An Empire Builder of the Sixteenth Century An empire builder of the sixteenth century; a summary account of the political career of Zahir-ud-din Muhammad, surnamed Babur

Front matter

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NEVE COLLEGE

AN EMPIRE BUILDER OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Introduction

BABUR’S PLACE IN INDIAN HISTORY; BEING A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE POLITICS OF HINDUSTAN IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO THE MUGHAL INVASION

ERHAPS in the whole course of medizeval history there is no period which shocks our modern sense of political decorum

so violently as the hundred years constituting the fifteenth century of the Christian era. The fourteenth century, in East and West alike, had been a period of promising, if premature, development. There had grown up everywhere compact, centraliséd monarchies, strong to all outward appearance; prepared, as it would seem, to play a great part in the amelioration of social and political conditions. In the civilisation of the West, the middle classes had begun to demand and to receive a share of power: in the East, strong monarchs had arisen, who had encouraged trade, extended their dominions on all sides maintained the peace, and suppressed disorder with a ruthless hand. But to this sudden and precocious development there succeeded a period of decay still more startlingly rapid. The political units which had seemed so stable prove to be lacking in all the essentials of unity: the centralised monarchies which had seemed so strong fall apart into a helpless congeries of jarring fragments. The elements of disorder, which had apparently been banished, make their appearance in forces more formidable than ever. In East and West alike, the fifteenth century is a time of unparalleled confusion, an irrational, formless epoch, lacking alike in the elements of coherence and stability. Political society seems to be in the melting pot; history at first sight takes on the guise of ignoble scuffling of kites and crows: and the casual observer despairs of discovering any clue to the bewildering confusion of parties, factions and polities.

And yet a more careful examination reveals at length the falsity of such an impression. The confusion, bewildering as it may seem, is a mere ruffiing of the surface of things, which leaves almost unaffected the lower depths where the vital constituents of society lie concealed. Beneath all the apparent chaos, the elements from which in the future modern political society will be constructed, are slowly taking shape, until the moment comes when they rise into view, dominant and incontrovertible.

It is the peculiarity of the sixteenth century of the Christian era that in East and West alike it witnessed the commencement of this process of reconstruction. The change was not an unmixed blessing. The fifteenth century, for all its confusion and pettiness, had been an epoch when the arts of life had flourished. In the little courts of the little princes, whether of India or of Europe, building and the fine arts had in certain directions been cultivated to a pitch of perfection which in its own way has never been equalled, far less Surpassed, by any subsequent epoch. The sixteenth century, a period of comprehensive schemes and fair-reaching enterprises, is in many respects harder and less humane. Drawn on a bolder Scale, it lacks at once the delicacy and the minuteness which distinguish the more elaborate and less obvious design of . the period immediately preceding.

The beginning of the sixteenth century in India as elsewhere is thus a period of transition, and in order that it may become intelligible, it must be looked at in the light of the conditions out of which it has taken shape.

In the first half of the fourteenth century, the armies of the Khiljis and the Tughlaqs had carried the banners of the kingdom of Delhi far and wide. From the Sindh to the Bay of Bengal, from the Himalayas to the Krishna, the dynasty of Delhi held sway. That this sway was at all times effectual cannot be maintained in the face of authenticated facts. The

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$ *“chitoS} ana EF IG ec == wich frequently occurring revolts in outlying districts, which too often make a king’s reign assume the guise of one protracted military expedition, show that these monarchs were not completely masters in their own house. Yet there can be no question that Ala-ud-din Khilji and Muhammad bin Tughlak exercised over their dominions an authority that was, broadly speaking, effective.

In the second half of the fourteenth century, the picture gradually changes. As the central authority grows weak in proportion to the strain thrown upon it by the burden of empire, one by one the outlying provinces become troublesome. In most cases, events follow the same course. A trusted servant of the reigning king is sent to put down disorder. He finds himself master of a compact province, in touch with local interests, out of touch with the court of Delhi. Insensibly he becomes an independent monarch, sometimes after an unsuccessful attempt has been made to reduce him to obedience, more often after death or intrigue has removed his -old master and set up on the throne of Delhi a Pharaoh who knows not Joseph. And in this way it came about that the empire of Delhi was reduced to a shadow of its former self, until the invasion of Timur in 1398 brought the tottering structure to the ground, and invested its end, all undeservedly, with the dignity of a tragedy. Thus, during the fifteenth century, there is no history of Hindustan: for Hindustan has become a mass of separate states. Yet the history of these states is well worthy of attention, since they were the embodiment of the materials with which the constructional work of the next century was to be carried on.

Taking our stand in the middle decade of the fifteenth century, we observe that these petty realms fall into four well-defined groups. First, there is what may be called the Northern belt of Muhammadan powers, which sweeps in a eteat semicircle from the mouth of the Sindh to the Bay of Bengal. At the southern extremity, we have the kingdom of Sindh: further north, that of Multan: next, the Panjab, nominally a vice-royalty of Delhi, but in practice the preserve of three powerful Afghan families. Then comes Delhi itself, with its immediate neighbourhood, the rulers of which still claim to be Emperors of Hindustan, despite the ridicule excited far and wide by their pretensions. To the south and east lies Jaunpur, the capital of the Sharqi dynasty, which rules the bulk of the land constituting the modern provinces of Agra and Oudh: while further eastward still is the kingdom of Bengal, living its life apart, and taking but small share in the ephemeral politics of Hindustan. The second group may be termed the Southern Muhammadan belt. First is Gujarat on the west, a well-defined geographical unit. Farther east is Malwa with Mandu as its capital. South of Malwa is the little kingdom of Khandesh. And south of Khandesh is the great realm of the Deccan, ruled by its Bahmanid dynasty. Wedged in between the Northern and the Southern band of Muhammadan states lies Rajputana, deathless and indomitable after centuries of exterminating warfare, fast regaining some measure of its old strength through the divisions which have overtaken the politics of Islam. Of its principalities the more notable are Marwar, and, above all, Mewar, now rapidly rising into a power of the first rank. To the south of the Southern Muhammadan belt there lies another great Hindu power, the empire of Vijayanagar, whose wars with its northern neighbours make up much of the history of Southern India during the fifteenth century : while to the east lies the Hindu kingdom of Orissa, politically of little importance, but acting as a barrier, more or less effectual, to the southerly expansion of Bengal. With the kingdoms of the Far South we are not concerned. They are too remote from Hindustan proper to be of any account in our estimate of the political situation of that region. To sum up, then, the distribution of political forces in the middle of the fifteenth century. There are two great groups of Muhammadan

* There was a contemporary Persian saying: Badshahi Shah Alam, Az Delhi ta Palam.

“The empire of Shah Alam stretches from Delhi to Palam.” Palam is a village quite close at hand.

powers, each group menaced on the south by a formidable Hindu polity. I propose to outline in the briefest possible manner, the development of each of these kingdoms, so that, at the end of our survey, we may be in a position to form some estimate of the political forces which have to be reckoned with in Hindustan at the opening of the sixteenth century. We shall find it, I think, most convenient to start from the south, and work upwards, finally concentrating the knowledge we have acquired upon a single central point—the Afghan Kingdom of Delhi. i

The origin of the great Hindu empire of Vijayanagar is very obscure. It certainly took its rise from the confusion into which the terrible raids of Muhammad bin Tughlak plunged the somewhat decadent Hindu states of the south. Suddenly awakened tto the necessity of opposing to the forces of Islam some fresh political combination, two Kanarese feudatories of the recently extinguished Hoysala power, Bakka and Harihara, erected a new empire upon the ruins of many old ones. Little is known of the personality of the first two rulers: both must have been strong men, possessed of political insight, for their kingdom grew with amazing rapidity. Bakka is said to have reigned from 1334 to 1367, and his brother from 1367 to 1391. Half a century after Harihara’s death, the kingdom was visited by an Arabian ambassador named Abd-ur-razzak, who has left in his book Matla-us-Sadain, a striking description of its power and prosperity. From this description the following extracts are taken :—

“From our former relation, and well-adjusted narrative, well-informed readers will have ascertained that the writer Abd-ur-razzak had arrived at the city of Vijayanagar. There he saw a city exceedingly large and populous, and a king of great power and dominion, whose kingdom extended from the borders of Sarandip to those of Gulbarga, and from Bengal to Malabar, a space of more than 1000 parasangs. The country is for the most part well cultivated and fertile, and about three hundred good seaports belong to it. There are more than 1000 elephants, lofty as the hills and gigantic as demons. The army consists of eleven lacs of men (1,100,000), In the whole of Hindustan there is no rai more absolute. Rai is the title by which the kings of that country are designated.

“The city of Vijayanagar is such that eye has not seen nor ear heard of any place resembling it upon the whole earth. It is so built that it has seven fortified walls, one within the other. Beyond the circuit of the outer wall there is an esplanade extendng for about fifty yards, in which stones are fixed near one another to the height of a man; one half is buried firmly in the earth, and the other half rises above it, so that neither foot nor horse, however bold, can advance with facility near the outer wall,

“The fortress is in the form of a circle, situated on the summit of a hill, and is made of stone and mortar, with strong gates, where guards are always posted, who are very diligent in the collection of taxes (j/zyat).

“The seventh fortress is placed in the centre of the others, and occupies ground ten times greater than the chief market of Hirat. In that is situated the palace of the king. From the northern gate of the outer fortress to the southern is a dstance of two statute parasangs, and the same with respect to the distance between the eastern and western gates. Between the first, second, and third walls, there are cultivated fields, gardens, and houses. From the third to the seventh fortress, shops and bazars are closely crowded together. By the palace of the king there are four bazars, situated opposite to one another, That which lies to the north is the imperial palace or abode of the Rai. At the head of each bazar, there is a lofty arcade and magnificent gallery, but the palace of the king is loftier than all of them. The bazars are very broad and long, so that the sellers of flowers, notwithstanding that they place high stands before their shops, are yet able to sell flowers from both sides. Sweet-scented flowers are always procurable fresh in that city, and they are considered as necessary sustenance, seeing that without them the people could not even exist. The tradesmen of each separate guild or craft have their shops close to one another. The jewellers sell their rubies and pearls and diamonds and emeralds openly in the bazar. .

“This country is so well populated that it is impossible in a reasonable space to convey an idea of it. In the king’s treasury there 2re chambers, with excavations in them, filled with molten gold, forming one mass. All the inhabitants of the country, whether high or low, even down to the artificers of the bazar, wear jewels and gilt ornaments in their ears and around their necks, arms, wrists, ond - fingers.” 2 ‘ But what, it may be asked, can have been the political importance to Hindustan in the fifteenth century of a kingdom s0 remote? Briefly the answer is as follows. The Rayas of Vijayanagar were engaged in a constant struggle with the states constituting what I have called the Southern Muhammadan belt, weakening their resources, disturbing their combinations, threatening their safety, and thus effectually preventing any one of them from acquiring such an ascendance over the others as would have exposed Rajputana to a combined attack from its enemies on the south. Such is the political influence of Vijayanagar during the fifteenth century; and, in smaller degree, the same may be said of its much less important sister state Orissa.

This brings us to the Southern belt of Muhammadan powers, and first of all, to the great Bahmanid kingdom of the Deccan. Like all the Muhammadan kingdoms of the day, it found its origin in a successful revolt from Delhi. The Deccan provinces having become troublesome, a court favourite named Zafar Khan, surnamed Bahmani, was despatched to reduce them to order. Finding his task to his liking, he declared himself independent in 1347, under the title of Ala-ud-din. Until his death in 1358, he reigned prosperously over a vast dominion, stretching from Berar on the north to the River Krishna on the south, and from the ocean on the west to Indore on the east2 His son Muhammad, who succeeded him,

IElliot and Dowson, iv. 106—107.

*Zafar Khan seems to have made a great impression upon the men of his day, to jvdge from the number of legends which deal with his rise from obscurity to eminence. The favourite story is this; In his youth he was the servant of a Brahman, named Ganga. While ploughing his master’s field, the young man turned up a pot of gold coins, which he promptly delivered to his master. Ganga, struck by the honesty of the servant, cast his horoscope, and, discovering that he was destined for great things, had him edacated along with his own sons, When a suitable opportunity offered, the young man was taken to Delhi, where he quickly rose to favour and eminence. It was in gratitude to his old master, the legend runs, that Zafar Khan assumed the surname Bahmani.

was a mighty man of valour, who found ample scope for his fighting proclivities in struggles with his powerful neighbour, Vijayanagar. The kingdoms were for some time equally matched, but there is no doubt, despite the partialities of Muhammadan historians, that the expansion of the Bahmanid kingdom was effectually checked, so that later monarchs were fain to devote themselves more particularly to the arts of peace. Of these rulers the most notable was Firoz Shah (1397-1422), who may be called the Akbar of the South. Talented and eccentric, eclectic in his religion, a great builder, as the ruins of his capital Gulbarga yet witness, he presided beneficently over the golden age of his people. But perhaps the most notable thing about the Bahmanid empire is the disproportion which existed between its vast size and resources, and its small political importance. The explanation has already been furnished. But for the restraining influence of Vijayanagar, the Bahmanid kingdom might well have proved the centre of a fresh Muhammadan polity, embracing all Hindustan. As it was, its power rapidly declined. The dynasty became decadent. From 1450 onwards the extensive territory was only held together by the ability and energy of the famous Mahmud Gawan, whose courage, honesty and enlightenment have passed into a bye-word. After his unjust execution in 1481,?7 the Kingdom split up gradually into a number of independent states, of which the most important were Berar (1484—1527), Ahmadnagar (1489-1633), Bijapur (1489-1686), and Golconda

1¥iroz Shah is said te have had an extremely cultivated taste in wine and women—particularly the latter. His haram was popularly supposed to contain ladies of every known nationality, Occidental as well as Oriental. It was the king’s proudest boast that he could converse with every fair one in her own tongue. 2The false accusation and violent death of this upright minister eonstitute one of the tragedies of medieval India. His enemies forged @ letter under his seal, which purported to invite the Raja of Orissa to invade the kingdom. The date of his judicial murder is commemorated in the two popular tarikhs : Quil-i-na haqq. (‘‘The unjust slaying.’’), Bi gonah, Mahmud Gawan shahid shud. (‘‘Guiltless, Mahmud Gawan became a martyr.”’)

(1512-1687). From this multiplication of kingdoms there resulted, of course, a grave diminution of Muhammadan power in Central India at the opening of the sixteenth century. North of the Bahmanid realm, lay the small and relatively insignificant kingdom of Khandesh, which derived its origin from the day when Firoz bin Tughlak appointed one Malik Raja Farrukhi? governor of the country between the Satpura- Vindhia range and the Deccan plateau. Malik Raja shortly declared his independence, and ruled his small realm wisely and well until his death in 1399. His successor, Malik Nasir, attempted to interfere in the Deccan wars, but, as might be expected from the meagreness of his resources, with indifferent success. Under the last notable monarch, Adil Khan Farrukhi (1457-1503), great progress waS made in the civilisation of the country. The manufacture of gold and silver cloth, as well as the making of fine muslins, which still remain the staple industries, were then introduced under state encouragement. For some time the little kingdom lingered on as a political entity, protected by its very insignificance, until at least Akbar’s reign saw its close. Like the small states of fifteenth century Italy, it was the home of much quiet prosperity. Its political importance is slender: but it affords a good example of the manner in which the amenities of life may flourish under conditions which prohibit the exercise of the arts of politics. North again of Khandesh, lay the kingdom of Malwa. At first governed by a local Rajput dynasty, the land had been annexed in 1304 by Ala-ud-din Khilji. -Its independence dates. from the appointment of Dilawar Khan Ghori, a Delhi nobleman, aS viceroy in 1387. Quickly consolidating his position, in 1401 he declared himself king, founding a state which

The story of this man’s rise to favour, as told in the popular legend, is, whether true or false, typical of contemporary manners. Sultan Firoz, when on a hunting expedition, found himself separated from his retinue as night fell. Hecame upon the fire of a solitary hunter, who | invited him to share the meal which was being prepared. So excellent was the camp-cooking that the Sultan, revealing his identity, promptly took the stranger into his service. From this day onwards, Malik’s rise was so rapid that the surname Farrukhi (fortunate) was bestowed upon him, and by him was transmitted to the dynasty he founded.

INTRODUCTION 1f lasted until 1531. On the subsequent history of the kingdom we cannot dwell: suffice it to say that throughout the whole of its short career, Malwa suffered by its proximity to the rising Rajput power of Mewar, which was far too strong for it. Hoshang Shah (1405-1435), the greatest of its kings, succeeded in holding his own for some time: but towards the end of his reign, the great Rana Kumbha of Mewar proved irresistible. In 1440 the ambitious Mahmud Khan Khilji, who. @s Wazir, had seized the throne in 1435, was ignominiously defeated and captured by the Rajputs under Rana Kumbha. By the end of the fifteenth century the affairs of the kingdom are completely dominated by Rajputs. Hindus occupy the leading positions in the state: and the famous Rajput chieftain Medni Rao plays the part of kingmaker. When the puppet king Mahmud II; wearied of Hindu domination, invokes the aid of the King of Gujarat, Medni Rao calls in Rana Singram Singh of Mewar, who not only hales Mahmud captive to Chitor in 1519, but carries war into the sphere of Gujarat by storming and capturing Ahmadnagar in 1520. It is in the internal politics of Malwa that we see most clearly the working of that growing Rajput predominance which is the leading factor in the political situation at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Last of the Muhammadan kingdom of the South, comes Gujarat. This province had been conquered by the forces of Islam in 1196, and continued to be subject to the Kings of Delhi at any rate in name until the time of Timur’s invasion. For the whole of the previous decade signs of disorded had been apparent: and Muzaffar Khan, an administrator of marked ability, had been despatched from Delhi to restore good government. Throwing off the yoke of the Sultan, he set up in 1396 an independent kingdom which lasted until 1572. In 1410 Muzeffar was poisoned by his grandson, Ahmad Shah, who, despite the unpromising beginning of his reign, proved an able and successful ruler. He made head against the great Sultan Hoshang of Malwa, he regulated the army, he placed the finances upon a sound footing, and he laid the foundation for the future greatness of Gujart under Sultan Mahmud Bigarha

(1459-1511). This ruler, whose reign is still remembered as a golden age, was singularly fortunate both in home and foreign politics. Not only did he maintain good peace, and encourage trade: he succeeded, in addition, in opposing the formidable Rajput confederacy, extending his dominions by the conquest of Junahgarh and Champanir. His successor, Muzaffar IL, was, however, less favoured by fortune. In attempting to prevent Malwa from falling entirely under Hindu domination, he became involved in a disastrous war with Mewar. At his death, there was a disputed succession; and when Babur entered India on his fifth expedition, he found Gujarat distracted by internal troubles.

We now come to Rajputana, which at the close of the fifteenth century has begun once more to loom large on the political horizon. Mewar, long recognised as the premier state of the Rajput confederacy, had been raised to great power under the able Kumbha, whose reign of fifty years (1419-69) witnessed the erection of thirty-two out of the eighty-four fortresses by which his realm was defended. He successfully resisted all the attempts of his Muhammadan neighbours to check his rising power, and in 1440, at the head of forces estimated at the figure of 100,000 horse and foot and 1,400 elephants, he inflicted a crushing defeat upon the combined forces of Malwa and Gujarat. After his murder in 1469, his work was carried on by his successor Rai Mal, whose reign was, however, disturbed by the far-famed feuds of three knightly sons, Singram Singh, Prithwi Raj, and Jai Mal. At length in 1509, Singram Singh succeeded to the throne by the death of his brothers, In his reign, Mewar reached the zenith of her glory. “Eighty thousand horse, seven rajas of the highest rank, one hundred and four chieftains with five hundred war elephants, followed him into the field.” He controlled, directly or indirectly, the entire resources of Rajasthan. Eighteen pitched battles did he gain against the Kings of Delhi and Malwa: no force in Hindustan could face him in the field. As Shaikh Zain. afterwards wrote: “There was not a Single ruler of the first rank in all these great countries like Delhi,

Gujarat, and Mandu, who was able to make head against him. The banners of the infidel flaunted over two hundred cities inhabited by people of the Faith.’ Such was the power of the Hindu confederacy, and such the decline of the resources of Islam, when the balance was once more turned against the Rajputs by the coming of Babur and his Turkish warriors from the north.

The Muhammadan states of the Northern Circle need not. occupy much of our time. The little province of Sindh, the scene of the earliest advance of Islam into India, was too remote from Delhi to be effectually controlled from the capita!. In the course of the thirteenth century the local Rajput dynasty, the Sumeras, had been subdued: but in 1336 another Rajput dynasty, the Jams of the Sumana tribe, re-established their independence. They ruled the kingdom until 1520, when if was conquered by Shah Beg Arghun, the governor of Qandahar, who was seeking a realm which would remove him from the sphere of Babur’s activities. Shah Beg’s son, Shah Husain, consolidated his conquest by annexing Multan and extinguishing the local Lunga dynasty. The province was finally reunited to Delhi in 1590, and throughout the whole of its history exercised but little influence upon the politics of Hindustan.

Bengal now demands a word. From the earliest days of its conquest by the Muhammadans, it had manifested a selfsufficiency which had tended to isolate it from the main stream of politics. It continued in nominal subjection to Delhi throughout the thirteenth century, but in the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlak it revolted. After a brief period of complete anarchy, the power was seized by Shams-ud-din, who ruled from 1344 to 1357. The dynasty he founded lasted until 1386, when after another pericd of anarchy, the throne came into the possession of a Hindu zamindar named Raja Kans, whose family reigned until 1426. During most of the fifteenth century, power continued in the hands of the Abyssinian mercenaries, who constituted the royal bodyguard; and in 1461 Malik Andil, a slave, ascended the throne with their support. He ruled in great splendour for more than thirty years, maintaining excellent order, encouraging trade, and building lavishly, but taking little share in external politics. He founded no dynasty, and before the beginning of the sixteenth century a successful revolution had placed the Wazir, Saiyid Sharif, on the throne with the title of Ala-uddin. He reigned until 1523, when he was succeeded by Nasib, his son. As may be gathered from this brief survey, Bengal was of small importance as a factor in the politics of Hindustan. It interfered very little with its neighbours: it was commercial, literary, and artistic.

The same may well be said of Jaunpur, at any rate, in the heyday of its prosperity. As an independent kingdom, it dates from 1394, the time when Mahmud -bin Tughlak raised his minister, the eunuch Khwaja Jahan, to the governorship of the country which constitutes the bulk of the United Provinces of modern India. The governor soon declared himself independent, with the title Malik-us-sharg.. Under his adopted son, Ibrahim Shah (1401-1440), the power of the kingdom ruled from Jaunpur grew apace. That monarch maintained his independence, consolidated his dominions, kept clear of foreign politics, and devoted himself to the encouragement of architecture, industry, and agriculture. Under his peaceful rule the kingdom grew compact and strong—so much so, indeed, that his successor, Mahmud Shah (1440-57), felt himself encouraged to make a bid for empire on the extinction of the Saiyid dynasty. But Bahlol Lodi, the Viceroy of the Panjab, proved at once too quick and too powerful, so that Mahmud was forced to an ignominious retreat. His death in 1457 was followed by a period of intrigue and murder, from which emerged triumphant the last of the Sharqi kings, Husain Shah. Vain, ambitious, but able withal, he conquered Orissa from its ancient Hindu dynasty; he attacked Gwalior, and forced the Raja to pay tribute. But unfortunately for himself, in 1473 he was led to make an unprovoked attack upon Bahlol Lodi. The Delhi monarch, like the honest man he was, attempted to make terms: but all gee RINE 2 LENT RAEN *.+ King or Prince of the East.

accommodation having proved impossible, he marched out, defeated the aggressor in three pitched battles, and seized his enemy’s capital, Jaunpur. Five years later, the eastern realm was formally re-annexed to Delhi.

We now come to the Kingdom of Delhi itself, of which the history is too well known to detain us long. In 1451, the socalled Saiyid dynasty came to an end by the abdication of ‘the feeble Shah Alam, and the powerful Afghan families who ruled the Panjab in his name put forward their own most prominent man, Bahlol of the Sahu Khail, of the Lodi tribe. He was a ‘good fighter, a simple-natured man who hated display, but above all things, a far-sighted politician, who based his power upon the allegiance of men of his own blood, and realised to the full the manner in which this allegiance was to be won and retained.

The following extract from the Tarikh-i-Daudi illustrates the impression he made upon contemporaries * :—

“In his social meetings he never sat on a throne, and would not allow his nobles to stand ; and even during public audiences he did not occupy the throne, but seated himself upon a carpet. Whenever he wrote a firman to his nobies, he addressed them as Masnad Alt ;sx and if at any time they were displeased with him, he tried so hard to pacify them that he would hmself go to their houses, ungird his Sword from his waist, and place it before the offended party: nay, he would sometimes even take off his turban from his head, and solicit forgiveness, saying: ‘If you think me unworthy of the station I occupy, choose some one else, and bestow on me some other Office.’ He maintained a brotherly intercourse with all his chiefs and soldiers, If any one was ill, he would himself go and attend on him.”