The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.363

v3.c20.363

It was a civil war arising from conflicting claims to the throne that summoned Tughluq to Bengal. Shams-ud-dīn Fīrūz Shāh of that country, third son of Nāsir-ud-dīn Mahmūd Shāh Bughrā and grandson of Balban, had died in 1318, after a reign of sixteen years, leaving five sons, of whom the three eldest only need occupy our attention. These were Shihāb-ud-dīn Bughrā, who succeeded his father on the throne at Lakhnāwati, Nāsir-ud-dīn, and Ghiyās-ud-dīn Bahādur, who, having been appointed by his father governor of Sonārgāon, or Eastern Bengal, had proclaimed his independence in that province in 1310 and, on his father's death, disputed the title of his elder brother, Shihāb-ud-dīn Bughrā, and in 1319 overcame him and usurped his throne, the succession to which was then claimed by Nāsir-ud-dīn, who appealed to Tughluq. The king eagerly seized so favourable an opportunity of intervention in Bengal, the allegiance of which to Delhi had been severely shaken by the downfall of the Khaljī dynasty and the rulers of which were bound by no ties either to Khalj or to Tughluq, but had, on purely hereditary grounds, a better claim than either to the throne of Delhi.