The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c9.106

c9.106

Towards the end of 657/1259 or early in 658/1260, Arslan Khan, the governor of Karrah, suddenly advanced on Lakhnauti and taking advantage of Yuzbaki’s absence on a raid in East Bengal, forcibly seized the capital². Yuzbaki hurriedly returned but only to be defeated and slain. This unauthorised occupation, in the tradition of Tughril and Yuzbak, was an open defiance, but Mahmud’s government at the moment had too many anxieties to be able to take immediate action. Arslan was still ruling in Lakhnauti as a rebel when Minhaj closed his account (end of 1260). From the absence of coins in his name he does not appear to have assumed full sovereignty although he is stated to have never acknowledged Mahmud’s authority³. An inscription at Barahdari, Bihar, dated in 663/1264 recording the erection of a tomb under the orders of his son and successor Tatar Khan, fixes approximately the termination of his rule⁴.