The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c26.50

v3.c26.50

Mahmūd I was succeeded by his eldest son, Ghiyās-ud-dīn, who took his seat on the throne two days after his father’s death. He earned the gratitude of his servants by retaining in their posts all those whom his father had appointed, and displayed a confidence in the loyalty of his near relations rarely found in an eastern king. His next brother, Tāj Khān, was confirmed in his fiefs and received the title of ‘Alā-ud-dīn, and his younger brother, Fidāī Khān, was permitted to retain the government of Ranthambhor and other districts. His declaration of policy resembled that of the Roman emperor Augustus. His father, he said, had extended his sway over the whole land of Mālwa, and it should be his care to hold what had been acquired, not to molest his neighbours. So averse was he from war that when Buhlūl Lodī raided Pālampur, near Ranthambhor, he would not take the field himself, but ordered Sher Khān, governor of Chanderī, to obtain satisfaction from the invader, which task was sufficiently well performed, and when, in 1484, he marched from Māndū in response to an appeal from the raja of Chāmpāner, who had sought his aid against Mahmūd Begarha, he was suddenly smitten with compunction, and consulted the doctors of the law on the legality of aiding an infidel against a Muslim, and, on their delivering the opinion that such assistance was unlawful, at once returned to Māndū.