Twilight of the Sultanate c15.10

c15.10

Why then did the nobles of the State divide the Sultanate of Delhi? Most of the chroniclers are silent about their motives. Badaonī and Ahmad Yādgār⁶ furnish no information on the point, while the explanation of Ferishta is far from convincing. According to Ferishta, Sultan Ibrāhīm Lodī had given great umbrage to the Afghan nobles by renouncing the customs and traditions of his father and grandfather and by declaring soon after his accession, that sovereignty knew no kinship, that there was to be no distinction among officers whether of his own tribe or otherwise, and that all were to be treated as servants of the State as "the kings have no relations". He also adds that the Afghan chiefs who hitherto used to sit in the court, were now constrained to stand in the Sultan's presence with folded hands. This attitude of the Sultan disgusted the nobles. They conspired together and leaving Ibrāhīm in possession of Agra and a few dependent districts, raised Jalāl Khan to the throne of Jaunpur.⁷ Thus Ferishta would like us to believe that Ibrāhīm was given a trial as Sultan of the whole of the Empire but when he failed to come up to the expectations of the nobles, they truncated his kingdom. The fact is not so. The division of the Sultanate was not an after-thought. Both the brothers were declared Sultans simultaneously. If Ferishta wants to suggest that the nobles had an inkling of the Sultan's strictness, rash temper and indecorous behaviour, he only contradicts himself for he attributes Ibrāhīm's election to the throne to his qualities of bravery, generosity and fair-mindedness.⁸ Moreover, if the barons had had the slightest suspicion that Ibrāhīm would not treat them well they would have found ways and means of setting aside his candidature altogether.