A History of Agriculture in India v2.c60: Chapter 8. Rule of Muhammed-bin-Tughlak

A History of Agriculture in India v2.c60

Language: English

v2.c60.s1 No Social Intercourse with Moslem Ruling Class — 2 parts
v2.c60.s2 Toilet — 1 part
v2.c60.s3 Suttee — 2 parts
v2.c60.s4 Festivals and Pilgrimages — 2 parts
v2.c60.s5 Crown Lands — 1 part
v2.c60.s6 Peasant Economy — 2 parts
v2.c60.s7 Ruin of the Peasantry of the Gangetic Doab — 4 parts
v2.c60.s8 A Scheme for Reclamation of Waste-Lands — 3 parts

Chapter 8. Rule of Muhammed-bin-Tughlak

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SUTTEE, RUIN OF THE PEASANTRY OF THE GANGETIC DOAB

BY AND LARGE, the Hindu cultivators of land in Central and East Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar retained their religion, and converts to Islam from among them were few. This pattern of distribution of population subsisted throughout the Muslim rule and remains so even now. ‘Of the inhabitants of India the majority are infidels’, states Ibn Battuta, ‘some of them are subjects (ryots) under Muslim rule (literally ‘under the dhimma of the Muslims’, i.e. protection on payment of tribute taxes), and live in villages governed by a Muslim headman appointed by the tax-collector or subordinate officer in whose fief (iqtā) the village lies. Others of them are rebels and warriors, who maintain themselves in the fastnesses of the mountains and plunder travellers.’

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The impressions of Ibn Battuta are based on personal experience as he was assigned the revenue of some villages near the City of Delhi for his maintenance. Ibn Battuta states, ‘the Sultan gave orders to assign to me such a number of villages as would produce a revenue of 5,000 dinars a year. The vizier and the offices of the administration assigned them to me accordingly, and I went out to visit them. One was a village called Badali, another a village called Basahi, and half of a village called Balara. These villages were at a distance of sixteen kurūhs, that is to say miles, in a sadī known as the sadī of Hind. But, the sadī being in their usage a group of a hundred villages. The territories of the city also are divided into hundreds, each hundred of which has a jawtarī (al-jawtarī is the Hindi chowdhri), that is to say a shaikh, from among the infidels of those lands, and a mutasqrrif, who is the person who collects the revenues.

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‘There had arrived at that time some captives taken from the infidels and the vizier sent me ten girls from among them. I gave the man who brought them one of them—he was not at all pleased with that—and my companions took three young ones amongst them; as for the rest I do not know what happened to them. Female captives there are very cheap because they are dirty and do not know civilized ways. Even the educated ones are cheap, so that no one there needs to buy captives.

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‘The infidels in the land of India inhabit a territory which is not geographically separated from that of the Muslims, and their lands are contiguous, but though the Muslims have the upper hand over them yet the infidels maintain themselves in inaccessible mountains and rugged places, and they have forests of reeds, and as their reeds are not hollow but of large growth and are interlaced with one another, fire makes no impression on them and they are of great strength. The infidels live in these forests which are for them as good as city walls, and inside them they have their cattle and grain and supplies of water collected from the rains, so that they cannot be overcome except by strong armies of men who go into those forests and cut down those reeds with instruments made for the purpose.'¹

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¹ Gibb, H.A.R. *The Travels of Ibn Battuta*, p. 741

No Social Intercourse with Moslem Ruling Class

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There was no social intercourse between the Hindus and the Muslims. Vincent Smith observes, 'The process of the Moslem conquest tended to tighten the bonds of caste. The Hindus, unable on the whole to resist the Moslems in the field, defended themselves passively by the increased rigidity of caste association.'² Ibn Battuta states, 'Indian idolators (Brahmans and Hindus) never make friends with Muslims, and never give them to eat or to drink out of their vessels, although at the same time they neither act nor speak offensively to them. We were compelled to have some flesh cooked for us by some of them, and they would bring it in their pots and sit at a distance from us. They would also serve us with rice, which is their principal food, on banana leaves, and then go away.'

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² Smith, V.A. *The Oxford History of India*, p. 66

Toilet

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Describing the toilet of Indians, Ibn Battuta states, 'The Indians put oil of sesame on their heads and afterwards wash their hair with fuller's earth. This refreshes the body and makes the hair glossy and long, and that is the reason why the Indians and those who live in their country have long beards.'

Suttee

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The Hindus observed the custom of Suttee. According to Vincent Smith, there is some indication that Suttee was practised by the Aryans in pre-Vedic times before their entry into India. Describing the strange customs of the people of Taxila, Strabo states that he had heard from some persons of wives burning themselves along with their deceased husbands and doing so gladly; and that those women who refused to burn themselves were held in disgrace. Ibn Battuta saw a widow being burnt and gives a vivid account of the tragic scene. 'I saw the people hurrying out. I asked them what was happening and they told me that one of the Hindu infidels had died, and a fire had been kindled to burn him, and his wife would burn herself along with him. After the burning my companions came back and told me that she had embraced the dead man until she herself was burned with him. Later on I used often to see a Hindu woman, richly dressed, riding on horse-back, followed by both Muslims and infidels; and preceded by drums and trumpets, she was accompanied by Brahmans, who are the chiefs of the Hindus. In the sultan's dominions they ask him permission to burn her, which he accords them. The burning of the wife after her husband's death is regarded by them as a commendable act, but is not compulsory; only when a widow burns herself does her family acquire a certain prestige by it and gain a reputation for fidelity.

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A widow who does not burn herself dresses in coarse garments and lives with her own people in misery, despised for her lack of fidelity, but she is not forced to burn herself. Once in the town of Amjari (Amjhera, near Dhar) I saw three women whose husbands had been killed in battle and who had agreed to burn themselves. Each one had a horse brought to her and mounted it, richly dressed and perfumed. In her right hand she held a coconut, with which she played, and in her left a mirror, in which she looked at her face. They were surrounded by Brahmans and their own relatives, and were preceded by drums, trumpets and bugles. Every one of the infidels said to them "Take greetings from me to my father, or brother, or mother, or friend" and they would say "Yes" and smile at them. I rode out with my companions to see the way in which the burning was carried out. After three miles (4.8 km) we came to a dark place with much water and shady trees, amongst which there were four pavilions, each containing a stone idol. Between the pavilions there was a basin of water over which a dense shade was cast by trees so thickly set that the sun could not penetrate them. The place looked like a spot in hell—God preserve us from it! On reaching these pavilions they descended to the pool, plunged into it and divested themselves of their clothes and ornaments, which they distributed as alms.

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Each one was then given an unsewn garment of coarse cotton and tied part of it round her waist and part over her head and shoulders. The fires had been lit near this basin in a low lying spot, and oil of sesame poured over them, so that the flames were increased. There were about fifteen men there with faggots of thin wood and about ten others with heavy pieces of wood, and the drummers and trumpeters were standing by waiting for the woman's coming. The fire was screened off by a blanket held by some men, so that she should not be frightened by the sight of it. I saw one of them, on coming to the blanket, pull it violently out of the men's hands, saying to them with a smile, "Do you frighten me with the fire? I know that it is a fire, so let me alone." Thereupon she joined her hands above her head in salutation to the fire and cast herself into it. At the same moment the drums, trumpets and bugles were sounded, the men threw their firewood on her and the others put the heavy wood on top of her to prevent her moving, cries were raised and there was a loud clamour. When I saw this I had all but fallen off my horse if my companions had not quickly brought water to me and laved my face, after which I withdrew.'³

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³ Gibb, H.A.R. *Rehla of Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa*, pp. 192, 193

Festivals and Pilgrimages

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While the ruling classes amused themselves with dinner parties and *shikar*, the poor Hindu peasants found relief in observance of religious festivals and periodical pilgrimages to holy shrines. The most popular festivals were Basant Panchami, Holi, Diwali, Dussehra and Shivaratri. The worship of Shiva figures prominently in the Basant Panchami festival. People put on yellow clothes to harmonize with the yellow blossoms of *sarson*. Holi, the spring festival, was celebrated by throwing coloured water and red powder. Diwali, the festival of lights, celebrates the return of Rama from exile. Lamps were lighted in homes as well as in temples and public buildings. Dussehra was celebrated with great enthusiasm for a number of days. The births of Rama, Krishna, Parasurama and Narasingha were also celebrated.

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Large parties of Hindu pilgrims travelled together for safety and mutual help to holy places on the Ganges. Such journeys provided relaxation from their monotonous existence.

Crown Lands

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'The Sultan was the biggest landholder in the kingdom; in fact, the only one whose property had an undisputed legal basis,' states Ashraf. 'He could choose the most fertile tracts of land and employ the resources of the whole State to enhance their productive capacity. A separate staff of officers was employed to administer his private lands.'

Peasant Economy

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Of the produce of land, a large share went to the State in the form of the land-tax and various perquisites. Of the remainder, a customary share was fixed for various classes of domestic and other labourers. The peasant and his family kept the rest for their own use.⁴ A certain proportion went to the share of the priest and the temple. The carpenters, the smiths, the potters, the washermen, the scavengers, etc., were better off as they had to incur no expenditure, e.g. on feeding of livestock, and payment in cash and kind to agricultural labourers.

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⁴ Ashraf, K.M. *Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan*, pp. 64, 123

Ruin of the Peasantry of the Gangetic Doab

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'A project of the Sultan which operated to the ruin of the country and the decay of the people,' states Barni, 'was that he thought he ought to get ten or five per cent more tribute from the lands in the doab. To accomplish this he invented some oppressive *abwabs* (cesses), and made stoppages from the land-revenues until the backs of the *raiyats* were broken. The cesses were collected so rigorously that the *raiyats* were impoverished and reduced to beggary. Those who were rich and had property became rebels; the lands were ruined, and cultivation was entirely arrested. When the *raiyats* in distant countries heard of the distress and ruin of the *raiyats* in the doab, through fear of the same evil befalling them, they threw off their allegiance and betook themselves to the jungles. The decline of cultivation, and the distress of the *raiyats* in the doab, and the failure of convoys of corn from Hindustan, produced a fatal famine in Delhi and its environs, and throughout the doab. Grain became dear. There was a deficiency of rain, so the famine became general. It continued for some years, and thousands upon thousands of people perished of want. Communities were reduced to distress, and families were broken up. The glory of the State, and the power of the government of Sultan Muhammad, from this time withered and decayed.’⁵

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⁵ Zia-ud-din Barni, *Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi*, in Elliot and Dowson, *The History of India...*, Vol. III, p. 238

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Sheikh-Nuru-l-Hakk gives further details of the ruin of the peasantry of the Gangetic doab. He states, ‘The whole of the doab became unable any longer to bear up against the grievous rack-renting and oppressive taxes. The people in despair set fire to their barns and stacks, and, carrying away their cattle, became wanderers in the wide world. Upon this, the Sultan gave orders that every such peasant who might be seized should be put to death, and that the whole country should be ravaged and given up to indiscriminate plunder. He even himself marched out of the city for that purpose, as if he had been doing on a hunting expedition, put to the sword all the remaining population, and ordered their heads to be displayed from the battlements of the fort. In this way he utterly depopulated whole tracts of his kingdom, and inflicted such rigorous punishment that the whole world stood aghast.’⁶

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⁶ Sheikh Nuru-l-Hakk, *Zubdatu-t Tawarikh*, in Elliot and Dowson, *The History of India...*, Vol. VI, pp. 184, 185

A Scheme for Reclamation of Waste-Lands

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The Sultan now thought of rehabilitating agriculture. He encouragd the digging of wells and gave loans to the cultivators. He evolved a scheme for State farming and reclamation of waste-lands. ‘A department, called *diwan-i-amir-i koh*, was organized to promote agriculture, and officers to it were appointed. The country was divided into imaginary rectangles (*daira*) of thirty *karohs* by thirty *karohs* on two conditions—not a handful of land in all these *karohs* was to be left uncultivated and every crop was to be changed; thus wheat was to be grown instead of barley, sugarcane instead of wheat, and grapes and dates instead of sugarcane. This rotation displayed complete ignorance of the principles of agriculture. About a hundred *shiqdars*, or undertakers, were to be appointed (to these imaginary rectangles). Greedy men, men in distress and reckless adventurers came and undertook within three years to bring under cultivation three hundred thousand *bighas* of barren land (*zamin-i akhal*) and to provide three thousand horses from the barren land. They gave written deeds to this effect. To this reckless group, which undertook to cultivate barren land, various awards were given—caparisoned horses, cloaks of brocade and cash. Out of a loan (*sondhar*) of three lakhs of *tankas* promised to each of them, every one got fifty thousand *tankas* in immediate cash. The money they got seemed the price of their blood.’⁷ Fortunately for them the Sultan died at Thatta. Had he returned all the *shiqdars* and loanees would have been despatched to hell.

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⁷ Zia-ud-din Barni. *Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi*, in Elliot and Dowson, *The History of India*..., Vol. III, p. 250

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Ashraf, K.M. *Life and Conditions of the People of India*, New Delhi, 1970 Elliot, Sir H.M. and Dowson, J. *The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians*, Vol. III, London, 1817 Elliot, Sir H.M. and Dowson, J. *The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians*, Vol. VI, (Indian Reprint) Allahabad, 1964 Gibb, H.A.R. *The Travels of Ibn Battuta, A.D. 1325-1354*, Vol. III, Cambridge, 1971 Gibb, H.A.R. *Rihla of Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa, 1324-1354*, London, 1929 Smith, V.A. *The Oxford History of India*, Delhi, 1976

Linked texts (1)

Tārīkh-i Fīrūzshāhī — Shams-i Sirāj ʿAfīf