The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c8.s13: Hard lot of the common people

c8.s13.1

The Arab administration did not prove an improvement upon that of Dahir so far as the lower classes of the people were concerned. There was no change in the treatment meted out to some of the tribes such as the Jats and the Meds. The members of these tribes were required to bring a dog when they came to pay their respects to the governor. They were forbidden to wear fine dresses, to ride on horses and to cover their head and feet. They were required to be branded on their hand. They were made to submit too many other humiliations. The people were required to feed every Muslim traveller for three days and nights. The common people must have, therefore, chafed under the Arab rule. It must, however, be admitted, in fairness to the Arabs, that their administration, on the whole, was more mild than that of the Turks who were to follow them as conquerors in the eleventh century A.D.