Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) 3: Mahomed Shah Bahmani.
Táríkh-i Firishta, of Muhammad Kásim Hindú Sháh Firishta (Elliot & Dowson, extracts) 3
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Mahomed Shah Bahmani.
3.1
The Raja of Beejanuggur, notwithstanding his vast army, consisting of thirty thousand cavalry, besides infantry, was so alarmed, that he sent off his treasure and elephants towards his capital the next morning, preparatory to engaging or retreating, as he might deem most advisable. The night being stormy and heavy rain falling, the elephants and other beasts of burden stuck frequently in the mud, and were unable to advance above four miles from the camp. Mahomed Shah, hearing of the movement of the Hindoos, immediately marched against them, leaving his tents standing. Towards the dawn he arrived at the Raja’s camp; and the alarm being given, so great was the consternation, that the infidels fled, with the utmost precipitation, to Adony, leaving everything behind them. Mahomed Shah fell in with that part of the camp composing their market and baggage, and put to death, without distinction, men, women, and children, free and slave, to the number of seventy thousand souls. According to the Tohfut-oos-Sulateen, two thousand elephants, three hundred gun-carriages and battering rams, seven hundred Arabian horses and a singhasun set with jewels, were included in the booty of the King; all other articles were left to the officers and soldiers.
3.2
Mahomed Shah, regarding this victory as the omen of others, after passing the rainy season near Moodkul, and being reinforced by Khan Mahomed from Dowlutabad, marched against the infidels in Adony, on the plains of which place, near the Toongbudra, the Raja of Beejanuggur had taken up his station, having given the command of Adony to his sister’s son. Here he had collected a great army of soldiers, together with many elephants, and all the munitions of war which he possessed. * * * At this time, a favourite remarked to the King, “that he had only sworn to slaughter one hundred thousand Hindoos, and not to destroy their race altogether.” The King replied, “that though twice the number required by his vow might have been slain, yet till the Ray satisfied the musicians, he would neither make peace nor spare the lives of his subjects.” To this the ambassadors, who had full powers, immediately agreed, and the money was paid on the instant. Mahomed Shah then said, “Praise be to God, that what I ordered has been performed! I would not let a light word be recorded of me in the pages of history.” The ambassadors, seeing the King pleased, bowed their foreheads to the ground, and besought him to hear from them a few words. Being permitted to speak, they observed, that no religion required the innocent to be punished for the crimes of the guilty, more especially helpless women and children;
3.3
if Krishn Ray had been in fault, the poor and feeble inhabitants had not been accessary to his errors. Mahomed Shah replied, that the decrees of Providence had ordered what had been done, and that he had no power to alter them. The ambassadors observed, that as the bestower of kingdoms had conferred on him the government of the Deccan, it was probable that his successors and the princes of the Carnatic might long remain neighbours, which made it advisable to avoid cruelty in war; and they proposed, therefore, that a treaty should be made not to slaughter the helpless and unarmed inhabitants in future battles. Mahomed Shah, struck with the good sense of this proposal, took an oath, that he would not, hereafter, put to death a single enemy after a victory, and would bind his successors to observe the same line of conduct. From that time to this, it has been the general custom in the Deccan to spare the lives of prisoners in war, and not to shed the blood of an enemy’s unarmed subjects. Mahomed Shah, after he had thus received satisfaction, returned to Koolburga, visiting on his way Sheikh Siraj-ood-deen, to whose prayers as well as to the charities sent to Mecca with his mother, he ascribed his successes over the Hindoos. * * *
3.4
Mahomed Shah was buried by the side of his father, — and the words “All is vanity” were engraved by his orders on his tomb. Happy the king who passes a reign like his, and of whom such memorials remain! He was respected in his life, and after his death remembered on account of his virtues. According to the Siraj-ool-Towareekh, so much treasure and such numbers of elephants, as were collected in the household of Mahomed Shah Bahmuny, were never possessed by any other prince of that dynasty. He had three thousand male and female elephants; and in the reign of any other king we only read of two thousand. The sums of gold accumulated by him, according to the same author, exceeded those acquired by other princes a full half. No prince before him ever so far reduced the Rajas and Zemindars of the Carnatic, from whom he wrested much of the accumulated riches of seven hundred years; and it is computed that in his reign nearly five hundred thousand unbelievers fell by the swords of the warriors of Islam, by which the population of the Carnatic was so reduced, that it did not recover for several ages. Mahomed Shah reigned seventeen years.