Twilight of the Sultanate c13.s1: Early Career of Bahlūl Lodī
Twilight of the Sultanate c13.s1
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Early Career of Bahlūl Lodī
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SULTAN BAHLUL LODI,¹ who ascended the throne of Delhi in 1451, rose to such eminence from a humble beginning. According to Ferishta, Bahlūl's grand-father Behrām Lodī was one of the Afghan traders who used to come to Hindustan to sell their merchandise. Behrām had had some estrangement with his brother and he left his home country to settle down permanently in India during the reign of Fīrōz Tughlaq. He took up service under Malik Mardān Daulat, governor of Multan, whom we have met before. Behrām had five sons—Malik Sultan Shāh, Malik Kālā, Malik Fīrōz, Malik Muhammad and Malik Khwājā.² Sultan Shāh took up service under Khizr Khan, governor of Multan, and was put in charge of a contingent of Afghans. He actively helped Khizr Khan in his fight against Mallū Iqbāl Khan, and it was he who struck down Mallū Iqbāl in battle in 1405. For this act of bravery Khizr Khan rewarded him with the title of Islām Khan and the fief of Sarhind.³ As governor of Sarhind, Islām Khan assigned to his brothers many parganas under his control, and Malik Kālā Lodī was appointed to the pargana of Daurala.⁴ Malik Kālā had married one of his uncle's daughters. When she was in an advanced stage of pregnancy, she was crushed under a collapsing wall, but the child was rescued by a surgical operation.⁵ This child was Bahlūl Lodī.
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¹ For the origin of the Lodīs see Appendix C.
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² Ferishta, I, 173-74.
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³ Ibid., I, 173; T.S.A., 2; T.D., Allahabad University MS., 3.
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⁴ In Akbar's reign Daurala was included in Sarkar Sarhind. Āīn., II, 296.
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⁵ Ferishta, I, 173.
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A short time after, Malik Kālā died in a battle with the Niazīs. The orphan Ballū (for that was Bahlūl's pet name)⁶ was sent for by Islām Shāh to Sarhind to be brought up there. The lad was full of spirit and showed martial qualities. During Khizr Khan's rule, Bahlūl brought many recalcitrant parganas under control and on that account was rewarded with fiefs.⁷ Pleased with his talents, Islām Shāh married his daughter to him and began to favour him even more than his own sons.
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⁶ T.D., 2, 3, 4, 5 and W.M., 2 (a) have Ballū. Ferishta, I, 173, has Mallū.
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⁷ Ferishta, I, 173.
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There is no reason to believe that Bahlūl Lodī was engaged in trade in his youth as has been averred by 'Abdulla, the author of *Tārīkh-i-Dāūdī*.⁸ True, his grand-father was a merchant, but after Islām Khan had taken up service with Khizr Khan, all the sons of Behrām seem to have joined government service. Bahlūl was brought up by his uncle who took every care of him,⁹ and he hardly needed to take to trading for livelihood. This hypothesis is supported by the statements of Nizāmuddīn and Ni'āmatulla.¹⁰
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⁸ *T.D.*, 4-5.
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⁹ T.S.A., 2; T.D., 2; *Makhzan*, 40 (a).
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¹⁰ T.A., I, 295; Dorn, 43. Also M.R., I, 435. *Makhzan*, 41 (a).
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Islām Khan served Khizr Khan loyally and was raised from the position of Malik to that of Khan. During Mubārak Saiyyad's rule his fame and importance continued to rise and he was given the titles of Malikul Sharq and Khan-i-Āzam.¹¹ In course of time Islām Khan, seeing marks of diligence and integrity in his nephew and son-in-law, put a contingent of twelve thousand Afghans under his charge.¹² And although he had a number of intelligent sons, he nominated Bahlūl as his successor.¹³ When in May, 1431, Islām Khan was killed fighting Shaikh 'Alī of Kabul, Bahlūl took possession of Sarhind.¹⁴ This was resented by Islām Khan's son Qutb Khan, who, as has been seen before, appealed to Sultan Muhammad Saiyyad to remove Bahlūl from Sarhind. But the helpless ruler of the weakened Sultanate could do little against him.
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¹¹ T.M.S., 208-9, 216.
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¹² Ferishta, I, 173.
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¹³ Muhammad Kabīr gives the following reason for the choice of Bahlūl. He says that Islām Khan (whom he calls Jalāluddīn) had two wives, one Afghan and the other Rajput. From the first wife was born a daughter named Firdausī and from the second Qutb Khan. Firdausī was married to Bahlūl. A little before his death Islām Khan called Bahlūl and Qutb Khan to his presence and addressing the latter said : "Bahlūl is born of an Afghan woman while you are the son of a Rajput. The Afghans are rustic. They will not obey you. I nominate Bahlūl as the king and you as his Vazīr''. So saying he took off his turban and placed it on the head of Bahlūl. *Afsānā-i-Shāhān*, British Museum MS., 14 (b); Also trs. in Hindi in *Uttar Tīmūr Kālīn Bharat*, I, 365.
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¹⁴ *Makhzan*, 41 (a); W.M., 2 (a).
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Indeed, Bahlūl Lodī had gathered so much strength that Sultan Muhammad had to seek his help against the Khanzādās of Mewat and Mahmūd Khaljī of Malwa. By the time 'Alāuddīn 'Ālam Shāh Saiyyad ascended the throne, Bahlūl had become master of the whole of the Punjab. He was not slow to take advantage of the confusion prevailing in Delhi after 'Alāuddīn's departure for Badaon, and as seen above, by dealing with the Vazīr, Hamīd Khan, sternly and with Sultan 'Alāuddīn softly and tactfully, he ascended the throne on 19 April, 1451 (17 Rabiul Avval, 855 H), under the title of Sultan Abul Muzaffar Bahlūl Shāh Ghāzī.
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With his accession the Sultanate of Delhi ceased to be the little kingdom extending from "Delhi to Palam". All the districts west of the capital—Panipat, Sarhind, Deopalpur, Lahore, and their outlying regions—had automatically returned to the Sultanate. The strong chiefs around Delhi—many of whom were Afghans—were supporters of Bahlūl.¹⁵ Even so the elements pitted against him were so varied and so bitterly hostile that he had to fight them all through his life. It was not easy to remove the anti-Afghan sentiments from the breasts of men. The Turkish sultans had considered the Afghans to be good soldiers, and nothing more; they were devoid of "culture" and, therefore, the very idea of their becoming rulers was deemed to be outrageous. A similar wave of resentment had swept over Delhi when the Khaljīs had succeeded the Ilbarīs.¹⁶ Bahlūl had also to face problems posed by the demerits of his own Afghan followers. Their sentimental attachment to their queer ideas of unbridled freedom, and their traditional devotion to their tribal leaders, were not conducive to discipline and harmony. Besides this, there were the sympathisers of the Saiyyad ruler living at Badaon. His son-in-law, the King of Jaunpur, could not brook the idea of an alien occupying the throne which he thought belonged to him as a matter of right. Other problems were no less important. Hindustan which had been broken up was to be reclaimed and consolidated. The authority of the crown, so badly shaken during the last years, had to be re-established.
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¹⁵ Erskine, *Babur and Humayun*, I, 405.
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¹⁶ T.F.S. (B), 173-75.
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To surmount these difficulties and to steer his ship successfully, Bahlūl had to act with alertness and discretion. As a first step towards meeting his difficulties he gave all key-posts in the treasury, stores, and stables of elephants and horses to his trusted Afghan officers. He also bestowed important iqt'ās in and around Delhi on his loyal adherents.¹⁷ The fort itself was garrisoned by the pick of the Afghan soldiery. Ni'āmatulla and Ahmad Yādgār say that he even "freed of factious men some districts around Delhi,¹⁸ which again goes to show that he wanted to "Afghanise" the administration and curb all disaffected elements.
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¹⁷ T.S.A., 8 ; Dorn, 47-8.
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¹⁸ T.S.A., 10 ; *Makhzan*, 44 (a).
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For this purpose Bahlūl Lodī felt the need of enrolling many more Afghan troops and thought of marching to Multan,¹⁹ the chief centre of recruitment of Afghans from Roh. During the reign of Mubārak Shāh, Multan had suffered terribly because of the inroads of Shaikh 'Alī, but Mubārak and his incompetent successors had failed to restore peace there. Sick of the strife and discord, the elite of the city, in 1443 (847 H), raised to the throne Shaikh Yūsuf Qureshī, a descendant of Shaikh Bahauddīn Zakaria.²⁰ But the independence of Multan and Uchch had cut off the chief recruiting centre of Bahlūl and he, after leaving the capital in the hands of his son Khwājā Bayezīd, marched to Multan about the end of 1451.²¹ His aims were two ; firstly, to bring that strategic region under control and secondly, to recruit fresh levies.²²
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¹⁹ Ferishta, I, 175.
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²⁰ *Ibid.*, II, 324.
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²¹ Ahmad Yādgār has Lahore in place of Multan. T.S.A., 10.
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²² Ferishta, I, 175. Also T.A., I, 301. Sir Wolseley Haig (C.H.I., III, 229) and N. B. Roy (Ni'āmatulla's trs., xiii) say that Bahlūl went to reinstate Yūsuf Qureshī on the throne of Multan which Qutbuddīn Langāh had usurped. But they anticipate. As we shall see a little later Qutbuddīn Langāh ousted Yūsuf and occupied Multan not before a.d. 1454.