Understanding Delhi Under The Sultans PDF

under the Sultans Understanding Delhi tarikhas (singular)/ta /tawarikh...

under the Sultans Understanding Delhi tarikhas (singular)/ta /tawarikh are known of Histories in Persian, the language administration (plural), Delhi Sultans. under the were learned men: of tawarikh The authors secretaries, administrators, poets and courtiers, recounted events and advised rulers On Do you think the who both emphasisingtheimportance of just rule. circle of justice governance, is an appropriate term to describe justice the relationship The circle of between the king the thirteenth century: and his subjects? Fakhr-iMudabbir wrote in soldiers. And soldiers cannot Akingcannot survive without withoutsalaries. Salaries come from the revenuecollected' Goe peasants. But peasants can pay revenue onty when from This happens when the kina Birthright they are prosperous andhappy. govermance. Privilcges ciaimed promotes justiceandhonest On accOunt of birth. For example, people beieved that nobles inherited their Keep the following additional details in mind: rights to govern, (1) the authors of tawarikh lived in cities (mainly because they were Delhi) and hardly ever in villages. (2) They often wrote born in certain their histories for Sultans in the hope of rich rewards. families. (3) These authors advised rulers on the need to preserve an "ideal" social order based on birthright Gender and gender distinctions. Their ideas were not shared distinctions Social and by everybody. biological In 1236 Sultan Itutmish's daughter, Raziyya, differences became Sultan. The chronicler of the age, Minhaj-i between women and men. Usually, Siraj, recognised that she was more able and qualified these differences than all her brothers. But he was not comfortable at are used to argue having a queen as ruler. Nor were the nobles happy at that men are her attempts torule independently. She was removed superior to women. from the throne in 1240. OUR PASTS- II 32  What Minhaj-i Siraj thought about Raziyya Minhaj-i Siraj thought that the queen's rule went against the ideal social order created by God, in which women were supposed to be subordinate to men. He therefore asked: "In the register of God's creation, since her account did not fall under the column of men, how did she gain from all of her excellent qualities?" On her inscriptions and coins Raziyya mentioned that she was the daughter of Sultan lltutmish. This was in contrast to the queen Rudramadevi (1262-1289), of the Kakatiya dynasty of Warangal, part of modern Andhra Pradesh. Rudramadevi changed her name on her inscriptions and pretended she was a man. Another queen, Didda, ruled in Kashmir (980-1003). Her title is interesting: it comes from "didi" or "elder sister", an obviously affectionate term given to a loved ruler by her subjects. Express Minhaj's ideas in your own words. Do you think Raziyya shared these ideas? Why do you think it was so difficult for a woman to be a ruler? Closer Look: Administration under A the Khaljis and Tughluqs The consolidation of a kingdom as vast as the Delhi Sultanate needed reliable governors and administrators. Rather than appointing aristocrats and landed chieftains as governors, the early Delhi Sultans, especially Itutmish, favoured their special slaves purchased for military service, called bandagan in Persian. They were carefully trained to man some of the most important politicaloffices in the kingdom. Since they were totally dependent upon their master, the Sultan could trust and rely upon them. 33 DE  Slaves rather than sons The Sultans were advised: Aslave, whom one has brought up and promoted, mustbe looked after for it needs a whole ifetime and good luck to find a worthy and experienced slave. Wise men have said that a worthy and experienced slave is better than a son Can you think of any reason why a slave would be better than a son? The Khaljisand Tughluqs continued to use bandagan and also raised people of humble birth, who were often their clients, to high political positions. They were appointed as generals and governors. However, this also introduced an elementof political instability. Slaves and clients were loyal to their masters and patrons, but not to their heirs. Sultans had their own servants. As a result the accession of a new monarch often saw conflict between the old and the new nobility. The patronage of these humble people by the Delhi Sultans also shocked many elites and the authors of Persian tawarikh criticised the Delhi Sultans for appointing the low and base-born" to high offices, Officials of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq Sultan Muhammad Tughluq appointed Aziz Khummar, awine distiller, Firuz Hajjam, a barber, Manka Tabbakh, a cook, and twà gardeners, Ladha and Pira, to high administrative posts. Ziyauddin Barani, amid-fourteenth-century chronicler, reported their appointments as a sign of the Sultan's loss of political judgement and his incapacity to rule. Why doyou think Baranicriticised the Sultan? 34  Sultans, the Khalji and Tughluq earlier Like the appointed military commanders as These lands of varying sizes. 1monarchs governors of territories called igtadar holder was iqia and their military ere called of the Inuqtis was to lead muqti. The dutymaintain law and order in their iqtas. or campaigns and nilitary services, the muqtis exchange for their oftheir assignments as salary. In revenues revenues. collectedthe their soldiers from these also paid effective if their office They muqtis was most igqtas Control over and if they were assignedThese inheritable being shifted. was not before period of time rigorously imposed for ashort service were Muhammad harsh conditions ofAlauddin Khalji and reigns of during theAccountants appointed by the state to were the muqtis. Tughluq. collected by of revenue taxes check the amount the muqti collected only the Care was taken that that he kept the required and prescribed by the state number of soldiers. the hinterland of Sultans brought landed As the Delhi control, they forced the their landlords the cities undersamantaaristocrats - and rich chieftains the Under Alauddin Khalji the authority. of land to accept their assessment and collection state brought the control. The rights of the local revenue under its own taxes were cancelled and they were chieftains to levy taxes. The Sultan's administrators alsoforced to pay land and kept careful accounts. Some of measured the served the Sultanate landlords the old chieftains and were revenue collectors and assessors. There as cultivation called kharaj three types of taxes: (1) on cent of the peasant's and amounting toabout 50per houses. produce, (2) on cattle and (3) on It is important to remember that large parts of outside the control of the subcontinent remained distant the Delhi Sultans. It was difficult to control after provinces like Bengal from Delhi and soon annexing southern India, the entire region became independent. Even in the Gangetic plain, there 35 DELHI: 12H TO 15H were forested areas that Sultanate forces could not penetrate. Local chieftains established their rule in these regions. Sometimes rulers like Alauddin Khali and Muhammad Tughlugcould force their control in these areas but only for a short duration. Chieftains and their fortifications Ibn Battuta, a fourteenth-century traveller from Morocco. Africa, explained that chieftains sometimes fortifed themselvesin mountains, in rocky, uneven and rugged places as well as in bamboo groves. In India the bamboo is not hollow; it is big. Its several partsare so intertwined that even fire cannot affect them, and they are on the whole very strong. The chieftains live in these forests which serve them as ramparts, inside which are their cattle and their crops. There is also water for them within, that is, rain water which collects there. Hence they cannot be subdued except by powerfularmies, who entering these forests, cut down the bamboos with specially prepared instruments. Describe the ways in which the chieftains arranged for their defence. The Mongols under Genghis Khan invaded Transoxiana in north-east Iran in 1219 and the Delhi Sultanate faced their onslaught soon after. Mongol attacks on the Delhi Sultanate increased during the reign of Alauddin Khalji and in the early years of Muhammad Tughluq'srule. This forced the two rulers tomobilise a large standing army in Delhi which posed a huge administrative challenge. TheSultanate in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries Takea look at Table 1 again. Youwill notice that after the Tughlugs, the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties ruled 36 from Delhi and Agra until 1526. By then, Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and theJaunpur, entire south India had independent rulers who established fourishing states and prOSperous capitals. This was alsothe period which saw theemergence of new ruling groups like the Afghans and the Rajputs. Some of the states established in this period were smallbut powerful and extremely well administered. SherShah Sur (1540-1545) started his career as the manager of a small territory for his uncle in Bihar and eventually challenged and defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun (1530-1540, 1555-1556). Sher shah captured Delhiand established his own dynasty. Although theSur dynasty ruled for only fifteen years (1540-1555), it introduced an administration that borrowed elements from Alauddin Khalji and made them more efficient. Sher Shah's administration became the model followed by the great emperor Akbar (1556-1605) when he consolidated the Mughal Empire. Imagine You are a peasant in Alauddin Khalji's or Muhammad Tughluq's reign and you cannot pay the taxes demanded by the Sultan. What will you do? Let's recall 1. Which ruler first established hisor her capital at Delhi? 2. What was the language of administration under the DelhiSultans? 3. In whose reign did the Sultanate reach its farthest extent? 4. From which country did Ibn Battuta travel to India? 37