The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c24.29

v3.c24.29

Indīl Khān, at his distant post, heard of the tragedy and was considering on what pretext he could lead his troops to the capital to avenge his master’s death when he received a summons from Bārbak. He welcomed the opportunity and hastened with his troops to Gaur, where his influence and the armed force at his command rendered his position secure. He found that the eunuch’s rule was already unpopular, and allowed it to be understood that he was a partisan of the old royal house, which was not yet extinct. Bārbak was apprehensive of his designs, and when he appeared at court insisted that he should take an oath not to injure or betray him. A copy of the Koran was produced, and Indīl Khān, who could not refuse the oath, added to it the reservation that he would not injure Bārbak so long as he was on the throne; but he interpreted the reservation literally, and, having bribed the ushers and doorkeepers of the court, awaited an opportunity of avenging the murder of Fath Shāh. This soon presented itself when the eunuch fell into a drunken slumber. Indīl Khān forced his way into the royal apartment, but finding that Bārbak had fallen asleep on the cushions which composed the throne, hesitated to violate the letter of his oath, and was about to withdraw when the drunkard rolled heavily over on to the floor. Indīl Khān at once struck at him with his sword, but the blow failed of its effect, and Bārbak, suddenly waking, sprang upon him and grappled with him. His strength and weight enabled him to throw his adversary and sit on his chest, but Indīl Khān called to Yaghrush Khān, a Turkish officer whom he had left without, and who now rushed in with a number of faithful Africans. The lamps had been overturned and extinguished in the struggle, and Indīl’s followers hesitated to strike in the darkness, lest they should injure their master, but he encouraged them by shouting that their knives would not reach him through the eunuch’s gross body, and they stabbed Bārbak repeatedly in the back. He rolled over and feigned death, and they retired, satisfied that their task was done. After they had left a slave entered to relight the lamps, and Bārbak, fearing the return of Indīl Khān, lay still. The slave cried out that the king was dead, and Bārbak, recognising his voice, bade him be silent and asked what had become of Indīl Khān. The slave replied that he had gone home, and Bārbak, who believed the man to be faithful to himself, issued an order for the execution of Indīl Khān. The slave left the chamber, but instead of delivering the order to any who might have executed it, went at once to Indīl Khān and told him that his enemy yet lived. Indīl Khān returned to the palace, stabbed Bārbak to death, and, sending for the minister, Khānjahān, consulted him regarding the filling of the vacant throne, the rightful heir to which was a child of two years of age. In the morning the courtiers waited upon Fath Shāh’s widow, who urged the avenger of her husband’s blood to ascend the throne. Indīl Khān, after a decent display of reluctance, accepted the charge, and was proclaimed, a few months after the assassination of Fath Shāh, by the title of Saif-ud-dīn Fīrūz. His elevation established an unfortunate precedent, and historians observe that it was henceforth an accepted rule in Bengal that he who slew a king’s murderer acquired a right to the throne.