Muhammad didn’t reply. She tried again. ‘Why would you reward those scoundrels who deliberately cheated their Sultan and successfully derailed a perfectly sound enterprise? Sometimes, I simply cannot comprehend your actions. You took harsh action against your soldiers after the failure of the Qarachil expedition, but these counterfeiters are far more deserving of such a fate, in my opinion.’
His mother sighed again. Muhammad looked at her worriedly. Haniya seemed tired, but how lovely she still was! Her blind old eyes brightened when her son broke his customary silence. ‘I daresay you are right, but a soldier has a job to do and he is aware that death is what he can expect if he makes careless mistakes. They knew what was at stake and they deserved death for their cowardice. My latest measure, however, may have been sabotaged by a few rotten apples, but a portion of the blame lies with me. Too many innocent people who were only obeying my orders suffered losses they need not have. Therefore, it is my duty to pay them back.’
It all made perfect sense to him. Why couldn’t they all see it?
‘They are saying that there will be nothing but copper coins remaining in your treasury if you keep up this ill-advised policy of appeasement.’
‘Don’t you worry, mother.’ He smiled sardonically. ‘You did not raise a simpleton. Some among my loyal subjects are more unscrupulous than most and have tried to get ahead by failing to pay the taxes owed the state or coming up with the most ingenious schemes to swindle their Sultan.
‘Did you know that these charlatans ran a scam to exploit my so-called love for the ferenghi? They would persuade lowborn foreigners just arrived on our shores to pass themselves off as ambassadors representing their kings. The frauds even went to the extent of supplying them with exorbitant gifts to be presented to me, knowing that I would reward them many times over. Then they would appropriate it all, never knowing that their activities are constantly monitored.
‘In light of the present crisis, such scum have been arrested and been sent to meet their maker. Of course, their ill-gotten gains obtained from my treasury as well as their extensive properties have all been confiscated by the state and used to set right a wrong.’
Haniya allowed herself a small smile. Of course she knew all about it. ‘You have done well! As I knew you would. However, you are as reckless as ever, and I urge you to be cautious. It has come to my attention that many among the nobles were behind these schemes, and your actions have not gone down well with them or their companions.
‘But I didn’t come here to lecture or berate you. People have always been trying to tell you the many things they think you need to know. But you hate when they do that. You prefer to figure out things for yourself. And that is not the worst thing. I just wanted you to know there is much that is bad in you but even more that is good. Sometimes you just need to remember that.’
Makhduma Jahan reached up to grab his ears, and, pulling him down, she kissed him softly on his forehead. Then she placed her hand on his head in silent blessing and walked away without a word. Muhammad felt the tears stir in his eyes.
‘The Queen Mother was actually nice to you!’ Abu’s voice piped up in his ear. ‘Now if that isn’t cause for alarm, I don’t know what is.’
‘Something terrible is going to happen,’ Bahram chimed in ominously. ‘Or perhaps something terrible has already happened and you just don’t know about it. Yet.’
Muhammad didn’t bother to reply. He sat down instead, nursing his throbbing head, waiting for the voices in his head to subside and leave him alone.
3
Muhammad expected them to do their utmost to kill him. And as one who did not believe in being a sitting duck, he took a few precautions. Like his father before him, Muhammad recognized the importance of gathering intelligence from every corner of the empire, and had taken pains to establish a labyrinthine network of informers from all walks of life.
With the aid of the information gathered, a certain shadowy state apparatus consisting of personnel handpicked by the emperor made free use of his permission to deploy violence when and where it was needed to dissuade both individuals and groups from plotting to take their sovereign’s life or engaging in any activity that wasn’t in his best interests. Their efforts were a remarkable success. Those under the faintest suspicion of entertaining murderous thoughts against the monarch were detained and executed without trial.
Muhammad heard the reports with macabre fascination. It surprised him that the people who wished to see him dead were an eclectic mix of tradesmen, artisans, lowly soldiers, high-ranking officials from his court, hired hands sent by his enemies, dancers and musicians, some among his closest associates and even a group of women who had sworn to kill him or die trying.
The only thing they all had in common was abject failure, for none made it to within a mile of him. Every thwarted assassination attempt filled him with delight, almost as if he had been given a fresh lease of life. There was also the unshakeable belief that their failure was indicative of God’s will that he was intended to survive and achieve great things.
Which was why he was taken entirely by surprise by the thing that came closest to killing him. He assumed his spies had been too terrified to report what they knew because of the Sultan’s relationship with the person in question, but fortunately, they also knew better than to leave the matter unreported.
Even so, it came to the Sultan’s attention only when Kazi Kamal paid him a visit. Muhammad had listened without expression. To his credit, the Kazi did not falter beneath his piercing gaze, which barely veiled his rage, and managed to say his piece.
‘If I find out that you are lying . . .’
The Kazi’s forehead was slick with beads of perspiration. ‘I have risked my life by bringing this matter to your notice, your highness. And I only did it because it pertains directly to the Sultan. The law dictates exactly what I ought to do, and I am bound by it as well as my own sense of duty, since the evidence presented is irrefutable. However, I could not proceed without consulting you.’
The Sultan was stone-faced. ‘The law shall take its course as it must. I ask only that you stay your hand for a brief period.’
The Kazi bowed low in assent and sidled away. For the longest time, Muhammad sat in silent contemplation. Even the voices in his head dared not speak up. Not this time. Finally, he roused himself long enough to ascertain whether it was true, though he knew in his heart that it was.
There were many who had betrayed him, but none on such a scale. Not even Abu’s passing or his father’s untimely demise had left him so prostrate with grief.
Muhammad was careful not to let his true feelings show all day. His mother had said his biggest failing was his rashness and undue harshness, so he took his time and waited till the unrelenting waves of pain were replaced with anger. Only then did he send for her.
She came before him, and as always, her beauty took his breath away. If she was feeling nervous, Saira did not show it.
‘The Kazi was here to see me,’ he said without preamble. ‘You stand accused of adultery.11 The evidence against you is irrefutable, and your guilt is plain as day. How do you plead? But I suppose that is a stupid question.’ Muhammad heard the anger in his voice and it made him angrier still.
Outwardly, she was composed. Haughty even. But he saw the faint ripples of stark terror beneath the surface because he had been looking for evidence of her guilt.
Looking at her then, he knew that everything he had heard was the unassailable truth. He ought to have known all along, but perhaps he had been too blind to see it, although his blind mother had warned him about her from the start. Even so, a part of him wanted her to refute the claim. To assure him that despite everything, she loved him and wanted nothing more than to remain by his side forever.
Instead, she looked him straight in the eye. ‘I have always tried to be a good wife, your highness, despite the painful position our union put me in. When a woman loses her respectability even through no fault of her own, she sp
ends the rest of her life under attack. It is true that I resented you for that, but nevertheless I knew that your love was true and valued it accordingly. That is all that matters.’
He would have struck her then, if only to watch her quintessential arrogance and defiance shrivel up and die, but he didn’t want her to have the satisfaction of knowing what she had done to him with her infidelity. Or how close her affair had come to destroying him. Especially not when she stood before him obstinate and utterly unrepentant, despite being caught in flagrant violation of the laws of Islam.
‘It makes no matter if you are inclined to play coy with me.’ Muhammad leaned closer, the better to breathe in the fear that wafted off her determinedly unruffled exterior, and stroked her hair gently. ‘Najib will have the truth out of you in no time.’
‘There is no need for that.’ Saira drew away from him, unable to mask her revulsion or sudden terror. ‘Your dog is a monster who revels in the suffering of others, and it is he who deserves the punishment and suffering he inflicts. He shall not have the pleasure of defiling my person. I will confess my crime before the Kazi and accept his punishment. Death does not frighten me.’ She had raised her voice, but the faint quaver gave her away.
‘I have always admired your bravery. Even now, you are bold as brass and hold your head high, despite sinning against God and man. You are an adulteress who has compounded her crime by lying in sin with one who belongs to her own gender. And a lowly maid at that! Despite knowing the Quran has explicitly forbidden sinful relationships in acts of zina involving liwat and sihaq, ever since the people of Lot provoked the wrath of God with their sinful and perverted acts.’
‘The holy book has also explicitly forbidden sinful and perverted acts such as murder, tyranny and parricide!’
Muhammad was taken aback by the pent-up fury that exploded out of her.
‘Bismillah al-Rahman, al-Rahim, Allah of the boundless compassion would never confuse the human need for genuine affection and intimacy with evil acts of degeneracy and debauchery. My conscience is clear and I will meet my maker with my head held high. I wonder if you can do the same when your time is up, having murdered your father, butchered your subjects on callous whims, and reduced them to poverty with your foolish pride and the infinite stupidity of your schemes!’
Muhammad clenched his fists, appalled by her audacity. ‘How dare you address your Sultan and husband thus? You will regret having taken advantage of my kindness.’
‘Your kindness?’ She laughed out loud. ‘I wept on the day my husband was killed. And not a day has passed since, when I haven’t wished that it was you who had died instead! You have never bothered to secure my consent—I, who am your father’s wife and your stepmother. You have degraded me and forced dishonour upon me. It is you who has sinned against God and man, and it is the reason your reign is cursed. It is why failure follows you doggedly, no matter where you go. It is why everything you touch turns to dust. It is why a river of blood flows through your empire. It is why you will go to your death drowning in the blood of the innocent!’
‘I am not afraid of death.’ He repeated Saira’s words, but unlike her, he actually meant them. ‘And mine will be an honourable one. I will not be stoned to death for being an adulterous whore. And you clearly had no trouble setting your lofty principles aside to enjoy the many privileges of wedding and bedding two Sultans in a row.’
She quailed on hearing the nature of her punishment, though she knew fully well what she had risked. But now her courage began to fail, and the tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Even so, she was defiant. ‘What is it you say after every one of your colossal blunders? Even if I could go back in time, I would do it all over again . . . Well, so would I.’
‘I wouldn’t throw caution to the winds just yet if I were you, Saira. Perhaps you have forgotten that some among the living still have need of you. I have no doubt poor Masud would appreciate it if his mother doesn’t say things that might cause him immense pain . . . ’
‘Monster! Tyrant! You wouldn’t dare . . .’ she shrieked and threw herself at him, but his personal guard materialized at once and hauled her back, forcing Saira to her knees as they awaited his command. Muhammad looked at her. She was no longer magnificent, with tears and snot dripping down her chin. Her eyes were those of a cornered animal, and the stink of her shame and fear made his gorge rise. It was hard to believe that this was the woman who had made him lose his head and heart so completely.
‘There is no need to make such a scene, dearly beloved,’ he said as she stopped struggling against the iron grip of his guards, wracked by an intense bout of weeping. ‘Despite my reputation for cruelty, I certainly wouldn’t harm your innocent son. And it saddens me that even now you don’t know that I could never bring myself to hurt you, even if my own life depended on it. Not even when you put the cuckold’s horns upon my head and humiliate me in front of my subjects. All I have ever wanted is for you to be happy.’
Saira lowered her head and wouldn’t look at him, wary and uncertain about her fate.
‘Besides, if I had really wanted to be cruel, I would have made you watch as Najib and his helpers devoted their entire attention to making your precious maid well and truly sorry for leading you astray.’ Muhammad watched as she wrenched her arms free with sudden vehemence, only to bury her face in her hands and blubber incoherently. ‘She won’t be doing anything wicked any more, I am afraid. On my instructions, Najib had his Hindu attendants scrape what remained of her and feed it all to the vile pigs that roam the streets. Now that the swine have ingested her stinking soul, the gates of paradise will be forever barred to her. I’ll admit that the final touch was a tad cruel but there are consequences to stealing what belongs to the Sultan.’
Saira was swaying now, moaning and whimpering. Next to nothing remained of the fiery, feisty woman who had given him the sharp edge of her tongue mere moments ago. ‘I had to punish her for putting the Sultan’s beloved in the lamentable position of having a Kazi accuse her of adultery and other unnatural acts. You see that, don’t you? I think you will agree that the bitch got what she deserved.’
She nodded mutely and wiped her tears away. Muhammad waited patiently for her to spit out the words he needed to hear. ‘The b . . . bitch got what she deserved.’ She choked on the words but got them out.
‘I am so glad that you are finally being sensible. Do you know my greatest desire?’ he asked her and she sniffled in response. ‘I want nothing more than for things to go back to the way they were. When you pretended you loved me and I was blissfully ignorant of your true feelings, living only to make you smile. Would I also be incorrect in assuming that it is something you would desire too?’
Saira nodded again, unable to articulate a coherent response. She was still wary but there was faint hope on her face as she contemplated the royal pardon dangling in front of her. Deep down she knew that it was too much to hope for but she desperately needed to believe she would be spared. If only for poor Masud’s sake. In his veins ran the blood of Tughlaq and Khalji. He would always be a threat to the one who sat on the throne, and without her to protect him . . .
Muhammad watched in silence as myriad expressions flooded her features. She was thinking of Masud, he knew. Her love for life and the unwillingness to let go, despite the foolish claim that she was not afraid to die, was pathetically obvious. Muhammad wondered why she had not thought about all these things when she fell into bed with the scum who cleaned out the chamber pots. He felt his temper flare as images of her making passionate love to another assaulted his senses.
Saira, meanwhile, had managed to get a hold of herself, and she spoke up hesitantly. ‘I did not mean to hurt you or say all those dreadful things . . .’ She gulped. ‘It was wrong of me and I beg your forgiveness.’
She could not go on. Her pride would not allow her to grovel at his feet. Muhammad helped her to her feet and drew her close to his chest. He breathed in her scent deeply and felt the hope burgeon in her chest. They
remained that way for a long moment. He waited for her to relax in his arms before he hurled her away from him, allowing the adulterous whore to feel the full extent of his wrath. She hit the floor with a thud, surprise and pain writ large on her face.
‘Drag her to the Kazi in chains,’ he ordered the guards. ‘He will read out the sordid crimes she has confessed to and pass the sentence. Tell Najib that her punishment must be carried out by sundown. Let her be dragged to the town square so everyone can watch as she is stoned to death. The pigs shall feast on her remains. That way, she will be reunited with her lover in the fires of hell. Never let it be said of Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq that he was cruel enough to come between two lovers.’
‘Please! Not that!’ she shrieked, the last of her pride and strength gone along with the dregs of hope. ‘For the love—’ He did not bother to hear her out but signalled to his guards and they dragged her out of his sight.
4
It felt good to be astride a horse again. Muhammad’s mount was a magnificent war charger, massive, spirited and intelligent, obedient to his every command. A contingent of his crack troops rode behind him, and he dug his heels into the flanks as he led the charge across the dusty plains of the disaster zone that was the Doab. Muhammad had never been afraid to take the lead, and his troops were heartened because they never had to take risks he hadn’t braved first. You could say what you wished about Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq, but he was no coward. And he had no qualms about doing his own dirty work.
The air was filled with sounds of the hunt, punctuated with the roaring of the troops, the screaming of their victims, and the song of ringing steel as the rebels were cut down mercilessly. There was the distinctive, metallic tang of blood in the air, and Muhammad could sense the excitement of his men. It always amazed him how the scent or sight of blood filled even the gentlest of souls with predatory bloodlust.
Muhammad Bin Tughlaq Page 15