Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c12.20

c12.20

The Paiks were often so stationed as to bear the first brunt of the enemys attack, but they could not leave their posts because horses are on their right and left and behind (them) the elephants so that not one of then can run away.⁴² But the Paiks were also great fighters. That is how Alauddins army of invasion of Devagiri (1296) had 2000 Paiks. Most Persian chroniclers write about Paiks as being good soldiers lending strength to the Muslim army in Hindustan. Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese official in India, writing in 1518 says this about them: They carry swords and daggers, bows and arrows. They are right good archers and their bows are long like those of England They are mostly Hindus.⁴³ Their most important weapon was Dhanuk or Dhanush.⁴⁴ During the time of the Khaljis (1290-1320), the Paik element had become prominent in Alauddins army because he had wrested political power from the Turkish slave-rulers and could not entirely depend on Turkish soldiers. When Sultan Alauddin was about to encounter the Mongol invader Qutlugh Khwaja, Malik Alaulmulk, the Kotwal of Delhi, tried to dissuade him from taking any precipitate action and one of his arguments was that our army is composed principally of the soldiery of Hindustan.⁴⁵ Their presence in large number was disliked by the fanatical Alim and historian Ziyauddin Barani who was against the recruitment of non-Muslims in the army.⁴⁶ Indeed among the Hindus there were sometimes such high officers as Malik Naik. According to Amir Khusrau it was under Malik Naik, the Akhurbeg-i-Maisara (Master of Horse of the Left Flank), a Hindu *banda*, that thirty thousand horsemen were sent against the Mongols - All Beg, Tartaq, and Targhi.⁴⁷ Alauddins greatest general was Malik Kafur Hazardinari. Later in the day we come across names like Bahadur Nahar, Sarang Khan, Shaikha Khokhar and Mallu Khan, probably all converted Hindu warriors.