Twilight of the Sultanate c14.s5.11

c14.s5.11

Mahmūd's rivals were thus eliminated for the time being and he got firmly established in Mandu. His friend in need, Medinī Rai, ordered a purge of all the disaffected and intriguing elements, and a large number of nobles were executed or removed from service. But the ascendancy of the Rajputs under Medinī Rai was resented by the Malwa grandees headed by Behjat Khan, governor of Chanderi. Behjat appealed to Sikandar Lodī and promised to read the Sultan's Khutba at Chanderi if he helped in defeating Mahmūd and Medinī Rai and crowning Sāhib Khan in Mandu.¹⁰⁹ Muhāfiz Khan, who was with Sāhib Khan, also in the meantime personally approached Sikandar Lodī for succour,¹¹⁰ and the latter sent a force of twelve thousand cavalry under the command of 'Imādul Mulk Lodī¹¹¹ and Sa'īd Khan to help Sāhib Khan upon whom he conferred the title of Sultan Muhammad, thereby obliging both Behjat Khan as well as the fugitive prince.