Delhi Sultanate – A I Srivastava

Meanwhile, the Sultan, who was saved by the timely assistance of his bodyguards, returned to his camp. Akat Khan along with his followers was put to death. This rebellion was followed by another, and of a more serious nature. ^Amir Umar and Mangu Khan, the two sons of his sister, raised the standard of revolt in Badaun and Awadh while the Sultan was busy in the siege of Ran- thambhor; but they were defeated and imprisoned by the loyal governors of the provinces, fourth rebellion occurred at the capital city of Delhi where Haji Maula, a disaffected officer, collected an army of ruffians and killed the kotwal, named Tamardi.

He attempted to follow up his success by trying to lay hand on Ayaz, the kotwal of Siri. In this, however, he failed; but he placed a nominee of his own on the throne of Delhi and proceeded to capture power. The rebel was, however, defeated and killed by a loyal officer, named Malik Hamid-ud-din. These rebellions, occurring as they did, one after another, within the space of a few years, convinced the Sultan that there was something radically wrong in his system of administration.

In consultation with his friends he made a close study of the existing state of affairs and came to the conclusion that the rebellions were due to four causes. These causes, acording to Ala-ud-din, were : (1) the inefficiency of his spy system which kept the king ignorant of the doings of his officers and people; (2) the general practice of the use of wine which promoted fellowship and prompted people to indulge in rebellions and conspiracy; (3) social intercourse among the nobles and inter-marriages between them which gave them an opportunity to combine against the king; and (4) the excess of wealth in the possession of certain notable people which gave them leisure for idle thoughts and for indulging in plots and rebellions.

The ordinances Having analysed the causes of rebellions, Ala-ud-din proceeded to prevent their recurrence. He issued four important ordinances. The first ordinance aimed at confiscation of all religious endowments and free grants of land. Many hundreds of families had been in enjoyment of free land to support themselves. Some of them held land from time immemorial. class of idlers had, thus, come into existence which derived its subsistence without labour.

Ala-ud-din’s measure hit this class hard. They had to pay land tax for their holdings and tax collectors were required to extort from them as much money as possible on any pretext that they liked. The Sultan’s attack on private property yielded wholesome results from his point of view. We are told by Barani that gold was not to be seen except in the houses of great nobles or high officials or the topmost mer chants.

mistakes and printing errors of the last edition have been corrected. The opportunity has been taken to add a few significant facts rcla ting to the cultural intercourse between India and the Arab World. July I, 1966 A, L. SRIVASTAVA PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION In this edition the book has been thoroughy revised and two new chapters, viz., Hindu Rule in Afghanistan and Causes of the Defeat of the Hindus in Early Medieval Age, based on a study of original contemporary sources, have been added.

Afghanistan was a part of India and was lost to it in 870 A.I), it has been shown in the Chapter on the causes of our defeat that India offered the greatest resistance known to History to the Arab and Turkish invaders from about the middle of the 7th century A.I), to about the end of the 12lli century.

Some of the author’s conclusions might appear novel and even surprising. They are, however, based on a very close study of contemporary material in Arabic and Persian, It is Imped that in this new gar!) the SUl/i’ANATK OF DELHI will have* as good a reception from the scholars as well as students and the general reading public as was accorded to it earlier.

Agra College, +\fmi , A. L. SRIVASTAVA May’i*, 1959. MHSAS my (,vo.i .r, LIBRARY PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION The welcome accorded to this book by students and teachers in our colleges and universities has encouraged the author to bring out its second edition, The first edition was exhausted within a year and a half of its publication and the present edition should have been in the hands of the reader before the end of 1952, but circumstances beyond the control of the author delayed its publica tion for about eight months.

In this edition the book has been carefully revised. Thanks to Mr. K* M. Munshi’s enquiry, the riddle of Nasir-ud-din Khusrav Shah’s origin, which baffled all previous writers, has been successfully solved by the author and is being given in this book for the first time.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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