History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c10.148

c10.148

Shāhū Afghan killed Bahzad, the governor of Multan, and with the help of a number of lawless Afghans seized the city. Malik Nawā brought to the Sultan the news of the revolt and the devastations which the Afghan banditti had wrought in his province. The Sultan marched at the head of a considerable force to chastise the rebel, but he had not advanced far, when the news came that his revered mother Makhdum Jahan had died at Dihli. She was a lady of great talents and looked after the management of the royal household. The Sultan was overpowered with grief, but having made arrangements for the distribution of alms for the benefit of the soul of the departed lady, he started for Multan. Frightened by the approach of the royal army, Shāhū Afghan wrote an apologetic letter to implore forgiveness of the Sultan. He was so affrighted that he fled into the mountains of Pāya and the Sultan entrusted the country to 'Imad-al-Mulk Sartez. . The object of the expedition having been attained, the Sultan returned to Dihli by way of Sannam⁹⁴ and Agroha⁹⁵ where be busied himself in administering famine relief. The distress at this time in the Doab was unbearable and the contemporary chronicler remarks that man was devouring man, and he is supported by Ibn Batūtah. The Sultan tried in every way to encourage cultivation, constructed wells but the people did nothing. Their tongues uttered not a word, and they continued inactive and negligent and the Sultan punished them.