sinated him, with some of the principal eunuchs, who were attached to his interest. This event happened 35 days after Alla-ood-Deen's death. The Prince Moobarik Khan was released from confinement, and the reins of government placed in his hands. He, however, did not immediately assume the diadem, but acted for the space of two months as regent or vizier for his brother, till he had brought over the nobles to his interest. He then claimed his birthright, deposed his brother, and succeeded to the regal dignity. But, according to the barbarous custom and policy of those days, he deprived the Prince Oomur Khan of his eyesight, and confined him for life in the fort of Gualiar, after he had borne the title of King for three months and some days. MOOBARIK KHILJY. The officers of the guards, who had cleared the way for the King's accession, are put to death. The King disgusts his nobles by raising low persons to high dignities. - One Mullik Khoosrow, a Hindoo of the lowest origin, is enrolled among the nobility, and is appointed to the command of the army. - The King indiscriminately orders the gates of the prisons to be thrown open, by which 17,000 persons are set free he abolishes all the regulations regarding trade introduced by his father-he abandons himself to licentiousness, and the most degrading vices. The King sends an army to Guzerat, and marches in person to the Deccan sends Mullik Khoosrow, with the main body of the army, towards Malabar, and returns to Dehly. A plot discovered against the King's life. — The leader of the conspiracy, a cousin of the King, suffers death. The princes at Gualiar are also murdered, and the widow of one of them is brought to Dehly, and placed in the King's haram. — The King becomes totally regardless of all decency in his licentiousness and vices. Mullik Khoosrow returns from the Deccan. - The King goes forth to meet him- embraces him publicly. Khoosrow aims at the throne. Plot to murder the King publicly talked of. The King warned by his tutor - neglects is murdered by Mullik Khoosrow. the admonition Mohurrum 7. year On the 7th of Mohurrum, in the 717 of the Hijra, Moobarik ascended the throne. The commander of the A. D. 1317. foot-guards, who had saved his life, and raised him to the throne, as also his lieutenant, were ungratefully and inhumanly put to death by his orders, under no better pretence than that they presumed too much on the services they had done him. It is probable, that he was instigated to this base action by his fears, as, in some measure, appears by his immediately dispersing all the old soldiers, who were under their command, into different parts of the country. Moobarik began to dispense his favours among the nobles, but he disgusted them all by raising some of his slaves to the rank of omras. Mullik Deenar, the superintendent of the elephants, received the title of Zuffur Khan, Mahomed Moula, the King's maternal uncle, that of Sheer Shah, and Mowlana Zeea-ood-Deen, that of Sudr-Jehan. Mullik Kirran Beg was made a member of the council of state; and Hussun, a converted Purwary* slave of Guzerat, received the title of Mullik A. D. 1317. Khoosrow, and, through the King's attachment towards him, became the greatest man in the realm. He was appointed, in the first instance, to the command of the armies of Mullik Kafoor, and Khwaja Hajy, those joint conquerors of the Deccan, and at the same time received the title of Vizier. A. H. 717. The King, whether to affect popularity, or in remembrance of his late situation, ordered all the prisons to be opened; by which means 17,000 persons were blessed with the light of day; and all the exiles were recalled by proclamation. He then commanded a present of six month's pay to be made to the whole of the troops, and con The Purwary is a Hindoo outcast, who eats flesh of all kinds, and is deemed so unclean as not to be admitted to build a house within the town. ferred upon them many other advantages. He at the same time issued orders to give free access to all petitioners. He restored the lands and villages to those persons from whom they had been forcibly wrested in the late reign; and by degrees removed all the obnoxious restrictions on commerce, and the heavy tributes and taxes which had been exacted by his father. By these means, the ordinary and natural intercourse of trade fell into its usual channels; but in carrying these measures into effect, he abandoned some of the wisest institutions of his predecessor, and the sources of justice soon became polluted, and corruption prevailed. The King gave himself up entirely to wine, revelry, and lust: these vices became fashionable at court, from whence the whole body of the people was soon infected. Moobarik, in the first year of his reign, sent an army under the command of the celebrated Ein-oolMoolk Mooltany into the province of Guzerat, which had revolted. Ein-ool-Moolk was an officer of great abilities: he defeated the insurgents, cut off their chiefs, and settled the country in peace. After this, the King conferred the government of Guzerat upon Zuffur Khan, whose daughter he had taken in marriage. Zuffur Khan soon after marched his army to Nehrwala, the capital of Guzerat, where some disturbances had taken place. He reduced the rebels, confiscated their estates, and sent their movable wealth to the King. A.H. 718. In the second year of his reign, the A. D. 1318. King, collecting his army, marched towards the Deccan, to chastise Hurpal Dew, the son-in-law of Ram Dew, who, by the assistance of the other princes of the Deccan, had recovered the country of the Marrattas. Having appointed one Shaheen, the son of a slave, to whom he gave the title of Wufa Beg, his lieutenant in his absence, the King left Dehly and arrived at Dewgur. Here Hurpal Dew, with some other rajas, had assembled, but fled at the approach of the Moslems. A detachment was sent in pursuit, which brought back Hurpal Dew prisoner, who was flayed alive, decapitated, and his head fixed above the gate of his own capital. The King now ordered a chain of posts to be established as far as Dwar Sumoodra, and built a mosque in Dewgur, which still remains. He appointed Mullik Beg Luky +, one of his father's slaves, to command in the Deccan; and, in imitation of Alla-oodDeen, gave to his favourite, Mullik Khoosrow, the ensigns of royalty. He sent the latter towards Malabar, with part of his army, and returned in person to Dehly. Mullik Assud-ood Deen, a cousin of the King on his mother's side, seeing him daily in a state of intoxication, and negligent of the duties of his high station, began to entertain thoughts of usurping the crown, and formed a conspiracy against the King's life. The plot, however, was disclosed * The proper name is Mahrashtra, the inhabitants of which are called Marrattas. + The tribe of Luk is among the most ancient of the original families of the low countries of Farsistan, in Persia. |