Twilight of the Sultanate c9.s2: Struggle for Establishment of Sovereignty

Twilight of the Sultanate c9.s2

Language: English

Struggle for Establishment of Sovereignty

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With Khizr Khan’s accession the Punjab, Sindh and Uttar Pradesh were reunited to the Sultanate of Delhi. But these were not quite submissive. Specially the whole of western Uttar Pradesh, accustomed to rebellion for more than a decade, hardly paid any revenue. It was then the granary of Hindustan, and like Iqbāl Khan, Khizr Khan decided to fight for the recognition of his authority in the western Uttar Pradesh first. In the very year of his accession²³ he sent the Vazīr, Tājul Mulk Tuhfā, against Rai Virama Singh (Har Singh of Chronicles) of Rohilkhand, called Katehār²⁴ after its inhabitants the Katehriya Rajputs. Crossing the Jumna near Ahār, situated between Bulandshahr and Moradabad,²⁵ and the Ganga at the ford of Pirāha,²⁶ Tājul Mulk entered Katehār, pillaged the countryside and compelled Virama Singh to pay taxes and tribute.²⁷ The Vazīr then proceeded to Badaon where he obtained the submission of its ruler Mahābat Khan. From there, marching by the side of the river Rahāb, he recrossed the Ganga at the ford of Saragdwārī²⁸ and entered the Farukhābād district. Turning westward, he fought the zamindars of Khor²⁹ and Kāmpil³⁰ and then went to Saket³¹ and Bādham.³² His lightning march was quite impressive, for Hasan Khan, Amīr of Rapri,³³ and his brother Malik Hamza, readily joined him. Thus encouraged, he turned southward to Gwalior and exacted revenue and taxes from Gwalior, Seori³⁴ and Chandwār. Jalesar was wrested from the zamindar of Chandwār and handed over to the Muslims who had formerly held it.³⁵ Tājul Mulk once again turned to the east and marching along the Āb-i-Siyāh or Kālī Nadī, he sacked Etawah of Rai Sumer. He then returned to Delhi.

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²³ *Ibid.*, 184.

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²⁴ In the Medieval period Rohilkhand or the Bareilly division of U.P. was called Katehār. It was named after its inhabitants the Katehriya Rajputs, who, according to tribal traditions, came from Tirhut in the 13th and 14th centuries.

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²⁵ Lat. 28° 27', Long. 78° 18'.

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²⁶ Badaoni, Ranking, I, 377.

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²⁷ T.M.S., 184, has محصول و مال خدمتی (i.e. taxes and tribute).

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²⁸ The town of Saragdwārī was founded by Muhammad bin Tughlaq about the year 739 H (A.D. 1338-39) when he went there to provide relief to the famine stricken populace. Saragdwārī had a ford where the Ganga was crossed. T.M.S., 184; Ishwari Prasad, *Qaraunah Turks*, I, 157-58.

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²⁹ T.M.S., 184. T.A., 266, has كهورك الان بشمس آباد دارند (Khorak which is now famous by the name of Shamsābād). It is situated in 27° 33′ N and 79° 33′ E about 6 miles east of Shamsābād. The old town of Khor was founded about the beginning of the 13th century by a Rathor chief. To-day it is nothing more than a mound called the Kot or fort of the Khor Rajas. Some Kanyakubja Brahmans still use the old name and call themselves as "Khor kē Pandē". The modern town of Shamsābād was built upon the ruins of Khor. It lies 18 miles N.W. of Fatehgarh, and had a fort in Akbar's time. Āīn, II, 196. District Gaz. Farukhābād, 255. Hunter, Gaz. of India, XII, 375.

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³⁰ Kāmpil is a village 28 miles N.W. of Fatehgarh, district Farukhabad.

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³¹ T.M.S., 184 n, gives a number of readings of this place-name, but it is certainly Sākét in Etah district. It lies on the direct route between Kāmpil and Rāprī, 12 miles S.E. of Etah and 24 N.W. of Mainpurī. It was near here that Bahlūl Lodī died. It is shown in Constable 27 Db.

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³² T.M.S., 184, has بارهم. MS. I has بارهم. T.A. has بادهم—Bādham or Pādham, which seems to be the correct form. Pādham is the name of an ancient village in Mainpurī district. It is situated on the road to Etah near the Arind river, 23 miles from Mainpurī and 18 miles from Shikohābād in 27° 20′ N. 78° 40′ E. District Gaz. Mainpurī, 83, 146, 245-6. Some coins of satraps of Mathura (Circa A.D. 100) have been found at Padham. Arch. Sur. Rep., XI, 25, 38.

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³³ The village of Rāprī, in Shikohābād Tehsīl, is situated 44 miles S.W. of Mainpurī district town; 26° 58′ N and 78° 36′ E. It is said to have been founded by one Zorāwar Singh, also known as Rapar Sen. Hunter, Gaz. of Ind., XI, 511. Situated at a bend of the Jumna, B.N. (B), II, 643, it was a Mahāl in the Sarkar of Agra in Akbar's time. Āīn, II, 183, 194.

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³⁴ T.A., I, 266 has Rabri.

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³⁵ T.M.S., 184-85.

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While eulogizing the work of the Vazir, Badaoni adds that by giving Jalesar back to the Muslims, Tājul Mulk "gave fresh currency to the Muhammadan religion".³⁶ But the situation was not so bright. The Sultanate had grown so weak indeed that local rajas and zamindars enjoyed independence undisturbed by moves from Delhi. For the Sultanate it was a struggle for survival; its star was at its nadir. The boast of Badaonī, therefore, has no foundation in so far as the present achievements of Delhi were concerned. In the far-off regions of Kashmir and Gujarat, however, Sultan Sikandar Shāh (a.d. 1394-1417) and Ahmad Shāh II (a.d. 1411-42) respectively were carrying on a policy of persecution of the Hindus.³⁷

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³⁶ Badaonī, Ranking, I, 377.

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³⁷ Ferishta, II, 182-185; *Mirāt-i-Sikandarī*, 29.

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Tājul Mulk's exploits of a.d. 1414-15 had been impressive, but they had failed to yield any permanent results. No sooner had he turned his back, than the region returned to old conditions and the chiefs and zamindars withheld payment of tribute. They had learnt the trick of bowing before a transitory storm, and then to resume their old ways. But Khizr Khan was determined on their subjugation. Unlike Iqbāl Khan he did not fight against far-off kingdoms like Jaunpur, but concentrated his attention on the region of Katehār (140 miles east of Delhi), Etawah (200 miles south-east) and Gwalior (190 miles south of Delhi) and the region within this range he decided to bring under effective control even if it meant sending yearly expeditions for collecting revenue.

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Accordingly, in a.d. 1416-17 (819 H.)³⁸ the Vazīr was sent with a large army to Bayana and thence to Gwalior; both had assumed independence during the decade of decline. At Bayana, Malik Karīm-ul-Mulk, brother of Shams Khan Auhadī the founder of the house, came to wait upon him and the town was spared, but Gwalior was sacked and its Rai compelled to pay the tribute. Once more Tājul Mulk crossed the Jumna opposite Chandwār and taking the old route entered Katehār. He exactted tribute from Virama Singh, and then returned to Delhi.

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³⁸ T.M.S., 185.

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While the Vazīr was busy in the south and east, Khizr Khan sent his son Mubārak Khan (Shahzādā-i-Mu'azzam) to manage the restive elements in the west. Districts of Fīrōzpur and Sarhind and all the *iqt'ās* of Bairam Khan Turkbachchā were placed in his charge,³⁹ and Malik Sadhū Nadira⁴⁰ was appointed his deputy (*naib*). The Prince and his deputy, in co-operation with Zīrak Khan, the ruler of Samānā, brought the country to order. Mubārak Khan thereafter returned to Delhi in February, 1416 (Zilhijja). But within four months of his departure the near relatives of Bairam Khan, who could hardly bear the loss of Sarhind, sought the help of their leader Tughān Raīs and they attacked, defeated and killed Malik Nadira. At this Khizr Khan despatched Malik Dāūd and Zīrak Khan to deal with the rebels. On hearing them approach, the Turkbachchās crossed the Sutlej and retreated to the lower slopes of the Himalayas. Zīrak Khan marched in their pursuit, but the zamindars of the mountains, which are a continuance of the hills of Nagarkot,⁴¹ actively helped the Turkbachchās and after a couple of months the royalists, finding that they could hardly achieve anything much in that difficult terrain, withdrew.⁴²

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³⁹ Which virtually meant the Eastern Punjab. Fīrōzpūr is a district in the Punjab, now quite close to the Pakistan border. Sarhind lies between the Sutlej and the Jumna.

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⁴⁰ T.M.S., 185 has ملك سدهو نادره (Malik Sadhu Nadira). T.A., I, 267 has سدهو ناهر (Sadhu Nāhar). Badaonī, Ranking, I, 378 has Malik Sadhu Nādir.

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⁴¹ Ferishta, I, 162.

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⁴² T.M.S., 186; also Badaonī, Ranking, I, 378.

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The failure of Sarhind was followed by further discomforting news. In August-September, 1416 (Rajjab, 819 H) Khizr Khan was informed that Sultan Ahmad Shāh of Gujarat had marched to Nagor⁴³ and had invested it.⁴⁴ The event was not without significance for Delhi, the more so because of the growing supremacy of Gujarat over Rajputana.⁴⁵ And although Ahmad Shāh had a reason for the invasion of Nagor,⁴⁶ yet Khizr Khan could not remain a silent spectator of his movements and let the peril approach too close to the borders of his kingdom.

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⁴³ Nagor lies 75 miles N.E. of Jodhpur. It is situated in Lat. 27° 11′, Long. 73° 46′.

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⁴⁴ T.M.S., 186; Ferishta, I, 162-3; II, 185.

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⁴⁵ Commissariat, I, 82. Bombay Gazetteer, VIII, Kathiawar, 286. Bayley, *Gujarat*, 98. Also Feristha, II, 184.

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⁴⁶ In A.D. 1414 Ahmad Shāh was confronted by a formidable palace conspiracy which aspired to place his uncle Fīrōz on the throne of Gujarat. The trouble was nipped in the bud and Fīrōz fled to Nagor, and although he was killed by its Raja there, Ahmad Shāh attacked Nagor in August, 1416. Ferishta, II, 184; *Mirāt-i-Sikandarī*, 29-30.

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He at once marched towards Nagor passing through Tonk⁴⁷ and Todah⁴⁸ on the way. On this Ahmad Shāh retreated towards Dhār, the capital of Malwa. It is difficult to assert that it was Khizr Khan's approach that had made Ahmad Shāh retire, for at that very time, nearer home, the Hindu Rajas of Idar, Champaner, Jhalawar and Nagor, tired of Ahmad's religious intolerance, had formed a confederacy against him⁴⁹ which was also joined by the Muslim ruler of Malwa, ever jealous of Gujarat's ascendancy. Thus situated, Ahmad Shāh could not have safely stayed away in Rajputana. But his retreat to Gujarat almost appeared as Khizr Khan's victory. This had a sobering effect on many independent princes. Thus as Khizr Khan was returning towards Delhi, Iliyās Khan, governor of Shahr-i-Nau or Jhaīn,⁵⁰ made his submission. Similarly the Raja of Gwalior and Karīmul Mulk, the brother of Shams Khan Auhadī of Bayana,⁵¹ paid taxes and tribute. In a triumphant mood Khizr Khan returned to Delhi.

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⁴⁷ In Rajputana situated in Lat. 26° 10′, Long. 75° 56′.

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⁴⁸ Todah is situated 63 miles S.W. of Jaipur; Lat. 26° 4′, Long. 75° 39′.

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⁴⁹ *Mirāt-i-Sikandarī*, 33.

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⁵⁰ Jhaīn got its new name of Shahr-i-Nau when Ulugh Khan took it in 1301 in 'Alāuddīn Khaljī's time. *History of the Khaljīs*, 101 and n.

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⁵¹ Yahya (T.M.S., 186) as well as all other chroniclers write that Shams Khan Auhadi met Khizr Khan. That is a mistake. Shams Khan was killed by Mallū Iqbāl Khan in A.D. 1401 (803 H). It was certainly Karīmul Mulk, brother of Shams Khan, who was governing Bayana, and met Tājul Mulk when the latter visited Bayana early that year.

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Soon after the Sultan ordered Zīrak Khan to march against Tughān Raīs, who had murdered Sadhū Nadira, and now invested his successor Malik Badhan in Sarhind. On Zīrak Khan's approach the Turkbachchās raised the siege. But the royal commander chased them up to Pāīl⁵² and compelled Tughān Raīs to pay a large indemnity and send one of his sons as hostage. For this act of abject subservience he was rewarded with the *iqṭ‘ā* of Jalandhar.⁵³

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⁵² T.M.S., 187 has پایل (Pāil) and so has T.A., I, 267. Other MSS. of T.M.S. (text note 3, 187) have باید (Bāid) and بابل (Bābul). K. K. Basu (T.M.S. trans., 193, n. 8) says that Pāil may safely be identified with Baila in the Dehradun district on a high mountain. Lat. 30° 45′, Long. 78°47′. But he is not correct. This Pāil, now a railway station, lies 25 miles N.W. of Sarhind as the crow flies.

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⁵³ Jalandhar is a place of great antiquity. It has been described by Hieun Tsang as then being a town two miles in circuit. It is also mentioned by Ptolemy by the name of Kulindrinepr Sulindrine. See Cunningham, A. G. I. 135. Hunter, Gaz. of Ind., VII, 91. Ranking, note in Badaonī, 382.

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Taking advantage of the trouble in the Punjab, Vīrama Singh of Katehār rose in revolt in A.D. 1418 (821 H). Tājul Mulk’s punitive expeditions in the Doab-Katehār region in 1414 and 1416 had exasperated Vīrama into defying the authority of the Sultanate. Khizr Khan ordered Tājul Mulk to proceed against Vīrama, but the latter was prepared for the worst. He laid waste his own country after the time-honoured scorched-earth policy, and escaped into the forest surrounding Aonla in the Kamaon hills.⁵⁴ Unable to deal with the object of his pursuit, the Vazīr “contented himself with the ignoble but customary satisfaction of plundering the people”.⁵⁵ To carry his mission further Tājul Mulk proceeded to Etawah. He crossed the Ganga at the ford of Bijlānā⁵⁶ and then besieged Etawah. Finding his countryside put to indiscriminate plunder,⁵⁷ Rai Sumēr made peace by giving tribute and rendering homage. But Tājul Mulk’s devastating progress had exasperated the people of the region so that within six months Khizr Khan himself had to march out to bring to book the disaffected western Uttar Pradesh. But the more the raids the greater the resistance. Perhaps a policy of conciliation would have brought about better results. Not only did the rulers of Gwalior, Katehār and Etawah never submit to Khizr Khan, but his policy of continuous repression turned even friends into foes. The instance of Mahābat Khan, ruler of Badaon, amply bears out this thesis.

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⁵⁴ T.M.S., 187; Ferishta, I, 162. Aonla is now a full-fledged town shown on modern maps, Lat. 28° 16′, Long. 79° 12′.

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⁵⁵ C.H.I., III, 207.

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⁵⁶ T.M.S., 188 has بجلانه and so have Badaonī, Ranking, I, 379, and T.A., I, 268. Ferishta, I, 162 (fourth line from bottom) alone has “he came to Badaon and crossed the Ganga.” The “Bajlānā” of the chroniclers was, therefore, near Badaon and can certainly not be Bijnor as suggested by K. K. Basu, in his translation of the T.M.S., 194 n. 5. Bajlānā is a misreading for Pachtana. It was a *sarkar* in Kol, Sūba Agra (Āīn, Trs., II, 186). It now does not lie on Ganga as the river has changed its course, but on “the old Ganga” in Kasgunj Tehsil, district Etah. Elliot, *Races*, II, 97. I.G. XV, 69.

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⁵⁷ Ferishta, I, 162.

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On his punitive expedition Khizr Khan had first chastised the inhabitants of Kol (Aligarh), situated within eighty miles of the capital city, and then had scoured the region of the Rahāb and Sambhal.⁵⁸ Mahābat Khan, the governor of Badaon, who was present in the Sultan's camp, having had a foreboding that his own fief might be attacked, fled from the camp and entrenched himself in Badaon. Mahābat Khan was a nobleman of Nāsiruddīn Mahmūd Shāh,⁵⁹ but after the new dynasty had come to the helm of affairs he had turned loyal to Khizr Khan and whenever Tājul Mulk had marched to Katehar Mahābat had showed him due deference. But now for no ostensible reason Khizr Khan had scared him, and when he fled for safety Khizr Khan laid siege to Badaon in January, A.D. 1419 (Zilhijja, 821 H.).⁶⁰

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⁵⁸ Sambhal lies 22 miles west of Moradabad.

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⁵⁹ Ferishta, I, 162.

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⁶⁰ T.M.S., 189.

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The investment went on for six months.⁶¹ The rebellion of such an old and trusted nobleman, who had a number of friends and supporters in the royal camp, was not easy to deal with. It was reported that Amīrs and Maliks such as Qawām Khan, Ikhtiyār Khan⁶² and many officers of Mahmūd Shāh were sympathising with the rebel. To isolate them from Mahābat Khan, Khizr Khan raised the siege even when "victory was imminent".⁶³ On his way to Delhi he invited all the suspected nobles, including Qawām Khan and Ikhtiyār Khan, to a function arranged on the banks of the Ganga and there got them done to death.⁶⁴

Cites (2)

Tārīkh-i Firishta — Muḥammad Qāsim Hindū Shāh Firishta 1606, Persian
Tārīkh-i Mubārakshāhī — Yaḥyā b. Aḥmad Sirhindī