Abraham Eraly - The Age of Wrath - A History of the Delhi Sultanate

Bughra Khan did not heed the advice. He was, comments Barani, ‘a heedless prince,’ who did not care for the throne of Delhi with all its onerous responsibilities and endless problems, and yearned for a life of ease in Lakhnawati. So after a couple of months in Delhi, when Balban’s health improved a little, he returned to Lakhnawati ‘without leave from his father.’ Balban then summoned some of his intimate nobles and told them to raise Kaikhusrav to the throne. ‘He is young and incapable of ruling as yet, but what can I do?’ Balban lamented. Three days later the sultan died.

On his death the nobles wilfully set aside Balban’s choice and raised Kaiqubad to the throne, and there followed several years of chaos in the Sultanate. ‘From the day that Balban, the father of his people, died, all security of life and property was lost, and no one had any confidence in the stability of the kingdom,’ comments Barani.

Kaiqubad was seventeen or eighteen years old at this time. According to Barani, the prince ‘was a young man of many excellent qualities. He was of an equable temper, kind in disposition and very handsome. But he was fond of pleasure and sensual gratifications. From his childhood till the day he came to the throne, he had been brought up under the eye of the sultan, his grandfather. Such strict tutors had been placed over him that he never had the idea of indulging in any pleasure, or the opportunity for gratifying any lust. His tutors … watched him so carefully that he never cast his eyes on any fair damsel, and never tasted a cup of wine. Night and day his austere guardians watched over him. Teachers instructed him in the polite arts and manly exercises, and he was never allowed to do any unseemly act, or to utter any improper speech. When, all at once, and without previous expectation, he was elevated to such a mighty throne … all that he had read, heard and learned, he immediately forgot; his lessons of wisdom and self-restraint were thrown aside, and he plunged at once into pleasure and dissipation of every kind … His ministers likewise, and the young nobles of his court, his companions and friends, all gave themselves up to pleasure. The example spread, and all ranks, high and low, learned and unlearned, acquired a taste for wine drinking and amusements … Night and day the sultan gave himself entirely to dissipation and enjoyment.’ Vice and immorality became widespread. Mosques were empty of worshippers, but wine shops flourished. Adds Ferishta: ‘There were ladies of pleasure everywhere, and every street rang with music and mirth.’

IN THAT CHAOTIC environment, Nizam-ud-din, the able, crafty and ambitious nephew and son-in-law of the kotwal of Delhi, assumed the supreme power in the empire as Naib-i-mulk, deputy ruler of the sultanate. ‘The government of the country was in his hands,’ observes Barani. Nizam-ud-din filled all the key positions in the government with his own men, eliminated many of the rival nobles, executing or imprisoning them, and even had the prince Kaikhusrav murdered. And he encouraged Kaiqubad to sink ever deeper into debauchery, presumably hoping that this would eventually enable him to seize the throne.

These developments in Delhi troubled even the easygoing Bughra Khan, who now ruled as the sultan of Bengal. He wrote to Kaiqubad to mend his ways, and, getting no satisfactory response, set out with his army to confront his son. And Kaiqubad too set out with his army to meet his father. In a while both armies, advancing from opposite directions, came face to face with each other, and camped on the opposite banks of Gogra (Sarayu), a tributary of Ganga at the frontier of the two kingdoms. Fortunately there was no clash between the two armies, quite probably because of the indulgent nature of Bughra Khan, whose objective in any case was not to subjugate or overthrow his son, but to induce him to be assertive and strong as a ruler. It was then decided that father and son should meet to resolve matters. There was however some squabble between the two camps about protocol, whether the sultan of Delhi should go to meet the sultan of Bengal, or whether the sultan of Bengal should go to meet the sultan of Delhi. But eventually Bughra Khan, affable as ever, crossed the river (at a time fixed by astrologers as auspicious) and went to Kaiqubad’s camp

Kaiqubad received his father with regal pomp, in court, sitting on the throne and attended by arrayed nobles. Approaching the throne, Bughra Khan, as Barani describes the scene, ‘bowed his head to the earth, and three times kissed the ground, as required by the ceremonial of the Delhi court.’ But the sight of his father prostrating before him so overwhelmed Kaiqubad with emotion that he flung aside all formalities, and, ‘descending from the throne, cast himself at his father’s feet … Father and son then burst into tears and embraced each other … and the sultan rubbed his eyes upon his father’s feet. This sight drew tears also from the eyes of the beholders too. The father then took his son’s hand and led him to the throne, intending himself to stand before it for a while; but the sultan got down, and conducting his father to the throne, seated him there on his right side. Then, getting down, he bent his knees, and sat respectfully before him … Afterwards they had some conversation together in private. And then Bughra Khan retired across the river to his own camp.’

Would the father’s advice be heeded by the son? Bughra Khan was sceptical. Returning to his camp he commented: ‘I have said farewell to my son and to the kingdom of Delhi, for I know full well that neither my son nor the throne of Delhi will long exist.’

That presentiment came true. The gist of Bughra Khan’s advice to his son was to mend his easy-going ways, get rid of Nizam-ud-din, and take charge of the government. Returning to Delhi, Kaiqubad did indeed for a while heed his father’s advice; he transferred Nizam-ud-din to Multan, and, when he hesitated to leave, had him poisoned. But the change of his ways did not last long. In an engaging story told by Barani, one day ‘a lovely girl met him on the road, and addressed some lines of poetry to him … The sultan was overpowered by her charms … [He] called for wine, and, drinking it in her presence, himself recited some verses, to which she in turn replied in verse.’

The incident signalled Kaiqubad’s reversion to his old self-indulgent ways; indeed, he now immersed himself deeper in debauchery, to make up for the lost days of pleasure. He thereafter paid no attention at all to the affairs of the state. That created a power vacuum in Delhi, and presently the empire swirled into total chaos. ‘What little order had been maintained in the government was now entirely lost,’ comments Barani. ‘The affairs of the court now fell into the greatest confusion.’

Kaiqubad himself came to a wretched end. He was now struck by paralysis, and was confined to bed, barely alive. The nobles then placed his three-year-old son, Kayumars, on the throne, and set up a regency council to administer the empire. But there were divisions and deadly rivalries among the nobles, and the contending cabals plotted against each other, and drew up black lists, planning to eliminate their opponents.

Out of this churning chaos, a new leader rose to the top, Malik Jalal-ud-din Khalji, the commander of the army. As the political chaos in Delhi became worse confounded, Khalji, who was stationed in a suburb of Delhi, sent his sons in a daring foray into the city, and had the infant sultan seized and brought to his camp. ‘The sons of Jalal-ud-din, who were all audacious fellows, went publicly at the head of 500 horse to the royal palace, seized the infant sultan, and carried him off to their father,’ writes Barani. ‘This created great excitement in the city; the high and low, small and great, poured out of the twelve gates of the city, and took the road … to rescue the young prince.’ But the kotwal (whose sons were held as hostages by Jalal-ud-din) appeased them and persuaded them to return to the city.