Meeran Hoossein, being unworthy to govern, had been deposed, and that he had been succeeded by his cousin Ismael, who should appear and receive their homage. Jumal Khan became more clamorous, and sent persons to proclaim through the city, that the minister, aided by his foreign mercenaries, had deposed their sovereign, and seated another prince on the throne, and that if he were allowed to make kings and to act uncontrolled in this manner, the native nobles and inhabitants of the country would soon become slaves to foreign adventurers. The Deccany troops and the inhabitants, inflamed by this proclamation, flew to arms, and in a short time about five thousand horse and foot, with a numerous mob, joined Jumal Khan, who was also supported by all the Abyssinians. Mirza Khan, thinking to appease the tumult by the death of Meeran Hoossein, commanded his head to be struck off, and placing it on a pole, planted it on one of the bastions of the citadel. At the same time, a person cried out to the multitude below, that as they must now be convinced of the death of the King, if they would retire quietly to their houses they should be rewarded by the favour of Ismael Nizam Shah, now their sovereign. Several of the leaders proposed to retire; but Jumal Khan cried out, that if Meeran Hoossein were murdered, they ought to revenge his death on the foreigners, take into their own hands the administration of the government of Ismael Nizam Shah, and not suffer the country to be governed by strangers. On this, a resolution was formed to attack the fort; and having heaped piles of wood and straw against the gates, the mob set them on fire. About sunset, the gates were burned; but the quantity of hot ashes yet glowing prevented any one passing in or out till midnight, when Mirza Khan and his friends rushed from the citadel, and tried to make their escape. Numbers of others were slain in the attempt by the populace; but Mirza Khan having effected his retreat, fled towards the fort of Joonere. The Deccany troops, the Abyssinians, and the mob, having entered the fort, put to death every foreigner they found within, amounting to nearly three hundred, among whom were several persons of high rank and eminent character. Their bodies were dragged out on the open plain, and orders given that they should lie unburied. Not content with the past slaughter, Jumal Khan commanded his adherents to murder the foreigners of every rank and occupation in the city, and to plunder and burn their dwellings. The soldiers and their followers, being once let loose, put to death indiscriminately the noble, the master, the servant, the merchant, the pilgrim, and the travelling stranger. Their houses were set on fire, and the heads of those lately exalted to the skies were brought low, and trampled in the dust; while the very females, who from modesty concealed their faces from the sun and moon, were dragged by the hair into the assemblages of the drunken. On the fourth day, Mirza Khan, who had been seized near Joonere, was brought to Jumal Khan, and being first carried through the city on an ass, his body was hewn in pieces, which were affixed on different buildings. Several of his friends taken with him were also put to death, and their bodies being rammed into cannon, were blown into the air. In the space of seven days, nearly a thousand foreigners were murdered; some few only escaping under the protection of Deccany or Abyssinian officers. The reign of Meeran Hoossein Nizam Shah lasted only ten months and three days. Among those princes recorded in history as murderers of their fathers, we find none whose reigns extended beyond one year; and a poet observes, 66 Royalty befitteth not the destroyer "of a parent, nor will the reign of such a wretch "be long." 276 ISMAEL NIZAM SHAH. - The power of Jumal Khan is firmly established - he becomes leader of a sect called Mehdvies. All the surviving foreigners in the dominions required to quit them. The author quits Ahmudnuggur, and proceeds to Beejapoor.- Sulabut Khan, the exiled minister, leads an army from Berar to oppose Jumal Khan-is defeated. The regent of Beejapoor also leads an army against him. Peace concluded. Jumal Khan pays eighty-five thousand pounds sterling to defray the expense of the war. Chand Beeby, the Dowager of Ally Adil Shak, is required to be sent to Beejapoor.— The Emperor Akbur supports the claim of Boorhan, the father of the young King, and who for many years had quitted the court and lived in exile, from apprehension of his brother Moortuza Nizam Shah the Mad. Boorhan is also supported by the court of Beejapoor. - Jumal Khan defeats the Beejapoor army, and marches to oppose that of Boorhan. — A battle ensues. Jumal Khan is killed. The young King escapes from the field, but is afterwards taken and confined by his father, who ascends the throne under the title of Boorhan Nizam Shah II. Ir has been already mentioned in the history of Moortuza Nizam Shah, that his brother, Boorhan Nizam Shah, having been foiled in an attempt to dethrone him, fled for protection to the court of the Emperor Akbur. On his departure, he left behind him his two sons, Ibrahim and Ismael, who were confined in the fortress of Lohgur. The younger being raised to the throne, on the death of Meeran Hoossein Nizam Shah, assumed the title of Ismael Nizam Shah, and was acknowledged by the successful partisan, Jumal Khan. * Vide vol. iii. p. 263. Jumal Khan being of the sect of Mehdvy persuaded the King to embrace the same tenets, and to commit the power of government into the hands of his followers. In the beginning of his administration, he obliged the few foreigners who had escaped the massacre in the last reign to quit Ahmudnuggur, after scizing their effects. Most of these obtained service with the King of Beejapoor. Among them was the writer of this history, who subsequently obtained rank at that court. The Mehdvies are a schismatic sect of Mahomedans. They assert that in the year 960 (A. D. 1550 *) a person of the Hunefy sect, styling himself Syud Mahomed, was in reality the promised Imam Mehdvy; and as there were some circumstances which the impostor turned to his advantage, representing them to be the signs of the coming of the Imam Mehdvy, many people of India believed him to be the real Imam. Among these believers was Jumal Khan, commonly called Mehdvy, and who was considered as the leader of that sect in the service of Ismael Nizam Shah. He had at dif ferent times distinguished himself by his personal courage, and particularly on the occasion of the accession of the King, who was now a mere pageant in the hands of this wily chieftain. He commenced his power by persecuting all those not of his own persuasion, and by promoting to high offices, and retaining about his person, such as were * The sect is tolerably numerous in the Deccan, but is confined to certain tribes of Afghans. The nabobs of Curnool, Elichpoor, Tooljapoor, and others living under the Nizam's government, are all of this persuasion. |