Continued From: The Forgotten Empires Of India: Foreign Invasion of Medieval India - Part 7
Coming back to the fate of the Yadava Kingdom, faced with a shortage of
food, the Raya was forced to sue for peace. He had no recourse and was forced
to pay a ransom. As his son with the Yadava Military was waging a battle
elsewhere in the Deccan, the Raya was left without any help. The Raya paid a huge ransom to save his Kingdom.
Ali made off with 223.8 Kg gold, 261 Kg of pearls, 74.6 Kg of emeralds, rubies,
diamonds and other precious gems. 37,300 Kg of silver, 146,320 metres of pure
silk, elephants, horses and beasts of burden to carry the ransom to his
residence Khara! As the crowning glory of the ransom, the Raya was also
humiliated when he was forced to give his daughter famed for her beauty in
marriage to Ali. As per today’s financial pages, cost of 1 Kilo of gold is 60,829.21
USD. The average cost of 1 pearl today is $300 to $1500 USD, average weight of
one pearl is 0.6grams. Likewise, 1 carat the measure used for rubies, diamonds
and precious stones is equal to 0.2g. 1 carat of precious gems today costs
between $1800 and $12,000 USD. Cost of 1kg silver is $1125 USD.
Estimate of the ransom in present day value is given below in the table.
The total excludes the animals taken by Ali as we do not the number of carts
and animals taken by him. We have used the lower range of the item’s cost in
our calculation , but in all probability the items taken by Ali were of the
best quality and hence would have fetched more than the amount shown in the
table. Ali got a minimum of
Eight Hundred Sixty Million Eight Hundred Forty-One Thousand Four Hundred
Thirty-Seven dollars and twenty cents US.
|
Item |
Unit |
Unit Price in USD |
Total |
Total Amount in USD |
|
Gold |
1Kg |
$60,829.21 |
223.8 Kg |
$13,613,577.20 |
|
Pearl |
0.6 g |
$300.00 to $1500 |
261 Kg |
$130,500,000.00 |
|
1kg |
$500,000.00 |
|||
|
Precious Stones |
0.2 g |
$1,800.00 to $12,000 |
74.6 Kg |
$671,400,000.00 |
|
1kg |
$9,000,000.00 |
|||
|
Silver |
1Kg |
$1,125.00 |
37,300 Kg |
$41,962,500.00 |
|
Pure Silk |
1m |
$23 |
146,320 m |
$3,365,360 |
|
|
|
|
Total: |
$860,841,437.20 |
The most humiliating factor for the Raya was not paying the ransom, but
being forced to give his daughter in marriage to Ali. The historian Isami
identifies this princess as Jhatyapali and that she was the mother of
Shihab-ud-din Omar. The historian Ferishta adds that Malik Kafur married her
after the death of Ali. To a woman of Medieval Indian upbringing, being forced
to take a second husband must have been a degrading ordeal. The grandson
Shihab-ud-din Omar , a child of six years was blinded and imprisoned in the
Gwalior Fort and the princess was cruelly put to death by Qutb-ud-din Mubarak
Shah after he had disposed off Malik Kafur. Giving the princess to Ali must
have been a big blow to the Raya. Princesses like princes held a key position
in the society of India. The honourable
position given to Princess Kundavai the cherished daughter of the Chola Emperor
Sri Parantaka II of tenth century is well documented. Sri Ganapathi Deva Raya
of the Kakatiya dynasty who was quite older than Sri Ramachandra Raya had
crowned his daughter Rudramma as his successor.
Queen Rudramma was an adept ruler and we find that Marco Polo was all in
praise of this able queen who often took to battle. The monarch Pratappa Rudra
II of the Kalatiya dynasty who ruled during the time of Ali’s invasion was the
grandson and successor of Queen Rudramma. A daughter in the Hindu family was
considered the very image of Goddess Mahalakshmi. Handing over mundane wealth is not hurtful
,but forced to give away the light of one's family to be dishonorably treated
and eventually murdered must have been gut wrenching.
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