The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c21.53

v3.c21.53

After the king’s departure from the capital a quarrel broke out between his two brothers-in-law, one of whom had been left there as governor and the other as chief of the city police, and one of them had been killed in a fight between their factions. The mob, at the instigation of Hisām Khān, had risen against the survivor and put him to death, and Hisām Khān and Hamīd Khān remained arbiters of the destinies of Delhi. The restoration of ‘Ālam Shāh was out of the question, and both desired to find a substitute who would be content with no more than the royal title and would permit them to govern in his name. The claims of the kings of Jaunpur and Mālwa were considered and rejected, for the former was connected by marriage with ‘Ālam Shāh and might attempt to avenge his wrongs and the latter was so attached to his distant kingdom that it was improbable that he would transfer his affections to Delhi. Their choice fell ultimately upon Buhlūl, though there was little probability of his becoming a pliable instrument in their hands, and he was invited to Delhi. He responded with such alacrity that he arrived with a force insufficient to establish his authority, but he formally received from Hamīd Khān, in exchange for conciliatory promises, the keys of the city, and wrote to ‘Ālam Shāh a letter as masterly as it was insincere, in which he explained that he was actuated solely by jealous zeal for the royal authority, which he had seen set at naught. Buhlūl seated himself on the throne on April 19, 1451, and set out at once to Dīpālpūr to collect the troops which in his haste he had left behind. His letter to ‘Ālam Shāh elicited the desired reply. The mean-spirited king, content with the ease and freedom from care which his residence in Budaun afforded, replied that he had had neither fruit nor profit of sovereignty, that his father had styled Bahlūl his son and that he himself freely and cheerfully resigned his throne to Bahlūl as to an elder brother. Thus Bahlūl, on his return to Delhi, ascended the throne not merely as the creature of a successful faction, but as the heir designate of a king who had voluntarily abdicated. The contemptible ‘Ālam Shāh remained contentedly in Budaun, where the revenue of the small territory which he had been permitted to retain sufficed to defray the cost of his pleasures.