History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c8.s2.22

c8.s2.22

Almās Bēg governed Ranthambhor for about six months after which he started for Delhi. On his way to Delhi he suddenly died. 'Isāmī attributes the death to poisoning and writes that when Ulugh Khān had heard of the almost fatal injuries to the king, during the revolt of Ikat Khān, he had remarked that if the sultān was dead, his brother was alive to fill the vacant throne. 'Alāuddīn learnt about it from one of his confidential servants. He grew suspicious about his brother and ordered that the latter should be poisoned.³⁸ Hājiuddabīr, on the authority of Husām Khān's *Tabqāt-i-Bahādur Shāhī*, also says that Ulugh Khān was poisoned on his way from Ranthambhor to Delhi.³⁹ Ziyā Baranī says, "Ulugh Khān for four or five months during the sultān's absence, enlisted a large force, to effect an invasion of Telingana and M'abar, but he fell a victim to cruel fate and was overtaken by death about the time of his approach to the capital. They brought him dead to the city and buried him in his mansion. The calamity made the sultān very sad. He gave away many charities for the soul of the dead".⁴⁰ Thus Baranī not only does not mention poisoning to be the cause of Ulugh Khān's death; his last sentence goes even to prove the king's innocence. But taking into account the vindictive and unpropitiating temperament of 'Alāuddīn, it is not improbable that he may have been instrumental in his brother's death.