Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s2.t1.34

c5.s2.t1.34

¹ A., 268-72. For the employment of royal slaves in various crafts, Havell finds the cause in the previous emigration of Hindu craftsmen, on account of Muslim invasion and the general insecurity of life (*vide* History of Aryan rule, 321). I have found no occasion to agree with this analysis. The number of craftsmen under ‘Ala-ud-din is estimated at 70,000, out of whom 7,000 were masons and stone-workers who are reported to be so skilful in their work that they carried out the construction of a building in a fortnight at the longest (*vide* T.F., I, 217). It is difficult to account for this sudden emigration of the Hindu craftsmen from Hindustan, especially when the north-west frontier was always menaced by Mongol raiders.