The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c26.s3.6

c26.s3.6

Owing to the difficult means of communications, prices were not uniform in the various parts of the country. It should not, of course, be expected that they could be uniform throughout the period. In normal times things were very cheap; but, in times of famine and scarcity, prices of goods rose abnormally high. For example, during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq when a famine occurred grain was sold at sixteen to seventeen *jitals* a *seer*. Similarly, prices would go up during war. When Firoz Tughluq invaded Sindh for the second time, the price of grain there rose to eight to ten *jitals* per *seer*. During Ala-ud-din’s reign the prices of most of the articles of daily use were considered as normal. At that time wheat used to sell at seven and a half *jitals* per maund, barley four *jitals*, rice five *jitals*, pulses five *jitals*, white sugar one hundred *jitals* a maund, soft sugar sixty *jitals* a maund, oil-seeds three *jitals* a maund, mutton ten *jitals* a maund and ghee sixteen *jitals* a maund. The prices of various kinds of cloth were: muslin of Delhi cost seventeen *tankas* a piece, that of Aligarh six *tankas* and a fine blanket cost thirty-six *jitals*, while a coarse one six *jitals*. Prices were exceptionally low during the later years of the reign of Sikandar Lodi and throughout that of Ibrahim Lodi. During Ibrahim’s time one could purchase ten maunds of grain, five seers of oil and ten yards of coarse cloth for one *Bahloli*, a coin introduced by Bahlol Lodi and equivalent to one-sixth of a *jital* in value. Nowhere were the things of everyday use cheaper than Bangal which the Turks considered as a “hell crammed with good things.”