Indian Antiquary Vol 49

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 72

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[APRIL, 1920
was therefore summoned, and the Sultan took counsel with him on the project. Malik Näib agreed that it would be best to send the young prince to Ramgir and promised, as a faithful servant, to neglect nothing that would be for the benefit of him and of his education, The Sultân accordingly carried out his design, and the education of the young prince was entrusted to Malik Naib.
Some historians say that Sultan Mahmud Shâh gave Malik Näib a slave girl from his haram and that when Malik Näib took the girl to his haram she was discovered to be pregnant. Malik Näib of necessity brought the matter to the notice of the king, and it was decreed, with the connivance of the slave girl, that since that royal offshoot had first seen the light in Malik Nâib's house, Malik Naib should thenceforth be his tutor, and afterwards when Mahmud Shâh came to the throne, the young prince (Ahmad) was generally regarded as the son of Malik Naib. But God knows the truth of all things.3
Majlis-i-A'lâ (Malik Naib) formed great hopes of advancement from the favour which had been shewn to him, and sent the young prince with a large retinue to Mâhûr and Râmgir, which were his own jagirs, and took the greatest possible care of him. The king, too, inquired closely and constantly into the young prince's affairs and devoted much attention to his education, always seeing that he was well supplied with rich clothes, Arab horses, arms, and all that was understood to become his position as a prince, and sending them to him.
When the prince came to years of discretion, having devoted his time to the acquisition of accomplishments and learning, his talk was ever of arms, and the distinction and honour to be gained by their use, and he was ever conversant with them, so that kingship
Sic. A mistake for Muhammad.
3 This fictitious account of the origin of the Nizam Shahi dynasty has apparently been fabricated by the author. The origin of the dynasty is well known. Its founder, Almad Nizâm-ul-Mulk. who afterwards assumed the title of Shah, was the son of asan, entitled Malik Naib. Hasan was a Brahman, originally named Timå Bhat, who had been captured in his youth by Ahmad Shah Bahmani in 8 campaign against Vijayanagar in 1422 or 1423. Although he was captured in Vijayanagar territory, he was a Brahman of the Maratha country, his father, whose name is corruptly given as Bhareo, probably a version of Bhairon or Bhairava, having belonged to the family of the kulkarnie or paf wdris of Pathri on the Godavari, and having fled from that place to Vijayanagar in order to escape the persecution to which he was subjected by the Muslims. From a further corruption of the name of Ahmad's grandfather, the cognomen Bahri, often applied to the dynasty, was formed.
Sayyid Ali cites no authority for his story except some unnamed historical works and the oral testi. mobny of some old men. The evidence on the other side, both positive and circumstantial, is overwhelming There is the statement of Burhân Nizam Shah I in his own handwriting, which is mentioned by Firishta (ii, 199) as well as by Sayyid Ali, that he was the grandson of Malik Naib; there is the evidence of the historians Firishta and Nizâm-ud-din Ahmad, author of the Tabaqdt-j-Akbart that Aḥmad always passed and behaved as the son of Malik NAib; and there is the action taken by Burhan Nizam Shah I in 1518 when he demanded of 'Ald-ud-din 'Imad Shah of Berar the cession of the town and district of Pathri, then included in the Berar kingdom, in exchange for another district, on the ground that Pathri was the home of his ancestors and that many of his relations still lived there. On "All-ud-din's refusal to cede the district, Burhan I made war on him and annexed it.
The circumstantial evidence is also strong. Had Abmad been a Bahmani prince, he would have called himself Bahmani rather than Balri, and when the feeble Mahmûd was completely dominated by Qarim, Barid-ul-MumAlik, he would have made some claim to the throne of his ancestors, or at least to the regency. The house of Bahman still commanded much respect, and the rebellion of the provincial governors, Yusuf Khân of Bijapur, Fethullah Imad-ul-Mulk of Berar, and Sultân Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk of Golconda was a revolt, not against Mahmud ShAh and his four feeble successors, but against the tyranny of the maires du palais, Qlaim and his son 'Ali Barid I, whose usurpation they resented. A prince of the royal house would certainly have commanded the allegiance of Qutb-ul-Mulk and 'Imad ul. Mulk, and probably that of Your Kben also. As a matter of fact these three amtrs were hostile to him.