History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c12.275

c12.275

the posts were dislocated by a heavy downpour of rain, which made it possible for ‘Ubaid and his associates to circulate abroad the rumour of the Sultan’s death. Both Ibn Batūtah and the author of the *Masālik* give a detailed account of the postal system as it existed in the time of Muhammad Tughluq. The author of the *Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi*, who lived at a time when some of the posts of Muhammad Tughluq’s time still existed, supports Barani, Ibn Batūtah and Shihāb-al-Din and writes: “ In 727 A.H., the Sultan started for Devagiri. He established a *Dhāwah*¹¹⁶ (post at each Kroh) from Dihli to Devagiri and gave lands to the men there for purposes of cultivation. The income from these lands was equal to their salary which was fixed by the Sultan. These men were to carry the *Dāk* from one *Dhāwah* to another. At every stage a palace was erected and a *Khāngāh* which was placed in charge of a Shaikh who was to provide the travellers with food, water, and betel leaves. Along both sides of the road, he planted many trees which exist to this day.”¹¹⁷ The *Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi* is copied by all later writers. The post was called *Barīd*,¹¹⁸ and it was of two kinds—the horse-post and the foot-post. The former was called *aulāq* and the latter *Dhāwah*. For the former horses were supplied by the state and they were changed after every four miles. But the foot-post was swifter than the horse-post. There were three posts¹¹⁹ in a Kroh and near every post was a village, but the distance between them was smaller than in Egypt and Syria. At every post ten swift runners were stationed, well-equipped for the journey, armed with staffs with ringing bells attached to their top. It was their duty to carry letters and messages from one place to another. The courier took his letters in one hand and his staff which was two yards in length in the other and ran at full speed and handed over the letters to the next runner who kept himself ready in advance. As soon as the next man got the letters, he began his journey as rapidly as he could and passed on the letters to the next runner who waited for his arrival at his post. In this way letters were conveyed from one place to another with great facility and quickness in spite of long distances. Sometimes fruits and other edibles from Persia and Khorasan were also brought for the Sultan by this post.¹²⁰ At each of these postal stations the state had built for the comfort of the wayfarers mosques, reservoirs of drinking water and markets, where the necessaries of life could be purchased. The post was also used at times to convey criminals guilty of serious offences, to the capital or the headquarters of the province to receive immediate punishment.¹²¹ From Dihli to Daulatabad, at every station, drums were placed, which were beaten when an unusual event occurred in either of the two cities and in this way the Sultan was quickly informed of what happened in either city during his absence.¹²² The gates of cities were opened and closed at the appointed hours which were proclaimed to the people by beat of drums. It appears from the accounts of Ibn Batūṭah and the Masālik that the posts had much improved in the time of Muhammad Tughluq.