HISTORICAL SUMMARY.
Heg. 637 (A.D.1240).—Moiz-ood-Deen Beiram ascended the throne of Delhi, but was deposed by his vizier and cast into prison, where he almost immediately suffered death, after a reign of two years, one month, and fifteen days.
Heg. 639 (1241).—Alla-ood-Deen Musaood, son of Rookn-ood-Deen Feroze, was raised to the musnud, which, after a reign of four years, one month, and a day, he was obliged to relinquish. His excesses and cruelties having disgusted his ministers and friends, he was cast into prison, where he passed the rest of his life.
Heg. 644 (1247).—Nasir-ood-Deen Mahmood, the youngest son of Shums-ood-Deen Altmish, succeeded the late king, who had been deposed by his nobles. This was a prosperous reign of twenty years and upwards, the king dying a natural death. He was succeeded by his brother-in-law and vizier, Gheias-ood-Deen Bulbun.
Heg. 685 (1286).—The king’s son Mahomed, a prince of great promise, was sent against the Moguls who had invaded Moultan. Having defeated them in a pitched battle, and being too eager in the pursuit of them, as they fled before his victorious arms, he was beset by a party which lay in ambush, and slain. The old king, now in his eightieth year, never recovered this shock, which threw him into a melancholy, and he died shortly after in the twenty-second year of his reign. His grandson Keikobad, immediately ascended the throne without opposition.
Heg. 687 (1288).—The king, having excited the disgust of his subjects, was cut off by assassins as he lay sick at Kelookery. The ruffians found him lying on his bed in a dying state, deserted by his attendants. Having beat out his brains with bludgeons, they rolled him up in the bedclothes, and flung him out of the window into the river. Julal-ood-Deen Feroze Khiljy, one of his ministers, who had been the cause of the late king’s assassination, ascended the musnud, and was cut off by the treachery of his own nephew, Alla-ood-Deen, after a reign of seven years and some months.
Heg. 696 (1297).—Alla-ood-Deen Khiljy was raised to the musnud after some opposition. His first care was to secure the favour of the troops; and after having defeated the queen-dowager, and the Prince Kudder Chan, he ascended the throne in the ruby palace.
Heg. 697 (1297).—Kowla Devy, wife of the Prince of Guzerat, fell into the hands of the king’s brother. She was a woman of remarkable wit, beauty, and accomplishments, by which Alla-ood-Deen was so much captivated, that he took her into his harem. This year was rendered memorable by the death of Zuffur Chan, the greatest general of his time. His bravery became so proverbial among the Moguls, who had so frequently felt the force of his arm, that when their horses started it was usual among them to ask if they saw the ghost of Zuffur Chan. His death was a severe loss to Alla-ood-Deen, who, however, feared him, and therefore expressed no regret at his death.
Heg. 699 (1299).—Rookn Khan, Alla-ood-Deen’s nephew and brother-in-law, having aspired to the throne, attempted to assassinate the king while he was enjoying the pleasures of the chase. Alla-ood-Deen was pierced by two arrows, and he lay on the ground insensible. The Prince Rookn Chan drew his sword, and ran to cut off the king’s head; but being told that he was quite dead, he deemed it unnecessary to sever the head from the body. Proceeding immediately to the camp, he was proclaimed king; but Alla-ood-Deen, recovering his senses, appeared in his capital, was welcomed by the citizens, and the usurper immediately deposed and executed.
Heg. 703 (1303).—After a siege of six months, Chittore was reduced, and the rajah made prisoner. The government was conferred upon the king’s eldest son, the Prince Khizr Chan, after whom it was called Khizrabad. At the same time Alla-ood-Deen bestowed regal dignities upon the prince, who was publicly proclaimed successor to the throne.
Heg. 704 (1304).—Ray Ruttun Sein, Rajah of Chittore, escaped from Delhi. Alla-ood-Deen, having received an extravagant account of one of the rajah’s daughters, agreed to grant the father his release, upon condition of his giving up this daughter for the king’s harem. The rajah, tired of a very rigorous captivity, reluctantly consented to this odious proposal; but when his family heard of it they concerted measures for poisoning the princess, in order to save the reputation of their house. But the rajah’s daughter adopted a stratagen, by which she obtained her father’s release, and preserved her own honour. Having selected a number of faithful adherents, she concealed them in litters, used by women only when they travel in the East, and proceeded to Delhi with her ordinary retinue. Arriving at night, by the king’s especial permission the litters were allowed to be carried into the prison, supposing they contained the female attendants of the princess. No sooner, however, were they within the walls, than the armed men, leaping from the litters, put the king’s guard to the sword, and carried off the rajah.
Heg. 706 (1306).—Dewul Devy, daughter of the beautiful Kowla Devy, fell into the hands of one of the king’s generals, and was brought to Delhi. In a few days after her arrival, the beauty of Dewul Devy inflamed the heart of the Prince Khizr Chan, to whom she was eventually given in marriage.
Heg. 709 (1309).—Mullik Kafoor defeated the allied rajahs, who had combinedto make him raise the siege of Wurungole, which he carried by assault after a vigorous siege of several months, and returned with his army and immense treasure to Delhi. On his approach to the city, the king himself came out to receive him near the Budaoon gate, where the conqueror laid all the spoils at his royal master’s feet.
Heg. 710 (1310).—Mullik Kafoor defeated and took prisoner Bilal Dew, Rajah of the Carnatic.
Heg. 711 (1311).—This year was rendered memorable by the massacre of the newly-converted Mahomedan Moguls. Fifteen thousand lay dead in the streets of Delhi in one day, and all their wives and children were enslaved.
Heg. 712 (1312).—The Rajah of Dewgur was inhumanly put to death by Mullik Kafoor, with the consent of Alla-ood-Deen.
Heg. 716 (1316).—Alla-ood-Deen died, after a reign of twenty years and some months, not without suspicion of having been poisoned by Mullik Kafoor, who aimed at getting the reins of government into his own hands.