Indian Antiquary Vol 53

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 40

34
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(FEBRUARY, 1924
with fifty thousand men, being himself at the head of a hundred thousand additional in. fantry and cavalry and more than a thousand elephants. Ho took also with him the Padres.' The purpose of this journey was to conquer Goa and Malabar and the whole kingdom of Bisnaga 10, after having taken the Deccan kingdoms. A queen of Deccan, helped by the Portugubso, opposed him and slew many of his soldiers 11 just at the gate of the kingdom of Barara1, which is a pass leading through the mountains towards that kingdom. Now, her death having takon place, the Doocan people were deeply divided a.mong themselves, and this was the cause of the total ruin of that kingdom ;18 for somo of them having been suborned or deceived, others acting treacherously, and the grandeos hoping to improve their position, as ordinarily happens in divided kingdoms14, the gate of this one was opened
& Wo learn from Muhammadan sources that Akbar was already in Ujjain when he detached a part of his army to serve as a vanguard. His youngest son, Sultan Daniyal, had been just then appointed commander of the Deccan army in the place of his brother Sultan Murad, whose demise had taken place in May 1599. Daniyal roached Barhanpur early in January 1600, and its King, Bahadur Shah, refused imprudently to give his service to the Imperial army proceeding to tho conquest of Ahmadnagar, contrary to the policy of his father Raja Ali, and against his own promise to Abu-'l Fapl. Cf. The Faruqi Dynasty of Khandesh, by Lt. Col. Sir T. W. Haig, K.C.I.E. in The Indian Antiquary, 1918, p. 179. When this news came to Akbar's knowledge, it seems that the Emperor sent at once a diplomatic envoy, named Mirån Sadr. 1-Jahån by Sirhindi and Khvâja Maudûd in the Zafar-al-walih. to inquire into the matter. The Emperor realised that Bahadur wag keenly hostile to him, and thereupon sent orders to Shaikh Farid of Bokhara to march against the audacious king with a considerable army, which was joined a few days later by Abu'I Fail who came hastening from Berar.
9 The companion of Fr. Xavier was not a priest, but the famous lay brother, Benito de Goes, who was sent later by the same Fr. Xavier to look after the kingdom of Cathay and its Christians. This enter. prising brother, whose name is mentioned by Xavier near the conclusion of this letter, died in 1607, just as he had reached the great wall of the Chinese Empire.
10 Since the time of Ala-ad-'din Khilji the oyss of the Muhammadąn rulers of India were turned towards
South. Bisnaga or Bisnagar is the name used by the old Portuguese writers for the famous kingdom of Vijayanagar. Cf. Sowell, A Forgotten Empire, p. xi (London, 1900). The second Hindu Dynasty had lost the kingdom in the battle of Talikota in 1565, against Bijapur, and the splendour of Vijayanagar had already reached its close at this time. Nevertheless, a third dynasty arose, “if dynasty it can be appropriately called," and the king Venkata I was the ruler contemporary with the events narrated by Xavier. Of. Sewell, A Forgotten Empire, chaps. XV and XVI, pp. 197-221.
11 It is not difficult to recognise in the Queen of the Deccan the valiant Regent of Ahmadnagar, Chand Bibi, who after the events above narrated received the title of Chand Sultana. Fr. Xavier records in this passage a fact long past, because, after having related it, he says that the aforesaid Queen was already dead at the time of the siege of Asirgarh; he means no doubt the first siege of Ahmadnagar in 1596, when she opposed the Mughals personally with a naked sword in her hand in the breaches of the mines which they had made. Cf. Firishta-Briggs, Vol. III, pp. 289-304. As to the help given her by the Portuguese, I cannot find any reference to it, either in the new works in Portuguomo India, or in the older ones, for instance, the Asia Portuguesa of Manuel de Faria y Sousa (3 Vols., Lisboa, 1674). But I cannot doubt that Xavier was aware of this alliance, the headquarters of his mission being in Goa itself. A little farther on, in the same letter, there is a hint of another alliance between the Portuguese and the Kings of Khandesh. This piece of news is important, since no other author mentions it. Was it a real league of all the enemies of the Mughal Empire ?
12 The kingdom of Barara, or Berar, was one of the provinces of the kingdom of Ahmadnagar, which was ceded to Akbar on the aforesaid occasion in order to purchase peace. This was the result of Sultan Murad's campaign.
13 The death of Chand Sultana, who was murdered by her own people in August 1600, As Firishta related (l.c., p. 312), must have taken place about the very time when Xavier was writing his letter. After her demise the internal disturbances of her kingdom grew more intense, and in a few days the fort of Ahmadnagar was stormed by Sultan Daniyal, of. noto 8.
14 From this account we can conclude that bribery was often used by Akbar in his conquests. Could it be true then that the same "Chand Sultana was in treatly with the Mughals for the delivery of the fort", 49 the eunuch Hamid Khan shouted through the streets of Ahmadnagar, after hearing of her determination to negotiate with Sultan Daniyal for the evacuation of the fort, as Firishta relates (I.c.) ?