The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.325

v3.c20.325

'Alā-ud-dīn's excesses had now so undermined his health that he was compelled to take to his bed. Neither his wife nor his eldest son bestowed much attention on him. The former, whom he had neglected, amused herself with arranging and attending marriages and other festivities of the harem, and the latter could spare no time from his wine parties, polo matches, music, dancing, and elephant fights. 'Alā-ud-dīn summoned Malik Nāib from Deogīr and Alp Khān from Gujarāt, and complained bitterly to the former of the heartless conduct of his wife and son. The eunuch perceived an opportunity of destroying all his enemies at once, and assured his master that his wife and son were in league with Alp Khān to take his life. An inopportune proposal by the wife that her second son, Shādī Khān, should be permitted to marry the daughter of Alp Khān, confirmed ‘Alā-ud-dīn’s suspicions. Khizr Khān was banished to Amroha, but on hearing that his father’s health was restored returned to Delhi, in accordance with a vow, to offer thanks at some of the shrines near the capital. The act of disobedience was represented as a wilful defiance of authority, and though Khizr Khān’s filial piety at first regained his father’s affection, Malik Nāib’s persistence and his skilful distortion of facts confirmed the king’s belief in the existence of the conspiracy. Khizr Khān and Shādī Khān were sent to Gwalior, now apparently used for the first time as a state prison, their mother was removed from the harem and imprisoned at Old Delhi, Alp Khān was put to death, and Kamāl-ud-dīn Gurg was sent to Jālor to slay his brother, Nizām-ud-dīn, who commanded that fortress.