South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c10.4

c10.4

Sinews of war needed to prosecute the higher ambitions of Alau-d-din.—It would be unusual for a man who cherished ambitions to occupy the throne of Delhi to complicate his position by a distant invasion at the same time. Alau-d-din’s idea in the distant invasion was not exactly conquest or addition to the empire. In this instance there was absolutely nothing of either. His object was chiefly plunder, and plunder of a neighbouring Mussalman governor had no chance whatever of being overlooked at court. The invasion of a Hindu kingdom on the otherside of the Vindhya Mountains, where no Muhammadan had yet set foot appealed to the ambitions of the knight-errant, if there was any in him; but the chief motive was money to provide himself with the wherewithal for the purpose of carrying his ultimate ambition through, of occupying the throne at Delhi. This ambition seems to have been clearly formed in his mind and received considerable encouragement from those about him at the time. The court was not without some knowledge of his ambition, but the good Sultan could not be brought to think ill of his nephew son-in-law who had made effective use of his younger brother at court to counteract the honest efforts of the ministers to awaken the suspicions of the Sultan.