Sultanpur mint

Mint -Sultanpur

Sultanpur is now a village in the Shahada taluka of West Khan- desh District, Bombay, situated in 21° 38' N. and 74° 35' E., about 10 miles north of Shahada, on the site of a ruined city with an old fort and walls enclosing about a square mile.
It was included in Gujarat till, in 1370, it was taken by Malik Raja (1370-99), the first Faruki king of Khandesh. Muzaffar, the Gujarat king, hastened to recover it, and Malik Raja was forced to retire to Thalner. In 1417 the joint forces of Malik Nasir of Khandesh (1399- 1437) and Ghazni Khan of Malwa invested Sultanpur, but retired on the advance of the Gujarat army. It was under the Khandesh Sultans till the reign of Miran Muhammad Shah II. On Miran's death, his brother Rajah Ali Khan was chosen to succeed, as Miran's son. Hussain Khan happened to be a minor.

In the summer of 1577 Akbar sent to the Muslim State of Khandesh an expedition which secured the submission of Rajah Ali Khan. He could not hope to withstand alone the might of Akbar, but he was thus obliged to belie his sym pathies first by making formal submission to Akbar, and at a later period by aiding him with his force against both Ahmadnager and Bijapur; but even when his troops were ranged in the field beside the imperial forces his influence was ever exerted to prevent the complete subjugation of Ahmadnagar.- Burn, IV, 118.

Khan Azam, in 1586, attacked Berar, but the allied armies of Ahmadnagar and Khandesh cut the raiders off from their base and compelled Khan Azam to carry his plunder off into Gujarat, harassing him on his way. After reaching Nandurbar he attempted to arrange with Mirza Khan, Khan Khanan, a concerted invasion of Berar but the rainy season made military operations impossible, and he returned to Malwa having gained nothing but plunder—Burn, IV, 137. 

Rajah Ali Khan not deciding which side to join, in the beginning, had sided with Ahmadnagar and the Moghal general was forced to retreat. Rajah Ali, however, shortly afterwards, was persuaded by the Khan Khanan and declared his allegiance to the Delhi Emperior. Rajah Ali Khan was enlisted among the nobles of 5,000 horse (Panchahajari), Khandesh was given in grant to him and coins were struck and the prayers read in Akbar's name—Elliot, VI, 241; Ind. Ant, LII, 295-96. 

In March 1591, Akbar sent missions to the courts of the Sultans of the Deccan. Faizi was accredited to Rajah Ali Khan in Khandesh and Burhan Nizam of Ahmednagar. While Khandesh accepted suzerainity  to Akbar, Ahmednagar refused.   Akbar was furious and sent his second son, Sultan Murad to conquer Ahmednagar.

Murad, first in Malwa but now in Gujarat had been ordered to seize an opportunity to invade Ahmadnager. Rajah Ali Khan sided with the Moghals under Prince Murad and in the great battle of Sonpat on the Godavari (1597), leading the great attack with great bravery, he was killed by the chance explosion of a powder magazine. [Briggs, Ferishta, II, 274; III, 308; IV, 324. His body was interred at Burhanpur, after a reign of 21 years, 3 months and 20 days, according to Abu'l Fazl—Gladwin, Ayeene Akbery, Part I, 345, Rajah Ali Khan had married a sister of Abu'l Fazl—Col. Jarett, Ain-i-Akbari, II, 227; Blochman Ain-i-Akbari, Vol. I, p. XXXIV, and p. 335; Elliot, VI, 136 (Akabar-Nama Tr.), Ind. Ant. LII, PP- 333-46.]