THE 13tH AND 1l4tH CENTURIES 31 
that they should have enough to live on in comfort, but they 
should not have much more. It may fairly be said then 
that Balban had grasped the main principles of rural economy 
in an Indian peasant-State, at a period when the environ- 
ment afforded little scope for individual advance; he aimed 
at a peaceful and contented peasantry, raising ample 
produce and paying a reasonable revenue; and he saw that 
it was the King’s duty to direct the administration with 
this object in view. 
3. ALAUDDIN KHALJI (1296-1316) 
In the year 1296, Alauddin obtained the throne of Delhi 
by the murder of his uncle, the reigning King, and con- 
solidated his position by lavish distribution of the wealth 
he had obtained by his raid into the Deccan! Just at first, 
he appears to have thought that a kingdom so obtained would 
stand of itself; but from a succession of revolts in the opening 
months of his reign he learned the need for vigorous ad- 
ministration, and thenceforward he stands out as a strong 
and absolutely ruthless ruler, intent only on the security 
of his throne and the extension of his dominions. The 
changes made by him in the agrarian system did not arise 
from any economic, still less any philanthropic, motive, 
but were inspired solely by political and military con- 
siderations. Personally he was unpopular, at the outset 
he had no trustworthy body of nobles or officers on whom to 
rely, nor could he count on the support of orthodox Moslems ; 
his subjects were ready to rebel, while the Mongols, massed 
on the Indus, constituted a perpetual danger on the frontier. 
The need for security, internal as well as external, was thus 
the dominant note of his policy, and extension of the 
kingdom was deliberately postponed until he judged that 
he was safe at home. 
! The narrative in the text is based entirelv on Barni (241 ff.), who 
wrote from personal knowledge, and who condemns some portions of 
Alauddin’s conduct severely, while he praises certain of his measures. 
He may fairly be regarded as impartial, at least in intention; and, from 
the form in which he gives the King’s regulations, I judge that he must 
have had access to the official records, or else had preserved copies of some 
important documents. His chronology is difficult, for dates are often 
wanting, and his narrative does not always follow the order of time; but 
close reading usually makes it possible to ascertain the sequence of events 
though not the actual dates