History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c11.131

c11.131

the authority of the state with a view to gain their object of securing wealth and power. The nobles of the land, the descendants of men, who had fought in the cause of Islam since the days of Balban and ‘Ala-al-Din, thought themselves wronged, and were in nowise treated with favour by the Sultan. When the Maratha country was reorganised, the Sultan realised that he could not restore peace and order in the country unless the foreign amirs were got rid of. To attain this object, he adopted a wrong policy. According to Barani, towards the close of the year 745 A.H. in which Qutlugh Khan was recalled, he appointed ‘Aziz Khummār, a man of base origin, who was formerly a wine-seller, to the governorship of Malwa and Dhar and bestowed upon him some lakhs of tankahs to enable him to proceed to his charge with befitting dignity. The Sultan addressed him on the difficulties of the situation in these words ; ‘‘Thou seest, how revolts are arising in all directions in my kingdom and disturbances are taking place. I hear that wherever there is rebellion it is caused with the aid of the ‘Centurions’ who befriend the rebels in order to embezzle money and engage themselves in plunder. That is how rebels get their opportunity. If thou comest to know that any of the amirs of Dhar are rebellious, thou must try to get rid of them in the best way you can.’’⁵⁹ The Sultan thus gave a broad hint to the base-born vintner’s son to employ foul means if he thought it necessary to secure the desired end. The suggestion was only too welcome to a man like Aziz who took delight in mischief, and he carried it into effect with a fidelity which even his master did not expect. Forthwith he proceeded to his new charge and began to form plans to fulfil the mission with which he had been entrusted. Ignorant and tactless as he was, he set about his business in a most clumsy manner. One day he got together eighty and odd ‘‘Centurions’’ and officers of the army and charged them with having fostered a spirit of rebellion in the country and denounced their conduct in a most contumelious language.⁶⁰ He did not rest content with this; the unfettered discretion which had been allowed him by his sovereign made him deaf to all counsels of prudence and caution, and in his zeal to please the Sultan he had these amirs beheaded in front of his palace. The Sultan was gratified at the news of ‘Aziz’s success and to signify his appreciation of his fidelity he forwarded to him a robe of honour and a congratulatory *farman*. The nobles and officers of the court were asked by the Sultan to send to him letters expressing their joy at his brilliant coup. The approval of such a dastardly policy was an unmitigated blunder the consequences of which Muhammad, who had lost his perspicacity of vision, could not foresee. The cold-blooded murder of these "Centurions" was an atrocious act which set in motion the forces which finally brought about the disruption of Muhammad's empire. The "Centurions" in Devagiri and Gujarat thought, not without justification, that the premeditated murder of their fellow amirs only foreshadowed the doom of the rest, and they became anxious for their safety, especially, because the Sultan had expressed his intention to exterminate the alien element in his kingdom. Besides, it was a wrong which these warlike men could not easily condone. Their mettlesome nature was excited by the cruel fate of their fellow-chiefs, who swore vengeance upon a government, which recked nothing of their lives. The amirs of Gujarat and Devagiri cast all loyalty to the winds and openly fomented rebellion in the provinces.