The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c11.28

c11.28

original assignees had either died or grown too old for military service; the rest stayed at home and lived on the assignments with the connivance of the war-office (*diwan-i arz*). Some even sent proxies, hired men, ill-equipped and utterly unsuited to military work; the heirs of the deceased troopers inherited their assignments and treated them as free gifts, or as rewards for past services. This was a scandalous state of affairs and seriously underminded the army’s efficiency. After a thorough enquiry, Balban ordered a resumption of the assignments and the payment of compensation to the holders. The aged troopers, in recognition of their past services were given a fixed pension in cash; a similar gratuity was given to the widows and the minor heirs, while the able-bodied were enlisted in the regular army, their salary being made a first charge on the revenue of the village to be collected by the central exchequer. The resumption order however, evoked loud protests from the assignees; the old men approached Fakhruddin, the *kotwal* of Delhi and a respected friend of the king, and begged him to intercede on their behalf. The *kotwal* played on the feelings of the old monarch and succeeded in having the order concerning the aged holders rescinded. The rest appears to have been enforced¹. The chronicler leaves us only to infer that cash payment henceforth became the rule for Balban’s military personnel. Whether he realised the need for centralising the army like his Khalji successor, is a point on which little direct evidence is forthcoming. The assignment system certainly remained in force; improvement of the provincial army continued to be the governor's concern; cash payment rule could only be enforced when it was accompanied by direct individual recruitment of the army. The aforesaid reforms were, in any case, confined to the central army which was entrusted to the care of Imadul Mulk, the *diwan-i-arz*. The latter enjoyed the Sultan's confidence and was made independent of the *wazir's* financial control. Imadul Mulk was a capable man; his honesty and scrupulous attention to the details of recruitment, pay and equipment of the troops vitalised the fighting services. Though no fundamental change in the military organisation seems to have been affected, yet the reforms, coupled with the expansion mentioned above, undoubtedly increased the fighting potential of the Sultanate.