and soon after resumed the siege of Rintambór. But his utmost efforts were insufficient to take the place; and, before long, he received intelligence of the revolt of two of his other nephews, at Badayun. He did not think it necessary to move himself on this occasion: he suppressed the rebellion by means of his officers; and when his nephews were sent to him, he first put out their eyes, and afterwards ordered them to be beheaded. The ill success of these rebellions did not prevent the occurrence of another of a still more extraordinary character. Háji Moula, a young slave of one of the principal families in Delhi, took advantage of some discontent against the chief magistrate of police to collect a mob and put him to death, under pretence of an order from the king; and having thus got a body of infuriated followers, he proceeded to take possession of the city, to release the prisoners, distribute the royal arms and treasures among his adherents, and to set up a prince of the royal family for king. The decided conduct of a local officer prevented the ill effects of this explosion. He contrived to introduce a body of troops into the capital, killed Háji Moula, dispersed his rabble, and put his new king to death. Many executions followed by the king's order; and, amongst others, the whole family of Háji Moula's former master. Men, women, and children were slaughtered, without a charge against them. At length, Rintambór fell after a siege of more CHAP. BOOK VI. A. D. 1300, A, H. 700. A. H. 703. Chitór. than a year. The rája, with his family, and the garrison, were put to the sword. In the year 1303, Alá u dín went, in person, A. D. 1303, against Chitór, a celebrated hill fort in Méwár, and Capture of the principal seat of the Rájpút tribe of Sesódia. He took the fort, made the rája prisoner, and left the eldest of his own sons as governor. Next year the rája escaped, and made himself so formidable, that Alá u dín found it prudent to make over the fort to another Rájpút prince, named Máldeó, who, by Ferishta's account, was a nephew of the rája, but who is represented by the Rájpúts as a person of another family. Máldeó remained tributary to Delhi until near the end of Alá u dín's reign, when he was expelled by Hamír, a son of the former rája. Unsuccessful inva. Moguls. * Alá u dín was recalled from these conquests by a sions of the new Mogul invasion and another attack on Delhi. His force was so much weakened by detachments, that when he arrived at the capital he was unable to meet the enemy in the field, and obliged to intrench his camp. A. D. 1304-5, A. H. 704-5. The Moguls, who, probably, were not prepared for protracted operations, withdrew without a battle; and their retreat was ascribed, by the piety of the age, to a panic sent among them on the prayer of Nizám u dín Oulia, a celebrated saint then alive. In the next two years there were three Mogul * The descendant of this family is now rána of Oudipúr, the chief of the Rájpút princes. inroads, one of which penetrated, by the north of CHAP. the Panjab, into Róhilcand. On all those occasions the prisoners were sent to Delhi, where the chiefs were trampled to death by elephants, and the men butchered in cold blood.* These were the last Mogul invasions for years. many Though Alá u dín's continual occupation since his accession had, in some measure, withdrawn his attention from the Deckan, he had not forgotten the scene of his early exploits. At the time of his own expedition to Chitór (A. D. 1303, a. H. 703), he sent an army through Bengal, to attack Warangól, the capital of Télingána, situated to the south of the river Godáveri; and he now prepared a great force, for the purpose of reducing the rája of Deógíri, who had, of late, withheld his tribute. Malik Cáfúr, who commanded this army, was a eunuch, and had been the slave of a merchant at Cambay, from whom he was taken, by force, during the conquest of Guzerát. Having come into the king's possession, he so completely won his master's affections that he rose to the highest offices, and excited the utmost disgust among the nobles by his rapid promotion from so base an origin. He now proceeded through Málwa, and by Sultánpúr in Cándésh, to Deógíri. Before he commenced the siege, he overran the greater part of the Maratta country; and so im *Ferishta says 9000 on one occasion. II. Discontinuance of their incursions. Expedition to the Deckan. A. D. 1306, A. H. 706. VI. Story of the Prin Dévi. BOOK pressed Rám Deó with the impossibility of resistance, that he came out of his fortress, and agreed to accompany Cáfúr to Delhi. He was there received with favour, returned loaded with honours, and from that time forward remained faithful to the Mussulmans. A circumstance occurred during this expedition which deserves to be mentioned. Alp Khán, governor of Guzerát, (who must be cess Déwal distinguished from A'lif Khán, the king's brother,) had been directed to march to Deógíri, to cooperate with Cáfúr. His road lay through Báglána, where the fugitive rája of Guzerát had taken refuge, as has been related. This rája's wife, Cáula Dévi, had been taken prisoner during his flight; and having been carried to Alá u dín's harem, had gained a great share of his favour by her beauty and talents. On hearing of the intended march of these forces, she entreated that means might be taken to recover her daughter by the rája, who still remained with the exiled prince. Alp Khán was enjoined to attend to this object, and endeavoured, by the offer of favourable terms, to prevail on the rája to give up his daughter. The rája rejected his overtures, and Alp Khán marched against him. The princess, whose name was Déwal Dévi, had long been sued for by the son of Rám Deó, the rája of Deógíri; but her father, considering a Maratta, however high in station, as an unworthy match for the daughter of a Rájpút, had rejected all his offers. In the present extremity, however, he gave a reluctant con sent, and the princess was sent off, with an escort, to Deógíri. Immediately after her departure, Alp Khán succeeded in defeating and dispersing the rája's army. His victory afforded him little satisfaction, when he found that the princess had escaped him; and knowing the influence of Cáula Dévi, and the impetuous temper of the king, he gave up his whole attention to the means of accomplishing an object which they had both so much at heart. His utmost efforts were not attended with success; and he had arrived within a march of Deógíri without hearing any tidings of the princess, when a party who had gone from his camp to see the caves of Ellóra happened, by mere chance, to fall in with her escort; and being under the necessity of fighting in self-defence, they dispersed the escort, and captured the princess, before they were aware of the importance of their acquisition. Alp Khán, delighted with his prize, immediately marched with her to Delhi. Her beauty made such an impression on the king's eldest son, Khizr Khán, that he soon after married her; and their loves are the subject of a celebrated Persian poem, by Amír Khusru. This incident is remarkable, as showing the intermixture which had already taken place between the Hindús and Mahometans; and also as leading to the first mention of the caves of Ellóra, which have been compared, as works of labour, to the pyramids of Egypt, and which, in reality, far surpass them as specimens of art. CHAP. II. |