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

Provincial governors and other high government officials, even the sultan himself, were not above seeking recompense for doing favours, the only difference being that in their case the offerings were treated as presents, not as bribes. Also, with them it was the rarity of the items offered, and the sentiment behind the offering, that were esteemed more than the cash value of what was offered. Thus when Battuta first arrived in India he presented to the governor of Sind ‘a white slave, a horse, and some raisins and almonds.’ Of these, what the governor appreciated most were the raisins and almonds. ‘These,’ comments Battuta, ‘are among the greatest gifts that can be made to them, since these do not grow in their land and are imported from Khurasan.’

Another aspect of the medieval Indian custom of giving presents was that just as subordinates gave presents to their superiors to win favours from them, superiors often gave presents to their subordinates to secure their loyalty. This was done even by the sultans. Loyalty was invariably on sale in medieval India. All were equally perfidious, at all levels of government and society. Probity was a luxury that virtually no one in medieval India could afford, neither kings nor nobles, nor the common people. Thus Ala-ud-din Khalji, who usurped the throne by murdering his uncle, had no difficulty in winning over to his side the top officers of the empire by liberally presenting to them large sums of money. And ‘those unworthy men, greedy for gold … and caring nothing for loyalty … joined Ala-ud-din,’ observes Barani. Similarly, Ala-ud-din won over the common people of Delhi by showering gold stars on them with a portable catapult. ‘He scattered so much gold that the faithless people easily forgot the murder of the late sultan, and rejoiced over his succession,’ concludes Barani. And, according to Mughal chronicler Yadgar, Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, who faced opposition from a brother on his accession, one day ‘summoned all the nobles into his private apartment and gained them to his side by making them presents in gold, and giving them titles and dignities.’

THE ATTITUDE OF the sultans towards their nobles during most of the Delhi Sultanate history was a bizarre mixture of two contrary modes, tyrannical as well as complaisant. The scene was however quite different in the first phase of the history of the Sultanate, for at that time there was no great difference in the status of the sultan and of the nobles, and the relationship between them was like that of comrades, rather than that of a king and his subjects, as it became later. This amity was in part because of the egalitarian ethos of early Islam, and also because the early sultans of Delhi were, like several of their top officers, manumitted slaves or their descendants.

In early Islamic society it was no disgrace or handicap for one to be a slave, for slaves could rise to any position — including that of the sultan — that they merited by their abilities. Though hardly anyone initially became a slave by choice, and most of them had been sold into slavery as children, or were captured and enslaved by marauders or conquerors, many slaves rose to high positions by their ability, dedication and hard work.

Many slaves no doubt led degrading lives, but being a slave was not in itself a disability or disgrace in early medieval Muslim society. There was no social or political prejudice against slaves as a class. Indeed, to be the favourite slave of a monarch or a high noble was a great advantage for a careerist, for that opened up major avenues for professional advancement for him, and several such slaves rose to be top officers in the Delhi Sultanate. Some nobles, even some sultans, honoured their favourite slaves by giving their daughters in marriage to them. Indeed, being a royal slave was a high honour and distinction, and three of them — Aibak, Iltutmish and Balban — succeeded their masters to the throne.

Another curious feature of the Delhi Sultanate was that the sultans generally preferred to appoint foreign migrants — Arabs, Turks and Persians — to top administrative and military posts in their government, reflecting their disdain for native Indians. And they usually treated foreign visitors with high regard. ‘It is a custom of the sultan of India … to honour strangers, to favour them, and to distinguish them in a manner quite peculiar, by appointing them to … [high government posts],’ records Battuta about what he observed in Delhi in the fourteenth century. ‘Most of his (sultan’s) courtiers, chamberlains, wazirs, magistrates, and brothers-in-law are foreigners.’ Battuta himself, a Moorish adventurer, was appointed by Muhammad Tughluq as a judge in Delhi on a high salary of 12,000 dinars a year. And when he left to continue his travels, he was designated as the royal ambassador to China.

This partiality of the sultans for foreigners sometimes led to tension between foreign and native officials, and, in the case of Bahmani Sultanate, it even led to a few gory riots. However, despite the bias of the sultans in favour foreign migrants, paths for the advancement of talented natives remained open in Muslim kingdoms, and several Hindu converts to Islam rose to high positions in those states over time. The prominence gained by Raihan, a mid-thirteenth century Hindu convert to Islam, who became powerful enough in royal service even to overshadow Balban, the then topmost royal officer in the Delhi Sultanate, was indicative of the growing prominence of Indian Muslims in government. From the reign of Khaljis on the number and importance Indian Muslims in government increased considerably. This was partly because of the proven ability of the Indian Muslim officers, like Malik Kafur under Ala-ud-din Khalji, and partly because their appointment to high offices had become a practical necessity for the sultans from the thirteenth century on, because the interposition of Mongols between India and the Turko-Persian homelands drastically reduced the migration of foreign Muslims into India.

One of the most remarkable of the Indian Muslim officers of the Delhi Sultanate was Khan-i Jahan Maqbul, a Hindu convert from Telingana, who, though illiterate, rose to the highest position in the Sultanate by his sheer ability. He joined the service of the Sultanate during the reign of Muhammad Tughluq who, recognising his merit, raised him rapidly in official positions, and finally appointed him as the deputy wazir. ‘Although he had no knowledge of reading and writing, he was a man of great common sense, acumen and intelligence, and was an ornament of the court,’ reports Afif. Firuz Tughluq appointed Maqbul as his wazir, and left him as his deputy in Delhi whenever he set out on military campaigns.

Maqbul was in every respect a most extraordinary person — his physical prowess matched his mental prowess, and so did his sexual prowess. ‘He was,’ according to Afif, ‘much devoted to the pleasures of the harem, and sought eagerly for pretty handmaids. It is reported that he had 2000 women of Europe and China in his harem, where he spent much of his time notwithstanding his onerous official duties,’ and he fathered a great many children. And to cap it all, Maqbul lived in so grand a style that Firuz Tughluq was often heard jocularly remarking that Maqbul was indeed ‘the grand and magnificent king of Delhi.’

APART FROM THE Hindu converts to Islam, Hindus themselves also played vital roles in the affairs of the Delhi Sultanate. Right from the beginning of the Sultanate, in fact even from the time of Mahmud Ghazni, several Hindu chieftains served as captains in the armies of Muslim kings, and they sometimes played crucial roles in the campaigns of sultans, leading their own contingents into battle. And a good number of the common soldiers in the armies of the sultans in India were Hindus.