merchants having complained of the exactions by Vináik Déo, Mahomed Shah invaded the Wurungul kingdom, captured the fort of Velumputtun, when Vináik Déo was taken prisoner, and put to death in a cruel manner. On his return, however, the king's force was roughly handled by the Hindoos, and he only His ultimate escaped by the sacrifice of his baggage. But in the success. contest with Wurungul he was ultimately successful, and obtained cession of the fort of Golcondah, with its dependencies, together with jewels of great value, and elephants; when a peace was concluded, which lasted many years. The king's disgraced. On the king's return to Goolburgah, a great festival was held in celebration of his success; and a band of minstrels Insult to having given him peculiar pleasure by their perform- Beejanugger. ance, he directed an order for their payment to be written on the treasury of the Hindoo King of Beejanugger. His minister did not immediately despatch the order; but when Mahomed Shah inquired next day in regard to it, and found it had been detained, he is said to have exclaimed :-'Think you a word without meaning ever escapes my lips? the order I gave you arose, not from intoxication, but from serious design.' It was therefore forwarded, and, as was evidently expected, was treated with contumely by the Hindoo rajah. The messenger royal messenger was placed on an ass, and with his face blackened was led about the streets of the Hindoo capital. The rajah took the initiative in the war which ensued; and war with though it was the rainy season, attacked and took the Beejanugger. fort of Moodgul, in the Raichore Dooáb, then in possession of Mahomed Shah, and put the garrison to the sword. These events, and in particular the slaughter at Moodgul, roused the fanatical spirit of the king and of his people to the utmost. A crusade was preached in the great mosque of the capital; and the king swore an oath on the Korán before the assembly, that he would not sheath the sword till he had put to death a hundred thousand infidels,' in revenge for the death of the martyrs of Moodgul. King Mahomed's oath. In the month of January, 1365, therefore, he crossed the Krishna river with 9,000 chosen horse, and fell upon the Beejanugger army near Raichore, amidst a storm of rain, and when its elephants were powerless in the muddy soil. The Hindoo host was routed with the loss of 70,000 men, and the boast of the Hindoo general, Bhôj-Mul, that he would return with the head of the Mahomedan king upon a spear, was changed to lamentation, The Hindoos lost all their camp equipage; and it is especially recorded that on this occasion 300 gun-carriages were Artillery first among the spoils. This led to the immediate forma- mentioned, M tion of a field artillery, which, manned by 'Turks' and 'Europeans,' did excellent service. Artillery had been used at the battle of Crécy, in 1346: and it seems by no means improbable that European or Turkish adventurers who traded with Beejanugger, by Choule, Calicut, Goa, and other ports on the western coast, should have introduced cannon there, when they were as yet unknown to the Mahomedans of Goolburgah and Northern India. The campaign now continued, and in one action, fought on August 22, 1366, Mahomed Shah having been meanwhile employed in a fruitless investment of the fort of Adony, he was nearly defeated; but eventually gained a great victory, in which the Hindoo general, Bhoj-Mul, was killed. the people. Beejanugger The Mahomedan officers remonstrate against the massacre. Mahomed Shah now followed up his success; and the Hindoo king, unable to oppose him in the field, retreated to the jungles and forests south of the capital, and finally into the capital itself. Massacre of During this time, Mahomed Shah, who had followed him from place to place, massacred the miserable inhabitants of the country without distinction; and finally invested the capital, after surprising the rajah's camp at night, invested. which had been pitched outside the fortifications. The massacre of Hindoos still continuing, the population of Beejanugger rose against their rajah, who now offered terms of peace. This proposal seems to have been seconded by the officers of King Mahomed's army, who reminded him that his vow of slaying only 100,000 infidels had been largely exceeded; but the king, while he admitted the fact, would be content with nothing less than the payment of his order to the minstrels, and the amount was finally disbursed to them from The king's the rajah's treasury. Praise be to God,' exclaimed the order is pais. king, when he heard of it, 'that what I ordered has been performed; I would not let a light word be recorded of me in the page of history.' Peace then ensued, which was Peace ensues. honourably observed by Mahomed Shah during his life; and as one of the conditions, the practice of putting prisoners to death was to be mutually discontinued. The desolation caused by the Mahomedans in this campaign had been terrible; and their historian records, with ill-concealed exultation, that from first to last 500,000 'infidels' had fallen before the swords of the true believers, and that the Carnatic did not recover this depopulation for ages.' King Ma The war with Beejanugger was the most prominent event of King Mahomed's life and reign; and after quelling a homed's civil rebellion at Dowlatabad, which had originated in false news of his death, he applied his great natural abilities to the government of his dominions in all departments. government. His measures were eminently successful; all marauders were exterminated, and cultivation was materially increased. He made yearly tours through his dominions, receiving petitions, and providing for the security of his people. He entered into no further wars, and at his death, which occurred on March 21, 1375, he left a compact and flourishing country, a full treasury, and an immense property, in jewels and elephants, with a well-appointed army, to his son, Mujahid Shah, who succeeded him. Mahomed Shah dies, 1375. Richard II. king of England. Mujahid Shah 1375. He demands On his accession to the throne, Mujahid Shah was nineteen years of age; tall and majestic in person, and possessed of great bodily strength. He did not long preserve succeeds, the peace with Beejanugger, which his father had so well observed; and his first act was to send an imperious message to Krishn Rái, the reigning rajah, to give up the territory west of the Tumboodra, as also the district cession of between the Tumboodra and the Krishna rivers. The from Beejaformer had constituted part of the ancient Chalúkya dominions, and had never hitherto been claimed by the Mahomedans. In reply, the rajah not only refused the demand, but haughtily claimed that the elephants taken by the late King Mahomed should be returned. War therefore ensued; War ensues. Mujahid Shah invaded the Hindoo kingdom, and territory nugger. with a portion of his army invested Adony, proceeding with the remainder to attack Krishn Rái. The rajah, however, declined an engagement, and retreated into the woods and forests south and west of his capital, pursued by Mujahid Shah, who followed the track of Mullik Kafoor in 1310, to the sea. Krishn Rái now returned to Beejanugger, and the king, suddenly retracing his steps, invested the city. He could, however, make no impression on the works, and in one of the skirmishes outside the walls nearly lost his life. In another, he penetrated into the second line of works, where there was a celebrated image of the monkey god Hunoomán, which the Brahmins tried to save. They were, however, attacked and dispersed, and the king, dismounting, struck the image in the face, mutilating its features. A dying Brahmin, lying at the foot of the image, cursed the king. For this act,' he said, 'thou wilt die ere thou reachest thy kingdom.' A prophecy which was literally death profulfilled. The image, hewn out of a large boulder of granite, still remains, and shows the marks of the king's mutilation. The last effort of the rajah to dislodge Mujahid Shah from his position proved successful; for, after a severe engage- King ment, he retired with very heavy loss in officers and men, Mujahid accompanied by from 60,000 to 70,000 captives, chiefly Beejanugger The king's phesied. retires from women. But Mujahid Shah had observed his father's guarantee not to put to death any of the inoffensive inhabitants. Adony had not fallen; and peace was now concluded between Peace ensues. the kingdoms. Dáwood Khan, the king's uncle, had command of a division of the army in the last battle before Beejanugger, and had been severely reprimanded by the king for withdrawing from the place in which he had been posted and joining in the engagement. Smarting under the affront, he now Mujahid Shah conspired against his nephew, and assassinated him assassinated with his own hand, when asleep in his tent, April 14, 1378. Mujahid Shah had reigned scarcely three succeeds, years, and, having no children, Dáwood Khan, being heir presumptive, claimed the succession, and was acknowledged by the army. by his uncle. Dawood Shah 1378. Pope Urban assassinated, Dáwood Shah's succession was disputed by many, and by none more than Roohpurwur Agha, the sister of the late king, who instigated one of her late brother's most attached attendants to revenge his master's death; and as the king was kneeling in prayer in the mosque at Goolburgah he was Dawood Shah cut down by the assassin and died on the spot. This event happened May 19, 1378. Dáwood Shah had reigned only a month and five days. An attempt was made by some of his adherents to place his son Mahomed, a boy of nine years old, on the throne, but this was resisted by the princess Roohpurwur Agha, and Mahmood, the youngest son of the first king, Alla-ood-deen Hussun, was crowned with the consent of all parties. 1378. Mahmood ceeds, 1378. CHAPTER XII. OF THE BAHMUNY MAHOMEDAN DYNASTY OF THE DECCAN Seif-ood-deen minister. (continued), A.D. 1378 to 1435. MAHMOOD SHAH was fortunate in inducing his maternal grandfather, Seif-ood-deen Ghoory, his father's chosen comGhoory panion and counsellor-whose wisdom had mainly contributed to the well-government of the kingdom since its foundation-to become his minister. Mahmood himself was of a peaceable and virtuous disposition, and during his reign both foreign wars and domestic insurrections character. were unknown. It is remarkable, for the time, that the king had but one wife, to whom he was constant; and in his literary tastes, and the daily affairs of his kingdom, he found ample and congenial occupation. It is recorded of him, that on King Mahmood's amiable an occasion of scarcity he employed 10,000 bullocks to bring grain from Malwah and Guzerat, which was distributed to the people at a cheap rate, and that he established orphan schools at Goolburgah, Beeder, and many other towns and cities, with ample endowments for their support; while his other charities, especially to the blind, were large and universal throughout his dominions. On April 20, 1397, Mahmood Shah Bahmuny I. died of Mahmood fever, to the great grief of his subjects, and on the day Shah I. dies, following the venerable Seif-ood-deen Ghoory died also, at the extraordinary age of 107 years. 1397. succeeds, Shumsh-ood Mahmood Shah I. was succeeded by his son, Gheias-ood-deen, without opposition. The king was seventeen years old, Gheins-oodand there appeared nothing likely to prevent a long and deen Shah prosperous reign; but having given offence to Lallcheen, 1397. a Turkish slave who aspired to the office of minister, he was invited to a banquet on June 9, 1397, and there blinded Blinded and and imprisoned. He had reigned little more than a deposed, 1397. month. Lallcheen, now supreme in the State, placed Shumshood-deen, brother of Mahmood Shah I., upon the throne, and constituted himself prime minister. Matters did deen suc not long continue in this condition. Feroze Khan and ceeds, 1397. Ahmed Khan, the sons of Dawood Shah (who had been protected and educated by the late King Mahmood), were considered dangerous by Lallcheen, and he was on the point of seizing them, when they escaped to the fort of Sugger, the commandant of which was in their interest; whence, with the troops under his command, the brothers marched upon Goolburgah. As they halted at the ford on the Bheema, and were sitting on a terrace overlooking the river, a mad fakeer came up to the Prince Feroze, and cried out, I am come to conduct thee to Goolburgah and to make thee king.' The act was accepted as a good omen, and the brothers set out. The personal daring of Feroze Khan secured the revolution, and the king and Lallcheen were confined. Gheias- Shumsh-oodood-deen, the previously deposed and blinded king, was deen de sent for, and Lallcheen being placed before him, was killed by him with a single blow of his sword. Gheias-ood-deen then proceeded to Mecca, where he died at an advanced age. The deposition of Shumsh-ood-deen was effected upon November 15, 1397; and girding himself with the famous sword of Alla-ood-deen Hussun, the Prince Feroze ascended the throne on the Feroze Shah same day, under the title of Feroze Shah, Róz Afzoon, succeeds, Gungoo Bahmuny. Feroze Shah may be entitled to the epithet of the 'merry monarch' of the Deccan; and kings of the great Bahmuny dynasty he is almost the only one who survives in local tradition and song, posed, 1397. 1397. of all the His character and habits. |