The sovereign at that capital was Shems ud din Iletmish, a Turkman and
once a slave of the Sultan of Gur, the last ruler of his line in that
country. When the Gur dynasty fell, Iletmish seized a good part of
north India and was ruling unchallenged. He feared now the coming of so
brave and incisive a man as Jelal ud din, hence he sent him rich gifts
and declared that the climate of Delhi was unwholesome. Jelal would
find, he felt certain, a far better residence in Multan and a much more
salubrious climate. Jelal withdrew, but he gathered much booty of value
as he traveled.
Meanwhile from Irak came many generals who were enraged at Ghiath ud
din, his brother. They brought with them warriors who were ready for
service since service meant plunder. Jelal could meet now the Scinde
prince, Karadja, whom he hated. He entered Karadja’s dominions, sacked
many cities and routed his army. Hearing that Iletmish was advancing to
strengthen Karadja he set out at once to encounter the Sultan of Delhi.
But Iletmish offered peace, and the hand of his daughter instead of
hostilities; Jelal took peace and the woman. Still Iletmish made a
league with Karadja and others to drive out the Kwaresmian if need be.
Jelal, who could not make head against all, took advice of his
generals. Those who had quitted his brother wished a return to home
regions. It would be easy, they told him, to snatch command from Ghiath
his brother, a weakling, and foolish. But Euzbeg, one of the generals,
declared that Jelal should remain where he was in full safety from
Mongols who were more to be feared than all the princes in India. Jelal
ud din, swept off by the hope of regaining his father’s dominion,
decided on going to Persia. He left Euzbeg to watch over his fortunes
in India and to Vefa Melik he gave the whole government of Gur and of
Ghazni.
While crossing the desert lying north of the Indus Jelal lost a part of
his army by disease, exhaustion and hunger, and when he reached Kerman,
his whole force had shrunk to four thousand. A Turk commander named
Borak, with the surname Hadjib, that is Chamberlain, had won that whole
region. Borak had served Shah Mohammed as chamberlain, hence the
surname Hadjib from his service. Later on Ghiath ud din gave him office
in Ispahan, making him governor, but, embroiled in the sequel with
Ghiath’s vizir, Borak got permission to go to Jelal then in India.
While crossing Kerman the Kevashir governor attacked him, incited to do
so by Ghiath, who wished at that juncture to seize all the baggage and
women belonging to Borak’s assistants.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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