The Sultan who is ruling at present has achieved that which had not been achieved so far by any king. He has achieved victory, supremacy, conquest of… - Muhammad ibn Tughluq

Muhammad bin Tughlaq became notorious for enslaving captives, and his reputation in this regard spread far and wide... Ibn Battuta’s eye-witness account of the Sultan’s arranging marriages of enslaved girls with Muslims on a large scale on the two Ids confirms the statement of Al Umri. “First of all,” writes he, “daughters of Kafir (Hindu) Rajas captured during the course of the year, come, sing and dance. Thereafter they are bestowed upon Amirs and important foreigners. After this the daughters of other Kafirs dance and sing… the Sultan gives them to his brothers, relatives sons of Maliks etc. On the sixth day male and female slaves are married.” It was a general practice for Hindu girls of good families to learn the art of dancing. It was a sort of religious rite. They used to dance during weddings, festivals and Pujas at home and in temples. This art was turned ravenous under their Muslim captors or buyers.

This Sultan is not slow in waging Holy War (Jihad). In the holy war by land or by sea his bridle or his spear do not deviate (from it). This is the sole object which engages his eye and his ear. He has spent a large amount in exalting the word of Faith and in spreading Islam in these regions, so that the light of Islam was spread in these parts and the lightning of the true guidance flashed in these regions and the fire-temples were destroyed and the Buddha’s statues and idols were broken and the land was freed from those who were not (included) in the land of security, that is, those who had not entered the contract of a Zimmis and through him Islam was spread up to the farthest East, and reached up to where the Sun rises, and he carried the banners of the Islamic people as Abu Nasr-al-Aini says, to where never a banner had reached and no chapter, surat, or verse (ayat) was read of the Quran. Then he built mosques and places of worship and replaced music by prayer-call and silenced the mumblings of the Magians by the recitation of the Quran, and he directed the people of this faith (Islam) against the fortresses of the infidels. And he has appointed them with the help of God as the heirs of their property and their lands and the country which they had never trodden under foot: land after land was placed under the banner of this Sultan. On land his banners are like eagles and on sea the banners are like the crows of the running ships, so that no day passes without the sale of thousands of slaves for the lowest prices on account of the great number of captives and prisoners.

Writing about the days of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1325-51), Shihabuddin Al-Umari writes: “The Sultan never ceases to show the greatest zeal in making war upon the infidels… Every day thousands of slaves are sold at a very low price, so great is the number of prisoners… (that) the value at Delhi of a young slave girl, for domestic service, does not exceed eight tankahs. Those who are deemed fit to fill the parts of domestic and concubine sell for about fifteen tankahs. In other cities prices are still lower…” Probably it was so because Ibn Battuta while in Bengal says that a pretty Kaniz (slave girl) could be had there for one gold dinar (or 10 silver tankahs). “I purchased at this price a very beautiful slave girl whose name was Ashura. A friend of mine also bought a young slave named Lulu for two gold coins.”32...Umari continues, “but still, in spite of low price of slaves, 20000 tankahs, and even more, are paid for young Indian girls. I inquired the reason… and was told that these young girls are remarkable for their beauty, and the grace of their manners.”