108 ALA -AD -DIN KHALJI priated. The people were all so absorbed in obtaining the means of living that the very name of rebellion was never mentioned." In the next place he organized a universal system of espionage. " No one could stir without his knowl- edge, and whatever happened in the houses of nobles, great men, and officials was communicated to the Sul- tan by his reporter." Nor were the reports shelved; they led to unpleasant investigations. " The system of reporting went to such a length that nobles dared not speak aloud even in ' palaces of a thousand columns/ and if they had anything to say they communicated by signs. In their own houses, night and day, the reports of the spies made them tremble. No word or action that could provoke censure or punishment was allowed to escape. The transactions in the bazars, the buying and selling, and the bargains made, were all reported to the Sultan and were kept under control." Nor was this all. Remembering the warning of his counsellors on the political influences of social revels, " he prohibited wine-drinking and wine-selling as well as the use of beer and intoxicating drugs. Dicing was also forbidden. Many prohibitions of wine and beer were issued. Vintners and gamblers and beer-sellers were turned out of the city and the heavy taxes which had been levied upon them were abolished and lost to the treasury. The Sultan directed that all the china and glass vessels of his banqueting-room should be broken, and the fragments of them were thrown before the Badaun gate, where they rose in a heap. Jars and
