The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.292

v3.c20.292

The second ordinance established an army of informers, whose business it was to spy upon all and to report to the king anything deemed of sufficient importance for his ear. Everything which passed in the houses of the nobles and officers of state was known, and was reported the morning after its occurrence, until the victims of the system hardly dared to converse in open spaces otherwise than by signs. Even the gossip and transactions of the market place reached the king’s ear.