The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c14.76

v4.c14.76

Shaikh ‘Alā’ī was sent to Shaikh Budh, a learned and orthodox physician in Bihār, who was commanded to examine him and to issue a *fatwā*, or authoritative decree, regarding his doctrines and the punishment due to one who held them, but although ‘Alā’ī behaved arrogantly and insolently Shaikh Budh shrank from the responsibility of condemning him. His sons, however, wrote a letter in his name, recommending that the decision of Makhdūm-ul-Mulk, *Sadr-us-Sudūr*, the most discriminating of the jurists of the day, should be enforced, and sent it, with ‘Alā’ī, to the royal camp in the Punjab. Here ‘Alā’ī refused to recant, and was made over to Makhdūm-ul-Mulk, who sentenced him to a flogging. His weakness, owing to bad health and the fatigue of his journey, was so great that at the third stripe he succumbed and died (1548). His body was trampled on by an elephant, and was left unburied. After his death the Mahdavī movement in northern India died down, but it flourished longer in the Deccan.