The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.156

v3.c20.156

The task which lay before the queen would have taxed even her father’s powers. Junaidī and the governors of Multān, Hānsī, Lahore and Budaun, who were marching on Delhi, had all been implicated in excluding her from the throne, and still declined to recognise her. She summoned to her aid Nusrat-ud-dīn, who had been appointed to Budaun after the defection of ‘Izz-ud-dīn Jānī, but before he could cross the Ganges he was defeated by the confederates, in whose hands he died, and they besieged her in her capital, but she marched out and encamped on the banks of the Jumna. She was not strong enough either to give or accept battle, but she turned her proximity to their camp to good account and by means of dexterous intrigues fomented distrust and dissension among them. She induced ‘Izz-ud-dīn Jānī and Ayāz of Multān to visit her and to treat for the betrayal of some of their associates, and then circulated in the rebel camp an account of all that had passed at the conference. Consternation fell upon all, no man could trust his neighbour, and Saif-ud-dīn Kūjī of Hānsī, ‘Alā-ud-dīn Jānī of Lahore, and Junaidī, who were to have been surrendered to her, mounted their horses and fled, but were pursued by her cavalry. Jānī was overtaken and slain near Pāel, Kūjī and his brother were taken alive and put to death after a short imprisonment, and Junaidī fled into the Sirmur hills, where he died.