The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c18.16

c18.16

In the realisation of the *khums* also, similar departure from the rules of law are noticeable. This is proved, again, by Firoz Tughuq’s remarks that before him the government practice in Delhi was to retain 4/5 of the booty (*ghanimah*) and distribute only 1/5 to the participating soldiers, which was just the reverse of what the law prescribes⁵. In 1259, Ulugh Khan returned from the Mewati expedition with, among others, sixty bags each containing 30,000 tankahs, captured from the rebels, all of which was conveyed to the treasury⁶. The state appropriated the spoils taken even from Muslim opponents. Qubachah's treasures were all appropriated for the treasury by the victorious *wazir* of Iltutmish; Balban also confiscated the rebel Tughril's treasure¹. In the 13th century, when expedition and raids were the order of the day, this item must have brought in enormous wealth; in 1233 Malik Tayasai's raid into Chandella and Jajapella territories yielded, in the 1/5 alone, something like twenty five lakh *tankahs*².