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niSTOUV OF INDIA.

[Book I.

A I) I2S0.

Dentil of Uulbuii.

Keikobail succeeds.

Nizaiii- u dill's treacherous (le.sigiis.

lili

This event not liappi'iiiiifj so .soon a.s Kliurra Kliaii oxpftcted, he wa-s unnatunil enough to become impatient, and depart for Bengal without announcing his intention. BuUxni, both grieved and indignant, went for hi.s gi-and.wn, Kei Khosru, Prince Mahmood's son, from Mooltan, settled the succeHsion on him, and a few day.s aftei-, exjjired, in 1286. He had reigned with great succeh- for twenty-one years. Though all the officens of the court had swoni to give effect to Bulbun's will, no sooner was he dead than the chief magistrate of Delhi, who had always been at variance with Kei Khosru s father, exerted liLs influence against the young prince with such effect, that he was set aside i/) make way for his cousin, Keikobad, the son of Khun-a Khan. Kei Kho.sru, glad to escape with his life, returned to his government.

Keikobad, on mounting the throne in his eighteenth year, assumed the title of Moiz-u-din. He was remarkably handsome in person, affable in his manners, mild in temper, of a literary taste, and well informed. Unfortunately he became too soon his own master ; and on Vjreaking loose from the tight rein which his father had kept upon him, he passed to the opposite extreme, and became a debauchee. His example was soon followed by his courtiers, and once more, to borrow the description of Ferishta, "every shady gi'ove was filled with women and parties of pleasure, and every sti'eet rung with riot and tumult ; even the magistrates were seen drunk in public, and music was heard in every house." At Kelookery, on the banks of the Jumna, he fitted up a palace where he might revel undisturbed amidst his only companion;? — singei-s, players, musicians, and buffoons.

Nizam-u-din, the chief secretary of Keikobad, seeing how completely his master was engrossed by pleasure, conceived the idea of usurping the throne ; and having no scruples as to the means, began by endeavouring to remove what he conceived to be the greatest obstacle. This was Kei Khosru, who had gone to Ghuznee, and solicited Timour Khan, the Mogul viceroy, to aid him with troops for the purpose of driving Keikobad from the throne, which, by the will of his grandfather Bulbun, belonged of right to himself He failed in the attempt, but returned, notwithstanding, to his government. Either thinking that his attempt was unknown, or hoping that it had been forgiven, he was enticed to pay a visit to Delhi, and before he reached it, was w^aylaid and murdered by the hired assassins of Nizam-u-din. The next part of the plot was to procure the disgrace of Keikobad's izier, and cut off all the old serv^ants of the late King Bulbun. They disappeared one after another by some kind of mysterious agency, and a general feeling of dismay was produced. Nizam-u-din, the real instigator, though not the actual perpetrator of the murdei-s, was not even suspected.

Though the Moguls on the other side of the Indus were constantly crossing it, and making predatory incursions into India, it is a remarkable fact that vast numbers of their countrymen had voluntarily enlisted in the army of Delhi as