12 Translations from- the Tdrihh i Firuz Shdhi. [No. 1, 



my subjection, while a hundred classes, in my own Kingdom, do 

 not shew that obedience to my rule that ought to be shewn ; how can 

 I then expect to bring other countries properly under my subjection ? 

 For this reason I have established laws, and made my subjects tho- 

 roughly submissive, so that under fear of my commands they would 

 all escape into a mouse hole ; and now you tell me that it is inculcat- 

 ed in the divine law, that the Hindu should be made obedient and 

 submissive in the extreme. You are a learned man, Maulana 

 Mughis, but you possess no experience ; while I have no learning, 

 but a vast stock of experience. Rest assured, that the Hindu will 

 never be submissive and obedient to the Musalman, until he becomes 

 destitute, and impoverished. I have, therefore, directed that so much 

 only shall be left to my subjects as will maintain them from year to 

 year in the produce of the ground, and milk and curds, without ad- 

 mitting of their storing up or having articles in excess." 



The second question proposed by Sultan 'Alauddin to Qazi Mughis 

 was this : " As to the robbery, embezzlement, and bribery, going on 

 among officials, and the way in which they falsify accounts and de- 

 fraud the revenue ; is this mentioned anywhere in the divine law ?" 

 Qazi Mughis replied: "It has never occurred to me, nor have I 

 ever read in any book, that when officials receive a sufficient salary, 

 and yet rob the money of the public treasury, which contains the 

 aggregate of the national income, or receive bribes, or defraud the 

 revenue, they cannot be chastised by their superiors, either by fine, 

 imprisonment, or other infliction as may seem most advisable ; but for 

 such a delinquent, who robs in his official capacity, amputation of the 

 hand has not been authorized (i. e., the recognized sentence awarded 

 to a common thief.)" 



The Sultan said : " Well, I have ordered the revenue commis- 

 sioners to recover by means of various kinds of torture whatever sums 

 may appear on investigation against the names of the agents, superin- 

 tendents, and other officials ; and ever since they have been called so 

 strictly to account, I hear robbery and bribery have greatly diminish- 

 ed. I have, however, also directed, that the salary of super- 

 intendents, and other officials shall be fixed at such a rate as to 

 allow of their living respectably ; and if, notwithstanding this, they 

 still commit frauds, and decrease the actual sums received, it shall be 



