The wonder that was india

Balban abandoned his earlier scheme of conquests. His military expeditions as a nd'ib-i mamlakat had convinced him that it was

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impossible to retain distant territories such as Gwalior, Malwa, and Rajasthan, which had several times been conquered and lost. He instead gave top priority to restoring peace in the region surrounding Delhi.64 In Nasiru'd-Din's reign the constant Mewati raids from the northern Alwar region into Delhi had made the people's lives miserable. Balban's repeated attacks on the Mewati strongholds and villages stopped these incursions. Military posts, manned by Afghans, were established in these regions, and the soldiers were given tax-free land.65 The villages belonging to the rebels of the doab were also destroyed, and the peasants were encouraged to settle down to a peaceful life. The Sultan twice marched on Avadh, killing the rebel leaders and devastating the villages. Strong forts were built at Kampil, Patiali, and Bhojpur, the principal rendezvous for robbers and strongholds of rebels. These forts were also garrisoned by Afghans, who were given tax-free land in the neighbourhood to maintain themselves.66 Muslim families were encouraged to settle there. The rebels in Bada'un, Amroha (western Uttar Pradesh), and Katihar (modern Rohilkhand) were also killed. Dense forests were cut down and burnt; the roads too were cleared. Balban's regular hunting trips, in conjunction with the newly established military posts, kept the area from Delhi to Avadh reasonably peaceful. The roads became safe for travel, and trade and agriculture improved, leading to further urbanization.67

The Sultan reorganized the army. The loyal troops were sent to the central contingents. Expense was no consideration. A body of one thousand reckless soldiers, the counterpart of modern commandos, who had been recruited before Balban assumed royal power, always accompanied him.

The Sultan had every reason to be pleased with his success, but his own slave, Tughril, whom he had made governor of Bengal, gave him a rude shock by rebelling in about 1275. The Sultan sent Amin Khan, governor of Avadh, to crush the rebellion, but he was defeated. Another army left Delhi but was also driven away by Tughril. In 1280-1 the Sultan went to Sunam and Samana, which were ruled by his younger son, Bughra Khan, and divided the territories into smaller iqta's to prevent the rebellion of any more powerful governors. Taking Bughra Khan with him, he proceeded to the doab. There he made Fakhru'd-Din Kotwal his regent (na'ib-ghaybat). At Avadh some 200,000 infantry, archers, and local horsemen were added to the Delhi army. Before Balban reached Lakhnauti, Tughril had fled to the east, hoping that the Sultan would return to Delhi.68 The octogenarian Sultan was, however, determined not to leave until he had destroyed Tughril. From

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Lakhnauti the Sultan hurried to Sunargaon. The local ruler, Danujamadhava of the Deva dynasty, refused to help unless the Sultan showed his respect when he was introduced to the court. The Sultan sat down on his throne with a falcon on his hand. When the Raja appeared he stood up. The courtiers thought the Sultan was flying the falcon; the Raja believed that Balban was demonstrating his respect.69 Tughril was ultimately captured by Balban's army and his severed head sent to the Sultan. The army's morale quickly rose. At Lakhnauti, Tughril's followers were impaled on a row of gibbets running for about two miles beside the road. Then, appointing Bughra Khan governor of Bengal and urging him to take a lesson from the evil consequences of rebellion, the Sultan returned to Delhi after three years' absence.70 The capital was safe in Fakhru'd-Din's hands and the frontier strongholds in the west were defended by the Sultan's brave elder son, Sultan Muhammad. The Chaghatay branch of the Mongols, ruling Transoxiana and eastern Turkistan, was locked in battle with the Il-Khanid branch which ruled Iran. Unfortunately for the Sultan, however, a Mongol army suddenly appeared in 1285, while Sultan Muhammad was busy fighting the local Sumra rebels in Sind. Muhammad returned quickly and attacked the Mongols, but was killed in battle. It was a mortal blow to his father, Sultan Balban.

Not only had Muhammad been an excellent fighter but he was a great patron of poets and scholars. Famous poets like Amir Khusraw and Amir Hasan had in their early career been employed by him. Amir Khusraw was also taken captive by the Mongols and suffered considerable hardship at their hands.71

Balban summoned his younger son, Bughra Khan, to Delhi, but after two or three months he left for Lakhnauti. The Sultan hid his misery and unremittingly discharged his duties, although it is said that he wept throughout the night for his dead elder son. On his deathbed in 1287 Balban made Kaykhusraw, Sultan Muhammad's son, his successor; but when Balban was dead the powerful kotwai of Delhi sent him to Multan and raised Kayqubad, Bughra Khan's son, to the throne.72

Kayqubad was about eighteen years old and had. been brought up under strict discipline by his austere grandfather. Once upon the throne, which he had never dreamt of attaining, Kayqubad sank into an orgy of profligacy and debauchery. The Sultan's favourite, Malik Nizamu'd-Din, nephew and son-in-law of Fakhru'd-Din kotwal, became virtual ruler. He beheaded all the leading noblemen of Balban's reign who posed a threat to his dominance. Muhammad's son, Kaykhusraw, was also killed. Meanwhile in Lahore a Mongol army which had arrived in the

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vicinity was repulsed by the local commanders. Bughra Khan subsequently proclaimed himself king in Bengal and wrote to his son Kayqubad advising him to pay more serious attention to his duties. Finding no change in his son's behaviour, he marched towards Delhi. The two armies met at Avadh (Ayodhya) in 1289. War between father and son was, however, averted by Bughra Khan's fatherly kindness. Kayqubad listened respectfully to his father's wise counsel and, following his advice, transferred his favourite Nizamu'd-Din to Multan.73 But he was unable to give up his dissipated life-style, and the administration broke down. Before long he was struck with paralysis. A party of Turkic noblemen thereupon elevated Kayqubad's three-year-old son, Kayumars, to the throne, but their rivals, the Khalji maliks, who were more united, proved too powerful for them. They killed the Turkic commanders but kept Kayumars on the throne for a further three months. Kayqubad was killed in pitiable circumstances, his body thrown in the Jamuna.74 The Ilbari rule came to an end. In June 1290 Jalalu'd-Din Firuz became the first Khalji sultan of Delhi.

THE KHALJIS

Before the rise of the Mongols, the Khalj people had lived in western Turkistan and later in close proximity to the Afghan tribal lands of modern eastern Afghanistan. Their pure Turkic origin is disputed, because in the eleventh century they intermarried with the Pashto-speaking Ghalzay tribe of Afghans and became predominantly Afghan. Mahmud of Ghazni had recruited them for his army, but Mas'ud of Ghazni sent a punitive expedition against them. The Khalj tribe also fought in the Ghurid army. In the early thirteenth century they conquered Bengal.

At first the new Sultan, Jalalu'd-Din Khalji, feared the formidable Ilbari opposition, even though the principal Khalji claimants to the throne had been killed. It took him some months to conciliate the Ilbari supporters, to whom he showed a paternal and kindly attitude.75 He gave all the high positions to his own sons, nephews, and brothers, but he did not ignore the Ilbaris altogether, and Balban's nephew, Malik Chajju, was made governor of Kara, where he soon rebelled. The Hindu chiefs with their infantry and archers joined Chajju. The disbanded army recruited by Balban for his Bengal expeditions also swelled Chajju's ranks, and they marched on Delhi to seize the throne. The Sultan sent an advance division, which defeated Chajju at Ramganga. The rebel leaders

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were taken captive, but the Sultan, to his relations' annoyance, acted magnanimously. Chajju was simply deprived of his governorship, which the Sultan bestowed upon his nephew and son-in-law, 'All Gurshasp ('Ala'u'd-Din).76

The Sultan's magnanimity went so far that he was even merciful to a gang of thugs who were taken captive and brought to Delhi. They were merely banished to Bengal. His leniency was taken for weakness, and the disgruntled nobles began to hatch plots at their drinking parties to overthrow the old Sultan. Though news of these plots reached the Sultan, no action was taken against them either. The Sultan's near relations were shocked at his leniency, but he explained to their spokesman, Malik Ahmad Chap, that the sultanate was too weak to assert itself effectively. The best way out of the impasse was to govern the country with tolerance and mildness.77

In 1291-2 a Mongol invasion of the Dipalpur-Multan region saw the Sultan leading his army against the invader. There his liberality so impressed a group of Mongols that they decided to embrace Islam and settle in Delhi.78

In 1292 the Sultan mounted an expedition against Ranthambhor, where the Chauhan rulers had already greatly expanded their domain. He conquered Jha'in and destroyed the beautifully carved idol in its main temple. Ranthambhor was besieged, but, finding the siege was protracted, the Sultan abandoned it, comforting himself with the thought that the fort was not worth a single hair of a Muslim head.79 It would seem also that the Sultan was informed of the conspiracies to kill him which were rampant in Delhi. He returned to the capital. Inquiries revealed that the arch-conspirator was the famous dervish Sidi Mawla, who enjoyed a large following of both Khalji nobles and Sultan Balban's friends. The evidence warranting his execution, however, was not conclusive. An ordeal by fire was rejected as un-Islamic by the 'ulama'. So, as the Sultan's instigation, a group of wandering dervishes called Haydari Qalandars attacked Sidi with razors, and one of the royal princes arranged for him to be trampled to death. The severe dust-storm and famine which followed were attributed by the gullible Delhi populace to divine retribution.80

The most remarkable achievement of Jalalu'd-Din's reign was the invasion of the Yadava capital Devagiri by his nephew, 'Ala'u'd-Din, governor of Kara. Although 'Ala'u'd-Din's personal life was made miserable by the intrigues of his wife and mother-in-law against him, he was very ambitious. He recruited a large army at Kara and, towards the end of 1293, mounted an expedition against the region around Bhilsa. He collected an enormous

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amount of booty and sent some to the Sultan to win his favour. For the next two years 'Ala'u'd-Din made preparations for another expedition and withheld the revenue due to the capital. Then he assigned the administration of Kara to 'Ala'u'1-Mulk, uncle of the historian Barani, and marched off through the comparatively unknown Elichpur route. Near Devagiri some Yadavas, including two women leaders, fought gallantly against 'Ala'u'd-Din. The Raja's main army had left to fight under his son, Sinhana, against the Raja of Warangal. Ramadeva, although a seasoned warrior, was forced in their absence to sue for peace. Sinhana, the Raja's son, subsequently returned with the main army and, contrary to his father's advice, attacked 'Ala'u'd-Din. The Sultan divided his army into two and confronted Sinhana himself at the head of one column. The invaders were on the verge of defeat when their reserve column fell upon the Yadavas. Sinhana mistakenly took this for the arrival of the Sultan's main army. He panicked and fled. Enormous booty fell into 'Ala'u'd-Din's hands. The Raja agreed to pay a heavy tribute. When the news of Ala'u'd-Din's victory reached Delhi, the Sultan was advised to move to Chanderi, intercept 'Ala'u'd-Din's return journey, and seize the booty himself. The Sultan stopped at Gwalior, however, thereby enabling 'Ala'u'd-Din to reach Kara safely. Pretending to be sorry that he had invaded Devagiri without obtaining prior approval, 'Ala'u'd-Din succeeded in persuading his doting uncle to visit him at Kara by boat. When Jalalu'd-Din landed, 'Ala'u'd-Din prostrated himself at his uncle's feet. Then 'Ala'u'd-Din signalled the assassins who were awaiting his orders. They immediately killed the Sultan, on the seventeenth day of the fasting month of Ramazan 695 (21 July 1296). 'Ala'u'd-Din was proclaimed king.81

In Delhi the Sultan's widow, Malika-i Jahan, proclaimed her youngest son king with the title of Ruknu'd-Din Ibrahim, passing over Arkali Khan, the rightful heir, who was at Multan. Arkali Khan and his supporters in Delhi waited passively. 'Ala'u'd-Din, who had left Kara, was emboldened to act and rushed to Delhi, scattering gold and silver coins among the people.

Ruknu'd-Din fled to Multan. 'Ala'u'd-Din thereupon ascended the throne and promoted his supporters to high positions. An army sent to Multan took Arkali Khan, Ruknu'd-Din, and their mother captive. The princes were beheaded in Delhi and their mother imprisoned. Jalalu'd-Din's other relations and adherents were also killed barbarously. In the second year of his reign 'Ala'u'd-Din wiped out those noblemen of the old regime who were still loyal to Jalalu'd-Din.82

The early years of the Sultan's reign were torn by successive

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Mongol invasions. Duwa (1291-1306), the ruler of the Chaghatay Mongols of Transoxiana, was determined to acquire as much booty as possible to finance his fight against his Il-Khanid rivals of Iran. The first two invasions by the Mongol army were beaten back, but in 1297 the third invader, Qutlugh Khwaja, son of Duwa, reached KIG near Delhi. The Sultan's army was composed mainly of cavalry trained in repulsing Hindu troops, but the Sultan, throwing prudence overboard, recklessly tackled the invaders himself. Zafar Khan, the Sultan's indefatigable commander, fell fighting the enemy, but the Sultan won the day. The commander's death was a welcome relief to the Sultan and his brother, Ulugh Khan, who were jealous of his outstanding military reputation.83 The Sultan reorganized the defence of his frontier strongholds and appointed Ghazi Malik governor of Dipalpur. In 1303 the Mongol leader Targhi reached Siri but was then defeated. Two years later the Mongols marched as far as Amroha but were again beaten back. Their invasion in 1306 was stopped at the bank of the river Ravi, when Ghazi Malik, the warden of the marches, defended the frontiers stoutly.84 On the other hand, no major invasions were launched by Duwa's successors.

'Ala'u'd-Din's success in Devagiri had convinced him of the inability of the distant Hindu kingdoms to defend themselves. Ignoring the conquest of Malwa and Rajasthan, therefore, the Sultan sent an army in February 1299 under the command of his brothers Nusrat Khan and Ulugh Khan to conquer Gujarat. Although it had been raided previously, it was never subdued. 'Ala'u'd-Din's army besieged Anhilwara, the capital of Raja Karan Vaghela of Gujarat. The Raja, who was taken by surprise, fled with his daughter to Devagiri. Kamla Devi, the Raja's wife, was taken captive and sent to Delhi, where the Sultan married her. The temple of Somnath, which had been rebuilt, was again sacked. The victorious army plundered both the Hindu and Muslim merchants in Cambay. The Hindu eunuch Kafur Hazardinari, whom the Sultan later made malik na'ib (regent), was also taken from his master. The Sultan appointed his brother-in-law Alp Khan governor of Gujarat. At Jalor the army returning from Gujarat mutinied. The rising was crushed, and the mutineers' families in Delhi were brutally slaughtered.85

In 1299 Nusrat Khan and Ulugh Khan attacked Hamir Deva of Ranthambhor, ostensibly for refusing to surrender a couple of converted Mongols who had taken shelter there. Nusrat Khan was killed directing the siege, and Hamir Deva's sorties drove Ulugh Khan back to Jha'in. It was only after the Sultan's arrival that the siege was brought to a successful conclusion.86

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Barani invites us to believe that 'Ala'u'd-Din's victories undermined his mental balance. He decided to found a new religion and surpass the Prophet Muhammad, but Baram's uncle, 'Ala'u'l-Mulk, persuaded him to abandon this mad scheme. The anecdote hardly seems correct, but the Sultan was inordinately ambitious.87 The number of rebellions by his nephews and trusted officers prompted the Sultan to take immediate steps to root out the traitors. An analysis by his trusted advisers of the causes of these rebellions convinced him that the general prosperity of his officials, intermarriages between the families of the grandees, inefficiency in the espionage system, and drinking liquor were the root causes of rebellion. 'Ala'u'd-Din therefore passed four ordinances. By the first he confiscated all grants of tax-free land and seized Muslim religious endowments. Secondly, the intelligence system was reorganized, and all secret transactions in the houses of the nobility were 'immediately reported to the Sultan. Thirdly, the Sultan himself abandoned drinking and enforced strict prohibition in Delhi. Later on, personal distilling for home consumption was tolerated, but the public sale of liquor and drugs was totally stopped. The fourth ordinance forbade social gatherings in noblemen's houses, and no senior officials were allowed to arrange marriages between members of their families without the Sultan's prior consent.88

These regulations were directed against the Muslim noblemen, but the village headmen known as khuts and muqaddams, who lived in those areas where the revenue was reserved for the Sultan's treasury, were also very rich. They were Hindus and paid no taxes. They frequently offered military help to the rebels. The Sultan's revenue regulations reduced this class to poverty and brought them down to the level of the ordinary peasants. The over-enthusiastic Barani says that they were unable to buy horses or arms and could not afford to wear fine clothes. They were even deprived of the common luxury of chewing betel. So great was their poverty, according to Barani, that their wives were forced to work as maidservants in the houses of their Muslim neighbours.89

The country's defence remained intact, but the Sultan could not realize his imperialistic ambitions without a well-equipped standing army. According to Barani, he fixed the annual salary for a trained armed soldier with one horse at 243 tankas,90 with an additional 78 tankas for those who had two horses. Firishta says that he recruited 475,000 cavalrymen. In order to keep his army satisfied with their salary, the Sultan introduced strict price-control measures based on production costs. He also established separate shopping centres in Delhi for (1) grain, (2) cloth, sugar, dried

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fruits, herbs, butter, and oil, (3) horses, slaves, and cattle, and (4) miscellaneous commodities. The supply of grain was ensured' by collecting tax in kind in the doab and keeping it in the royal storehouses. Hoarding of grain was forbidden. Elsewhere the growers were ordered to sell their grain for cash in their fields at fixed prices and were not allowed to take any grain home for private sale. The market controller, the state intelligence officers, and the Sultan's secret agents each submitted independent reports on these shopping centres to the Sultan. Even a minor violation of the rules was not tolerated.

The shopping centre for cloth, known as the sata-i 'adl, was established near one of the royal palaces on the inner side of the Bada'un gate. All goods, including foreign imports, were first taken there and their price fixed. Every merchant was registered with the commerce ministry and had to sign a bond guaranteeing a regular supply of the goods in which they traded. The Hindu Multani merchants were advanced money by the treasury to import rare commodities for the sard-i 'adl. Some prices were subsidized. Costly fabrics and luxury goods could be sold only to those who had obtained permits from the government.91

The brokers helped the government to fix the price of horses. The horses were divided into three categories. The best were sold for 100 to 120 tonkas, the mediocre cost 80 to 90 tonkas, and poor-quality animals could be bought for 60 to 70 tonkas. Ponies were available at from 10 to 25 tonkas. All dishonest brokers and unscrupulous horse merchants were deprived of their trading rights. The price of slaves and cattle was also fixed.92

The shopping centre for general commodities was under the direct control of the commerce ministry. 'Ala'u'd-Din's minister of commerce was also the superintendent of weights and measures and the controller of commercial transactions. He was assisted by superintendents for each commodity. Prices and weights and measures were checked by sending the children employed in the royal pigeon-house to buy petty articles.93

The prices fixed for the Delhi market were also applied in the provincial capitals and towns. It was in the army's interest that the Delhi regulations should be enforced at other places. The success of the system depended on fixing prices in relation to production costs, although other factors, such as the growing poverty of the nobles and fear of the Sultan's atrocities, ensured obedience. An anecdote narrated by the eminent sufi Shaykh Nasiru'd-Din Mahmud Chiragh of Delhi some fifty years later to a gullible sufi audience ascribed philanthropic motives to the Sultan's market regulations; but Barani's analysis of 'Ala'u'd-Din's military

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motives,94 reinforced by other medieval historians, is irrefutable.

The Sultan's army brought him success both against the Mongols and in his schemes of conquest. In 1302-3 he sent an army against Telingana. The army marched through Bengal and Orissa and attacked Warangal. The Kakatiya Raja Prataparudra Deva, however, defeated the invaders, and the Sultan recalled his forces.95

At the end of January 1303 the Sultan himself marched against Chitor. The fort was formidable, the terrain mountainous. The Rajputs fought valiantly, but finally the ruler, Raja Ratan Singh, submitted. The Sultan entered the fort at the end of August 1303. The Raja's family were not persecuted, but the village headmen were slaughtered. The fort's administration was handed over by the Sultan to his son Khizr Khan.96 According to Rajput legends, the Sultan conquered Chitor in order to seize the beautiful Padmini, Rana Ratan Singh's wife. This story is first recounted by Malik Muhammad Ja'isi in his romantic Hindi poem Padmavat, written in 1540. Certain sixteenth- and seventeenth-century historical works also relate this tale. It is probably based on the common stock of legends current in India from ancient times. Khizr Khan lacked sufficient forces to maintain his rule in the region; eight years later it was given to a friendly Rajput chief.

The Sultan's armies also conquered Ujjain, Mandu, Dhar, and Chanderi, and governors were appointed for these areas. Jalor was left under the control of its own Raja, but his boastful claims finally led the Sultan to annex his kingdom. 'Ala'u'd-Din himself marched against Marwar, where the ruler stoutly defended his fort of Siwana but ultimately submitted. The territory was left in his possession. The Sultan was satisfied with establishing his overlordship over the Rajput chiefs, since he wished essentially to ensure communications between Delhi and Gujarat.

The Sultan's most memorable conquest was that of the Deccan and the far south, which were ruled by three important Hindu dynasties. The Kakatiyas of Warangal ruled over eastern Deccan, while the Hoysalas of Dvarasamudra and the Pandyas of Madurai, ruling the regions adjacent to Sri Lanka, had divided the rest of the peninsula between them. The coastal trade from Kollam (Quilon) to Nellore had made them extremely wealthy. Nevertheless they were all, including the Yadava rulers, engaged in internecine wars.

'Ala'u'd-Din did not annex their countries but fleeced their treasuries and forced them to pay annual tributes. In 1306-7 the Sultan commissioned Malik Kafir to reduce to submission Raja Ramadeva, who had withheld his tribute. Early in 1307 Kafur marched through Dhar at the head of 30,000 horsemen. After a feeble resistance Ramadeva surrendered. Kafur took him to Delhi,