The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.209

v3.c20.209

His ambition of emulating Mahmūd of Ghaznī and Sultān Sanjar the Saljūq was restrained by the ever present menace of a Mughul invasion. To the courtiers who urged him to conquer Gujarāt and recover Mālwa and other provinces lost to the kingdom he replied that he had the will to do far more than this but had no intention of exposing Delhi to the fate of Baghdād. His energies found a vent in the hunting field, where his strenuous expeditions, in which he was accompanied by large bodies of horse and foot, were commended by the Mughul Hulāgū as useful military exercises. Balban was much gratified by this commendation and complacently observed that those whose business it was to rule men knew how to appreciate in others the qualities of a ruler.