South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c10.14

c10.14

His revenue system and the invasions of the Dekhan had the same object in view—money.—The maintenance of such a vast army implies an unfailing treasury, which could, according to the economics of those days, be kept well-filled only by heavy taxation supplemented by the plunder of other states. His revenue measures were so adopted as to make rebellion impossible either for the Musalman or for the Hindu, and the recognized principle of revenue assessment in his reign was that the actual ryot was left enough to carry him through till the next crop. Even so, the treasury could not meet the demands upon it. He therefore naturally had to look outside of his territory proper to eke out his revenues. There was a very good precedent in the invasion of Deogir. It was the plunder of Deogir that provided him with the resources to accomplish the ambition of occupying the throne at Delhi. Deogir itself could be made to pay more, and there were other kingdoms besides, equally rich if not richer. Two alternatives would have presented themselves to a man of daring ambition like Alau-d-din, to conquer the kingdoms south of the Vindhyas and annex them to his empire, or to war against them to produce the impression of his power, and make them pay tribute to him so that he might draw from their well-filled treasury gold and treasure to the utmost of his need. It is to the credit of Alau-d-din that he considered it bad policy to go on extending his empire by adding territory at great distances, which would only mean so many distant centres for disturbance and rebellion. He therefore chose the other alternative of maintaining these states under the Hindus, who must have appeared to him, as in fact they were, capable of administering their kingdoms economically and keeping themselves well-provided with treasure for any emergency. We shall see that his instructions to the invading generals were explicitly on this understanding.