The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.252

v3.c20.252

Fīrūz Shāh’s lenity and the simplicity of his court were most distasteful to the Khaljī officers, who were disappointed of the profit which they had expected from confiscations and murmured against a prince who would neither punish his enemies nor reward his friends. Their strictures on his attitude towards criminals were just, as in the case of the *Thags*¹, those miscreants whose religion was robbery and murder and who were the dread of wayfarers in India within the memory of the last generation. A few of these fanatical brigands were captured at Delhi and one gave information which led to the arrest of over a thousand. Not one was punished but the whole gang was carried in boats down the Jumna and Ganges and set free in Bengal. Such culpable weakness would have again thrown the kingdom into complete disorder had the reign of Fīrūz been prolonged.