Memoir on Kotla Firoz Shah/Sirat-i Firoz Shahi, by J.A. Page

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HIS CHIEF ARCHITECTS.

Malik Ghazi Shahna was the chief architect, and was very efficient; he held the gold staff (of office). 'Abdul Hakk, otherwise Jahir Sundhar (was deputy, and) held the golden axe. A clever and qualified superintendent was appointed over every class of artisans.

The Sultan also repaired the tombs of former kings. It is a custom among kings while they are on the throne to appropriate villages and lands to religious men in order to provide means for the maintenance and repair of their tombs. But these endowments had all been destroyed, and the grantees, being divested of them, were reduced to distress. The Sultan carefully repaired all the tombs and restored the lands and villages after bringing into cultivation such as had been laid waste. He also sought out and restored the Superintendents and officers of these endowments who had been driven out of them. The financial officer (diwan-i (illegible)) examined the plan of every proposed building, and made provision so that the work should not be stopped for want of funds. The necessary money was issued from the royal treasury to the managers of the building, and then the work was begun. Thus it was that so many buildings of different kinds were erected in the reign of Firozshah."

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THE ROYAL ESTABLISHMENTS AND DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS.

"Sultan Firoz had thirty-six royal establishments, for which enormous supplies of articles were collected and the annual outlay on which was very large. Some of them were in receipt of a regular payment (rayati): others had no fixed income (ghair rayati). Thus among the rayati establishments there were the elephant, horse, and camel stables, the kitchen, the butlery, the candle department, the dog-kennels, the water-cooling department and other similar establishments. These received a regular monthly allowance of one lac and sixty thousand tankas for their expenses, in addition to which there was the cost of their furniture, .....

“In the establishments which received no regular allowance, such as the wardrobe, the alam-khana or insignia, the carpet stores, and the like, new goods were procured every year according to orders given. In the winter season six lacs of tankas were expended on the wardrobe, besides the outlay for the spring and summer, 80,000 tankas were expended on the alam-khana in the purchase of articles, besides the salaries of the accountants and wages of the work-people. About two lacs of tankas were expended in the carpet department. Each of these establishments was under the charge of a khan or malik of high rank;”..... “The royal stables were in five different places, and, besides these, some thousands of horses grazed in the neighbourhood of Delhi, and were called sihpanj. The camel establishment was distinct, and was in the district of Dublahan, where whole villages were appropriated to them and their keepers. Their numbers increased every year, because the great feudatories, when they came to Court, brought camels of all sorts among their presents to the throne.”

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SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF THE KOTLA.

The following is a brief relation of events connected with the subsequent history of the Kotla from the retirement of its founder from affairs of State to its probable destruction in 1540 A.D. at the hands of the Afghan emperor Sher Shah Sur.

“The Sultan now grew old and feeble, for his age was nearly ninety years (1382 A.D.) and Khan-i-Jahan,1 [Named Juna Shah. He was the son of the former wazir Makbul Khan. The two wazirs, father and son, between them virtually ruled the kingdom during the whole of the reign, the one for 18, the other for 20 years, so great was the reliance reposed in them by the Sultan. Juna Shah is said to have been responsible for the erection of several of the principal mosques built in Delhi, among which are numbered those named on page 16 (supra). (Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III, Tarikh-i-Firozshahi. p. 369 et seq.)] the wazir, exercised unbounded authority ..... All the affairs of State were in his hands. At length it came to this, that whatever Khan-i-Jahan said, the Sultan used to do”.

“One day the wazir represented to the Sultan that Prince Muhammad Khan ..... was on the point of raising a rebellion”, whereupon the Sultan gave the order for his arrest. The Prince, however, discreetly remained away from court, and, in alarm at his position, gave his own version of affairs to his father, on which the wazir was dismissed from office.

The Prince, “gathering the slaves of Sultan Firoz, the amirs, and other people of the city” about him, attacked the house of Khan-i-Jahan, who was wounded and fled into Mewat, and his house was plundered.

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THE SULTAN RETIRES IN FAVOUR OF HIS SON MUHAMMAD KHAN.

“The Sultan of necessity, gave over to the Prince the reins of government, with all the horses and elephants, wealth and state ..... He conferred upon him the title of Nasiru-d-din Muhammad Shah, and then retired to his house to serve his God. In the cities, throughout the dominions, the khutba was repeated in the names of the two sovereigns, and Muhammad Khan took his seat upon the throne in the Palace of Jahanuma (on the “Ridge”). The deposed wazir was soon afterwards seized and beheaded.

The Prince “who was young and inexperienced, gave himself up to pleasure ..... and at length great irregularities arose in the administration. The slaves of the late government of Firoz Shah, of whom there were about a lakh in Delhi and Firozabad, abandoned the Prince and joined themselves with the late sovereign”. Hence arose contention and strife,1 [Elliot and Dowson, Vol. IV, Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi, p. 17.] during which the Prince attacked and routed this following, who “fled to the palace and took refuge with the Sultan. Fighting went on for two days, when the insurgents brought out the old Sultan from the Palace”, which caused the adherents of the Prince to abandon him and rejoin their old master. Finding he could no longer maintain the struggle, the Prince fled to the mountains of Sirmor.

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FLIGHT OF MUHAMMAD KHAN AND HIS SUPERSESSION BY SULTAN FIROZ’S GRANDSON, TUGHLAQ SHAH.

The Sultan then appointed Prince Tughlaq Shah his grandson, son of Fath Khan, to be his heir, and delivered all the affairs of government over to him.”2 [Ibidem.]

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DEATH OF FIROZSHAH.

“On the3 [Ibidem.] 18th Ramzan 790 H (26th September 1388 A.D.) Sultan Firoz died, worn out with weakness”, whereupon Prince Tughlaq Shah “took his seat upon the throne in the palace of Firozabad”; and a force was then sent against Prince Muhammad Khan in his retreat in the mountains of Sirmor.

The new Sultan was, however, also “young and inexperienced, and gave himself up to wine and pleasure”. Government was neglected and several of the Amirs and slaves raised a revolt. “Malik Mubarak Kabri (an adherent of the Sultan) was despatched with the sword in the palace of Firozabad as he was retreating through the door. A great outcry thereupon arose in the palace, and the Sultan hearing it escaped through the door opening on to the Jamna” but was overtaken and killed at the ford near the Ridge. The reign4 [Elliot and Dowson, Vol. IV, Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi, p. 21.] of Sultan Tughlaq Shah had lasted 6 months and 18 days.

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DEATH OF HIS SUCCESSOR TUGHLAQ SHAH AND ENTHRONEMENT OF MUHAMMAD KHAN AT SAMANA.

On the news reaching Prince Muhammad Khan at Nagarkot he mounted the throne at Samana "for the second time”, and with an assemblage of 20,000 horse and an innumerable host of foot marched to Delhi, where, however, the slaves of the late Sultan opposed him under Abu Bakr Shah (grandson of Sultan Firoz). (Vide. Ferishta, Briggs, Vol. I. p. 468).

“On1 [Elliot and Dowson, Vol. IV, Tarkih-i-Mubarakshahi, p. 21.] the 25th Rabiu-l-Akhir 791 (23rd April 1389) Sultan Muhammad took up his position at the palace of Jahannuma (on the Ridge) and Abu Bakr with his adherents and forces, was at Firozabad. On the 2nd Jumada-l awwal, the adherents of Abu Bakr, having taken the streets and walls of Firozabad, gave battle to the forces of the new Sultan. On that very day Bahadur Nahir came into the city with a party of his followers; and Abu Bakr Shah, being emboldened by his arrival, marched on the following day into Firozabad with his horse and foot. The battle began, and by the decree of God, Sultan Muhammad was defeated. He fled towards his own territories”. Malik2 [Elliot and Dowson, Vol. IV, Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi, p. 22.] Sarwar (a slave of Firoz Shah, and afterwards the founder of the Provincial dynasty of Sharqi kings at Jaunpur) was then made wazir.

In the same year Sultan Muhammad again marched against Delhi, but was met and defeated by Abu Bakr again; and we read that "in consequence of the contention among the Mussulmans for the throne, the Hindu infidels gathered strength and gave up paying the Jizya poll tax and tribute".

In 1390 A.D. Sultan Muhammad yet again raided the city of Delhi, entering through the Badaun Gate, and took up his quarters at the Humayun Palace. “All the people of the city, high and low, and the bazar people, joined him;" but the Sultan found it advisable to flee through a back door in the palace on news of his antagonist Abu Bakr’s approach. The old Firoz Shahi slaves, however, turned against Abu Bakr, who fled, and on their invitation Sultan Muhammad “entered the city and took his seat on the throne in the Palace of Firozabad."

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DEATH OF SULTAN MUHAMMAD.

The somewhat tactless action of the Sultan in taking away the state elephants from the charge of the Firozshahi slaves excited discontent among them; “so they fled in the night” and joined Abu3 [Elliot and Dowson, Vol. IV, Tarkih-i-Mubarakshahi, p. 25.] Bakr Shah, who was, however, defeated in a battle by a force sent against him by the Sultan, captured, and sent a prisoner to Mirat, where he died. Some 3 years afterwards the Sultan Muhammad Shah died (Jan. 1394 A.D.) having reigned 6 years4 [Elliot and Dowson, Vol. IV, Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi, p. 27.] and 7 months.

The late Sultan’s second son, Humayun Khan, then ascended the throne under the title Sultan Alau-d-Din Sikandar Shah — but died 1 month 16 days afterwards.

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SUCCESSION OF PRINCE MAHMUD AT JAHANPANAH.

On the death of Sultan Alau-d-Din “Prince Mahmud was placed upon the throne in the Humayun palace (in Jahanpanah) and the title Nasiru-d-Din Mahmud Shah was given5 [Elliot and Dowson, Vol. IV Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi, p. 28.] to him”.

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REBELLION AND RIVAL SOVEREIGNTY OF HIS COUSIN NASRAT SHAH AT FIROZABAD.

Early in his reign, however, certain disaffected amirs, headed by one Sadat Khan, rebelled and raised Nasrat Khan, another grandson of Firoz Shah, to the throne, "in the palace of Firozabad under the title of Nasiru-d-Din Nasrat Shah. But he was a mere puppet, and all the direction of affairs was in the hands of Sadat Khan", who was, however, soon afterwards expelled by the old Firozashahi slaves, and killed. Thus "in Delhi and Firozabad there were two kings”,1 [Elliot and Dowson, Vol. IV, p. 31 (footnote 1, Tabkat-i-Akbari).] and “fights came to be daily occurrences between the two cities."

"The districts in the Doab and fiefs of Sambhal, Panipat, Jhajhar and Rohtak were in the possession of Sultan Nasiru-d-Din, while Sultan Mahmud held no place except the forts of old Delhi and Siri”.

“In the month of Shawal 800 H (1397 A.D.) the wazir Ikbal Khan joined himself to Sultan Nasiru-d-Din. He placed the Sultan upon an elephant, and conducted him into Jahanpanah ..... Sultan Mahmud was shut up in Old Delhi."

“On the third day Ikbal Khan treacherously attacked the Sultan Nasiru-d- Din who, being unable to resist, fled with a small party of men and elephants to Firozabad”, whence he escaped across the Jamna with his family and dependants.

“Firozabad then came into the possession of Ikbal2 [Elliot and Dowson, Vol. IV. p. 33. Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi.] Khan, who kept the Sultan Mahmud in his power as a puppet and himself directed all matters of Government.3” [Elliot and Dowson, Vol. IV. p. 34. Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi.]

Such were the conditions of affairs at Delhi immediately prior to Timur’s raid.