Twilight of the Sultanate c14.s6.38

c14.s6.38

Secondly, he kept a close eye on his officers. Like 'Alāuddīn Khaljī, Sikandar Lodī used to receive reports regularly of happenings in his Empire.¹⁵¹ If anything unpleasant or untoward happened, it was immediately set right. This was possible because of the revival of Dāk Chaukīs or system of transmitting news by relays of horses. Besides, so efficient and so stern was his espionage system that sometimes he received information about men who had been presumably all alone, and the gullible credited him with supernatural powers.¹⁵² He sent two *farmāns* everyday to civil officers in the various parts of his Empire and army commanders on campaigns. Whenever a *farmān* was sent to a district officer, he received it with the greatest respect,¹⁵³ and orders not marked secret were read out from the pulpit of the mosques for general information. Similarly, the Sultan was very strict about the audit of accounts and honesty of officers. Any loss of government property had to be made good by the officer in charge from his own pocket.¹⁵⁴ He would not spare even high officials like Mubārak Khan Mūjīkhail, governor of Jaunpur, and Malik Asghar, governor of Delhi, when their accounts came under inspection. Education of the Amīrs and army officers on the one hand and strictness in administration on the other made the Afghan nobles completely obedient so that the Sultan could boast: "If I order one of my slaves to be seated in a palanquin, the entire body of nobility would carry him on their shoulders at my bidding''.¹⁵⁵