History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c13.69

c13.69

"My kingdom is diseased and no treatment cures it. The physician cures the headache and fever follows; he strives to allay the fever and something else supervenes." Barani told the Sultan what other kings had done in similar circumstances and observed that 'of all political ills, the greatest and most dire was a general feeling of aversion and a want of confidence among all ranks of the people.' The Sultan stuck to his view and said that if he succeeded in establishing order in the country, he would entrust the kingdom to Firuz, Malik Kabir and Ahmad Ayaz and himself go to visit the K'abah at Mecca. He further added: "My remedy for rebels, insurgents, opponents and disaffected people is the sword. I employ punishment and use the sword so that a cure may be effected by suffering. The more the people resist, the more I inflict chastisement."36 The charge of wanton cruelty or lust for blood falls to the ground in view of these statements. The Sultan wanted to punish rebels who stirred up strife in the country and not innocent men as is frequently supposed. Conciliation did not appeal to his mediaeval mind; half measures were anathema to him. With him the issue was between royalty and sedition and he never sat down calmly to analyse the causes of the latter. Opposition even though it were based on just grounds was intolerable to him. It was a masterful love of prestige and not perversity, a consciousness of superior might and not a natural thirst for blood, a lack of faith in human nature due to the misbehaviour of those whom he had favoured and not an inherent wish to destroy the human species that aggravated the crisis and rendered harmony impossible in the state.