Twilight of the Sultanate c13.s2.1

c13.s2.1

While Bahlūl was away, a section of the nobility at the capital, which was alarmed at Bahlūl's policy of Afghanisation, invited Mahmūd Sharqī of Jaunpur to occupy Delhi.²³ A warlike monarch like Mahmūd hardly needed an invitation. In the very year of his accession (a.d. 1440—844 H) he had issued a large pattern coin as complete in inscription as that of any Delhi sovereign,²⁴ probably to symbolise his complete equality with the Sultan of Delhi. He and his predecessors had fought the Saiyyads of Delhi on many occasions and had married their daughters either through force or persuasion. Besides Mahmūd had fought many wars against Malwa.²⁵ Until the accession of Bahlūl, the kingdom of Jaunpur was a power to be reckoned with; now it was threatened by the ascendancy of the Afghans who, besides being masters of the Sultanate, dominated the whole of the Punjab and the Western Uttar Pradesh. Mahmūd's wife, a Saiyyad princess, was also nagging and instigating him to capture Delhi which, she pleaded, belonged to her forefathers and not to the upstart Bahlūl. She even threatened to lead a campaign in person if her husband delayed to march against Delhi.²⁶ Mahmūd also knew that Jaunpur was the only power which could champion the cause of the Saiyyads who had been ousted from the throne. Therefore, he could neither miss the opportunity of satisfying his ambition contained in the invitation from Delhi, nor fail to assert his right as envisaged by his wife.