The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.477

v3.c20.477

THE death of Muhammad left the army without a leader and threw it into confusion. Some historians allege that on his death-bed he designated his cousin, Fīrūz, the son of Rajab, as his heir, but these are the panegyrists of Fīrūz, who made no attempt to claim the throne but merely associated himself with other officers in the endeavour to extricate it from a perilous situation. Its Mughul allies under Ūltūn Bahādur were regarded with apprehension and, having been rewarded for their services, were requested to retire to their own country. They were already retreating when they were joined by Naurūz Gurgīn, a Mughul officer who had served Muhammad for some years and now deserted with his contingent and disclosed to Ūltūn the confusion which reigned in the army. The army had already begun a straggling and disorderly retreat when it was attacked in flank by the Mughuls and in rear by the Sindīs and plundered, almost without opposition, by both. The dispirited and demoralised host had been at the mercy of its enemies for two days when the officers urged Fīrūz, now forty-six years of age, to ascend the throne, but the situation was complicated by his professed unwillingness to accept their nomination and by the presence of a competitor, a child named Dāvar Malik, whose claims were vehemently urged by his mother, a daughter of Ghiyās-ud-dīn Tughluq. She was silenced by the objection that the crisis required a man, not a child, at the head of affairs, and on March 23, 1351, the nobles overcame the protests of Fīrūz by forcing him on to the throne and acclaiming him. Having ransomed the captives taken by the Mughuls and the Sindīs he attacked and drove off the enemy, so that the army was able to continue its retreat to Delhi without molestation, while a force was left in Sind to deal with the rebel Taghī.