The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c21.44

v3.c21.44

Meanwhile Mahmūd, marching from Mālwa by way of Hindaun, was there joined by Yūsuf Khān Auhadī and continued his advance to Delhi. Muhammad marched forth to meet him, and the two armies confronted one another between Tughluqābād and the city. Here Muhammad, who had already proved himself to be devoid of the qualities of a leader of men, sank to the lowest depths of contempt by showing that he lacked the mere physical courage expected of the humblest soldier. He would not take the field in person, but entrusted the command of his troops nominally to his son ‘Alā-ud-dīn, with whom he associated Sayyid Khān, Daryā Khān Lodī, Qutb Khān, and other officers. Like Muhammad, but for a different reason, Mahmūd Khaljī refrained from personally engaging in the conflict. His courage was never impugned, and he was, indeed, brave to rashness, but he would not deign to take the field against Muhammad’s officers, and was resolved to show that his own subordinates were well able to cope with them. Retaining for the protection of his person a small force of picked cavalry he entrusted the command of the rest of his army to his two sons Ghiyās-ud-dīn and Nusrat Khān. The battle began at noon and lasted, without any decisive advantage to either side, until nightfall, when each army returned to its own camp. The pusillanimous Muhammad, dreading the alternative prospects of being obliged to take the field or of falling into the hands of the enemy, hastened to make undignified proposals for peace, which might have been rejected with contempt, had not Mahmūd received reports which necessitated an immediate return to his capital. A mob at Māndū had removed the royal umbrella suspended over the tomb of Hūshang Shāh and had raised it over the head of a pretender whom they had proclaimed king of Mālwa as representative of the Ghūrī family¹. Accordingly he welcomed the overtures for peace and on the following day began his retreat. With flagrant disregard of the agreement between the two kings Buhlūl Lodī followed and attacked the retreating army, and obtained a trivial advantage over its rearguard and some plunder. It need not be assumed that Muhammad was privy to this act of treachery, for Buhlūl was beyond his control, but he participated in its guilt by becoming, in legal phrase, an accessory after the fact. The perfidious Afghān was received on his return with extravagant demonstrations, his mean and petty triumph was magnified into a victory over the army of Mālwa, and the king distinguished him by styling him his son, and conferred on him the title of Khān Khānān.