History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c15.s1.49

c15.s1.49

But Baranī’s invectives that ‘Alāuddīn’s measures were meant to crush the Hindus as such are quite baseless. Noblemen, traders, cultivators all bore the burnt of ‘Alā-ūddīn’s regulations, but since agriculture was confined mainly to the Hindus they suffered most. Land was the main source of state revenues then, as it is now, and the sultan increased it to the maximum possible. The result was the grinding down of the peasant class, while the *Khūts* and *muqaddams* were reduced to the status of low peasantry, shorn of their time-honoured privileges.