Twilight of the Sultanate c13.s3.4

c13.s3.4

During this period of three years Sultan Husain besieged Etawah and captured it from its ruler. Ferishta says that he did so after the expiry of the period of truce,⁶⁹ although Nizāmuddīn gives the impression that immediately after the truce, as Bahlūl returned to Delhi, Sultan Husain went to Etawah and captured it.⁷⁰ It is, however, clear that after three years' time, when the hostilities were resumed, Husain Sharqī was well-established at Etawah and had made it a base of operations.⁷¹ He had introduced new vigour into the civil and military affairs of Jaunpur. In A. D. 1466 (871 H)⁷² he repaired the fort of Benares (Varanasi) and in the same year sent an expedition to Gwalior compelling its Raja to come over to his side.⁷³ Ferishta and Wolseley Haig even credit him with leading a campaign into Orissa and defeating its ruler Kapileshwar Deva⁷⁴ but this claim is refuted by modern historians of Orissa.⁷⁵ All the same his power and fame encouraged defections in Bahlūl's camp. The last to go over to the Sharqī side were Rustam Khan, governor of Kol and Ahmad Khan, son of Yūsuf Khan Jalwānī, the governor of Bayana.⁷⁶