History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c6.6

c6.6

² Barani has treated Malka-i-Jahān too severely. He calls her the “silliest of the silly” and attributes her choice of the younger son to her ambition to rule in his name. A little reflection, however, would reveal that the problems at the capital after the murder of Jalāl were very knotty indeed. The government could not be carried on for long without a king. Arkali Khan was far away and his arrival from Multan would have taken some time. Malka-i-Jahān as well as some of her nobles knew it well that ‘Alāuddīn would spare no time in marching to Delhi if somebody was not proclaimed king instantly. Moreover, Qadr Khan was an offspring of old age and had been much loved by Jalāluddīn and Malka-i-Jahān. *Barani* pp. 176-177. *Miftāhul Futūh*, Elliot, Vol. III, p. 540.