Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c7.s4.67

c7.s4.67

suppress drinking for a time. He had no objection to drinking as such, but was persuaded to suppress the evil for administrative reasons. For a while he instituted every vigorous espionage and cruel punishments to stop the sale and manufacture of drinks. In reply to these prohibitive measures people resorted to the familiar devices of ‘bootlegging’. They began to smuggle spirits concealed in water-skins, under loads of hay and firewood and through a thousand other means. Finally, the Sultan was compelled to modify his measures. A new regulation was therefore introduced which did not prohibit the manufacture and sale of drinks but only made its public distribution and the organization of big drinking parties illegal. The law did not interfere with a citizen who manufactured his own drinks and consumed it in private.¹ We know his gay successor too well to believe that Mubarak Shah maintained these modified restrictions in operation.