intentions, he had quitted his post to defend his king.

"The sultan, on seeing the standard of Daood Khan, was enraged, but
stifled his displeasure till the gale of victory had waved over the
standards of the faithful. He then called Daood Khan before him, and
gave him a harsh reprimand for quitting a station so important that,
should the enemy gain possession, not a mussulmaun could make his
escape from the city."

Daud treasured up his resentment at this treatment, and, being joined
by other disaffected nobles, secretly plotted the assassination of
the Sultan. The conspirators waited till Mujahid was on his way from
Adoni towards Kulbarga, and then one night, that of Friday, April
16, A.D. 1378,[69] while the Sultan was asleep in his tent, Daud,
accompanied by three other men, rushed in and stabbed him. There was
a struggle, and the unfortunate monarch was despatched by the blow
of a sabre.[70] Daud at once proclaimed himself Sultan as nearest
of kin -- Mujahid having no children -- and being acknowledged,
proceeded to Kulbarga, where he was proclaimed.

The assassination of his nephew availed Daud but little, as the
country was at once divided into two opposing factions, and on May
21, A.D. 1378,[71] after a reign of only one month, the murderer
was himself assassinated while at prayer in the great mosque of the
capital. Meanwhile Bukka Raya overrun the Doab, advanced as far as
the river Krishna, and invested the fortress of Raichur.

Daud was succeeded by Ala-ud-din's youngest son Mahmud I,[72] Mujahid's
sister Ruh Parvar Agah having blinded Daud's son, then a boy of eight
years, in order to prevent dissension. Mahmud was apparently welcome