The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c25: Chapter XIII. Gujarāt and Khāndesh
The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c25
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Chapter XIII. Gujarāt and Khāndesh
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THE great empire of Muhammad Tughluq was dismembered partly by his own ferocious tyranny and partly by the weakness of his successors. Bengal revolted in 1338 and the Deccan in 1347, during Muhammad's lifetime. There were no further defections in the reign of his successor Fīrūz, who had some success in Bengal, but failed to recover the province, but the twenty-five years which followed the death of Fīrūz witnessed the accession of one weakling after another to the throne of Delhi, the destruction of such power as still remained in the hands of the central government by the invasion of Tīmūr, and the establishment of independent principalities in Sind, Oudh, Khāndesh, Gujarāt, and Mālwa.
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Malik Ahmad, the founder of the small principality of Khāndesh was not, however, a rebel against the king of Delhi, but against the Bahmanī dynasty of the Deccan. In 1365 he joined the rebellion of Bahrām Khān Māzandarānī against Muhammad I, the second king of that line, and, when he was compelled to flee from the Deccan established himself at Thālner, on the Tāptī. By 1382 he had conquered the surrounding country and ruled his small territory as an independent prince. He was known both as Malik Raja and Raja Ahmad, but he and his successors for some generations were content with the title of Khān, from which circumstance their small principality became known as Khāndesh, 'the Country of the Khāns.' His dynasty was distinguished by the epithet Fārūqī, from the title of the second Caliph, 'Umar, al-Fārūq, or 'The Discriminator,' from whom Ahmad claimed descent.
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The kingdom of Gujarāt was established in 1396. Farhat-ul-Mulk, who had been appointed governor of the province by Fīrūz Shāh, had long ceased to pay any heed to orders received from Delhi and the inhabitants groaned under his yoke. In 1391 Muhammad Shāh, the youngest son of Fīrūz, appointed Zafar Khān to the government of Gujarāt, and sent him to establish his authority there. The new governor was the son of a Rājput convert to Islam, Wajīh-ul-Mulk of Dīdwāna, governor of Nāgaur. On January 4, 1392, he defeated and mortally wounded Farhat-ul-Mulk at Gāmbhū, eighteen miles south of Pātan, and gradually reduced to obedience all disorderly elements in the province. In 1396 the strife between two rival kings, Mahmūd Shāh and Nusrat Shāh, and the impossibility of determining to whom allegiance was due, furnished him with a pretext for declaring himself independent, and he was joined in the following year by his son Tātār Khān, who, having espoused the cause of the pretender Nusrat Shāh, had been compelled to flee from Delhi. Zafar Khān was preparing to march to Delhi when he was deterred by tokens of Tīmūr's impending invasion, and devoted the whole of his attention to his campaign against the Rājput state of Īdar, which he subdued in 1400.
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In 1399 Mahmūd Shāh of Delhi and large numbers of fugitives fleeing before Tīmūr arrived in Gujarāt. They were hospitably received, but Mahmūd considered that Zafar Khān's attitude to him was not sufficiently deferential, and retired to Mālwa, where he took refuge with Dilāvar Khān Ghūrī, the governor.
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In 1403 Tātār Khān, learning that Iqbāl Khān, or Mallū, who had driven him from Delhi, had so humiliated Mahmūd Shāh that the latter had fled from him, urged his father to march on Delhi and assume control of the situation, but Zafar Khān was well stricken in years and shrank from the enterprise. He so far yielded to his son's importunity as to place a force at his disposal in order that he might wreak his vengeance on his former antagonist, but Tātār Khān, finding himself at the head of an army, rose against his father, seized him and imprisoned him at Asāwal, and caused himself to be proclaimed king under the title of Nāsir-ud-dīn Muhammad Shāh. Having thus secured his father he appointed his uncle Shams Khān regent of the kingdom, with the title of Nusrat Khān, and set out for Delhi in order to carry out his original project, but as soon as he had left Asāwal Zafar Khān persuaded the regent, his brother, to follow the rebel and privily compass his death. Shams (Nusrat) Khān set out for Tātār's camp and there poisoned him in a draught of wine, and on his return released his brother and restored him to his throne, which he now ascended under the title of Sultān Muzaffar.
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In 1407 Muzaffar invaded Mālwa and besieged the king, Hūshang Shāh, in Dhār. The pretext for this attack was his resolve to avenge the death of his old friend and comrade, Dilāvar Khān, who had been poisoned by his son Hūshang. Dhār fell, and Hūshang was captured and imprisoned, and Muzaffar established his own brother, Nusrat Khān (Shams Khān) in Dhār.
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After capturing Dhār Muzaffar learnt that Ibrāhīm Shāh of Jaunpur, having annexed some districts to the east of the Ganges, intended to attack Delhi; he thereupon marched from Mālwa to the support of Mahmūd Shāh Tughluq, carrying with him the captive Hūshang. The menace deterred Ibrāhīm from prosecuting his enterprise and Muzaffar returned to Gujarāt.
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Nusrat Khān had made himself so odious by his exactions in Mālwa that the army expelled him, and elected Mūsā Khān, a cousin of Hūshang, as their governor, and Muzaffar, who was not prepared to permit the army of Mālwa to rule the destinies of that country, sent his grandson Ahmad, son of Tātār Khān, to restore Hūshang, who was sent with him. Ahmad reinstated Hūshang in Mālwa and returned to Gujarāt, where he was designated heir to the kingdom by his grandfather.
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Muzaffar died in June, 1411, and Ahmad was confronted on his succession, by a serious rebellion, headed by his four uncles, Fīrūz Khān, Haibat Khān, Sa‘ādat Khān, and Sher Khān, who resented their nephew’s elevation to the throne. He succeeded, without bloodshed, in inducing them to acknowledge him as their sovereign, and was enabled to turn his arms against Hūshang Shāh of Mālwa, whom he had summoned to his aid but who had determined, instead of assisting him, to profit by his difficulties. Hūshang, who had hoped to find him fully occupied with the rebels, retreated precipitately when he learnt that the rebellion had been extinguished and that Ahmad was marching against him, but his retirement was followed by a fresh rising of the rebels, who were, however, defeated and dispersed. The rebellion of the raja of Jhālāwar then called Ahmad into Kāthiāwār, and during his absence in that region Hūshang, at the invitation of Ahmad’s uncles, again invaded Gujarāt, and Ahmad, returning from Jhālāwar sent his brother Latīf Khān against their uncles and ‘Imād-ul-Mulk Sha‘bān, one of his nobles, against Hūshang, who, finding that he was not supported, retired to Mālwa, while Latīf Khān dispersed the rebels and compelled them to seek refuge with the Chudasama chief of Girnār, in Sorath. Ahmad proceeded to chastise the raja for harbouring them, defeated him in the field, and besieged him in his fort on the Girnār hill. He purchased peace by a promise to pay tribute, and Ahmad, who was suddenly called away by a report of the invasion of Nandurbār, left two of his officers to collect the tribute and returned to his new city of Ahmadābād, which he had built on the site of Asāwal, to assemble troops for the expulsion of the invader.
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Raja Ahmad of Khāndesh had died on April 29, 1399, leaving two sons, Nasīr and Hasan, to inherit his dominions. Nasīr had received the eastern and Hasan the western districts, and the former had founded, in 1400, the city of Burhānpur, and had captured from a Hindu chieftain the strong fortress of Asīr, while the latter had established himself at Thālner. Such a division of the territories of the small state held no promise of permanence, and in 1417 the elder brother, Nasīr, having obtained assistance from Hūshang of Mālwa, who had married his sister, captured Thālner and imprisoned Hasan before a reply could be received to the latter’s appeal for aid to Ahmad of Gujarāt. Nasīr, with a view to forestalling Ahmad’s intervention and to repairing the discomfiture of his father, who had made an unsuccessful attempt to annex the south-eastern districts of the kingdom of Gujarāt, attacked Nandurbār. A relieving force sent by Ahmad compelled Nasīr to retreat to Asīr, and besieged him in that fortress. Peace was made on Nasīr’s swearing fealty to Ahmad, and promising to abstain in future from aggression, and Ahmad in return recognised Nasīr’s title of Khān. Nasīr’s brother Hasan retired to Gujarāt, where he and his descendants for generations found a home and intermarried with the royal house.
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From this treaty dates the estrangement between Khāndesh and Mālwa, which had hitherto been allies. Nasīr Khān resented Hūshang’s failure to support him adequately against Ahmad Shāh and friendly relations were broken off. In 1429 Nasīr, in spite of the old animosity of his house towards the Bahmanids, attempted to form an alliance with the Deccan by giving his daughter in marriage to ‘Alā-ud-dīn Ahmad, son of Ahmad Shāh, the ninth king of that dynasty, but the union engendered strife, and Khāndesh, after a disastrous war with her powerful neighbour, was at length driven into the arms of Gujarāt.
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Ahmad himself had advanced as far as Nandurbār, sending Malik Mahmūd, one of his officers, to besiege Asīr, and while at Nandurbār he heard from his uncle Fīrūz, who had taken refuge in Nāgaur, that Hūshang Shāh was about to invade Gujarāt. This report was followed immediately by the news that Hūshang, in response to invitations from the rajas of Īdar, Chāmpāner, Mandal, and Nāndod, had crossed his frontier and reached Modāsa¹. Ahmad, although the rainy season of 1418 had begun, at once marched northward, traversed the country of the disaffected rajas, and appeared before Modāsa. Hūshang beat a hasty retreat, but Ahmad had no rest. He was obliged to send expeditions to quell a rebellion in Sorath, and to expel Nasīr Khān from the Nandurbār district, which he had invaded in violation of his promise. Both expeditions were successful, and Nasīr was pardoned on its being discovered that the real culprit was Hūshang’s son, Ghaznī Khān, who had not only instigated him to invade the district but had supplied him with troops.
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¹ In 23° 28′ N. and 73° 18′ E.
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It was now evident that the real enemy was Hūshang, and Ahmad, having pardoned the rebellious rajas on receiving from them double tribute and promises of better behaviour, set out in March, 1419, to invade Mālwa.
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Hūshang came forth to meet him, but was defeated in a fiercely contested battle and compelled to take refuge in Māndū. Ahmad’s troops devastated the country, but as the rainy season was at hand he returned to Ahmadābād, plundering on his way the districts of Chāmpāner and Nāndod.
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In 1420 Ahmad marched to Songarh¹, and thence, in a north-easterly direction, towards Māndū, ‘punishing,’ on his way, ‘the infidels’ of the Sātpūras. Hūshang, dreading another invasion, sent envoys to crave pardon for his past conduct, and Ahmad retired, and in 1422 reduced the raja of Chāmpāner to vassalage. In 1422, during Hūshang’s absence on his famous raid into Orissa, Ahmad invaded Mālwa, capturing Maheshwar on the Narbada on March 27. He appeared before Māndū on April 5, and besieged it ineffectually until the beginning of the rainy season, when he retired into quarters at Ujjain. In the meantime Hūshang returned to Māndū, and on September 17 Ahmad reopened the siege, but, finding that he could not reduce the fortress, retired by Ujjain to Sārangpur, with the object of continuing his depredations in that neighbourhood, but Hūshang, marching by a more direct route, met him near Sārangpur on December 26. Neither was anxious to risk a general action and after desultory and inconclusive hostilities of two and a half months’ duration Ahmad began his retreat on March 17. He reached Ahmadābād on May 15, and in consideration of his army’s labours refrained for more than two years from embarking on any military enterprise and devoted himself to administrative reforms. From 1425 until 1428 he was engaged in hostilities against Īdar, which ended in the reduction of Harī Rāi, the raja, to the condition of a vassal of Gujarāt.
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¹ In 21° 10′ N. and 73° 36′ E.
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In 1429 Kānhā, raja of Jhālāwar, fled from his state and took refuge with Nasīr Khān of Khāndesh, who, not being strong enough to protect him, sent him to the court of Ahmad Shāh Bahmanī at Bīdar, who dispatched a force into the Nandurbār district to ravage the country. This force was expelled and driven back to Daulatābād, whereupon Ahmad of the Deccan sent an army under his son ‘Alā-ud-dīn Ahmad to invade Gujarāt and re-establish Kānhā in Jhālāwar. This army, which assembled at Daulatābād, was there joined by Nasīr Khān of Khāndesh, and against the allied forces Ahmad of Gujarāt sent an army under his eldest son, Muhammad Khān. This prince defeated the allies at Mānikpunj, about thirty-eight miles north-west of Daulatābād, and ‘Alā-ud-dīn Ahmad fled to Daulatābād while Nasīr and Kānhā fled into Khāndesh. Muhammad Khān of Gujarāt, perceiving that it would be useless to besiege Daulatābād, laid waste part of Khāndesh and retired to Nandurbār.
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In 1430 Khalaf Hasan of Basrah, an officer of the army of the Deccan, attacked Mahīm, the southernmost port of the kingdom of Gujarāt, and Ahmad of Gujarāt sent his younger son, Zafar Khān, to the relief of the town, while ‘Alā-ud-dīn Ahmad marched to the support of Khalaf Hasan. Mahīm was taken, but Zafar Khān not only besieged the army there, but also took Thāna, a port belonging to the kingdom of the Deccan. The campaign was decided, however, by a battle in which the army of the Deccan was completely defeated and was forced to evacuate Mahīm and retreat.
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Ahmad of the Deccan was much chagrined by the news of this defeat, and led an army in person to invade Baglāna, the small Rājput state between Gujarāt and the Deccan which was protected by the former, but, on hearing that Ahmad of Gujarāt was marching against him, retired to Bīdar. Ahmad of Gujarāt returned to Ahmadābād and Ahmad of the Deccan again advanced and besieged the fortress of Batnol, which was gallantly defended by Malik Sa‘ādat, an officer of Gujarāt. Ahmad of Gujarāt marched to the relief of the fortress, and Ahmad of the Deccan, raising the siege, turned to meet him. A battle was fought in which each army held its ground but Ahmad of the Deccan, dismayed by the extent of his losses, retreated in the night.
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In 1433 Ahmad led a raid into the Dūngarpur state, compelled the Rāwal to pay a ransom, and left an officer at Kherwāra to collect tribute. He continued his depredations in Mārwār, compelled his kinsman Fīrūz Khān¹, now governor of Nāgaur, to pay an indemnity, and returned to Ahmadābād.
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¹ ^1 Fīrūz was the son of Ahmad’s grand-uncle, Shams Khān.
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In 1436 Mas‘ūd Khān of Mālwa arrived at Ahmadābād as a suppliant seeking redress. His father, Ghaznī Khān, had ascended the throne of Mālwa in 1435 and had been poisoned in the following year by his cousin, Mahmūd Khaljī, who had ascended the throne and deprived him of his inheritance. Ahmad welcomed the opportunity of intervening, and in 1438 invaded Mālwa with a view to seating Mas‘ūd on the throne of that kingdom. After many months of fruitless campaigning he was obliged to retire owing to an outbreak of pestilence in his army, and died on August 16, 1442, before he could fulfil his promise to restore Mas‘ūd. He was succeeded in Gujarāt by his eldest son, who ascended the throne under the title of Mu‘izz-ud-dīn Muhammad Shāh. Soon after his accession to the throne Ahmad had begun to build the town of Ahmadābād on the site of the old city of Asāwal, and in spite of the constant military activities of his reign he was able to devote much of his time to the establishment of this city, which even to-day bears witness to the taste and munificence of its founder.
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While Ahmad had been engaged in espousing the cause of Mas‘ūd Khān in Mālwa Nasīr Khān of Khāndesh had involved himself in hostilities with the Deccan. His daughter had complained that her husband ‘Alā-ud-dīn Ahmad, who had succeeded his father in 1435, was neglecting her for a beautiful Hindu girl, and Nasīr, to avenge his daughter’s wrongs, invaded Berar, the northernmost province of the Bahmanī kingdom. His son-in-law sent against him a large army under Khalaf Hasan, who defeated him at Rohankhed¹ and drove him into his frontier fortress, Laling², where he besieged him. Nasīr Khān, joined by a large force under his nobles, made a sortie, but suffered a severe defeat, died on September 20, and was succeeded by his son, ‘Ādil Khān I. Khalaf Hasan, hearing that a force was advancing from Nandurbār to the relief of Laling, retired to the Deccan with his plunder, which included seventy elephants and many guns.
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¹ In 23° 37′ N. and 76° 11′ E.
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² In 20° 49′ N. and 74° 44′ E.
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‘Ādil Khān I reigned in Khāndesh without incident until 1441, when he died and was succeeded by his son Mubārak Khān, who reigned, likewise without incident, until his death on June 5, 1457, when he was succeeded by his son ‘Ādil Khān II.
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In 1446 Muhammad Shāh of Gujarāt, who was surnamed Karīm, or ‘the Generous,’ marched against Īdar, to reduce its ruler, Rāja Bīr, son of Pūnjā, to obedience. Bīr appeared before him and made submission, giving him his daughter in marriage, and at her intercession Īdar was restored to him. Muhammad next attacked, at Bāgor, Rānā Kūmbha, of Mewār, who fled and took refuge with the Rāwal of Dūngarpur, the chief of his house, but afterwards appeared before the invader and purchased peace with a heavy indemnity.
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In 1449 Muhammad attacked Chāmpāner, with the object of expelling the raja, Gangādās, and annexing his state. Gangādās was defeated in the field with great slaughter, and driven into the hill fortress of Pavagarh, above the city. Muhammad indicated his intention of permanently occupying the city by constructing a fine cistern, which was named the Shakar Talāo, and by founding a palace and some public buildings. Gangādās appealed for help to Mahmūd Khaljī of Mālwa, who marched to his relief, but on reaching Dahod learnt that Muhammad, in spite of a severe illness contracted at Chāmpāner, had advanced as far as Godhra to meet him. He retreated at once to Māndū, and Muhammad, oppressed by his sickness, was obliged to return to Ahmadābād, where he died on February 10, 1451.
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Three days after his death the courtiers enthroned his eldest son, Qutb-ud-dīn Ahmad, and the young king was at once called upon to cope with a serious invasion of his kingdom. Mahmūd Khaljī, on learning the seriousness of Muhammad’s malady, resolved to seize the opportunity of conquering Gujarāt, and after his return to Māndū assembled an army of 100,000 horse and 500 elephants, and invaded the Nandurbār district. ‘Alā-ud-dīn Suhrāb, who commanded the fortress of Nandurbār, made no attempt to hold it against such a force, but surrendered it at once, and consulted his own safety by swearing allegiance to the invader and entering his service. After capturing Nandurbār Mahmūd learnt of the death of Muhammad and marched on Broach, where he summoned Marjān, the governor, to surrender. Marjān refused, and Mahmūd was about to besiege the town when, by the advice of ‘Alā-ud-dīn Suhrāb, he decided, instead, to attack the capital at once, and marched to Baroda, where he was joined by Gangādās of Chāmpāner and other chiefs. Crossing the Māhī river he advanced to Kapadvanj, where ‘Alā-ud-dīn deserted him and joined his old master, who received him with great favour and conferred on him the title of ‘Alā-ul-Mulk, Ulugh Khān. Qutb-ud-dīn advanced from Ahmadābād with 40,000 horse and encamped six miles from Kapadvanj. On the night of April 1, 1451, Mahmūd Khaljī left his camp with the object of making a night attack on Qutb-ud-dīn, but lost his way, and, after wandering about all night, found himself by daylight before his own camp. Disappointed of surprising the enemy, he drew up his army, and Qutb-ud-dīn, who had intelligence of what had passed, advanced to the attack. At a critical moment of the battle which ensued Qutb-ud-dīn threw in his reserves, the great army of Mālwa was utterly defeated, and Mahmūd fled, leaving eighty-one elephants and all his baggage in the hands of the victors. He halted at a short distance from the field until five or six thousand men of his scattered host had assembled round him, and at midnight began his retreat on Māndū, during which he was much harassed by the Kolīs, who inflicted heavy losses on the remnant of his army.
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In 1453 Mahmūd Khaljī opened an abortive campaign against Nāgaur, which was held by Fīrūz Khān, the kinsman of Qutb-ud-dīn, but was compelled to retire to Mālwa without having effected anything. In the same year Fīrūz Khān died, and his brother Mujāhid Khān took possession of Nāgaur, expelling Shams Khān, the son of Fīrūz Khān, who sought aid of Rānā Kūmbha of Chitor. The Rānā promised to restore him to his inheritance on condition that he destroyed three of the bastions of Nāgaur, as a symbol that the disgrace of the defeat of Mūkal, the Rānā’s father, by Fīrūz Khān was wiped out. Shams Khān agreed to the condition and was restored, but when he had recovered his patrimony his nobles refused to allow him to destroy any part of the fortifications, and Kūmbha returned to Mewār to assemble an army for the reduction of Nāgaur. Shams Khān fled to Ahmadābād and, by giving a daughter in marriage to Qutb-ud-dīn, induced him to send an army to the defence of Nāgaur, but the Rānā defeated and almost destroyed the army, and overran the whole of the Nāgaur territory, though he failed to take the fortress.
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In 1456 Qutb-ud-dīn marched to Kumbhalgarh to punish Kūmbha, and on his way thither captured and destroyed the town of Sirohī and expelled the raja, Sains Mal. He laid waste all the lowlands of the Rānā’s territory, defeated him in the field, and besieged him in Kumbhalgarh. The fortress was not taken, but Kūmbha was obliged to purchase peace by the payment of ample compensation to Shams Khān for all the injuries which he had inflicted on him, and a heavy indemnity to Qutb-ud-dīn.
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On returning to Ahmadābād Qutb-ud-dīn learned that Ghiyās-ud-dīn, the son of Mahmūd Khaljī, had led a raid into his dominions as far as Sūrat, but had hurriedly retreated on hearing of his return, and later in the year Mahmūd sent a mission to propose a treaty of peace between the two kingdoms, in order that both might be free to wage holy war against the Hindus of Rājputāna. These overtures were favourably received, and Mahmūd marched to Dhār and Muhammad to the frontier of Mālwa in the neighbourhood of Chāmpāner, where they halted while plenipotentiaries concluded a treaty binding each to abstain from aggression on the other, and allotting to Gujarāt the western and to Mālwa the eastern districts of the Rānā's dominions as the theatre in which each was to be free to attack the misbelievers.
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In 1457 Qutb-ud-dīn again invaded the dominions of Rānā Kūmbha. He had in his camp the chief of Ābū, who had been expelled from his mountain fortress by the Rānā, and his first care was to restore him. Having accomplished this he attacked and burnt Kumbhalgarh, and slaughtered both men and cattle throughout the neighbourhood, but though he burnt the fortress he was unable to take it, and, having devastated the country round about Chitor, he returned to Ahmadābād, where he died, after a short illness, on May 18, 1458.
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Qutb-ud-dīn was a young man, and as he had hitherto enjoyed good health his sudden illness and death aroused suspicions of poison. He had been addicted to strong drink, and when under its influence had been violent and quick to shed blood. Suspicion fell upon his wife, the daughter of Shams Khān of Nāgaur, who was supposed to have instigated his daughter to administer poison to her husband in the hope of succeeding to the throne of Gujarāt. Qutb-ud-dīn's officers at Nāgaur put Shams Khān to death, and the king's mother subjected his widow to torture and ultimately handed her over to her jealous co-wives, who avenged the preference formerly shown for her by cutting her to pieces.
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On Qutb-ud-dīn's death the great officers of state raised to the throne his uncle Dāūd, but this prince immediately displayed such depravity and proceeded to fill the places of those who had enthroned him with favourites so unworthy that he was deposed after a reign of no more than twenty-seven days, and his younger brother Abu-'l-Fath Mahmūd was raised to the throne on May 25. Sultān Mahmūd, a mere youth, was at once involved in the meshes of a conspiracy to raise his brother Hasan Khān to the throne. The courtiers who entertained this design approached him and informed him that the minister, 'Imād-ul-Mulk Sha'bān, was conspiring to depose him and to place on the throne Mahmūd's son, Shihāb-ud-dīn, an infant in whose name he would be able to govern the whole country as regent. Mahmūd, new to political intrigue, believed them, and permitted them to arrest the minister and imprison him over one of the gates of the palace. During the night Malik 'Abdullāh, the superintendent of the elephant stables, who had access to the young king, informed him privately of the real state of affairs, and warned him that his throne was in danger. Mahmūd consulted his mother and a few of his immediate attendants, and at once decided on a course of action. Going in person to the Tarpūliya gate, where the minister was confined, he easily gained admission, for the outer precincts of the gate were held by 500 of his own guards, whom he had lent for the purpose, but he found more difficulty in removing the scruples of the minister’s gaolers, who were the creatures of the conspirators. By stamping his foot and demanding in a loud and angry tone the immediate surrender of the traitor that he might suffer instant death he succeeded both in overawing the gaolers by a display of the divinity that doth hedge a king, and in beguiling them into the belief that compliance with his commands would accomplish their master’s design, but as soon as their prisoner was in the king’s power they perceived their error. He begged his minister to excuse the mistake which he had made, and to resume his post. The conspirators, supported by their troops, assembled in the morning at the Tarpūliya gate in the expectation of removing their enemy by a summary execution, but to their dismay found the king holding an audience with his minister, who was standing in his accustomed position behind the throne. Trusting to numbers, they attempted to assume control of the situation, but were deserted by many of their troops and by the city mob, who hesitated openly to take up arms against the king. They fled, and some gained secure places of refuge, but others were captured and publicly executed. Among the latter was one who had attempted to flee, but was too corpulent to use the necessary expedition, and was discovered lurking in his hiding place. Before him lay the obvious fate of being trampled to death by an elephant, and the populace was regaled with the unctuous spectacle.
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The conspiracy having been thus frustrated the minister resumed office, but shortly afterwards retired. Hājī Sultānī, one of Mahmūd’s confidants, was appointed in his place, with the title of ‘Imād-ul-Mulk, and Mahmūd assumed charge of the administration of his kingdom. ‘Imād-ul-Mulk Sha‘bān did not long survive his retirement.
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In 1462 Mahmūd, while on a hunting expedition, received an appeal for help from the guardians of the infant Nizām Shāh of the Deccan, whose dominions had been invaded by Mahmūd Khaljī of Mālwa. Mahmūd of Gujarāt marched to Nandurbār, where a second messenger informed him that Mahmūd Khaljī had defeated the army of the Deccan near Kandhār. Mahmūd of Gujarāt therefore marched eastward into Khāndesh and cut off his retreat by that road, so that he was compelled to retire through the Mahādeo hills in northern Berar, where the army of Mālwa suffered severely both from want of water and from the attacks of the Korkus.
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In the following year Mahmūd Khaljī again invaded the Deccan, but had penetrated no further than the northern confines of Telingāna when the news that the sultan of Gujarāt was again marching to the help of Nizām Shāh caused him to retreat. Nizām Shāh sent an envoy to thank his deliverer for the assistance which he had given him, and Mahmūd of Gujarāt wrote to Mahmūd Khaljī saying that it was unfair to molest a child who had not reached maturity, and warning him that if he invaded the Deccan again he would find his own country overrun by the army of Gujarāt. The threat was effectual, and Mahmūd Khaljī refrained from further acts of aggression.
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In 1464 Mahmūd of Gujarāt attacked the Hindu chief of Pardi, near Damān, who had been guilty of piracy. As he was ascending the hill to capture the fort the chief met him with the keys, and the stronghold was restored to him on his undertaking to pay tribute and promising amendment.
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In 1466 Mahmūd invaded the territory of Mandalak Chūdāsama, raja of Girnār, his object being to compel the raja to pay tribute. The state was pillaged, and a number of Hindus perished in the defence of a famous temple, which was sacked. On the receipt of this news Mandalak agreed to pay tribute and Mahmūd retired; but in the following year, learning that Mandalak was in the habit of using the insignia of royalty, wrote and commanded him to discontinue their use, and the raja, dreading another invasion, obeyed.
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On May 31, 1469, Mahmūd Khaljī of Mālwa died and was succeeded by his eldest son, Ghiyās-ud-dīn. The question of the invasion of Mālwa was at this time discussed at the court of Gujarāt, but Mahmūd showed that the warning which he had addressed to Mahmūd Khaljī when the latter was attacking Nizām Shāh of the Deccan had its origin in principle, and declined to invade a state which had just suffered the misfortune of losing its ruler. Later in the year, however, he committed an act as wanton by leading into Sorath a large army against Mandalak of Girnār. It was in vain that the raja pleaded that he had remitted tribute regularly and had been an obedient vassal. Mahmūd replied that he was come neither for tribute nor for plunder, but to establish the true faith in Sorath; and offered Mandalak the choice between Islam and death. The answer admitted of no argument, and Mandalak could only prepare to defend himself. He retired to his citadel, Uparkot, and was there closely besieged. When reduced to straits he attempted to purchase peace by offering an enormous indemnity, but to no purpose, and, finding that he could no longer defend Uparkot, he fled with his Rājputs to his hill fort on the Girnār mountains, but was followed by Mahmūd, who again closely besieged him until at last, on December 4, 1470, he was compelled to surrender. He accepted Islam and received the title of Khān Jahān, and the long line of Chudāsama chiefs of Girnār came to an end. Mahmūd incorporated Girnār in his dominions, and at the foot of the hill founded the city of Mustafā-ābād, which became one of his capitals.
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Mahmūd now learned that while he had been besieging Girnār Jai Singh, the son of Gangādās of Chāmpāner, had been committing systematic brigandage and highway robbery in the country between his stronghold and Ahmadābād. He therefore sent Jamāl-ud-dīn Muhammad to govern this tract, conferring on him the title of Muhāfiz Khān, and he put down thieving and highway robbery with such a firm hand that the inhabitants, we are told, slept with open doors.
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He had intended at this time to reduce the fortress of Chāmpāner, but he was interrupted by complaints from southern Sind, where Muslims were said to be persecuted by Hindus. He crossed the Rann of Cutch by forced marches, and arrived in what is now the Thār and Parkār district with no more than 600 horse. An army of 24,000 horse which he found before him appears, if it were not that of those who had appealed, at least to have had no hostile intentions, for its leaders readily entered into negotiations with him. It proved to be composed of Sūmras, Sodas, and Kalhoras, and its leaders told him that they were professing Muslims but knew little of their faith or its rules, and were wont to intermarry with and to live as Hindus. He invited those who would to enter his service, and to return with him to Gujarāt, and many accepted his invitation and received grants of land in Sorath, where teachers were appointed to instruct them in the faith of Islam.
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In 1472 it was reported to Mahmūd that 40,000 rebels had risen against Jām Nizām-ud-dīn, the ruler of Sind, whose daughter was the mother of Mahmūd. According to Firishta these rebels were Balūchīs of the Shiah persuasion, and according to the author of the *Zafar-ul-Wālih* they were pirates who dwelt on the sea coast, owning allegiance to none, and skilled in archery. Mahmūd again crossed the Rann by forced marches, and appeared in Sind with his army. The rebels dispersed on hearing of his approach, and Mahmūd halted, and before he returned received gifts and a letter of thanks from the Jām, who also sent his daughter, who was married to Qaisar Khān, grandson of Hasan Khān Iftikhār-ul-Mulk of Khāndesh, who had taken refuge in Gujarāt.
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On his return from Sind Mahmūd marched, on May 14, 1473, to Jagat (Dwārkā), the holy town on the coast in the north-western corner of Kāthiāwār, which was sacked by Mahmūd of Ghaznī. Mahmūd Samarqandī, a learned poet and merchant sailing from a port of the Deccan, had been driven ashore at Dwārkā, where the Hindus had robbed him of all that he had. He appeared at Sultān Mahmūd's court to demand redress, and the king resolved to chastise the idolators. He marched to Dwārkā, from which the Hindus, with their king, Bhīm, fled on his approach, plundered and destroyed the temple, and built a mosque in its place. He then marched to Arāmura, at the extreme north-western point of the peninsula, where the army was much troubled by lions, and by venomous reptiles and insects, to attack the island fortress of Bet Shankhodhar, where Bhīm and his people had taken refuge. The Hindus were defeated in a sea-fight and were compelled to surrender, as their fortress, though well stored with merchandise, had not been provisioned. The plunder was carried to the mainland and transported to Mustafā-ābād. Mahmūd Samarqandī was summoned and called upon to identify his goods; all that he identified was delivered to him, and over and above this rich presents were bestowed on him. Finally the king delivered to him his enemy, Raja Bhīm, that he might do with him what he would. Mahmūd Samarqandī thanked the king, but returned the raja, who was sent to Ahmadābād and impaled.
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In October, 1473, Mahmūd, who had held his court at Mustafā-ābād since his capture of Girnār, returned after an absence of nearly five years to Ahmadābād. A fleet of Malabar pirates made a descent on his coasts, but they were driven off and some of their ships were captured. In January, 1474, he ravaged part of the Chāmpāner country and shortly afterwards returned to Mustafā-ābād (or Junāgarh) where he made a practice of spending part of each year, leaving his minister, Khudāvand Khān b. Yūsuf, who had married his sister, at Ahmadābād in charge of his son Ahmad.
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Mahmūd's tireless energy and ceaseless activity were most wearisome to his courtiers and officers, and during his absence from his capital his minister, Khudāvand Khān, having on December 4, 1480, assembled at Ahmadābād, on the pretext of celebrating the festival *'Īd-ul-Fitr* at the end of the month's fast, the principal nobles, formed a conspiracy with the object of deposing Mahmūd and raising to the throne his son, Ahmad Khān. The minister desired to put to death ‘Imād-ul-Mulk Hājī Sultānī, whose fidelity to Mahmūd was believed to be unalterable, but Rāi Rāyān, the chief Hindu noble and one of the leading spirits among the conspirators, was a personal friend of ‘Imād-ul-Mulk, and refused to be a party to his death. He proposed to inform him of the plot and to gain his acquiescence, and, notwithstanding the minister’s protests, carried out his intention. ‘Imād-ul-Mulk feigned acquiescence, but secretly summoned his troops from his fiefs and took other steps to defeat the designs of the conspirators, and Qaisar Khān Fārūqī, who was at Ahmadābād, privately informed the king of the affair, so that it came to naught.
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Mahmūd, instead of arraigning the conspirators, as might have been expected from the energy of his character, took steps to test the fidelity of his servants. He made all the necessary preparations for a sea voyage, and announced that he intended to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca, leaving his son Ahmad as regent of the kingdom. The nobles were summoned from Ahmadābād to Cambay to consider this proposal, and, perceiving that their plot had been discovered, urged the king to return to Ahmadābād and set the affairs of the kingdom in order before taking any irrevocable step. He accepted their advice and returned to Ahmadābād, where he kept them still on the rack. He desired, he said, to make the pilgrimage, but must leave the matter to the decision of his counsellors, and would neither eat nor drink until he had received that decision. The courtiers were in a quandary. They knew not how their advice would be accepted, but knew that they must either forgo the object of their conspiracy or be accounted hypocrites. So long did they hesitate that it became necessary to remind them that the king was hungry and awaited their decision. They had arrived at none, and sent Nizām-ul-Mulk Aisan, the oldest courtier, to the king as their spokesman. Nizām-ul-Mulk, who perceived that the king had outwitted the conspirators, adroitly suggested that just as the king was satisfied of his son’s ability to guide the affairs of the kingdom, so he too had a son who was competent to advise and assist him, and requested that he himself might be permitted to accompany the king on his pilgrimage. It was now Mahmūd’s turn to be at a loss, but he sent Nizām-ul-Mulk back to those who had sent him, saying that he could not permit him to accompany him to Mecca and demanding a categorical answer. By the advice of ‘Imād-ul-Mulk, Nizām-ul-Mulk was sent back to the king with the message that he would do well to conquer Chāmpāner before deciding to make the pilgrimage. This advice was accepted, but it was not convenient to attack Chāmpāner at once, and Mahmūd marched to Pātan and thence sent ‘Imād-ul-Mulk and Qaisar Khān Fārūqī on an expedition to Sānchor and Jālor in Marwār. As the expedition was about to start the two sons of the minister, Khudāvand Khān, entered the tent of Qaisar Khān and murdered him for his share in discovering the plot to the king. The actual murderers escaped, but Khudāvand Khān was imprisoned, and Muhāfiz Khān was made chief *vazīr* in his place. ‘Imād-ul-Mulk died in the same year, and was succeeded by his son, Buda ‘Imād-ul-Mulk. From Pātan Mahmūd returned to Ahmadābād, and the country now suffered from a failure of the rains and famine.
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In 1482 Mahmūd obtained the opportunity which he sought of attacking Chāmpāner. Malik Sūdha, his governor of Rasūlābād, fourteen miles south-west of Chāmpāner, led a raid into the raja’s territories, and plundered and laid them waste nearly to the walls of the fortress, slaying the inhabitants. As he was returning, the raja, Patāī, son of Udai Singh, followed him up, attacked and slew him, recovered all his booty, took two elephants, and sacked and destroyed Rasūlābād. Mahmūd, on hearing of this defeat, assembled his forces, and on December 4, 1482, marched from Ahmadābād to Baroda, on his way to Chāmpāner. From Baroda he sent an army to besiege Chāmpāner while he invaded the raja’s territories to collect supplies for the besiegers, whom it was difficult, owing to the famine, to provision.
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Raja Patāī came forth to meet his enemy, but was defeated and driven into Pavagurh, his hill fortress above Chāmpāner, while the besiegers occupied the town. Patāī succeeded in cutting off one convoy sent by Mahmūd to his army, but this was his sole success. When Mahmūd joined the besieging army in person Patāī made repeated offers of submission, but none was accepted, and Mahmūd displayed his determination to capture the place by building in the city the beautiful mosque which still adorns its ruins. This measure not only discouraged Patāī, but stimulated the Muslim officers, who now perceived that they would not be allowed to leave the fortress uncaptured, to exertions more strenuous than their former faint efforts. Patāī sent his minister, Sūrī, to seek help of Ghiyās-ud-dīn Khaljī of Mālwa, and Ghiyās-ud-dīn, assembling his troops, left Māndū and marched as far as Na‘lcha. Mahmūd, leaving his officers to continue the siege, led a force as far as Dohad to meet Ghiyās-ud-dīn, but the latter, repenting of his enterprise, which, as he was advised by Muslim doctors at his court, was unlawful, retired to Māndū, and Mahmūd returned to Chāmpāner and continued the siege.
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The operations lasted for a year and nine months, throughout which period Mahmūd, besides besieging the fortress, continued to plunder the country, so that there remained no town, no village, no house, of which the money was not taken into the royal treasury, the cloths and stuffs into the royal storehouses, the beasts into the royal stables, the corn into the royal granaries and kitchens. At the end of this time the Rājputs were reduced to extremities, and resolved to perform the dreadful rite of *jauhar*. The women were burnt, and the men, arrayed in yellow garments, went forth to die. On November 21, 1484, the Muslims forced the gate and met their desperate opponents. Of the seven hundred Rājputs who performed the rite nearly all were slain, but Raja Patāī and a minister named Dungarsī were wounded and captured. Mahmūd called upon them to accept Islam, but they refused and remained steadfast in their refusal during an imprisonment of five months, at the end of which time they were executed, together with the minister Sūrī. Patāī's son accepted Islam and in the next reign became *Amīr* of Īdar, receiving the title of Nizām-ul-Mulk.
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Mahmūd now made Chāmpāner one of his principal places of residence, giving it the name of Muhammadābād, the other being Mustafā-ābād or Junāgarh. The kingdom of Gujarāt had reached its extreme limits. After this conquest Mahmūd held possession of the country from the frontiers of Māndū to the frontiers of Sind, by Junāgarh; to the Siwālik Parbat by Jālor and Nāgaur; to Nāsik Trimbak by Baglāna; from Burhānpur to Berar and Malkāpur of the Deccan; to Karkūn and the river Narbada on the side of Burhānpur; on the side of Īdar as far as Chitor and Kūmbhalgarh, and on the side of the sea as far as the bounds of Chaul. It seems to have been after the conquest of Chāmpāner that Mahmūd was first styled *Begarha*.
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In 1487, while he was hunting at Hālol, near Chāmpāner, a company of horsedealers complained to him that the raja of Ābū had robbed them of 403 horses, which they were bringing to Gujarāt for him by his order. Mahmūd paid them the full price of the horses and gave them a letter to the raja demanding restitution of the stolen property. The raja was terrified, and restored 370 horses, paid the price of 33 which had died, gave the merchants valuable gifts for Mahmūd, and begged them to intercede with him. Mahmūd, content with this display of his power and the raja's humiliation, permitted the merchants to retain the horses as well as their price.
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In 1491 Mahmūd received complaints of the exactions of Bahādur Gīlānī, who, during the troubles which had fallen upon the Bahmanī kingdom, had possessed himself of the whole of the Konkan and committed piracy at sea and brigandage on land, his depredations extending as far north as Cambay. Qivām-ul-Mulk, who was sent with an army to punish him, discovered that he could not reach him without invading the Deccan, and returned to Ahmadābād to seek authority for this action, but Mahmūd was averse from any act of aggression against the southern kingdom, and contented himself with writing to Mahmūd Shāh Bahmanī, reminding him of the claims which Gujarāt had on the gratitude of his house and requesting him to suppress the marauder. Bahādur was in fact in rebellion against the feeble Bahmanid, who had no control over him, but a reassuring reply was sent to Gujarāt and Mahmūd Bahmanī, or rather his minister Qāsim, Barīd-ul-Mamālik, with the help of Ahmad Nizām Shāh, who was now virtually independent at Junnār, undertook a campaign against the pirate. The operations were protracted, and it was not until 1494 that Bahādur Gīlānī was defeated and slain and full reparation was made to Gujarāt. The ships which Bahādur had taken were restored to their owners, and gifts consisting of Arab horses, a large quantity of pearls, five elephants, and a jewelled dagger were sent to Mahmūd.
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In 1492 Bahā-ud-dīn Ulugh Khān, son of Ulugh Khān Suhrāb and governor of Modāsa, oppressed the people and appropriated the pay of his troops, so that they rose against him and he fled. Mahmūd sent Sharaf-i-Jahān to reassure him, but the mission was a failure, and Ulugh Khān, just as his father had joined Mahmūd Khaljī, sought an asylum with Ghiyās-ud-dīn Khaljī of Mālwa, who refused to receive him. He then went to Sultānpur, and besieged the governor, ‘Azīz-ul-Mulk Shaikhan, but on the arrival of a relieving force fled into Baglāna, and was followed thither and defeated. After wandering for some time as a fugitive he submitted to the king, and was pardoned and reinstated, but shortly afterwards, having murdered one of his officers, was thrown into prison, where he died in 1496.
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On November 20, 1500, Ghiyās-ud-dīn Khaljī of Mālwa had been deposed by his son, Nāsir-ud-dīn, and died in February 1501, not without suspicion of poison. Mahmūd resolved to punish the reputed parricide, and prepared to invade Mālwa, but Nāsir-ud-dīn succeeded in persuading him that his father had acquiesced in his deposition, and that he was innocent of his death, and the expedition was abandoned.
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Vasco da Gama had appeared on the Malabar coast in 1498, and the Portuguese were now firmly established in more than one western port. In 1506 a strong fort was built at Cochin, which was their chief emporium, and in 1507 a settlement was made on the island of Socotra, near the entrance of the Red Sea. Thus, in less than a decade, they had diverted the greater part of the lucrative spice trade from the Red Sea and Egypt; for the discovery of the direct sea route to Europe had deprived the Mamlūk Sultans of one of their chief sources of revenue, heavy dues being levied both at Jedda and Alexandria on goods in transit. The important ports of north-western India, such as Cambay and Chaul, which were held by the Muslims, were at the same time seriously affected, and thus the Portuguese incurred the hostility of all the Muhammadan powers surrounding the Arabian Sea, who determined to make a combined effort to oust the infidel intruders. It was finally arranged, by correspondence which passed between Qansauh-al-Ghaurī, sultan of Egypt, the king of Gujarāt, other local Muhammadan rulers, and the Zamorin of Calicut, who had been the most intimately associated with the Europeans, that a fleet should be equipped at Suez and dispatched to India, where it would be reinforced by such vessels as were available locally. The Egyptian fleet was under the command of Amīr Husain the Kurd, governor of Jedda, while the Indian contingent was commanded by Malik Ayāz, a Turkish subject who had found his way to the court of Gujarāt. Up to the year 1507 the Portuguese had confined their activities inland to the Malabar coast, though they had frequently harassed the trading vessels and pilgrim ships bound from Gujarāt, ‘the Gate of Mecca’ to Indian Muslims, for Jedda. The Portuguese Viceroy, Francesco de Almeida, in this year resolved to exploit the northerly coast of India, and dispatched his gallant son Lourenço with a squadron to explore the coast as far as Gujarāt. It does not appear that the Viceroy had any intimation of the attack which was to be made by the Egyptian fleet, although he was aware of the correspondence which had been passing between India and Egypt. Had he known that Amīr Husain was on his way it is unlikely that he would have sent so small a squadron under his son. Amīr Husain reached India at the end of 1507 and encountered Lourenço in the harbour of Chaul in January, 1508, when a fierce fight ensued in which the Portuguese were utterly defeated by Amīr Husain and Malik Ayāz, and Dom Lourenço died a hero’s death. After this victory, which was the occasion of much jubilation and of mutual congratulations among the Muslims, Mahmūd returned to Chāmpāner.
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We must revert to the history of Khāndesh, in the affairs of which Mahmūd was now, not unwillingly, entangled. We have already traced its history, in outline, to the succession of ‘Ādil Khān II in 1457.
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‘Ādil Khān II was one of the most energetic and most powerful rulers of Khāndesh. He consolidated his authority in that region, and extended it over Gondwāna, he suppressed the depredations of the Kolīs and Bhīls, thus ensuring the safety of travellers in his dominions, and carried his arms as far as Jhārkhand, the modern Chota Nāgpur, from which circumstance he is known as *Jhārkhandī Sultān*. Since Khalaf Hasan’s invasion the rulers of Khāndesh had regarded the king of Gujarāt as their natural protector, and had paid him tribute, but ‘Ādil Khān II, in his career of victory, had scorned dependence, and had omitted to send the usual tribute. A demonstration of force by Mahmūd in 1499 or 1500 had sufficed to bring him to his senses, and from that time until his death, more than a year later, he was on cordial terms with his suzerain and visited his court.
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On September 28, 1501, ‘Ādil Khān II died without issue and was succeeded by his younger brother, Dāūd Khān. There was, however, another aspirant belonging to the Fārūqī family, named ‘Ālam Khān, who had enjoyed the protection of the king of Gujarāt. This ‘Ālam Khān was the great-great-grandson of Hasan Khān, who had been expelled from Khāndesh by his elder brother, Nasīr Khān, and had fled to the court of Ahmad Shāh of Gujarāt. All Hasan Khān’s descendants, with the exception of one, who married a daughter of Jām Nizām-ud-dīn of Sind, had married princesses of the royal house of Gujarāt, and ‘Ālam Khān was the grandson of Mahmūd Begarha. It thus came about that Mahmūd induced ‘Ādil Khān II to nominate his youthful kinsman as his heir, to the exclusion of his brother Dāūd, but in 1501 Mahmūd was not in a position to press his grandson’s claim, and Dāūd succeeded without opposition to the throne of Khāndesh. He was a feeble but reckless prince, who contrived to embroil himself with Ahmad Nizām Shāh of Ahmadnagar, who invaded Khāndesh and could not be expelled until Dāūd had purchased the aid of Nāsir-ud-dīn Khaljī of Mālwa by the humiliating concession of causing the *khutba* to be recited in his name. His death on August 28, 1508, ended an inglorious reign, and he was succeeded by his son Ghaznī Khān, who was poisoned after a reign of ten days. Ahmad Nizām Shāh now again invaded Khāndesh with the object of placing on the throne another scion of the Fārūqī house also named ‘Ālam Khān, who had taken refuge at his court. Mahmūd Begarha was at this juncture reminded of his pledge to support his grandson's claim, and he too invaded Khāndesh with the object of placing the other ‘Ālam Khān on the throne. Khāndesh was divided into two factions, the one supporting the Gujarāt claimant and the other the Ahmadnagar claimant. The adherents of the former, under Malik Husain the Mughal, established themselves in Burhānpur, where they were joined by Ahmad Nizām Shāh and the king of Berar, while Malik Lādan, the leader of the Gujarāt party, shut himself up in Asīrgarh, where he was besieged. Meanwhile Mahmūd Begarha, with his grandson, was marching on Thālner, and when news of his arrival reached Burhānpur Ahmad Nizām Shāh and the king of Berar withdrew, leaving a force of 4000 to support the Ahmadnagar candidate and Malik Husain. When they heard that Mahmūd had sent a force to attack them these troops fled from Burhānpur, carrying the pretender with them, and Malik Husain, thus deserted, was obliged to submit to Mahmūd. All opposition being thus removed, the king of Gujarāt held a court at Thālner and installed his candidate on the throne of Khāndesh with the title of ‘Ādil Khān III. After Mahmūd’s return to Gujarāt an envoy from Ahmad's son and successor, Burhān Nizām Shāh, waited on him and demanded that some provision should be made for ‘Ālam Khān, but was compelled to convey to his master the humiliating message that the sultan of Gujarāt recognised no royalty in the rebellious slave of the kings of the Deccan, and that if Burhān dared again to address a king otherwise than as a humble suppliant he should repent it.
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