Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c13.14

c13.14

This pampering of slaves by sultans and nobles aroused jealousy all around. To jealousy was added ethnic rivalry. Kindness on the part of the master was reciprocated with loyalty by the slaves. Often this proved to be harmful to the slaves in the long run. After the death of Alauddin Khalji many of his slaves were murdered in cold blood.¹⁷ After the death of Firoz Tughlaq a similar fate awaited his loyal slaves. The newly crowned Prince Muhammad gave the slaves of Firoz three days to leave Delhi. Those who escaped, survived. Others, and particularly those who spoke the Purbi and Bengali language, were done to death. These impure rebels had put the crown into commission and behaved like virtual king makers - such was the impression of warring princes who succeeded Firoz. The fault of these slaves seems to be that they were firstly not *asl* (or pure) Muslims and secondly they were loyal to Firoz Tughlaq and his progeny.¹⁸ This is Farishtahs version. Whatever the real reason, after Firozs death, the heads of these his favoured servants were cut off without mercy, and were made into heaps in front of the Durbar.¹⁹ For a decade after Firozs death the princes manoeuvered, the nobles intrigued and the people suffered.²⁰ Each new sultan - and they came to power in kaleidoscopic succession - wanted his own cadre of nobility, his own set of slaves, and destroyed those of the earlier ones. In short, slaves were made slaves for no fault of theirs and they were massacred for the fault of being slaves to their masters.