History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c11.137

c11.137

Qutlugh Khan, the old governor of Devagiri and the king’s tutor, sent a communication through Zia Barani, that the rebellion of the ‘Centurions’ was not so serious as to require the royal presence and that if he were given permission he would suppress it in no time.⁶³ In vain did the veteran officer urge the impolicy of such a course. He told the Sultan that his presence would frighten the amirs who were already upset by the imprudent conduct of ‘Aziz and that it would be better to entrust the task to some other hands. But the king, whose ears had already been poisoned against his old teacher, did not heed his advice, and pushed on his preparations for suppressing the revolt. He did not allow Qutlugh Khan to proceed to the Deccan, perhaps, because he did not believe in the sincerity of his proposal and thought that the revolt was in some degree due to the dissatisfaction caused among his subordinates by his sudden removal. Malik Maqbūl, having failed to hold his own against the rebels, a new governor was felt to be imperatively necessary to restore the prestige of the administration. Shaikh Mui‘z-al-Din, son of Shaikh ‘Ala-al-Din Ajodhani, was appointed viceroy of Gujarat and the state advanced him three lakhs of tankahs and ordered him to raise quickly a corps of a thousand horsemen to reinforce the royal army. Having entrusted the task of government to Firuz, Malik Kabir, and Ahmad Ayaz, the Sultan started when barely three or four days were left of Ramzan (745 A.H.) and reached Sultanpur, a village at a distance of fifteen Krohs from Dihli. Here he received a letter from ‘Aziz Khummār informing him that the ‘Centurions’ of Dabhoi and Baroda had revolted and he, being very near them, had marched against them at the head of the combined forces of Malwa and Dhar. The Sultan was disconcerted by this letter for ‘Aziz was a man of low birth and not likely to command respect. Besides, he was inexperienced in the art of warfare and was likely to make confusion worse confounded. But how could the Sultan prevent his marching to Gujarat in time? With characteristic foolhardiness ‘Aziz, who had entirely miscalculated the forces arrayed against him, marched to Gujarat to deal with the rebels, and in an engagement that followed he was roughly handled by the enemy. The next letter brought the news of this catastrophe to the Sultan. ‘Aziz’s men fled from the field of battle in a state of panic; he himself fell from his horse and in a state of unconsciousness was carried off by the insurgents who “put him to an ignominious death.”