[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [General histories](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general) › [Tārīkh-i Firishta](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta) › Táríkh-i Firishta, of Muhammad Kásim Hindú Sháh Firishta (Elliot & Dowson, extracts) # Táríkh-i Firishta, of Muhammad Kásim Hindú Sháh Firishta (Elliot & Dowson, extracts) Translation of [Firishta's History (Gulshan-i Ibrāhīmī) (Tārīkh-i Firishta)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta) - **Language:** English - **Date:** 1875 CE - **Translators:** [Henry Miers Elliot](https://indike.org/pramana/person/elliot), [John Dowson](https://indike.org/pramana/person/dowson) - **Extent:** 25 passages, 5,603 words - **Text:** complete digital text - **Source:** archive.org · The History of India, as told by its own Historians. The Muhammadan Period. The posthumous papers of Sir H.… · Public domain (published before 1930) ## Contents - [1 Mahmud of Ghazni.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.1) — 4 parts - [2 Firoz Shah Tughlik.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2) — 12 parts - [3 Mahomed Shah Bahmani.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.3) — 4 parts - [4 Ahmad Shah Bahmani](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.4) - [5 'Aláu-d dín Sháh Báhmaní](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.5) - [6 Humáyun Sháh Báhmani.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.6) - [7 Miran Husain Nizam Shah.](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.7) - [8 Mahmud Shah Gujarati](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.8) ## Text ### Mahmud of Ghazni. ### [1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.1.1) Mahmud having thus settled his affairs in India, returned in the autumn to Ghizny, where he remained during the winter. In the spring of the year A.H. 399 (A.D. 1008) he determined again to attack Anundpal, Raja of Lahore, for having lent his aid to Dawood, during the late defection in Multan. Anundpal, hearing of his intentions, sent ambassadors on all sides, inviting the assistance of the other princes of Hindustan, who now considered the expulsion of the Mahomedans from India as a sacred duty. Accordingly, the Rajas of Ujein, Gwaliar, Kalunjar, Canauj, Dehli, and Ajmir, entered into a confederacy, and collecting their forces, advanced towards the Panjab with the greatest army that had yet taken the field. The Indians and Mahomedans arrived in sight of each other on a plain, on the confines of the province of Peshawur, where they remained encamped forty days without coming to action. The troops of the idolaters daily increased in number. The Hindu females, on this occasion, sold their jewels, and melted down their golden ornaments (which they sent from distant parts), to furnish resources for the war; and the Gukkurs, and other warlike tribes joining the army, surrounded the Mahomedans, who were obliged to entrench their camp. ### [1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.1.2) Mahmud, having thus secured himself, ordered 6000 archers to the front to endeavour to provoke the enemy to attack his entrenchments. The archers were opposed by the Gukkurs, who, in spite of the King’s efforts and presence, repulsed his light troops and followed them so closely, that no less than 30,000 Gukkurs with their heads and feet bare, and armed with various weapons, penetrated into the Mahomedan lines, where a dreadful carnage ensued, and 5000 Mahomedans in a few minutes were slain. The enemy were at length checked, and being cut off as fast as they advanced, the attacks became fainter and fainter, till, on a sudden, the elephant upon which the prince who commanded the Hindus rode, becoming unruly from the effects of the naphtha balls, and the flights of arrows, turned and fled. This circumstance produced a panic among the Hindus, who, seeing themselves deserted by their general, gave way and fled also. Abdulla Taee, with 6000 Arabian horse, and Arslan Jazib, with 10,000 Turks, Afghans, and Khiljis, pursued the enemy day and night, so that 20,000 Hindus were killed in the retreat. Of the spoil, thirty elephants (besides other booty) were brought to the King.... ### [1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.1.3) When Param Deo, and the Raja of Ajmir, and others, had assembled a large army and taken possession of the roads, in order to oppose the Sultan, the latter found it impracticable to face them, and therefore marched to Multan by way of Sind. On his journey thither, owing to the scarcity of forage at some places, and of water at others, his army experienced great trouble and distress. It was with considerable difficulty he at length reached Ghizny in the year 417 A.H. It is said that when the Sultan was proceeding to Multan through the deserts of Sind, he gave orders to procure a guide to conduct him on his journey. A Hindu offered his services, but treacherously led the army through a path, which brought them to a place where no water could be procured. When the army had passed on for a whole day and night, and found no water at any place, they were sore set, and everything wore the appearance of the horrors of the day of judgment. The Sultan then asked his guide the reason why he had brought them to such a fearful pass : the Hindu replied that he was a worshipper of Somnath, and had conducted the King and his army to the desert, with a view to their destruction. The Sultan being exceeding wroth, ordered his men to put the Hindu to death. ### [1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.1.4) On that very night the Sultan retired from his camp to a neighbouring spot, and prostrating himself on the earth, offered up prayers, mingled with lamentations, to Almighty God, imploring deliverance from the danger in which he was placed. After the first watch of the night had elapsed, a light was seen towards the north. The army, according to the Sultan’s command, directed their march towards the light, and by the morning found themselves in safety on the borders of a lake. Thus the piety of the Sultan rescued him from the brink of destruction. \* \* \* It is mentioned in the Jama-ool-Hikaiat that when the Sultan on one occasion saw an idol in a Hindu temple poised in the air without any support, he was much surprised at the sight, and inquired of the philosophers of the times the cause of the phenomenon. They answered that the roof and walls of the building were entirely made of magnet, and that the idol, which was made of iron, being equally attracted from the different points of the magnetic edifice, was thus naturally suspended in the middle of it. On one of the walls being destroyed by the orders of the Sultan, the idol fell to the ground. ### Firoz Shah Tughlik. ### [2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2.1) At the time of the death of Mahomed Toghluk, his cousin, Malik Feroze Bdrbek, nephew of Gheias-ood-deen Toghluk, was in the camp. Mahomed Toghluk having a great affection for him, inasmuch as he had paid the most devoted attention to the King during his illness, proposed making him his successor, and accordingly recommended him as such on his death-bed to his nobles. On the King’s demise, the army fell into the utmost disorder; to remedy which, Feroze gained over the majority of the Indian chiefs to his party, and prevailed on the Mogul mercenaries to remove to some distance from the camp, till he should be able to compose the differences which existed in the army. Malik Firoz Bdrbek thought it expedient, with reference to Altun Bahadur and the nobles who had come from Amir Kazghan as auxiliaries, to bestow dignities and honorary dresses upon them, according to their respective ranks, and to give them their dismissal, remarking that it was not improbable, that dissensions might arise between them and the soldiers of Hindustan, which would lead to disturbances, and therefore that it was better, before he marched, that they should break up their camp and depart. Altun Bahadur concurred in the propriety of this recommendation, and immediately striking his camp, pitched it at a distance of ten miles. ### [2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2.2) Amir Nowroze Kurhin, the Mogul chief who commanded the troops of his nation in the army, son-in-law of Turmesharin Khan, who in the time of Muhammad Tughlak Shah had come to India, and been enrolled among the chief nobles of the land, now acting a most ungrateful part, quitted the camp on the same night, and joined Altoon Tash, the leader of the auxiliary troops, to whom he suggested that the King of Hindustan was dead, that the army was without a leader and totally disorganized, that the time was favourable for them, and that it was their business as soldiers, to plunder the late King’s treasure on its march the next day, and then to retreat to their native country with all the money and jewels they could possess themselves of. Altoon Tash being persuaded to enter into this scheme, the Moguls returned next morning to the camp, which was still in disorder, to the army which was moving on like a caravan, without a guide, and without system or arrangement, and after a sharp skirmish, loaded several camels with treasure, plundering several treasure-chests which were laden upon camels, took captive many children of both sexes, and were not sparing in their pillage. ### [2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2.3) In order to secure himself from further depredation, Feroze \[the Umras of Sultan Muhammad, oppressed with a thousand fears and alarms\] led the army to Sevustan, commonly called Sehwan, and during the night took every possible precaution to defend himself (themselves,) against the Moguls, and thought rest and sleep a forbidden indulgence. Meanwhile the officers of his army, Makhdum-zada 'Abbasi Sheikh-u-Sheiyuk Nasi-u-din Mahmud, and U'dhi, better known as Chiragh Dehli, and other wise and holy men, grandees and chiefs, all with one accord having waited on Malik Feroze Barbek, represented that the late King had constituted him his successor, and that no other nobleman was more worthy of the honour, and entreated him not to reject the cares of state, but to ascend the throne, to which, after some hesitation, and declaring that he would proceed on a pilgrimage to the two holy cities and Hijaz, when he could no longer resist their importunities, he gave his assent, and was accordingly proclaimed King on the twenty-third of Muharram, after he had passed through more than fifty stages of his illustrious life. ### [2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2.4) On the same day he gave orders to ransom the prisoners, who during the late disorders had fallen into the hands of the turbulent people of Tutta and the Moghuls, and on the third day he marched against the rebellious people of Tutta (Thatta), and the Mogul auxiliaries, whom he defeated, that he might take any of them prisoners wherever they might be found, or that he might slay them, and took many of their chiefs prisoners, in short, many of the Moghul chiefs were seized and put to death, Amir Nauroz Kurkin and Altun Bahadur, seeing no further advantage in delay, hastened to their own country with the utmost precipitation, and even the people of Tutta (Thatta), who had proceeded to the greatest extremities in their insubordination and rebellion, placed their feet within the boundary of allegiance. The accession of Sultan Firoz Shah was hailed as a blessing by the people, and they prayed for his health and wealth with all earnestness. Shortly after, he marched by uninterrupted stages from Sewastan to the fort of Bakar. ### [2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2.5) In the year A.H. 754 (A.D. 1353) the King, having hunted at Kallanore, at the foot of the hills, caused, on his return, a palace to be built on the banks of the Soorsutty. In the month of Shuwal of the same year, he appointed Khan Jehan to the charge of Dehli, with unlimited powers, and himself marched with a large army towards Luknowty, to subdue Haji Elias. This chief had assumed royal honours and the title of Shums-ood-deen, and had also occupied with his troops the whole of Bengal and Behar, as far as Benares. On the King’s arrival in the neighbourhood of Gorukpoor, the Zemindars of that place made the usual presents, and were admitted to pay their respects. Udi Sing, Mukaddam of that place, came to pay his respects, and presented a suitable offering in money, together with two elephants, and was received with distinguished favour; and the Rai of Gorakhpur also paid up the arrears of tribute which had accumulated for several years, and both of them accompanied the King on his march. The King then penetrated as far as Bundwa, one of the stations of Haji Elias, the established residence of the ruler of Bengal, and the latter retreated to Yekdulla, which is a place of exceeding strength, with the river on one side, and jungle on the other. The King left Bandwa without molesting the inhabitants, and pursuing him to Yekdulla, arrived there on the 7th of Rubbee-ool-Awul. An action ensued on the same day; ### [2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2.6) but Haji Elias having entrenched his position very strongly, reduced the King to the necessity of surrounding him. The blockade continued for twenty days, when, on the 5th of Rubbee-ool-Akhir, Feroze, intending to change his ground, as the camp had become offensive, and to encamp on the banks of the Ganges, went out to reconnoitre. The enemy, imagining that he meditated a retreat, left their works and drew up in order of battle. On perceiving it was the King’s intention to attack them, however, they again retreated, but with such precipitation and confusion, that forty-four elephants and many standards, as well as the royal canopy and state equipages fell into the King’s hands. Many of the foot-soldiers were slain, and many taken prisoners. The next day the Sultan encamped on the field of battle, and gave orders that the captives of Lakhnauti should be released. The rainy season soon after came on with great violence, as it always does in the province of Bengal, and the Sultan observed, that as he had gained a victory, and captured the emblems of royalty, he would depart, and return in the following year. Shortly after peace was concluded; and the King returned to Dehli without effecting his object. In the year 755 Feroze built the city of Ferozabad, on the banks of the river Jun (Jumna), adjoining that of Dehli, and on the 12th of Shaban he marched on a hunting expedition to Depalpoor, and constructed a large canal forty-eight coss in length, from the Sutlej to the Kugur. ### [2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2.7) In the year 757 he constructed another canal, between (from) the hills of Mundir and Surmore from the Jumna, into which he led seven other minor streams, which all uniting, ran in one channel through Hansy, and from thence to Kaiseen (Absin), where he built a strong fort, which he called Hissar Feroze. Below the fort, near the palace, he excavated a lake, which he filled from the waters of the canal. He also conveyed an aqueduct (a canal) from the Kugur, over the river (which passing by the fort of) Sursutty, to the village of Peri Kehra, (entered the stream of Sirkhatra), where he founded a city, named after him, Ferozabad. At the same time he introduced another canal from the Jumna, which filled a large lake he caused to be constructed at Hissar Feroze. In the month of Zeehuj an honorary dress and a letter of congratulation on his accession, (diploma) were presented from Abool Futteh Aboo-Bukr Aboo-Rubeea Sooliman 'Abbasi Caliph of Egypt, signifying that he had conferred on him the countries of Hindustan, and conveying a recommendation in behalf of the Bahmania Kings of the Dekhan. In the same month also, he received an embassy, which brought many splendid and rare presents, with fresh proposals of peace, from Háji Ilyás, entitled Shamsu-d-din Shah, from Lakhnauti and Bengal, which Feroze accepted, and soon after ratified, and then dismissed the ambassadors with honours and distinction. \* \* \* ### [2.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2.8) From thence the King marched towards the mountains of Nagrakote, where he was overtaken by a storm of hail and snow; they brought him some ice. The King said, At the time my late liege-lord Sultan Muhammad Tughlak Shah arrived here, and they brought him iced sherbet for his beverage, he refused to take it, because I was not with him to partake of it. He then gave orders that some elephant and camel-loads of sugar, which were in camp, should be converted into sherbet and iced, and distributed throughout the whole army, in memory of Sultan Muhammad Tughlak Shah. The Raja of Nagrakote, after sustaining some loss, submitted, but was restored to his dominions. The name of Nagrakote was, on this occasion, changed to that of Mahomedabad, in honour of the late King. The people of Nagrakote told Feroze, that the idol which the Hindoos worshipped in the temple of Nagrakote was the image of Nowshaba, the wife of Alexander the Great, and that that conqueror had left the idol with them, which the Brahmins had made at the time that conqueror was in these parts, and placed within their temple, and that now that image was the idol of the people of this country. The name by which it was then known was Jwalamooky. In this temple was a fine library of Hindee books, consisting of 1300 volumes. ### [2.9](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2.9) Feroze sent for some of the wise men of that religion, and ordered some of the books to be translated, and especially directed one of those books, which treated of philosophy, astrology, and divination, to be translated into prose (verse) in the Persian language, by one of the celebrated poets of that period, Eiz-ood-Deen, Khalid Khany, and called it Dulayil Feroze Shahee. It is in truth a book replete with various kinds of knowledge, both practical and theoretical. Some historians state, that Sultan Feroze Shah Barbek on this occasion broke the idols of Nagrakote, and mixing the fragments with pieces of cow’s flesh, filled bags with them, and caused them to be tied round the necks of Brahmins, who were then paraded through the camp. ### [2.10](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2.10) In the year 774, the Wizier Mullik Mokbil (Makbiil), entitled Khan Jehan, died, and his eldest son, Joona Shah, succeeded to his office and titles. The following year was marked by the death of Zuffur Khan, Governor of Guzerat, who was succeeded in his office and titles by his eldest son, Duria Khan. During the next year, on the 11th of Safar, the King was plunged into affliction by the death of his favourite son, Futteh Khan, a prince of great promise, and the back of his strength was bent by the burden of grief. Finding no remedy except in patience and resignation, he buried him in his own garden, and performed the customary ceremonies upon the occasion. On account of the excess of his grief, the shadow of his regard was withdrawn from the cares of state, and he abandoned himself entirely to his sorrows. His nobles and counsellors placed their heads on the ground, and represented that there was no course left but to submit to the divine will, and that he should not show further repugnance to administer the affairs of his kingdom. The wise king acceded to the supplications of his friends and well-wishers, and, in order to dispel his sorrows, devoted himself to sport, and in the vicinity of new Dehli he built a wall of two or three parasangs in circumference, planted within the enclosure shady trees, and converted it into a hunting park. The ruins of it remain to this day. ### [2.11](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2.11) As he could gain no information of Kurgoo himself, who remained concealed amongst the ravines and precipices of the hillcountry of Kamaun, eluding pursuit like so much quicksilver, and no one knew whether he was dead or alive, and as the rainy season was approaching, the standards resplendent with victories returned to the camp whence they set out. The King appointed one Mullik Dawood, an Affghan, whom he exalted to a very high rank, with a body of troops, to remain at Sumbhul, with orders to invade the country of Kutehr every year, to commit every kind of ravage and devastation, and not to allow it to be inhabited until the murderer was given up. The King himself also, under pretence of hunting, marched annually in that direction until the year 787, to see that his orders were fulfilled, and to do what Malik Daud had left undone; and for six years not an inhabitant was to be seen in that district, nor was a single jarib of the land cultivated. Not a soul slept at night in his hut, and several thousands of Hindus were slaughtered to avenge the death of those three Saiyids. In the above-mentioned year he built an exceedingly strong fortress in Bisauli, seven coss from Badaun, and called it Firozpur; but the common people, jocose amid all the oppression they had suffered, called it Akhirinpur (the last city); ### [2.12](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.2.12) and, in truth, it happened as they predicted, for the grace of God did not suffer him to construct any more forts, or to lay the foundations of new cities and towns, and consequently the fortress continued to be called Akhirinpur. ### Mahomed Shah Bahmani. ### [3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.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](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.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](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.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](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.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. ### [4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.4) Ahmud Shah, without waiting to besiege the Hindoo capital, overran the open country, and wherever he went, put to death men, women, and children, without mercy, contrary to the compact made between his uncle and predecessor, Mahomed Shah, and the Rays of Beejanuggur. Wherever the number of slain amounted to twenty thousand, he halted three days, and made a festival in celebration of the bloody event. He broke down, also, the idolatrous temples, and destroyed the colleges of the Brahmins. During these operations, a body of five thousand Hindoos, urged by desperation at the destruction of their religious buildings, and at the insults offered to their deities, united in taking an oath to sacrifice their lives in an attempt to kill the King as the author of all their sufferings. \* \* \* In the year 829 Ahmud Shah marched to reduce a rebellious Zemindar of Mahoor, who still retained several strong places which held out against his troops. The rebel soon submitted; but Ahmud Shah, though he had assured him of pardon, put him to death in violation of his promise, as soon as he fell into his hands, together with five or six thousand of his followers, compelling, at the same time, all the captive women and children to embrace the true faith. During this campaign, the King obtained possession of a diamond mine at Kullum, a place dependent on Gondwana, in which territory he razed many idolatrous temples, and, erecting mosques on their sites, appropriated to each some tracts of land to maintain holy men and to supply lamps and oil for religious purposes. \* \* \* ### [5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.5) Alla-ood-Deen Shah, upon this, wrote to him, that he valued the lives of the two chiefs equal to that of two hundred thousand common men. Therefore, as it was a rule with the princes of his family to slay a hundred thousand Hindoos in revenge for the death of a single Mussulman, he swore, should Dew E-aj take away the lives of the two captive officers, he would revenge the death of each by the slaughter of a hundred thousand Hindoos. \* \* \* To every part of his dominions he sent censors of morals and just judges; and though he drank wine himself, he forbade the use of it to others, as also the practice of gaming. He put chains on the necks of Kullendurs, and idle, dissipated vagabonds, whom he punished by employing them in removing filth from the streets, in dragging heavy stones, and in the performance of all manner of laborious work, in order that they might reform, and either earn their livelihood by industry, or quit the country altogether. If any person, after admonition and moderate correction, was convicted of drinking wine, it was enacted, that melted lead should be poured down his throat, whatever might be the rank of the offender. \* \* \* On the fourth day, however, they prevailed on the chiefs to come to an entertainment in the fort, at which all the principal foreigners, in number about three hundred, attended, with the exception of Kasim Beg (Snff Shikun) Kurra Khan Khoord and Ahmud Beg of Mecca. While in the act of eating, a number of armed men, on a signal given by Sher-ool-moolk, rushed upon them, and put every soul to the sword. At the same instant four thousand Deccamies outside the fort attacked the camp of the foreigners and put every male to death, even the very infants at the breast. After this tragedy, they plundered the tents, and treated the women with all the insult that lust or brutality could provoke. Since the time of Hoossein, the Syuds were never so maltreated; but is it not astonishing, that men who called themselves servants of the Prophet should so basely misuse his descendants? \* \* \* ### [6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.6) Hoomayoon Shah, now abandoning himself to the full indulgence of his cruel propensities, and mad with rage, directed stakes to be set up on both sides of the King's chouk, or market-place, and caused vicious elephants and wild beasts to be placed in different parts of the square, in other places cauldrons of scalding oil and boiling water were also prepared as instruments of torture. The King, ascending a balcony in order to glut his eyes on the spectacle, first cast his brother, Hussun Khan, before a ferocious tiger, who soon tore the wretched Prince to pieces, and devoured him on the spot. Yoosoof Toork, and his seven associates, were then beheaded in the King’s presence, and the females of their innocent and helpless families, being dragged from their houses, were violated and ill-treated in the palace-square, by ruffians, in a manner too indecent to relate. Tortures were now invented by the King, who inflicted on both young and old of both sexes torments more cruel than ever entered the imagination of Zohak and the tyrant Hijaj. About seven thousand persons, including females and servants, none of whom had the most distant concern in this rebellion, besides the menials, such as cooks, scullions, and others, were put to death; some being stabbed with daggers, others hewn in pieces with hatchets, and the rest flayed by scalding oil or boiling water. This tragedy happened in the month of Shaban, in the same year as the rebellion. The author of the Towareekh Mahmood Shahy states, he learned from the royal attendants, that upon the King's first hearing of the escape of the Prince Hussun Khan, rage and passion so overcame him, he tore his robes, bit his pillows, and often his own lips, in such a manner that they dropped with blood. Alarmed at the example of Hussun Khan, he put to death several innocent persons of the royal family who were confined in different fortresses. Nor did his suspicions rest here ; many other persons of his own court fell the innocent victims of his indiscriminate cruelty. From this moment Hoomayoon threw off all restraint, and seized at will the children of his subjects, tearing them from their parents to gratify his passions. He would frequently stop nuptial processions in the street, and seizing the bride, after enjoying her, send her to the bridegroom’s house. He was in the habit of putting the females of his own house to death for the most trivial offences ; and when any of the nobility were obliged to attend him, so great was their dread, that they took leave of their families, as if preparing for death. ### [7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.7) About sunset, the gates were burned ; but the quantity of hot ashes yet glowing prevented any one passing in or out till midnight, when Mirza Khan and his friends rushed from the citadel, and tried to make their escape. Numbers of others were slain in the attempt by the populace, but Mirza Khan having effected his retreat, fled towards the fort of Joonere. The Deccany troops, the Abyssinians, and the mob, having entered the fort, put to death every foreigner they found within, amounting to nearly 300, among whom were several persons of high rank and eminent character. Their bodies were dragged out on the open plain, and orders given that they should lie unburied. Not content with the past slaughter, Jumal Khan commanded his adherents to murder the foreigners of every rank and occupation in the city, and to plunder and burn their dwellings. The soldiers and their followers, being once let loose, put to death indiscriminately the noble, the master, the servant, the merchant, the pilgrim, and the travelling stranger. Their houses were set on fire, and the heads of those lately exalted to the skies were brought low, and trampled in the dust; while the very females, who from modesty concealed their faces from the sun and moon, were dragged by the hair into the assemblages of the drunken. On the fourth day, Mirza Khan, who had been seized near Joonere, was brought to Jumal Khan, and being first carried, through the city on an ass, his body was hewn in pieces, which were affixed on different buildings. Several of his friends taken with him were also put to death, and their bodies being rammed into cannon, were blown into the air. In the space of seven days, nearly a thousand foreigners were murdered; some few only escaping under the protection of Deccany or Abyssinian officers. The reign of Meeran Hoossein Nizam Shah lasted only ten months and three days. Among those princes recorded in history as murderers of their fathers, we find none whose reigns extended beyond one year; and a poet observes, “Royalty befitteth not the destroyer of a parent, nor will the reign of such a wretch be long.” ### [8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot.8) Beny Ray having recovered from his wounds, the King used every effort to persuade both him and his minister to embrace the Mahomedan faith. They, however, persisted in refusing, swearing that they preferred death to abjuring their religion. Mahmood Shah was in hopes of shaking their constancy by confining them separately, and treating them harshly. This conduct only tended to support their resolution, till at length the King, at the instigation of some holy men about his person, ordered them to be put to death. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.general.tarikh-i-firishta~en-elliot) · Pramāṇa