The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c14.126

c14.126

All these communications had to be protected against robbers. The worst offenders were the Hindu chieftains who waylaid travellers and traders. Whenever these chieftains were in a state of rebellion, they took refuge in the thick jungle; some of them possessed fortresses which had to be reduced by siege or carried by assault.³ The worst area was that now forming the United Provinces; in certain parts the descendants of the chieftains are still notorious dacoits. The provincial governors and, later, the chief shiqqdārs in the sarkārs were responsible for maintaining order.⁴ Forts were built at strategic points where kotwāls were stationed to keep the roads open and punish thieves; later these kotwāls came to be known as faujdārs.⁵ At other places, thānahs were established, which contained bodies of troops.⁶ A more effective method of keeping peace in the country was to plant colonies of warlike Muslims in the midst of rebellious tribes. Balban, for instance, built towns for Muslims with fortresses and mosques in the old Hindu strongholds of Kampil, Patiālī and Bhojpūr.¹ So successful was this method that it kept the road to eastern Hindustān open until the reign of Fīrūz Shāh.² The cutting down and opening up of the dense forests also made robbery more difficult.³