Twilight of the Sultanate c9.s2.21

c9.s2.21

While the Vazīr was busy in the south and east, Khizr Khan sent his son Mubārak Khan (Shahzādā-i-Mu'azzam) to manage the restive elements in the west. Districts of Fīrōzpur and Sarhind and all the *iqt'ās* of Bairam Khan Turkbachchā were placed in his charge,³⁹ and Malik Sadhū Nadira⁴⁰ was appointed his deputy (*naib*). The Prince and his deputy, in co-operation with Zīrak Khan, the ruler of Samānā, brought the country to order. Mubārak Khan thereafter returned to Delhi in February, 1416 (Zilhijja). But within four months of his departure the near relatives of Bairam Khan, who could hardly bear the loss of Sarhind, sought the help of their leader Tughān Raīs and they attacked, defeated and killed Malik Nadira. At this Khizr Khan despatched Malik Dāūd and Zīrak Khan to deal with the rebels. On hearing them approach, the Turkbachchās crossed the Sutlej and retreated to the lower slopes of the Himalayas. Zīrak Khan marched in their pursuit, but the zamindars of the mountains, which are a continuance of the hills of Nagarkot,⁴¹ actively helped the Turkbachchās and after a couple of months the royalists, finding that they could hardly achieve anything much in that difficult terrain, withdrew.⁴²