Muslim Slave System in Medieval India c9.17

c9.17

Sultan Alauddins collection of slaves was a matter of successful routine. Under him the Sultanate had grown so strong that, according to Shams Siraj Afif, in his days no one dared to make an outcry.⁴² Similar is the testimony of the Alim and Sufi Amir Khusrau. In *Nuh Sipehr* he writes that the Turks, whenever they please, can seize, buy or sell any Hindu.⁴³ No wonder, under him the process of enslavement went on with great vigour. As an example, he had 50,000 slave boys in his personal service ⁴⁴ and 70,000 slaves worked continuously on his buildings.⁴⁵ We must feel obliged to Muslim chroniclers for providing such bits of information on the basis of which we can safely generalize. For instance, it is Barani alone who writes about the number of slaves working on buildings and Afif alone who speaks about the personal boys of Sultan Alauddin who looked after his pigeons. Ziyauddin Baranis detailed description of the Slave Markets in Delhi and elsewhere during the reign of Alauddin Khalji, shows that fresh batches of captives were constantly arriving there.⁴⁶