Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c6.s2.t1.28

c6.s2.t1.28

We have already referred to the inlay work. We may add that refined work in metals in general and in gold and silver in particular had made great advances under the Sultans of Delhi.¹ By the time of Timur, gold and silver vessels, inlaid ornaments, embroidered and damascened work, ewers of Bidari alloy, crowns, embroidered belts, necklaces, dishes, dish covers and other articles were common in many big cities.² Barbosa bears testimony to the ‘very fine work’ of ‘the very good goldsmiths’ of Gujarat.³ This skill of the Indian workman partly explains why Timur usually spared the lives of Indian craftsmen in his indiscriminate massacre of Indian people. Timur also carried away a large number of them to enrich his capital, Samarqand.⁴ Under Akbar, an even greater refinement was attained in the quality of metal work. Abu’l Fazl, his secretary, is full of warm praise for the excellence of goldsmiths who made ornaments and were sometimes paid ten times the value of the metal they worked, for their wages. He enumerates a number of groups of goldsmiths, who had specialized in making various ornaments. They made chandeliers, sometimes weighing ten maunds and even more, in a variety of patterns. He similarly refers to special workers of enamel, inlay, damascened, embroidery, ornamental and other delicate work.⁵