History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c14.67

c14.67

But if the police made the people correct in their behaviour the rigorous spy system scared them immensely. The appointment of secret agent was not a novel step, firstly, because a secret service is the very basis of despotic government, and secondly, because the predecessors of 'Alāūddīn had all resorted to espionage. Maḥmūd of Ghaznī had a very efficient intelligence service in the Divān-i-Shughl-i-Ishrāfī-i-Mamlukāt, in which persons of both sexes served as spies.³⁵ Ghayās- -uddīn Balban also had a very efficient intelligence department so that even the movements of his own son, Bughrā Khān, were regularly communicated to him. ‘Alāuddīn, however, seems to have organised espionage to great perfection. He appointed a number of informers known in the official language as *munhīs*. They were of different grades and kept the Sultān informed about the most trivial matters relating to persons high and low. The *munhīs* could even enter the houses of the people and trouble them for slight offences.²⁶ Ziyā-uddīn Baranī bears witness to the rigour with which the intelligence department worked. “No one could stir without his (‘Alāuddīn’s) knowledge, and whatever happened in the houses of the Maliks and Amīrs, officers and great men, was communicated to the Sultān in course of time . . . . The fear of spies led barons to cease speaking anything aloud in the Hazār Sitūn, and if they had to say anything they said through gestures. Day and night did they tremble in their own houses on account of the activity of the patrol. Nor did they do anything nor utter a single word which could subject them to reproof or punishment.”∗