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BHANUCANDRA CARITRA
conquering all the countries on his way, reachod Barhanapura (Burhanpur). Next he conquered the fort named Asera (Asirgarha), and ordering his main army to march on, stayed there for some days. The learned Upadhyaya who was teaching his sons, also stayed there with Siddhicandra. All the Deccan kings who possessed large forts" were vanquished by the Emperor's army.
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65"Burhanpur is in south of Dandes (Khandes'). It is a large city three Kos distant from the Tapti. It lies on latitude 24° 40' and is embellished with many gardens and sandal-wood also grows here. It is inhabited by people of all countries, and handicraftsmen ply a thriving trade here. In the summer clouds of dust fly, which in the rains turn to mud". P. 223 II, Ai. A. "Its king Khizr Khan assumed the name Bahadur Shah and in the 45th year of the Divine Era, he was deprived of his kingdom by His Majesty" P. 227, Aini Akbari Vol. II. Jarrett.
It was at Barhanpur that just before Akbar took it, Narbudacarya of Tapă Gaccha Kamalakalas'a s'akha composed Kokatastra Catuspadi in Gujarati poetry on Wednesday first Asvina S'ukla 10th S. Y. 1656, Saka 1521 in the reign of Miran Bahadur Shah Faruki son of Miran Dals'ah. See my J. G. K. I pp. 323-326 and III pp. 827-828.
"It was founded about A. D. 1400 by Nasirkhan, the first independent prince of the Faruki dynasty of Khandesh, and called by him after the famous Shekh Burhan-u-ddin of Daulatabad. It was held by eleven princes of this dynasty for 200 years till A. D. 1600 when the kingdom of the Fürükis was annexed by the Emperor Akbar....It formed the seat of Government of the Deccan provinces of the empire till the reign of Shah Jahan, when (A. D. 1635) it was transferred to Aurangabad in the Deccan, after which the city was the capital of the large suba of Khandesh. The holder of this government was usually a prince of royal blood. The first was Prince Danial, who drank himself to death here in A. D. 1605. Prince Parviz son of Jahangir was governor of Burhanpur in his reign, where Sir Thomas Roe paid him visit in 1614 A. D. Now it is a town in the Nimar district on the north bank of the river Tapti and distant 41 miles south-west from Khandwa, the headquarters of Nimār and 2 miles from the G. I. P. Railway station of Lalbagh."-Central Provinces Gazetteer.
66 Viz:-Asirgarh, Daulatabad, Kherwa, Nasik, Ahmednagar, etc.
67 Akbar's prolonged residence in the Punjab, extending over thirteen years, had been largely due to his fears of an Uzbeg invasion (p. 270). The news of Abdulla Khan Uzbeg's death received in 1598 freed the Emperor from all fear of a Tartar invasion, and left him at liberty to supervise the doings of his sons, and to take measures for the effective prosecution of the campaign in the Deccan, which obviously needed the master's eye. Akbar accordingly decided to proceed to the South in person. He left Lahore late in 1598 for Agra, which he now treated as his capital. He was obliged to stay there for several months in order to deal with the difficulties caused by the insubordinate conduct of his sons. In July 1599 (beginning of A. H. 1008) he felt himself at liberty to resume his progress .southwards. In May 1599 Prince Murad died at a town in the Deccan. At about the middle of the same year, Akbar crossed (p. 271) the Narbada and occupied Burhanpur (capital of Khandesh) without opposition. Ahmednagar was stormed without much difficulty in August 1600. Asirgarh a very strong fort reckoned to be one of the wonders of the world in the sixteenth century (p. 272) surrendered to Akbar in January 1601. Then the attitude of Prince Salim rendered absolutely necessary the return of the Emperor to his capital if he wished to retain his crown, treasures and life, which were all threatened by the ungrateful and undutiful conduct of his first-born son, the well-beloved Shaikhu Baba, the child of many prayers. Akbar marched in April for Agra, where he soon arrived, probably early in May 1601. p. 287, V. Smith's 'Akbar'. (First Edition.)
