History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c12.41

c12.41

Besides these close associates, the Sultan surrounded himself with nobles whom he appointed to high offices. Soon after the completion of the preliminary political settlement of the empire, he realised the incompetence of the native nobility and began to show preference for foreigners who came from Khorasan, 'Iraq, Persia, Bokhara, Samarqand and other countries beyond the Hindukush. These men were invested with important commands. Though the Sultan was guided by the sole consideration of efficiency, his policy produced disastrous consequences. He failed to hold the scales even between the two sets of nobles—the foreigners and the Hindustanis. Ibn Batūtah tells us that the revolt of 'Ain-al-Mulk was a duel between the Hindustanis and the foreigners.¹² The experiment of creating an aristocracy of foreigners depending upon the Sultan's bounty for subsistence failed, as it was bound to fail, and the greatest troubles of his reign were due to the disloyal proceedings of these amirs in some of the important provinces of the empire.