The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.437.2

v3.c20.437.2

The avowed reason for the transfer was 'Ain-ul-Mulk's efficiency and success as a provincial governor, from which some improvement in the situation in the Deccan might be expected, but it was generally known that the deplorable condition of the southern provinces was due not to any fault of Qutlugh Khān, who was a loyal and able governor, but to the pernicious system of farming the revenues, and 'Ain-ul-Mulk feared, probably with justice, that the king's real motive in transferring him from Oudh was jealousy of his power and influence, and that the object of appointing him to a government in which Qutlugh Khān had failed was to ensure his disgrace and destruction. His brothers, who had loyally assisted him in the government of Oudh now urged him not to submit to the caprice of an ungrateful master, but to rely on the support of the people by whom he was so well beloved. Opportunity favoured him, for the elephants, horses, pack animals and cattle of the royal army had been sent across the Ganges into Oudh for grazing, and the rebellion was precipitated by the seizure of those animals, while 'Ain-ul-Mulk fled from the camp and joined his own army on the east of the Ganges. He assumed the title of Sultān 'Alā-ud-dīn, and Muhammad, for the first time in his reign, had cause to tremble for his throne and his life.