A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c16.77

c16.77

Muhammad III's son Mahmud was enthroned, at the age of twelve, by Malik Hasan, at a mean ceremony from which the nobility deliberately stayed away. Yusuf Adil Khan came back from Goa to Bidar to pay his respects to the new monarch, but suspicion and intrigue and the open fights between the Deccanis and his followers induced him to retire to Bijapur, leaving Malik Hasan supreme in the capital. An attempt by the boy-sultan to gain his freedom by having Malik Hasan assassinated failed, and he was more closely guarded ever after. It became well known that the king was a helpless prisoner, and the governors of provinces began to defy the orders of Malik Hasan, the malik naib. In 1486, for instance, the governor of Telengana rebelled, and there were also revolts in Goa and Chākan supported by Yusuf Adil Shah. It was not long before the king openly expressed his disgust with Malik Hasan who thereupon left for Bidar with the intention of capturing the treasury and winning the army over to his side. He was caught, however, and, under the king's orders, strangled by Dilpasand Khan, the governor of the city. But his removal came too late; the king returned to Bidar and plunged into idleness and debauchery, neglecting public affairs. A conspiracy of the Deccanis to dethrone him in November 1487 was foiled by the intercession of the foreign troops, and the Deccanis and Africans suffered a terrible reprisal in the form of a general massacre which lasted three days.