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NOVEMBER, 1899.]
coined money in the name of those kings, and been a staunch friend and ally of theirs, came to Bidar to pay his respects to the Sultan; and the latter several times took part in festive entertainments in the society of Adil Shah.
HISTORY OF THE BAHMANI DYNASTY.
289
The Sultan marches to Kanchipura and that neighbourhood.
Khwajah Jahan is put to death through the deception of people jealous of him.
In the months of the year E85 (A. D. 1480) the Sultan was informed that his subjects in other of Kondavir had broken out in rebellion, and throwing themselves on the protection of Narsinha Raya had altogether withdrawn from their allegiance to the rule of Islam. Undoubtedly to defer or neglect to admonish and chastise them would give rise to sedition and disturbance, and probably lead to the destruction of the country; so the Sultan on hearing the news, in the month of Ramazan in the above-mentioned year (November, A. D. 1480) ordered his army to be assembled; and marching with it towards the kingdom of Vijayanagar, in due time arrived in the neighbourhood of the fortress of Kondavir, and encamping there, completely surrounded it, so as to prevent all entrance or exit on the part of the infidels.
Immediately upon this movement of the army, the rebels in the fortress were much disturbed, and the swords, spears and arrows struck terror to their hearts; so they hoisted flags of submission on the towers and battlements. They all then begged to be forgiven, and said: "The cause of our swerving from the road of obedience, and travelling in the desert of error was this, Certain ministers of the royal court, who wished to seize for themselves the government entrusted to them, set over us as their agents a clique of disreputable, tyrannical oppressors who stretched out the hand of oppression and authority over our property and worldly goods; and would not refrain from their unjust practices, however much we represented the circumstances. They would not allow the tale of our oppression to reach the Sultan; so at last we were driven to desperation."
When the Sultan became aware of the circumstances of those guiltless oppressed people he pardoned their past offences, and in his exceeding kindness bestowed the fortress with all its dependencies on Malik Hasan Humayan Shahi Nizam-ul-Mulk Bahri in order that he might exert himself in cherishing the subjects. But from the words of the inhabitants of the fortress the dust of vexation towards Khwajah Jahân settled on the margin of the Sultan's mind, and he secretly resolved on his destruction.
After the conclusion of the affair of Kondâvir agreeably to his desires, it occurred to the Sultan that the extensive plains are only open to military operations up to the rainy season, and the eradication of the worshippers of Lât and Manat and the destruction of the infidels was an object much to be desired; and as the infidel Narsinha, who, owing to his numerous army and the extent of his dominions, was the greatest and most powerful of all the rulers of Telingana and Vijayanagar had latterly shown delay and remissness in proving his sincerity towards the royal court by sending presents and n'al-baha; therefore the best course to adopt was to trample his country under the hoofs of his horses, and level the buildings with the ground.
It has been related that this Narsinha had established himself in the midst of the countries of Kanarah and Telingana, and taken possession of most of the districts of the coast and interior of Vijayanagar.
The Sultan now, because of the above-mentioned considerations, marched with his army from the above-mentioned fort,35 and advanced about forty farsangs into the country of Narsipha, and on arriving within sight of the fortress of Malar - which was the greatest of the forts of that country encamped there.
34 Money given to foreign troops to abstain from plunder and devastation.
Kondavir.
36 About 136 miles. The actual distance of Malûr from Kondavir in a straight line is about 270 miles.
