AD. 1421
all that remained of what had recently been a great empire. All the other ad. 1421. provinces were seized by the governors, who continued to hold them in their own names as independent kingdoms.
Usurpation of Mulloo Yukbal Mulloo Yekbal Khan was not contented that Delhi should be thus shorn of its greatness. He added considerably to its territory by successfid attacks on Vekbai. neighbouring governors; and made atfairs to assume an appearance so promising that the ex-king, Mahmood Toghlak, who had found an asylum first at Gujerat, and then at Malwah, was induced, by his invitation, to return in 1401. Mulloo Yekbal, however, still continued to retain the sovereign power in his own hands; and Mahmood, feeling ill at ease, was provided for by being put in possession of Canouge. Mulloo Yekbal, having thus got quit of him, appears soon to have forgotten all the deference which he used to show him; for, in 1404, after a victory which filled him with ambitious longings, he did not hesitate to lead an army against his old sovereign. Mahmood shut himself up in Canouge; and Mulloo, unable to reduce it, raised the siege. He shortly after turned his arms against Khizr Khan, but his good fortune forsook him, and he was defeated and slain in 1405.
Return of the ex-king. Mahmood Toghak. On this event, the officers who had been left in Delhi gave an invitation to Mahmood Toghlak, who, leaving Canouge, came with a small retinue, and was re-seated on his throne. Mahmood had neither the sense nor courage necessary to maintain his positions; and after various vicissitudes, shut himself up in Ferozabad, where he was besieged by Khizr Khan, who was, however, obliged to raise the siege from want of forage and proasions. The release was only temporary, for having obtained supplies, he immediately returned. Meanwhile, Mahmood had removed to Siry, the old citadel of Delhi. A similar cause obliged Khizr Khan to retire as before; but the deliverance proved as fatal to Mahmood as the capture of the citadel would have been. The transition from fear to joy, and immoderate exertion during a hunting excursion, brought on a fever, of which he died in 1412. With him ended the race of Toorks, the adopted slaves of Sultan Shahab-u-din Ghoory. His inglorious and disastrous reign had lasted, with interruptions, twenty years. The nobles immediately placed an Afghan, of the name of Dowlut Khan Lody, on the throne. He held it nominally for fifteen months, and was then deposed by Khizr Khan, in 1416.
Khizr Khan. Tamerlane's deputy. Khizr Khan had gained the favour of Tamerlane, and been appointed, as already mentioned, governor of Lahore, Mooltan, and Depalpoor. Hence, though on the deposition of Dowlut Khan Lody, he assumed the reins of government at Delhi, he refused to appropriate regal titles, affecting to regard himself as only the deputy of Tamerlane, in whose name money was coined, and the Khootba was read. Even after Tamerlane's death, the same policy induced Khizr Khan to acknowledge the supremacy of his successor, Shahrokh Mirza, and even send tribute occasionally to Samarcand. His reign or regency, which was terminated by his death in 1421, after it had lasted little more than seven
