The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.161

v3.c20.161

Raziyya returned to Delhi on March 15, 1240, but on April 3 was again compelled to take the field. The Turkish nobles, headed by the lord chamberlain, Ikhtiyār-ud-dīn Aitigīn, resented the power and influence of Yāqūt and instigated Ikhtiyār-ud-dīn Altūniya, governor of Bhātinda, to rebel. When the army reached Bhātinda the discontented nobles slew Yāqūt, imprisoned Raziyya, whom they delivered into the custody of Altūniya, and directed their confederates at Delhi to raise to the throne Mu‘izz-ud-dīn Bahrām, third son of Iltutmish and half-brother of Raziyya. Bahrām was proclaimed on April 22, and when the army returned to Delhi on May 5, its leaders formally acknowledged him as their sovereign, but made their allegiance conditional on the appointment of Aitigīn as regent for one year. Aitigīn married the king’s sister and usurped all the power and most of the state of royalty, and Bahrām, chafing under the regent’s arrogance and the restraint to which he was subjected, on July 30 incited two Turks to stab, in his presence, both Aitigīn and the minister, Nizām-ul-Mulk. Aitigīn was killed on the spot, but the minister was only wounded, and made his escape. To save appearances the assassins suffered a brief imprisonment, but were never brought to punishment, and Bahrām appointed as lord chamberlain Badr-ud-dīn Sunqar, a man of his own choice.