Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c13.13

c13.13

Captured or purchased, Indian slaves may not always fit in with this description, but in all cases provision was made for the *ghilman* and *mamalik* in a liberal manner with salaries, provisions, stipends and jagirs. In the time of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, according to Al Umari, the slaves of the Sultan each receive a monthly allowance for their maintenance of two *mans* of wheat and rice, and a daily allowance of three seers of meat, with all *the* necessary accompaniments. Besides, he received ten *tankahs* per month, and four suits of clothes every year.¹⁵ Under Firoz Tughlaq, those who were stationed in the city (capital) were given cash salary, some a hundred *tankahs*, others fifty, or thirty or twenty-five. But no one was paid less than 10 *tankahs*. The Sultan took special care of his slaves, writes Afif. There was a distinct muster-master (*majmu-dar*) of the slaves, and a Ministry of Slaves (Diwan-i-Bandgan) which was established as a separate and distinct unit from the Diwan-i-Wazarat or Ministry of Finance.¹⁶