Servants and Slaves in Medieval Indian Society

At a Glance

• Main source Capture in war and purchase
• Uses Domestic service, skills, bodyguards, workshops
• Firuz Tughlaq About 180,000 slaves
• Rights Could marry and hold property
• Servant wage Under Rs 2 a month
• Exam link UPSC Prelims, Medieval History: Medieval Society & Social Structure

Where Does It Fit?

This is the fifth topic of the category on medieval society and social structure. The previous topic covered women, and this one covers the unfree and the poorly paid. The next topic covers the standard of living. Previous topic: Status and Position of Women in Medieval Indian Society.

How Did Slavery Exist and Spread?

In short: slavery was an old institution that the Arabs and Turks continued, with captives and purchased people serving in many roles.

Slavery had existed in India, West Asia and Europe for a long time. The Hindu shastras discuss different types of slaves: one born in the household, one purchased, one acquired and one inherited. The Arabs adopted slavery and later the Turks too. The most usual method of acquiring a slave was capture in war; even the Mahabharata considered it normal to enslave a prisoner of war. The Turks did so on a large scale in their wars inside and outside India. Slave markets for men and women existed in West Asia and India, and Turkish, Caucasian, Greek and Indian slaves were sought after. A small number were imported from Africa, mainly Abyssinia.

How Were Slaves Used?

What Was Firuz Tughlaq’s Slave Policy?

Firuz ordered officials, whenever they attacked a place, to send him handsome and well-born young boys as slaves. He gathered about 1,80,000 slaves in this way. Some were trained in various handicrafts and posted in the royal workshops (karkhanas) across the empire; others formed a corps of soldiers directly dependent on the sultan, whom he hoped would be fully loyal. He set up a separate department of slaves, many employed in the royal workshops, under an officer called wakil-i-dar who also looked after court decorum and precedence. The policy was not new, since earlier Turkish sultans had recruited slaves, but experience had shown that slaves could not be depended on for loyalty to their master’s descendants and soon formed a separate interest group apart from the nobility. After Firuz’s death in 1388 the Firuzi slaves intervened actively and tried to put their own nominee on the throne. Sultan Muhammad, who stabilised his position with their help, then broke their power by killing, imprisoning and scattering many of them.

What Was Their Condition?

Slaves were sometimes treated harshly. It can be argued that a slave’s condition was better than a domestic servant’s because the master of a slave was obliged to provide food and shelter, while a free person might starve to death. Slaves could marry and own some personal property. It was widely accepted that slavery was degrading, and freeing a slave was considered a meritorious act among both Hindus and Muslims. In the Mughal period the slaves were not as numerous as under the Sultanate and were clothed and fed by the emperor or a prince; sometimes a slave could become a gentleman trooper. The lowest grade of servant, according to European travellers, earned under two rupees a month, and a man could feed his family on two rupees. Domestic servants and slaves were part of the largest section of the city population, the poor, as described in Towns and Town Life in Medieval India.

As an analytical point, slavery in medieval India was more domestic and court-centred than plantation-based, and the careers of skilled slaves show that status was not fixed, though the system remained degrading and dependent. The political risk of slave corps is a theme in Administration of the Delhi Sultanate (Iqta System, Central and Provincial Administration).

Why Is This Topic Important?

• Facts asked Firuz’s slave department and numbers
• Social history Servants and slaves in towns
• Politics Slave corps and their interests

What Came Next?

The next topic describes the standard of living in medieval India. Next topic: Standard of Living in Medieval India.

Key People and Terms

• Slave Unfree person serving a master
• Wakil-i-dar Officer of the royal household and slave department
• Karkhana Royal workshop
• Manumission Freeing a slave
• Firuzi slaves Slave corps of Firuz Tughlaq
• Haram Women’s quarters

Exam Corner

Mains Angle

Questions on slavery ask about uses and politics. These points add depth.

• Origins War and markets
• Uses Domestic, craft, military
• Politics Firuz and the slave corps