Mahmud’s eldest son, Ghiyas-ud-din, ascended the throne of Malwa two days after his father’s death. He was a lover of peace and a devout Muslim, ” particular in his daily prayers “, and abstained from all intoxicants and prohibited articles of food. But his last days were rendered unhappy by quarrels between his two sons, ‘Abdul Qadir Nasir-ud-din and Shujaat Khan Ala-ud-din. The former at last seized the throne in A.D. 1500. Nasir-ud-din greatly abused his power till he died in A.D. 1510. His second son then ascended the throne under the title of Mahmud II. To get rid of the influence of the Muslim nobles, Mahmud II appointed Medini Rai, the powerful Rajput chief of Chanderi, to the office of minister. Medini Rai soon acquired supreme influence in the State and appointed Hindus to offices of trust and responsibility. This excited the jealousy of the nobles of Malwa, who removed the Rajput minister with the help of Sultan Muzaffar Shah II of Gujarat. But Medini Rai was able to inflict a defeat on Mahmud II himself with the help of Rana Sanga of Chitor. The Sultan of MaIwa was captured by the victorious Rajputs. Rana Sanga, however, treated him with chivalrous generosity, characteristic of the Rajput race, and restored his vanquished foe to his kingdom. But the authority of the kingdom of Malwa had been by this time greatly reduced, and the days of its independence were numbered. The Sultan, Mahmud II, incurred the hostility of Rana Ratan Singh, successor of Rana Sanga, by raiding his territories; and the Rana, as an act of reprisal, invaded Malwa.
He also excited the wrath of Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat by giving shelter to Chand Khan, the latter’s younger brother and a rival for his throne. Bahadur Shah thereupon captured Mandu on the 17th March, 1531, and the independence of Malwa was thus extinguished. It continued to remain under Bahadur Shah of Gujarat, till it was later on occupied for a short period by the Mughul ruler, Humayun. About 1535 Mallu Khan, formerly an officer of the Khalji Sultans of Malwa, established independent sovereignty in Malwa under the title of Qadir Shah, but he was deposed by Sher Shah, the Afghan ruler of Delhi, in 1542. After being governed by viceroys of the Afghan government, Malwa was conquered by Mughul generals from Baz Bahadur in A.D. 1561-1562.
Gujarat
The immense wealth of the province of Gujarat, due particularly to active commerce through the rich ports of Cambay, Surat and Broach, often drew upon her external invasions. Annexed to the Delhi Sultanate by ‘Ala-ud-din Khalji in A.D. 1297, it was ruled for a long time by Muslim governors appointed by the Delhi Sultans. But in 1401 Zafar Khan (son of a Rajput convert), who had been appointed governor of the province in 1391 by Muhammad Shah, the youngest son of Firuz of the house of Tughluq, formally assumed independence. In 1403 Zafar Khan’s son, Tatar Khan, acting in conspiracy with some disoontented nobles, rose against his father, imprisoned him at Asawal and proclamied himself king under the title of Nasir-ud-din Muhammad Shah. He even marched towards Delhi with a view to establishing his authority there, but was put to death by his uncle and regent, Shams Khan. This enabled Zafar Khan to recover his throne and to assume the title of Sultan Muzaffar Shah. Muzaffar Shah waged a successful war against Hushang Shah, Sultan of Malwa, and captured Dhar. After his death in June, 1411 , Ahmad Shah, his grandson and heir-designate, ascended the throne. Ahmad has been justly regarded as the real founder of the independence of Gujarat. Endowed with considerable courage and energy, he engaged himself throughout his reign of about thirty years in extending the limits of his kingdom, which had been confined, during the reigns of his two predecessors, to a small territory near Asawal. Success always attended his campaigns against the Sultan of Malwa and the chiefs of Asirgarh, Rajputana and other neighbouring territories. He also devoted his attention to improving the civil administration of his kingdom and dispensed justice impartially. In the first year of his reign, he built the beautiful city of Ahmadabad, on the site of the old town of Asawal, and removed his capital to that place, which to this day bears witness to his taste and munificence. His only defect was his religious intolerance. He died on the 16th August, 1442, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Muhammad Shah, who reigned till his death on the 10th February, A.D. 1451 . Two weak rulers, Muhammad Shah’s son, Qutb-ud-din Ahmad, and Muhammad’s brother Daud, followed him. Through his evil ways, Daud alienated the sympathy of the nobles within a few days of his accession. They deposed him, and raised his nephew, Abul Fath Khan, a grandson of Ahmad Shah, to the throne, under the title of Mahmud, commonly known as Begarha.
Mahmud Begarha was by far the most eminent Sultan of his dynasty. The leading Muslim historian of his country observes that ” he added glory and lustre to the kingdom of Gujarat, and was the best of all the Gujarat kings, including all who preceded, and all who succeeded him; and whether for abounding justice and generosity ……. for the diffusion of the laws of Islam and of Mussalmans; for soundness in judgment, alike in boyhood, in manhood, and in old age; for power, for valour, and victory, he was a pattern of excellence “. Ascending the throne at a comparatively young age, he at once took the management of the affairs of his kingdom into his own hands, and overpowered his hostile courtiers, who had formed a conspiracy to raise his brother, Hasan Khan, to the throne. He ruled vigorously, without the influence of any minister or of the harem, for about fifty-three years; and being a brave warrior, he gained success in all his campaigns. He saved Nizam Shah Bahmani from aggression on the part of Mahmud Khalji of Malwa, defeated the Sumra and Sodha chiefs of Cutch, suppressed the pirates of Jagat (Dvaraka), and reduced the strong forts of Junagarh and Champaner, the latter being named by him Muhammadabad. As a result of his conquests, the kingdom of Gujarat reached its extreme limits, extending “from the frontiers of Mandu to the frontiers of Sind, by Junagarh; to the Siwalik Parbat by Jalor and Nagaur; to Nasik Trimbak by Baglana; from Burhanpur to Berar and Malkapur of the Deccan; to Kaxrkun and the river Narbada on the side of Burhanpur; on the side of Idar as far as Chitor and Kumbhalgarh, and on the side of the sea as far as the bounds of Chaul”. Towards the close of his reign, he tried, in alliance with Qansauh-al-Ghauri, Sultan of Egypt, to check the rising power of the Portuguese in the Indian Seas, who had within a decade, since the discovery of the Cape Route by Vasco da Gama in 1498, almost monopolized the lucrative spice trade from the Red Sea and Egypt at the expense of the interests of Muslim traders and the important sea-ports of Western India, like Cambay and Chaul. The Egyptian fleet, under the command of Amir Husain the Kurd, governor of Jedda, and the Indian contingent, under the command of Malik Ayaz, a Turk who had found employment in the court of Gujarat, defeated a Portuguese squadron (commanded by Dom Lourenco, son of the Portuguese viceroy, Francesco de Almeida, near Chaul, south of bornbay, in 1508. But the Portuguese inflicted a crushing defeat on the allied Muslim fleet, near Diu, in 1509, and recovered their naval ascendancy on the sea- coast. Mahmud granted them a site for a factory at Diu.