The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.239

v3.c20.239

Kaiqubād lay unheeded in his palace at Kilokhrī while the two parties contended for the mastery. Neither wished to be the first to appeal to arms, and Kachhan visited Fīrūz to invite him to discuss the situation with the Turkish nobles in the city, but Fīrūz, having ascertained that the invitation was a snare, and that preparations had been made to murder him and his Khaljī officers, caused Kachhan to be dragged from his horse and slain. The sons of Fīrūz then dashed into Delhi, carried off Kayūmars, and defeated a force sent in pursuit of them, slaying Surkha, its leader, and capturing the sons of Fakhr-ud-dīn, the *Kotwāl*. The success of the unpopular party so incensed the people that they rose and streamed out of the city gates, with the intention of attacking Fīrūz in his camp, but the *Kotwāl*, who was a man of peace, and trembled for the fate of his captive sons, quelled the disturbance and dispersed the mob. Fīrūz was now master of the situation, and most of the Turkish nobles, who had lost their leaders, openly joined him, and the rest, with the populace of Delhi, maintained an attitude of sullen aloofness. Meanwhile the wretched Kaiqubād was an unconscionable time a-dying, and, with the approval of Fīrūz, an officer whose father had been executed by the sick man's orders was dispatched to his chamber to hasten his end. The ruffian rolled his victim in the bedding on which he lay, kicked him on the head, and threw his body into the Jumna¹. At the same time Chhajjū, whose near relationship to Kaiqubād might have encouraged him to assert a claim to the throne, was dismissed to his fief of Kara, and on June 13, 1290, Fīrūz was enthroned in the palace of Kilokhrī as Jalāl-ud-dīn Fīrūz Shāh.