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 MONGOL INCUESIONS 115 interview and of Ala-ad-din's methods of administration because they present a valuable picture of Moslem rule in India, and such intimate views are rare in East- ern chronicles. The historian may perhaps have de- scribed what he himself thought rather than what the Sultan or the kadi really said; but as his relatives were officials in Ala-ad-din's service, he had good means of knowing the truth. The Sultan did not stop at repress- ive measures: he interfered with trade, and even med- dled with the laws of supply and demand. The occasion for these innovations was presented by an external dan- ger. Another invasion of the Mongols in 1303, when they again threatened Delhi, camped on the Jumna, blocked the roads, and occupied the suburbs for two months, alarmed the Sultan. The Mongols retired with- out taking the capital, but not on account of any suc- cess of the Indian army. Never in fact had Delhi been less protected. The Sultan had just returned from taking the Rajput stronghold of Chitor, the siege of which in the rainy season had almost prostrated his troops. A second army sent to tHe Deccan to conquer Warangal in the same unfavourable season had suf- fered even more severely, and had returned diminished and discouraged. There was no force at his command capable of meeting the Mongols in the field, and their departure without conquering the capital was regarded as nothing less than a miracle. This narrow escape concentrated Ala-ad-din's care upon his defences. Abandoning for the time all thought of further conquest, he settled himself at his