The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c28.19

v3.c28.19

The Hindus of Telingāna, and especially those of the district of Deūrkonda, had generally supported Sikandar, and early in 1459 Humāyūn marched to Warangal and sent a force to reduce Deūrkonda. The garrison obtained assistance from one of the rajas of southern Orissa and Khvāja Jahān the Turk and Nizām-ul-Mulk Ghūrī, who commanded the Muslims, were attacked simultaneously by the garrison and the relieving force, and were utterly defeated, and fled to Warangal. Here Khvāja Jahān basely attributed the disaster to his colleague, who had in fact recommended that the siege should be raised in order that the relieving force might be dealt with singly, and Humāyūn, without investigating the facts, put Nizām-ul-Mulk to death, and the family of the unfortunate officer fled to Mālwa and threw themselves on the protection of Mahmūd I¹. Khvāja Jahān was imprisoned and the king was preparing to march to Deūrkonda when he learned of a rising in his capital. Scald-headed Yūsuf, the Turk, had released the king's brothers, Hasan Khān and Yahyā Khān, Shāh Habībullāh, and Jalāl Khān. The *Kotwāl* had put to death the younger prince, and the aged Jalāl Khān, but the rest of the party, after an abortive attempt to seize the citadel, had fled to Bīr, where Hasan assumed the royal title and appointed Habībullāh and Yūsuf his ministers. Humāyūn left Mahmūd Gāvān in charge of affairs in Telingāna, and returned by forced marches to Bīdar, where he displayed the ferocity which brands his memory. The *Kotwāl*, who had done his best to suppress the rising, was confined in an iron cage and exhibited daily in the city for the remainder of his life, which was not of long duration, for the tyrant caused portions of his body to be cut off daily, and presented to him as his only food. The three or four thousand infantry to whom the defence of the city had been entrusted were put to death with various tortures, and a force was sent to Bīr to suppress the rebellion. The royal troops were defeated, but a second and larger army defeated Hasan, who fled with his adherents towards Vijayanagar. Sirāj Khān Junaidī, governor of Bījāpur, lured them into that fortress by professions of attachment to the prince's cause, and attacked them. Habībullāh was so fortunate as to fall fighting, but the rest were taken and sent to meet their fate at Bīdar, where all suffered in public. The prince was thrown to a tiger, some of his followers were beheaded, their wives and families were dragged from their houses and tortured to death, and seven hundred innocent persons who were connected with Hasan or had been dependent on his bounty were impaled, thrown to beasts, boiled to death, or slowly cut to pieces, joint by joint, and nearly all the descendants of Bahman Shāh were put to death.