The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c27.100

v3.c27.100

The governor of Māhūr was still in rebellion, and late in 1425 Ahmad marched against him. Of his operations against the fortress we have two accounts, according to one of which he was obliged to retire discomfited after besieging the place for several months, and returned and captured it in the following year. According to the other, which is more probable, the raja was induced, by a promise of pardon for past offences, to surrender, and Ahmad violated every rule of honour and humanity by putting him and five or six thousand of his followers to death. From Māhūr he marched northwards to Kalam, which was in the hands of a Gond rebel, captured the place, which was of no great strength, and led a foray into Gondwāna, where he is said to have taken a diamond mine, the site of which cannot be traced. He then marched to Ellichpur and remained there for a year, engaged in rebuilding the hill forts of Gāwīl and Narnāla, which protected his northern frontier. This task was undertaken in connection with a project for the conquest of Gujarāt and Mālwa, suggested by Tīmūr’s grant of these two kingdoms to his brother, and he missed no opportunity of embroiling himself with the two states, and furnished himself with a pretext for interfering in their affairs by entering into a close alliance with the small state of Khāndesh, the allegiance of which was claimed by both.