The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.221

Language: English

v3.c20.221.1

In the same year Balban learnt with indignation that Tughril was in rebellion in Bengal. The allegiance of the governors of this distant and wealthy province to the reigning king had usually depended on circumstances. A strong ruler was gratified by frequent, though seldom regular remittances of tribute, one less strong might expect the compliment of an occasional gift, but with any indication of the king's inability to maintain his authority nearer home remittances ceased entirely. Lakhnāwatī had thus earned at Delhi the nickname of Balghākpur, 'the city of rebellion.' Tughril was encouraged by Balban's advancing age and by a recrudescence of Mughul activity on the north-western frontier, to withhold tribute, and Balban ordered Malik Aitigīn the Longhaired, entitled Amīn Khān, to march against him from Oudh. Amīn Khān was defeated, many from his army joined Tughril, and those who attempted to save themselves by flight were plundered by the Hindus. Balban, whom the first news of the rebellion had thrown into such paroxysms of rage that few durst approach him, was now nearly beside himself, and caused Amīn Khān to be hanged over the gate of the city of Ajodhya. In the following year an army under Malik Targhī shared the fate of its predecessor, and Tughril was again reinforced by deserters. Balban now gnawed his own flesh in his fury, and when his first outburst of rage was spent prepared to take the field in person.

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Fleets of boats were collected on the Jumna and the Ganges, and Balban, accompanied by his second son, Bughrā Khān, set out from Delhi and marched through the Doāb. In Oudh he mustered his forces, which numbered, including sutlers and camp-followers, 200,000, and, although the rainy season had begun he crossed the Gogra and invaded Bengal. Here he was often compelled by the state of the weather and the roads to halt for ten or twelve days at a time, and when he reached Lakhnāwatī he found it almost deserted, for Tughril, on hearing of his approach, had fled with his army and most of the inhabitants to Jājnagar¹ in eastern Bengal. After a short halt Balban continued his march until he reached Sonārgāon, on the Meghna, near Dacca, where he compelled the raja, Bhoj, to undertake to use his utmost endeavours to discover Tughril and to prevent his escape by land or water. He dismayed his army by solemnly swearing that he would not rest nor return to Delhi, nor even hear the name of Delhi mentioned, until he should have seized Tughril, even though he had to pursue him on the sea. His troops, who had not yet even discovered the place of Tughril's retreat, wrote letters, in the deepest dejection, bidding farewell to their families at Delhi, and the search for Tughril began. One day a patrol under Sher Andāz of Koil and Muqaddir encountered some grain merchants who had been abroad on business.

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When two had been beheaded to loosen the tongues of the rest, Sher Andāz learned that he was within a mile of Tughril, who was encamped with his army beside a reservoir. After sending word to Bektars, commanding the advanced guard, he rode cautiously on, found the rebel army enjoying a day's halt after the fashion of undisciplined troops and, fearing lest an incautious movement should give the alarm, formed the desperate resolution of attacking the enemy with his party of thirty or forty horsemen. As they galloped into the camp with swords drawn, shouting aloud for Tughril, the rebels were too astonished to reckon their numbers or to attempt resistance and they rode straight for his tent. Amid a scene of the wildest confusion he fled, and, mounting a barebacked horse, endeavoured to escape, but was recognised and pursued. Malik Muqaddir brought him down with a well aimed arrow and was thenceforward known as *Tughril-Kush*, 'the Slayer of Tughril'². Bektars then arrived on the scene and, receiving Tughril's head from Muqaddir, sent it to Balban with news of the success which had been gained. Balban summoned the adventurous officers to his presence and after severely reproving their rashness generously rewarded their success. The army passed at once from despair to elation; their master’s vow was fulfilled and the remainder of their task was a labour of love. The rebel’s demoralised force was surrounded and nearly the whole of it was captured.

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The army then set out on its return march to Lakhnāwatī where Balban proposed to glut his revenge. On either side of the principal bazar, a street more than two miles in length, a row of stakes was set up and the family and the adherents of Tughril were impaled upon them. None of the beholders had ever seen a spectacle so terrible and many swooned with terror and disgust. Such was the fate of Tughril’s own followers, but those who had deserted from the two armies sent against him and had joined his standard were reserved for what was designed to be a yet more appalling spectacle at the capital.