The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c13.97

c13.97

suddenly become alarmed and fled, through the Sirmur hills, to Lahore then, as shown above, under Mongol suzerainty. Ulugh Khan’s expedition in the same year “to the upper provinces as far as the waters of the Beas” must have had some connection with Masud’s flight¹. According to Wassaf², the latter then proceeded to the court of Mangu Khan, where his presence, along with Qutlugh Khan and Sunqar (Sherkhan Sunqar) is noticed by Binagiti also,—‘all the three having fled in fear of Ulugh Khan’. Obviously, some kind of active support against either Ulugh Khan or the hated Rayhan, then in possession of power, was sought from the Mongol sovereign; Masud probably added his own claim to his father’s kingdom. They were all received honourably befitting their ranks. It served the Mongol’s purpose to patronise Masud and to install him at least as a vassal ruler over their trans-Indus possessions. He was therefore sent back to Lahore with instructions to obtain the necessary help from Sali Bahadur. The latter accordingly escorted him through the Punjab. Masud was thus enabled to take possession of the districts extending from the Salt Range upto Lahore and including, it is added, Kujah and Sodharah⁴. From the mention of Hajner, beyond which the escorting Mongols expressed their inability to proceed⁵, it is possible to fix the boundary of Delhi at this time along the old bed of the Sutlej. It seems not improbable that their unwillingness to cross the frontier arose from the existence of some kind of truce with the Delhi government.