coming up in his barge*, invited him to visit the new fortifications. Rúmi Khan Sefer, who was in the boat with the King, advised him to decline the invitation, as treachery was probably intended; but the King desired de Souza to come into the boat. De Souza, in attempting to step from his own barge into the King's, fell into the sea, but was taken up by Beháder's attendants. This occasioned considerable bustle and confusion; the cause was unknown, but the act of dragging de Souza into the boat, was observed by the Portuguese in the numerous vessels that lay on every side. Hastily concluding that an attempt was made upon their countrymen's life, in their eagerness to succour him, they closed round the King's boat, into which some of them leaped. The instant consequence was uproar and menace; blows speedily succeeded. Beháder, totally unprepared for such an occurrence, and now confirmed in his suspicions of treachery, threw himself into the sea, and was followed by Rúmi Khan. After swimming for some time towards the shore, as he approached a Portuguese vessel, one of the officers held out an oar to assist him in getting in; when a soldier who stood by, struck him on the face with a halbert, and his example was imitated by others of his comrades, who repeated their blows, till Beháder sank dead in the water. Rúmi Khan was saved by a Portuguese to whom, on some former occasion, he had shown kindness. De Souza, the governor, was struck and fell overboard, during the scuffle in the King's boat. Neither his body nor that of the King could be found.† CHAP. II. SECT. IV. This scene passed before the eyes of the inhabitants Fate of Diu. Abulfazl's account is, that a Feringi magistrate, (Kazi Fering) by which, I suppose, the governor de Souza is meant) having stept before him as he left the Viceroy, insisted on his remaining; upon which the Sultan, drawing his sabre, cut him down, and leapt into his own boat; seeing this, the Portu- + Akbernáma, ff. 41, 42. BOOK IV. of Diu. They were filled with alarm at the sight; and, A.D. 1537. as they concluded that their town would be instantly plundered by the Portuguese, leaving their houses, and abandoning all their property, they rushed in such numbers to escape from the place, that many were crushed to death in the crowds that overflowed at the gates; while numbers were drowned in crossing the narrow channel that separates the island from the mainland. The Viceroy left no effort untried to quiet the fears of the survivors, and to bring back the rich traders and other inhabitants of the town; but at the same time he took possession of the King's palace, the arsenals, and all the public magazines. Only a small sum in money was said to have been found by the officers commissioned to take possession of the treasury *; which gave rise to the belief, that they, as well as the Viceroy himself, were guilty of extensive embezzlement; but the jewels, furniture, artillery and stores certainly seized, are said to have been of immense value; besides an hundred and twenty ships, which also fell into their hands. Each party charged the other with treachery * Lafitau, vol. i. pp. 256, 257. + Beháder Shah was the most magnificent, and for some time the most fortunate, prince of his age. When first driven from Champanír, in his despair, he had resolved to abdicate the throne and pass the rest of his life at Mekka. The Turkish historian, Ferdi, according to Chevalier de Hammer, "relates," says General Briggs, "that when Beháder Shah was compelled to retreat to Diu, he sent his family and the royal jewels to Medina. They consisted of three hundred iron chests, the accumulated wealth acquired from the Hindu princes of Junagar, Champanír, Abugar, and Cheitúr, and also the property of the kings of Malwa. These gorgeous treasures never returned to India, but fell into the hands of the Grand Signior of Constantinople, who, from their possession, became entitled to the appellation of Soliman the Magnificent. The celebrated waist-belt, valued at three millions of aspers, which had been three times taken and retaken in the wars of India, was sent to Soliman, by the ambassador whom Beháder Shah deputed to Constantinople to solicit the aid of the Grand Signior against Humáyun." Briggs's Ferishta, vol. iv. p. 141. The original accounts of the death of the Sultan, as given by the principal Indian and Portuguese authorities, have been extracted at considerable length by Gen. Briggs, (iv. pp. 131-141.) who concludes, that Beháder and the Viceroy "were in this melancholy affair. That Beháder, if actuated CHAP. II. by evil intentions, should have put himself unattended SECT. IV. in the power of his enemy, seems hardly credible. The Viceroy, without desiring his death, would probably have willingly seen him his prisoner. The catastrophe was evidently brought on prematurely, by accidental circumstances. The conduct of the Portuguese after the event, may be held as the best proof of their disposition before it. The spirit which in that age regulated the proceedings of Europeans towards the princes of America or of Asia and their subjects, was that of the most unprincipled cruelty and rapacity; in no degree superior to that of the buccaneers of a later period. The Portuguese have kept possession of Diu, thus acquired, from that time to the present day. when appearance of Behader. Sultan Beháder was only about thirty years of age, Alleged reand had reigned between eleven and twelve years, he was cut off. The internal confusion and misery which followed made his subjects long look back with regret to the splendid, and, in general, tranquil period of his reign; while the deplorable circumstances attending his death, which deprived him of all funeral honours, produced a belief, in this as in several similar instances fondly indulged by the common people, that the King resolved each to seize the other, that the followers of both knew the intentions of their respective masters, and suspected the opposite party; so that nothing was wanting to bring about bloodshed but such an affray as arose, originating entirely out of an accident, which blew the embers of suspicion and mistrust into a blaze, and produced the melancholy result which has been related." Ibid. p. 141. I have taken rather a different view of the subject. I see no evidence that Beháder had formed any design against the person of the Viceroy. In case of need he probably would not have been very scrupulous as to the means he em- A. D. 1537. BOOK IV. was not really dead, and would one day return to govern his dominions with glory. Many pretended that he reached the shore; and there were various reports of his reappearance, on different occasions, both in Gujrát and the Dekkan. It was, in particular, currently reported and believed that a person appeared in Nizámul-múlk's territory, whom that prince acknowledged as Beháder Shah, and as such played with him at chougán*; that, a crowd gathering about him, the concourse of people was marked by the Nizam with some uneasiness; and the same night the stranger disappeared from his tent, having been put to death, as was conjectured, by that prince. It is added, that Múlla Kútb-ed-dín, of Shiraz, who had been Beháder's preceptor, was then in the Dekhan, and conversed with the stranger, and that he affirmed, with the most solemn asseverations, that it was Beháder, and that he reminded the Mírza of many incidents of which they alone were cognizant.† His mother and nobles retire to Ahmedábád. His imme diate successors. As soon as the death of Beháder was ascertained, the Portuguese viceroy sent to Makhdúma Jehan, the King's mother, at once to condole with her on the melancholy event, and to remove all blame from himself. He ascribed the whole unfortunate affair to unpremeditated and unforeseen accident, and offered to lend her any assistance which it might be in his power to afford at the present juncture. But she rejected his offers with indignation, considering him as the murderer of her son; and, accompanied by the Prince of Asír, and the principal nobles, set out for Ahmedábád. While they were on the road, and while all Beháder's household and family were overwhelmed with sorrow, Múhammed Zemán Mírza, who had returned from the fruitless expedition against Lahúr, on which he had been sent by the late king after the dispersion at Mandsúr, fell in with them, and professing the deepest distress, joined the camp, under pretence of assisting in the usual rites + Akbernáma, f. 42. * Horse-shinty. CHAP. II. SECT. IV. of mourning. By his show of sympathy, and his soothing attentions, he so far insinuated himself into the queen-mother's favour, that she is said to have been prevailed upon to adopt him as her son. He succeeded in seizing a large portion of the public treasures of Gujrát from those who had charge of them; though, of the royal treasure and stores in Diu, part had been plundered during the confusion, and the rest had fallen into the hands of d'Acuña. He at first made a show of revenging the murder of Beháder on the Portuguese; but soon after, observing the extent of their power, he altered his plan, courted their support, and sought, by large sums of money, to induce them to proclaim him Sultan. In this he at last succeeded, the khutba being read in his name in the Sefa Mosque, at Diu, under their authority. He collected an army of twelve thousand men, Moghuls and Hindustánis, and for some time maintained the style of a sovereign prince. But Imádul-múlk, supported by the nobles of Gujrát, having proclaimed Mirán Muhammed Shah Farúki, of Khandesh, a sister's son of Beháder's, who was at that time driving the imperial troops from Malwa, to be King of Gujrát, marched against Muhammed Zemán, attacked and dispersed his forces, and compelled him to fly to Sind. Muhammed Zemán did not remain long there, as his presence was far from being agreeable to Shah Hasan, the ruler of that country; so that he, at last, found himself under the necessity of once more returning to Hindustán, and of throwing himself on the clemency of the offended Humáyun. The new king, Mirán Muhammed Shah, reigned only six weeks, and was suc- A.H. 944, ceeded by Mahmúd Khan, another nephew of Beháder Shah, who reigned several years under the name of Mahmud Shah. He was a son of Beháder's brother, Latif Khan, who was at that time a prisoner in Burhánpúr.* * Akbernáma, f. 42.; Briggs's Ferishta, vol. iv. pp. 142–144. VOL. II. H A. D. 1538. |