Twilight of the Sultanate c15.s3.20

c15.s3.20

In pursuance of his vindictive policy Sultan Ibrāhīm got Husain Khan Farmūlī murdered by some low Shaikh-zādā at Chanderi.¹⁰⁶ He even rewarded the assassin with 700 gold coins and ten villages.¹⁰⁷ This murder created great alarm coming as it did close on the death of Miān Bhuā and Āzam Humayūn Sarwānī in prison under very suspicious circumstances. It was reported that a gunpowder plot had been hatched and these unsuspecting prisoners had been induced to shift to a cell in which they were blown to pieces.¹⁰⁸ Suspicion breeds suspicion and these murders created widespread consternation, and disaffection increased all the more. Dariyā Khan Nūhānī, governor of Bihar, Khan-i-Jahān Lodī and others like them unfurled the standard of revolt in the east.¹⁰⁹ These were the barons who had fought for the Sultanate in the last war, but their loyalty was now undermined. The situation only worsened with Dariyā Khan Nūhānī's death shortly after. His son Bahādur Shāh¹¹⁰ declared complete independence in Bihar. He took the title of Sultan Muhammad and instituted the Khutba¹¹¹ and issued coins in his own name. He was readily joined by many Amīrs who had forsaken allegiance to Delhi, and the forces under him soon swelled to one hundred thousand horse.¹¹² He reduced to submission the whole of the upper Ganga country from Bihar to Sambhal,¹¹³ situated as close as eighty miles from Delhi as the crow flies. Nāsir Khan Nūhānī, the governor of Ghāzīpur, being defeated by Miān Mustafa¹¹⁴ on orders from Sultan Ibrāhīm, also went over to Muhammad Shāh. Other disaffected nobles of the eastern region also flocked to Muhammad Shāh.¹¹⁵ With time Muhammad Shāh's power went on increasing in Bihar.