Indian Antiquary Vol 50

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

Page 34

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
( FEB., 1921
and that Miran Shah Husain had come to pay his respects. The king, whose. breathing was lahoured, no longer had the power of speech, but he looked on the face of his eldest son and shed tears.
LIV. THE DEATH OF BURHẦN Nizam SAH. After Mirân Shah Husain had paid his respects to his father, Burhan Nizam Shah's spirit took flight for its abode in Paradise, and the amírs, the officers of state, and the ladies of the haram were plunged into grief. The amirs, having arranged for the washing of the late king's body and for the funeral ceremony, buried him in the Rauzah garden, which is the burial place of the Nigam Shahi family. The body was afterwards exhumed by order of Husain Nizâm Shah and was sent to Karbala where it was buried near the shrine of the Imâm Husain. The death of Burhan Nizam Shah I occurred, according to the best known accounts, on Muharram 24, A.H. 961, (Dec. 30, 1563). In that year. died three great kings who had not their equals in Hindustan, nay, in the whole world, and a learned man wrot the following verses as a chronogram for their death:
"At one time came the decline of three kings from whose justice Hind was the abode of peace.
The first was Mahmûd, king of Gujarat, who, like his kingdom, was in the pride of youth.
The second was Islîm Shâh the king of Dihlt, who in Hindustan was a lord of the fortunate conjunction;
The third was Nizâm, that Bahrî king, who was seated as king in the Dakan. If you ask me the date of the death of these three kings, I answer, “The decline of the kings." 128
Burhan Nizâm Shah thus reigned over the Dakan for fifty years, and his age at the time of his death was 58 years, for he ascended the throne when he was eight years of age, in A... 918 (A.D. 1512-13).193 But God knows the truth. Burhan had, according to all accounts, six sons, as has been already mentioned.
When Mîrân 'Abdul Qadir fled from Miran Shah Husain, he went to Berar in the hope of obtaining assistance from Daryê 'Imad Shah, who, in obedience to an order from Husain Nizam Shah, requested him to leave his country, which he did, and went to Bijapur, where he remoined until his death under the protection of 'Adil Shah.
Miran Shah 'Ali, who was the grandson of Ismail 'Adil Shah, was in the fortress of Pali at the time of Husain Nizam Shah's accession, and let himself down from the wall and fled to Bijâpär. Here he assumed the umbrella and aftabgtr of royalty and marched to Sholapur, but was defeated by Husain's army and returned to Bijapur, as will be described hereafter. Miran Shah 'All, like Miran 'Abdul Qadir, spent the rest of his life in Bijapur and died there.
Miran Muhammad Baqir was imprisoned in the fortress of Chåndar in the early part. of the reign of Husain Nizâm Shah and remained there until the reign of Murtaza Nizam
12 This chronogram is very well-known and is quoted with variations, by several historians. It W&s composed by Maulana Ghulam 'All Haidar Shah, father of the historian Firishta. A better reading of the first homistich of the fourth couplet is, "The third was Nigam-ul-Mulk Bahrt." The chronogram is u Jl the decline of the Kings ") giving the date 961. Sayyid 'All very carelessly gives it here as ulogue
the death of the Kings") which gives the impossible date 1403. The two kinga besides Burhan ware Mahmud III of Gujarat and Islam Shah, son of Shfr Shah, of Dih. The name of the latter is umally corrupted, by imdlah, into Lslim, and sometimes Salim.
Muharram 24, 961, seems to be too early a date for Barhan's death, for according to Firishta 1984) 10 WM not until A. H. 961 that he set out for Bijapur ; but perhaps Firishta's dato is wrong.
199 & page 38, wboro Sayyid 'All places Ahmad's death and Burhan's accession in A.x. 911 (A.D. 1506-06).