Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c9.12

c9.12

There was thus no let up in the policy of slave-taking. Minhaj Siraj writes that Ulugh Khan Balbans taking of captives, and his capture of the dependents of the great Ranas cannot be recounted. Talking of his war in Avadh against Trailokyavarman of the Chandela dynasty (Dalaki va Malaki of Minhaj), the chronicler says that All the infidels wives, sons and dependents and children fell into the hands of the victors. In 1253, in his campaign against Ranthambhor also, Balban enslaved many people. In 1259, in an attack on Haryana, many women and children were enslaved.²⁵ Twice Balban led expeditions against Kampil, Patiali, and Bhojpur, and in the process enslaved a large number of women and children. In Katehar he ordered a general massacre of the male population of over eight years of age and carried away women and children.²⁶ In 658 H. (1260 C.E.) Ulugh Khan Balban marched with a large force on a campaign in the region of Ranthambhor, Mewat and Siwalik. He made a proclamation that a soldier who brought a live captive would be rewarded with two silver *tankahs* and one who brought the head of a dead one would get one silver *tankah*. Soon three to four hundred living and dead were brought to his presence.²⁷ Like Balban other slave commanders of Iltutmish, or the Shamsia Maliks of Hind were marching up and down the Hindustan, raiding towns and villages and enslaving people. This was the situation prevailing from Lakhnauti to Lahore and from Ajmer to Ujjain. The Hindus used to reclaim their lands after the Muslim invaders had passed through them with fire and sword, and Turkish armies used to repeat their attacks to regain control of the cities so lost. But the captives once taken became slaves and then Musalmans for ever. The exact figures of such slaves have not been mentioned and therefore cannot be computed. All that is known is that they were captured in droves. Only one instance should suffice to convey an idea of their numbers. Even in the reign of a weak Sultan like Nasiruddin, son of Iltutmish, the ingress of captives was so large that once he presented *forty beads of staves* to our chronicler Minhaj Siraj to send to his dear sister in Khurasan.²⁸