Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c15.18

c15.18

Slaves who could not be broken or made to submit, sometimes took revenge. In most cases they conspired to do away with the master. They could steal or even do such irritating things as soiling the bed by urinating.⁴⁸ The all powerful master could strike back mercilessly. The power which a Muslim possesses over the persons of his bondsman or bondsmaid is unlimited. For example, a master is not slain for the murder of his slave.⁴⁹ Amputation of a slave for theft was a common practice recognized by law.⁵⁰ That is how even physically defective and mutilated slaves were put up for sale in the market. If a master killed his *ghulam*, it was taken that the latter had died a natural death.⁵¹ That is why slaves by and large remained loyal to the master and followed the rules laid down for them. For example, when Imadul Mulk Bashir Sultani, the slave noble of Firoz Tughlaq, became old and decrepit, he first got a letter of manumission for himself written by the Sultan, and only after that he freed his four thousand purchased slaves.⁵²