History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c3: Contents

History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c3

Language: English

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CHAPTER I. THE WARDEN OF THE MARCHES AS RULER ... 1 The origin of the Qaraunahs and the early life of Ghiyas — Ghazi Malik secures the throne — Political condition of India in 720 H. — The Punjab and Sindh — Gujarat — Rajputana — Central India and the Deccan — Expedition against Warangal, 721 H. — Expedition to Lakhnauti — Death of Ghiyas, 725 H. — Government of Tughluq Shah — The Sultan's Character.

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CHAPTER II. EARLY YEARS OF MUHAMMAD'S REIGN ... 56 Muhammad's Coronation and empire — Preliminary measures — Gashtasp's rebellion — Suppression of the Prince of Kondhana — Bahram Aiba's rebellion at Multan — The extent of the empire.

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CHAPTER III. THE SULTAN'S EXPERIMENTS AND MUGHAL INVASION 82 The transfer of the capital — The Mughal Invasion — Token currency.

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chroniclers and ... research no finality is attainable but as flowo... moves the coach an ell renders a service which is sure to lea... enquirers equipped with better knowledge and possessed of richer material to achieve greater results.

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In preparing this work I have received the utmost encouragement from Sir Denison Ross, Sir Wolseley Haig and Professor Sylvain Lèvi, the world-famed French Indologist, who alas! is no longer in the land of the living. He generously procured for me copies of MSS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale Paris and took a keen interest in the progress of my studies. Sir Wolseley Haig, indefatigable to the last in the service of India's history, was ever ready to give advice and assistance. He too has gone to join the Choir Invisible but the spirit of his work will endure and continue to inspire generations of students. Whenever I had occasion to consult him, there Lakhnauti, because in 724 A.H. (1324 A.D.) when Ghiyas-al-Din started for his Bengal campaign Nāsir-al-Din came to Tirhut from Lakhnauti to pay homage. It does not appear that Nāsir-al-Din was at the time in possession of Lakhnauti, for after the defeat of Bahadur he was reinstated in his former position by the Sultan. But it is quite possible that he may have acquired some influence, though not amounting to actual rulership. After a show of resistance Bahadur was captured by Haibat Ullah Qāsūri,⁶⁰ and Nāsir-al-Din was reinstated in charge of Lakhnauti, and was awarded a canopy and a baton as a mark of royal confidence. Tatar Khan foster-son of the Sultan, who held the territory of Zafrabad, was deputed to reduce the whole country to submission. The claims of Shihāb-al-Din or of his sons, if alive, were ignored, in favour of Nāsir-al-Din, who, according to Barani, had established a preferential claim to the kingly office by reason of his humility and submission. This is evidenced by a coin, bearing the names of Ghiyas-al-Din Tughluq I, and Nāsir-al-Din Ibrahim Shah, governor of Bengal, which was most probably struck during the Sultan's visit to Bengal.⁶¹

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⁶⁰ T. M. MS.

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⁶¹ J.A.S.B., 191... J.A.S.B., ... J.A.S.B., ... pp. 3. J.A.S.B., 1922, XVIII, pp. 420-21. Numismatic chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society, Parts I and II, p. 97.

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On his way back from Lakhnauti the Sultan encountered the Raja of Tirhut who appeared at the head of a considerable force with hostile intentions. No other historian except Firishta has given an account of this episode, a reference to which occurs also in the native annals. According to Firishta who relies upon a certain work which he calls Fatah-us-Salātīn, considered by Briggs as a compilation of little authority, the Raja, who is said to have possessed a considerable force, was pursued into an impervious forest which was cleared up in a short time by the royal forces.⁶² At last, the Raja entrenched himself in his fort which was surrounded by a high wall and seven ditches full of water. A terrible battle ensued in which the Raja's men fought with stubborn courage, but the imperialists filled up the ditches with sand and pulled down the walls of the fortress in three weeks' time. The Raja and his family were made

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⁶² Briggs, I, pp. 406-07.

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CHAPTER VI. THE DECCAN ... 184

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Nature of the conquest — The new Deccan Kingdoms — Foundation of Vijayanagar — Ballala III and the Sultanate of Madura — Revolt of Kṛṣṇa Nayak — Recall of Qutlugh Khan — Rebellion of the centurions — Rebellion of Taghi in Gujarat — Origin of Hasan Kangu — The rebellion at Daulatabad — The date of the Bahmani Kingdom — The conquest of Girnar and the Sultan's pursuit of Taghi — Summing up.

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CHAPTER VII. THE INSTITUTIONS ... ... ... 254

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The Muslim state, a theocracy — Muhammad Tughluq and the Muslim Church — The working of civil government — The Imperial service — Justice, Law and Police — The Penal law — Police and Jails — The law of debt — The department of presents — The fiscal system — Famine Relief — Taxation — The Military administration — The Provincial administration — The Postal system — The court — The Durbar-i-am — Slaves — The Royal Dinners — A résumé.

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CHAPTER VIII. PERSONALITY OF MUHAMMAD BIN TUGHLUQ ... 308

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The Sultan's accomplishments — The charge of Wanton cruelty — The Sultan's punishments not due to caprice — The charge of irreligion — The rejected this statement of Husām Khān's in view of the unblemished character of the Sultan but for the fact that the word marriage occurs in the text. Still, we may hesitate to believe that the primary motive of the Sultan in undertaking this costly expedition which entailed heavy loss in men and money in a most inhospitable quarter could be merely the acquisition of women. The object of the expedition, as appears from Barani's and Ibn Batūṭah's accounts, was to extend the protectorate of Dihli over some refractory mountain chiefs:

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The Sultan collected a large army under able generals and dispatched a lakh of horsemen and infantry according to Ibn Batūṭah and eighty thousand according to Yaḥyā, Badaoni, Firishta and Husām Khān, under the command of Malik Naqbiah who captured the town of Jadiyah which was situated at the base of the mountain.³⁴ The army marched from Dihli under the imperial commandant, who does not seem to have been a strategist of marked ability, nor does he seem to have realised fully the importance of the physical configuration of the mountainous region. To keep close communication with the headquarters, the troops were asked to build small posts so that there might be no difficulty in obtaining supplies and re-inforcements from Dihli. When the Dihli army came into view, the hill-men with their bows and spears made their appearance, but in this rugged country surrounded by impervious woods it was no easy task to engage the field, found itself in a dangerous situation. The mountain was accessible only by a single pass, and not more than one man could ascend the hill at a time. The royal army escaladed the mountain, and seized the town of Warangal, which stood on a rock.³⁵ Victory

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³⁴ Ibn Batūṭah says, the army was commanded by Malik Nukbiah or Nukbah, while Yahya, Badaoni and Firishta mention Khusrau Malik as the commander of the royal forces. It is possible, the command may have been entrusted to both of these men. In another place Ibn Batūṭah writes the name of this officer as Malik Bughra. Ibn Batūṭah, III, p. 325. Jadiyah has not been identified. Jarbah is mentioned as a mahāl in the Sarkar of Kamayun in the Ain-i-Akbari. Atkinson, Notes on the History of the Himalayan districts, p. 52.

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³⁵ Warangal cannot be identified. There is no such place mentioned in any of the Gazetteers or maps. Both the towns seem to have disappeared now.

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Abul Fedā ... ... Abul Fedā, Tārīkh-i-Abul Fedā.

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Al-Badāonī ... ... 'Abdul Qādir Badāonī's Muntakhab-ut Tawārīkh translated into English by Ranking and Lowe.

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Arabic History of Gujarāt ... 'Abdullāh Muhammad bin 'Omar Al-Makkī Al-Āsafī, 'Ulugh Khānī, surnamed Hājjī-ad-Dabīr, Zafar-al-Wālih bi Muzaffar Wa Ālih edited by Sir Denison Ross. 3 Vols.

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A. S. B. MS. ... ... Asiatic Society of Bengal MS.

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A. S. R. ... ... Archaeological Survey Report.

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Badāonī, Cal.-Text ... 'Abdul Qādir Badāonī Tārīkh-i-Badāonī or Muntakhab-ut-Tawārīkh, Bibliotheca Indica Series.

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Badr-i-Chāch ... ... The Qasīdāhs of Badr-i-Chāch.

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Bankīpur chroniclers and others. In historical research no finality is attainable but as Hōwōrd says, "every one who moves the coach an ell renders a service which is sure to lead other enquirers equipped with better knowledge and possessed of richer material to achieve greater results."

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In preparing this work I have received the utmost encouragement from Sir Denison Ross, Sir Wolseley Haig and Professor Sylvain Lèvi, the world-famed French Indologist, who alas! is no longer in the land of the living. He generously procured for me copies of MSS. in the Bibliothèque Nationale Paris and took a keen interest in the progress of my studies. Sir Wolseley Haig, indefatigable to the last in the service of India's history, was ever ready to give advice and assistance. He too has gone to join the Choir Invisible but the spirit of his work will endure and continue to inspire generations of students. Whenever I had occasion to consult him, there of superior might, also began to assert itself, and in the Deccan particularly there was talk of organising a confederacy of Hindu Rajas for the defence of religion and the vindication of national honour. Circumstances promised support to such an enterprise, and when trouble arose on all sides, the energy of the state was scattered, and concentrated armed action became impossible. What aggravated the situation was the Sultan's unwillingness to consider coolly the causes of unrest. His confidence in his own strength and ability to bear down all opposition prevented him from tempering force by conciliation. At last autocracy brought about its own nemesis, and the authority of the state was defied in all quarters.

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Ma'bar was a province of the empire of Dihli with its headquarters at Madura. In 1327 A.D. Muhammad Tughluq had asserted his authority over the province and had completely subjugated it. While the Sultan was coping with famine in Hindustan and was engaged in punishing the refractory people of the Doab near Kanauj and Dalmau, news came that Sayyid Jalal-al-Din Ahsan Shah of Kaithal,¹ the governor of Ma'bar, had revolted and proclaimed himself as independent king and struck coins in his name. This occurred in 1334-35 A.D. Barani is wrong in placing this rebellion after the revolt of the revolt of Fakhr-al-Din Mubarak in Bengal, which occurred in 737 A.H. (1337-38 A.D.).² The author of the Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi assigns 741 A.H. as the date of this rebellion,³ and curiously enough Badaoni who faithfully reproduces its account of Muhammad Tughluq's reign alters it to 742 A.H.⁴ Notwithstanding the fact that Barani writes Sayyid Ahsan, father of Ibrahim, Kharitadar and Yahya writes Sayyid Hasan Kaithali, Badaoni muddles up the whole thing and confounds the rebellious governor with Hasan Kangu, the founder of the Bahmani dynasty He writes: "In the year 742 A.H. (1341 A.D.) Sayyid Hasan forces against him, and the rebellious governor was defeated and killed sometime in 731 A.H. (1330-31 A.D.),³⁸ and his corpse was exposed along the route to Dihli and paraded through the provinces of the empire to serve as a warning to other like-minded persons. Thus ended ingloriously the rule of the Balbani kings in Bengal.

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¹ Kaithal is a town 17 krohs from Samana.

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² Barani Calcutta Text, p. 480. Ma'bar . . . Abul Feda distinctly names Cape Comorin as the point where Malabar ended and Ma'bar began. Ma'bar extends in length from Kaulam to Nilawar nearly 300 parasangs along the sea-coast. This is according to Wassaf. J.R.A.S. 1869, p. 269. Marco Polo gives a long account of Ma'bar and its kings. Yule, Travels II, pp. 275-82.

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³ The Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi MS.

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⁴ Ranking, Al-Badaoni, I, p. 309.

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³⁸ J. A. S. B., 1874, Pt. I, p.

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After the death of Bahadur, Tatar Khan became governor of Sonargaon under the title of Bahram Khan and 'Iz-al-Din Yahya and Qadr Khan were entrusted with the charge of Satgaon and Lakhnauti respectively. Bahram Khan died in 737 A.H. (1336-37 A.D.) and after his death Malik Fakhr-al-Din, his armour-bearer (Silahdar) revolted and himself became governor of Sonargaon and attacked Satgaon and Lakhnauti.

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The Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi gives 739 A.H. as the date of this rebellion. Badaoni who follows this history gives the same date.³⁹ Barani who is a contemporary writer gives no date but simply says: 'About this time occurred the rebellion of Fakhra in Bengal . . . ' mentioning it just before the revolt of Ahsan Shah in Ma'bar.⁴⁰ Ibn Batutah gives no date, although he says that when in 746 A.H. he visited Bengal, he found Fakhr-al-Din ruling there.⁴¹ The chronology of Muslim historians is highly defective. Barani is obviously wrong in placing the revolt just before the rebellion of Ahsan Shah which occurred in 735 A.H. Nizam-al-Din follows Barani and gives no date.⁴² Firishta's date 742 A.H. (1341 A.D.) is absolutely incorrect, as is proved by numismatic evidence.⁴³ There is a coin of Fakhr-al-Din, dated 737 A.H. Blochmann read this date as 739 A.H. in order to make it agree with Badaoni, and Sir Wolseley Haig also

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²⁹⁰ Ibn Batutah says the king sent an army under Diljali Tatar (دل جلي تاتار) to Ibrahim Khan. This is Bahram Khan, the adopted son of Sultan Ghiyas-al-Din Tughluq who had been appointed to share authority with Bahadur. Bahadur was overpowered and killed. His skin was stuffed and exposed throughout the whole country, III, pp. 316-17. Mr. Rakhal Das Bannerjee in his History of Bengal (I, p. 95) places the defeat and death of Bahadur sometime in 733 A.H.

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³⁹ Ranking, Al-Badaoni, I, p. 308. ⁴⁰ Barani, Calcutta Text, p. 480. ⁴¹ Ibn Batutah, IV, pp. 212-13. ⁴² Tabqat-i-Akbari, Calcutta Text, p. 205. ⁴³ Firishta, Lucknow Text, p. 137.

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Quatremère. ... ... Quatremère, Notices des Manuscrits, XIII.

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Raverty ... ... Minhāj-us-Sirāj, Tabqāt-i-Nāṣirī Translated into English.

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Rogers ... ... Rogers, Coins in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, Vol. I.

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Sīrat ... ... Sīrat-i-Fīrūz Shāhī, Khudābakhsh Oriental Library, Bankipore, MS.

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Steingass ... ... S t e i n g a s s, Persian-English Dictionary.

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Tabqāt ... ... Niẓām-al-Dīn Ahmad, Tabqāt-i-Akbarī, Bibliotheca Indica Series. Also Lucknow Text.

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Tārīkh-i-Mubārak Shāhī T. M. MS. ... ... Yahyā bin Ahmad Sirhindī, Tārīkh-i-Mubārak Shāhī.

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Tieffenthaler ... ... Tieffenthaler, D e s c r i p t i o n Historique et Geographique De ‘L’ Inde, 4 Tomes.

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Thornton ... ... Thornton, Gazetteer of the Territories of the East India Company, 1854.

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Tod ... ... Annals and Antiquities of Rājasthān edited by Crooke in 4 Vols.

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the people could do nothing. They uttered not a word and continued inactive and indifferent.⁵⁵ Dihli was in a state of great misery, and even the Sultan's household began to feel the pinch. The Sultan felt obliged to remove his court and the population to a more favourable locality. This was about the year 739 A.H.

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⁵⁵ Barani, Calcutta Text, p. 482.

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Ibn Batūṭah says that on the 9th Jamad-al-awwal the Sultan left for Ma'bar to quell the revolt of Ahsan Shah.⁵⁶ The date of this rebellion has been fixed as 735 A.H. (1334-5 A.D.). The Sultan must have reached in a shorter period of time, though Ibn Batūṭah says Ma'bar is six months' journey from Dihli.⁵⁷ He further says that the Sultan returned after two and a half years, which means that he must have come back sometime in 738 A.H. (1337 A.D.). He stayed at Dihli for some time and engaged himself in devising measures to cope with the deadly famine that was prevailing near the capital. 'Ain-al-Mulk's rebellion occurred in 740-41 A.H. as I have conclusively proved. According to Ibn Batūṭah the Sultan stayed at Saragdwāri for two and a half years.⁵⁸ Calculating backwards, we find that he must have gone to Saragdwāri sometime in 739 A.H. (1338-39 A.D.).

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⁵⁶ Ibn Batūṭah, III, p. 427.

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⁵⁷ Ibid., p. 328.

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⁵⁸ Ibn Batūṭah, III, pp. 356-7. The author of the Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi writing in the 15th century speaks of the ford of Saragdwāri and Badaoni writes of it as existing in the vicinity of Shamsabad.

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Passing Baran (modern Bulandshahr), Patiali⁵⁹ and Kampil,⁶⁰ the Sultan encamped with his army on the bank of the Ganges at a little distance from the town of Khor.⁶¹ Here he founded the town

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⁵⁹ Patiali is situated in 27° 42' N. and 72° 5' E. in the Etah district. It lies on the old bank of the Ganges 22 miles to the North-East of Etah. District Gaz., p. 201.

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⁶⁰ Kampil is situated 28 miles North-West of Fatehgarh in 27° 39' N. and 79° 20' E. in the Farrukhabad district in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. District Gaz., Farrukhabad, p. 215.

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⁶¹ Khor is variously spelt in the different MSS. It is Khod (کھود) in the Calcutta Text and خور in the Bankipore MS., but this is a mistake of the scribes. Khor is situated in 27° 33' and 79° 35' E. about six miles to the East of Shamsabad. The modern town of Shamsabad was built upon the ruins of Khor. The old town of Khor, some three and a half miles distant on the Ganges cliff, was founded about the beginning of the 13th century by a Rathor chieftain. All that remains of Khor is a large mound called the Kot or fort of the Khor Rajas, which rises about 30 feet above the level of the alluvial lowlands.