The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.221.1

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.