Twelfth Mukaddama. — Interview with Shaikh Kutbu'd din-i Munawwar and Shaikh Nasiru-d din Mahmud at Hansi.
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Without any consultation, and without carefully looking into the advantages and disadvantages on every side, he brought ruin upon Dehli, that city which, for 170 or 180 years, had grown in prosperity, and rivaled Baghdad and Cairo. The city, with its sarais and its suburbs and villages, spread over four or five kos. All was destroyed. So complete was the ruin, that not a cat or a dog was left among the buildings of the city, in its palaces or in its suburbs. Troops of the natives, with their families and dependents, wives and children, men-servants and maid-servants, were forced to remove. The people, who for many years and for generations had been natives and inhabitants of the land, were broken-hearted. Many, from the toils of the long journey, perished on the road, and those who arrived at Deogir could not endure the pain of exile. In despondency they pined to death. All around Deogir, which is an infidel land, there sprung up graveyards of Musulmans. The Sultan was bounteous in his liberality and favours to the emigrants, both on their journey and on their arrival; but they were tender, and they could not endure the exile and suffering. They laid down their heads in that heathen land, and of all the multitudes of emigrants, few only survived to return to their home. Thus this city, the envy of the cities of the inhabited world, was reduced to ruin. The Sultan brought learned men and gentlemen, tradesmen and landholders, into the city (Dehli) from certain towns in his territory, and made them reside there. But this importation of strangers did not populate the city; many of them died there, and more returned to their native homes. These changes and alterations were the cause of great injury to the country....
The Sultan returned victorious to Dehli, where he stayed for two years. He did not proceed to Deogir, whither the citizens and their families had removed. Whilst he remained at Dehli the nobles and soldiers continued with him, but their wives and children were at Deogir....
The Sultan, still ill, then set off for Dehli, and on his way he gave general permission for the return home of those people whom he had removed from Dehli to Deogir. Two or three caravans were formed which returned to Dehli, but those with whom the Mahratta country agreed remained at Deogir with their wives and children....
When the Sultan reached Dehli, not a thousandth part of the population remained. He found the country desolate, a deadly famine raging, and all cultivation abandoned. He employed himself some time in restoring cultivation and agriculture, but the rains fell short that year, and no success followed. At length no horses or cattle were left; grain rose to 16 or 17 jitals a sir, and the people starved. The Sultan advanced loans from the treasury to promote cultivation, but men had been brought to a state of helplessness and weakness. Want of rain prevented cultivation, and the people perished....man was devouring man....
He stayed for some time in Dehli, making loans and encouraging cultivation; but the rain did not fall, and the raiyats did not apply themselves to work, so prices rose yet higher, and men and beasts died of starvation. *** Through the famine no business of the State could go on to the Sultan's satisfaction....
[T]he Malik and his brothers sent to Sargdwari and to Dehli money, grain and goods, to the value of from seventy to eighty lacs of tankas....many nobles and officials of Dehli, through fear of the Sultan's severity, had left the city, alleging the dearness of grain as the reason, and had come to Oudh and Zafarabad, with their wives and families....[The Sultan] sent a message to 'Ainu-l Mulk, ordering that all the people of note and ability, and all those who had fled from Dehli to escape punishment, should be arrested and sent bound to Dehli....
The cash raised from the revenues under Katlagh Khan had been accumulated at Deogir, for it was not possible to convey it to Dehli in consequence of the badness of the roads, the distress in Malwa, and the disaffection of the village chiefs....
One day, while he was thus distressed, he sent for me, the author of this work, and, addressing me, said..."If I can settle the affairs of my kingdom according to my wish, I will consign my realm of Dehli to three persons, Firoz Shah, Malik Kabir, and Ahmad Ayyaz, and I will then proceed on the pilgrimage to the holy temple. At present I am angry with my subjects, and they are aggrieved with me. The people are acquainted with my feelings, and I am aware of their misery and wretchedness. No treatment that I employ is of any benefit. My remedy for rebels, insurgents, opponents, and disaffected people is the sword. I employ punishment and use the sword, so that a cure may be effected by suffering. The more the people resist, the more I inflict chastisement."...
Thereupon he sent Ahmad Ayyaz and Malik Makbul from the army to take charge of the affairs of the capital. He summoned Khudawand-zada, Makhdum-zada, and many elders, learned men and others, with their wives and families, to Kondal. Every one that was summoned hastened with horse and foot to join the Sultan at Kondal, so that a large force was gathered there and was formed into an army.... The Sultan ... marched with his army to the Indus. He crossed that river in ease and safety with his army and elephants. He was there joined by Altun Bahadur, with four or five thousand Mughal horse, sent by the Amir of Farghan. The Sultan showed great attention to this leader and his followers, and bestowed many gifts upon them. He then advanced along the banks of the Indus towards Thatta, with an army as numerous as a swarm of ants or locusts, with the intention of humbling the Sumras and the rebel Taghi, whom they had sheltered.
As he was thus marching with his countless army, and was thirty kos from Thatta, the ''ashura or fast of the 10th of Muharram happened. He kept the fast, and when it was over he ate some fish. The fish did not agree with him, his illness returned and fever increased. He was placed in a boat and continued his journey on the second and third days, until he came to within fourteen kos of Thatta. He then rested, and his army was fully prepared, only awaiting the royal command to take Thatta, and to crush the Sumras of Thatta and the rebel Taghi in a single day, and to utterly annihilate them. But fate ruled it otherwise. During the last two or three days that he was encamped near Thatta, the Sultan's malady had grown worse, and his army was in great trouble, for they were a thousand kos distant from Dehli and their wives and children, they were near the enemy and in a wilderness and desert, so they were sorely distressed, and looking upon the Sultan's expected death as preliminary to their own, they quite despaired of returning home. On the 21st Muharram, 752 H. (1350 A.D.), Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlik departed this life on the banks of the Indus, at fourteen kos from Thatta....
* * * On the third day after the death of Mahammad Tughlik, the army marched from (its position) fourteen kos from Thatta towards Siwistan, on its return homewards. Every division of the army marched without leader, rule, or route, in the greatest disorder. No one heeded or listened to what any one said, but continued the march like careless caravans. So when they had proceeded a kos or two, the Mughals, eager for booty, assailed them in front, and the rebels of Thatta attacked them in the rear. Cries of dismay arose upon every side. The Mughals fell to plundering, and carried off women, maids, horses, camels, troopers, baggage, and whatever else had been sent on in advance. They had very nearly captured the royal harem and the treasure with the camels which carried it. The villagers (who had been pressed into the service) of the army, and expected the attack, took to flight. They pillaged various lots of baggage on the right and left of the army, and then joined the rebels of Thatta in attacking the baggage train. The people of the army, horse and foot, women and men, stood their ground; for when they marched, if any advanced in front, they were assailed by the Mughals; if they lagged behind, they were plundered by the rebels of Thatta. Those who resisted and put their trust in God reached the next stage, but those who had gone forward with the women, maids, and baggage, were cut to pieces. The army continued its march along the river without any order or regularity, and every man was in despair for his life and goods, his wife and children. Anxiety and distress would allow no one to sleep that night, and, in their dismay, men remained with their eyes fixed upon heaven. On the second day, by stratagem and foresight, they reached their halting ground, assailed, as on the first day, by the Mughals in front and the men of Thatta in the rear. They rested on the banks of the river in the greatest possible distress, and in fear for their lives and goods. The women and children had perished. Makhdum Zada 'Abbasi, the Shaikhu-s Shaiyukh of Egypt, Shaikh Nasiru-d din Mahmud Oudhi, and the chief men, assembled and went to Firoz Shah, and with one voice said, "Thou art the heir apparent and legatee of the late Sultan; he had no son, and thou art his brother's son; there is no one in the city or in the army enjoying the confidence of the people, or possessing the ability to reign. For God's sake save these wretched people, ascend the throne, and deliver us and many thousand other miserable men. Redeem the women and children of the soldiers from the hands of the Mughals, and purchase the prayers of two lacs of people." Firoz Shah made objections, which the leaders would not listen to. All ranks, young and old, Musulmans and Hindus, horse and foot, women and children, assembled, and with one acclaim declared that Firoz Shah alone was worthy of the crown. "If he does not assume it to-day and let the Mughals hear of his doing so, not one of us will escape from the hands of the Mughals and the Thatta men." So on the 24th Muharram, 752 H. (1351 A.D.), the Sultan ascended the throne.
-- XV. Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, of Ziaud Din Barni [Ziauddin Barani], Excerpt from The History of India As Told By Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, edited from the posthumous papers of the Late Sir H.M. Elliot, K.C.B., East India Company's Bengal Civil Service, by Professor John Dowson, M.R.A.S., Staff college, Sandhurst, Vol. III, P. 93-269, 1871
Seisachtheia (Greek: σεισάχθεια, from σείειν seiein, to shake, and ἄχθος achthos, burden, i.e. the relief of burdens) was a set of laws instituted by the Athenian lawmaker Solon (c. 638 BC–558 BC) in order to rectify the widespread serfdom and slavery that had run rampant in Athens by the 6th century BCE, by debt relief.
Under the pre-existing legal status, according to the account of the Constitution of the Athenians attributed to Aristotle, debtors unable to repay their creditors would surrender their land to them, then becoming hektemoroi, i.e. serfs who cultivated what used to be their own land and gave one sixth of produce to their creditors.
Should the debt exceed the perceived value of debtor's total assets, then the debtor and his family would become the creditor's slaves as well. The same would result if a man defaulted on a debt whose collateral was the debtor's personal freedom.
The seisachtheia laws immediately cancelled all outstanding debts, retroactively emancipated all previously enslaved debtors, reinstated all confiscated serf property to the hektemoroi, and forbade the use of personal freedom as collateral in all future debts. The laws instituted a ceiling to maximum property size – regardless of the legality of its acquisition (i.e. by marriage), meant to prevent excessive accumulation of land by powerful families.
-- Seisachtheia, by Wikipedia
While on this campaign it was again brought to [Sultan Balban's] notice that the old Shamsi military grantees of land were unfit for service, and never went out. *** On returning to Dehli he ordered the muster-master to make out a list of them, with full particulars, and to present it to the throne for instructions. It then appeared that about two thousand horsemen of the army of Shamsu-d din had received villages in the Doab by way of pay....
The Martyr Prince twice sent messengers to Shiraz for the express purpose of inviting Shaikh S'adi to Multan, and forwarded with them money to defray the expenses of the journey. His intention was to build a khankah (monastery) for him in Multan, and to endow it with villages for its maintenance....
In the reign of Balban, while Jalalu-d din was Sar-jandar, he held the territory, of Kaithal and the deputyship of Samana. His officers in Samana demanded revenue from a village belonging to Maulana Siraju-d din Sawi. ***The Maulana was very angry, and wrote a work which he called Khilji-nama, in which he lampooned Jalalu-d din. * * * On the latter becoming sovereign, the Maulana ***came to court with a rope round his neck, despairing of his life, *** but the Sultan called him forward, embraced him, gave him a robe, enrolled him among his personal attendants, restored his village, and added another, confirming them both to him and his descendants. ...
The Sultan continued their allowances for a year or two, but the climate and their city homes did not please them, so they departed with their families to their own country. Some of their principal men remained in India, and received allowances and villages....
[T]he gentry and traders, who had no villages or lands, used to get grain from the markets....
They had held their present territories for many years, and many nobles and officials of Dehli, through fear of the Sultan's severity, had left the city, alleging the dearness of grain as the reason, and had come to Oudh and Zafarabad, with their wives and families. Some of them became connected with the Malik and his brothers, and some of them received villages....
[A]fter much debate it was decided that Tughlik Shah should proceed to the villages (talwandi) belonging to Rana Mall, and demand payment of the year's revenue....
-- XV. Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, of Ziaud Din Barni [Ziauddin Barani], Excerpt from The History of India As Told By Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, edited from the posthumous papers of the Late Sir H.M. Elliot, K.C.B., East India Company's Bengal Civil Service, by Professor John Dowson, M.R.A.S., Staff college, Sandhurst, Vol. III, P. 93-269, 1871
[Sultan 'Alau-d din] made his friends and principal supporters amirs, and the amirs he promoted to be maliks [a chief or leader (as in a village) in parts of the subcontinent of India.]. Every one of his old adherents he elevated to a suitable position, and to the Khans, maliks, and amirs he gave money, so that they might procure new horses and fresh servants. Enormous treasure had fallen into his hands, and he had committed a deed unworthy of his religion and position, so he deemed it politic to deceive the people, and to cover the crime by scattering honours and gifts upon all classes of people....
My uncle 'Alau-l Mulk, kotwal of Dehli, through his extreme corpulence, used to go (only) at the new moon to wait upon the Sultan, and to take wine with him. On one occasion the Sultan began to consult him...Before closing his speech, 'Alau-l Mulk said "What I have recommended can never be accomplished unless your Majesty gives up drinking to excess, and keeps aloof from convivial parties and feasts. *** If you cannot do entirely without wine, do not drink till the afternoon, and then take it alone without companions." *** When he had finished the Sultan was pleased, and commending the excellence of the advice which he had given, promised to observe it. He gave him a brocaded robe of honour with a gold waistband weighing half a man, ten thousand tankas, two horses fully caparisoned, and two villages in in'am....
The Sultan said, "I have given orders to recover from the various revenue officers whatever they have misappropriated or received in excess, punishing them with sticks, pincers, the rack, imprisonment, and chains. I now hear that alienations of the revenue1 [Dihhai, lit: villages.] and bribery have diminished. I have ordered such stipends to be settled on the various revenue officers as will maintain them in respectability, and if, notwithstanding, they resort to dishonesty and reduce the revenue, I deal with them as thou hast seen."...
-- XV. Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, of Ziaud Din Barni [Ziauddin Barani], Excerpt from The History of India As Told By Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, edited from the posthumous papers of the Late Sir H.M. Elliot, K.C.B., East India Company's Bengal Civil Service, by Professor John Dowson, M.R.A.S., Staff college, Sandhurst, Vol. III, P. 93-269, 1871
-- Utopia, by Thomas More
-- A Modern Utopia, by H. G. Wells
-- Organic nationalism, by Utopia Britannica
-- The rise and fall of Harmonia, a Spiritualist utopia and home to Sojourner Truth, by Nick Buckley
-- Utopian socialism, by Wikipedia
-- Inside Walt Disney's Ambitious, Failed Plan to Build the City of Tomorrow: Before EPCOT there was Project X, Florida's first utopian metropolis, by Matt Patches
-- The Myth of Shangri-La: Tibet, Travel Writing and the Western Creation of Sacred Landscape, by Peter Bishop
-- Islamic socialism, by Wikipedia
Sultan Firoz was desirous that no evil should come to Khwaja-i Jahan, and wished to reinstate him as wazir, *** but the Khans, nobles, and officials, having met and consulted, arrived at the unanimous opinion that it was improper to look over such a political offence. *** They accordingly went to the Sultan and said that as Dehli had now come into his hands, and the Khwaja-i Jahan had joined him, all apprehension upon that ground was removed; they therefore desired the royal permission to set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca. The Sultan perceived their meaning, and, speaking in kind and gentle words, said: "It was a high duty of kings to overlook any irregular acts of their officers." *** They replied, "That the offences of royal servants were of two classes — one small, the other great. The venial offences were those against property, the graver, those against authority; the former might be excused, but the latter ought not to be forgiven. Clemency in such cases was sure to be followed by repentance. The Khwaja, in his inordinate thirst for distinction, had raised a child to the royal dignity, and had squandered vast wealth among the people." *** Sultan Firoz saw that they were resolved, heart and soul, upon the destruction of the Khwaja. This made him very anxious and thoughtful, so that he grew pale. In this state he remained for some days — his heart rent with sorrow. At length he called 'Imadu-l Mulk to a private interview, and told him to go to the friends and supporters of the throne and tell them that the Sultan placed the case of Khwaja-i Jahan in their hands. They might do with him what seemed to them best, for the Sultan had given up the case. * * * They accordingly agreed that as the Khwaja was aged, the estate of Samana should be assigned to him in in'am, and so he was ordered to go there and devote his days to religion. *** The Khwaja set out for Samana, and had made some stages when Sher Khan overtook him, but did not go to see him. *** So the unfortunate noble saw plainly that the Khan had come on no errand of mercy, but rather to effect his destruction. ** Next day he asked Sher Khan for some tents, into one of which he went, performed his ablutions and said his prayers. * * * He then looked at the executioner and asked if he had a sharp sword, and the executioner, who was a friend of the Khwaja's, showed his weapon. The old man then told him to make his ablutions, say his prayers, and use his sword. When the man had completed his devotions, the Khwaja bowed his head to his prayer-carpet, and while the name of God was on his lips his friend severed his head from his body.
-- XVI. Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, of Shams-i Siraj 'Afif, Excerpt from The History of India As Told By Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, edited from the posthumous papers of the Late Sir H.M. Elliot, K.C.B., East India Company's Bengal Civil Service, by Professor John Dowson, M.R.A.S., Staff college, Sandhurst, Vol. III, P. 269-364, 1871
Jamshid was asked under what circumstances punishment is approved. He replied, 'under seven circumstances, and whatever goes beyond or in excess of these causes, produces disturbances, trouble, and insurrection, and inflicts injury on the country: 1. Apostasy from the true religion, and persistence therein; 2. Wilful murder; 3. Adultery of a married man with another's wife; 4. Conspiracy against the king; 5. Heading a revolt, or assisting rebels; 6. Joining the enemies or rivals of the king, conveying news to them, or aiding and abetting them in any way; 7. Disobedience, productive of injury to the State. But for no other disobedience, as detriment to the realm is an essential. The servants of God are disobedient to him when they are disobedient to the king, who is his vicegerent; and the State would go to ruin, if the king were to refrain from inflicting punishment in such cases of disobedience as are injurious to the realm.'" The Sultan then asked me if the Prophet had said anything about these seven offences in respect of their punishment by kings. I replied "that the Prophet had declared his opinion upon three offences out of these seven — viz., apostasy, murder of a Musulman, and adultery with a married woman. The punishment of the other four offences is a matter rather of policy and good government.
-- XV. Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, of Ziaud Din Barni [Ziauddin Barani], Excerpt from The History of India As Told By Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, edited from the posthumous papers of the Late Sir H.M. Elliot, K.C.B., East India Company's Bengal Civil Service, by Professor John Dowson, M.R.A.S., Staff college, Sandhurst, Vol. III, P. 93-269, 1871
Ryot (alternatives: raiyat, rait or ravat) was a general economic term used throughout India for peasant cultivators ... While zamindars were landlords, raiyats were tenants and cultivators, and served as hired labour. A raiyat was defined as someone who has acquired a right to hold land for the purpose of cultivating it, whether alone or by members of his family, hired servants, or partners. It also referred to succession rights....
Under the Mughal system of land control there were two types of raiyats: khudkasta and paikasta. The khudkasta raiyats were permanent resident cultivators of the village. Their rights in land were heritable according to Muslim and Hindu laws of succession. The other type of raiyats was called paikasta. They did not cultivate land on a permanent basis in any particular mauza (lowest revenue plus village settlement unit), but instead moved from mauza to mauza and engaged themselves for a crop season. In terms of revenue, the paikasta raiyats were generally paid a much lower rate of rent than the khudkashta raiyats. The dividend to the khudkasta, who thus became an absentee owner, came from hard bargaining. Pahikasht raiyats were a subgroup of peasants who cultivated the land away from the area where they resided.
-- Ryot, by Wikipedia
[D]uring the forty years of his reign he devoted himself to generosity and the benefit of Musulmans, by distributing villages and lands among his followers. In the whole of these forty years not one leaf of dominion was shaken in the palace of sovereignty. [That is, there was no rebellion.] These facts are among the glories of his reign.
-- XVI. Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, of Shams-i Siraj 'Afif, Excerpt from The History of India As Told By Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, edited from the posthumous papers of the Late Sir H.M. Elliot, K.C.B., East India Company's Bengal Civil Service, by Professor John Dowson, M.R.A.S., Staff college, Sandhurst, Vol. III, P. 269-364, 1871
The nobles of Sultan Muhammad Shah then assembled in council, and, after a long and anxious deliberation, the nobles and the administrative officers both agreed that the proper course was to place the reins of government in the hands of Firoz Shah...
All the nobles then agreed upon choosing Firoz Shah, but still he would not consent. Writers of credit report that Tatar Khan, who was president of the meeting, then stood up, and taking the arm of Firoz Shah, forced him to sit upon the throne. Upon this Sultan Firoz said to Tatar Khan, ''Since you have placed this heavy trouble and grievous labour upon my shoulders, you must be patient for a while till I have performed my devotions." He then went through his ablutions, and repeated the regular form of prayer in singleness of heart. Afterwards, bowing his head to the ground, he, with tearful eyes, poured forth his supplications to the Almighty, saying, "O Lord! the stability of states, the peace, regulation, and occupations of governments do not depend upon man. Permanence of dominion depends upon thy behests. Oh God, thou art my refuge and my strength." After this they placed the crown of empire upon his head, and invested him with the robes of sovereignty.
-- XVI. Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, of Shams-i Siraj 'Afif, Excerpt from The History of India As Told By Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, edited from the posthumous papers of the Late Sir H.M. Elliot, K.C.B., East India Company's Bengal Civil Service, by Professor John Dowson, M.R.A.S., Staff college, Sandhurst, Vol. III, P. 269-364, 1871
The Sultan being relieved from all apprehension on account of Dehli, marched in great state from Karoda towards the city. After several stages he arrived at Hansi, where he went to wait upon the Shaikhu-l Islam Shaikh Kutbu-d din. *** The Shaikh said to him, "I have heard it said that you are addicted to wine; but if Sultans and the heads of religion give themselves up to wine-bibbing, the wants of the poor and needy will get little attention." *** The Sultan thereupon said that he would drink no more. After this the Shaikh said that he had been informed that the Sultan was passionately fond of hunting; but hunting was a source of great trouble and distress to the world, and could not be approved. To kill any animal without necessity was wrong, and hunting ought not to be prosecuted farther than was necessary to supply the wants of man — all beyond this was reprehensible. The Sultan, in reverence of the Shaikh, promised to abstain from hunting. ***
-- XVI. Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, of Shams-i Siraj 'Afif, Excerpt from The History of India As Told By Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, edited from the posthumous papers of the Late Sir H.M. Elliot, K.C.B., East India Company's Bengal Civil Service, by Professor John Dowson, M.R.A.S., Staff college, Sandhurst, Vol. III, P. 269-364, 1871
Bharat: An Untold Story
https://bharatuntoldstory.tumblr.com/po ... -of-muslim
October 3, 2012
Firozshah started with a huge army of Muslim marauders, neo convert Hindus who served as understudies. Tatar Khan, a courtier accompanied the expedition. Marching Muslim armies always used to feed on surrounding Hindu homes and farms. Many Hindu women dragged from their raided homes used to be subjected to rape from the sultan down to the meanest Muslim camp follower. During these marches, therefore, it was not uncommon to see many Muslims naked in their tents busily engaged in various kinds of lecherous activities. Afif unwittingly provides a glimpse of this aspect of Muslim conduct:
Afif tells us: “The Sultan used to indulge in wine from time to time. The wines were of different colors and flavors…yellow as saffron, red as rose and white. One morning after the prayers, the sultan called for a glass to moisten his throat and it so happened that Tatar Khan came to wait upon him. The sultan was greatly annoyed at being thwarted in his engagement so he desired that Tatar Khan be put off with some excuse.” (Pg. 306, Vol. III, Elliot & Dowson) But Tatar Khan refused to budge. The heavy footsteps of the enraged Tatar Khan approaching the innermost forbidden recesses of the harem, tearing down one curtain after another, had sent sultan Firozshah and his hapless victims of lechery, scurrying for cover under beds and hurriedly drawn over sheets and quilts. Drinking cups, goblets and tumblers lay scattered all over the place. Tatar Khan dragged out the crouching sultan from under the bad. The sheet the sultan had hurriedly covered himself with, fell off and low and behold! there stood before Tatar Khan a stark naked Firoz -- one who is made to masquerade in Indian history as a great builder and benefactor! Thereafter Firoz hibernated for six months at Jaunpur fleecing the Hindu peasants and farmers. He proceeded then toward Lakhnauti. Shamsuddin had died by then and his place taken by Sikandar. Sikandar fortified himself in the isles of Ikdala. For the second time heavy losses were inflicted on Firozshah. The sultan and his minion Zafar Khan had to beat a shameful retreat to Delhi.
Having lost his all in the Bengal conflict, Firozshah decided to attack Jajnagar (or Jagannathpuri). The sultan let loose an orgy of Islamic vandalism. Like a hyena run amuck, Firoz now entered the Jagannath Temple, one of the four sentinels of Hindudom. In emulation of Subuktigin, he uprooted the idol of Jagannath, carried it to Delhi and placed it in an ignominious position.
After Jagannathpuri Firozshah proceeded to the Chilka lake region near the sea coast. Nearly a hundred thousand people had fled in terror. The sultan converted the island into a basin of blood by massacre of the unbelievers. “The women were carried away to serve the Muslim soldiers. Women with babies and pregnant ladies were haltered, manacled, fettered and chained.” (Pg. 61, Vol. VIII, JRASBL [???], English translation of Sirat-i-Firuz Shahi)
The Hindu army mustered strong, though a little too late, forced the Muslim sultan to retreat. The sultan’s plight may be imagined from Afif’s statement that all that the sultan brought back from Lakhnauti and Jagannathpuri, after spending two years and seven months, was 73 elephants, assuming that this figure too, is not an exaggeration.
Firozshah was an optimist. After so many defeats, instead of mending his ways, he attacked Daultabad this time. But hardly had he reached Bayana than he was so harassed by Rajput guerrilla attacks that he went back cowering to Delhi. His path to the south was barred for some reason. Firozshah now attacked Nagarkot in Punjab (1361 A.D.). He laid a siege to Nagarkot (Kangra) for six months but was forced to retreat and forced to pay homage to the Hindu idol at the famous Jwalalmukhi temple and “robes of honor and an umbrella on the Rai of Nagarkot.”
In 1380 A.D. Firozshah marched against Kharku. The ruler of Katehar in Rohilkhand had slain the Muslim governor Sayyad of Badaun and his two brothers. The sultan on reaching the outskirts of the kingdom started indiscriminate killing of the Hindus. “indeed the massacre was so general and indiscriminate that ‘the spirit of the murdered Sayyads themselves arose to intercede’” (Pg. 96, The Delhi Sultanat, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan publication Vol. VI of the series History and Culture of the Indian People). As usual, Firozshah suffered another defeat at the hands of the Hindus.
The most surprising thing about this blighter Firozshah is that he was goaded by an insatiable desire to increase his territory but was a past master in the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Firozshah’s next attempt to conquer Thatta also failed. Famine and pestilence took over. Firoz arrived in Gujarat and a rebellion took place in his army. The sultan ordered commanders of Muslim held territories such as Badaun, Kannauj, Sandila, Oudh, Jaunpur, Bihar, Tirkut, Chanderi, Dhar, the Doab, Samana, Dipalpur, Multan, Lahore to undertake to raise funds for the forthcoming Thatta campaign. But by the time the resources came with the new conscripts to fight the battle with Thatta, another famine took place in the country. The Rajputs of Thatta never did allow Firozshah to take over their country.
Firozshah’s rule is thus a long story of one shameful rout after another and incessant ravage and plunder of Hindu homes. Firozshah has himself left an account of his own reign besides the one written two generations later by the flattering Afif. Firozshah describes the punishments that his Muslim predecessors used to inflict. These were “amputation of hands and feet, ears and noses, tearing out the eyes, pouring molten lead into the throat, crushing the bones of the hands and feet with mallets, burning the body with fire, driving iron nails into the hands, feet and bosom, cutting the sinews, sawing men asunder. These and many similar tortures were practiced.” (Pg. 375, Ibid) This bastard half-caste beast finally died after a long reign of 37 years in the year of 1388 A.D.
"I made a great hunt of elephants, and I captured so many:
"I performed many glorious deeds; and all this I have done
"That in the world and among men; in the earth and among mankind, these verses
"May stand as a memorial to men of intelligence, and that the people of the world, and the wise men of the age, may follow the example."1 [The Sultan's verses certainly do not rise above the level of his exploits.]
Seventh Mukaddama. — Interview of the Sultan with the preceptor of the Author at Hansi.
Sultan Firoz proceeded from Hisar Firozah to Hansi, in order to have an interview with the author's preceptor, Nuru-d din, who had succeeded to the spiritual supremacy (sijjada) lately vacated by the death of Kutbu-d din. [The Sultan's object was to induce the Shaikh to remove to Hisar Firozah, but he declined, because Hansi had been the home of his ancestors and the abode of his predecessors.] In these latter days the accursed (Mughals) have captured the city of Dehli and have plundered and laid waste the possessions of Musulmans; but through the protection of the Shaikh, the town of Hansi remained in safety, and the people of Hisar Firozah, who there took refuge, also found security.
***
Eighth Mukaddama. — The building of Firozabad on the river Jumna....
During the forty years of the reign of the excellent Sultan Firoz, people used to go for pleasure from Dehli to Firozabad, and from Firozabad to Dehli, in such numbers, that every kos of the five kos between the two towns swarmed with people, as with ants or locusts. To accommodate this great traffic, there were public carriers who kept carriages, mules (sutur), and horses, which were ready for hire at a settled rate every morning after prayers, so that the traveller could make the trip as seemed to him best, and arrive at a stated time. Palankin-bearers were also ready to convey passengers. The fare of a carriage was four silver jitals for each person; of a mule (sutur) six; of a horse, twelve; and of a palankin, half a tanka. There was also plenty of porters ready for employment by any one, and they earned a good livelihood. Such was the prosperity of this district; * * but it was so ravaged by the Mughals, that the inhabitants were scattered in all directions. This was the will of God, and none can gainsay it. [???!!!]
-- XVI. Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, of Shams-i Siraj 'Afif, Excerpt from The History of India As Told By Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, edited from the posthumous papers of the Late Sir H.M. Elliot, K.C.B., East India Company's Bengal Civil Service, by Professor John Dowson, M.R.A.S., Staff college, Sandhurst, Vol. III, P. 269-364, 1871
As he was thus marching with his countless army, and was thirty kos from Thatta, the ''ashura or fast of the 10th of Muharram happened. He kept the fast, and when it was over he ate some fish. The fish did not agree with him, his illness returned and fever increased. He was placed in a boat and continued his journey on the second and third days, until he came to within fourteen kos of Thatta. He then rested, and his army was fully prepared, only awaiting the royal command to take Thatta, and to crush the Sumras of Thatta and the rebel Taghi in a single day, and to utterly annihilate them. But fate ruled it otherwise. During the last two or three days that he was encamped near Thatta, the Sultan's malady had grown worse, and his army was in great trouble, for they were a thousand kos distant from Dehli and their wives and children, they were near the enemy and in a wilderness and desert, so they were sorely distressed, and looking upon the Sultan's expected death as preliminary to their own, they quite despaired of returning home. On the 21st Muharram, 752 H. (1350 A.D.), Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlik departed this life on the banks of the Indus, at fourteen kos from Thatta....
On the third day after the death of Mahammad Tughlik, the army marched from (its position) fourteen kos from Thatta towards Siwistan, on its return homewards. Every division of the army marched without leader, rule, or route, in the greatest disorder. No one heeded or listened to what any one said, but continued the march like careless caravans.So when they had proceeded a kos or two, the Mughals, eager for booty, assailed them in front, and the rebels of Thatta attacked them in the rear. Cries of dismay arose upon every side. The Mughals fell to plundering, and carried off women, maids, horses, camels, troopers, baggage, and whatever else had been sent on in advance. They had very nearly captured the royal harem and the treasure with the camels which carried it. The villagers (who had been pressed into the service) of the army, and expected the attack, took to flight. They pillaged various lots of baggage on the right and left of the army, and then joined the rebels of Thatta in attacking the baggage train. The people of the army, horse and foot, women and men, stood their ground; for when they marched, if any advanced in front, they were assailed by the Mughals; if they lagged behind, they were plundered by the rebels of Thatta. Those who resisted and put their trust in God reached the next stage, but those who had gone forward with the women, maids, and baggage, were cut to pieces. The army continued its march along the river without any order or regularity, and every man was in despair for his life and goods, his wife and children. Anxiety and distress would allow no one to sleep that night, and, in their dismay, men remained with their eyes fixed upon heaven. On the second day, by stratagem and foresight, they reached their halting ground, assailed, as on the first day, by the Mughals in front and the men of Thatta in the rear. They rested on the banks of the river in the greatest possible distress, and in fear for their lives and goods. The women and children had perished.
-- XV. Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi, of Ziaud Din Barni [Ziauddin Barani], Excerpt from The History of India As Told By Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, edited from the posthumous papers of the Late Sir H.M. Elliot, K.C.B., East India Company's Bengal Civil Service, by Professor John Dowson, M.R.A.S., Staff college, Sandhurst, Vol. III, P. 93-269, 1871
"If a holy man eats half his loaf, he will give the other half to a beggar;
''But if a king conquers all the world, he will still seek another world to conquer." [!!!]
"Thou art my gracious sovereign; I am thy abashed servant."
The son of the Jam, and Tamachi brother of Babiniya, were placed over Thatta, and titles were conferred upon them. They paid four lacs of tankas in cash, by way of marking their allegiance, and agreed to pay several lacs of tankas in money and goods yearly.1 [[This is taken from the MS. of the East India Library, No. 1002. The other three MSS. omit rather more than a line, and quite reverse the meaning. They say "(the new governors) accepted several lacs and horses."]]
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