Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c6.s2.t2.23

c6.s2.t2.23

Attempts at adulteration and fraudulent weights were quite common and no amount of sermonizing was effective in correcting them.¹ Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji instituted very severe punishments and a very rigid control over their dealings. Special market officials and spies were appointed to supervise them, and sometimes the Sultan even sent out young children in various disguises to detect their malpractices. When the Sultan had finally succeeded in suppressing or at least in temporarily retarding commercial dishonesty and busines frauds, he was acclaimed all over the kingdom and all his cruelties, even his want of faith, were forgotten in the enthusiasm of the moment.² It is a matter of satisfaction, however, that in spite of the insecurities of maritime trade and more or less complete freedom from government control, a very different moral atmosphere prevailed in coastal towns, where the Indian merchants dealt with foreign traders. The foreign travellers uniformly bear witness to the integrity and truthfulness of Indian merchants, to their honest methods of business, to their acuteness and to their measures and weights ‘that will turn by a hair of the head’.³