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Early Life –
Not much is known about the early life of Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah.
Two historians namely Golam Hossain Selim and Nizamuddin Ahmad
observed that before he rose to power he was the Silahdar or Military
Officer of Kadar Khan of Laknauti. But it seems that this assertion is not
correct. For a more authentic authority Ziauddin Barani, a historian of
Delhi wrote in his work on Sonargaon that Fakhruddin revolted in
Sonargaon soon after the death of Baharam Khan,the ruler of
Sonargaon. Moreover it has been mentioned in Tariq-i-Mubarak Shahi
that he seized power in Sonargaon when he was the Siladar of
Baharam Khan.
Batuta left his home in 1325 as a traveller and during the following 8
years he travelled through North Africa, Arabia, Levant ( East
Mediterranean Region ), Constantinople and Persia. Thereafter he
reached Delhi in 1334. At this time Muhammad bin Tughlaqwas the
Sultan. He appointed Batuta as the Qazior Justice of Delhi. He served
for four years in this post. Thereafter the Sultan sent him to China as
the Ambassador of India.
However, owing to ship-break his China visit did not materialize. But he
visited Maldives (1342 ), Sri Lanka ( 1345 ) and South India. Thereafter
through sea route he arrived in Bengal. His principal aim in visiting
Bengal was to meet Hazrat Shah Jalal.
Batuta mentioned about the sale of slaves in the hats and bazaars of
Bangladesh. He observed that just in front of him in a bazaar a beautiful
woman slave was sold at the price of seven taka. He himself bought a
beautiful woman slave at a price of ten taka. One of his associates
bought a slave called Lulu at the price of taka twenty ( 2 Gold Dinar ). A
man called Muhammad Al Masudi, a Morrocan lived in Bangladesh for
some time with his wife and a servant. He told Ibn Batuta that in
Bangladesh he had to spend only seven taka for the entire food stuff
for his family for a month. It is very clear from the above statements
that the supply of food stuff in Bangladesh in those days was abundant
and the standard of life was also very simple. Batuta however also
mentioned that the economic condition of the people of Bangladesh
was not however very well. He added that the people of Bengal had
complained to him that the prices of goods were high. The sale of
slaves in hats and bazaars is just a reflection of the social system of the
country as well as the economy.