Alla-ood-Deen about this time sent an army by the way of Bengal to reduce the fort of Wurun-gole in Tulingana, while he himself marched towards Chittoor, a place never before attacked by the troops of the Mahomedans. After a siege of

A. H. 703.
A. D. 1303.

six months, Chittoor was reduced in the year 703, and the government of it conferred on the King's eldest son, the Prince Khizr Khan, after whom it was called Khizrabad. At the same time, the King bestowed upon Khizr Khan regal dignities, and he was publicly proclaimed successor to the throne. Intelligence of these distant expeditions becoming known in Ma-wur-ool-Nehr, Toorghay Khan, the Mogul chief who had distinguished himself formerly against Zuffur Khan, thinking that Alla-ood-Deen would for a long time be absent, seized the opportunity of invading Hindoostan. The King, hearing of this dangerous inroad, abandoned, for the present, his designs on the Deccan, and caused his army to return to Dehly. Toorghay Khan, with twelve tomans of Mogul horse, amounting to 120,000 men, reached the capital, and encamped on the banks of the Jumna. The cavalry of the Indian army being absent on the expedition to Wurungole, the King was in no condition to face the enemy on equal terms, and therefore contented himself with entrenching his infantry on the plain beyond the suburbs, till he could collect the forces of the distant districts. The Moguls, meanwhile, having command of the adjacent country, prevented all succours from joining the Indians, and proceeded to such lengths as to plunder the suburbs of Dehly, in the King's presence, without his being able to check them. Affairs remained in this state for two months; when Alla-ood-Deen, according to some authors, had recourse to supernatural aid, and applied to a saint of those days, whose name was Nizam-ood-Deen Owlia. The effect was, that, one night, without any apparent cause, the Mogul army was seized with a panic, which occasioned their precipitate retreat to their own country; an event ascribed by the historians of the day, and by the people of Dehly, to the miraculous intervention of the saint. The King, during this alarming period, was constrained to confess, that his ideas of universal conquest were absurd.

Alla-ood-Deen, relieved from the perils of this invasion, caused a palace to be built upon the spot where he had entrenched himself, and directed the citadel of Old Dehly to be pulled down, and built anew. But apprehensive of another invasion of the Moguls, he increased his forces so greatly, that upon calculating the expense, he found his revenues, and what treasures he had himself amassed, could not support them above six years. In this dilemma he resolved to reduce the pay of the army, but it occurred to him that this could not be done with propriety, without lowering, proportionably, the price of horses, arms, and provision. He therefore caused an edict to be proclaimed, which he strictly enforced throughout the empire, fixing the price of every article of consumption. To accomplish the reduction of the prices of grain, in particular, he caused large magazines to be built upon the rivers Jumna and Ganges, and other places convenient for water-carriage, under the direction of Mullik Kubool. This person was authorised to receive half of the land tax in grain; and the government agent supplied the markets when any articles rose above the fixed price.

The first regulation was established for fixing the prices of grain at Dehly, from which we may suppose what those were for the country towns: —

Wheat, per domuny, 7 1/2 jeetuls. *
Barley, domuny, 4 jeetuls.
Cheny, domuny, 5 jeetuls.
Rice in the husk, ditto, 5 jeetuls.
Oorud in the husk, ditto, 3 jeetuls.
Mutt in the husk, ditto, 3 jeetuls.

The prices remained fixed during this reign; but, in consequence of a want of water, a dearth ensued, and a difference took place in practice. It is difficult to conceive how so extraordinary a project should have been put in practice, without defeating its own end. Such a plan was neither before ever carried into effect, or has it been tried since; but it is confidently asserted, that the orders continued throughout the reign of this monarch.† * The importation of grain was encouraged; while to export it, or any other article of provision, was a capital crime. The King himself had a daily report laid before him of the quantity sold and remaining in the several granaries; and overseers were appointed in the different markets to inform him of abuses, which were punished with the utmost rigour. Alla-ood-Deen established also a public office and inspectors, who fixed the price of the various kinds of cloth, according to its quality, obliging the merchants to open their shops at certain hours every day, and sell their goods at the stipulated prices.

The prices established for cloth formed the second regulation: —

	Tunkas.	Jeetuls.
Cheer, Dehly, per piece^*	16	0
Cheer, Kotla, ditto	6	0
Cheer, common, ditto	3	0
Kullaye, ditto	0	8
Koorsy, ditto	0	6
Nal Nagory, ditto	0	24
Siree Saf, fine, ditto	5	0
Ditto, ditto, middling, ditto	3	0
Ditto, ditto, coarse, ditto	2	0
Sillahutty, fine, ditto	4	0
Ditto, middling, ditto	3	0
Ditto, coarse, ditto	2	0
Kirpas, fine, 20 guz†	1	0
Ditto, middling, 30 ditto	1	0
Ditto coarse, 40 ditto	1	4

The treasury, at the same time, opened a loan, by which merchants were enabled to procure ready money to import cloth from the neighbouring countries, where the poverty of the people rendered their manufactures cheaper. But what is somewhat unaccountable, while the exportation of the finer kind of manufacture was prohibited, it was not permitted to be worn at home, except by special authority from the King, which favour was only granted to men of rank.

As the value of horses had risen greatly by combination amongst the dealers, who bought them all up from the Persian and northern merchants to enhance the price, the King published an edict, by which merchants were obliged to register the prices paid for horses, and to sell them at a certain profit within a limited time, if that price was offered them, otherwise the King took them upon his own account.

The third regulation fixed the prices of horses:—

1st class of horses from 100 to 120 tunkas. *
2d class of horses from 80 to 90 ditto.
3d class of horses from 65 to 70 ditto.
Ponies, from 12 to 20 ditto.

Care was taken that the merchants who brought those animals should not sell them to dealers wholesale, but reserve them for persons who wanted them for use. As many frauds were practised in spite of this regulation, a number of horse-dealers were whipt out of the city, and others even put to death.

The fourth regulation regarded the sale of slaves of both sexes: —

1st class, from 100 to 200 tunkas.
2d class, from 20 to 40 ditto.
3d class, from 5 to 10 ditto.

The fifth regulation regarded the sale of cattle, oxen, sheep, goats, camels, and asses: in short, every useful animal, and all commodities, were sold at a stated price in the markets.

These regulations extended even to the price of grocery: —

Sugar-candy, 1 seer, 2 jeetuls.
Moist sugar, 1 seer, 1 jeetul.
Red and coarse sugar, 1 seer, 1/2 jeetul.
Lamp oil, 3 seers, 1 jeetul.
Ghee (clarified butter), 1 seer, 1/2 jeetul.
Salt, 5 seers, 1 jeetul.
Onions and garlick, 1 seer, 1 jeetul.

The King received daily reports from three different departments on this subject; and he even employed the boys in the street to go and purchase articles, to ascertain that no variation took place from the fixed rates.

It is related in the Moolhikat of Sheikh Ein-ood-Deen Beejapoory, that one of his favourites, by way of a joke, proposed a fixed price for prostitution; and the King, smiling, said, Very well, that shall be fixed also. Accordingly, prostitutes were classed under the denomination of first, second, and third, and a price fixed on them.