288 IBRAHIM NIZAM SHAH. he puts himself The Bee Meean Munjoo Deccany is appointed minister.-Yekhlas Khan is pardoned, and permitted to return to court at the head of a party to oppose Meean Munjoo. japoor ambassador is insulted, and quits the court. - A war ensues. - The leaders of the opposite parties unite and march with the King to the Beejapoor frontier. Meean Munjoo proposes to his colleague, Yekhlas Khan, that they should obtain peace, and unite with Ibrahim Adil Shah for the purpose of repelling the encroachments of Akbur Padshah of Dehly.His proposal is overruled. A battle is brought on through the intemperance of the King, who is killed, and his army defeated. Meean Munjoo sends the King's only son Bahadur, an infant in arms, to the fort of Chawund- he brings a boy named Ahmud from the fort of Dowlutabad, and raises him to the throne. AFTER the death of his father, Ibrahim Nizam Shah succeeded to the throne, and in conformity with his dying request, he appointed his father's tutor, Meean Munjoo Deccany, to be his prime minister. Upon his accession, Yekhlas Khan (though he had during the late reign opposed his sovereign in the field) now made overtures to obtain pardon; and the King and his new minister, taking into consideration the daring and ambitious character of Yekhlas Khan, thought it politic to grant it. He no sooner arrived at Ahmudnuggur than he began to collect a number of Abyssinians and Movullids about his person; which being observed by the minister, he began also to collect adherents, so that in fact, in a few days, it was evident that two parties existed, each of whom insisted on preeminence. The consequence was, that the affairs of state were thrown into confusion, and civil war appeared inevitable. In every meeting it was discussed, whether it were not advisable to march against the King of Beejapoor; and both parties behaved insolently towards Meer Sufvy, the ambassador of Ibrahim Adil Shah II., who had arrived to condole and congratulate as is usual in lineal successions to the throne; a conduct the more unjustifiable, when we know he was a syud of indisputable descent. Ibrahim Adil Shah no sooner heard of these proceedings than he declared war, and marched to Shahdoorg for the purpose of supporting Ibrahim Nizam Shah, who had now entirely lost his authority. Yekhlas Khan made preparations to oppose the Beejapoories; while the minister, Mean Munjoo, making overtures to him, proposed that a peace should be concluded with Ibrahim Adil Shah, in order that the whole of the forces of the Deccan might co-operate against the intended invasion of Akbur Padshah. Yekhlas Khan, however, was not to be diverted from his purpose, and determined to risk every thing by fighting an action with Ibrahim Adil Shah. Meean Munjoo said nothing, while Ibrahim Nizam Shah assented to the measure. When the Nizam Shahy troops reached the frontier they found that Ibrahim Adil Shah had yet made no attack on the Nizam Shahy territory, and Meean Munjoo again ventured to recommend that over tures for peace should first be made; but Ibrahim Nizam Shah, having engaged in a fit of debauchery, thought of nothing less than retreating; and accordingly, having passed the frontier, he levied contributions on the Beejapoor villages. Humeed Khan, the Adil Shahy general in advance, marched to oppose him; and Meean Munjoo, who saw matters approaching to a crisis, sent some confidential persons to Humeed Khan, apologising for the King's conduct; saying, that he was but a boy; that he had given himself up to drinking, and was in the hands of designing and wicked people; that the present also was the month of Zeehuj; that it was unlawful to fight in these days; and he therefore requested that he would defer attacking Ibrahim Nizam Shah for a short time, before the expiration of which, he hoped to bring the King's mind to consent to peace. Meean Munjoo having pledged himself to refrain from attack, Humeed Khan avoided the Nizam Shahies, and encamped at the distance of two miles from them; but Ibrahim Nizam Shah concluding that this manœuvre proceeded from the weakness of Humeed Khan's force, resolved to attack him on the following day; and although Meean Munjoo and several officers sat up the whole night to endeavour to restrain his folly, he persisted in drinking, and on the next day attacked Humeed Khan. The two armies consisted of nearly fifty thousand cavalry besides infantry: a severe action ensued, but a most extraordinary occurrence took place. The right wing of the Nizam Shahies broke the left of the Adil Shahies, while those on the right wing compelled the enemy's left to give way, pursuing them to the distance of six miles from the field of action. Ibrahim Nizam Shah, who was with the right wing, concluded he had gained a victory, while Soheil Khan, who commanded the Adil Shahy right wing, still kept his ground during the night, which closed the action. On the morning, the opponents were mutually astonished each to find his enemy still on the ground; and Ibrahim Nizam Shah adding some strong doses of liquor to the former night's debauch, ordered his troops under arms, many of whom were absent in pursuit of the fugitives of the Adil Shahy left wing, while others were employed in plunder. Soheil Khan, the second in command in camp, now took the command of the Adil Shahies, and sustained the onset of the Nizam Shahies, headed in person by their King, who, receiving a shot in the head, was killed, and his troops fled to Ahmudnuggur with his body. Meean Munjoo also accompanied them; and upon his arrival at the capital, sent for Ahmud, a boy of twelve years of age, from Dowlutabad, where he had been confined, under the pretence that he was one of the royal family; at the same time the late King's son Bahadur, then a child in arms, was sent away to be kept in the fort of Chawund. Thus fell Ibrahim Nizam Shah, after a short reign of four months. 292 AHMUD, THE SON OF SHAH TAHIR. The nobles unite with Meean Munjoo in raising Ahmud to the throne. Yekhlas Khan institutes an enquiry into his origin. His pretensions to royal descent disputed.- Meean Munjoo and his minion are besieged in the fort by Yekhlas Khan. He obtains the release of Nehung Khan and Hubbusk Khan, two chiefs confined in Dowlutabad; and being unable to obtain possession of the Prince Bahadur, the son of the late King, he procures a boy of the same age in the bazar of Ahmudnuggur, and proclaims him King. Meean Munjoo sends a deputation to the Prince Moorad Mirza, the son of Akbur Padshah of Dehly, inviting him to march to Ahmudnuggur. Dissensions among Yekhlas Khan's party. Meean Munjoo attacks and defeats it. The Prince Moorad Mirza reaches Ahmudnuggur with an army of thirty thousand men. Meean Munjoo resolves to oppose them - takes measures to defend the fort. - Leaves Chand Beeby there, and quits the fort with Ahmud Shah. Chand Beeby procures the assassination of the governor of the fort, and proclaims her grandnephew, Bahadur Nizam Shah, King. Forms a regency.Ahmudnuggur besieged.— Four pretenders to the throne.— Chand Beeby unites with one of the parties headed by Nehung Khan, an Abyssinian chief.— The King of Beejapoor sends a division of twelve thousand men to co-operate with Chand Beeby under Soheil Khan. Meean Munjoo and Yekhlas Khan also join him. The King of Golconda sends an army of six thousand cavalry to assist in repelling the Moguls.The Moguls storm Ahmudnuggur. Gallant defence of the garrison. Intrepidity of Chand Beeby. The Moguls are repulsed. A treaty concluded, by which the Nizam Shahy state formally cedes the sovereignty of Berar.- The Moguls retreat. The allies arrive at Ahmudnuggur. The claims of Bahadur Shah established. - Chand Beeby appointed regent and the late King Ahmud is provided with an estate by Ibrahim Adil Shah of Beejapoor. |