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 CnAP. IV.] BHEILOLE AND HIS SUCCESSOES. 101

returned with precipitation ; and, by putting down the rebellion, placed his a.d. 1499.

power on a firmer basis than before.

The kingdom of Delhi, contracted in extent as it then was, could not satisfy FomiiiiHbie the ambition of Bheilole, who no sooner found himself firmly seated than he |^f j,"^' '"" began to think of new conquests. He was not very successful ; for he was ^^^^-^^ obliged to make a treaty which bound him to limit his possession to the terri- tories which had belonfjed to Delhi in the time of Moobarik. His most form id- able enemies were the difierent members of the Shurky family. Among them, Hoossein Shah Shurky took the lead. At one time he advanced against Dellii with 100,000 horse and 1000 elephants; at another he obliged him to make a treaty, by which he reliniiuished all right to any territory east of the Ganges. Ultimately, however, Bheilole gained so many decided advantages, that a great part of the Shurky territory was incorporated with his own.

Bheilole, when he mounted the throne, had a family of nine sons. As he Biieiioie'« advanced in years, and felt the cares of government weighing heavily upon him, pnrtition he adopted the very injudicious measure of partitioning his territory among territories them. In this way the amalgamation of the conquests, which had been the great object of his life, was completely frastrated. Shortly after making this arrangement he was seized with illness, and died in 1 488, after a reign of nearly thirty-nine years.

He had previously declared that his son Nizam Khan, to whom he had allotted neiiin nf Delhi and several districts in the Doab, should be his successor. He was not the lawful heir; for the eldest son of Bheilole, though dead, had left a son, whose title, according to the ordinary rules of succession, was certainly preferaljle. Nizam Khan owed this preference to the influence of his mother, the daughter of a goldsmith, whose beauty had given her the first place in the harem. After a short contest, all o])position to the appointment ceased, and he assumed the title of Sikundur. His reign, which lasted twenty-eight years, wsis peaceful, at least compared with that of his predecessoi*s ; and he is described as remark- able alike for the comeliness of his person and the excellence of his character. In general, justice was administered impartially, but some remarkable instances of intolerance have left a stain (m his reputation. One of these desei^ves to be recorded.

About i99, a Brahmin of the name of Boodlum, an inhabitant of a village Mahometan near Lucknow, being upbraided by some Mahometans on account of his faith, anTintoiCT- defentled himself by maintaining " that the religions, both of the Moslems and Hindoos, if acted on with sincerity, were equally acceptable to God." He argued the point so ingeniously that considerable attention was excited, and the subject was publicly discussed before the cazis of Lucknow. These judges did not .agi-ee in their conclusion ; and the governor, as the best way of settling the matter, sent the Brahmin and all the other parties to Sumbuhl, where the court then happened to be. The king, who was well informed on religious subjects,

aiice.