Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Later Mughals v1.c6.s12: Sec. 12.—Defeat and Death of Kam Bakhsh.

Later Mughals v1.c6.s12

Language
English

Contents

Sec. 12.—Defeat and Death of Kam Bakhsh.

v1.c6.s12.1

Preparations were now made for the final struggle, to avoid which appeared impossible. At first Prince Jahandar Shah was placed in command of the vanguard with directions to prepare entrenchments round the encampment. But two days afterwards Jahandar Shah was replaced by Khan Zaman, the eldest son of the Prime Minister. Precautions were adopted against a surprise, the Wazir with his troops being drawn up on the road till all the rest of the army and its baggage had gone by. Scouts brought word that Kam Bakhsh in person had moved out two *kos* from Haidarabad and had made ready earthworks at the place where he had encamped. Islam Khan, general of artillery, was sent to take charge of Bahadur Shah’s batteries. On the 9th January 1708 Khan Zaman Bahadur was called in to receive his last private instructions in the tasbih-khana, or chaplet-room, a jewelled sword was presented to him, and he returned to take command of the advance-tents. The plan of battle made out by Zulfiqar Khan, after it had been shown to Prince Jahandar Shah and Hamid-ud-din Khan was approved. On the 10th January 1709 it was ascertained that Kam Bakhsh had advanced one *kos* from his previous position. [*Bahadur*, 170-173.]

v1.c6.s12.2

On the 12th January 1709 Bahadur Shah pitched his tents near the city of Haidarabad and mustered his troops. From the reports submitted to him, it was found that there were 140,000 horsemen and 180,000 foot matchlockmen present. One of the last men of name to come in was Jalal-ud-din Khan, general of artillery to Kam Bakhsh, who saw at length that his master was doomed to destruction. Many others of less note marched in from Haidarabad on the following day. Kam Bakhsh had neither army nor money left. His sole dependence was on the soothsayers and astrologers who prophesied that he would be miraculously protected and win the battle. Emboldened by such idle words, the Prince came out to give battle two or three *kos* from Haidarabad. His generals were Taqarrub Khan (Muhammad Muhsin), Abdur-Razaq Khan Lari (M. Masum), and M. Karim, his brother, with some slaves and foster-brethren, and some 300 to 400 horsemen. [Bahadur, 174 ; K.K. 621 ; Kamraj 38 b.]

v1.c6.s12.3

On the morning of the 13th January 1709 the order was given for the troops to advance in two bodies, that on the right under command of Munim Khan assisted by the Princes Rafi-ush-shan and Jahan Shah ; that on the left, under Zulfiqar Khan, Amir-ul-umara. The first numbering 10,000 to 12,000 men was made up of Daud Khan Panni, Nimaji Sindhia and Rustam Khan's troops, having at their head fifteen or sixteen leaders of a rank high enough to ride on elephants. The second force, that under Zulfiqar Khan, consisted of 14,000 to 15,000 men. Their orders were not to precipitate an attack but to take up positions so as to surround the grove in which Kam Bakhsh had sheltered himself, and to avoid useless slaughter. [Bahadur 174, Kamwar 29, K.K. 621, Kamraj 38a, Dil. 171 b.]

v1.c6.s12.4

At about two hours after sunrise Munim Khan, Zulfiqar Khan and Prince Rafi-ush-shan marched and drew up at the distance of a musket-shot from Kam Bakhsh's position. Prince Jahan Shah had not yet arrived. The order in which they stood was as follows : on the right was Prince Rafi-ush-shan half a kos from Munim Khan, and on the latter's left hand Zulfiqar Khan at the distance of a rocket's flight. They halted and waited orders, and as they were prohibited from attacking, they stood until near midday. Repeated messages were sent to the Emperor, but whether it was intentionally or because he was taking his customary sleep, no answer was received .

v1.c6.s12.5

Zulfiqar Khan, who had an old quarrel with Kam Bakhsh,* became very impatient. After many private messages to Munim Khan he attacked Kam Bakhsh whose small force, leaving the cooking with which they had been busy, had drawn up in order of battle outside the grove where they were encamped. Munim Khan was thus forced to order an advance of the right wing. As Kam Bakhsh had very few men but a large number of rockets, he directed that the latter should be discharged against the advancing imperialists. As they drew near several of Kam Bakhsh's devoted adherents were shot down. Kam Bakhsh grasped his bow and let fly his arrows, and regardless of several wounds that he had received charged the overwhelming force opposed to him. So boldly did he bear himself that Daud Khan's troops were partially thrown into confusion and some even took to flight. Kam Bakhsh emptied two quiverfuls of arrows killing and wounding many of his opponents. At length he was weakened by loss of blood and Daud Khan's Afghans surrounding his elephant on all sides succeeded in capturing him. With him was taken his son, Bariqullah,* who also was wounded in several places.

v1.c6.s12.6

∗ This dated from the time of the siege of Jinji, 1693. (M.A. 355-359; K. K. ii. 418-421; Anecdotes of Aurangzib §25; Storia do Mogor, ii. 316n.) [J. S.]

v1.c6.s12.7

His eldest son Muhi-us-sunnat also fought bravely till his elephant-driver and the friend seated behind the Prince were both slain. The Prince proceeded to drive the elephant himself and continued to fight until he became insensible from wounds from shot and arrows and fell down in his howda, leaving the elephant to rush hither and thither on the field. As all the leaders were directing their attention to Kam Bakhsh, no one noticed the young Prince's elephant. Plunderers got upon it, cut off the silken ropes and the broad-cloth trappings and took away everything they could carry off. The elephant escaped into the open country and was brought back under Zulfiqar Khan's orders by the Mahrattas who were hanging round the army with a view to plunder.

v1.c6.s12.8

Over the capture of Prince Kam Bakhsh a dispute had already arisen between Munim Khan, the Wazir, and Zulfiqar Khan, the Amir-ul-umara. The question was submitted to Prince Rafi-ush-shan, who decided that Zulfiqar Khan was the captor. The only notable person killed on the imperial side was Jalal-ud-din Khan, an officer serving under Munim Khan. After the battle Khafi Khan, the historian, counted sixty-two dead bodies round the place where Kam Bakhsh was taken. Plunderers by their recklessness caused the reserve of powder and rockets to blow up, occasioning the death of twenty-four persons.

v1.c6.s12.9

∗ Kamraj (38b) says that Firuzmand was in the same howda with his father and was taken. K. K. (623 and 625) says the same thing. Was he the same person as Bariqullah? [J. S.]

v1.c6.s12.10

It was afternoon when Kam Bakhsh was brought in a palki to Bahadur Shah. Shortly afterwards his three sons, Muhi-us-sunnat, Firuzmand, and Bariqullah were brought in as prisoners. Bariqullah expired almost at once from an arrow-wound in the temple.* By the Emperor's orders the Prince and his sons were placed near his own quarters in the tent used as a tribunal (adalat). Rafi-ush-shan was charged with looking after their comfort and the most skilful surgeons were called to attend to their wounds. Then the Emperor went in person to his brother's bedside. After a salutation he said, "I had no desire to see you reduced to this state." Kam Bakhsh returned the greeting and said, "In all things praise be to the Lord."† Then he added that he had left on his elephant a copy of the Quran written and corrected with his own hand, he begged that it might be sent for as he wished to read it. Bahadur Shah washed the dry blood from his brother's wounds and with his own hands removed his blood-stained clothes. Then removing from his own shoulders the shawl he was wearing he laid it over his brother, and by urgent entreaty forced him to take a few spoonfuls of food, which till then he had persistently refused. On his asking for water Bahadur Shah mixed some rose-water in the drink and put it to Kam Bakhsh's lips. Bahadur Shah quitted the bedside full of sorrow and ordered the surgeons to exercise their utmost skill. In spite of all their efforts, Kam Bakhsh expired during the night. Next morning no audience was held, and Qazi Khan, the chief Qazi, and Muhammad Ghaus, the chief mufti, with other religious men, were entrusted with the preparations for the grave. As the bier was brought out of the adalat tent, the Emperor, his sons and the chief nobles recited the appropriate prayers. The bodies were placed temporarily in the tent, where were kept the relics received from Mecca. Finally they were despatched to Dihli on the 23rd January in charge of Arab Khan for burial in the imperial mausoleum of the Emperor Humayun. (Kamraj, 39a). Darbar Khan, nazir of the female apartments, took charge of the deceased Prince's women and children, who were brought from Haidarabad. For the two surviving sons of Kam Bakhsh, Muhi-us-sunnat and Firuzmand, who were only slightly wounded, allowances were fixed and a proper equipment granted.

v1.c6.s12.11

∗ The text follows Danishmand Khan and Kamwar Khan. Khafi Khan says it was Firuzmand who died. Both Khafi Khan and Kamwar Khan were in the camp; but the latter is the preferable witness, as he seems to have written his account on the spot from day to day.

v1.c6.s12.12

† One account tells us that he went on to say that he had tried so to die that the reproach of want of courage and of a nice sense of honour should not attach to one of the house of Taimur. (K. K. 625.)

v1.c6.s12.13

Kam Bakhsh was forty-three years of age and his descendants are named in the subjoined table. The following chronograms for his death were composed by Danishmand Khan (poetically called Ali).

v1.c6.s12.14

Alam-i-digar az fath o zafar bastain,
Ham zeb-i-jahan farod, o ham kuvvat-i-din ;
Az chahar taraf, Mubarak badi !
Tarikh shavvad, barae in fath-i-mabin.

v1.c6.s12.15

"Through victory and conquest a new universe arose, the world was adorned and the faith too reinforced ; from four sides came Congratulation! to form the date of this manifest triumph." Another specimen of the same writer's ingenuity is :

v1.c6.s12.16

Kushta shud an zalim, o tarikh shud
"Kam hama bud ajal Kam Bakhsh" ;
Murd, o ba in taur mibakhshid Kam,
Rast bar amad sakhun i nam-bakhsh.

v1.c6.s12.17

"That tyrant was slain, and the date was 'Kam Bakhsh's only pursuit (Kam) was death'. He died, and in that way fulfilled desire (Kam). Thus was the name-giving word verified." The play upon Kam Bakhsh (fulfiller of desire) is almost untranslatable.

Table of Kam Bakhsh's Descendants

v1.c6.s12.t1.1

Kam Bakhsh b. 1077 d. 1120

v1.c6.s12.t1.2

| Umed Bakhsh d. 4 Zul Hijja 1095 age 2 m. 23 d. (T-i-Mhdi) | M. Muhi-us-sunnat b. circa 1110 d. 1160 17 Muharram in prison | M. Firuzmand | Bariqullah (killed 3rd Zul Qada 1120) a minor |
| | | | |
| | Muhi-ul-millat (Raised to throne as Shah Jahan II. 20 Rabi II. 1173. Khair-ud-din's Ibratnama 79.) | | |

v1.c6.s12.t1.3

His wives, so far as traced, were (1) Fakhr Jahan Khanam, daughter of Barkhurdar Beg, married on 13th Muharram 1092, (2) Jamilat-un-nissa (Kaliyan Kuar) daughter of Amar Chand and sister of Jagat Singh of Manoharpur, married on 24th Rajab 1092 and (3) Azarm Banu Begam, daughter of Mir Muazzam Sayadat Khan, afterwards Muazzam Khan, second son of Shah Nawaz Khan Safawi, married on 15th Rabi I. 1094.

v1.c6.s12.t1.4

The last named died at Dihli on the 13th February, 1745. The eldest son Umed Bakhsh was born in 1095 and died the same year. Muhi-us-sunnat died in prison at Dihli on the 28th January 1747, his age being given as about fifty years, but he must have been somewhat older, for he was born before 1107 H. Kam Bakhsh had some daughters, one of whom was married on the 20th Nov. 1709 to Muhammad Karim, son of Azim-ush-shan.

Bahadur Shah Returns Towards Hindustan.

v1.c6.s12.t2.1

On the 17th January 1709 the Emperor moved nearer to Haidarabad visiting the battlefield on his way, escorted by Zulfiqar Khan who pointed out to him the various places of interest. A visit was paid to the palaces of Haidarabad on the 26th January, and two days afterwards the advance-tents were sent out on the road to Aurangabad. The first march was made to Talab-i-Mir Jumla on the 1st February 1709; on the 5th March they camped three *kos* from Zafarabad Bidar; on the 19th March they were near Ahsanabad Kulbarga; on the 4th May the camp was in Farrah Bagh near Ahmadnagar. The other principal stages until the Narmada was crossed were: Daluganu [? Dahigaon] after crossing the Banganga, 4th June; Bagh Nawab Bai, 9th June; near Aurangabad, 19th June; march through the Fardapur Pass, camp at Nawab Bai's sarai, 25th August; crossed the Tapti, 6th October; camp on the bank of the Narmada, 2nd November, and here the month of Ramzan was passed; crossed the Narmada, 25th December, 1709. [Bahadur 177,183.]

v1.c6.s12.t2.2

∗ K. K. 510 says that a son of Kam Bakhsh named Muhi-ul-millat died at Puna at the age of ten in 1114, and the city was renamed Muhiabad in honour of him. No other authority mentions any son of Kam Bakhsh bearing this name, though Puna was certainly renamed Muhiabad at the end of Aurangzib's reign. [J. Sarkar.]