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The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c5.s8: Tenor of Life

The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c5.s8

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English

Tenor of Life

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The chief amusement of the nobles of the ruling class was warfare. In this they took delight that was never altogether assuaged. If they could not indulge in this, then, in later ages, they made mock fights called jousts or tournaments. If they could not always fight men, they hunted animals. Every noble learned to hunt, not for food-though this was important too-but for pleasure. They developed the art of hunting birds as well as taming and flying birds.⁸⁴ Some nobles were learned, humble, polite and courteous⁸⁵ but such were exceptions rather than the rule. Since there was little academic activity, most of the elite passed their time in field sports, swordsmanship and military exercises. Their coat of mail was heavy and cumbersome; a fall from horse was very painful and sometimes even fatal. Such a situation was common both in Europe and India. But in Europe the medieval age was an age of chivalry. It tended to raise the ideal of womanhood if not the status of women. Chivalrous duels and combats were generally not to be seen among Muslims in India. Such artificial sentimentality has nothing in common with (their) warrior creed.⁸⁶

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The medieval age, by and large, conjures up vision of times in which everything was backward. Life was nasty, brutish and short. The ruler and the ruling classes were unduly cruel. Take the case of hunting animals and birds. In the process fields with standing crops were crushed and destroyed, often wantonly. The common man suffered. Man wallowed in ignorance. Man was dirty, there was no soap, no safety razor. Potable water was provided by rivers, else it was well-water or rainwater collected in tanks, ponds and ditches. Political and religious tyranny, the institution of slavery, polygamy and inquisition or *hisbah* rendered life unpalatable. Men had few rights, women fewer. Wife was a possession; *parda* was a denial of the dignity of woman as woman. Medicine was limited, treatment a private affair, medicare was no concern of the state. Police was nowhere to be seen for seeming redressal of grievances while sorcery and magic, and ghosts and goblins were ever present to frighten and harm. Means of transport and communication were primitive. Most people hardly ever moved out of their villages or towns. Society was closed as was the mind.

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But there was no scarcity of daily necessities of life. True, in medieval India there was no tea, no bed-tea. Coffee came late. It is mentioned by Jahangir in his memoirs.⁸⁷ Tomato or potato did not arrive before the sixteenth century. Still, there was no dearth of palatable dishes for the medieval people to eat. Wheat and rice were common staples.⁸⁸ Rice is said to be of as many kinds as twenty-one.⁸⁹ *Paratha*, *halwa* and *harisa*, were commonly eaten by the rich,⁹⁰ *Khichri* and *Sattu* by the poor.⁹¹ Muslims were generally meat-eaters and mostly ate the flesh of cow and goat though they have many sheep, because they have become accustomed to it.⁹² Fowls, pigeons and other birds were sold very cheap.⁹³ Vegetables mentioned in medieval works are pumpkin, brinjal, cucumber, jackfruit (*kathal*), bitter gourd (*karela*), turnip, carrot, asparagus, various kinds of leafy vegetables, ginger, garden beet, onion, garlic, fennal and thyme.⁹⁴ Dal and vegetables were cooked in ghee, tamarind was commonly used, and pickles prepared from green mangoes as well as ginger and chillies were favourites.⁹⁵ There were fresh fruits, dry fruits and sweets. Apples, grapes, pears and pomegranates⁹⁶ were for important people. Melons, green and yellow (*kharbuza* and *tarbuz*), were grown in abundance.⁹⁷ Orange, citron (*utrurj*), lemon (*limun*), lime (*lim*), *jamun*, *khirni*, dates and figs were in common use as also the plantains.⁹⁸ Sugar-cane was grown in abundance and Ziyauddin Barani, writing in Persian, gives its Hindustani name *ponder*. Mango, then as now, was the most favourite fruit of India.⁹⁹ Sweet-meats were of many kinds, as many as sixty five.¹⁰⁰ Some names like reori, sugar-candy, *halwa* and samosa are familiar to this day. Ibn Battutas description of the preparation of *samosa* would make ones mouth water even today: Minced meat cooked with almond, walnut, pistachios, onion and spices placed inside a thin bread and fried in ghee.¹⁰¹ Wine and other intoxicants like hemp and opium, though prohibited in Islam, were freely taken by those who had a liking for it.¹⁰² Betel (then known by its Sanskrit name *tambul*) was an after dinner delicacy.¹⁰³

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Muslim elite were very fond of eating rich and fatty food, both in quality and quantity. Their gluttony was whipped up as much by the love of sumptous dishes as by their habit of hospitality. It also received stimulus from the use of drinks and drugs and was best exhibited during excursions, picnics and arranged dinners. According to Sir Thomas Roe, twenty dishes at a time were served at the tables of the nobles, but sometimes the number went even beyond fifty. But for the extremely poor, people in general enjoyed magnificent meals with sweetmeats and dry and fresh fruit added.¹⁰⁴ All this was possible because food grains were extremely cheap throughout the medieval period as vouched by Barani for the thirteenth, Afif for the fourteenth, Abdullah for the fifteenth and Abul Fazl for the sixteenth centuries.¹⁰⁵ The poor benefited by the situation but the benefit was probably offset by the force and coercion used in keeping prices low as asserted by Barani and Abdullah, the author of *Tarikh-i-Daudi*.

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In matters of clothing also, India was better placed than many other countries in the middle ages. The textile industry of India was world-famous. The Sultan, the nobles and all the rich dressed exceedingly well.¹⁰⁶ The costly royal robes, the gilded and studded swords and daggers, the parasols (*chhatra*) of various colours were all typically Indian paraphernalia of royal pomp and splendour. The use of rings, necklaces, ear-rings and other ornaments by men was also due to Indian wealth and opulence. The dress of the Sultan and the elite consisted of kulah or head-dress, a tunic worked in brocade and long drawers. The habit of dyeing the beard was common. It added in the old a zest for life as did the slanting of cap in the young. The Hindu aristocracy dressed like the Muslim aristocracy,¹⁰⁷ except that in place of *kulah* they used a turban, and in place of long drawers they wore *dhoti* trimmed with gold lace. The Muslims dressed heavily but the Hindus were scantily dressed. They cannot wear more clothing on account of the great heat, says Nicolo Conti.¹⁰⁸ The orthodox Muslims wore clothes made of simple material like linen. The dress worn by scholars at the Firoz Shahi Madrasa consisted of the Syrian *jubbah* and the Egyptian *dastar*.¹⁰⁹ But there was no special uniform for any one, not even for soldiers. In the villages the poor put on only a loin-cloth (*langota*) which Babur takes pains to describe in detail.¹¹⁰

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Muslim women dressed elaborately and elegantly. The inmates of the harems of the kings and nobles, indeed even their maids and servants dressed in good quality clothes.¹¹¹ *Lehanga*, *angia* and *dupatta* were the common set for women as seen in medieval miniatures. They wore shoes made of leather and silk, often ornamented with gold thread and studded with precious stones. Besides women all over the country wore all kinds of ornaments, the rich of gold and silver, pearls and precious stones, the poor of silver and beads. Care of the teeth, painting the eyes, use of antimony, lampblack, *henna*, perfumed powders, sandal-wood, aloes-wood, otto of roses and wearing of flowers added elegance to personality and beauty to life.¹¹²

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Cities in medieval India were few, but they were large and impressive. Foreign visitors like Athnasius Nikitin and Barbosa give a favourable comparison of Indian cities with those of Europe. Cities and towns generally were built on the pattern of the metropolis of Delhi. Shihabuddin Ahmad, the author of *Masalik-ul-Absar* (fourteenth century), writes: The houses of Delhi are built of stone and brick The houses are not built more than two storeys high, and often are made of only one.¹¹³ Besides, there must have been hut-like houses of the poor huddled together in congested localities. In the Delhi of the medieval period there was the fort and palace of the Sultan, cantonment area of the troops, quarters for the ministers, the secretaries, the Qazis, Shaikhs and *faqirs*. In every quarter there were to be found public baths, flour mills, ovens and workmen of all professions.¹¹⁴ In the villages, the peasants lived in penury. But if there was little to spare, there was enough to live by.¹¹⁵ There were indoor and outdoor games for all to play-chess,¹¹⁶ backgammon, *pachisi*, *chausar*, dice, cards, kite-flying, pigeon-flying, polo, athletics; cock, quail and partridge fighting; and childrens games.¹¹⁷ Public entertainments, as on the occasion of marriage in the royal family, comprised triumphal arches, dancing, singing, music, illuminations, rope-dancing and jugglery. The juggler swallowed a sword like water, drinking it as a thirsty man would *sherbet*. He also thrust a knife up his nostril. He mounted little wooden horses and rode upon the air Those who changed their own appearance practised all kinds of deceit. Sometimes they transformed themselves into angels, sometimes into demons.¹¹⁸

Cites (2)