The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.256

v3.c20.256

Fīrūz Shāh’s solitary departure from his policy of leniency was unfortunate. A religious leader named Sīdī Maulā, originally a disciple of Shaikh Farīd-ud-dīn Ganj-i-Shakar of Pāk Pattan or Ajūdhan had, in 1291, been established for some time at Delhi, where his mode of life attracted general attention. He accepted neither an allowance from the state nor offerings from disciples or admirers, but all might enjoy at the hospice which he had built for himself the most lavish hospitality. His wealth was attributed by the vulgar to his discovery of the philosopher’s stone, but it has been suggested that he was a patron and a pensioner of the *Thags*. The most frequent guests at his private table were the Khān Khānān and some of the old nobles of Balban’s court, who had enrolled themselves as his disciples, and their meetings naturally attracted suspicion. It was discovered, one historian says, by Fīrūz himself, who attended a meeting in disguise, that there was a plot to raise Sīdī Maulā to the throne as Caliph, and he and his principal disciples were arrested. Scruples, suggested by the theologians, regarding the legality of the ordeal by fire, disappointed the populace of a spectacle, and Sīdī Maulā was brought before Fīrūz, who condescended to bandy words with him and, losing his temper in the controversy, turned, in the spirit of Henry II of England, to some fanatics of another sect and exclaimed, ‘Will none of you do justice for me on this saint?’ One of the wretches sprang upon Sīdī Maulā, slashed him several times with a razor, and stabbed him with a packing-needle. Arkalī Khān finished the business by bringing up an elephant, which trampled the victim to death. One of those dust-storms which, in northern India, darken the noonday sun immediately arose and was attributed by the superstitious to the divine wrath, as was also a more serious calamity, the failure of the seasonal rains, which caused a famine so acute that bands of hungry and desperate wretches are said to have drowned themselves in the Jumna. Shortly after the execution of Sīdī Maulā the suspiciously opportune death of the Khān Khānān, his principal disciple, was announced, and Arkalī Khān became heir-apparent and remained at Delhi as regent while his father led an expedition against Ranthambhor. On his way he captured the fortress and laid waste the district of Jhāīn, but a reconnaissance of Ranthambhor convinced him that the place could not be taken without losses which he was not prepared to risk, and he returned to Delhi to endure another lecture from his outspoken cousin, Ahmad Chap, to whose just strictures he could oppose no better argument than that he valued each hair of a true believer’s head more than a hundred such fortresses as Ranthambhor.