Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c13.6

c13.6

Sultan Mahmuds court was guarded by four thousand Turkish good looking and beardless (*ghulam turk washaq*) slave-youths, who, on days of public audience, were stationed on the right and left of throne,- two thousand of them with caps ornamented with four feathers, bearing golden maces, on the right hand, and the other two thousand, with caps adorned with two feathers, bearing silver maces, on the left As these youths attained into mans estate and their beards began to grow, they were attached to a separate corps, and placed occasionally under the command of rulers of provinces.³ Shams Siraj Afifs description of acquisition and distribution of handsome slave boys by Sultan Firoz Tughlaq points to similar arrangement.