The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c11.s8.1

c11.s8.1

Before closing, a word may be said about the exploitation of the poorest of the poor, the beggars and the handicapped. Muslim law decrees mutilation as punishment for certain crimes and a large number of healthy people were blinded, mutilated and made physically handicapped under Muslim rule. The punishments of sultans like Balban and Muhammad bin Tughlaq were terribly severe. Alauddin Khalji had ordered that if any shopkeeper sold any article short-weight, a quantity of flesh equal to the deficiency in weight was to be cut off from his haunches.¹⁶⁸ Firoz Tughlaq lists some of the punishments for common offences, which were prevalent before his time. These comprised of cutting of hands and feet, noses and ears, putting out eyes, pulverizing the bones with mallets, burning parts of the body, nailing the hands and feet, hamstringing etc., etc.¹⁶⁹ As seen earlier, many cultivators and labourers were also reduced to the position of beggars from the Sultanate through Mughal times because of high rate and severity of collection of *Kharaj*.