HISTORY OF INDIA VOLUME - 5 The Lake of Udaipur History of India Edited by A. V. Williams Jackson, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Indo-Iranian Languages in Columbia University Volume 5 – The Mohammedan Period as Described by its Own Historians Selected from the works of the late Sir Henry Miers Elliot, K.C.B. 1907 Reproduced by Sani H. Panhwar (2018) Introduction by the Editor This volume, consisting of selections from Sir Henry M. Elliot’s great work on the history of Mohammedan India as told by its own historians, may be regarded as a new contribution, in a way, because it presents the subject from that standpoint in a far more concise form than was possible in the original series of translations from Oriental chroniclers, and it keeps in view at the same time the two volumes of Professor Lane- Poole immediately preceding it in the present series. Tributes to the value of Elliot’s monumental work are many, but one of the best estimates of its worth was given by Lane-Poole himself, from whom the following paragraph is, in part, a quotation. “To realize Medieval India there is no better way than to dive into the eight volumes of the priceless History of India as told by its own Historians, which Sir H. M. Elliot conceived and began, and which Professor Dowson edited and completed with infinite labor and learning. It is a revelation of Indian life as seen through the eyes of the Persian court analysts. As a source it is invaluable, and no modern historian of India can afford to neglect it. It is, however, a mine to be worked, not a consecutive history, and its wide leaps in chronology, its repetitions, recurrences, and omissions, render it no easy guide for general readers.” On this latter point I desire to lay emphasis and also to add that in order to bring so extensive a mass of material within the compass of a single volume I have been obliged to exercise the utmost circumspection and to confine the selections simply to those which would represent the main outlines of the most important reigns, spread over nearly a thousand years, keeping in view at the same time the aim of supplementing the two preceding books in the series without undue crossing or unnecessary repetition. In discharging this somewhat difficult task I have received material aid, which I desire to acknowledge, from my friend and pupil, Dr. Louis H. Gray. I hope that those who may use the book will find that fair justice has been done to the merits of the various Mohammedan historians included in it. We owe much to their records as a means of understanding the Moslem conquest of Hindustan better than would otherwise be possible, and we also find them helpful in preventing us from being led away too far in other directions, if former prejudice might incline us to be biased or to see only the side of the conquered. In dealing with the text of the excerpts, considerable latitude has been used – an example which was set by Sir Henry Elliot himself, as well as by Professor Dowson and the various translators who lent their aid in converting the original Oriental accounts into English. Condensation was essential, excisions were often necessary, while certain changes in phraseology seemed frequently advisable; but never has the tone or spirit of the original been departed from, as will be clear to anyone who will take the trouble to consult Elliot’s complete work, which must always remain the standard and the ultimate source for the special student and historian to use. In arranging the selections I have tried to make the story a more or less continuous one and have endeavored to make the connections clear by introductory and transfer paragraphs, indicating also by ‘single quotes’ the point where the account of the native annalist begins and ends. The story as told by these Oriental writers has a quality of its own; and that will best be appreciated when the events described are read in connection with the two preceding volumes, to which this volume forms a supplement and sequel. The photogravures, half-tones, and cuts which serve as illustrations have been selected with the same attention as throughout the rest of the series. With these words I leave the Eastern chroniclers to narrate their own events after their own manner. A. V. Williams Jackson CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. ARAB CONQUEST OF SINDH .. .. .. .. .. .. 1 2. THE HOLY WARS OF ISLAM WAGED AGAINST HINDUSTAN BY SABUKTAGIN AND MAHMUD OF GHAZNI .. .. .. 20 3. RISE OF THE HOUSE OF GHOR .. .. .. .. .. 45 4. KUTB-AD-DIN AYBEK AND ALTAMISH - TWO OF THE SLAVE KINGS .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 50 5. RAZIYA, THE MOHAMMEDAN EMPRESS OF INDIA .. .. 61 6. THE EARLIER CAREER OF ULUGH KHAN, AFTERWARDS EMPEROR BALBAN .. .. .. .. 65 7. ALA-AD-DIN'S CONQUESTS IN THE DECCAN .. .. .. 82 8. SOME MEASURES OF MOHAMMAD TAGIELAK AND OF FIROZ SHAH .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 90 9. TIMUR'S ACCOUNT OF HIS INVASION OF INDIA ANDSACKOFDELHI .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 103 10. THE MEMOIRS OF THE EMPEROR BABAR .. .. .. .. 130 11. BEGINNING OF THE REIGN OF THE EMPEROR HUMAYAN .. 152 12. AKBAR'SRELIGIOUSVIEWS,ASDESCRIBEDBYBADAUNI .. 161 13. FROM THE MEMOIRS OF THE EMPEROR JAHANGIR .. .. 170 14. SOME INCIDENTS OF SHAH JAHAN'S REIGN .. .. .. 183 Chapter 1 – Arab Conquest Of Sindh Arabesque from a Mohammedan Tomb. As the history of Mohammedan rule in India begins with the conquest of Sindh by the Moslems, it seems fitting to present an account of the Arab invasion as told by one of their own historians. Such a narrative we have, for example, from the pen of al- Baladhuri of Baghdad, a Mussulman chronicler who wrote contemporaneously with many of the events he described, and died in the year 892 A.D., hardly a hundred years after the Mohammedans had gained their first foothold in Hindustan. His narrative, which is here slightly abridged, should be compared with the main current of events described in the first chapter of the third volume of this series for a clearer understanding of some of the incidents whose importance was not fully realized in his time. But it is best to allow al-Baladhuri to tell his own story. Ali ibn Mohammad ibn Abdallah ibn Abu Saif has related that the Caliph Omar ibn al- Khattab appointed Osman ibn Abu-l-Asi of the tribe of Sakif to Bahrain and Oman in the year 15 A.H. (636 A.D.). Osman sent his brother Hakam to Bahrain, while he himself went to Oman and dispatched an army to Tana. When the army returned, he wrote to the Caliph Omar to inform him of it. Omar wrote in reply: “O brother of Sakif, thou has placed the worm in the wood, but I swear that if our men had been killed, I would have slain an equal number from thy tribe.” Hakam dispatched a force to Barauz (Broach); he also sent to the bay of Daibul his brother Mughira, who met and defeated the enemy. When Osman ibn Akkan became caliph, he appointed Abdallah ibn Amar ibn Kuraiz to the government of Irak, and wrote to him an order to send someone to the confines of Hind in order to acquire knowledge and bring back information. He accordingly deputed Hakim ibn Jaballa al-Abdi. When this man returned, he was sent to the caliph, who questioned him about the state of those regions. He replied that he knew them because he had examined them. The caliph then told him to describe them. He said: “Water is scarce, the fruits are poor, and the robbers are bold; if few troops are sent History of India, Volume 5; Copyright © www.sanipanhwar.com 1 there, they will be slain; if many, they will starve.” Osman asked him whether he spoke literally or metaphorically. He said that he spoke according to his knowledge. The caliph abstained from sending any expedition there. At the end of the year 38 or the beginning of the year 39 A.H. (659 A.D.), in the caliphate of Ali ibn Abu-Salib, Haras ibn Marra-al-Abdi went with the sanction of the caliph to the same frontier as a volunteer. He was victorious, got plunder, made captives, and distributed a thousand heads in one day. Seals of Early Caliphs He and all but a few of those who were with him were slain in the land of Kikan in the year 42 A.H. (662 A.D.). Kikan is in Sindh near the frontiers of Khorasan. In the year 44 A.H. (664 A.D.), and in the days of the Caliph Mu’awiya, Muhallab ibn Abu-Safra made war upon the same frontier, and advanced as far as Banna (Bannu) and Alahwar (Lahore), which lie between Multan and Kabul. The enemy opposed him and killed him and his followers. In the reign of Mu’awiya, the Amir Abdallah ibn Amir or, History of India, Volume 5; Copyright © www.sanipanhwar.com 2 according to some, Mu’awiya himself, sent Abdallah ibn Suar-al-Abdi to the frontier of Hind. He fought in Kikan and captured booty. He then came to Mu’awiya and presented him with some Kikan horses. He staid near the caliph some time, and then returned to Kikan, whereupon the Turks mobilized their forces and slew him. In the reign of this same Mu’awiya, Ziyad ibn Abu-Sufian appointed Sinan, a good and godly man, commander. He proceeded to the frontier, and having subdued Mekran and its cities by force, he stayed there and established his power in the country.