The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.250

v3.c20.250

In the second year of the reign Chhajjū assumed the royal title at Kara and was joined by Hātim Khān, who held the neighbouring fief of Oudh. The rebels advanced towards Delhi, where they were confident of the support of a numerous faction not yet reconciled to the rule of the Khaljī, but Fīrūz marched to meet them, and his advanced guard under his son Arkalī Khān encountered them near Budaun and defeated and dispersed them. Two days after the battle Chhajjū was surrendered by a Hindu with whom he had taken refuge, and he and the other captives were sent, with yokes on their necks and gyves on their wrists, to Budaun. Fīrūz, seated upon a cane stool, received them in public audience and when he saw their bonds wept in pity. He caused them to be loosed and tended and entertained them at a wine party. As they hung their heads with shame he cheered them and foolishly praised them for their loyalty to the heir of their old master. The indignant courtiers, headed, as usual, by Ahmad Chap, protested against this encouragement of rebellion and demanded that he should consider what his, and their, fate would have been had the rebels been victorious, and the old man, who seems to have entered upon his dotage when he seized the throne, could find no better reply than that he dared not, for the sake of a transitory kingdom, imperil his soul by slaying fellow-Muslims.