The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c22.25

v3.c22.25

Sikandar was undoubtedly the fittest of all Bahlūl's sons to fill his father's throne, and his promptitude in joining the army settled the question of the succession, but some of the courtiers withdrew in sullen disaffection to their fiefs and Sikandar soon found it necessary to attack his uncle¹, 'Ālam Khān, who was making pretensions to independence in Rāprī and Chandwār. ‘Ālam Khān, after enduring a few days’ siege in Rāprī, fled and took refuge in Patiālī with ‘Īsā Khān, who was in rebellion in consequence of the insult which he had hurled at the king’s mother. Sikandar conferred the fief of Rāprī on Khān Khānān Lohānī and retired to Etāwah, where he spent seven months in reorganising the administration of the provinces, which had been thrown into confusion by governors and fief-holders appointed during the late reign and disaffected to his rule and in conciliating those who were prepared to accept his succession as an accomplished fact. He succeeded in persuading ‘Ālam Khān to leave the protection of ‘Īsā Khān and endeavoured to secure his fidelity by bestowing on him the fief of Etāwah, and he sent an embassy to his brother Bārbak in Jaunpur with the object of concluding a permanent treaty between that kingdom and Delhi, and marched in person against ‘Īsā Khān in Patiālī. ‘Īsā met him in the field, but was defeated, and so severely wounded that he survived his reconciliation with his nephew but a few days. Raja Ganesh, a Hindu officer who had espoused Bārbak’s cause, submitted to Sikandar and was rewarded with the fief of Patiālī.