The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c29.s2.60

v3.c29.s2.60

But though the great ruling houses were extinct, the people were not left leaderless. The history of the Doāb and the country on either side of the Ganges contains evidence that the local Hindu landholders, petty rajas, who were probably regarded as fief-holders and paid tribute or rent when the central government could enforce the demand, were ever ready to resist oppression, as in the reign of Muhammad Tughluq, and to take advantage of the weakness of their rulers, as during the reigns of the feeble Sayyids, or of their dissensions, as in the struggle for supremacy between the kingdoms of Delhi and Jaunpur.