History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c7.s1.37

c7.s1.37

The chief conspirators in the rebellion had escaped, but a different fate awaited their families at Delhi. The moment ‘Alāuddīn heard of the outbreak he ordered the wives and children of the mutineers to be seized and imprisoned. But the heartless Vazīr Nuṣrat, not satisfied with the punishment the Sultan had already inflicted upon these innocent victims, committed other barbarous acts on his arrival at the capital. To avenge the death of his brother he seized the wives of the murderers of A‘izzuddīn, and delivered them to the embraces of the scavengers of Delhi, while their little children were ordered to be cut to pieces in the very presence of their mothers. The barbarities shocked the sentiments of the contemporary chronicler, who asserts that the seizure of “wives and children for the fault of men dates its commencement from this period” and that such punishments have “never been allowed by any code of religion.”³⁰