The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c26.78

v3.c26.78

A few years later Mahmūd behaved with incomprehensible folly and ingratitude. When Bahādur Shāh, in July, 1526, ascended the throne of Gujarāt, his younger brother, Chānd Khān, fled to Māndū, and Mahmūd not only received him, but encouraged him to hope for assistance in ousting his brother from his kingdom. Three years later, having heard of the death of Rānā Sangrama, he raided the territories of Chitor and provoked Sangrama’s successor, Ratan Singh, who invaded Mālwa and advanced as far as Sārangpur and Ujjain, to reprisals. He reaped the fruits of his ingratitude towards the king of Gujarāt as described in the preceding chapter. On March 17, 1531, Māndū was captured by Bahādur Shāh, and the Khaljī dynasty was extinguished. Bahādur’s operations in Mālwa during the next two years, his defeat by Humāyūn, and the latter’s capture of Māndū in 1535 have been described in the account of his reign. Humāyūn lingered in Mālwa until August, 1535, when he would have been better employed elsewhere, and was suddenly roused to activity by the rebellion of his brother ‘Askarī. After his departure Mallū Khān, formerly an officer of the Khaljī kings, who had been permitted to retain the fief of Sārangpur and had received the title of Qādir Khān, reduced to obedience other fief-holders in Mālwa, from Bhīlsa to the Narbada, and, having established himself at Māndū, assumed the title of Qādir Shāh. When Sher Khān, hard pressed by Humāyūn in Bengal, demanded in language too peremptory for the occasion, assistance from Qādir Shāh, the latter returned an insolent reply, which was not forgotten, and Sher Shāh, now king of Delhi, invaded Mālwa in 1542. Qādir, who was not strong enough to oppose him, made his submission to him at Sārangpur, and was well received and appointed to the government of Bengal instead of that of Mālwa, but shortly afterwards, being apprehensive of Sher Shāh’s intentions towards him, fled from his camp. The king imprisoned Sikandar Khān of Satwās, lest he should follow Qādir’s example, and retired from Mālwa, leaving behind him as viceroy Hājī Khān, with Shujā‘at Khān as governor of Satwās.