A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c22.s2: Appendix B. The Wealth of the Dakhan in the Fourteenth Century A.D.
A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c22.s2
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Appendix B. The Wealth of the Dakhan in the Fourteenth Century A.D.
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WHEN Malik Kâfur, in the year 1310 A.D., during the reign of Alâ-ud-Dîn Khilji of Delhi, carried out his successful raids into the Dakhan and to the Malabar coast, sacking all the Hindu temples, ravaging the territory of Maisûr, and despoiling the country, he is said to have returned to Delhi with an amount of treasure that seems almost fabulous. Firishtah writes: "They found in the temples prodigious spoils, such as idols of gold adorned with precious stones, and other rich effects consecrated to Hindu worship;" and Malik presented his sovereign with "312 elephants, 20,000 horses, 96,000 *mâns* of gold, several boxes of jewels and pearls, and other precious effects."
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When we come to estimate the amount of gold we are met with a difficulty, as there are many varieties of *mâns* in India, the variation being as much as from 19 lbs. in Travancore to 163½ lbs. in Ahmadnagar. The Madras *mân* weighs 25 lbs., the Bombay *mân* 28 lbs. Hawkins, writing in 1610, gives 55 lbs. to the *mân*,¹ Middleton, in 1611, 33 lbs.² Now Firishtah had more to do with Ahmadnagar than any other part of India, and if his estimate was based on the *mân* of that tract, Malik Kâfur's 96,000 *mâns* of gold would have amounted to the enormous sum of 15,672,000 lbs. weight. It is hardly likely that Firishtah would have had in his mind the Travancore *mân*. Even if he was thinking of the Madras *mân*, which is not likely, his estimate of the weight of the gold carried off amounted to 2,400,000 lbs.
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¹ Purchas, i. 218.
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² See Yule and Burnell's Dictionary, *s.v.* "Maund."
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Whether we accept these amounts or not, there can be no manner of doubt that the richness of the temples was very great, and the reason is easy to see. The country had always been subject to Hindu kings, and treasures had year by year accumulated. The Brahmans exacted gifts and payments from the people
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APPENDIX B
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on all occasions. Kings and chiefs, merchants and landowners, vied with one another in presenting rich offerings to their favourite places of worship; and when it is remembered that this practice had been going on from time immemorial, it need be no matter for wonder that the man who first violently despoiled the sacred buildings departed from the country laden with an almost incredible amount of booty. Colonel Dow, in his translation of the works of Firishtah (i. 307), computes the value of the gold carried off by Malik Kâfur at a hundred millions sterling of our money.