Shams Siraj Afif was born in the mid-14th
century to an aristocratic family that had served the Sultans of Delhi since the
days of Alauddin Khalji. He had joined imperial service during the
reign of Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq and watched the once mighty Sultanate gradually decline
into insignificance. Central Asian raider Taimur's invasion and the subsequent sacking
of Delhi (1398) destroyed the last vestiges of the empire's prestige. Chaos prevailed
in the provinces and the local gentry raised the standard of revolt. Under these
circumstances, Afif decided to write a chronicle titled, ‘Tarikh-i-Firozshahi
(History of Firozshah Tughlaq). It reflects Afif's desire for the restoration
of the Sultanate’s power. In the following excerpt from his book, he recounts how
things used to be during Alauddin Khalji's times. This
also happens to be the birth story of Firoz Shah Tughaq, a future Sultan of
Delhi:
Three brothers, Tughlik, Abu-Bakr
and Rajab arrived from Khurasan to Delhi during
the reign of Sultan Alauddin. ‘By the grace of the Almighty, the Sultan treated
them with great kindness and favour'. Afif writes,...All three were taken into the imperial service.
Recognizing their talent and energy, Alauddin conferred on Tughlik the country
of Dipalpur (Punjab) and asked his brothers to assist him in governing the
province.
Around this time Tughlik was seeking a suitable match for his brother Rajab (now a Sipah Salar in the Sultanate army). He was told that the daughter of Rana Mall Bhatti (a Rai/zamindar) was extremely pretty and accomplished. After some consultation with the Amaladar of Abohar, (In those days all the arable lands and jungles belonging to the Bhattis and were attached to the township of Abohar), Tughlik Shah sent some ‘cultured and intelligent’ representatives to Rana Mall with a proposal for marriage.
When the messengers met Rana, not
only did he refuse the proposal but also made some unseemly and improper comments
about the birth and background of Tughlik Shah’s family. Both the news of his
refusal and the comments he had made about Tughlik Shah’s family were
communicated to him.
Bent upon avenging this slight,
Tughlik Shah met the Amaladar of Abohar and devised a plan to harass the
Rana into submission. Revenue officials were dispatched to the talwandis
(villages) belonging to Rana Mall and asked to demand the year’s revenue in
full immediately and in cash. All the Chaudhuries and Muquddams (village
headmen) living within Rana’s territory were tied up and beaten with bamboo
sticks till they became desperate and begged for mercy. At this point, our
chronicler Afif, breaks the narrative to observe, “The Rana’s people were
helpless and could do nothing for those were the days of Alauddin and no one dared
to make any hue and cry.”
On the third day, during the
evening prayer, Rana’s mother, who was an elderly lady, entered his house and
started ‘crying and tearing her hair’. Rana’s daughter, who was close by, heard
the wailing and came over to inquire about the commotion. Rana’s mother
replied, ‘I am weeping on your account, for it is through you that Tughlik Shah
is weighing so heavily on the people of this land.” Listening to these words the
high-spirited noble girl exclaimed, “If surrendering me will deliver our people
from this misery comply instantly with the demand and send me to him; consider
that Mughals carried off one of your daughters.” Following this conversation,
Rana sent a messenger to Tughlik Shah expressing his assent to the marriage. Subsequently,
the damsel was brought to Dipalpur. Her maiden name had been Bibi Naila; on
entering the house of Sipal-Salar Rajab, she was styled Sultan Bibi Kadbanu.
After a lapse of a few years, 'at a most auspicious hour', she gave birth to a boy who was named Kamaluddin Firuz. In 1351 when Sultan Muhammad Bin Tughlaq died without leaving behind a son or successor, Kamaluddin Firuz was chosen to be the Sultan at Delhi. He assumed the title of Firuz Shah Tughlaq and ruled until his death in 1388.
Bibliography:
The Cambridge Economic History of India, Vol. 1 (1200-1750) ed. Irfan Habib and Tapan Raychaudhuri, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1982
The History of India As Told by its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, Sir HM Elliot, ed. John Dowson, Sushil Gupta Limited, Calcutta, 1955
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