Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c14.12

c14.12

Who got the profit form such sales? If Alauddin Khalji followed the example of contemporary rulers in West Asian countries, then the profit went to him, that is, the sultan or the government. This was also customary. It is stated by Isami in his *Futuh-us-Salatin* that when Mahmud of Ghazni defeated Raja Jayapala of the Hindu Shahiya dynasty, he carried him to the distant part of the kingdom of Ghazni and delivered him to an agent (*dalal*) of the *Slave Market* (and) at the command of the king Mahmud they [the Brokers of the Market, *muqiman-i-bazar* in the original] sold Jaipal as a slave for 80 Dinars and deposited the money realised by the sale in the Treasury. Hodivala adds that it would be difficult to get better evidence than this of the ruler making the profit.²⁰ In some of the West Asian countries in the Middle Ages, according to Ira Marvin Lapidus, the rulers used to take over wholesale trade, in grain and also probably in other commodities, so that profits from sale accrued to them rather than to the private traders. Ibn Khaldun also says that The slave merchants bring them to Egypt in batches and government buyers have them displayed for inspection and bid for them, raising the price above their value.²¹ it was equally true of Alauddin. He treated the merchants themselves as slaves. As per his orders, no middlemen or brokers were allowed to visit the slave-market and examine the goods, so that the profits of the traders were curtailed while those of the Sultan swelled. No wonder then that at his demise the Sindhi (Multani) merchants took out processions to rejoice at the death of Alauddin.²²