The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c10.s2.2

c10.s2.2

Sultan Firoz Tughlaq (1351-1388), writes Shams Siraj Afif, convened a meeting of the learned Ulama and renowned Mashaikh and suggested to them that an error had been committed: the *Jiziyah* had never been levied from Brahmans: they had been held excused, in former reigns. The Brahmans were the very keys of the chamber of idolatry, and the infidels were dependent on them (*kalid-i-hujra-i-kufr und va kafiran bar ishan muataqid und*). They ought therefore to be taxed first. The learned lawyers gave it as their opinion that the Brahmans ought to be taxed. The Brahmans then assembled and went to the Sultan and represented that they had never before been called upon to pay the *Jiziyah*, and they wanted to know why they were now subjected to the indignity of having to pay it. They were determined to collect wood and to burn themselves under the walls of the palace rather than pay the tax. When these pleasant words (*kalimat-i-pur naghmat*) were reported to the Sultan, he replied that they might burn and destroy themselves at once for they would not escape from the payment. The Brahmans remained fasting for several days at the palace until they were on the point of death. The Hindus of the city then assembled and told the Brahmans that it was not right to kill themselves on account of the *Jiziyah*, and that they would undertake to pay it for them. In Delhi, the *Jiziyah* was of three kinds: Ist class, forty *tankahs*; 2nd class, twenty *tankahs*; 3rd class, ten *tankahs*. When the Brahmans found their case was hopeless, they went to the Sultan and begged him in his mercy to reduce the amount they would have to pay, and he accordingly assessed it at ten *tankahs* and fifty *jitals* for each individual.³⁹