The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.206

v3.c20.206

THE Forty could ill brook the elevation of one of their own number to the throne. The disorders of the late reign had been largely due to revolts against Balban’s supremacy, and the jealousy of one noble had reft the Punjab from the kingdom, but in the absence of an heir of the line of Iltutmish the recognition of Balban’s sovereignty was the only alternative to anarchy. Balban, on the other hand, was resolved on founding a dynasty and, as a necessary step to that end, on destroying the confederacy whose strength lay in the weakness of the crown.