Balban crushes Tughril’s revolt in Bengal

01The revolt

Barani tells that Tughril, emboldened by a successful raid on Jajnagar in Odisha and by rumours that Balban was ill, took the royal title. Two armies sent from Delhi were defeated. Balban then marched with his younger son Bughra Khan, and Tughril fled into the forests toward Jajnagar. A small party of Balban’s men found his camp, and Tughril was killed as he tried to escape.

02The gallows of Lakhnauti

Balban meant the punishment to be remembered. Barani says gibbets were set up along both sides of the main bazaar of Lakhnauti, and Tughril’s family and followers were hanged there. Balban made Bughra Khan governor and warned him that rebellion would bring the same fate. After Balban’s death Bughra Khan nonetheless ruled Bengal independently, and the province broke from Delhi again and again in the following century.