مسالك الابصار في ممالك الامصار 2.41-45
مسالك الأبصار في ممالك الأمصار 2.41-45
- Language
- Arabic
2.41
ولكل خان لكان [1] ، كل لك مائة ألف تنكة [2] كل تنكة ثمانية دراهم، هذا خاص له، لا يخرج منه لجندي من أجناده شيء، ولكل ملك ستين ألف تنكة إلى خمسين ألف تنكة، ولكل أمير منه أربعين ألف تنكة إلى ثلاثين ألف تنكة، والأصفهلارية من عشرين ألف تنكة وما حولها، وأما الجند فكل جندي من عشرة آلاف تنكة إلى ألف تنكة، وأما المماليك السلطانية، فكل مملوك من خمسة آلاف تنكة إلى ألف تنكة، وطعامهم وكساويهم وعليقهم [3] والجند والمماليك ليس لهم بلاد، وإنما يأخذون أموالهم نقدا من الخزانة، وأما أولئك فبلاد تلك غيرها.
Each khān has two lakhs [1], each lakh being a hundred thousand tankas [2], each tanka eight dirhams; this is his personal portion, from which nothing goes to any of his troops. Each malik has from sixty thousand to fifty thousand tankas, each amīr forty thousand to thirty thousand tankas, and the iṣbahsālārs twenty thousand tankas or thereabouts. As for the troops, each soldier has from ten thousand tankas to a thousand tankas; as for the Sultan's mamlūks, each mamlūk has from five thousand tankas to a thousand tankas, besides their food, clothing and fodder [3]. The troops and mamlūks have no lands; they take their money in cash from the treasury. As for those others, the lands are something else.
* * * He has 20,000 Turk mamluks. * * * It is not the same in India as in Egypt and Syria, where the maliks, amirs, and generals have in their service men whom they maintain out of their own resources. In India the officer has only to care for himself. As to the soldiers, the Sultán summons them for service, and they are paid from the public treasury. The sums granted to a khán, a malik, an amir, or a general, are given exclusively for his own personal maintenance. The chamberlains and other dignitaries; the military men, such as the kháns, the maliks, and the amirs, all have a rank in proportion to the importance of their employ. The isfah-sálárs (generals) have no right to approach the Sultán. It is from this class that governors and other similar functionaries are chosen. The khán has 10,000 horse under his command, the malik, 1,000; the amir, 100; and the isfah-sálár a smaller number. The kháns, maliks, amirs, and isfah-sálárs receive the revenues of places assigned to them by the treasury, and if these do not increase, they never diminish. Generally speaking, they bring in much more than their estimated value. The khán receives a grant of two lacs of tankas, each tanka being worth eight dirhams. This sum belongs to him personally, and he is not expected to disburse any part of it to the soldiers who fight under his orders. The malik receives an amount varying from 60,000 to 50,000 tankas, the amir from 40,000 to 30,000, and the isfah-sálár 20,000, or thereabouts.
The pay of the officer varies from 10,000 to 1,000 tankas. A mamluk receives 500 tankas, and all receive, in addition, food and raiment, and forage for their horses. Soldiers and mamlúks do not receive grants of land-revenue, but draw their pay in money from the public treasury. The officers have villages of which they receive the revenues. As this same traveller observed to me, the revenues of these lands, if they do not increase, certainly do not decrease. Some of the officers receive double, and even more than that, in excess of the estimated value of their grants. The slaves of the Sultán each receive a monthly allowance for their maintenance of two mans of wheat and rice, and a daily allowance of three sirs of meat, with all the necessary accompaniments. Besides, he receives ten tankas per month, and four suits of clothes every year. The Sultan has a manufactory, in which 400 silk-weavers are employed, and where they make stuffs of all kinds for the dresses of persons attached to the Court, for robes of honour and presents, in addition to the stuffs which are brought every year from China, 'Irak, and Alexandria. Every year the Sultan distributes 200,000 complete dresses; 100,000 in spring, and 100,000 in autumn. The spring dresses consist principally of the goods manufactured at Alexandria. Those of the autumn are almost exclusively of silk manufactured at Dehli or imported from China and 'Irak. Dresses are also distributed to the monasteries and hermitages.
2.42
قال: والآن إن لم يزد متحصلات البلاد المقتطعة لهم عن المعبر [1] وإلا فما تنقص، ومنهم من يحصل له قد عبرته مرتين وأكثر.
He said: At present, if the revenues of the lands allotted to them do not exceed the assessment [1], they at least do not fall short; and some of them obtain twice what it was assessed at, or more.
2.43
وأما العبيد فكل عبد منهم في كل شهر منان [2] من الحنطة والأرز طعاما لهم وفي كل يوم (المخطوط ص 19) . ثلاثة أسيار [3] لحم مما يحتاج إليه، وفي كل شهر عشر تنكات بيضا، وفي كل سنة أربع كساوي.
As for the slaves, each slave among them receives every month two mann [2] of wheat and rice as food, and every day (manuscript p. 19) three sērs [3] of meat with what is needed, and every month ten white tankas, and every year four suits of clothing.
2.44
ولهذا السلطان دار طراز [4] ، فيها أربعة آلاف قزاز [5] تعمل الأقمشة المنوعة للخليع [6] والكساوى والإطلاقات، مع ما يحمل له من قماش الصين والعراق والإسكندرية، وهو يفرق كل سنة مائتي ألف كسوة كاملة، مائة ألف كسوة في الربيع، ومائة ألف كسوة في الخريف.
This Sultan has a ṭirāz workshop [4] in which there are four thousand silk-weavers [5] who make the various fabrics for robes of honour [6], clothing and gifts, in addition to the cloth brought to him from China, Iraq and Alexandria. Every year he distributes two hundred thousand complete suits of clothing: a hundred thousand in spring and a hundred thousand in autumn.
2.45
فأما كسوة الربيع فغالبها من القماش الإسكندري، عمل الإسكندرية، وأما كساوى الخريف فكلها حرير من عمل دار السلطان الطراز بدهلى، وقماش الصين والعراق، ويفرق على الخوانق والربط الكساوى، وله أربعة آلاف
The spring clothing is mostly of Alexandrian cloth, made in Alexandria; the autumn clothing is all silk, made in the Sultan's ṭirāz workshop in Delhi, and cloth of China and Iraq. He also distributes clothing to the Sufi lodges and ribāṭs. He has four thousand
Translations (2)
- Masáliku-l Absár (extracts) — Henry Miers Elliot & John Dowson 1871, English
- English (machine translation) — English, machine translation