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io6 Symbolism of the East and West
by Ferishtah, who took them from an inscription on a
large mosque at Firozabad, are as follows : " I have
taken pains to discover the surviving relations of all
persons who suffered from the wrath of my late Lord
and Master, Muhammad Tughlaq, and having pensioned
and provided for them, have caused them to grant their
full pardon and forgiveness to that prince, in the presence
of the holy and learned men of this age, whose signatures
and seals as witnesses are affixed to the documents ;
the
whole of which, as far as lay in my power, have been
procured and put into a box and deposited in the vault
in which Muhammad Tughlaq is entombed." These papers
were intended to serve as vouchers of free pardon from
all whom the dead man had caused to be deprived of a
nose, of a limb, or of sight, and were placed near him in
order that he might pick them up at the last day, for
according to Muhammedan belief every offence has a
double aspect, in its relation first to God and then to
man. In the latter case, pardon given by the injured
one is believed to reduce some portion of its future
punishment.
It has been stated that a somewhat similar custom is in
use amongst the Christians of the Greek Church, and that
they are in the habit of putting into the hands of a deceased
person at his interment a written form of absolution, which
is understood to be a discharge in full from all the sins which
he has committed during life.^
The notion of certifying to the Deity the virtues of the
' Closely allied to this is the poetical idea prevalent in the Tyrol, that if two
people say the same thing at the same time they have redeemed a soul.