The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c23.32

v3.c23.32

The Sharqī dynasty reigned in Jaunpur for rather more than eighty years, and in that period produced one king of happy memory, Ibrāhīm, the patron of learning and of architecture. For a dynasty whose rule was so brief the Sharqīs have left very creditable memorials in their public buildings, and the enlightenment which earned for Jaunpur, in Ibrāhīm's reign, the title of 'the Shīrāz of India' is surprising in one of negro blood. Malik Sarvar, who founded the dynasty, was a eunuch, and could therefore have no heirs of his body. His two successors were his adopted sons, the brothers Mubārak Shāh and Ibrāhīm Shāh, probably slaves. Mubārak's name, before he assumed the royal title, was Qaranful, 'the Clove,' a contemptuous term of endearment appropriated to African slaves. No portraits of the period are known to exist, but there appears to be no reason to doubt that the kings of Jaunpur were of negro descent. The character of Husain, the last of the line, is perplexing and disappointing. He was a man of ideas, with wide opportunities, and resources commensurate with both, ever on the point of realising some great scheme of aggrandisement and ever missing his opportunity through carelessness, folly, and perhaps physical cowardice.