Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c6.s3.t1.21

c6.s3.t1.21

We have already said something about the resources of the Sultan of Delhi and the royal hoards of silver and gold. It remains to add that over and above the heavy land taxes, the cesses (abwabs) and special taxes, import duties and tributes, the whole kingdom and its resources was at the command of the Sultan. He had absolute power to confiscate and appropriate the property of others.¹ If the resources of his kingdom failed to meet his demands, there was no international law or moral opinion to stop him from invading a neighbouring kingdom and converting his conquest into a new source of income.