1 GHIAS-UD-DIN TOGHLAK. 107
2 and sovereign. Ghazi Beg Toghlak, the able and brave viceroy of Léhore,
3 having heard of the shocking revolution brought about by Khusrow,
4 marched from the Panj&b at the head of an army to deliver the op-
5 pressed subjects from the hands of the usurper. Most of the governors
6 of provinces joined Toghlak with their troops. Moghaltagin, the gover-
7 nor of Maltén, who was unwilling to act in concert with him, was killed
8 by Behram Abia, a Moghal chief of note, who put the whole Multdn
9 army at the disposal of the Ldhore viceroy. The confederate armies,
10 having advanced to Delhi, were met by the royal troops on the banks
11 of the Sursuti, but the latter were so effeminate and so enervated by
12 idleness and debauchery, as to be no match for the hardy veterans of the
13 frontier, who were thoroughly practised in war and had repeatedly beaten
14 the Moghals in the field. Malik Khusrow was defeated and put to flight,
15 but was subsequently found concealed in an old tomb, whence he was
16 dragged forth and at once executed on the 22nd August, 1321.
17 The following day, the nobles and Omerahs of the city waited on the
18 victor to pay him their respects and to lay before him the keys of the city.
19 Ghazi Beg made his triumphant entry into the city. As he came in sight
20 of the Hazdy Minar, or palace of thousand minarets, he wept bitterly,
21 and, addressing the public, said that he considered himself only as one of
22 their number, that he had unsheathed his sword to rid the world of a
23 monster, and that, if none of the royal race survived, he would most wil-
24 lingly serve anyone who might be selected by the nobility to be their king.
25 The multitude cried out with one voice that none was so fit to reign as
26 he himself, who had shielded them from the vengeance of the Moghals
27 and had freed them from the grinding tyranny of an usurper ; and, thereupon
28 lifting him up, they carried him to the great hall of public audience and,
29 seating him on the royal throne and bowing before him with folded hands,
30 hailed him as “ Shahjehan” (King of the Universe). Ghazi Beg, however,
31 on assuming the sovereign power, contented himself with the more modest
32 title of “ Ghids-ud-din.” Thus, the dynasty of the Khiljais, after reigning
33 from 1288 to 1321, passed away amidst a chaos of revolts, bloodshed, and
34 outrages of the most horrible nature.
35 OHAPTER Vi.
36 - THE TOGHLAK DYNASTY,
37 1321 To 1898.
38 GHIAS-UD-DIN TOGHLAK.
39 HIAS-UD-DIN Toghlak was crowned king amidst the enthusiastic acclama~-
40 tions of the multitude. Mubammad Kasim Ferishta writes, in his inter-
41 esting work, that, when deputed by his sovereign, Ibrahim Adil Shah, of Bijé-
42 pur, to the court of the Emperor Jehangir, then at Ldhore, he enquired from
43 persons well versed in history what they knew of the origin of the Toghlak
44 dynasty. Though unable to produce any written authority on the subject
45 they all agreed that Toghlak was the name of Ghids-ud-din’s father, that he
46 was a Turki slave of Ghias-ud-din Balbdén and had married a wife of the Jat
47 Ghazi Beg, viceroy
48 of Lahore, marches on
49 Delhi,
50 And defeats Malik
51 Khusrow,
52 Who is put to death
53 1321 a.D.
54 Ghazi Beg Toghle .
55 elected king.
56 The origin of Ghazt
57 Beg Toghla,
58 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com