Twilight of the Sultanate c11.s3.24

c11.s3.24

Mubārak Shāh’s murder was the sad end of an unfortunate king. He had ruled for a little more than thirteen lunar years⁶⁷ under extremely trying circumstances. Ever since his accession, the Punjab had been at the mercy of local rebels or foreign invaders. The Khokhars, the Turkbachchās and Shaikh ’Alī were occupying or sacking one or the other of its regions. The aim of the rebels was to carve out an independent kingdom, the aim of Shaikh ’Alī was loot and plunder. Because of the preoccupations of the Sultan in the Punjab, the ever restless western Uttar Pradesh grew still more restive. Mewat, Gwalior, Etawah and most of the districts of western Uttar Pradesh hardly cared for the Sultanate or the Sultan, and only paid some tribute when forced to do so. Withal the kings of Jaunpur and Malwa tried to grab at the Sultanate’s territories. Mubārak Shāh fought against the rebels and the foreign free-booters to the best of his resources and always remained at their heels. He and his officers did commendable work. They repeatedly chased out the invaders and stamped out local rebellions. But they hardly succeeded in alleviating the suffering of the people of the Punjab, who must have suffered untold privations for more than a decade. At last when the foreign menace had ended and the rebels were made to lie low, Mubārak Shāh himself succumbed to the knives of the traitors. The benefits of his strenuous efforts were nullified by his untimely death.