The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c26.64

v3.c26.64

Mahmūd II confirmed in his post his father’s minister, a Hindu named Basant Rāi, but the Muslim nobles so resented his tenure of this high place that they murdered him. The intrigues of Muhāfiz Khān, governor of Māndū, drove Iqbāl Khān and Mukhtass Khān, two of the leading nobles, into rebellion and they fled to the Narbada and sent Nusrat Khān, the former’s son to Asīr, to summon Shihāb-ud-dīn to the throne of Mālwa. The prince was so overjoyed that he set out at once, riding hard, in the great heat, to join his adherents, but he succumbed, and on July 29, 1511, died on the road. The rebels sent his body to Māndū for burial, proclaimed his son king under the title of Hūshang II, and marched into the central districts of Mālwa. A force was sent against them and defeated them, and Hūshang took refuge in Sehore, but the leaders convinced the king that they were loyal at heart, and had rebelled only in consequence of the intrigues of Muhāfiz Khān. This officer had already angered the king by proposing that he should put to death his eldest brother, Sāhib Khān, and the quarrel became so acute that Muhāfiz Khān attacked the king in his palace. He was defeated and driven off, and avenged himself by proclaiming Sāhib Khān king under the title of Muhammad II¹. Mahmūd II escaped from Māndū and withdrew to Ujjain, where he was joined by Iqbāl Khān, Mukhtass Khān, and Dastūr Khān. Sāhib Khān advanced to Na‘lcha, and Mahmūd retired to Dīpālpur, where most of the nobles, whose wives and families were in Māndū, deserted him. He asked Bihjat Khān, governor of Chanderī, to give him an asylum in that fortress, but Bihjat Khān replied that he was the servant of the king who held Māndū. Mahmūd knew not where to turn, and remained irresolute for some days, until he bethought himself of Mednī Rāi the Purbiya, a Rājput of eastern Hindūstān, who held the military government of a small district in Mālwa and was noted for his valour. He responded to the king’s call, and came to his aid, and his accession induced Bihjat Khān of Chanderī to change his attitude, so that he sent his son Shiddat Khān to the king with offers of service.