[56] See note on page 306. [↑]
[57] Pátdi (north latitude 23° 10′; east longitude 71° 44′), at the south-east angle of the Ran of Cutch, fifty-two miles west of Áhmedábád. [↑]
[58] The Máhi-marátib was a banner having the likeness of a fish at its top. [↑]
[59] Of the death at the age of nine years of this son of Saint Sháh-i-Álam the Mirăt-i-Áhmedi (Printed Persian Text, II. 26) gives the following details: Malik Seif-ud-dín, the daughter’s son of Sultán Áhmed I., had a son who he believed was born to him by the prayer of Saint Sháh-i-Álam. This boy who was about nine years old died. Malik Seif-ud-dín ran to Sháh-i-Álam, who used then to live at Asáwal, two or three miles east of Áhmedábád, and in a transport of grief and rage said to the Saint: ‘Is this the way you deceive people? Surely you obtained me the gift of that boy to live and not to die? This I suppose is how you will keep your promise of mediating for our sinful souls before Alláh also?’ The Saint could give no reply and retired to his inner apartments. The stricken father went to the Saint’s son Sháh Bhíkan, who, going in to his father, entreated him to restore the Malik’s boy to life. The Saint asked his son ‘Are you prepared to die for the boy?’ Sháh Bhíkan said ‘I am ready.’ The Saint, going into an inner room, spread his skirts before Alláh crying ‘Rájanji,’ a pet name by which the Saint used to address Alláh, meaning Dear King or Lord, ‘Rájanji, here is a goat for a goat; take thou this one and return the other.’ Lamentations in the Saint’s harem showed that half of the prayer was granted and the Malik on returning to his house found the other half fulfilled. [↑]
APPENDIX I.
The Death of Sultán Bahádur, a.d. 1526–1536.[1]
Appendix I.
The Death of Sultán Bahádur, a.d. 1526–1536. Colonel Briggs (Muhammadan Power in India, IV. 132) gives the following summary of the events which led to the fatal meeting of Sultán Bahádur and the Portuguese viceroy Nono da Cunha in the beginning of 1536–37:
When in 1529 Nono daCunha came as viceroy to India he held instructions to make himself master of the island of Diu. In the following year a great expedition, consisting of 400 vessels and 15,600 men, met in Bombay and sailed to the Káthiáváḍa coast. After vigorous assaults it was repulsed off Diu on the 17th February 1531. From that day the Portuguese made ceaseless efforts to obtain a footing on the island of Diu. In 1531 besides harrying the sea trade of Gujarát the Portuguese sacked the towns of Tárápur, Balsár, and Surat, and, to give colour to their pretensions, received under their protection Chánd Khán an illegitimate brother of Bahádur. In 1532, under James de Silveira, the Portuguese burned the south Káthiáváḍa ports of Pattan-Somnáth, Mangrul, Talája, and Muzaffarábád, killing many of the people and carrying off 4000 as slaves. Shortly after the Portuguese took and destroyed Bassein in Thána obtaining 400 cannon and much ammunition. They also burned Daman, Thána, and Bombay. “All this” says the Portuguese historian “they did to straiten Diu and to oblige the king of Gujarát to consent to their raising a fort on the island of Diu.” When Bahádur was engaged with the Mughals (a.d. 1532–1534) the Portuguese Governor General deputed an embassy to wait on Humáyún to endeavour to obtain from him the cession of Diu, hoping by this action to work indirectly on the fears of Bahádur. At last in 1534 Bahádur consented to a peace by which he agreed to cede the town of Bassein to Portugal; not to construct ships of war in his ports; and not to combine with Turkish fleets against Portugal.
Permission was also given to the Portuguese to build in Diu. In consideration of these terms the Portuguese agreed to furnish Bahádur with 500 Europeans of whom fifty were men of note. According to the Portuguese historian it was solely because of this Portuguese help that Bahádur succeeded in driving the Mughals out of Gujarát. Bahádur’s cession of land in Diu to the Portuguese was for the purpose of building a mercantile factory. From the moment Bahádur discovered they had raised formidable fortifications, especially when by the withdrawal of the Mughals he no longer had any motive for keeping on terms with them, he resolved to wrest the fort out of the hands of the Portuguese. On the plea of separating the natives from the Europeans, Bahádur instructed his governor of Diu to build a wall with a rampart capable of being mounted with guns. But as this created much dispute and ill-will the rampart was given up. Bahádur next attempted to seize Emanuel de Souza the captain of Diu fort. With this object he invited DeSouza to his camp. DeSouza was warned but determined to accept Bahádur’s invitation. He went attended by only one servant, an act of courage which
Appendix I.
The Death of Sultán Bahádur, a.d. 1526–1536. Bahádur so greatly admired that he treated him with honour and allowed him to return in safety. Bahádur next schemed to secure DeSouza in the fort by surprise. With this end he began to pay the Portuguese officers visits at all hours. But DeSouza was always on his guard and Bahádur’s surprise visits failed to give him an opportunity. In 1536 DeSouza wrote to the viceroy complaining of the bad feeling of the Gujarát Moors towards the Portuguese in Diu and of the efforts of the king to drive them out of the fort. In consequence of DeSouza’s letter Nono daCunha the viceroy arrived at Diu early in 1536–7. Bahádur went to visit the viceroy on board the viceroy’s ship. On his return he was attacked and leaping into the water was killed by a blow on the head and sank.