The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c25.99

v3.c25.99

Bahādur at once returned to Gujarāt by way of Modāsa and Pātan and, as he advanced, was everywhere welcomed and joined by the nobles and officers of his father’s court. On July 11 he ascended the throne at Ahmadābād, and immediately continued his journey to Chāmpāner. The feeble efforts of ‘Imād-ul-Mulk to delay or hamper his advance were ineffectual; he entered Chāmpāner without opposition and at once went about to punish those who had murdered his brother and prepared his own way to the throne. ‘Imād-ul-Mulk Khush Qadam, Saif-ul-Mulk, and the actual assassins of Sikandar were immediately put to death. Latīf Khān, who was lurking in the city in the hope of events taking a turn favourable to his pretensions, wisely accepted the advice of his friends and fled to Pālanpur, and thence to Nandurbār, where he was joined by a number of his partisans. His adherents at Chāmpāner were arrested, and their houses were plundered by the mob. Ghāzī Khān, who was upholding Bahādur’s cause in the Nandurbār district, reported that Latīf Khān had raised the standard of revolt, that he had defeated him and dispersed his followers, and that Latīf was a wounded prisoner in his hands. He was ordered to see that his prisoner received proper treatment and to send him to court, but the prince died on his way thither and Bahādur was left without a competitor except his infant brother Mahmūd, who was secretly put to death within the year. Another brother, Chānd Khān, had taken refuge with Mahmūd Khaljī at Māndū, and Mahmūd’s refusal to surrender him dissolved the friendship which had once saved his kingdom for him. The murder of the child Mahmūd II alienated Udai Singh of Pālanpur, who sacked the town of Dohad, but Tāj Khān Narpālī led a punitive expedition against him and chastised him severely.