Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India c9.s6.2

c9.s6.2

The government of the early Turks revolved round the sultan's household establishment. The public revenue could be spent or squandered in the pursuit of his pleasure. Sultan Ruknuddin Firoz, son of Iltutmish, emptied the treasury on the providers of pleasure. Sultan Kaiqubad, the grandson of Balban, is said to have spent all the surplus revenues, so assiduously collected by his minister Nizamuddin, on his dancing girls.¹⁷² Dancing girls were the chief means of diversion. Some selected girls were trained from young age in the art of dancing, music and coquetry for the pleasure of the king.¹⁷³ As time went on, these entertainments became, from private amusement, a conventional court practice. Wine was as indispensable as music. Right through the medieval period the elite drank with enthusiasm. Even the adolescent drank, and all princess drank in secret.¹⁷⁴ The king was imitated by his ministers and nobles who were also his partners through thick and thin. They all combined to make the court life notoriously licentious and corrupt, and men of all ranks gave themselves up to the pursuit of pleasure. This is an old story known to all serious students of medieval history. But the point to note is that much of the revenue of the state was spent on the pleasure-seeking activities of kings and nobles.