The Chelas: the Institution

Muslim communities the world over adopted a unique and ancient practice by which slave children were separated from their families at a very young age and treated as members of their master’s household. It aimed at erasing memories of all earlier attachments and transferring a child’s devotion to his master, protector, and benefactor. ‘Slave of the house’ was not a derogatory term; rather it conveyed a master’s affection and trust in the person so designated. Dependent entirely on his master’s favour and with no inheritance rights, he was often considered better than a real son.

A singular success in Haidar’s household was the slave Sheikh Ayaz or Hyat Sahib, a Nair boy taken in Kolattiri. A handsome lad of exceptional merit and ability, his dedication to Haidar took him to positions of power and trust with Haidar frequently referring to him as “his right hand in the hour of danger”.[1] Haidar appointed him Governor of Bednur, which included Kanara. Aware his closeness to Haidar had created deep-seated jealousy in Tipu, he prudently surrendered Nagar to Mathews when Tipu assumed power in return for sanctuary in Bombay.

Military slavery, a long-established Islamicate tradition institutionalized in the ninth century, has been defined as the “systematic acquisition, organized training, and professional employment of slaves in military service.”[2] Its origins lie in the rapid expansion of the Islamic world and the consequent urgent and enhanced need for reliable and trained soldiers as Muslims took up other activities in newly acquired territories and increasingly stayed away from military duties. This vacuum began to be filled by soldiers from marginal areas. As their numbers grew, the system of military slavery was developed as a mechanism to acquire and control them. It was adopted throughout the Muslim world from Central Africa to Central Asia, and from Spain to Bengal.

Military slaves were usually procured as children aged between 12 and 17. The institution depended for its success on recruiting impressionable non-Muslim youth of foreign origin, and subjecting them to intensive training and indoctrination in the customs, religion, culture, and language of the ruling dynasty to convert them into its loyal soldiers. Severed from family, home, and country, they became totally dependant on their new master who fed and sheltered them, and offered potentially great rewards and prospects of advancement. The alien language of their new home increased their dependence on their trainer. Youth was essential to make them forget all previous relationships, mould them into professional soldiers, and make the transfer of loyalty to the new master complete. Conversion to Islam cemented that contract. Military slaves often proved to be their master’s most solid and loyal troops, and a crucial force in maintaining the balance of power and security of the empire.

The best-known examples of military slaves are the Ottomans and Mamluks. The first Janissary corps of the Ottoman Empire was formed by Sultan Murad I in the mid-14th century. Initially formed of Christian youths, slaves, and prisoners-of-war, it became the first Ottoman standing army. Around 1380, Sultan Selim I introduced taxation in human form called devshirme by which Christian boys aged below 20 years, Albanians, Bosnians, Bulgarians, and later Greeks and Hungarians, were conscripted and trained for government service and the military. The brightest became administrators and bureaucrats, others were trained for the cavalry, and the rest joined the Janissary corps or infantry. Conscripts were encouraged to convert to Islam. Most did. The Janissaries were indoctrinated into looking upon the sultan as their father and the corps as their family. They were trained under strict discipline, which took up to 10 years, in a celibate environment, and kept away from family and social contact. Conversion sealed their loyalty. Great rewards were promised for merit. Proficiency in military skills together with proximity to the centre of power made the Janissaries extremely powerful.

The Mamluks (meaning ’owned’) of Egypt were elite cavalry of Central Asian Turkish origin in the service of the Abbasid Empire which eventually ruled Egypt from 1250 until its overthrow by the Ottomans in 1517.

Various forms of military slavery existed in India long before the first Muslim armies appeared in India. The Cholas enslaved women captured in war to serve as “reproductive pools” for the development of a cadre of military men loyal to the imperial dynasty.[3] The Islamic form of military slavery was widely employed by Indo-Muslim rulers during the 12th and 13th centuries in north India and later in the 15th and 16th centuries in the Deccan. By the 11th century, Central Asian Turkish military slaves (Arabic ghulam, mamluk; Persian banda) formed the core of most armies in the eastern Islamic world and had seen active service on the Indian border for close to three centuries.[4] Turkish mounted archers played a decisive role in establishing Indo-Muslim rule in India.

This institution was adopted by Haidar and expanded Tipu to augment their armies. Their military slaves were known as chelas.

[1] Wilks, Mark. 1817. Historical Sketches of the South of India, Vol 3. London: Longman, Hurst etc: 188 

[2] Pipes, Daniel. 1981. Slave soldiers and Islam, The Genesis of a Military System. Yale University Press.

[3] Eaton, Richard M. 2006. “Introduction.” In Slavery and South Asian History, edited by Indrani Chatterjee and Richard M Eaton, 1-16. Indiana University Press.

[4] Jackson, Peter. 2006. “Turkish Slaves on Islam’s Indian Frontier.” In Slavery and South Asian History, edited by Indrani Chatterjee and Richard M Eaton, 63-82. Indiana University Press.