History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c6.221

c6.221

This passage¹⁰⁰ means that the Sultan's order was that if the maliks and amirs took from the revenues of their provinces a small portion varying from 1/20 or 1/22 to 1/10 or 1/15 as the fee for their services to the administration they should be allowed to do so and similarly if the Kārkuns and mutsarrifs in addition to their pay take five or ten more in one thousand, they should not be molested and charged with corruption. But those who are found guilty of misappropriating larger sums from the public funds should be degraded and punished. Large remissions of revenue were made in times of drought and the defaulters were treated with great generosity. Even five or ten thousand tankahs were accepted as security where lakhs were due, and the defaulters were released on promising to make arrangement for the payment of the balance. No man was to be held in bondage for the sake of money and every facility was provided by the state to enable the people to meet their obligations without any discomfort or vexation. A strict watch was kept on the conduct of the fief-holders. They were not allowed to withhold a dang or dirham out of the salaries of their retainers. Payments were to be made promptly and regularly and if any Jagirdar realised more from his fief than the fixed amount, the transaction was cancelled by the Sultan. But even under such a mild government the Hindus were treated with great severity and were made to feel their position of inferiority in the body politic. To hold them in complete subjection the royal ordinance ran that in the matter of revenue there should be left only so much to the Hindus that neither on the one hand should they become intoxicated on account of their wealth, nor on the other hand should they become so destitute as to leave their lands and cultivation in despair.¹⁰¹ But it is not difficult to follow this harsh policy of the emperor, if it is borne in mind that religious toleration was unknown in the 14th century and the menace of a Hindu revival always threatened the existence of the Muhammadan state. It was an accepted article of faith with Muslim jurists and divines that the humiliation of the Hindus was essential for the furtherance of the cause of religion.