The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c11.30

c11.30

Barani gives a graphic description of the unsettled conditions of life and property which prevailed during the latter part of Mahmud's reign. Even allowing for some calculated exaggeration in the statement, Balban's efforts in the past few years must be regarded as inconclusive. In the Doab and Awadh, roads were poor and infested with robbers who nearly severed all communication with the eastern provinces. Hindu peasants were in perpetual rebellion¹. In the neighbourhood of Delhi dense forests sheltered marauders, while the Mewatis came and plundered the suburbs with impunity. The Katehriya Rajputs also showed no signs of weakness but extended their depredations to Budaun and Amroha². Since the trans-Gangetic tract had only been partially conquered and most of the Rajput ruling families had sought refuge there from the south, it appears highly probable that the rebellions in those parts were engineered by the dispossssed Rajputs and were of a political nature. In Furrukhabad, where the rebels found strongholds in Patiali and Kampil, the later Gahdvala princes are known to have had their headquarters.