The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c22.60

v3.c22.60

He was the greatest of the three kings of his house and carried out with conspicuous success the task left unfinished by his father. We hear little of the Punjab during his reign and he drew no troops from it to aid him in his eastern campaigns, but there are indications that it was more tranquil and more obedient to the crown than it had been in his father's reign. His vigorous administration amply justified the choice of the minority which, in the face of strong opposition, raised him to the throne, and his selection saved the kingdom from becoming the plaything of an oligarchy of turbulent, ignorant, and haughty Afghāns. His weakest action was his support of his hopelessly incompetent brother Bārbak, but this weakness was an amiable trait in a character by no means rich in such traits. He seems to have had a sincere affection for his brother, and to have felt that he owed him some reparation for having supplanted him in his birthright, but when he discovered that leniency was a mistaken policy he knew how to act.