Page:History of India Vol 5.djvu/148

 114 ULUGH KHAN, AFTERWARDS EMPEROR BALBAN self to its improvement, and through his justice and generosity all the inhabitants were happy and con- tented. His success was so great that other nobles began to look upon him with jealousy and the thorn of envy commenced to rankle in their hearts. But it was the will of God that he should excel them all, so that the more the fire of their envy burnt, the stronger did the incense of his fortune rise from the censer of the times. Trustworthy persons have recorded that in the year 641 A. H. (1243 A. D.) Ulugh Khan was appointed lord chamberlain. When the royal army marched from the capital, he inflicted a severe chastisement on the rebels of Jalali and Dewali, and also on the Mawas in the Doab district between the Ganges and Jumna. He fought much against the infidels and cleared the roads and neighbouring country from insurgents. In the year 643 A. H. (1245 A. D.) the accursed Mangu Khan, who was one of the generals of the Mo- ghuls and a prince of Turkistan, marched from the neighbourhood of Talikan and Kunduz into Sind. He laid siege to Uchh, one of the most renowned fortresses of Sind, which was commanded by a eunuch who be- longed to the household of Taj -ad-din. When word regarding the invasion reached the court, Ulugh Khan made known his views to the Sultan and prepared an army to withstand the Moghuls. The princes and nobles were opposed to this expedition, but Ulugh Khan was very earnest about it. When the royal army marched toward the seat of