Muntakhab al-lubab 195.8

195.8

[Text, vol. ii. p. 965.] When Nizamu-l Mulk was appointed Subadar of Ahmadabad, Haidar Kuli Khan repaired to Court; but he left (as his deputies) in Ahmadabad, Shuja'at Khan and Ibrahim Kuli Khan, two brothers whom he had brought forward in the world, and he also left the third brother, Rustam 'Ali Khan, as his deputy at Surat. * * Nizamu-l Mulk appointed his uncle, Hamid Khan, to be deputy governor of Ahmadabad. * * On hearing of his approach, Shuja'at 'Ali and Ibrahim Kuli desired to go into the city and oppose his entry, or, according to another account, to obtain promises of safety, and then to submit. There was a continual state of hostility and war between these three brothers and the Mahrattas, and they did not pay the chauth. Safdar Khan Babi had a bitter hatred of Haidar Kuli Khan. With seven or eight thousand horse he joined the enemy, and went to meet Hamid Khan, and persuaded him that the three brothers were resolved upon resistance. It happened that Shuja'at Khan, riding on an elephant, met Hamid Khan as he was entering, and he drove his elephant towards that of Hamid Khan. A struggle then began, in which Shuja'at Khan was killed. Ibrahim Kuli Khan hid himself in his house, * * but he was soon afterwards killed in a party fight. * * Rustam 'Ali Khan heard at Surat of the death of his brothers, and his fraternal blood boiled to avenge them. He immediately began his preparations for exacting vengeance.