Twilight of the Sultanate c14.s4.7

c14.s4.7

They were not asked, perhaps because they were not willing, to provide large contingents for the subjugation of Hindustan. Otherwise the kingdom of Jaunpur would not have taken as much as three decades to subdue. In A.D. 1500 Sa‘īd Khan Sarwānī, governor of Lahore, came to pay his respects to the Sultan but, according to Ni‘āmatulla,⁶⁴ he and Asghar, *hākim* of Delhi, together with twenty members of the military aristocracy joined in a plot to raise Sikandar’s brother Fatēh Khan to the throne. The Prince himself divulged the plot and the conspirators were punished with imprisonment and exile. Asghar was jailed and Sa‘īd Khan Sarwānī along with his associates like Tātār Khan and Muhammad Shāh were banished. They fled to Gwalior, where, in keeping with the traditions of medieval hospitality, they were given shelter by Mān Singh. But to avoid a crisis in his relations with Delhi, the Raja sent one Nihāl with presents and tributes to the Sultan, who, unprepared for a compromise, sent the envoy back in rage with threats of coming to reduce Gwalior.⁶⁵ Refuge to fugitives, a common excuse for declaration of hostilities in medieval times, was there indeed, but Sikandar’s real intention was expansionist; the country from Bihar to Bayana had been brought under control and now Gwalior should also be annexed.