Chapter XXXII: Section I: The Málwa Sultáns, A.d. 1400-1570

[The Málwa Sultáns, A.D. 1400-1570.] Of early Hindu Mándu, which is said to date from A.D. 313, nothing is known. [885] Hind spire stones are built into the Hindola palace walls; and the pillars of the lesser Jámá mosque, about a hundred yards from the east end of the sea or Ságar Lake, are Hindu apparently Jain. Of these local Hind chiefs almost nothing is known except that their fort was taken and their power brought to an end by Sultán Shams-ud-dín Altamsh about A.D. 1234. [886] Dhár, not Mándu, was at that time the capital. It seems doubtful whether Mándu ever enjoyed the position of a capital till the end of the fourteenth century. In A.D. 1401, in the ruin that followed Timúr's (A.D. 1398-1400) conquest of Northern India, a Pathán from the country of Ghor, Diláwar Khán Ghori (A.D. 1387-1405), at the suggestion of his son Alp Khán, assumed the white canopy and scarlet pavilion of royalty. [887] Though Dhár was Diláwar's head-quarters he sometimes stayed for months at a time at Mándu, [888] strengthening the defences and adorning the hill with buildings, as he always entertained the desire of making Mándu his capital. [889] Three available inscriptions of Diláwar Khán (A.D. 1387-1405) seem to show that he built an assembly mosque near the Ship Palace, a mosque near the Dehli Gate, and a gate at the entrance to Songadh, the south-west corner and citadel of Mándu, afterwards known as the Tárápúr Gate.

In A.D. 1398 Alp Khán, son of Diláwar Khán, annoyed with his father for entertaining as his overlord at Dhár Mehmúd Tughlak, the refugee monarch of Dehli, withdrew to Mándu. He stayed in Mándu for three years, laying, according to Farishtah, the foundation of the famous fortress of solid masonry which was the strongest fortification in that part of the world. [890] On his father's death in A.D. 1405 Alp Khán took the title of Sultán Hoshang, and moved the capital to Mándu. The rumour that Hoshang had poisoned his father gave Diláwar's brother in arms, Muzaffar Sháh of Gujarát (A.D. 1399-1411), an excuse for an expedition against Hoshang. [891] Hoshang was defeated at Dhár, made prisoner, and carried to Gujarát, and Muzaffar's brother Nasrat was appointed in his place. Nasrat failed to gain the goodwill either of the people or of the army of Málwa; and was forced to retire from Dhár and take refuge in Mándu. In consequence of this failure in A.D. 1408, at Hoshang's request Muzaffar set Hoshang free after a year's confinement, and deputed his grandson Ahmed to take Hoshang to Málwa and establish Hoshang's power. [892] With Ahmed's help Hoshang took Dhár and shortly after secured the fort of Mándu. Hoshang (A.D. 1405-1431) made Mándu his capital and spread his power on all sides except towards Gujarát. [893] Shortly after the death of Muzaffar I. and the accession of Ahmed, when (A.D. 1414) Ahmed was quelling the disturbances raised by his cousins, Hoshang, instead of helping Ahmed as requested, marched towards Gujarát and created a diversion in favour of the rebels by sending two of his nobles to attack Broach. They were soon expelled by Ahmed Sháh. Shortly after Hoshang marched to the help of the chief of Jháláváda in Káthiáváda, and ravaged eastern and central Gujarát. [894] To punish Hoshang for these acts of ingratitude, between A.D. 1418 and 1422, Ahmed twice besieged Mándu, and though he failed to take the fort his retirement had to be purchased, and both as regards success and fair-dealing the honours of the campaign remained with Ahmed. [895] In A.D. 1421 Hoshang went disguised as a horse-dealer to Jájnagar (now Jájpur) in Cuttack in Orissa. He took with him a number of cream-coloured horses, of which he had heard the Rája was very fond. His object was to barter these horses and other goods for the famous war elephants of Jájnagar. An accident in the camp of the disguised merchants led to a fight, in which the Rája was taken prisoner and Hoshang was able to secure 150 elephants to fight the Gujarát Sultán. [896] During Hoshang's absence at Jájnagar Ahmed pressed the siege of Mándu so hard that the garrison would have surrendered had Hoshang not succeeded in finding his way into the fort through the south or Tárápur Gate. [897] For ten years after the Gujarát campaign, by the help of his minister Malik Mughís of the Khilji family and of his minister's son Mehmúd Khán, Málwa prospered and Hoshang's power was extended. Hoshang enriched his capital with buildings, among them the Great Mosque and his own tomb, both of which he left unfinished. Hoshang's minister Malik Mughís (who received the title of Ulugh Aâzam Humáyún Khán) appears to have built the assembly mosque near the Ságar Lake in Hoshang's life-time, A.D. 1431. Another of his buildings must have been a mint, as copper coins remain bearing Hoshang's name, and Mándu Shádiábád as the place of mintage. [898] In A.D. 1432, at Hoshangábád, on the left bank of the Narbada, about 120 miles east of Mándu, Hoshang, who was suffering from diabetes, took greatly to heart the fall of a ruby out of his crown. He said: A few days before the death of Fírúz Tughlak a jewel dropped from his crown. Hoshang ordered that he should be taken to Mándu. Before he had gone many miles the king died. His nobles carried the body to the Madrasah or college in Shádiábád or Mándu, and buried him in the college on the ninth day of Zil Hajjah, the twelfth month of A.H. 838 = A.D. 1434. The year of Hoshang's death is to be found in the letters

Ah Sháh Hoshang na mund: Alas, Sháh Hoshang stayed not. [899]

On Hoshang's death his son Ghazni Khán, with the title of Sultán Muhammad Ghori, succeeded. Malik Mughís, his father's minister, and the minister's son Mehmúd were maintained in power. In three years

(A.D. 1433-1436), as Sultán Muhammad proved dissipated, cruel and suspicious, Mehmúd, the minister's son, procured his death by poison. Mehmúd Khilji then asked his father to accept the succession, but his father declined, saying that Mehmúd was fitter to be king. In A.D. 1436 Mehmúd was accordingly crowned with the royal tiara of Hoshang. [900] He conferred on his father the honour of being attended by mace-bearers carrying gold and silver sticks, who, when the Khán mounted or went out, had, like the mace-bearers of independent monarchs, the privilege of repeating the Bismillah 'In the name of the compassionate and merciful Alláh.' [901] He gave his father royal honours, the white canopy and the silver quiver, and to his title of Malik Ashraf Khán Jehán he added among others Amír-ul-Umara and Aâzam Humáyún. [902] Mehmúd quelled a revolt among his nobles. An outbreak of plague in the Gujarát camp relieved him from a contest with Ahmed Sháh. [903] In A.D. 1439 Mehmúd repaired the palace of Sultán Hoshang and opened the mosque built in commemoration of that monarch which Farishtah describes as a splendid edifice with 208 columns. [904] About the same time Mehmúd completed Hoshang's tomb which Hoshang had left unfinished. On the completion of this building Hoshang's remains seem to have been moved into it from their first resting-place in the college. In A.D. 1441 Mehmúd built a garden with a dome and palaces [905] and a mosque at Naâlchah about three miles north of the Dehli Gate of Mándu, a pleasing well-watered spot where the plateau of Málwa breaks into glades and knolls. [906] In A.D. 1443 in honour of his victory over Rána Kúmbha of Chitor, Mehmúd built a beautiful column of victory, [907] seven storeys high, and a college in front of the mosque of Hoshang Ghori. Facing the east entrance to the Great Mosque stands a paved ramp crowned by a confused ruin. As late as A.D. 1843 this ruin is described as a square marble chamber. Each face of the chamber had three arches, the centre arch in two of the faces being a door. Above the arches the wall was of yellow stone faced with marble. Inside the chamber the square corners were cut off by arches. No roof or other trace of superstructure remained. [908] This chamber seems to be the basement of the column of victory which was raised in A.D. 1443 by Mehmúd I. (A.D. 1432-1469) in honour of his victory over Rána Kúmbha of Chitor. [909] Mehmúd's column has the special interest of being, if not the original, at least the cause of the building of Kúmbha Rána's still uninjured Victory Pillar, which was completed in A.D. 1454 at a cost of £900,000 in honour of his defeat of Mehmúd. [910] That the Mándu Column of Victory was a famous work is shown by Abul Fazl's reference to it in A.D. 1590 as an eight-storeyed minaret. [911] Farishtah, about twenty years later (A.D. 1610), calls it a beautiful Victory Pillar seven storeys high. [912] The emperor Jehángír (A.D. 1605-1627) gives the following account of Mehmúd's Tower of Victory [913]: "This day, the 29th of the month Tir, corresponding to July-August of A.D. 1617, about the close of the day, with the ladies of the palace, I went out to see the Haft Manzar or Seven Storeys, literally Seven Prospects. This building is one of the structures of the old rulers of Málwa, that is of Sultán Mehmúd Khilji. It has seven storeys, and on each storey there are four porticos, and in each portico are four windows. The height of this tower is about 163 feet and its circumference 150 feet. From the surface of the ground to the top of the seventh storey there are one hundred and seventy-one steps." Sir Thomas Herbert, the traveller, in A.D. 1626 describes it from hearsay, or at least at second-hand, as a tower 170 steps high, supported by massive pillars and adorned with gates and windows very observable. It was built, he adds, by Khán Jehán, who there lies buried. [914]

Two years later (A.D. 1445) Mehmúd built at Mándu, and endowed with the revenues of several villages a large Shifa Khánah or Hospital, with wards and attendants for all classes and separate apartments for maniacs. He placed in charge of it his own physician Maulána Fazlulláh. [915] He also built a college to the east of the Jámá mosque, of which traces remain. [916]

In A.D. 1453, though defeated, Mehmúd brought back from Gujarát the jewelled waistbelt of Gujarát, which in a daring charge he had taken from the tent of the Gujarát king Kutb-ud-dín Sháh. [917] In A.D. 1441 Mehmúd's father died at Mandisor. Mehmúd felt the loss so keenly that he tore his hair like one bereft of reason. [918] After his father's death Mehmúd made his son Ghiás-ud-dín minister, and conferred the command of the army and the title of Aâzam Humáyún on his kinsman Táj Khán. In A.D. 1469, after a reign of thirty-four years (A.D. 1436-1469) of untiring energy and activity Mehmúd died. Farishtah says of him: "His tent was his home: the field of battle his resting-place. He was polite, brave, just, and learned. His Hindu and Musalmán subjects were happy and friendly. He guarded his lands from invaders. He made good his loss to any one who suffered from robbery in his dominions, recovering the amount from the village in whose lands the robbery had taken place, a system which worked so well that theft and robbery became almost unknown. Finally, by a systematic effort he freed the country from the dread of wild beasts." [919]

In A.D. 1469 Mehmúd was succeeded by his son and minister Ghiás-ud-dín, to whose skill as a soldier much of Mehmúd's success had been due. On his accession Ghiás-ud-dín made his son Abdul Kádir Prime Minister and heir-apparent, and gave him the title of Násir-ud-dín. He called his nobles, and in their presence handed his sword to Násir-ud-dín, saying: "I have passed thirty-four years in ceaseless fighting. I now devote my life to rest and enjoyment." [920] Ghiás-ud-dín, who never left Mándu during the whole thirty years of his reign (A.D. 1469-1499), is said to have completed the Jaház Mehel or Ship Palace, [921] and the widespread buildings which surround it. It seems probable that the Tapela Palace close to the south-east of the Ship palace and the lake and royal gardens immediately to the north and north-east of the Tapela palace were part of Ghiás-ud-dín's pleasure-houses and grounds. The scale of the ruins behind the Hindola or Swingcot palace to the north, and their connection with the out-buildings to the west of the Jaház Mehel, suggest that they also belonged to the palaces and women's quarters of the pleasure-loving Ghiás-ud-dín.

Of the surprising size and fantastic arrangements of Ghiás-ud-dín's pleasure city, the true Mándu Shádiábád or Abode of Joy, curious details have been preserved. This Abode of Pleasure was a city not a palace. It contained 15,000 inhabitants, all of them women, none either old or plain-featured, and each trained to some profession or craft. Among them were the whole officers of a court, besides courtiers, teachers, musicians, dancers, prayer-readers, embroiderers, and followers of all crafts and callings. Whenever the king heard of a beautiful girl he never rested till he obtained her. This city of women had its two regiments of guards, the Archers and the Carabineers, each 500 strong, its soldiers dressed like men in a distinguishing uniform. The archers were beautiful young Turkí damsels, all armed with bows and arrows: the carabineers were Abyssinian maidens, each carrying a carbine. Attached to the palace and city was a deer park, where the Lord of Leisure used to hunt with his favourites. Each dweller in the city of women received her daily dole of grain and coppers, and besides the women were many pensioners, mice, parrots and pigeons, who also received the same dole as their owners. So evenly just was Ghiás-ud-dín in the matter of his allowances, that the prettiest of his favourites received the same allowance as the roughest carabineer. [922]

The Lord of the City of Pleasure was deeply religious. Whenever he was amusing himself two of his companions held in front of him a cloth to remind him of his shroud. A thousand Háfizahs, that is women who knew the Kurâán by heart, constantly repeated its holy verses, and, under the orders of the king, whenever he changed his raiment the Háfizahs blew on his body from head to foot with their prayer-hallowed breath. [923] None of the five daily prayers passed unprayed. If at any of the hours of prayer the king was asleep he was sprinkled with water, and when water failed to arouse him, he was dragged out of bed. Even when dragged out of bed by his servants the king never uttered an improper or querulous word.

So keen was his sense of justice that when one of his courtiers pretending he had purchased her, brought to him a maiden of ideal beauty, and her relations, not knowing she had been given to the king, came to complain, though they gladly resigned her, the king grieved over his unconscious wrong. Besides paying compensation he mourned long and truly, and ordered that no more inmates should be brought to his palace. [924] So great was the king's charity that every night below his pillow he placed a bag containing some thousand gold-mohurs, and before evening all were distributed to the deserving. So religious was the king that he paid 50,000 tankas for each of the four feet of the ass of Christ. A man came bringing a fifth hoof, and one of the courtiers said: "My Lord, an ass has four feet. I never heard that it had five, unless perhaps the ass of Christ had five." "Who knows," the king replied, "it may be that this last man has told the truth, and one of the others was wrong. See that he is paid." So sober was the king that he would neither look upon nor hear of intoxicants or stimulants. A potion that had cost 100,000 tankas was brought to him. Among the 300 ingredients one was nutmeg. The king directed the potion to be thrown into a drain. His favourite horse fell sick. The king ordered it to have medicine, and the horse recovered. "What medicine was given the horse?" asked the king. "The medicine ordered by the physicians" replied his servants. Fearing that in this medicine there might be an intoxicant, the king commanded that the horse should be taken out of the stables and turned loose into the forest. [925]

The king's spirit of peace steeped the land, which, like its ruler, after thirty years of fighting yearned for rest. For fourteen years neither inward malcontent nor foreign foe broke the quiet. In A.D. 1482 Bahlol Lodi advanced from Dehli to subdue Málwa. The talk of Mándu was Bahlol's approach, but no whisper of it passed into the charmed City of Women. At last the son-minister forced his way into the king's presence. At the news of pressing danger his soldier-spirit awoke in Ghiás-ud-dín. His orders for meeting the invaders were so prompt and well-planned that the king of Dehli paid a ransom and withdrew. A second rest of fifteen years ended in the son-minister once more forcing his way into the Presence. In A.D. 1500 the son presented his father, now an aged man of eighty, with a cup of sherbet and told him to drink. The king, whose armlet of bezoar stone had already twice made poison harmless, drew the stone from his arm. He thanked the Almighty for granting him, unworthy, the happiest life that had ever fallen to the lot of man. He prayed that the sin of his death might not be laid to his son's charge, drank the poison, and died. [926]

Ghiás-ud-dín can hardly have shut himself off so completely from state affairs as the story-tellers make out. He seems to have been the first of the Málwa kings who minted gold. He also introduced new titles and ornaments, which implies an interest in his coinage. [927] Farishtah says that Ghiás-ud-dín used to come out every day for an hour from his harím, sit on the throne and receive the salutations of his nobles and subjects, and give orders in all weighty matters of state. He used to entrust all minor affairs to his ministers; but in all grave matters he was so anxious not to shirk his responsibility as a ruler, that he had given strict orders that all such communications should be made to him at whatever time they came through a particular female officer appointed to receive his orders. [928]

According to most accounts Násir-ud-dín was led to poison his father by an attempt of his younger brother Shujáât Khán, supported if not organised by some of Ghiás-ud-dín's favourite wives to oust Násir-ud-dín from the succession. [929] In the struggle Násir-ud-dín triumphed and was crowned at Mándu in A.D. 1500. [930] The new king left Mándu to put down a revolt. On his return to Mándu he devoted himself to debauchery and to hunting down and murdering his brother's adherents. He subjected his mother Khurshíd Ráni to great indignities and torture to force from her information regarding his father's concealed treasures. [931] In a fit of drunkenness he fell into a reservoir. He was pulled out by four of his female slaves. He awoke with a headache, and discovering what his slaves had done put them to death with his own hand. [932] Some time after in A.D. 1512, he again fell into the reservoir, and there he was left till he was dead. [933] Násir-ud-dín was fond of building. His palace at Akbarpur in the Nímar plain about twenty miles south of Mándu was splendid and greatly admired. [934] And at Mándu besides his sepulchre [935] which the emperor Jehángír (A.D. 1617) mentions, [936] an inscription shows that the palace now known by the name of Báz Bahádur was built by Násir-ud-dín.

Násir-ud-dín was succeeded by his younger son (Mehmúd A.D. 1512-1530), who, with the title of Mehmúd the Second, was crowned with great pomp at Mándu. Seven hundred elephants in gold-embroidered velvet housings adorned the procession. [937] Shortly after his accession Mehmúd II. was driven out of Mándu by the revolt of the commandant Muhâfiz Khán, but was restored by the skill and courage of Medáni Rái his Rájput commander-in-chief. [938] A still more dangerous combination by Muzaffar II. (A.D. 1511-1526) of Gujarát and Sikandar Sháh Lodi (A.D. 1488-1516) of Dehli, was baffled by the foresight and energy of the same Rájput general. Mehmúd, feeling that his power had passed to the Hindus, tried to disband the Rájputs and assassinate Medáni Rái. Failing in both attempts Mehmúd fled from Mándu to Gujarát, where he was well received by Sultán Muzaffar (A.D. 1511-1526). [939] They advanced together against Mándu, and in A.D. 1519, after a close siege of several months, took the fort by assault. The Rájput garrison, who are said to have lost 19,000 men, fought to the last, consecrating the close of their defence by a general javar or fire-sacrifice. Sultán Mehmúd entered Mándu close after the storming party, and while Mehmúd established his authority in Mándu, Muzaffar withdrew to Dhár. When order was restored Mehmúd sent this message to Muzaffar at Dhár: "Mándu is a splendid fort. You should come and see it." "May Mándu," Muzaffar replied, "bring good fortune to Sultán Mehmúd. He is the master of the fort. For the sake of the Lord I came to his help. On Friday I will go to the fortress, and having had the sermon read in Mehmúd's name will return." On Muzaffar's arrival in Mándu Mehmúd gave a great entertainment; [940] and Muzaffar retired to Gujarát leaving a force of 3000 Gujarátis to help to guard the hill. [941] Immediately after Muzaffar's departure, as Sultán Mehmúd was anxious to recover Chanderi and Gágraun, which still remained in the possession of Medáni Rái and his supporters, he marched against them. Rána Sánga of Chitor came to Medáni's aid and a great battle was fought. [942] Mehmúd's hastiness led him to attack when his men were weary and the Rájputs were fresh. In spite of the greatest bravery on the part of himself and of his officers the Musalmán army was defeated, and Mehmúd, weakened by loss of blood, was made prisoner. Rána Sánga had Mehmúd's wounds dressed, sent him to Chitor, and on his recovery released him. [943]

[Sultán Bahádur of Gujarát, A.D. 1526-1534.] In A.D. 1526, by giving protection to his outlawed brother Chánd Khán and to Razí-ul-Mulk, a refugee Gujarát noble, Mehmúd brought on himself the wrath of Bahádur Sháh of Gujarát (A.D. 1526-1536). The offended Bahádur did not act hastily. He wrote to Mehmúd asking him to come to his camp and settle their quarrels. He waited on the Gujarát frontier at Karji Ghát, east of Bánswara, until at last satisfied that Mehmúd did not wish for a peaceful settlement he advanced on Mándu. Meanwhile Mehmúd had repaired the walls of Mándu, which soon after was invested by Bahádur. The siege was proceeding in regular course by mines and batteries, and the garrison, though overtaxed, were still loyal and in heart, when in the dim light of morning Mehmúd suddenly found the Gujarát flag waving on the battlements. According to the Mirat-i-Sikandari [944] Bahádur annoyed by the slow progress of the siege asked his spies where was the highest ground near Mándu. The spies said: Towards Songad-Chitor the hill is extremely high. With a few followers the Sultán scaled Songad, and rushing down the slope burst through the wall and took the fort (May 20th, 1526). [945] Mehmúd surrendered. Near Dohad, on his way to his prison at Chámpánír, an attempt was made to rescue Mehmúd, and to prevent their escape he and some of his sons were slain and buried on the bank of the Dohad tank. [946] Bahádur spent the rainy season (June-October 1526) in Mándu, and Málwa was incorporated with Gujarát.

[The Emperor Humáyún, A.D. 1534-1535.] Mándu remained under Gujarát, till in A.D. 1534, after Bahádur's defeat by Humáyún at Mandasor, Bahádur retired to Mándu. Humáyún followed. At night 200 of Humáyún's soldiers went to the back of the fortress, according to Farishtah the south-west height of Songad [947] by which Bahádur had surprised Mehmúd's garrison, scaled the walls by ladders and ropes, opened the gate, and let others in. Mallu Khán, the commandant of the batteries, a native of Málwa, who afterwards gained the title of Kádir Sháh, went to Bahádur and wakened him. Bahádur rushed out with four or five attendants. He was joined by about twenty more, and reaching the gate at the top of the maidán, apparently the Tárápúr gate by which Humáyún's men had entered, cut through 200 of Humáyún's troops and went off with Mallu Khán to the fort of Songad, the citadel of Mándu. While two of Bahádur's chiefs, Sadr Khán and Sultán Álam Lodi, threw themselves into Songad, Bahádur himself let his horses down the cliff by ropes and after a thousand difficulties made his way to Chámpánír. [948] On the day after Bahádur's escape Sadr Khán and Sultán Álam Lodi came out of Songad and surrendered to Humáyún. [949]

In the following year (A.D. 1535) the combined news of Sher Sháh's revolt in Bengal, and of the defeat of his officers at Broach and Cambay, forced Humáyún to retire from Gujarát. As he preferred its climate he withdrew, not to Agra but to Mándu. [950] From Mándu, as fortune was against him in Bengal, Humáyún went (A.D. 1535-36) to Agra.

[Local Musalmán Chiefs, A.D. 1536-1542.] On Humáyún's departure three chiefs attempted to establish themselves at Mándu: Bhúpat Rái, the ruler of Bíjágar, sixty miles south of Mándu; Mallu Khán or Kádir Sháh, a former commandant of Mándu; and Mírán Muhammad Fárúki from Burhánpur. [951] Of these three Mallu Khán was successful. In A.D. 1536, when Humáyún fled from Sher Sháh to Persia, Mallu spread his power from Mándu to Ujjain Sárangpúr and Rantambhor, assumed the title of Kádir Sháh Málwi, and made Mándu his capital. Some time after Sher Sháh, who was now supreme, wrote to Mallu Kádir Sháh ordering him to co-operate in expelling the Mughals. Kádir Sháh resenting this assumption of overlordship, addressed Sher Sháh as an inferior. [Sher Sháh Súr, A.D. 1542-1545.] When Sher Sháh received Mallu's order he folded it and placed it in the scabbard of his poniard to keep the indignity fresh in his mind. Alláh willing, he said, we shall ask an explanation for this in person. [952] In A.D. 1542 (H. 949) as Kádir Sháh failed to act with Kutb Khán, who had been sent to establish Sher Sháh's overlordship in Málwa, Sher Sháh advanced from Gwálior towards Mándu with the object of punishing Kádir Sháh. [953] As he knew he could not stand against Sher Sháh Kádir Sháh went to Sárangpúr to do homage. Though on arrival Kádir Sháh was well received, his kingdom was given to Shujáât Khán, one of Sher Sháh's chief followers, and himself placed in Shujáât Khán's keeping. [954] Suspicious of what might be in store for him Kádir Sháh fled to Gujarát. Sher Sháh was so much annoyed at Shujáât Khán's remissness in not preventing Kádir Sháh's escape that he transferred the command at Dhár and Mándu from Shujáât Khán to Háji Khán and Junaid Khán. Shortly after Kádir Sháh brought a force from Gujarát and attacked Mándu. Shujáât came to Háji Khán's help and routed Kádir Sháh under the walls of Mándu. In reward Sher Sháh made him ruler of the whole country of Mándu. [955] Shujáât Khán established his head-quarters at Mándu with 10,000 horse and 7000 matchlockmen.

[Salím Sháh Súr, A.D. 1545-1553.] During the reign of Sher Sháh's successor Salím Sháh (A.D. 1545-1553), Shujáât was forced to leave Málwa and seek shelter in Dúngarpúr. Selím pardoned Shujáât, but divided Málwa among other nobles. Shujáât remained in Hindustán till in A.D. 1553, on the accession of Salím's successor, Ádili, he recovered Málwa, and in A.D. 1554, on the decay of Ádili's power, assumed independence. [956] He died almost immediately after, and was succeeded by his eldest son Malik Báyazíd. [957] Shujáât Khán was a great builder. Besides his chief works at Shujáwalpúr near Ujjain, he left many memorials in different parts of Málwa. [958] So far none of the remains at Mándu are known to have been erected during the rule of Shujáât Khán.

[Báz Bahádur, A.D. 1555-1570.] On the death of his father Malik Báyazíd killed his brother Daulat Khán, and was crowned in A.D. 1555 with the title of Báz Bahádur. He attacked the Gonds, but met with so crushing a defeat that he foreswore fighting. [959] He gave himself to enjoyment and become famous as a musician, [960] and for his poetic love of Rúp Mani or Rúp Mati, who according to one account was a wise and beautiful courtezan of Saháranpur in Northern India, and according to another was the daughter of a Nímar Rájput, the master of the town of Dharampuri. [961] In A.D. 1560 Pír Muhammad, a general of Akbar's, afterwards ennobled as Khán Jehán, defeated Báz Bahádur, drove him out of Mándu, and made the hill his own head-quarters. [962] In the following year (A.D. 1561), by the help of the Berár chief, Pír Muhammad was slain and Báz Bahádur reinstated. On news of this defeat (A.D. 1562) Akbar sent Abdulláh Khán Uzbak with almost unlimited power to reconquer the province. Abdulláh was successful, but, as he showed signs of assuming independence, Akbar moved against him and he fled to Gujarát. [963] Akbar remained in Mándu during the greater part of the following rains (A.D. 1563), examining with interest the buildings erected by the Khilji kings. [964] At Mándu Akbar married the daughter of Mírán Mubárak Khán of Khándesh. [965] When Akbar left (August 1564) he appointed Karra Bahádur Khán governor of Mándu and returned to Ágra. [966] In A.D. 1568 the Mírzás, Akbar's cousins, flying from Gujarát attacked Ujjain. From Ujjain they retreated to Mándu and failing to make any impression on the fort withdrew to Gujarát. [967] The Mirzás' failure was due to the ability of Akbar's general, Háji Muhammad Khán, to whom Akbar granted the province of Mándu. [968] At the same time (A.D. 1568) the command of Mándu hill was entrusted to Sháh Budágh Khán, who continued commandant of the fort till his death many years later. During his command, in a picturesque spot overlooking a well-watered ravine in the south of Mándu, between the Ságar Lake and the Tárápur Gateway, Budágh Khán built a pleasure-house, which he named, or rather perhaps which he continued to call Nílkanth or Blue Throat. This lodge is interesting from the following inscriptions, which show that the emperor Akbar more than once rested within its walls. [969]

The inscription on the small north arch of Nílkanth, dated A.D. 1574, runs:

(Call it not waste) to spend your life in water and earth. (i.e. in
building),
If perchance a man of mind for a moment makes your house his
lodging.

Written by Sháh Budágh Khán in the year A.H. 982-87. [970]

The inscription on the great southern arch of Nílkanth, dated A.D. 1574, runs:

This pleasant building was completed in the reign of the great
Sultán, the most munificent and just Khákán, the Lord of the
countries of Arabia and Persia, [971] the shadow of God on the
two earths, the ruler of the sea and of the land, the exalter
of the standards of those who war on the side of God, Abul
Fatah Jalál-ud-dín Muhammad Akbar, the warrior king, may his
dominion and his kingdom be everlasting.

Written by Farídún Husein, son of Hátim-al-Wardi, in the year
A.H. 982. [972]

The inscription on the right wall of Nílkanth, dated A.D. 1591-92, runs:

In the year A.H. 1000, when on his way to the conquest of the
Dakhan, the slaves of the Exalted Lord of the Earth, the holder
of the sky-like Throne, the shadow of Alláh (the Emperor Akbar),
passed by this place.

That time wastes your home cease, Soul, to complain, Who will
not scorn a complainer so vain.

From the story of others this wisdom derive, Ere naught of
thyself but stories survive.

The inscription on the left wall of Nílkanth, dated A.D. 1600, runs:

The (Lord of the mighty Presence) shadow of Alláh, the Emperor
Akbar, after the conquest of the Dakhan and Dándes (Khándesh)
in the year A.H. 1009 set out for Hind (Northern India).

May the name of the writer last for ever!

At dawn and at eve I have watched an owl sitting
On the lofty wall-top of Shirwán Sháh's Tomb. [973]
The owl's plaintive hooting convey'd me this warning
"Here pomp, wealth, and greatness lie dumb."

In A.D. 1573, with the rest of Málwa, Akbar handed Mándu to Muzaffar III. the dethroned ruler of Gujarát. It seems doubtful if Muzaffar ever visited his new territory. [974] On his second defeat in A.D. 1562 Báz Bahádur retired to Gondwána, where he remained, his power gradually waning, till in A.D. 1570 he paid homage to the emperor and received the command of 2000 horse. [975] His decoration of the Rewa Pool, of the palace close by, which though built by Násir-ud-dín Khilji (A.D. 1500-1512) was probably repaired by Báz Bahádur, and of Rúp Mati's pavilion on the crest of the southern ridge make Báz Bahádur one of the chief beautifiers of Mándu. According to Farishtah (Pers. Text, II. 538-39) in 1562, when Báz Bahádur went out to meet Akbar's general, Adham Khán Atkah, he placed Rúp Mati and his other singers in Sárangpúr under a party of his men with orders to kill the women in case of a reverse. On hearing of Báz Bahádur's defeat the soldiers hastily sabred as many of the women as they could and fled. Among the women left for dead was Rúp Mati, who, though dangerously wounded, was not killed. When Adham Atkah entered Sárangpúr his first care was to enquire what had become of Rúp Mati. On hearing of her condition he had her wound attended to by the best surgeons, promising her, as a help to her cure, a speedy union with her beloved. On her recovery Rúp Mati claimed the general's promise. He prevaricated and pressed his own suit. Rúp Mati temporised. One night the impatient Turk sent her a message asking her to come to him. Rúp Mati to gain time invited him to her own pavilion which she said was specially adorned to be the abode of love. Next night the Atkah went to her house in disguise. Her women directed him to Rúp Mati's couch. Adham found her robed and garlanded, but cold in death. Rúp Mati was buried on an island in a lake at Ujjain, and there, according to the Áin-i-Akbari, Báz Bahádur when he died was laid beside her. [976]