The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c13.90

c13.90

return of the districts to Delhi, a number of Mongol captives, sent by the deputy governor of Multan, were ceremoniously paraded in the capital¹. But Sind was to prove a highly insecure possession, for distance from Delhi and the proximity of the Mongols frequently strained the governors' loyalty. Between Sher Khan and the ‘maliks of the capital’ a great deal of estrangement is reported by the chronicler; during the year of Ulugh Khan’s banishment from the capital, even armed strife is said to have taken place between the two². Whether Sher’s subsequent defection was in any way connected with the general opposition to Rayhan’s ascendency in Mahmud’s government, the chronicle gives us no clear indication; it merely states that following a reverse which he suffered on the banks of the Indus, he betook himself to Turkestan and to the court of the Mongol emperor Mangu Khan at Qaraqoram³.