The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c14.55

v4.c14.55

The Afghān sovereign who surmounted so many difficulties and raised himself from the condition of a petty assignee to that of ruler of a great empire was also a builder and a road-maker. Of his four great roads one ran from Sonārgāon in Bengal through Āgra, Delhi and Lahore to the Indus, one from Āgra to Māndū, one from Āgra to Jodhpur and Chitor, and one from Lahore to Multān. On either side of all were planted fruit trees, and beside them were erected 1700 caravanserais, with separate lodgings for Muslims and Hindus and servants to supply food to those of each religion. Grain and fodder were supplied for horses and cattle, and each caravanserai contained a well and a mosque of burnt brick, with a *muʻazzin* and an *imām* in attendance. A police official kept the peace and prevented crime, and two post-horses were stabled in each building for the use of riders conveying the royal mail. Of these caravanserais no trace remains, for the Timurids were not careful to maintain memorials of the Afghān rebel.