The Nāṣirī Generations 195: II. MALIK-US-SA'ID, NASIR-UD-DIN, MAHMUD SHAH, SON OF SULTAN SHAMS-UD-DIN, I-YAL-TIMISH.

195

Malik Nasir-ud-Din, Mahmud Shah, was the eldest son of Sultan Shams-ud-Din; and he was a beneficent, intelligent, sensible, and sagacious Prince, and was endowed with great energy and gallantry, and was munificent, and benevolent.
The first fief which the Sultan conferred upon him was the district of Hansi; and, after a considerable time, in the year 623 H., the territory of Awadh was entrusted to his charge. In that country that Prince performed numerous commendable actions, and carried on holy war, as by the tenets of the faith enjoined, so that his praise for manliness and boldness became diffused throughout the area of Hindustan.
The accursed Bartu [or Britu], beneath whose sword above a hundred and twenty thousand Musalmans had attained martyrdom he overthrew and sent to Hell; and the refractory infidels, who were in different parts of the country of Awadh, he reduced and overcame, and brought a considerable number under obedience.
From Awadh he resolved to march into Lakhanawati, and the forces of Hindustan by command of the Sultan, his father, were nominated to serve under him, and Maliks of renown, such as Pulan and Malik ’Ala-ud-Din, Jani, all of them proceeded towards Lakhanawati in attendance on him. Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, ’Iwaz, the Khalj, had marched forces from Lakhanawati with the intention of [entering] the territory of Bang, and had left his head-quarters empty [of defenders]. When the august Malik, Nasir-ud-Din, Mahmud Shah, reached that territory with his forces, the fortress of Basan-kot and the city of Lakhanawati fell into his hands.
When the news reached Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, ’Iwaz, the Khalj, he set out for Lakhanawati from the place where he then was. Malik Nasir-ud-Din, Mahmud Shah, with his forces, proceeded against him and defeated him, and captured Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, ’Iwaz, with all his kinsmen and the Khalj Amirs, his treasures, and elephants. He had Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din, ’Iwaz, put to death, and appropriated his treasures. From Lakhanawati Malik Nasir-ud-Din, Mahmud Shah, sent sums of money in the shape of presents to all the ’Ulama, the Sayyids, devotees, recluses, and pious men of the capital, Dihli, and other cities and towns. When the dresses of distinction from Baghdad, the capital of the Khilafat, reached the presence of Sultan Shams-ud-Din, from among them he selected one dress of great value and despatched it to Lakhanawati along with a red canopy of state ; and Malik Nasir-ud-Din, Mahmud Shah, became exalted by [the bestowal of] that canopy of state, the dress of honour, and great distinction. All the Maliks and grandees of the kingdom of Hind had their eyes upon him, that he would be the heir to the Shamsi dominions, but the decree of destiny, according to [the saying] — “ Man proposes, but God disposes ” — harmonizes not with human conceptions ! A year and a half afterwards, his sacred person became afflicted with disease and weakness, and he died. When the news of his decease reached the capital [city of] Dihli, all the people manifested great grief thereat. May Almighty God make the Sultan of Islam, Nasir-ud-Din, Mahmud Shah, as he is the heir to his name and title, the heir, during his lifetime] of the whole of the Maliks and Sultans of that dynasty, for the sake of His prophet and the whole of his posterity !