Page:Historic Landmarks of the Deccan.djvu/19

Bidar remained under the administration of a selected noble at court. The result of this measure is described in Chapter IV. Malik Hasan Nizam-ul-Mulk, who had been governor of the whole of Telingana, was mortally offended by the division of his province, and, as will be seen, plotted with other Deccanis and Africans to bring about the downfall of Khaja Mahmud, and succeeded in compassing his death. The unjust execution of the greatest statesman who had ever served a Bahmani king excited distrust and unrest even among many of the Deccanis and Africans. The foreigners who had been in the service of the murdered minister fled for protection to Yusuf Adil Khan, and the foreign troops and officers in the other provincial armies followed their example. Yusuf thus became the most powerful amir in the kingdom. Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk, the Deccani governor of Gawil, and Khudawand Khan, the African governor of Mahur, withdrew from the royal camp with the army of Berar, and, when ordered to return, excused themselves by saying that if the death of so great a man as Khaja Mahmud could be so easily compassed by slanderers they did not know what to expect. Muhammad Shah then tried persuasion, but to no purpose. They would return, they said, when Yusuf Adil Khan, who was then on service in southern Telingana, returned. Muhammad Shah therefore recalled Yusuf, who, on his return, at once joined Imad-ul-Mulk and Khudawand Khan, and these three iarafdars united to press their demands on the king. The first was that Yusuf should receive the late minister's province of Bijapur, to the government of which he was appointed. Here he was enabled to provide for all the foreign nobles and officers who had rallied round him on the death of Khaja Mahmud. A redistribution of appointments had become necessary and the Deccanis could not be entirely overlooked. Hasan Nizam-ul-mulk, who richly deserved death, was made minister, and another Deccani amir with the title of Nizam-ul-Mulk was appointed to the government of Daulatabad, rendered vacant by the transfer of Yusuf Adil Khan to Bijapur; Imad-ul-Mulk and Khudawand Khan retained the provinces of Gawil and Mahur, Dastur Dinar retained Gulbarga, and two Turki slaves who had joined the conspiracy of Hasan Nizam-ul-Mulk against Mahmud Gawan, Qivam-ul-Mulk, the elder and Qivam-ul-Mulk the younger, were appointed to the government of Warangal and