The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c26.52

v3.c26.52

Ghiyās-ud-dīn found his own chief amusement in the administration of his harem, which it was his fancy to organise as a kingdom in miniature, complete in itself. Its army consisted of two corps of Amazons, of 500 each, one of African and one of Turkish slave girls, who at public audiences were drawn up on either side of the throne. The harem contained, besides these, 1600 women, who were taught various arts and trades, and organised in departments. Besides the musicians, singers, and dancers usually found in a royal seraglio there were goldsmiths, blacksmiths, shoemakers, weavers, potters, tailors, makers of bows, arrows, and quivers, carpenters, wrestlers, and jugglers, each of whom received fixed wages, their officers, also women, being paid at higher rates, also women who supervised the various crafts and administrative departments. These women were recruited, at great trouble and expense, from all parts of India, but a case in which one of his agents abducted a girl from her parents led him to order the cessation of recruitment in his own dominions. A replica in miniature of the great bazar in the city was erected within the precincts of the palace, and was filled with the artists, artisans, and craftswomen of the harem. The king himself regulated with meticulous nicety the pay and allowances of all, even to the quantities of grain, fodder and meat allotted to the various animals employed or domesticated within the extensive premises set apart for the harem, decided disputes, and generally wasted in these futile pursuits the time and energy which should have been devoted to the administration of his kingdom.