The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.154

v3.c20.154

The incompetence and sensuality of Fīrūz and the mischievous activity of his mother excited the disgust and indignation of all, and passive disaffection developed into active hostility when the mother and son barbarously destroyed the sight of Qutb-ud-dīn, the infant son of Iltutmish. Nor was intestine disorder the only peril which threatened the kingdom, for the death of Iltutmish had been the opportunity of a foreign enemy. Malik Saif-ud-dīn Hasan Qarlugh, a Turk who now held Ghaznī, Kirmān and Bāmiyān, invaded the upper Punjab and, turning southwards, appeared before the walls of Multān. Saif-ud-dīn Aibak, governor of Uch, attacked and routed him and drove him out of India, but to foreign aggression the more serious peril of domestic rebellion immediately succeeded. Ghiyās-ud-dīn Muhammad, a younger son of Iltutmish, rebelled in Oudh, detained a caravan of treasure dispatched from Bengal, and plundered many towns to the east of Jumna, and ‘Izz-ud-dīn rebelled in Budaun. In the opposite direction the governors of Multān, Hānsī and Lahore formed a confederacy which, to within a distance of ninety miles from Delhi, set the royal authority at naught. In Bengal no pretence of subordination remained. In 1233 ‘Izz-ud-dīn Tughril Taghān Khān had succeeded Saif-ud-dīn Aibak as governor of the province, but Aor Khān, who held the fief of Debkot, had established his independence in the country to the north and east of the Ganges and had recently attempted to expel Tughril from Lakhnāwatī. He had been defeated and slain, but neither antagonist had dreamt of appealing to Delhi, and Tughril, who now ruled the whole of Bengal, was bound by no ties, either of sentiment or interest, to the unworthy successor of Aibak and Iltutmish.