History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c6.162

c6.162

When the Crown Prince heard of the approach of the Sultan, he caused a temporary wooden structure to be hastily erected in three days at Afghanpur,⁷¹ a small village at a distance of three or four *krohs* from Tughluqabad. Ulugh Khan with all the distinguished amirs and officials of the court went to this place to congratulate the emperor on his triumphs in Bengal. The Sultan who suspected no treachery lodged there for the night. When the dinner was over and the officials had walked out to wash their hands, the canopy crumbled down to the earth and the Sultan was, with his five or six attendants and his young son, crushed to death. This tragic event occurred according to the *Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi* in Rabi-'al-awwal, 725 A.H.⁷² (February—March, 1325 A.D.). There are two theories regarding the Sultan's death. One is that the building in which he stayed on his return from Lakhnauti was struck by lightning, and in the crash that followed he lost his life. The other theory is that the Crown Prince had entered into a conspiracy with some other persons to murder the Sultan and it was at his instance that the building at Afghanpur was erected in such a manner by Ahmad Ayāz as to fall instantaneously when elephants were brought in contact with a certain portion of it. A close examination of contemporary and later authorities leads us to the conclusion that the Prince was guilty of a parricidal plot. The contemporary historian Barani writes :—