History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c16.s1.7

c16.s1.7

‘Alāuddīn began by excommunicating from the capital vintners, drunkards, gamblers and vendors of toddy and hemp. High officials were ordered to mount on elephants and proclaim aloud in every market and street of Delhi, and at all the gates on the outskirts of the city that the use and sale of wine were strictly prohibited. As an act of goodwill the king himself gave up drinking wine. All the beautiful glass and porcelain vessels of the king’s place were smashed and piled in heaps before the Badaon Gate. Gold and silver vessels were melted and coined into money.¹² Large quantities of wine, which were stored in the palace cellars, were poured out into the streets. The people were also ordered to throw away any wine they possessed so that the streets of Delhi were “filled with mud and mire as in the rainy season.”