The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.508.2

v3.c20.508.2

One story is told of his overhearing a trooper bewailing to a comrade the hardship of being compelled to submit his horse for inspection. He called the man to him and asked him wherein the hardship lay, and he explained that he could not expect that his horse would be passed unless he offered the inspector at least a gold *tanga*, and Fīrūz gave him the coin. The perversity of the act is not perceived by the historian who records it, and he merely praises Fīrūz for his benevolence. Similar laxity prevailed in the thirty-six departments of state, and in the checking and auditing of the accounts of fiefs and provincial governments. There was a great show of order and method, and a pretence was made of annually scrutinising all accounts, but notwithstanding all formalities 'the king was very lenient, not from ignorance of accounts and business, which he understood well, but from temperament and generosity.' The working of the mint supplies an instance of the fraud and peculation which were rife. In 1370–71 Fīrūz extended his coinage by minting, for the convenience of the poorer classes, pieces of small denominations, and the integrity of the officers of the mint was not proof against the opportunity for peculation offered by this large issue.