort a second time; but finding the Raja paid no attention to his threats, he gave orders to undermine the walls. But again wavering in his resolution, he decamped, saying, that he found the place could not be taken without the loss of many lives, and therefore he would lay aside the design. Mullik Ahmud Hubeeb, his nephew and minister, replied, that kings, in the time of war, should make no account of such things, when compelled to exertion by justice, and the necessity of supporting their authority, as was in this instance plainly the case. The King, becoming angry, observed, "These even may be my own sentiments; but I have often told you," said he, "that being now on the brink of the grave, I am unwilling to entail the curse of widows and orphans upon me in a reign of a few days." He accordingly continued his march to Dehly.
35.3.7
In the year 691, one of the kinsmen of Hoolakoo Khan, grandson of the great Chungiz Khan, invaded Hindoostan with ten tomans of Moguls (a toman signifying 10,000 horse). Julal-ood-Deen Feroze, having received advices of the approach of the enemy, collected his army and moved forward to oppose them. On reaching the frontiers of Beiram, the Moguls were perceived in front beyond a small river. Both armies encamped for the space of five days upon either side of this stream, during which time their advanced posts skirmished frequently, with some losses on either side. At length, as if by mutual consent, they selected an extensive plain on which on the sixth morning they drew up in order of battle, and fought a general action. The Moguls, after an obstinate contest, were defeated, many of their chiefs slain, and about a thousand prisoners taken. Among the latter were two omras, and several officers of distinction. The King, however, did not avail himself of the victory, but granted peace to the invaders, with permission to withdraw from his dominions. The Moguls having gladly accepted these terms, presents were interchanged as tokens of amity. When the Moguls retreated, Oghloo Khan, a grandson of Chungiz Khan, perceiving that he had little chance of power or distinction among the many blood relations of that warrior who were still alive, induced 3000 of his countrymen to join Julal-ood-Deen Feroze, whose daughter was given to him in marriage.
35.3.8
These Moguls all became Mahomedans. The King, about this time, having appointed his son, Arkully Khan, viceroy of Lahore, Mooltan, and Sind, and having left a strong force with him, returned himself to his capital. To Oghloo Khan, and the rest of the Moguls, was allotted a spot near Gheiaspoor, the burial-place of Sheikh Nizam-ood-Deen Owlia, where they settled, and which is called Mogulpoora to this day. In the year 692, the King marched against the Hindoos in the neighbourhood of Mando, and having devastated the country in that vicinity, returned to Dehly. In the mean time, Mullik Alla-ood-Deen, the King's nephew, governor of Kurra, requested permission to attack the Hindoos of Bhilsa, who infested his province. Having obtained leave, he marched in the same year to that place, which he subdued, and having pillaged the country, returned with much spoil, part of which was sent to the King, Among other things there were two brazen idols, which were thrown down before the Budaoon gate of Dehly, to be trodden under foot. Julal-ood-Deen Feroze was much pleased with the success and conduct of his nephew on this expedition, for which he rewarded him with princely presents, and annexed the province of Oude to his former government of Kurra.
35.3.9
Alla-ood-Deen, upon this preferment, acquainted the King that there were some princes of great wealth towards Chundery, whom (if the King would give permission) he would reduce. The King was induced to consent to this measure from the account he had learnt of the riches of those rajas; but the object of Alla-ood-Deen appears to have been to establish an independent power. He was narrowly watched, however, by Mullika Jehan, the King's favourite wife, who suspected him of being too ambitious, and warned the King that Alla-ood-Deen aimed eventually at fixing himself in an independent sovereignty in some remote part of India. Accordingly, in the year 695, after taking leave of the King at Dehly, Alla-ood-Deen proceeded towards Kurra, where he enlisted many chiefs of distinction, who had formerly been dependents of the Bulbun family. He then marched with 8000 chosen horse, by the nearest road, against Ram Dew, Raja of the Deccan, who possessed the wealth of a long line of kings.