Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s2.t1.3

c5.s2.t1.3

The ambition of the Sultans of Delhi, as that of the Sassanian monarchs of Persia, was ‘to build lofty palaces; to hold grand levees and to enjoy the spectacle of a world prostrating itself before them; to accumulate vast hordes of treasure, and to concentrate all the financial power in their hands to bestow them on those they chose to favour; to appropriate all gold and jewels and then make a gift of them to a greedy and expectant crowd; to carry on incessant war to establish their supremacy; to maintain a large establishment of domestics and attendants and *harams*, and to enjoy the satisfaction of spending unlimited wealth on them—in a word the satisfaction of vanity and the acquirement of conspicuous distinction’. Without providing such paraphernalia of royalty, a monarch could hardly be considered a proper monarch, and the *Padishah* was hardly worthy of his exalted position. Such was the ideal of the Ghaznawids, as is summarized here in the words of a historian: and to this, as to the distinguished example of Sultan Mahmud, the Sultans of Delhi looked for inspiration and guidance²; in fact, it was the universal outlook of the age.