Twilight of the Sultanate c13.s2.25

c13.s2.25

It was a policy of firmness coupled with broad-based liberality which had won Bahlūl the allegiance of many otherwise proud and powerful chieftains, and within a year of his accession he had been able to assert his authority over the entire central region from the Punjab to the very frontiers of Jaunpur. But his advance in arms as far as Etwah brought him into clash with the king of Jaunpur who had known no rest since his last defeat. Goaded by his wife Bibi Rajī,⁴² Mahmūd Sharqī came to Etwah to fight Bahlūl once again.⁴³ Bahlūl was not prepared for a full-scale war and after a day's contest (and at the intervention of Qutb Khan and Rai Pratap Singh), a truce favourable to Mahmūd was concluded on the following terms: