The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c24.52

v3.c24.52

The new king used wisely and beneficently the power which he had thus acquired. The Hindu kings had been atrocious tyrants, whose avowed policy had been to leave their subjects nothing beyond a bare subsistence. He ruled on more liberal principles, abolished the arbitrary taxes and the cruel methods of extorting them, and fixed the state’s share of the produce of the land at one-sixth. He was obliged, however, during his short reign, to suppress a rebellion of the Lon tribe of Kishtwār. He died, after a reign of three years, in 1349, leaving four sons, Jamshīd, ‘Alī Sher, Shīrāshāmak, and Hindāl, the eldest of whom succeeded him, but reigned for no more than a year, being dethroned in 1350 by his next brother, ‘Alī Sher, who ascended the throne under the title of ‘Alā-ud-dīn.