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The Seven Cities of Delhi


is said by some to have been erected by his son Juna.

Juna Khan proceeded from Tughlukabad to Old Delhi, in order there to ascend the throne after the usual custom, assuming the title of Mahomed Ibn Tughlak; he is generally known as the " Khuni Sultan," or "Bloody King," for his cruelty was terrible. In many ways he resembled Nero, for, in spite of being a parricide, he seems to have had high aspirations and accomplishments, but relapsed into an insatiable lust for blood. He was a great patron of literature, a founder of colleges, a great builder, a good general; but while the suburbs of Delhi owed him protecting walls, he more than counter- balanced this by forcing the inhabitants to leave,as will be related. He seems almost at once to have abandoned his father's city, although he built a fort close by, which contained a "palace of a thousand pillars," and was called "Adilabad."

In the first year of his reign the cities of Delhi saw an invading horde of Moghals at their gates,and the suburbs were plundered freely. Mahomed had not the army to drive them off, but he some- how had money, and a heavy ransom induced the enemy to retire; Nizam-ud-din had probably died just previously. In 1328 he surrounded the suburbs between Sir! and Old Delhi with walls,194