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KEIKOBAD.

His person described his propensities. - Nizam-ood-Deen,

- procures - Encreas

the minister's son, forms a design on the throne Kei Khoosrow, the King's cousin, to be murdered. ing power of Nizam-ood-Deen - cuts off several of the Mogul officers in the army, and seizes their property. - The King refuses to listen to the complaints against Nizam-ood-Deen.Kurra Khan, the King's father, is induced to march from. Bengal to assert his claim to the throne - abandons his title, but requests a meeting with his son.- Description of the visit. · Kurra Khan persuades his son to remove Nizam-ood-Deen from his presence. — Nizam-ood-Deen appointed governor of Mooltan delays his journey-the King procures him to be poisoned. New administration.- The King falls sick.Two parties at court - the one composed of Moguls, the other of the family of Khiljy.- The Moguls endeavour to seize the leader of the Khiljies - obtain possession of the Prince Keiomoors, an infant, the King's only son. Khiljies rescue the child, and expel the Moguls · their leader is slain. — Julalood-Deen Khiljy, the chief of the opposite party, procures the assassination of the King in his sick bed. Ascends the throne. End of the dynasty of the Toorks of Ghoor.

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As soon as the late King was numbered with the dead, his grandson, Keikobad, the son of Nasir-oodDeen, Kurra Khan, then in his eighteenth year, ascended the throne, and assumed the title of Moizood-Deen. This prince was remarkably handsome in his person, and of an affable and mild disposition. He had a taste for literature, and his knowledge of books was considerable. His mother was a beautiful princess, daughter of Shums-ood-Deen Alt

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mish; and if purity of blood is of any real worth, Keikobad had that to boast of for a series of generations.

As he had been bred up with great rigour under his father, when he became master of his own actions, he began to give a loose to pleasure without restraint. His own pursuits soon became the fashion at court, and in a short time licentiousness and vice prevailed to such an extent, that every shady grove was filled with women and parties of pleasure, and every street rung with riot and tumult, so that even the magistrates were seen drunk in public, and music was heard in every house.

The King, having fitted up a palace at Kelookery, on the banks of the Jumna, retired thither to enjoy himself undisturbed, admitting no company but singers, players, musicians, and buffoons. Mullik Nizam-ood-Deen, nephew and son-in-law of the Ameer-ool-Omra (Mullik Fukhr-ood-Deen Kotwal), was raised to the office of chief secretary, and got the reins of government into his hands, while Mullik Kowam-ood-Deen, more celebrated for his learning than for his qualities as a statesman, was appointed his deputy. Nizam-ood-Deen, perceiving the King wholly engrossed by his pleasures, formed a design to usurp the throne. The first object of his attention was Kei Khoosrow. That Prince had gone to Ghizny, and endeavoured to induce Teimoor Khan, the viceroy of the province, to aid him with troops, in deposing his cousin, Keikobad; but he failed in the attempt; and, moreover, found that he had few friends in that

quarter. He therefore petitioned the King to be allowed to retain Mooltan, and the western provinces.

In the mean time Nizam-ood-Deen contrived to render this Prince as obnoxious as possible to the King. He prevailed on Kei Khoosrow to visit Dehly, and hired assassins for the purpose, who murdered him on his way to the capital, at the village of Rohtuk. Nizam-ood-Deen also forged a correspondence between Khwaja Khutteer the Vizier and Kei Khoosrow, and effected that minister's disgrace and banishment. Besides which, he caused all the old servants of the late King to be secretly cut off one after another, so that although general dismay prevailed throughout the city, none as yet suspected Mullik Nizam-ood-Deen as the cause.

In this state of affairs, advices arrived of another invasion of the districts of Lahore by the Moguls. Mullik Yar Beg Birlass and Khan Jehan were sent with an army against them; the Moguls were defeated near Lahore, and numbers of prisoners were brought to Dehly. It was at this period that the minister inspired the King with jealousy of his Mogul troops, who, as soldiers of fortune, had been enlisted in vast numbers into the service. He pretended that, in case of a Mogul invasion, they would certainly join their countrymen; and he insinuated, at the same time, that he believed there already existed some secret understanding between them.

Keikobad listened to these insinuations, and one day, having assembled the Mogul chiefs, he

caused them to be treacherously cut off by his guards, and seized all their private property. He also imprisoned all the omras who had any connection with the Moguls, and sent them to garrisons in remote parts of the kingdom. So blind was Keikobad to his own situation, and so infatuated by his minister, that when any of his father's friends hinted at the motives of the minister's conduct, he immediately called for Nizam-ood-Deen himself, and told him all that had been said against him.

While Mullik Nizam-ood-Deen was thus busily engaged in public and in the presence, his wife was no less active in the seraglio. She had all the ladies at her devotion; and gained such influence, that she was called familiarly the Queen-mother. Mullik Fukhr-ood-Deen Kotwal, the father-in-law. of Nizam-ood-Deen, now in his ninetieth year, having penetrated the designs of his son-in-law, the minister, sent for him to his house, and used every argument to restrain him in the exercise of his power. The minister did not deny the truth of his reasoning, but affirmed that he had no intentions beyond that of securing the King's favour; that having unfortunately disobliged so many people, he found it dangerous to allow his influence to decline.

Kurra Khan, the Emperor's father, who had hitherto contented himself with the kingdom of Bengal, having heard of the state of affairs at Dehly, wrote to his son, warning him of his danger, and advising him how to act. But his admonition was of no avail; and Kurra Khan, seeing not only that his advice was neglected, but

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