The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.293

v3.c20.293

By the third ordinance the use of intoxicating liquor and drugs was prohibited, and those who used them were banished from the city, thrown into prison, or heavily fined. The king himself set the example of obedience by causing his wine vessels to be broken and the wine to be poured out near the Budaun gate, but the habit could not be eradicated. Stills were set up in private houses and liquor was distilled and sold in secret, or smuggled into the city on pack animals, under other merchandise, but the system of *espionage* made all attempts at evasion dangerous, and many were compelled to cross the Jumna and travel twenty or twenty-five miles to satisfy their craving, for the suburbs were as closely watched as the city itself. Offenders were cruelly flogged and confined in pits so noisome that many died in their fetid and polluted atmosphere, and those who were dragged forth alive escaped only with constitutions permanently shattered. At length ‘Alā-ud-dīn learnt that the use of intoxicants cannot be prevented by legislation, and the ordinance was so far relaxed as to permit the private manufacture and consumption of strong drink, but its sale and convivial use remained forbidden.