The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c23.14

v3.c23.14

The death of Mahmūd in 1457, just as he was about to meet Buhlūl Lodī in the field, and the accession of his son Bhīkan, who assumed the title of Muhammad Shāh, have been described in the preceding chapter. Buhlūl, having made peace with Muhammad and retreated as far as Dhankaur, near the Jumna, about twentyeight miles south-east of Delhi, was reminded that he had left his kinsman, Qutb Khān Lodī, in captivity at Jaunpur, and suddenly returned to compel Muhammad Shāh to release him. Muhammad turned with equal promptitude and marched to Shamsābād¹, from which fief he expelled Raja Karan, Buhlūl’s vassal, and installed in his place Jaunān Khān, his own. His success attracted to his standard Raja Partāb of Etāwah who openly transferred his allegiance from Delhi to Jaunpur. The two opposing armies marched to the neighbourhood of Rāprī², on the Jumna, where, after some desultory and inconclusive fighting that of Jaunpur was demoralised by intestine strife. Muhammad Shāh, who, after his elevation to the throne, had evinced a violent and bloodthirsty disposition, had sent an order directing the chief magistrate of Jaunpur to put to death Hasan Khān, a younger son of Mahmūd Shāh, and Qutb Khān Lodī. The magistrate replied that he could not carry out the order as the king’s mother was protecting the condemned men, and Muhammad enticed his mother from the city by persuading her that he wished to consult her regarding the assignment of a share of the kingdom to his brother, Hasan Khān. She had no sooner left Jaunpur than Hasan Khān was murdered, and as she remained at Kanauj to mourn her son, Muhammad insulted her grief by the brutal taunt that she would save herself trouble by mourning at the same time for her other sons, who would presently follow Hasan to the grave. The threat put the princes on their guard, and by persuading the tyrant that Buhlūl was about to make a night attack on his camp they induced him to place at their disposal 30,000 horse and thirty elephants, wherewith to meet it. With this force Husain Khān, the king’s elder surviving brother, withdrew from the camp, followed by Buhlūl, who perceived in the movement a menace to his lines of communication. He intercepted Husain Khān’s younger brother, Jalāl Khān, who was attempting to join him, and detained him as a hostage for Qutb Khān Lodī, who had by some means escaped assassination. Muhammad Shāh, now aware of the defection of his brothers, retreated towards the Ganges, followed by Buhlūl, but, on approaching Kanauj, discovered that his power was gone, and that his brother Husain had there been acclaimed as king. Muhammad was deserted by the few nobles who remained with him and was slain while attempting, with a few personal adherents, to defend himself against an attack from the army which had lately been his own.