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JULY, 1918]
THE FARUQI DYNASTY OF KHANDESH
183
According to Khafi Khân, the author of the Muntakhab-al-Lubdb, all the treasure of the Faruqis and much buried treasure of the former Hindú chiefs of Asirgash fell into the hands of Akbar's officers, and in the same work there is an interesting story of a superstition connected with the fortress. It is said that there was a large rock in the Tapti near Burhanpûr and that when the city was founded in obedience to the posthumous instructions of the saint Burhan-al-dîn, conveyed through the saint Zain-al-din, the latter said that so long as the rock should retain its shape the kingdom should belong to the Fårûqis, but when it assumed the shape of an elephant the kingdom should pass from them. Akbar heard this story, and being impatient for the fall of Asîrgarh, the siege of which was long protracted, employed sculptors to cut the stone into the likeness of an elephant. His action, with the evidence of faith in the old prophecy which it displayed, disheartened Bahadur and hastened the surrender of the fortress. It is evidently to this circumstance that Firishta refers when he says that the outbreak of sickness in the fortress was attributed by the besieged to the arts of sorcerers employed by Akbar.
The author of the Muntakhab-al-Lubáb 27 also says that the siege of the fortress lasted for nearly four years, beginning in the early part of A.x. 1008 (July-August 1599) and ending at the beginning of A.H. 1012 (June, 1603), but on this point the evidence of the Akbarnama, written by Shaikh Abul Fazl, who took part in the siege, and of Firishta and the author of the Zafar-al- Valih, both of whom were contemporaries, while the latter had an intimate personal acquaintance with many of the principal actors, is conclusive.
The author of the Zafar-al-Walih, who was for a time in the service of Fûlâd Khân one of the amirs of Raja Ali Khan (Adil Shah IV) and Bahadur Shah, gives the following character of Bahadur : In his reign the mighty were humbled and those of low degree * were exalted, he who laboured not obtained advancement and he who was honest fell behind; and he divided among lewd fellow's of the baser sort the jewels and rich stuffs which his fathers had amassed and collected together all that promoted sensual enjoyment, and all manner of unlawful pleasure became common; and he aroused wrath in the breasts of his father's ministers, so that they were prepared to welcome even a disaster that might bring peace. Nevertheless there were in Bahadur some praiseworthy qualities, such as * assiduity in alms-giving at fit seasons; and with equal justice he distributed alms to the • well-being of those who were in want, and very willingly to Shaikhs and Şüfis who
claimed to work miracles, even though these were doubtful. Nor was he without trust in · God, and would always say máshá'lláh ("please God ") when he undertook any business.
This sketch does not much exalt Bahadur in our eyes. He was evidently weak, sensual, and strongly tinged with superstition. His petulant and foolish defiance of Akbar was evidence rather of lack of understanding than of strength of character, and he certainly entered upon the undertaking without counting the cost.
Mention has already been made of the Farûqi princes whom it was the custom of the house to imprison lest the succession should be disturbed, and we have seen that the faithful Malik Yâqût, when Bahadur loft the fortress, assembled these princes and unsuccessfully tried to rouse their spirit by inviting one of them to ascend the vacant throne. The circumstances of their lives had not been such as to foster in them a spirit of enterprise. When the fortress was finally captured over fifty of these unfortunate princes, all of whom sprang from Mubarak Shah II, the ninth ruler of the line, fell into Akbar's hands. Their genealogy is as follows.
17 i, 214.
