Page:History of India Vol 3.djvu/217

 IBRAHIM SHAH 17T supplanting the many-templed Hindu city of Ratagarh (afterwards named by the Moslems Zafarabad, " tri- umph-town "), was the first Mohammedan stronghold planted in the very midst of the most Hindu part of Northern India. Mahmud of Ghazni had never reached this point, but legend records the triumphant march of his nephew, the youthful and heroic Salar Mas'ud, who ravaged the land to the very gates of Benares and threw down the temples of Ratagarh. He met his death in battle with the Hindus, and dwells for ever in the reverent memory of the Moslems, who for centuries visited his grave at Bahraich, where the martyr prince is said to have appeared to the aged Sultan Firoz and warned him of his approaching end. On the site of the temple where Ramachandra slew the giant demon Ka- valavira, still the scene of Hindu worship, Piroz built 'the fort which developed into the populous capital of the Sharki kings. Sarwar's successors, descended from his adopted sons, the children of Karanfal, a slave water-bearer of Firoz 's court, not only maintained the integrity of their dominions and resisted the attacks of Ikbal Khan and the Delhi troops, but made Jaunpur a seat of learning, a refuge for men of letters in those days of confusion and strife, and an example of noble building. Ibrahim Shah, who reigned from 1401 to 1440, was the most distinguished figure among the six " Kings of the East." He not only repelled the military and the diplomatic advances of Mahmud, the Sultan of Delhi, but even invaded the capital in 1413, during the con-