The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.382

v3.c20.382

Against his barbarous punishments and indiscriminate bloodshed may be set a few instances, related by Ibn Batūtah, of a fantastic display of reverence for abstract justice and the forms of law. On one occasion a Hindu complained to the *qāzī* that the king had slain his brother without a cause, and the king, having previously ordered the magistrate not to rise at his entrance, appeared unarmed in court and made his obeisance. He heard with humility and obeyed with promptitude the sentence directing him to compensate the complainant. In another cause a Muslim complained that the king had unjustly retained some of his property, and in obedience to the *qāzī’s* order restitution was made. In a third case a young man, son of one of the great officers of the kingdom, complained that the king had arbitrarily caused him to be beaten for no fault, his complaint was found to be true, and according to the Islamic law of retaliation he was permitted to take his revenge. A stick was placed in his hand and he gave the royal offender twenty-one strokes. The chastisement was probably purely formal, but the king’s head-dress fell to the ground.