History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c14.10

c14.10

Contemporary opinion also spoke in favour of the autocratic position of a medieval monarch in general and of ‘Alāuddīn in particular. Amir Khusrau and Ziyāuddīn Barani considered the sultan as the naib or the Khalifā of God.⁵ He was *Zil‘illāh* or the shadow of God on earth. In *Khazāinul Futūḥ* Amīr Khusrau gives the sultan titles like “the sultan of the world”, “the sultan of the monarchs of the earth”, “the conqueror of the age” and the “shepherd of the people”. These phrases, in spite of their being exaggerated epithets allude to the prevalent conception that the king was the state and that it was an age of royal absolutism. ‘Alāuddīn like Louis XIV of France regarded himself to be all in all in the state, *L'état c'est moi*. According to Ziyāuddīn Barani a king was to be severe or kind as the emmergency required.⁶ He was to establish the true religion, distribute impartial justice and see that not a single person in his kingdom remained unfed and unclothed.⁷