Page:The Seven Cities of Delhi.djvu/268

The Seven Cities of Delhi was taken to Delhi and burled there, near Khairpur. He seems to have spent very little of his long reign at Delhi, but he laid out a considerable sum in the repair of the ancient monuments, such as the Kutb Minar and the tomb of Firoze Shah. At the commencement of his reign there was built the Moth-ki-Masjid, which is said to have been built out of funds provided by the sale of crops of pulse, originating from a single seed. Sikandar was succeeded by his son, IBRAHIM LODI, who ascended the throne at Agra. He was a man of a very haughty temperament, and made his nobles stand in front of him with their hands folded in a servile manner. This they would not brook, for the Afghans considered that the king was only the principal noble, and entitled to the throne only so long as they chose. This fact accounts for the curious state of affairs, which existed from now onwards, until the Moghals had firmly established an empire, a thing they could not have done had not each Afghan noble considered his own interests only. Ibrahim's reign was one long struggle against his nobles, until, in 1525, even his brother Ala-ud-din took the field against him, and invested Delhi with a large force. Ibrahim, however, aided by fortune, managed to relieve the city, so Ala-ud-din, retiring to the Punjab, called in Babar, the 208