The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c11.10

c11.10

His immediate task was to restore the crown's prestige and inspire respect for its sanctity and power. For, an effective answer to the Hindu and Mongol aggression could only come from an integrated and centralised state, symbolised by a strong, unquestioned monarchy. Iltutmish had only outlined the institution; it was left to Balban to regenerate and raise it to its full stature. Conscious of his lack of an absolute hereditary right to the throne he sought increased personal prestige by claiming descent from the mythical Turkish hero, Afrasiyab². By word and by deed he constantly emphasised the sacredness of the king's person and the awe which he should inspire in the hearts of his people. "Kingship is the embodiment of despotism" he said to his son Bughra Khan³ "The heart of the king is the special repository of God's favour and in this he has no equal among mankind" "It is the king's super-human awe and status," said he on another occasion, "which can ensure the people's obedience"⁴. Such despotism, he realised, exposed the king to great risks of assasination and so he lived constantly attended by body guards⁵. He never wearied of impressing on his sons the crown’s sanctity; the king’s awe-inspiring grandeur was to reflect the state’s power. He re-organised the court etiquette so as to manifest the order and splendour of his kingdom. Even before his accession, when a party of Mongol envoys from Hulaku visited Delhi in 1259-60, Balban carefully planned a splendid and colourful reception; the ambassadors left with a profound respect for the magnificence of the mighty Sultan of Delhi¹. The regalia of the Seljuq and Khwarizmi kings were faithfully copied and high-salaried, fearsome body-guards were appointed round the king’s person to ‘blind the onlookers’ by their drawn swords dazzling in the sun. He insisted on the *sijda* and the *paibos* (prostration and kissing the monarch’s feet) in the court and surrounded his person by pompous ceremonies “such as was never done by any other king of Delhi”². Even his private conduct he sought to make an embodiment of kingly dignity. A great convivialist in early life, he gave up drinking on accession and interdicted the use of wine by his courtiers. He firmly refused even to speak to the common people; a rich Delhi merchant offered all his wealth for the honour of one interview with the Sultan; his ambition was never fulfilled. Even to his personal attendants he never showed light-heartedness or betrayed his human feeling³. The death of his eldest son broke the old monarch’s heart, and he melted in tears; but he disdained to show his weakness and to be seen mourning. He bore himself in steely coolness among his attendants, only to break down in heart-rending sobs in the midnight secrecy of his apartment. Ruthlessly he thus sacrificed himself to the king in him. Mongol devastations also contributed to the enhancement of his prestige, for, as the only Muslim state not yet submerged under the Mongol flood, Delhi offered honourable asylum to eminent princes and men of letters who shed lustre on Balban's court. By allotting them residence in quarters named after their country or race his magnanimity received due recognition from his contemporaries as the saviour of Muslim culture¹.