The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.150

v3.c20.150

In the winter of 1235–36 Iltutmish led an expedition against the Khokars, whose hostility to the Muslim rulers of India had survived the extinction of the dynasty of Ghūr, but on his way he was stricken with an illness so severe that it was necessary to carry him back to Delhi in a litter. As his life was ebbing the courtiers, desirous of averting the horrors of a disputed succession urged him to name his successor. Mahmūd, the only one of his sons who, having reached maturity, had shown any promise, was dead, and the dying monarch named his daughter Raziyya. The courtiers, scandalised by this suggestion, urged the insuperable objection of her sex, and the king, languidly replying that they would find her a better man than any of her brothers, turned his face to the wall and died, on April 29, 1236¹, after a reign of twenty-six years.