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The History of India From the Earliest
Ages Volume IV Part I Mussulman Rule p. 136. Author: J. Talboys
Wheeler
At
the beginning of the reign of Akbar, Baz Bhadur was ruler of Malwa.
He was a type of the Mussulman princes of the time; no doubt he went
to mosque; he surrounded himself with Hindu singing and dancing
girls; he became more or less Hinduised. Akbar sent an officer named
Adham Khan to conquer Malwa. Adham Khan had no difficulty. Baz
Bhadur abandoned his treasures and harem and fled. Adham Khan
distributed part of the spoil among his soldiers; he kept the
treasures and harem for himself....The Mussulmans generally
respected the harems of their fellow-Mussulmans. They had no
scruples regarding Hindu women. The favorite mistress of Baz Bhadur
is said to have poisoned herself rather than yield to the advances
of Adham Khan.
In effect the murderer of Rupmati,
he came to an unhappy end. He sent
little of the loot from Mandu to his overlord, Akbar. The emperor
made a quick march to Malwa; Adham Khan made restitution and begged
forgiveness. Ostensibly Akbar agreed, but he refused to give Adham
Khan further missions. The general, thinking that the Prime Minister
was responsible for his disgrace, murdered him in a rage in the
court. Akbar, coming on the body drew his sword, intending to kill
his general. But instead he ordered his servants to throw the
general to his death from a parapet.
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But that is not the end of Baz
Bhadur's story. Governorship of Malwa was given to Akbar's
former tutor, Pir Ahmed Khan. This worthy had no idea of how
to rule, and Baz Bahadur returned to oust him. The Pir was
defeated, and drowned in the Narbada River. But Akbar sent
another general against Baz Bahadur, Khan Uzbek. Defeated a
second time, Baz Bahadur accepted service under Akbar, who
always sought to turn former enemies into friends. He was
given given 2000 fighters to command. We await further
research on what happened next.
The above account is from M.
Elphinstone's History of India, London 1866; p. 501. |
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