The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c27.86

v3.c27.86

Ahmad succeeded in expelling the Hindu troops, but the humiliation and anxiety to which Fīrūz had been subjected had shattered a constitution enfeebled by excesses, and the management of affairs fell entirely into the hands of Hūshyār and Bīdār, who desired to secure the succession of the king's son, the weak and voluptuous Hasan Khān, and induced the king to order that his brother should be blinded. Ahmad withdrew, with his eldest son, 'Alā-ud-dīn Ahmad, to the hospice of Gīsū Darāz², where he spent the night in making preparations to flee from the capital, and early in the morning left Gulbarga with 400 horse. He was joined by a rich merchant, Khalaf Hasan of Basrah, who had long been attached to him, and halted in a village near Kalyāni. The two favourites hastily collected a force of three or four thousand horse, with elephants, and pursued Ahmad, whose followers now numbered a thousand. Khalaf Hasan encouraged Ahmad to assume the royal title and withstand his brother's troops, and by circulating a report that the provincial governors had declared for him, and by a stratagem similar to that of the Gillies' Hill at Bannockburn, enabled his patron to defeat his enemy and pursue the favourites to Gulbarga. Here they carried Fīrūz, now grievously sick, into the field, and ventured another battle, but the king swooned, and a rumour that he was dead caused the greater part of the army to transfer its allegiance to Ahmad. The citadel was surrendered, and Ahmad, in an affecting interview with his brother, accepted his resignation of the throne and the charge of his two sons, Hasan Khān and Mubārak Khān.