Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/112

 78

HISTORY OF TXDIA.

[Book f

AI;i 11 din UBurim tlio throuo.

Courts popularity

AD 12.10. that Jelal-u-din Feroze wa,s cutting off his head. This reign is full of incident, but la.sted only for the comparatively short period of seven years.

When tidings of Jelal-u-din's murder reached Dellii, the queen-dowager, of her own accord, without con.sulting the chiefs, placed her youngest son, Prince Kuddur Khan, a mere boy, on the throne. The real lieir was Arkally Klian, tiien governor of Mooltan. He had all the qualities of a king, but the queen's proceedings disconcerted him, and he resolved, in the meantime, to take no active steps to secure his right. Ala-u-din, when he atrociously murdered his uncle, aimed not at the throne of Dellii, but at the e.stabli.shment of a new inde- pendent kingdom. However, on learning the state of matters, he began t<> entertain higher aspirations; and, in .spite of the rainy season, set out at once for the capital. There was nothing to oppose his progress; and the queen-mother, with her son, having fled with the treasure to Mooltan, he made a triumphal entry into the city in the end of 1296.

Ala-u-din began his reign with splendid shows and festivities, by which he dazzled the populace, and made them forget, or overlook, the enormity which had placed him on the throne. At the same time, he conciliated tiie great by titles, and the venal and avaricious by gifts. The army, also, ha'ing V>een gained by six months' pay, he turned his thoughts to the rival claimants in Mooltan, and sent thither his brother, Aluf Khan, at the head of 40,000 horse. The citizens, to save themselves, betrayed the princes, and delivered up Arkally Khan and Kuddm- Khan, on an assurance that the lives of both would be spared. It is almost needless to say that the promise was not kept. While the princes were being conveyed to Delhi, a messenger arrived with orders from Ala-u-din, that they should be deprived of sight. After this barbarous deed was done, they were imprisoned in the fort of Hansi, and shortly after a.ssas- sinated.

In 1 296, after Ala-u-din had finished the first year of his reign, the start- ling intelligence arrived that Ameer Dawood, King of Transoxiana, had prepared an army of 100,000 Moguls, with a design to conquer the Punjab and Scinde, and was actually on the way, carrying everything before him with fij'e and sword. Aluf Khan was sent against them ; and, after a bloody conflict on the plains of Lahore, defeated them with the loss of 12,000 men. Some days after, the numerous prisoners, not excepting the women and childi'en, found in the Mogid camp, were inhumanly butchered.

In the beginning of the following year, Aluf Khan and the Vizier Noosroot Khan, were sent to reduce Gujerat. On their approach to the capital, the Rajah Ray Kurrun escaped into the territories of Ram Dew, Rajah of Dewghur, in the Deccan, but not without the capture of his "wives, childi-en, elephants, baggage, and treasure. Noosroot Khan then proceeded with part of the army to Cambay, which, being a rich country full of merchants, jdelded a prodigious booty. With this, the whole troops were retm-ning to Delhi, when the two

A Mogul inviision defeateil

Reduction of Gujerat.