Ghaisuddin Balban 1266-86

Amarpreet Kaur
Assistant Professor
Khalsa College Patiala

Early Life- Balban also belonged to the Ilbari tribe of Turks. His original
name was Bahauddin. In his youth, he fell into the hands of the Mongols,
along with some other members of his family. In 1237, Balban was
purchased by Iltutmish who made him his personal attendant. He quickly
rose to be one of the Forty-the most trusted and powerful Turkish slave
officers of Iltutmish. He reached the peak of power under the weak
successors of Iltutmish. He was amir-i-shikar (lord of stables) under
Behram; amir-i-hijab (lord of chamberlain) under Masud; the territories of
Hansi and Rewari were held by him as personal estate. After entering the
politics of Delhi Sultanate, Balban employed all possible means to secure
the highest possible place in the state. Balban played an important role in
the installation of Nasiruddin Mahmud on the throne. From the period of
1246-66 he remained completely devoted to Nasiruddin. At the desire of
Nasiruddin, the forty permitted Balban to take charge of government as
wazir. He was the de facto ruler of the state since 1246 though title of
naib-i-mamlikat or the deputy sultan was received by him in 1249.

Difficulties of Balban at the time of his accession:

Balban ascended the throne in 1266. The assumption of the throne by

Balban in Delhi marks the beginning of an era of strong, centralized
government. But Balban faced many difficulties:

1) One of the task before Balban was to restore the prestige and
dignity of the Crown which had been declining ever since the death
of Iltutmish. The Sultan was treated as a puppet by the nobility. The
Turkish nobles, particularly those who belonged to the class of forty
known as Chalisa had become power drunk.
2) The provincial governors were usually insubordinate towards the
central government and aggressive rather autocratic in the matter
of administration of the territories under their charge.
3) The royal treasury was empty. The state revenues could hardly
meet the defence requirements.
4) The next and more immediate problem before Balban was the
restoration of law and order. With respect to law, there were four
problem areas before Balban- the suburbs of Delhi; the Doab; the
trade routes, specially the road of Awadh, and the rebels of
Rohilkhand.

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 5) The Hindu chief within the empire were on the look out for an
opportunity to overthrow the yoke of the Delhi Sultan. Their
activities had to be watched and they had to be brought under the
control and hegemony of Delhi.
6) The Mongol presence so close to Delhi as the Bias was a source of
grave concern.

As soon as law and order was established in all parts of his kingdom,
Balban had to choose between consolidation and expansion as the guiding
principle of his administrative policy. In this, he preferred to adopt a policy
of consolidation.

Balban’s Achivements:-

1. Suppression of Meos- Following the death of Iltutmish, the Meos

around Delhi had grown in number. Although a number of
expeditions had been launched against them but they were not
successful largely because of the thick forests around Delhi. At this
time, the Meos had become so daring that people could not dare to
sleep at night for fears of the Meos. Even in the day time, the water-
carriers and slave girls who had gone to fill water at the Hauz
Shamis were molested.

During the first two years of his reign, Balban spent a whole year
in suppressing the Meos and cutting the forest around Delhi. He
slaughtered a large number of Meos, built a fort and established many
thanas (military outposts) and assigned them to Afghans. Thus Delhi was
free from the fears of the Meos.

2. Crushing robbers of the Doab:- Balban then turned his attention

towards the refractory Hindu zamindars of the Doab and Oudh
( modern U.P). The Hindus of Doab revolted against the Turks. Their
main centres were Bhojpur, Patiali, Kampila and Badaun and
plundered the royal areas. Balban ordered the villages of the
disobedient to be totally destroyed, the men to be killed and their
women and children to be seized as spoils of war.
3. Suppression of Hindu Rebels of Katehr:- Balban adopted similar
measures to deal with the rebels in Katehar (modern Rohilkhand)
who were plundering the villages and harassing the people in the
territories of Badaun and Amroha.Balban committed untold
atrocities as he ordered the general massacre of the Hindus above
the age of eight years.
4. Suppression of Bengal Rebellion:- Bengal always remained a
headache for the rulers of the Delhi because of it being distant from
Delhi. During Balban’s reign the governor of Bengal was Tughril

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 Khan who declared himself independent. He stopped paying the
annual tribute. In 1276, Balban ordered the governor of Awadh,
Amin Khan to suppress the revolt but he was defeated by Tughril
Khan. When Amin Khan after his defeat returned to Delhi, Balban in
anger gibboted him and put his dead body on public display. Balban
now appointed one of his chosen officer Bahadur to punish Tughril
but the result was same. At last Balban decided to personally lead a
campaign against Tughril.
The campaign against Tughril took Balban two years (1280-82)
because Tughril avoided a battle with him, retreating into the
remote parts of Bengal with the hope that Balban would tire of the
campaign and return. But in last Tughril Khan was killed. Balban
gave severe punishment to the followers of Tughril.

These harsh methods of Balban had been called by some modern

historians a policy of “Blood and Iron”.

5. Protection of Sultanate from Mongol Invasions or North-

West Frontier Policy:-Balban had tackled the menace of the
Mongols, when he was prime minister. The Mongol threat was a
major problem of Balban due to this Balban did not lead any
expedition far away from Delhi. In order to meet the danger of
Mongol’s invasion he took certain steps to strengthen the North-
West frontier. First of all he constructed new forts at Bhatinda, Sirsa,
Abohar and Bhatner. He also repaired the old forts in these
territories. Powerful armies were stationed in these forts. He also
appointed Sher Khan as the governor in 1270. After Sher Khan,
Balban appointed his son Bugra Khan and Muhammad as the
governor.

The Mongols because of these measures did not attack India. But in
1279, the Mongols began invading India but was defeated by Balban. In
1285 the Mongols under Sanara again invaded Multan. Balban’s son
Muhammad resisted the Mongols but in the process died. The death of
Muhammad also shocked Balban as a result he died in 1286 A.D.

6. Liquidation of the Power of Forty:- Balban realized that one

great hindrance in the way of Sultan’s absolute despotism was the
presence of Turkish aristocracy at the head of which stood a select
body known as the Forty. This body of the leading Turks had
reduced the crown to a mere figurehead and divided amongst its
members all the highest offices in the state. It had come into
existence in the time of Iltutmish. In order to make the throne safe

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 for himself and for his descendants, Balban wanted to destroy the
forty.
First of all he promised junior Turks to important positions and
placed them on a position of equality with the forty. Second Balban
also started awarding strict punishment to the members of the forty
for pretty crimes in order to repress them. Balban also took back the
Jagirs of the old nobles and fixed a pension for them. He also put a
ban on the matrimonial alliance among the members of the forty.
7. Introduction of Strong Administration:- Balban’s government
was half and half military. Balban believed in a centralized political
authority. Most official appointments were directly made by him or
with his approval. Provincial government had to submit periodicals
reports to him. A very efficient audit system controlled the financial
activities of the governors. He also reduced the position of the
wazir by taking away the military and the financial powers from him.
a) Enhancement of the Power and Prestige of the Sultan:
After his accession Balban immediate task was to restore the
power and prestige of the Sultan. Balban in order to enhance his
prestige made various changes in his lifestyle. He gave up
drinking even in his private assemblies though as a Khan, he had
been fond of drinking wine and gambling and used to hold
convivial parties at his house at least three days in a week.
Balban also emphasised that it was incorrect for a ruler to
associate with low, ignorable person, dancing girls etc. Even his
private servants had to observe the utmost decorum in dress and
behaviour.
b) Splendour and Grandeur of the Durbar: In order to impress
his subjects and the foreigners, he established a magnificent
court. He organised a grand durbar on the Persian model which
became famous for its pomp and magnificence.
c) Impartial Justice: Balban looked upon the administration of
justice as one of the foremost duties of a king. This was one of
the redeeming features of his despotic government. Whenever
any case of injustice or harshness towards the common man
came to his knowledge, Balban did not hesitate to punish his
officers or even his relatives. His barids (intelligence officers)
kept him fully posted with the activities of the imperial officers at
different parts of the empire.
d) System of Espionage: Balban felt that a despotic government
needed the services of an efficient and local spy system for its
smoothing functioning. His secret reporters kept him well posted
with all that happened in every part of the kingdom. The
activities of his sons, relatives, provincial governors, army

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 officers, government servants were watched and reported by
spies. Balban took particular care in the appointment of barids
(intelligence officers). It was only after a thorough investigation
about his character, integrity and even genealogy that a person
was appointed as barid. The spies were given good salaries. They
were severely punished if they failed in their duty. It was with the
help of this spy system that Balban was able to strength his
position.
e) Organisation of the Powerful Army: Reorganization of
Army: First of all, Balban paid his attention to organising the
military upon whose strength and solidarity depended the very
existence of the state. Balban’s political experience had taught
him that the army was the main pillar of the government. Hence
it had to be organized before any other department of the state.
1. He organised the royal army. Immad-ul-Mulk a competent military
general was appointed as a diwan-i-arz (army minister). He was
made responsible for recruitment, training and equipment of the
soldiers and acted as paymaster general of the army.
2. The diwan-i-arz looked after the forts and other defences of the
state and deployed the royal forces at strategic places. But the
supreme command of the royal forces remained in the hands of the
sultan.
3. Balban increased the numerical strength of the forces and
appointed several thousand loyal and experienced officers in the
central contingents of his army. Their salaries were increased and
villages were assigned to them in lieu of their salaries.
4. To keep the army vigilant and active, he emphasized the need of
frequent military exercises. Balban undertook frequent hunting
expeditions in which thousands of horsemen, archers and footmen
were employed. These expeditions were kept a secret orders being
passed only the previous nights.
5. When his armies were on march, he took particular care to see that
no harm was done to poor and helpless person.
6. As part of reform process, Balban also ordered and enquiry into the
position of old Turkish soldiers, many of whom had been given
villages in the doab as iqta in lieu of salary. Many of the soldiers
had become too old to serve but continued to hold the villages in
connivance with the diwan-i-arz. Balban wanted to pension off the
old soldiers but withdrew his orders at the instance of Fakruddin,
the Kotwal of Delhi.

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Despite a large and efficient army which was kept in a state of readiness
by constant exercises, Balban did not try to expand the territories of the
Delhi Sultanate.

Balban’s Theory of Kingship:-

1) Balban’s theory of kingship derived its form and substance from

Sassanid Persia where kingship had been raised to the highest
possible level and its supernatural and divine character was publicly
accepted. Balban looked the legendary heroes of Persia as his
political ideals and tried to follow them as best as he could.
2) According to Balban, Kingship is the vice-regency of God on earth
and in its dignity it is next only to Prophethood. The King is the
shadow of God (zil-i-allah) and his heart is the repository of divine
guidance and radiance.
3) In the discharge of his kingly responsibilities, he is all time inspired
and guided by God. The actual implication of this concept was that
the source of a king’s power lay not with the nobles or the people,
but the God only and his actions could not be subject of public
scrutiny.
4) External dignity and prestige were emphasized as essential for
kingship. Balban maintained throughout his reign a great distance
from the masses and carried it to such lengths that he firmly
refused to talk to the common people.
5) His emphasis on the dignified parts of kingship made him a stickler
for decorum. He never appeared in the court without his full regalia
and royal paraphernalia. Even his personal servants never saw him
without his royal apparel, socks and cap.
6) Balban claimed to be a descendent of the Iranian hero Afraisyab. A
distinction between the high-born and low-born was constantly
emphasized by Balban and any contact with low-born people or
their appointment to any office in the administration was considered
by him as derogatory to the dignity of a ruler. He dismissed low
born persons from all important offices.
7) Balban believed that kingship was not possible without emulating
Persian customs and ways of life. In every detail of his family and
public life, he meticulously followed Persian traditions. To his sons
born before his accession to the throne he gave the names of
Mahmud and Muhammad but his grandsons born after his accession
were named Kaiqubad, Kaikhusrau and Kaikaus after the Persian
Kings.
8) Balban organized his court on the Iranians model and emulated the
etiquette and ceremonials of the Sassanids meticulously in all
details.

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9) The Sultan insisted on sijda ( prostration) and paibos ( feet-kissing)
being performed by all enjoying the privilege of appearing before
him.