Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 78.3
History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India (Briggs) 78.3
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78.3.1
Accordingly, on the eighth day, Mahomed Shah proceeded to the minister's palace, where he passed a week in continued festivity, admitting Yoosoof Adil Khan to the honour of drinking wine with him. Khwaja Mahmood Gawan, on this occasion, not only entertained the King with uncommon splendour, but presented him with fifty dishes of pure gold with covers set with jewels, each large enough to hold a roasted lamb; one hundred slaves of Circassia, Georgia, and Abyssinia, most of them accomplished singers and musicians; one hundred horses of Arabia, Syria, and Asia Minor; and one hundred dishes of superb china porcelain, to be seen no where excepting in the palaces of a few great princes. On the last day he made handsome offerings to the King's sons, and all the members of the court; then presenting the King with a list of his property, which he said belonged solely to his Majesty, he desire session. Mahomed Shah admired the compliment, and having gone through the form of accepting his offer, conferred on him anew all he had seen. The influence of Khwaja Mahmood Gawan and Yoosoof Adil Khan now became so great, that they were courted and envied by all the nobility; and the Deccanies, like wounded vipers, writhing in the torment of jealousy, unitedly resolved on their destruction. In the year 877 Birkana Ray, Raja of the fortress of Belgam, at the instigation of the Ray of Beejanuggur, marched to retake the island of Goa, as did also the Hindoo chief of Bunkapoor.
78.3.2
Mahomed Shah, on gaining intelligence of these hostile preparations, collected his forces, and moved against Belgam, a fortress of great strength, surrounded by a deep wet ditch, and near it a pass, the only approach to which was fortified by redoubts. To this place the King laid siege; and Birkana, out of regard to his future safety, sent persons secretly to Khwaja Mahmood to obtain terms; but Mahomed Shah, in order to show his power and to deter other fortresses from holding out, refused to accede to any conditions, and resolved to take it by storm. He commanded the fire-workers, as they valued their own safety, to effect a practicable breach in fourteen days, and committed to Khwaja Mahmood Gawan the duty of filling up the ditch, saying that he expected to have it passable for the troops when the guns had effected a breach. Though Khwaja Mahmood Gawan during the day threw great quantities of wood and earth into the ditch, the enemy in the night always removed them, upon which he changed his operations to another quarter, and began to form trenches and dig mines which till now had not been used in the Deccan. Birkana, confiding in his wet ditch, fancied himself secure, when suddenly three mines from the posts of Khwaja Mahmood Gawan, Yoosoof Adil Khan, and Futteh Oolla Imad-ool-Moolk, having been conducted under the fort wall, succeeded in forming breaches.
78.3.3
The troops of Birkana advanced gallantly to defend the place, and nearly two thousand of the King's troops fell in the attempt to storm. The besieged had nearly repaired the work with wood and stones, when Mahomed Shah, advancing to the assault, drove the enemy before him, and gained the ramparts. While in the act of attacking the citadel, the Raja himself, having assumed a disguise, came to the royal attendants, and requested to be introduced to the King as a messenger from the Ray. On being admitted to the presence, he threw his turban round his neck, and discovered himself, saying, that he had come with his family to kiss the foot of the throne. Mahomed Shah, flattered with this exhibition of confidence and magnanimity, admitted him into the order of the nobility of his court. When opposition had ceased the King entered the citadel, and gave God thanks for the success of his arms. Having added Belgam and its dependences to the estates of Khwaja Mahmood Gawan he returned to the capital. Soon after this expedition, in which she had accompanied her son, the Queen-mother, by whose prudence the state had acquired such eminence, died on the road, and the King sent her corpse to be interred with great pomp at Ahmudabad Bidur.
78.3.4
When the royal standard reached the city of Beejapoor, Mahomed Shah, at the request of Khwaja Mahmood Gawan, halted to repose from his fatigues; and the minister endeavoured to divert his grief from the death of his mother. Admiring the situation of Beejapoor, the King would willingly have remained there during the rainy season; but so severe a drought prevailed throughout the Deccan, that the wells dried up, and the King, contrary to his inclination, was obliged to move with his army to Ahmudabad Bidur. No rain fell during the next year either, and the towns in consequence became almost depopulated. Many of the inhabitants died of famine, and numbers emigrated, for food, to Malwa, Jajnuggur, and Guzerat. In Tulingana, Marhutt and throughout the Bahmuny dominions, no grain was sown for two years; and on the third, when the Almighty showered his mercy upon the earth, scarcely any farmers remained in the country to cultivate the lands.
78.3.5
Not long after this dreadful visitation, while the country was just reviving from depopulation, intelligence came that the garrison of Condapilly had, in a state of mutiny, murdered their governor, seized the property of his dependents, and given up the fort to Bhimraj Oorea, a person originally patronised by Mahomed Shah. Bhimraj, on this acquisition, sent persons to wait on the Ray of Orissa, representing, that if he wished to recover his hereditary dominions in Tulingana, now was the time, as the resources of the Deccan were exhausted by two years of famine, and the armies were reduced to small numbers. Bhimraj also promised to join him, provided he were admitted to share in the conquests made from the Mussulmans; and engaged for the present to allow him to retain the fort and district of Condapilly. The Ray of Orissa, availing himself of these offers, collected ten thousand horse, and eight thousand foot, and having summoned the Raja of Jajnuggur to his assistance, entered Tulingana without delay. Nizam-ool-Moolk, governor of Rajmundry, unable to cope with so large a force, shut himself up in that fortress, and sent accounts to court of his situation.
78.3.6
Mahomed Shah, by the advice of Khwaja Mahmood Gawan, resolved to march against the infidels in person. Having, therefore, advanced one year's pay to the troops he began his journey with all practicable expedition. On his arrival near Rajmundry, the enemy declined meeting him in the field, Bhimraj retired to the fortress of Condapilly, and the Ray of Orissa, crossing the river at Rajmundry, retreated towards his own dominions. Mahomed Shah, enraged at this unprovoked aggression, left Khwaja Mahmood Gawan, with the Prince Mahmood Khan, at Rajmundry, and marched with twenty thousand horse to punish the rebellious idolater. In the latter part of the year 882, the King penetrated to the capital of Orissa, and slew without mercy the inhabitants, at the same time devastating the enemy's country. The Ray having withdrawn his troops to the very extremity of his possessions, the Mahomedans ranged unmolested, and collected contributions from the people. The King, at length, determined to send for his son and Khwaja Mahmood Gawan, and to establish them in the province, which he determined to occupy as a permanent conquest.
78.3.7
The Ray of Orissa, hearing of the King's intentions, sent repeated embassies, with presents of elephants and other valuable articles, to open the door of forgiveness, declaring, solemnly, that he would never, on any future occasion, assist the zemindars of Tulingana. To this the King replied, that if he would give him up twenty-five elephants, which he named, and which had belonged to the late Ray, his predecessor, he would make peace. Although the Ray prized these elephants next to his life, he durst not refuse; they were accordingly sent, clothed in rich trappings, bearing in their trunks chains of gold and silver. After which, the King commenced his return from Orissa.
78.3.8
On the road, while one day engaged at some distance from his route in hunting, he saw a fort on a high hill, and going to view it nearer with his attendants, asked some of the country people to whom it belonged. They replied, that it was the property of the Ray of Orissa, and that no power dared be so rash as to cast even a look of conquest upon it. The King, incensed at this remark, halted at the foot of the hill, and the next day began the siege, which continued a month and a half without success. At the expiration of that period, the Ray sent an apology for the rudeness of his subjects, whom he called clowns unacquainted with politeness, and entreated his Majesty would consider the fort his own by conquest, but bestow it upon him as one of his vassals. This ingenious apology pleasing the King, he raised the siege, and continued his march.