1 Fifteen thousand
2 Moghals in the royal
3 service put to death.
4 The learned men
5 of his time.
6 The king’s death,
7 1316 a.D.
8 Tlis youngest son,
9 Omar, succecds,
10 The royal princes
11 nro blinded.
12 Mat
13 106 HISTORY OF THE PANJAB.
14 gulations for the army were made, and the pay of military men of all ranks
15 was fixed. His authority was dreaded by the greatest men in the land, and
16 his will alone was the law. Becoming suspicious of the Moghals, who had
17 entered the royal service after embracing the faith of Islam, he dismissed
18 them all, and, not content with this, he, for some unaccountable reason, had
19 fifteen thousand of these unhappy creatures butchered in the streets of Delhi
20 in one day, while all their wives and children were enslaved. No one dared
21 to remonstrate with the king for such barbarous cruelty. Though at first illi-
22 terate, he applied himself assiduously to the acquisition of knowledge, and
23 became able to read, write, and study books. He built magnificent palaces,
24 mosques, mausoleums, and colleges, and became a patron of learning. Among
25 the holy men of his time were Nizdm-ud-din Ouwlia, of Delhi, Sheikh
26 Ala-ud-din, the grandson of the celebrated Sheikh Fariddin Shukarganj,
27 Sheikh Rukn-ud-din, the son of Sadr-ud-din Arif, and grandson of the
28 famous Baha-ud-din Zakaria of Miltén. Among the poets of the time were
29 Amir Khusrow, Amir Hassan, Sadr-ud-din Ali and Mouldua Arif.
30 Ala-ud-din died on the 19th December 1316, after a reign of twenty
31 years and some months.
32 KUTB-UD-DIN MOBARAK SHAH.
33 After the death of Ala-ud-din Khiljai, Malik Kafar, the eunuch slave, who
34 had been purchased by the late king at Cambay and had risen to high rank
35 and favour, having assembled the Omerahs and produced a spurious docu-
36 ment of the deceased king, acknowledging his youngest son Omar as
37 king, placed him on the throne. The prince was then only seven years of
38 age, and Kafur himself began to administer the affairs of the kingdom as
39 regent. He put out the eyes of Khizr Khan and Shddi Khan, the elder
40 sons of the king, and, however ridiculous it may appear, the eunuch,
41 nevertheless, married the mother of Prince Omar, the late emperor’s third
42 wife. A band of assassins was then sent to assassinate Mobarak Khan, the
43 king’s third son, but the prince had the presence of mind to throw his jewels
44 before them. The ruffians quarrelled about the division of the prize, and
45 ack Kefar putto information of the affair reaching the commander of the royal guards and his
46 lieutenant, they, with their men, entered the eunuch’s apartments and put him
47 Mobirak arcends the to death. Mobdérak then assumed the sovereign power, but was not crowned
48 throne, 1317 wp.
49 He gives himself
50 up to licentiousness,
51 Mobink Khiljaf
52 rourdered, 1329 a.n.
53 Milik Khusrow
54 sans tle throne,
55 Extirpaticn of the
56 rayal family,
57 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary
58 king until the 22nd March, 1817.
59 Mobdarak’s first measures were just and beneficial. He released a large
60 number of convicts, and had all the exiles recalled by proclamation. To
61 gain popularity, he made a present of six months’ pay to the troops, and
62 restored lands which had been resumed during the last reign. He removed
63 all obnoxious taxes and tributes, and the restrictions on commerce which
64 had been imposed by his late father, and commerce again flowed in its
65 accustomed channels, He, however, abandoned many of the wise insti-
66 tutions of his father, and gave himself up to licentious revelry ; vice and
67 lust became the fashion of the day, and most people were infected by his
68 example. The king committed the most villainous excesses that can disgrace
69 human nature, and became infamous for every vice. He was murdered
70 on the night of the 9th March; 1329, by a body of ruffians hired for the
71 purpose by Malik Khusrow, originally a Hindu slave, who had risen into
72 high favour with him.
73 Malik Khusrow ascended the throne t
74 of Nasir-ud-din.
75 the late king,
76 Dewal Devi, th
77 he following day with the title
78 Everybody having any pretension to relationship with
79 was murdered in cold blood. The king took to himself
80 e beautiful wife of Khizr Khan, the brother of his master
81 NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com