The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.339

v3.c20.339

Khusrav Khān, by complaining that his nightly attendance prevented him from meeting his relations, obtained possession of the keys of the palace gates, and was enabled to admit large numbers of his relations and of his corps of horse to the palace, in the lower story of which they used nightly to assemble. A warning given to Mubārak on the eve of his death by his former tutor was repeated to Khusrav Khān, and served only as a text for hypocritical protestations, which entirely disarmed suspicion. On the night of April 14, 1320, all was ready and he who had uttered the warning to the king was cut down as he was inspecting the guard. The uproar which ensued disturbed Mubārak in the upper story of his palace and he asked Khusrav Khān to see what was amiss. Khusrav, having ascertained from a glance into the courtyard that the work was already begun, told him that the men were trying to catch some horses which had broken loose. Even as he spoke the assassins were ascending the stairs and Mubārak, as they burst into his room, sprang up in terror and ran towards the female apartments, but Khusrav seized him by the hair and held him while Jāharya, one of the Parwārīs, stabbed him to death. His head was severed from his body and thrown into the courtyard, as a signal to all that the throne was vacant, and the outcastes broke into the harem, murdered the children of the royal family, and outraged the women.