1871.] 
The reign of Mn? izz-uddin. 
215 
permission to put a deadly poison in Nizam-uddin’s wine. They 
did so, and on the same day he died; and all the people of Dihli 
knew that he had been poisoned. And after his death the little 
stability there was in Mu’izz-uddin’s empire was shaken out of it.* 
A crowd of vagabonds thronged the gates of the palace ; business 
was at a stand still, and the whole system of government seemed 
to collapse. It was at this juncture that the future Emperor Jalal- 
uddin, who was then governor of Samana, came to court and 
accepted office, and an attempt was made to carry on the adminis¬ 
tration, but the jealousy and intrigues of the lords and courtiers 
rendered the ministry powerless. Meanwhile Mu’izz-uddin was 
attacked with palsy and convulsions, and daily grew worse, till 
there was little hope of his recovery. The Balban party was the 
first to take decisive action. They brought the infant son of Mui’zz- 
uddin out of the harem and set him on the throne, and gave him 
the title of Sultan Shams-uddin. While this was going on, and 
Mu’izz-uddin lay sick and helpless in his villa of Kiliik’hari, Jalal- 
uddin betook himself to Baharpiir and rallied round him a strong 
party of relatives and adherents, but not unobserved. Etmar Kach¬ 
han and Etmar Surkha on the Turkish side resolved to entrap him, 
and sent a memorial, addressing him as the Emperor Jalal-uddm. 
And Etmar Kachhan started with a small escort with the intention 
of decoying him from Baliarpur, and carrying him off, and put¬ 
ting him to death in the palace of Shams-uddin. But Jalal-uddm 
suspected the plot, and the instant that Etmar Kachhan reached 
his door, he was pulled down from his horse and his head severed 
from his body. And Jalal-uddin’s sons, acting on the inspiration of 
the moment, took with them a troop of fifty horse, and rode openly 
into the Emperor’s Court, and dragged the son of the Emperor 
Mu’izz-uddin from the throne, and sent him a prisoner to their 
father. 
On this the citizens rose in a body, and great and small, nobles 
and commoners, poured out of the twelve gates of the city and took 
the road to Baharpiir, bent on rescuing the Emperor’s son. For 
the citizens abhorred the thought of being ruled by the Khiljis, 
* Up to tins point I have endeavoured to give a faithful translation. The re¬ 
mainder is a mere loose paraphrase. 
