Abraham Eraly - The Age of Wrath - A History of the Delhi Sultanate

According to Barbosa, fighting duels was a sport in Vijayanagar. ‘They are accustomed to challenge one another to duels, and when a challenge has been accepted, and the king gives his permission, the day for the duel is fixed …’ The weapons to be used by both contestants were required to be of the same size. The king appointed seconds for the fight, which took place in a field allotted by the king. The contestants entered the field ‘naked, covered only with some cloth wrapped round their middles, with very cheerful faces. Then after saying their prayers they begin to fight, and as they are bare it is over in a few strokes in the presence of the king and his court. No man may speak to them while they are fighting, except the seconds, each of whom stands by his own man. This is such a common practice among them, that some are slain daily.’

Private individuals in Indian kingdoms were not allowed to own elephants without royal permission; unauthorised ownership of elephants by individuals was considered an act of rebellion.

A legendary history of Delhi is given in Khulasatu-t Tawarikh by Munshi Subhan Rai Khattari, a late-seventeenth-century scholar living in Punjab. The text uses a lot of material copied from Mukhtasiru-t Tawarikh , an early seventeenth century anonymous work.

‘In ancient times the city of Hastinapur was the capital of the rulers of Hindustan,’ writes Subhan Rai. ‘The city stood on the bank of the Ganga … When dissension broke out between Kauravas and Pandavas, the latter moved from Hastinapur to the city of Indarprast on the Yamuna, and made it their capital. A long while afterwards, in the year 440 of Bikramajit, Raja Anang Pal Tomar built the city of Delhi near Indarprast. Afterwards Rai Pithaura, in the year twelve hundred and something of Bikramajit, built a fort and city to which he gave his own name. Sultan Kutbu-d din Aibak and Sultan Shamsu-d din Altmash occupied the fort of Rai Pithaura. In the year 666 Hijra (1267–8 AD) Sultan Ghiyasu-d din Balban built another fortress, which he called Shahrzaghan. In the year 686 Hijra (1287 AD) Sultan Muizzu-d din Kai-Kubad built another city of handsome edifices on the Yamuna, to which he gave the name of Kilu-gari … Sultan Jalalu-d din Khilji founded the city of Kushk-lal (Red Palace) and Sultan Alau-d din the city of Kushk-Siri, and made them their respective capitals. Sultan Ghiyasu-d din Tughlik Shah, in the year 725 Hijra (1325 AD) raised the city of Tughluqabad. His son, Sultan Muhammad Fakhru-d din Jauna, founded another city, and erected in it a palace of 1000 pillars. He also built some other fine mansions of red stone. In the year 755 Hijra (1354 AD) Sultan Firoz Shah built the large city of Firoz-abad, and having cut the river Jumna, he conducted the water to his city … Sultan Mubarak Shah founded the city of Mubarak-abad. In the year 943 Hijra (1536 AD) … Humayun Badshah, having restored and repaired the fort of Indarprast, gave it the name of Din-panah, and made it his royal residence. Sher Shah Afghan, having pulled down the city known as Kushk-Siri, built another one. Salim Shah, his son, in the year 953 Hijra (1546 AD) built the fort of Salim-garh … In the year 1048 Hijra (1638 AD), and in the twelfth year of his reign … [Shah Jahan] built a city near Delhi, which he named Shah-jahan-abad.’

This text lists fourteen cities built on the site of Delhi, but tradition speaks of only seven cities of Delhi, to which the British added the eighth. The oldest of the seven cities of Delhi, according to archaeologist Johan Marshall, is Qala-i-Rai Pithaura, within which is a fort called Lal Kot.

Battuta on Tughluqabad, the city that Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq built to the south of Old Delhi: ‘Here were Tughluq’s treasures and palaces, and the great palace which he had built of gilded bricks, which, when the sun rose, shone so dazzlingly that none could gaze steadily upon it. There he laid up great treasures, and it was related that he constructed there a cistern and had molten gold poured into it so that it became a solid mass, and his son Muhammad Shah became possessed of all of it when the succeeded him.’

Battuta on Khambhat (Cambay): The city ‘is situated on an arm of the sea resembling a river; it is navigable for ships and its waters ebb and flow … This city is one of the finest there is in regard to the excellence of its construction and the architecture of its mosques. The reason for this is that the majority of its inhabitants are foreign merchants, who are always building fine mansions and magnificent mosques and vie with one another in doing so.’

Nizami: The Yamuna ‘from its exceeding purity, resembled a mirror.’

Wassaf on Gujarat: It has ‘70,000 villages and towns, all populous, and the people abound in wealth and luxuries. In the course of the four seasons of the year seventy different species of beautiful flowers grow within that province … Its air is pure, its water clear, and the circumjacent country beautiful and charming both in scenery and buildings.’

Nikitin on the people of Bidar: ‘They are all black and wicked, and the women are all harlots, or witches, or thieves and cheats, and they destroy their masters with poison.’

Abu Zaid: ‘The Chinese are men of pleasure; but Indians condemn pleasure and abstain from it.’

Timur in his autobiography offers brief descriptions of some of the Indian communities he came across. The Jats, he writes, are ‘a robust race … [They] had not their equals in theft and highway robbery … Jats were as numerous as ants or locusts, and … no traveller or merchant passed unscathed from their hands.’ Timur decided to suppress them in order to secure the roads, and he claims that, marching into jungles, he ‘slew 2,000 demon-like Jats, made their wives and children captives, and plundered their cattle and property.’ Timur is more respectful in his description of Rajputs, the military aristocracy of North India, whom he describes as ‘a class which supplies the most renowned soldiers of India.’

Chach-nama on Jats: ‘They have the disposition of savages, and always rebelled against their sovereign. They plunder on the roads.’

Battuta, a keen admirer of female charms, is all praise for Maratha women: ‘God has endowed Maratha women with special beauty, particularly in their noses and eyebrows.’ And about Malwa he writes that ‘their women … are exceedingly beautiful and famous for their charms of company.’

Idrisi, a twelfth-century Sicilian chronicler: ‘Indians are naturally inclined to justice and never depart from it in their actions. Their good faith, honesty and fidelity to engagements are well-known, and they are so famous for these qualities that people flock to their country from every side; hence the country is flourishing.’