Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s4.13

c7.s4.13

² Compare a few illustrations of this ‘obligation of salt’. Barani tells us that when one Malik Chajju and his associates rebelled against Jalal-ud-din Khalji and were captured, the monarch for gave and even honoured the rebels for being ‘true to the salt’. Since they had drawn swords in the cause of the fallen house of Balban they were pardoned. *Vide* B., 184. Compare Sultan ‘Ala-ud-din Khalji’s treatment of his ‘turn-coat’ supporters and his enemies, the faithful adherents of Jalal-ud-din. When he was established on the throne, he punished his supporters, who had deserted their old masters, and spared the lives of his enemies. (*Vide* B. 250-1 for details.) In one instance, the Sultan went even further. According to the account of Haji Dabir, he gave a decent burial to the erstwhile rebel general Muhammad Shah who had remained faithful to his Hindu master Hamira Deva until the last breath of his life. The details of the story are well known. On his death, the Sultan buried him with honours, explaining that ‘loyalty is to be praised, even in an enemy’. (*Vide* Z.W., II, 810 for details.) Sultan Muhammad Tughluq in his Memoirs (B.M. MS., 316b) claims that his primary motive in turning against Khusrau Khan the usurper was to avenge himself for the insults and humiliations to which the usurper had subjected the family of their common master, Sultan Mubarak Shah Khalji. Similarly, Firuz Tughluq considers it an act of piety to repair the mausoleum of Malik Kafur on the sole ground that the latter had been reputed to be true to the salt’ of his master and was considered to have been loyal to the throne. (Compare F., 13.) Compare the praise of Barani for a noble of Firuz Tughluq who had been uniformly faithful to the throne. *Vide* B., 584.