The story of Farazdaq the poet fits in with this, namely when he accompanied by his wife, appealed to the Khalīfah of Baghdād, he got Ja‘far the Barmecide, to plead for him, and used his wife Zubeida Khātūn as an intermediary. Hārūn the Khalīfah was favourably disposed towards Zubeida, and passed orders in ac­cordance with the petition of the wife of Farazdaq.* He accord­ingly wrote these lines:—

An advocate who appears before thee clothed
Is not like one who comes before thee naked.*

That is to say an intercessor who comes near thee wearing drawers will not be so influential as she who comes naked. From that day this became a proverbial saying among the Arabs.

As soon as Khusrū Khān became quite assured in all ways of his predominant influence over the Sulān, he gave orders for the assembly of all his tribe from Gujrāt and began to introduce them into the service of the Sulān. The Sulān reposed entire confidence both in him* and in his family, and gave up the reins of Government absolutely into his hands,* abandoning himself to rioting and debauchery.*

Verse.

Casting aside the Qur‘ān and the sword
^214. Taking instead to the cup and flagon.

The attendants who were loyal to the state were struck dumb and were compelled by the necessity for time-serving to throw themselves upon the protection of Khusrū Khān,

Verse.

If the times give the reins of authority to a wolf,
You must save yourself by saying, God save you Sir!

And the family of Barāwar* gained entire control of the Court of the Sulān, and used to assemble by day and by night at the house of Khusrū Khān to plot sedition and rebellion against the Sulān, and when Qāẓī Ẓīāu-d-Dīn, who was known as Qāẓī Khān, made these facts known, the Sulān who was the slave of his lust immediately summoned Khusrū Khān in private,* and informed him of what had been said, whereupon Khusrū Khān said, the people see the great kindness which the Sulān shews me and regard it as excessive, and from motives of jealousy falsely accuse me. The Sulān believed him and* made over to him the keys of the royal treasury and of all the other store-houses as well: Khusrū Khān* regarded this as a proof of his complete ascendency deduced from it a favourable omen for his future:—

Verse.

When he saw his affairs so prosperous
He considered that omen as a proof of victory;
From that favourable omen the heart of Khusrū Khān,
Like a strong mountain, became firmly established.

Eventually, one night the Sulān was holding a drinking party in the company of Khusrū Khān, and the Amīrs of the guards withdrew from their posts. Qāẓī Khān came down from the roof of the Hazār Sutūn palace and was engaged in examining if the doors were safe, and the guards posted. In the meantime one Randhol* the uncle of Khusrū Khān ^215. with a body of the Barāwas, having daggers concealed under their arms came upon Qāẓī Khān, and kept him engaged in talk on one way and another, till, taking him off his guard, they stabbed him and despatched him as a martyr to his abode in Paradise. There was a great uproar,* and the Sulān, who at that moment had no other companion than Khusrū Khān, enquired what was the tumult. Khusrū Khān rose from beside him and went out to instigate his followers to murder the Sulān, then returned and said that some of the horses of the stud had broken loose, and were fighting among themselves. At this moment Jāhirīyā the uncle of Khusrū Khān approached the Hazār Sutūn with a party of his men, and having assassina­ted Ibrāhim and Isḥāq who were on guard at the palace, made for the Sulān. The Sulān rising,* half intoxicated as he was, ran towards the ḥaram, Khusrū Khān caught him from behind by the hair of his head, and as the Sulān was begging him to aid his escape Jāhirīyā arrived, aimed a blow at the Sulān wounding him in the side, then with his sword cutting off the Sulān's head* threw it down below from the roof of the palace.

Verse.

The bed of that dear one was one of thorns
For his brocaded bed led to his ruin.

When the populace saw what had occurred, every one of them went into hiding and there was dismay in all quarters. Putting to death some of the Amīrs at the door of the palace, the Barāwas entered the Sulān's ḥaram and tore Farīd Khān and Mangū Khān, the two infant sons of Sulān ‘Alāu-d-Dīn, from their mother's arms and cut off their heads, and committed every kind of violence they wished, and in one moment scattered to the four winds all the honour and glory of ‘Alāu-d-Dīn and Qubu-d-Dīn.

Verse.

In one hour, in one moment, in one instant ^216.*
The whole course of the world becomes changed.

And when they had glutted themselves with murder and rapine, they sent for certain of the Amīrs namely ‘Ainu-l-Mulk Multānī, and Malik Fakhru-d-Dīn Jūnā, by whom is meant Sulān Muḥam-mad ibn Tughlaq Shāh, and Malik Waḥīdu-d-Dīn Quraishī with the two sons of Qarābeg and other notable Amīrs, and kept them all that night till morning upon the roof of the Haẓār Sutūn; and when it was day they made all the ‘Ulamā and chief men of the city swear allegiance to Khusrū Khān, and read the Khubah in his name. By craft they got the upper hand of a certain party whom they suspected of being opposed to them, and sent them to the world of non-existence, and made over the family of Qāẓī Ẓīāu-d-Dīn Qāẓī Khān,* all except his wife who fled,* to the aforesaid Randhol.*

Husāmu-d-Dīn, the brother by the mother's side of Khusrū Khān, was given the title of Khān-i-Khānān and Randhol* became Ṛāi-i-Rāiyān, and the ḥarams of Sulān Qubu-d-Dīn and the other princes and relatives they divided among themselves. Khusrū Khān took to himself* in marriage the chief wife of the Sulān. These events happened in the year 720, H. (1320 A.D.) and the duration of the reign of Sulān Qubu-d-Dīn was four* years and some months.

Verse.

Since the world began so it has been, and so will always be,
To everyone the end of all things will be as this.