Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/98

 T)!' HISTORY OF INDIA. [TV>ok I.

AD i2.il), Caspian. His son Jdal-u din Itore ii]) iiioic inanl'iilly ; but vicfc<')ry after victf>ry seemed to have no power either to intimidate or weaken his fearful a/lversary,

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..ffihenghiH and he only saved him.self by swimmin;^ the Indu.s, while the enemy's arrow.i showered tliick ai'ound him Tlie Motfuls threatenirif; to cro.ss the river in pm'suit, he continued his fliglit to Delhi. Altamsh, t^j wlwm he here applierl for an asylum, feared to expose himself to Mogul vengeance, and gave an answer with whicii Jelal-u-din was .so dissatisfied, that he made a party for him.self, and, in alliance with the Gukkurs, roamed the country, plundering and devas- tating, and even making himself master of Scinde, while Nasir-u-din Kubachi was glad to take refuge in Mooltan. To all appearance he might have ma/Ie good his footing, if he had not been lured away by a brighter pro.spect, which seemed opening in Persia. Before he quitted Scinde a detaehment of the Mogul army crossed the Indus, and commenced their barbarous warfare ; but want of provisions compelled them to depart, after slaughtering 10,000 Indian prisoners. Nasir-u-din, who had repulsed the Mogul detachment when it laid siege to Mooltan, was less fortunate when he was attacked a second time by Altamsh. After retreating to Bukkur, he had, with the view of proceeding to Scinde, embarked with all his family on the Indus, when a sudden squall upset the boat, and all on board perished. This tragical event happened in 1225.

Altamsh was thus rid of a fonnidable competitor, and obtained a large

accession of territory. Another competitor, however, remained, in the person

of Bakhtiar Khilji, the governor of Behar and Bengal. He had been mainly

instrumental in conquering these provinces ; and though he was contented to

hold them under Eibuk, one of whose sisters he had mamed, he had no idea of

acknowledging any supremacy in Altamsh. The latter, after persuasion failed,

had recourse to force, and Bakhtiar was not only worsted, but lost his life.

Deiiii the Altamsh, throned in his capital at Delhi, now swayed his sceptre over all

Mahometan the territories which the Mahometans had conquered in India. They were

empire. j^rge euough and rich enough to satisfy any reasonable ambition, but he was

still bent on conquests, which, being wholly his own, might form the most solid

basis of his fame. Six years, from 1226 to 1232, were spent in executing these

ambitious schemes; and in the end, after the conquest of Malwah, with its famous

capital Oojein, had been completed, all Hindoostan proper, with a few isolated

and unimportant exceptions, did homage to Altamsh. The additional greatness

thus conferred on him was not enjoyed long, for he died fom' years after, in

Ap-'i, 1236. It may be mentioned, as a proof of the anxiety which the

Ilahometans of India still felt to keep up their connection with the central

LI authority of Islamlsm in the west, that Altamsh, in the com-se of his reign,

received his investitm-e from the Caliph of Bagdad. ' Rnkn Rukn-u-din, the son and successor of Altamsh, was a very unworthy repre-

unuorthy seutative of his talents. Wliile his coiu-t was thronged with musicians, dancing- women, and buffoons, he was too indolent and effeminate to support the

reign.