Delhi before the Moghal Conquest
himself as a dancing-girl, and to have performed in the houses of the nobility. He then raised to power one Khusru Khan, a Hindu renegade, and would listen to no cautions against his favourite,
with the almost inevitable result that Khusru plotted against his life and kingdom. The plot was only too successful, and the wretched king was murdered in a scuffle, in which Khusru took the principal part. He had completed the walls of Old Delhi, the repairs of which were commenced by his father, but no other work of his remains. His grave was repaired, amongst others of the sons of Ala-ud-din, by Firoze Shah; it was probably within his father's mausoleum, for
none of his successors can have erected one in his honour.
The murder of the king took place in A.D. 1320, and KHUSRU KHAN seated himself on his throne, forcibly marrying his widow, Dewal Devi,a Hindu princess. He assumed the ridiculous title (for a ruffian, who was renegade only for his own ends, and despised his adopted creed) of Nasr-ud-din, or supporter of religion. But not for long was he allowed to occupy the throne, for he disgusted every one by using the Koran for a seat, he prohibited the slaughter of cattle, and reverted to his former religion. Tughlak, therefore, advanced on Delhi, with an army which191
