The History of Shēr Shāh (Tārīkh-i Shērshāhī) 4.3.6

4.3.6

and this was the reason that the Afgháns collected round him, and that the kingdom of Hindústán fell to him. And if any want befell his victorious army, he did not suffer one soldier or any poor helpless person to be in despair or utterly unprovided for, but gave them something for their subsistence. Every day he enlisted men, to give them a subsistence. His kitchen was very extensive, for several thousand horsemen and private followers, who in the Afghán tongue are called "Fiahi," fed there; and there was a general order, that if any soldier or religious personage, or any cultivator, should be in need of food, he should feed at the king's kitchen, and should not be allowed to famish. And places for the dispensing of food to the poor and destitute, and to all necessitous persons, were established in the camp, that they might feed every one as above described. The daily cost of these meals, and of these places for the distribution of food, was 500 gold pieces (ashrafis). It became known to him that the imáms and religious persons had, since the time of Sultán Ibráhim, by bribing the 'ámils, got into their possession more land than they were entitled to hold; he therefore resumed their holdings, and investigating the cases himself, gave to each his right, and did not entirely deprive any man of his possessions. He then gave them money for their road expenses, and dismissed them.