Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c7.9

c7.9

During war it was not easy for the Muslim army to capture enemy *troops*. They were able-bodied men, strong and sometimes demon like. It appears that capturing such male captives was a very specialised job. Special efforts were made by experts to surround individuals or groups, hurl lasso or ropes around them, pin them down, and make them helpless by binding them with cords of hide, ropes of hessian and chains and shackles of iron. Non-combatant males, women and children of course could be taken comparatively easily after active soldiers had been killed in battle. The captives were made terror-stricken. It was a common practice to raise towers of skulls of the killed by piling up their heads in mounds. All captives were bound hand and foot and kept under strict surveillance of armed guards until their spirit was completely broken and they could be made slaves, converted, sold or made to serve on sundry duties.