History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c33.s7.17

v3.c33.s7.17

The Sultan wished to avoid the evil influence of his star by going into Hindustan, which then still included, as it includes even now, the warmer country to the west of the Indus with the cities of Wahind, Mārminārā (?) Bershaur and Kiril (?) (E. II. p. 150); but the evil star destroyed Masa'ud even in Hindustan. The Tabakat-i-Nasiri relates that Masa'ud was seized by his own rebellious Moslem and Hindu slaves as he was going through the Margilan pass (in the hills between Rawalpindi and Attock, a few miles to the west of Hasan Abdal) and imprisoned. They liberated the blind Muhammad who was in custody and placed him on the throne. Masa'ud was taken to the fortress of Gur and there murdered. This tragic end of Masa'ud reminds us of the tragic end of Sambhaji who too like Masa'ud lost the large Mahārāshtra territory acquired by his father and had left to him a distant province Karnatic for refuge as Hindustan was left to the kings of Ghazni. Both though endowed with great courage and learning and strong in religious zeal came to grief by their obstinacy and unamenability to good advice. The unfortunate end of both shows how immense resources are of no avail without the capacity to use them; and the greatness of Mahmud, as that of Shivaji, appears in the fact that he achieved greatness even without any great resources in the beginning.