The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c22.20

Language: English

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Husain once more assembled his army for an attack on Delhi, and in March, 1479, arrived at the bank of the Jumna. This was the most promising of all his campaigns and the effect of his numerical superiority was everywhere apparent, but Qutb Khān Lodī, by an appeal to the memory of Husain’s mother, who had befriended him during his captivity in Jaunpur, so played upon the invader’s feelings that he induced him to make peace on obtaining from Buhlūl formal recognition of his tenure of all districts east of the Ganges, corresponding to the modern province of Rohilkhand. After concluding this treaty Husain began a leisurely retreat and Buhlūl perfidiously attacked him and captured a large number of elephants and horses laden with spoil and treasure, Husain’s minister, and about forty of his principal nobles. This success, disgracefully obtained, marks the turn of the tide in favour of Delhi, and Buhlūl pursued the demoralised army of Jaunpur and occupied the *parganas* of Kampil, Patiālī, Shamsābād, Suket, Koil, Mārhara and Jalesar. Husain, hard pressed by Buhlūl’s pursuit, turned and faced him, but was again defeated and was now obliged to acquiesce in Buhlūl’s retention of the large tract of territory which he had recovered and to agree that the frontier of the kingdom of Jaunpur should be withdrawn to Chhibrāmau, in the district now known as Farrukhābād.

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Husain retired to Rāprī and Buhlūl to Delhi, but the former, after a brief period of repose, again took the field to recover his lost territory and met Buhlūl at Senhā, where he suffered the heaviest defeat he had yet experienced. The plunder which fell into the hands of Buhlūl and the prestige which he gained with his victory established the superiority of Delhi and Buhlūl encamped at Chhibrāmau and shortly afterwards took the offensive against Husain and defeated him at Rāprī. Husain fled towards Gwalior, and after losing some of his wives and children in the passage of the Jumna, was attacked near Athgāth by the Bhadauriyas, a predatory tribe, who plundered his camp. Kirat Singh of Gwalior was still faithful to him, supplied him with money, troops, and transport, and escorted him as far as Kālpī on his way to Jaunpur. Buhlūl, after capturing Etāwah, which surrendered to him after a siege of three days, marched to attack Husain, who turned to meet him at Rāigāon Khāgā¹, where his front was protected by the Ganges, which postponed Buhlūl's attack for some months until Raja Tilok Chand of Baksar¹ joined his army and led it across the river by a ford, when Husain retreated rapidly to Phāphāmau², the raja of which place provided him with money, horses, and elephants, and escorted him in safety to Jaunpur. Buhlūl marched straight on Jaunpur and Husain fled towards Kanauj by way of Bahrāich, an unnecessarily circuitous route.

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Buhlūl followed him, overtook him on the banks of the Rahab, attacked him, and defeated him, capturing one of his wives. He then returned to Jaunpur, which he captured, and placed Mubārak Khān Lohānī in the city as governor. He also placed a garrison under the command of Qutb Khān Lodī in Majhaulī³, beyond the Gogra and then marched to Budaun, which had been nominally subject to Husain since the death of 'Ālam Shāh in 1478. Husain took advantage of his absence to re-assemble his army and march to Jaunpur, compelling Mubārak Khān to withdraw to Majhaulī. Husain marched thither, and Buhlūl's officers, who could not risk a battle, gained time by feigning to negotiate, and while Husain was thus permitting himself to be delayed, Buhlūl returned rapidly from Budaun, sent a force under his son Bārbak to relieve Majhaulī, and re-occupied Jaunpur. Husain, in despair, fled into Bihār, and Buhlūl followed him as far as Haldī, on the Ganges near Ballia, where he heard of the death of Qutb Khān Lodī at Majhaulī and, after halting to mourn for him, returned to Jaunpur, where in 1486 he placed his eldest surviving son Bārbak on the throne of that kingdom, and permitted him to coin money and to use the royal title. He then marched, by way of Chandwār, to Dholpur where the raja, as earnest of his submission, presented to him a large quantity of gold.

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From Dholpur he marched eighteen miles westward to Bārī, where Iqbāl Khān, the Muslim governor, also made his submission, and was permitted to retain his fief. Thence he marched to 'Ālampur, near Ranthambhor, plundered that district, and destroyed all the standing crops. Returning to Delhi he enjoyed some well-earned repose there and at Hissar, and, thus refreshed, marched to Gwalior, where Kirat Singh had for many years virtually maintained his independence by paying tribute to Jaunpur. Buhlūl was ill-prepared for such an enterprise as the siege of the fortress, and Kirat Singh was well content to purchase peace and liberty by the payment of eight millions of rupees. From Gwalior Buhlūl returned to Etāwah, where he made some administrative changes, and, on returning towards Delhi, was overtaken, near Suket, by his last illness, which produced a crop of intrigues regarding the succession. Bahlūl himself, who had provided for his second and eldest surviving son, Bārbak, by placing him on the throne of Jaunpur, seems to have intended that his third son, Nizām Khān (Sikandar Shāh) should succeed him, but the Afghān nobles objected to him on the ground that his mother, a favourite wife or concubine, was the daughter of a goldsmith, and prevailed upon the dying king to summon him to the camp, lest he should usurp the throne in Delhi;

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but the prince's mother and a few who favoured his cause were in the camp and secretly warned him that if he obeyed the order he would certainly be imprisoned by his father. Nizām Khān temporised and the nobles, who were almost unanimous in opposing his succession, some supporting Bārbak Shāh of Jaunpur, and others A'zam-i-Humāyūn, son of Khvāja Bāyazīd, Bahlūl's eldest son, urged Bahlūl to assert his authority, and an order was sent to Nizām Khān, warning him that if he did not immediately obey the summons his father would march to Delhi and punish him. Nizām Khān pitched his camp beyond the walls and announced that he was about to set out, but needed a few days in which to prepare for the journey. Meanwhile Bahlūl suddenly died, in the second week of July, 1489. Zībā, the goldsmith's daughter, boldly confronted the Lodī nobles with an assertion of her son's claim to the throne, and was abused to her face by 'Īsā Khān, Bahlūl's first cousin, who brusquely told her that the son of a goldsmith's daughter was not the man to fill a throne. His discourtesy injured his cause by exciting sympathy for the widow, and Khān Khānān Qarmalī rebuked him. 'Īsā Khān angrily replied that a servant had no right to interfere in the family affairs of the Lodīs, and the Khān Khānān retorted that if he was a servant he was the servant of Sikandar Shāh, the title by which Nizām Khān was already known to his adherents, and of none other.

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The army moved to Jalālī, where it was met by Nizām Khān, who, on July 17, 1489, was proclaimed king under the title of Sikandar Shāh.