compact for mutual support and advancement with forty of his
Turkí fellow-slaves in the palace, he had, when he came to the
throne, to break the powerful confederacy thus formed. Some
of his provincial governors he publicly scourged; others were
beaten to death in his presence; and a general who failed to
reduce the rebel Muhammadan Viceroy of Bengal was hanged.
Balban himself moved down to the Gangetic delta, and crushed
the Bengal revolt with merciless skill. His severity against Hindu rebels knew no bounds. He nearly exterminated the Rájputs of Mewát, south of Delhi, putting 100,000 of them to the sword. He then cut down the forests which formed their retreats, and opened up the country to tillage. The miseries caused by the Mughal hordes at that time in Central Asia drove a crowd of princes and poets from Afghánistán and other Muhammadan countries to seek shelter at the Indian court. Balban boasted that no fewer than fifteen once independent sovereigns had fed on his bounty, and he called the streets of Delhi by the names of their late kingdoms, such as Baghdad, Kharizm, and Ghor. He died in 1287 a.d. His successor was poisoned, and the Slave Dynasty ended in 1290.
House of Khilji, 1290-1320.— In that year, Jalál-ud-dín, a ruler of Khiljí, succeeded to the Delhi throne, and founded a line which lasted for thirty years. The Khiljí dynasty extended the Muhammadan power into Southern India. Ala-ud-dín, the nephew of Jalál-ud-dín, when governor of Karra near Allahábád, pierced through the Vindhya ranges with his cavalry, and plundered the Buddhist temple-city of Bhílsa, 300 miles off. After trying his powers against the rebellious Hindu princes of Bundelkhand and Málwá, Alá-ud-dín formed the idea of a grand raid into the Deccan. With a band of only 8000 horse, he rode into the heart of Southern India. On the way he gave out that he was flying from his uncle Jalál-ud-dín's court, to seek service with the Hindu King of Rajámahendri. The generous Rájput princes abstained from attacking a refugee in his flight; and Alá-ud-dín surprised the great city of Deogiri, the modern Daulatábád, at that time the capital of the Hindu kingdom of Maháráshtra. Having suddenly galloped into its streets, he announced himself as only the advance guard of the whole imperial
