History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c12.s1.1

c12.s1.1

It has already been seen how Ram Deva, the Yadava ruler, had submitted to prince ‘Alāuddīn in 1296. Since then he had sent yearly tributes to the court of Delhi, where the raider of Devagiri reigned as an emperor. But for two or three years before 1308 Ram Chandra had stopped sending any tribute.²² The actual reasons for this behaviour of the Maratha king are not known, but they can well be conjectured. It was a sheer chance that a freebooter had been successful over the Yadava king and even over his valiant son Singhana in 1296, but since then he had never been heard of in the Deccan again. For ten years Ram Deva sent the yearly tribute regularly. Thereafter he took advantage of the long distance between Devagiri and Delhi as also of the preoccupation of ‘Alāūddīn with the Mughals and the Rajputs, and witheld the tribute from 1305 or 1306 onwards. According to ‘Iṣāmī, Ram Deva’s loyalty was unflinching, but his son,²³ with the people of the land, tried to assume independence even against his father’s wishes. Ram Chandra was so incensed that he appealed to ‘Alāūddīn to punish his son.²⁴ But the events of the expedition do not corroborate his statement. The reason of the invasion given by Barani—that Ram Chandra had withheld the tribute for some years—seems to be most convincing.