Twilight of the Sultanate c6.s1.29

c6.s1.29

Successful in battle, Abū Bakr fell a victim to treachery. In the month of August some noblemen turned against him "without any ostensible reason",²¹ and opened communications with Muhammad Shāh. This so much unnerved Abū Bakr that he fled to Bahādur Nāhar's Kotla, about 8 miles south of Nūh in Gurgaon district.²² His officers, left at the mercy of Muhammad, readily joined the latter who marched into Delhi and ascended the throne (a third time) at the palace of Fīrōzābād on 31 August, 1390 (19 Ramzān).²³ Many Fīrōz Shāhī nobles and officers loyal to Abū Bakr left for the Kotla to join him there. Muhammad found it a good opportunity to finish all the "impure rebels" who like the Egyptian guards had put the crown into commission and behaved like virtual kingmakers.²⁴ Some of them managed to escape, but all others were massacred in cold blood. This struck terror into the hearts of the Delhi people, and stabilised Muhammad Shah's position.