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Scan 1
Gazetteer Of Ulwar 1878, 1878
10 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1after which hour no one ventured out. At night they prowled into the city, and the inhabitants felt very insecure. The Emperor organised an expedition against the Mewáttís, of whom large numbers were put to the sword. Police posts were established in the vicinity of the city, and placed in charge of Afgháns, with assignments of land for maintenance, and the army being supplied with hatchets, cleared away the woods round Dehli. The tract thus cleared was considerable, and became well cultivated.* This operation of Balban's seems to have been so effectual that there is little mention of Mewát for a hundred years, during which the chiefs of Mewát appear to have maintained satisfactory relations with the authorities at Dehli. For after the death of Emperor Fíroz Sháh in 1388, we find Bahádar Náhar Mewáttí, whose stronghold was at Kotila or Kotal in the Tijára hills, occupying the place of a powerful noble at Dehli. This Bahádar Náhar, a Jádú Rájpút by birth, is the reputed founder of the Khánzáda race, which became so renowned in the history of the empire.†
3In conjunction with the household slaves of Fíroz Sháh, Bahádar Náhar aided Abubakar, grandson of the late Emperor Fíroz, in expelling from Dehli Abubakar's uncle Násiruddín, and in establishing the former on the throne. In a few months, however, Abubakar had to give way before Násiruddín, and he then fled to Bahádar Náhar's stronghold, Kotila, where he was pursued by Násiruddín. After a struggle Abubakar and Bahádar Náhar surrendered, and Abubakar was placed in confinement for life, but Bahádar Náhar received a robe and was allowed to depart. Two years later, the Emperor being ill, Bahádar Náhar plundered the country to the gates of Dehli, but Násiruddín, before he had quite recovered from his illness, hastened to Mewát and attacked Kotila, from whence Bahádar Náhar had to fly to Jhirka, a few miles to the south in the same range of hills, and remarkable for its springs.
5In A.D. 1392, the Emperor Násiruddín died, and Bahádar Náhar, allied with one Mallú Yakbál Khán, held the balance between two rival claimants of the throne.‡ He would not allow either to gain an advantage over the other, so that for three years there were two emperors residing in the city of Dehli.
7* See Brigg's Farishta, vol. i. 255, and Musalman Historians, vol. iii. p. 104.
8† In speaking of Hasan Khán, the Mewáttí or Khánzáda Chief who was Bábar's great opponent, one Musalman historian states that his family had enjoyed regal power up to the time of Fíroz Sháh, when Bahádar Náhar flourished. Tradition tells of old Jádú chiefs of Tijára, in the neighbourhood of which we first hear of the Khánzáda family. Bábar, however, says that Hasan Khán's ancestors had governed Mewát in uninterrupted succession for nearly two hundred years; evidently dating the importance of the family from the time of Bahádar Náhar. It is therefore most probable that Bahádar Náhar was a member of a royal but fallen Jádú family, as the Khánzádas themselves relate (see page 40), and that he his father became a Musalman to gratify the Emperor Fíroz and obtain power.
9‡ Brigg's Farishta, vol. i. p. 471 to 481, and Musalman Historians.
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