The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c13.141

c13.141

he ran a free kitchen as well.¹ Islām Shāh increased the number of these kitchens.² The example of their royal masters was followed by the nobles. Baranī speaks warmly of nobles vying with one another in acts of generosity under Balban.³ Ghiyāth-u’d-din Tughluq had earned a great reputation for charity during his governorship.⁴ Khawāṣ Khān, a trusted noble of Sher Shāh, is probably pre-eminent in this respect. Several thousand men and women lived in houses and tents put up by him; he himself served them at their meals. The Hindus received uncooked foodstuffs.⁵ Indeed Khawāṣ Khān’s charity almost rivalled the generosity of the famous Maḥmūd Gāwān, who, the virtual ruler of a kingdom himself, spent all his wealth on the poor and himself ate the coarse food of a peasant and slept on the ground with a straw mat for his bed.⁶ The khānqāhs, also, were centres of poor relief, for they maintained free kitchens and gave shelter to the wayfarer and the needy. Of the sums allotted to them by the state or given by private individuals, large amounts were spent on education, social service and poor relief.⁷ So widespread was this charity and so generous the alms that they were partially responsible for the existence of a class of professional beggars. In times of famine, royal granaries were opened and grain was sold at cheap rates. Large quantities were distributed free to the starving population.⁸ Ibn Baṭṭūṭah mentions the organization of a department which kept a list of needy men and women and provided them with rations. Men of learning and piety were appointed as supervisors to ensure impartiality.⁹ Muḥammad bin Tughluq expanded irrigation facilities and provided the cultivators with money and implements in famine-stricken areas.¹⁰ Fīrūz Shāh instructed his kotwāl to bring the unemployed to his presence. With the help of the muḥallahdārs—the men responsible for the various quarters—the kotwāl drew up a list of such men; they were produced before the sultan who found some employment for them¹ In doing this he was following the example of Sulṭān Ghiyāth-u'd-dīn Tughluq who held the view that crime was the result of want and, therefore, tried to find some profession or trade for the poor; he gave grants of land and money to enable them to set up as cultivators. This sultan made efforts to wipe out beggary from his dominions by inducing the beggars to take up some useful pursuit.²