History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c8.26

c8.26

contemporary must carry weight. It appears from the *Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi* that the removal of the entire population in about 729 A.H. was prompted by the Sultan's desire to punish the refractory people of the Doab. This is an extraordinary form of punishment, and no ruler would have recourse to such a measure when a hundred others equally or perhaps more effective and speedy were ready to hand. ¹¹ Then, if the transfer had a punitive purpose as Yahya suggests, why did the Sultan pay the prices of their houses to the inhabitants of Dihli and provide all necessary comforts during the long journey of 800 miles? The second migration of the population *en masse* is mentioned just after the invasion of Tarmashirin Khan in 729 A.H. The invasion of the Chaghtai chief was due to the depopulation of Dihli of which the Mughals had heard, and under these circumstances the evacuation of Dihli, to say the least of it, would have been an act of questionable wisdom.¹² It does not seem probable that the Sultan would be so unwise as to carry his population to Daulatabad after the Mughal invasion which cost him so much money and caused him profound anxiety. Again, the author of the *Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi* makes contradictory statements in the same breath. He says that even porters were not to be found at the doors of houses and not even the cries of cats and dogs were heard in the city and in the next sentence he writes that the common people (مردم عوامي) and the vagabonds (اوباش) who had remained behind seized the people's goods and destroyed them. The second statement makes it clear that some persons did remain in Dihli notwithstanding the Sultan's fiat. The population of Dihli in those days must have consisted largely of the nobles, officers, civil and military, of the state together with their numerous dependents, who would certainly follow their masters and patrons to Daulatabad. Much of the trade and industry of the time also depended upon the court, and naturally business-men would like to accompany the court to keep their business on. It seems that a second migration, particularly when the first was so comprehensive as to consist of amirs, maliks, notables, the 'Ulama, with slaves, dependents, their horses, elephants and treasures, would hardly be necessary. It is highly improbable that having once decided to transfer the capital for weighty reasons of which Barani gives a correct account, the Sultan would enforce a second migration after a lapse of two years, especially when the situation in Hindustan was far from satisfactory. Barani and all later writers state that after the suppression of the revolt of Bahram Aibā, the Sultan returned to Dihli with his military officers and remained there for two years. It is difficult to understand why the Sultan should choose Dihli as his place of residence, if it were completely depopulated.