In this licentious mode of life he made his way to Dihlī where he arrived in the year 689 H. (1290 A.D.). There certain of his notable Amīrs became suspicious of his intentions, and withdrew to the skirts of the mountains. Sher Khān* who was one of their number repented and returned, and was thrown into a prison which he only left to go to the prison house of the grave, the others were punished. They bestowed upon Fīroz Khān ibn Yaghrash the Khiljī, who eventually obtained the title of Sulān ^163. Jalālu-d-Dīn, the title of Shāyista Khān,* and entrusted the district of Baran* to his control; accordingly he formed a plot by which he got Malik Ḥimār Kachhan, who had treacherously attempted to slay him, into his power, and took vengeance on him for the deed which he had failed to accomplish. Then was seen the truth of the proverb “He who digged a pit for his brother is fallen into it himself.

Thou hast digged a pit in the way* that thou mayest over­throw others.
Dost thou not fear lest one day thou should'st find thyself
in the midst of it?

This was the plan which Sulān Mu‘izzu-d-Dīn carried into effect. He was very anxious to act upon the advice of his father and remove Niāmu-l-Mulk ‘Alāqa, so he in the first instance appointed him to Multān, but Niāmu-l-Mulk saw through this device, and kept making excuses for delaying his departure, where­upon certain of the king's retainers at a hint from him, poisoned Niāmu-l-Mulk's cup, and despatched him to the land of non­existence. It so happened that this occurrence became a cause of injury to the State. At this same time the Sulān was attacked by paralysis* from his excesses in wine and venery, in addition to which other deadly ills and chronic diseases obtained the mastery over his body, and his constitution not being able to stand against them, his powers succumbed. The greater number of the Amīrs and Maliks who were well disposed to him raised his son Kai Kāūs who was an infant* of tender years to the throne with the title of Shamsu-d-Dīn.

In the year 688 H. (1289 A.D.) they made terms with Shāyista Khān who had distanced all his rivals.* Accordingly he ordered all his kinsmen and retainers whom he had summoned from Baran, * and had stationed fully armed and equipped in readiness on the other side of the river, to cross the river Jumna and prepare to contest the day with their enemies. Certain of the Amīrs of the party of Ghiyāu-d-Dīn and Mu‘izzu-d-Dīn came out to oppose him with elephants and a large gathering, and having placed a royal umbrella over the head of Sulān Mu‘izzu-d-Dīn, who was ^164. reduced to a shadow by weakness and emaciation, displayed him from afar off from the summit of the palace of Kīlūgharī where he was but barely visible, and made obeisance to him.* In the meantime Malik Chhajū, brother's son to Sultān Ghiyāu-d-Dīn, who had acquired the title of Kishlī Khān cried out “I wish to place Sulān Mu‘izzu-d-Dīn upon a boat and take him to his father at Lakhnautī and remain myself in the service of Sulān Shamsu-d-Dīn Kai Kāūs”—In spite of this the people of Dihlī, from the highest to the lowest, came to the assistance of Shamsu-d-Dīn, and having assembled in front of the Budāon gate stood up* to oppose Shāyista Khān in battle, and since the sons of Maliku-l-Umarā Fakhru-d-Dīn Kotwāl had been taken prisoners in the fight with Shāyista Khān, and Malik Ḥimār Surkha, who had plotted with the servants of Ghiyāu-d-Dīn to kill Shāyista Khān and carry off Sulān Shamsu-d-Dīn (Kai Kāūs),* had fallen by the hand of Ikhtiyāru-d-Dīn son of Shāyista Khān; accordingly Maliku-l-Umarā (Fakhru-d-Dīn) opposed the people and prevented their assembling as they desired, till at last the adherents of Shāyista Khān removed Sulān Shamsu-d-Dīn Kai Kāūs from the throne by force and carried him off to Bahāpūr,* where Shāyista Khān was; they then ordered* a man whose father had been put to death by Sulān Mu‘izzu-d-Dīn to go to the palace of Kīlūgharī, which he did, and finding the Sulān at his last gasp, he kicked him several times on the head, and then threw him into the river Jumna, and the Empire passed from the dynasty of Ghor, and kingship from the family of Ghiyāu-d-Dīn. This occurrence took place in the middle* of the month of Muḥarram in the year 689 H. (1209 A.D.).* The duration of the sovereignty of Sulān Mu‘izzu-d-Dīn was three years and some months.

This is the changeableness of the ancient heaven,
At one time it is like a bow at another like an arrow;
^165. At one time it feeds you with kindness at another poisons
you with enmity,
This is an example of the custom of the revolving heaven.

We learn from the Tārīkh-i-Mubārak Shāhī* that Sulān Mu‘izzu-d-Dīn, after the capture of the Shāhzāda, was seized while sitting in durbar during that revolt of the populace, and was bound, and died in captivity of hunger and thirst: in the course of his sufferings he wrote this quatrain,

The horse of my excellence has been left far behind on the
plain.
The hand of my generosity has fallen between the hammer
and the anvil.
My eye which used to see the gold of the mine and the
invisible jewel
To-day alas! is blinded for lack of bread.

And when the tumult between Itimar Surkha and the people of Dihlī subsided, and Shāyista Khān had gained his heart's desire and seated the prince upon the throne, and had set the affairs of the kingdom going again, on the second day after this, Sulān Mu‘izzu-d-Dīn bade farewell to this transitory* unstable world, and realised that all that wanton enjoyment had been but a dream and a phantasy.

Quatrain.

If with your love you have lived in peace your whole life
long,
Should you taste all the sweets the world can give your
whole life long.
Still at the end comes Death to meet you, and then you find
'Tis but a dream you have vainly dreamed your whole life
long.