‘Ala-ud-din acted according to his conviction, and followed a policy of ” thorough “, calculated to help the establishment of a strong Government at the centre. The rebellion of Akat Khan, the revolt of the Sultan’s sister’s sons, Amir ‘Umar and Mangu Khan, in Badaun and Oudh, the conspiracy of Haji Maula and the plots of the “New Mussahmans “, all of which were effectively suppressed, led him to believe that there were some defects in the administrative system. After consulting his intimate advisers, he attributed these to four causes: (i) Disregard of the affairs of the State by the Sultan, (ii) the use of wine, (iii) intimacy and alliances among the nobles,which enabled them to organise themselves for conspiracies, (iv) abundance of money, “which engenders evil and strife, and brings forth pride and disloyalty”.
With a strong determination to stamp out these evils and make himself secure against rebellions, the Sultan framed a code of repressive regulations. He first assailed the institution of private property. All pensions and endowments were appropriated to the State, and all villages held in proprietary right (milk), in free gift (inam) and benevolent endowments (waqf) were confiscated.”The people,” writes Barni, “were pressed and amerced, money was exacted from them on every kind of pretence. Many were left without any money, till at length it came to pass that, excepting maliks and amirs, officials, Multanis, and bankers, no one possessed even a trifle in cash.” Secondly, the Sultan established an efficient body of spies, who were enjoined to report to him everything, even the most trivial matters like the gossip and transactions in the markets. “The system of reporting went to such a length that nobles dared not speak aloud even in the largest places, and if they had anything to say they communicated by signs.” Thirdly, the use of spirituous liquor and drugs, and dicing, were strictly prohibited. The Sultan himself showed an example by giving up drinking, and all his wine vessels were broken to pieces. Fourthly, the Sultan prohibited social gatherings of the nobles, who could not meet without special permission from him. This ordinance was so strictly enforced that “feasting and hospitality fell into total disuse. Through fear of spies, the nobles kept themselves quiet; they gave no parties and had little communication with each other “.
Some of the other measures adopted by the Sultan were equally drastic. Large sections of the people had to pay to the State half of their gross produce and heavy pasturage taxes on cattle. The Sultan wanted to reduce them to such a state of misery as to make it impossible for them to bear arms, to ride on horseback, to put on fine clothes or to enjoy any other luxury of life. Indeed, their lot was very hard. None of them “could hold up his head, and in their houses no sign of gold or silver, tankas or jitals or any superfluity was to be seen. . . . Driven by destitution, the wives of the khuts and maqaddams went and served for hire in the houses of the Musslmans”. For revenue collection, all hereditary assessors and collectors of revenue were made subject to one law, and it was enforced with such great rigour by Sharaf Qai, the naib wazir of the Sultan, and his staff, that “men looked upon revenue officers as something worse than fever. Clerkship was a great crime, and no man would give his daughter to a clerk”. ‘Ala-ud-din rightly realized that a strong army was an indispensable requisite for the system of government he had been trying to build up. But its efficient maintenance required a huge expenditure at a time when the influx of wealth from the south had caused a fall in the value of money and augmented the prices of articles. The Sultan fixed the pay of a soldier at 234 tankas a year and 78 tankas for a man maintaining two horses. He did not want to increase the pay of the soldiers as that would have caused a heavy strain on the resources of the State and of the people, who had already been taxed to the utmost limit of their capacity. But to enable the soldiers to live on a moderate pay, he issued some edicts regulating the prices of all articles from the absolute necessaries of life to things of luxury like slaves, homes, arms, silks and stuffs and adjusting the laws of supply and demand as well as possible. The land revenue from the Khalsa villages around the capital was to be realised in kind, and grain was to be stored in the royal granaries in the city of Delhi, so that in times of’ scarcity the Sultan could supply the markets with his own grain. No private hoarding of grain was to be tolerated. The markets were controlled by two officers, the Diwan-i-Riyasat and the Shahana-i-Mandi, and a body of spies were entrusted with the task of reporting to the Sultan the condition of the markets. The merchants had to get themselves registered in a State daftar and to engage themselves to bring all goods for sale to the Sarai ‘Adl, an open place inside the Badaun gate. They had to furnish sufficient securities for their conduct. Severe punishments were provided against the violation of the Sultan’s regulations. To prevent the shopkeepers from using short weights, it was ordered that the equivalent of the deficiency would be cut off from their flesh. The regulations worked according to the Sultan’s desire so long as he lived, and enabled him to maintain a large standing army at a cheap cost. Barni remarks that the “unvarying price of grain in the markets was looked upon as one of the wonders of the time”. But he does not definitely state the effects of these devices on the economic condition of the country as a whole.
‘Ala-ud-din reached the apex of his career by the end of the year 1312. But the tragedy of his life was at hand, and he began henceforth to live by the light of a star that had paled. His excesses had undermined his health, his intellect became dwarfed and his judgment defective. He became a mere puppet in the hands of his favorite eunuch, Kafur, whom he made the commander of his army and wazir, and indiscreetly removed the old and able administrators. Rebellion broke out in several quarters, and palace intrigues supervened due to the machinations of Kafur,who caused the Sultan’s wife and son to be alienated from him. The attack of dropsy, from which the Sultan had been suffering for some time, proved fatal. He expired on the 2nd January, A.D. 1316, at the height of his troubles and was buried in a tomb in front of the Jama-Masjid, Delhi. According to some, “the infamous Maslik Kafur helped his disease to a fatal end”.
‘Ala-ud-din was a self-willed ruler, whose ambition knew no bounds and brooked no restraint, and whose methods were unscrupulous. “He shed more innocent blood,” writes Barni, “than ever Pharaoh was guilty of.” The tragic end of Jalal-ud-din Firuz, the treatment meted out to the deceased Sultan’s relatives, the severe measures against the “New Mussulmans “, not excepting even women and children, are clear proofs of the Sultan’s harsh nature. Extremely auspicious and jealous, he was sometimes ungrateful even to those from whom he had received most valuable services. Thus on being established on the throne, he deprived many of those nobles who had helped his cause of their wealth and establishments, threw them into prison, and caused some of them to be blinded and killed. The remarkable bravery of the Sultan’s own general Zafar Khan excited his jealousy, and when he was killed by the Mongols, his master was satisfied that he “had been got rid of without disgrace “. Barni writes that ‘AIa-ud-din had “no acquaintance with learning” but, according to Ferishta, he learn the art of reading Persian after his accession.
There flourished during the reign of this Sultan eminent scholars and poets like Amir Khusrav and Hasan. The Sultan was fond of architecture. Several forts were built by his orders, the most important of these being the circular ‘Alai Fort or Koshak-i-Siri the walls of which were made of stone, brick and lime and which had seven gates. “All the mosques,” writes Amir Khusrav, “which lay in ruins were built anew by profuse scattering of silver.” In 1311 ‘Ala-ud-din undertook the extension of the Qutb Mosque and the construction of a new Minar (tower) in the courtyard of the mosque of twice the size of the old Qutb Minar. The building of the new Minar could not be completed in his lifetime owing to the troubles during his last days. In 1311 he also caused a large gate to be built for this mosque of red sandstone and marble, with smaller gates on four sides of the large gate.
‘Ala-ud-din is, however, known to history for his imperialistic activities. He was a brave and able soldier, and the military exploits of his reign were almost uniformly crowned with success. He carried the militaristic ideal of Balban to its logical conclusion. As an administrator also, he showed remarkable vigour in the early part of his reign. To him belongs the credit of governing the State for the first time independent of the authority and guidance of the priestly hierarchy. He was determined to strengthen his government at any cost. The foundation of the military monarchy that he tried to build up was, however, laid upon sand. His severity enabled him to strengthen it apparently, but it generated a feeling of discontent in the minds of the suppressed baronage and the humiliated chiefs, who naturally remained waiting for opportunities to regain their lost position and power. The great defect of his system was that it could not win for itself the willing support and goodwill of the governed, which is essential for the security of any Government. Its continuance depended on the strong personality of the man who had erected it. As a matter of fact, symptoms of its breakdown appeared during the last days of the Sultan and became fully manifest, to the utter undoing of his work, within a short time after his demise. A just retribution fell upon his family for his ungrateful conduct towards his uncle, and its power and prestige were undermined by one in whom the Sultan had reposed profound confidence-his own favorite, Malik Kafur.
