The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c20.46

c20.46

Of the Hindus being appointed to such offices in the 13th century contemporary writings afford not many instances, but such as have escaped the chroniclers are sufficiently revealing. That Hindu mercenaries formed part of the army perhaps needs little proof. In an inscription written in Sanskrit found in Batiagarh, Central Provinces, reference is found to the employment, under the Muslim governor "Jallal Khoja" of the Chedi country on behalf of the king of Joginipura, of the "Kharpara" army, identifiable with a local Hindu militia mentioned in earlier Hindu inscriptions of the locality¹. Under this Jallal Khoja are mentioned Hindu officers, and the inscription, which is dated in 1328, records the construction, by these local officers, of a garden, gomatha and a well for local needs. An auditor sent by the revenue ministry of Alauddin Khalji to check the accounts of the governor of Manikpur, complains, in a letter to the mustaufi, of the disobedient manners of a high Hindu official named Buchand who, in conspiracy with the governor, had tampered with the local accounts and misappropriated the surplus revenue². The exclusive racialism which actuated the Mamelukes to reserve the governmental posts for the Turks would allow, it is true, not much scope to the Hindu for appointment in the administration, but nevertheless we come across such names as that of Rajani, Hathiya, and Birnathan in the annals of the later Mamelukes, holding not insignificant posts in the capital; the last named was the kotwal, possibly of Delhi, early in Firoz Khalji's reign³.