History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c12.187

c12.187

the people lived in great distress, but this statement is not supported by the account of famines which is contained in the body of his text.⁷⁹ The usual fault of Firishta is that he is not a critical historian and forgets to make his statements consistent. Nizām-al-Dīn Aḥmad who wrote before Firishta, writes that when the Sultan enhanced the tax in the Doab, a drought also took place at that time and there was severe famine in Dihli.⁸⁰ On his return from Ma‘bar the Sultan found the whole country of Malwa and the towns along the route to Dihli ruined and desolated by famine. Dihli was ruined also and the price of grain rose to 17 *dirhams* per *sīr*. The distress of famine continued, and the Sultan had to migrate to Saragdwāri where he remained till 741 A.H. When he returned to Dihli, he busied himself with measures to promote agriculture and appointed a separate officer called the *Amir Kohi* or *Goi*. This officer is called *Amir Koh*, *Amir Koi* or *Kohī* or *Goi* in the texts of Barani’s *Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi*. Ḥajjī-ad-Dabīr writes *Amir Karohi*, and Briggs turns it into Amurgo which is not in agreement with the texts. The office existed under ‘Ala-al-Dīn Khilji, for Barani (Biblioth. Ind., p. 240) in the list of officers mentions one Malik Hamid-al-Dīn as *Amir Koh*. Thus the consensus of opinion is in favour of a longer period of famine than seven years. There is no doubt that famine lasted from 727 A.H. till 741 A.H. with slight interruptions and its effects continued to be felt for a few years more.