Ghazi Shah Chak

Ghazi Shah Chak
Muhammad Humayun
19th Sultan of Kashmir
Reign1561 – 1563
PredecessorHabib Shah
SuccessorHusain Shah Chak
Born1509
Srinagar, Kashmir Sultanate
(present-day Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India)
Died1567
Names
Ghazi Shah Chak
DynastyChak dynasty
FatherKaji Shah Chak
ReligionShia Islam

Ghazi (Persian: غَازِی, romanized: Ghāzī, lit. 'warrior'; Persian pronunciation: [ɣɑːzi:]), born Ghāzī Shāh Chak[1] (Persian: غَازِی شَاہ چَک, Kashmiri: غازی شاہ ژھک) was the first Chak Sultan.[2] He dethroned the last Shah Mir Sultan, Habib Shah, in 1561 and succeeded him under the title of Muhammad Humayun.[3][4] He was the 19th Sultan of Kashmir and ruled Kashmir till he was forced to abdicate in 1563.[5]

Ghazi Khan Chak was the first Chak Sultan, although he didn't rule directly at first. He defeated the invading Mughal armies three times. He was most known, however, for his extreme cruelty and savagery, which was even extreme by contemporary Kashmiri standards. He used to have the prisoners of war chopped into pieces and their heads put on spikes along the passes of Kashmir. Most famously, he had the entire army of Haibat Khan Niazi butchered, along with the camp followers, including women and children. He then sent the heads of the Niazi (Pashtun) chiefs back as gifts to Islam Shah Suri, who had sent Haibat Khan to conquer Kashmir.[6]

He was indeed so feared even by his own kinsmen that when he was blinded by leprosy, no one dared rebel against him. He ruled for nine years and then gave his throne to his brother, Husain Shah.

References

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  1. ^ Retzlaff, Ralph H.; Hasan, Mohibbul. "Kashmir under the Sultans". Journal of the American Oriental Society: 151. doi:10.2307/595144. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 595144.
  2. ^ Pandit, K. N. (1 January 1991). BAHARISTAN-I-SHAHI A Chronicle of Mediaeval Kashmir (1st ed.). 125a: Firma KLM Private Limited.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  3. ^ Qandhari, Muhammad Arif (1993). Tarikh-I-Akbari. Translated by Ahmad, Tasneem. Delhi. pp. 483 (Vol III). ISBN 978-81-7307-013-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ^ Retzlaff, Ralph H.; Hasan, Mohibbul. "Kashmir under the Sultans". Journal of the American Oriental Society: 195. doi:10.2307/595144. ISSN 0003-0279. JSTOR 595144.
  5. ^ Qandhari, Muhammad Arif (1993). Tarikh-I-Akbari. Translated by Ahmad, Tasneem. Delhi. pp. 490–91 (Vol III). ISBN 978-81-7307-013-6.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ "Baharistan-e-Shahi". 1614.