Abraham Eraly - The Age of Wrath - A History of the Delhi Sultanate

For some mysterious reason Ala-ud-din was always reluctant to hold durbar, and he finally had an excuse for dispensing with it altogether. This was related to his execution of a number of foreigners in his service. Some of these officers were Sayyids, the presumed descendants of prophet Muhammad, and their execution greatly scandalised many. And one day an Arab trader, hearing that the sultan had taken the title Al-adil, shouted at him in the open court: ‘No, by god! Thou art not just, generous, clement, or compassionate, O tyrant and liar! Thou hast slain the pure seed of the prophet!’ The sultan is said to have wept in humiliation at the charge, and retired to his private chambers, never again to emerge from there.

ALA-UD-DIN DIED IN 1458, and was succeeded by his eldest son Humayun, who turned out to be a vicious, sadistic monster. There were several rebellions during his brief reign of three years, but they were all suppressed by him with revolting brutality. The first of these rebellions was by Hasan Khan, one of Humayun’s brothers, who escaped from the prison where he was confined, and attempted to take over Bidar, the capital, when Humayun was away on a campaign. The kotwal (chief police officer of the city) repulsed the attack, but Hasan managed to escape. Meanwhile Humayun stormed back into the capital, where he vented his wrath on the kotwal, for allowing Hasan to escape. The officer was locked up in an iron cage in public view, and there bits of his flesh were cut off every day and offered to him to eat as the only food he could have during the few days he lived under the torture.

Meanwhile Hasan was captured and brought to Bidar, where he, along with his family members, dependants and followers were put to death in various barbarous ways. ‘Humayun Shah, now abandoning himself to the full indulgence of his cruel propensities, and mad with rage, directed stakes to be set up on both sides of the king’s chowk (square), and caused vicious elephants and wild beasts to be placed in different parts of the square,’ writes Ferishta. ‘In other places cauldrons of scalding oil and boiling water were also prepared as instruments of torture. The king, ascending a balcony in order to glut his eyes on the spectacle, first cast his brother, Hasan Khan, before a ferocious tiger, which soon tore the wretched prince to pieces and devoured him on the spot … [Several of Hasan’s] associates were then beheaded in the king’s presence, and the women of their families, innocent and helpless, were dragged from their houses and were violated and ill-treated in the palace square by ruffians, in a manner too indecent to relate … About seven thousand persons, including women and servants, none of whom had even the most remote involvement in this rebellion, besides menials, such as cooks, scullions, and others, were put to death, some being stabbed with dagger, others hewn in pieces with hatchets, and the rest flayed by [pouring on them] scalding oil or boiling water.’

‘From this moment Humayun threw off all restraint, and seized at will the children of his subjects, tearing them from their parents to gratify his passions,’ continues Ferishta. ‘He would frequently stop nuptial processions in the street and seize the bride, and then send her to the groom’s house after enjoying her. He was in the habit of putting the females of his own house to death for the most trivial offences. When any of the nobles were obliged to attend him, so great was their dread that they took leave of their families, as if preparing for death.’ Fittingly, he himself was stabbed to death by one of his African maidservants when he was in a drunken stupor.

The only commendable act of Humayun was his appointment of Mahmud Gawan as his chief minister. Gawan, an Iranian migrant of exceptional ability and prudence, had arrived in Deccan during Ala-ud-din’s reign, and he would serve the Sultanate most creditably in top administrative and military positions for well over three decades, through the reigns of four sultans, exerting a mature, stabilising influence on the turbulent politics of the Bahmani kingdom.

HUMAYUN WAS SUCCEEDED by his son Nizam Shah, a boy just eight years old. The accession of the boy king was seen by some of Bahmani’s neighbours — Orissa, Warangal and Malwa — as an opportunity for making inroads into its territory, but they were all easily repulsed by the Bahmani army. Nizam had the advantage of being under the tutelage of his sagacious and resourceful mother, who, along with Mahmud Gawan as the chief minister of the state, efficiently managed the affairs of the state at this time.

Nizam unexpectedly died after a reign of just two years — he died on the very day of his marriage. He was then succeeded by his nine-year-old younger brother, Muhammad Shah III, who ruled the kingdom for nearly two decades. During almost his entire reign Muhammad had the benefit of having Gawan as his chief minister, who introduced several essential administrative reforms in the state, and also considerably expanded its territory through effective military action against its neighbours. Unfortunately, the very success of Gawan damned him in the eyes of his envious rivals in the government, and they instigated the sultan to execute him by levelling a false charge of treason against him.

The tragedy was the culmination of the long-festering strife between Deccani and Paradesi (foreign) officers of the kingdom, involving professional rivalry compounded by racial and sectarian hostility. This rivalry had a long history going back to the time well before the arrival of Gawan in the kingdom, and it would persist long after his death. Bahmani sultans generally tended to favour foreigners — Turks, Arabs, Mughals, and Persians — for appointment in top administrative and military positions, because they were generally more cultured and efficient than Deccanis, who were rather crude, and were often unlettered. Typically, Ala-ud-din Ahmad, the mid-fifteenth century sultan of the kingdom, had a large number of foreigners in his service, and they were assigned the place of honour in the court, on the right side of the throne, while the native officers were kept on the left side. The antagonism between the two groups was also fuelled by their sectarian differences — while most of the foreigners were Shias, Deccanis were predominantly Sunnis. The Deccani faction also had the support of Abyssinians in the royal service.

The rivalry between the two groups often led to riots. Once, during the reign of Nizam Shah, ‘the Deccani troops, the Abyssinians, and the mob, entered the fort and put to death every foreigner they found within, amounting to nearly 300, among whom were several persons of high rank and eminent character,’ reports Ferishta. Later, during the reign of Mahmud, Muhammad III’s successor, there was a 20 day long riot in Bidar between Deccanis and Paradesis. And on a subsequent occasion, the foreigner group set about, with the Sultan’s connivance, slaughtering the Deccanis for three whole days.

Gawan was a victim of this long-festering tussle for power between Paradesis and Deccanis, although he personally remained fair and neutral in this conflict, and occupied himself solely with the task of running the government efficiently. But his very success rankled Deccanis, who saw him as an obstacle to their rise to the top echelons of the government. Moreover, the administrative reforms that Gawan introduced, though they improved the efficiency of the government, curtailed the powers of the provincial chiefs, who were mostly Deccanis. They then forged a letter to implicate Gawan in a conspiracy against the sultan, and showed it to him. And the sultan — who himself was probably squirming under Gawan’s dominance — immediately, without any proper enquiry, summoned Gawan to him, and peremptorily asked him what the proper punishment for a traitor was. To this Gawan replied: ‘Death by the sword.’ The sultan then flung the forged letter at Gawan. On reading it, Gawan said: ‘This is manifest forgery. The seal is mine, but not the writing.’ But the sultan, angrily disregarding this protest, peremptorily ordered him to be executed right away. Gawan then knelt down and recited a short prayer, and, as the sword fell, he exclaimed: ‘Praise be to god for the blessing of martyrdom!”