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The Lodi dynasty
The power of the Afghan dynasty known as the line of Lodis was originally
established in the Panjab. Behlol’s grandfather was governor of
Multan, and his father, viceroy of Lahore, during the reign of the Emperor
Feroz Toghlak, and his uncles held important commands under the Syad Sovereigns
of Delhi. One of his uncles, Islam Khan, had 12,000 Afghan warriors in
his private employ. Behlol’s mother was smothered under the ruins
of a fallen house, and, his father opening her body, the infant, destined
to be the future Emperor of Hindustan, was taken out. The power of the
Lodi family in the Panjab excited the jealousy of the reigning Sovereigns
of Delhi, who drove them into the hills. Behlol, however, on growing up,
took the opportunity of occupying, first Sirhand, and subsequently the
whole of the Panjab. The dominion of Lahore was thus severed for a time
from the sovereignty of Delhi, until Behlol, having been invited by the
Wazir of Syad Al-ud-din, the last sovereign of the Syad dynasty, supplanted
him and was ultimately adopted by that Sovereign as his successor. Behlol’s
accession to the throne is reckoned from 1450 A.D., the date of the abdication
of Sultan Ala-ud-din. His accession again brought back the Panjab under
the Delhi empire.
During
the reign of his grandson, Sultan Ibrahim, Dowlat Khan Lodi, Governor
of Lahore, disgusted at the ill-treatment of his son Dilawar Khan at the
court of Delhi, addressed, through Alam Khan Lodi, an invitation to the
Moghal Emperor Baber at Cabul to repair to Hindustan, bringing to his
notice the contempt in which the ruling dynasty was held in the country,
the discord that prevailed among the nobles and the discontent of the
army.
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