History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c11.60

c11.60

'Alāuddīn had always given heed to the mature advice of the experienced Kotvāl but could not agree with him on the present occasion. He called together all the high officers of the army and in their presence addressed 'Alāulmulk. It was meaningless, said he, to assume a menacing attitude towards the Mughals and yet avoid an engagement with them. How could he hold the sovereignty of Delhi if he shuddered to encounter the invaders? What would his contemporaries and those adversaries who had marched two thousand *kos* to fight him say, when he hid himself "behind a camel's back'.³⁹ And what verdict posterity would pronounce on him? How could he dare show his countenance to anybody, or even enter the royal *haram* if he was guilty of cowardice and endeavoured to repel the Mughals with diplomacy and negotiations? In the end the Sultan exclaimed: "Come what may, I am bent upon marching tomorrow into the plain of Kīlī where I propose joining in battle with Qutlugh Khvājā. ... Oh 'Alāulmulk, to thee have I confided the post of Kotvāl and the charge of my seraglio, and treasures, together with the whole town. Whichever of us two, whether he or I, prove the conqueror, salute the victor with the keys of the gates, and of the treasures, and lay them before him, and become his obedient servant and vassal."⁴⁰