Page:History of India Vol 3.djvu/159

TAGHLAK SHAH BECOMES KING 127 This was Taghlak, the warden of the marches, who had held the frontier against the Mongols since the great days of Ala-ad-din's victories, and had routed them in a score of battles. This hero placed himself at the head of all that was left of the old nobility, and set out from his frontier post to save Delhi from its obscene de- vourer. The affrighted pariah collected all the troops he could muster, emptied the treasury of every farthing, and scattered all the hoard among the soldiers. Most of the Moslems took his money, heartily cursed the giver, and went to their homes: they were not the men to take up arms against Ghazi Taghlak, the champion of the faith. With his Hindus and such few contempt- ible Mohammedans as his gold could buy, Khusru at- tempted to withstand his enemy's march; but his forces were utterly routed, the Parvanis were slaughtered, and their master was caught hiding in a garden and be- headed (August, 1321). So ended four months of the worst tyranny that India ever knew. Taghlak assembled the nobles and officers, and bade them bring forward any scion of the royal family that might have survived, and set him on the throne. There was not one left. " Ghazi Malik," they shouted with one voice, " for many years thou hast been our buckler against the Mongols and hast warded them from our country. Now thou hast done a faithful work which will be recorded in history: thou hast delivered the Moslems from the yoke of Hindus and pariahs, hast avenged our benefactors and hast earned the gratitude of rich and poor. Be thou our king."