History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c6.14

c6.14

town and exhorted all high and low to join their standard.⁷ He openly declared that a hundred times of what he was squandering would be realised by him if Delhi fell into their hands; and if, perchance they failed in their attempt, it was better that the wealth obtained from Devagiri was disbursed among the people rather than it fell into the hands of their adversaries.∗ The capture of Delhi, however, was not so difficult as 'Alāuddīn had thought. Even while he was halting at Baran, some influential Jalālī nobles like Tājuddīn Kūchī, Amajī Ākhūrbēg, Amīr 'Alī Dīvāna, 'Usmān Amīr Ākhūr, Amīr Kalān, 'Umr Surkha and Hīranmār, who had been sent out to oppose the advancing hosts had changed sides. For this treacherous and shameless conduct each of them had received 20, 30 and even 50 *man* of gold from 'Alāuddīn, who as a matter of policy displayed extreme generosity on such occasions. The soldiers who had come with these nobles were also given 100 *tankahs* each. The renegade barons used to say publicly: "the people of the City certainly find fault with us and declare that we have been guilty of base ingratitude . . . . , but these inconsiderate persons do not perceive that in reality the kingdom of Jalāluddīn came to an end the day he set out from the palace of Kīlugharī and of his own free will went in hot haste to Kara, and there put his neck and those of his intimate associates in jeopardy. What can we do but join 'Alāuddīn"?‡ The desertion of the veteran Jalālī nobles caused such an irreparable breach in the Delhi camp that the cause of Sultān Ruknuddīn Ibrāhīm was doomed to failure. Of the nobles at Delhi a section had already ceased to sympathise with the Queen mother on account of her injustice in setting aside the claims of Arkalī Khān, while another wavered between allegiance to the sons of the late king and his nephew.