344 Lieut. -Colonel Briggs on the Life and Writings ofFerishta. 



doors and windows, so as to exclude all air, he liglited a great fire under- 

 neath, and the king was speedily suffocated. This parricide was perpetrated 

 in the year 996 (A.D. 1588). The deceased was buried with due ceremony 

 in the royal gardens ; but his bones were afterwards taken up, and conveyed 

 to Kerbela ; where they were deposited near those of liis father and grand- 

 father. Murteza Nizam Shah reigned twenty-four years and some months." 

 This revolution compelled Ferishta to quit Ahmudnuggur ; and he went 

 direct to Bijapur, the capital of the Adil Shahi kings ; where he arrived 

 in the year 1589, and was favourably received by the young king Ibrahim 

 Adil Shah, then a minor under the tutelage of his ambitious and able 

 minister Dilawer Khan. Not long after his arrival the parricide Miran 

 Hussein Nizam Shah was put to death. by a faction at Ahmudnuggur; and 

 one Jumal Khan, assuming the character of a saint, usurped the control of 

 the government. The intimate family connexion whicli subsisted between 

 the kings of Bijapur and Ahmudnugger warranted the interference of 

 the former state, and a war ensued. The young king of Bijapur was 

 advised by some of his officers to delay an action till the arrival of a body 

 of troops, which was expected from the north. The regent Dilawer Khan, 

 regardless of the king's wishes, went into battle, but was deserted by several 

 officers who had dissuaded the king from engaging the enemy. He was 

 defeated ; and, after a gallant struggle, was compelled to quit the field, with 

 only seven persons in his train, among whom was Ferishta himself; who 

 shortly after sunk from loss of blood, owing to the wounds he had received, 

 and fell into the enemy's hands. Dilawer Khan, taking the king with 

 him, retreated thirty miles during the night. I'he army from the north 

 approaching at this time, the enemy marched to meet it, and this move- 

 ment enabled Ferishta to escape : in a few days he rejoined the king of 

 Bijapur's army. Dissentions now ran so high between that prince 

 and the Regent, that the former resolved to make an effort to esta- 

 blish his authority. Ferishta states, " As all the officers of the royal 

 household and the body guards were attached to Dilawer Khan, the king 

 was fearful of communicating his wishes to them, lest they should betray 

 him. After much precaution, he fixed upon two Hindus, common ser- 

 vants of no note, to be his confidants on this important occasion. These 

 he sent privately to Ein-ul-Mulk, the Amir-ul-Omra,* to complain of 



* Chief of the nobles. 



