History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c18.16

c18.16

Meanwhile the health of the Sultan began to take a turn for the worse. The last three years of his life were full of bitterness and anguish. His inordinate ambition and his passion for glory had entailed hard and strenuous work. Added to this were his irregular habits and his extreme sensuousness.⁹ All this had severely told upon his bodily vigour. Naturally his hand began to lose control of administration. His favourites on the one hand and able and worthy men on the other began to entertain ideas of enimosity. Alp Khan and Kāfūr were ranged in opposition. To all outward appearances the former was gaining strength. He had given proof of his talents on various occasions. He had administered the province of Gujarat for the past fifteen years and was very popular with the people there. He was the real brother of the chief queen of the realm and was also in the good books of the sultan. He had two royal princes as his sons-in-law, the elder of whom had been declared heirapparent to the throne by the Sultan, who to ensure Khizr Khan's accession after his own death had obtained written promises from all the barons of the state.¹⁰ Thus the position of Alp Khan at the capital was quite strong. Naturally, Malik Naib Kāfūr, who wielded great influence with the king, felt alarmed at this state of affairs. Captured in the sack of Gujarat in 1299, he had all along enjoyed the affections of the Sultan and had risen from post to post until he became the Vazīr. He was commander of the forces that went to the Deccan several times between 1308 and 1313. So brilliant were his achievements that 'Alāuddīn, highly impressed with his capabilities, appointed him viceroy of the Deccan, with headquarters at Devagiri.¹¹ It was on the occasion of the marriage of the royal princes that he was called to Delhi, where he found the royal consort, her brother Alp Khan and prince Khizr Khan in great ascendancy. An ambitious genéral like Kāfūr, who of late had been the only guiding spirit of the king, could now know well that he was lost if he did not stir betimes.