When Sulṭán Muḥammad Khwárazm Sháh took refuge from the troops of the great Ḳáán, Changíz Khán, in the island of A´baskún,* he was accompanied by his son Jalálu'ddín who, on his father's death, set out for Khurásán and thence hastened to Ghaznah, and was engaged in several important actions against the Ḳáán's forces in which he was victorious. The great Ḳáán himself marched in person to remedy the disaster. Jalálu'ddín unable to cope with him retired towards Hindustan. The great conqueror pursued him to the banks of the Indus and both armies were again engaged. Yielding at last to superior force he mounted his horse and seizing his royal umbrella in his hand plunged into the stream and crossing its raging waters landed at a point opposite the enemy. He there took off his saddle and flung his clothes in the sun, and planting the umbrella in the ground sat down under its shade. The Ḳáán beheld this feat with astonishment and was loud in his admiration. For a night and day he remained there and was joined by fifty of his men, and cutting some clubs, they made a night attack on a party of Indians and carried off a considerable booty,* and in a short time ten thousand horsemen were assembled under his command. Sulṭán Shamsu'ddín Altmish, Emperor of Hindustan, was under the gravest apprehension, and could not venture to engage him.* Jalálu'ddín continued for nearly two years in India carrying on a desultory warfare, and made himself master of several fertile districts, but subsequently returned by way of Kach and Mekrán to the conquest of I'ráḳ.
Some authorities assert that when the number of his followers amounted to a thousand, he marched towards Delhi, and sent a messenger to Sulṭán Shamsu'ddín Altmish desiring a post in his service. The latter prudently declined, and after the manner of astute intriguers he poisoned his messenger, and sending him a number of valuable presents sped him towards Irán.*