[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate) › [Ṭabaqāt-i Nāṣirī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri) › [Tabakat-i-Nasiri](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty) › 190.1 # The Nāṣirī Generations 190.1 Tabakat-i-Nasiri 190.1 - **Language:** English ### [190.1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.190.1.1) Malik \[Sultan\] Husam-ud-Din, ’Iwaz, the Khalj, was a man of exemplary disposition, and came of the Khalj of Garmsir of Ghur. They have narrated on this wise, that, upon a certain occasion, he was conducting a laden ass towards the eminence which they call Pushtah Afroz \[the Burning Mound\], to a place within the limits of Walishtan on the borders of the mountain tracts of Ghur. Two Darweshes, clothed in ragged cloaks, joined him; and said to him: Hast thou any victuals with thee?” ’Iwaz, the Khalj, replied: “I have.” He had, along with him on the ass, a few cakes of bread, with some \[little\] dainty by way of provision for the journey, after the manner of travellers. He removed the load from the ass, spread his garments \[on the ground\], and set those provisions before the Darweshes. After they had eaten, he took water, which he had among his baggage, in his hand, and stood up in attendance on them. After those Darweshes had made use of the victuals and the drink, thus hastily produced, they remarked to each other, saying: “This excellent man has ministered unto us: it behoveth his act should not be thrown away.” They then turned their faces towards ’Iwaz, the Khalj, and said: “Husam-ud-Din! go thou to Hindustan, for that place, which is the extreme \[point\] of Muhammadanism, we have given unto thee.” In accord with the intimation of those two Darweshes, he returned again from that place \[where he then was\], and, placing his family on the ass, came towards Hindustan. ### [190.1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.190.1.2) He joined Muhammad-i-Bakht-yar, and his affairs reached such a point that the coin of the territory of Lakhanawati was stamped, and the Khutbah thereof read, in his name, and they styled him by the title of Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din. He made the city of Lakhanawas the seat of government, and founded the fortress of Basan-kot, and people from all directions turned their faces towards him. He was a man of pleasing mien, of exceeding handsome appearance, and both his exterior and interior were \[adorned\] by the perfection of mercy; and he was magnanimous, just, and munificent. During his reign the troops and inhabitants of that country enjoyed comfort and tranquillity; and, through his liberality and favour, all acquired great benefits and reaped numerous blessings. In that country many marks of his goodness remained. He founded jami \[general\] and other masjids, and conferred salaries and stipends upon good men among theologians, the priesthood, and descendants of the Prophet; and other people acquired, from his bounty and munificence, much riches. For example, there was an Imam-zadah of the capital city, Firuz-koh, whom they used to style Jalal-ud-Din, the son of Jamal-ud-Din, the Ghaznawi, who, to better his means left his native country and came into the territory of Hindustan in the year 608 H. After some years, he returned again to the capital city, Firuz-koh, and brought back with him abundant wealth and riches. ### [190.1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.190.1.3) Inquiry was made of him respecting the means of his acquisition of wealth. He related that, after he had come into Hindustan, and determined to proceed from Dihli to Lakhanawati, when he reached that capital, Almighty God predisposed things so that he \[the Imam, and Imam's son\] was called upon to deliver a discourse in the audience-hall of Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, ’Iwaz, the Khalj. That sovereign, of benevolent disposition, brought forth from his treasury a large chalice full of gold and silver tangahs, and bestowed upon him a present of about two thousand tangahs; and gave commands to his own Maliks and Amirs, Grandees and Ministers of State, so that each one presented, on his behalf, liberal presents. About three thousand gold and silver tangahs more were obtained. At the period of his return home \[from Lakhanawati\] an additional five thousand tangahs were acquired in gifts, so that the sum of ten thousand tangahs was amassed by that Imam, and Imam’s son, through the exemplary piety of that renowned monarch of benevolent disposition. When the writer of these words, in the year 641 H., reached the territory of Lakhanawati, the good works of that sovereign, in different parts of that territory, were beheld \[by him\]. ### [190.1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.190.1.4) The territory of Lakhanawati has two wings on either side of the river Gang. The western side they call Ral \[Rarh\], and the city of Lakhan-or lies on that side; and the eastern side they call Barind \[Barindah\], and the city of Diw-kot is on that side. From Lakhanawati to the gate of the city of Lakhan-or, on the one side, and, as far as Diw-kot, on the other side, he, Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, 'Iwaz, \[caused\] an embankment \[to be\] constructed, extending about ten days' journey, for this reason, that, in the rainy season, the whole of that tract becomes inundated, and that route is filled with mud-swamps and morass; and, if it were not for these dykes, it would be impossible \[for people\] to carry out their intentions, or reach various structures and inhabited places except by means of boats. From his time, through the construction of those embankments, the route was opened up to the people at large. ### [190.1.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.190.1.5) It was heard \[by the author\] on this wise, that, when the august Sultan, Shams-ud-Din \[I-yal-timish\], after the decease of Malik Nasir-ud-Din, Mahmud Shah \[his eldest son\], came into the territory of Lakhanawati to suppress the sedition of Malik Ikhtiyar-ud-Din-i-Balka, the Khalj, and beheld the good works of Ghiyas-ud-Din, 'Iwaz, the Khilj, whenever mention of Ghiyas-ud-Din, ’Iwaz’s name chanced to arise, he would style him by the title of “Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, Khalji,” and from his sacred lips he would pronounce that there could be no reluctance in styling a man Sultan who had done so much good. The Almighty’s mercy be upon them! In short, Ghiyas-ud-Din, ’Iwaz, the Khalj, was a monarch worthy, just, and benevolent. The parts around about the state of Lakhanawati such as Jaj-nagar, the countries of Bang, Kamrud, and Tirhut, all sent tribute to him ; and the whole of that territory named Gaur passed under his control. He acquired possession of elephants, wealth, and treasures, to a great amount. ### [190.1.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.190.1.6) It seems most strange that those who have run away with the idea that Jajnagar lay east of the Ganges and the Megnah, in south-eastern Bengal — in Tiparah of all places — never considered how it was possible for Ulugh Khan, son of Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, Tughlak — not that monarch himself — to invade Taling \[Talinganah\] and Tiparah, if the latter were Jaj-nagar, in one and the same short campaign, or that Hoshang, Sultan of Malwah, during a short expedition or raid rather, could have reached south-eastern Bengal in search of elephants. To have done so, he would have had to pass right through, and return again through, the extensive territory of an independent sovereign equally powerful with himself \[he had only 1000 horse with him on the occasion in question\], and to have crossed and recrossed two or three mighty rivers, besides many others of considerable size, or he forded the Bay of Bengal perhaps to reach the supposed Jaj-nagar. Elphinstone, too, on the authority of Hamilton \[Hindostan, vol. i. page 178\], who says that "Tiperah, by Mahommedan historians, is called Jagenagur," has fallen into the same error; and, not content with this, even the map accompanying his History has "Jajnagur" in large letters in a part of India where no such territory ever existed! Hamilton would have had some difficulty, I think, in naming the "Mahommedan Historians" who made such assertions. The name of one would much surprise me. ### [190.1.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.190.1.7) The way in which Jaj-nagar is mentioned in different places, by different writers, and under different reigns, clearly indicates its situation. Ulugh Khan, son of Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, Tughlak, on his second campaign into the Dakhan, having reached Diw-gir \[Dharagarh\], advanced into Taling \[Talinganah\], took Bidr, and invested Arangul, now Warangul. Having captured it, and given it the name of Sultan-pur, before returning to Dihli, he went for amusement or diversion into Jaj-nagar. He merely crossed the frontier of Talinganah. Hoshang, Sultan of Malwah, taking with him 1000 picked horsemen disguised as horse-dealers, set out from Mandhu or Mandhun, and entered the Jaj-nagar territory in quest of elephants. He managed to seize the Rae of Jaj-nagar by stratagem, obtained a number of elephants, and brought him along with him, partly for his own security, on his way back to Malwah; and, on reaching the frontier of the Jaj-nagar state \[on the side of Malwah\], he set the Rae at liberty. The Lubb-ut-Tawarikh-i-Hind states that Jaj-nagar is a month's journey from Malwah, but from what part of Malwah is not said. The first ruler of the Sharki dynasty of Jaunpur — the eunuch who is turned into a "Pathan" by the archaeologists — extended his sway as far as the territory of Kol to the south; and, on the east, as far as Bihar; and compelled the rulers of Lakhanawati and Jaj-nagar to pay him tribute. ### [190.1.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.190.1.8) In 680 H. Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, Balban, set out towards Lakhanawati to reduce Tughril, his rebellious governor of Bangalah, who had defeated two armies sent against him. On the approach of the Sultan and his army, Tughril, who had been making preparations for retreat, retired towards the territory of Jaj-nagar. On the Sultan's arrival at Lakhanawati, no trace of the rebel could be found; but, discovering subsequently whither he had gone, he set out in pursuit in the direction of Jaj-nagar, until he arrived at a place some seventy kos from that territory, when a patrol from the advanced guard of his The august Sultan, Shams-ud-Din wa ud-Dunya \[I-yal-timish\], on several occasions, sent forces from the capital, army, having gained information of his whereabouts, surprised Tughril encamped with his forces on the banks of a river, at and around a large stone reservoir, and slew him. The next march would have brought him to the Jaj-nagar territory. The river, no doubt, was the boundary. --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.190.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.190.1) · Pramāṇa