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29 Under the stress of these difficulties and worries Mahmud proved unequal to the task. He decided to retire from wordly life and seek mental consolation in seclusion. He chose a dark underground vault for his extraordinary penance, and during the fourteen or fifteen days that he remained there he took practically no food which reduced him to a mere skeleton and resulted in his mental derangement. When he at last came out into daylight, his face was shrunken and pale, his body emaciated, and the wild stare of his eyes clearly showed that he had not been able to stand the severe strain to which he had exposed his body. He became so restless and suspicious of himself that he could hardly allow any one of his loyal and trusted friends to approach him, who he thought had come to take his life. Gradually his mind became completely deranged and he went mad, tearing off his own flesh and eating it. The physicians tried in vain to restore him to health, but the malady increased daily. The Afghans, who were being threatened from all sides, were forced to elect Ashraff to be their ruler even before Mahmud expired. He died shortly afterwards.