Twilight of the Sultanate c15.s1.9

c15.s1.9

Having fully grasped the situation, and apprehending the intrigues of the nobles, Sultan Ibrāhīm decided to cast the agreement of partition to the winds¹⁹ and bring his brother to obedience. He planned his course of action with great wisdom. Firstly, he sent to Jalāl Khan a *farmān*, couched in gracious and kind language, asking him to come immediately to the court to discuss certain urgent matters. Haibat Khan,²⁰ who was reputed to possess cunning with a persuasive tongue,²¹ was entrusted with the delivery of the message and was commissioned to fetch Prince Jalāl unattended and with all speed.²² Secondly, he addressed *farmāns* to the nobles and officers of the eastern districts to refrain from paying allegiance to Jalāl Khan or attending his court. To each of these important chiefs like Dariyā Khan Nūhānī, governor of Bihar, Nāsir Khan, governor of Ghazīpur and Shaikhzādā Muhammad Farmūlī, governor of Avadh and Lucknow, who had thirty to forty thousand retainers each, Sultan Ibrāhīm sent a horse, a special *Khil'at*, a jewelled waist-dagger and other presents and asked them not to recognise the authority of Jalāl. These noblemen who loved unbridled freedom could not have wished for better. They not only turned from their allegiance to the ruler of Jaunpur but even became hostile to him.²³ Thirdly, and lastly, Ibrāhīm Lodī sent to jail his brothers like princes Isma'īl Khan, Husain Khan and Mahmūd Khan so that they might not try to fish in the troubled waters.²⁴