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Delhi sultanate administration

History of India-IV (c. 1206-1550) (University of Delhi)

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DR. RAM MANOHAR LOHIA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

HISTORY
PROJECT:

Administration of Delhi sultanate

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

MRS. VANDANA SINGH MOHD ABUSHAD

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR (HISTORY) B.A.LLB. (HONS)

DR. RMLNLU, LUCKNOW 1ST SEMESTER

DECLARATION

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I hereby declare that the project work entitled “administration of Delhi sultanate”
submitted to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University, is a record of an
original work done by me under the guidance of Mrs. Vandana Singh, associate
professor at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia National Law University. The result
embodied in the project has not been submitted to any other university or
institution or in any kind of seminar. The project is original and has been carried
out with the help of certain resources as well whose citations have been mentioned
to.

TABLE OF CONTENT
 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………......4

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 Theocracy………………………………………………...5
 The Sultan………………………………………………..6
 Central Government…………………………………….. 7
 Provincial Administration……………………………….12
 Fiscal policy of Sultanate………………………………14
 The Army…………………………………………16
 Justice……………………………………………………17

 Bibliography……………………………………………..21

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INTRODUCTION-
The Sultanate of Delhi was a theocracy. The Sultan was the caesura and pope combined in one. It
is not correct to say that there was a secular state at time. Islam was the religion of the state and
no other religion was recognised. All the sources of the state were meant for protection and
spread of Islam.
The administrative organisation of the Delhi Sultanate was a product of many factors. The
Sultans of Delhi had before themselves the model of the government of the Caliph. They had
also inherited some of the practise and convention of the race of which they belonged. They also
found in India a well-established administrative system from which they could borrow.
The foreign element in the Sultanate consisting of the central ministry, their military system and
modification of the taxation policy as well as structure of the country to some extent by the
enhancement of land revenue and by the addition of certain new taxes such as Jizya, pilgrimage
tax, heavier duties on hindus and other non-muslim than muslim merchants.
The administration system of Delhi Sultanate were directed and governed by the Quranic
injunctions. The Quranic law was the supreme law of the empire.

The Caliph was the supreme sovereign according to the Islamic theory of sovereignty. All
Muslim kings through the world were his subordinates. During the Sultanate period, the power of
the Caliph was at its zenith.

Even if a governor became an independent king, he had to invoke the sanction of the Caliph’s
name and called himself his vassal. In fact, the rulers of the Sultanate period always tried to
maintain a formal relation with the Islamic world.

Theocracy

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The political theory of the Islamic state is based on the religious law of Islam according to which the
ultimate authority and the supreme head of the state id god himself who rules the worldly kingdom
through the caliph, sultan or badshah. The late are merely the deputies of god and no independent
position. They are subjected to the will of god as expressed in the law. 1 The Sultanate state was a
theocratic as well as a military state. It combined religious elements as well as military elements. The
Delhi Sultanate like that of all other Muslim states of the time was a theocracy. This meant that its
political and administrative institutions were, in theory, derived from the Islamic Law (Shariat) based
upon the precepts of Quran. Islamic theocracy, in a larger sense, also meant that the entire Islamic world
was united under the religious and political authority of the Caliph, the representative of the Prophet.
Every Muslim State was look upon as the Caliph’s dependency and its ruler had to pay allegiance to the
Caliph and to seek confirmation for his right to rule as the deputy of the Caliph. Islam being the religion
of the State, it was the primary duty of the State to promote Islam. The theocratic law was supreme and
the civil law was subordinate to it. The Ulemas, in general, interpreted the Islamic laws and thus had an
influential position. The Sultan was expected to show remarkable respect to the Shariat, to levy taxes
according to the Shariat. In practice, however, this theory passed through some modifications. In a
country like India, where non-Muslims constituted an overwhelming large majority of population, and the
political and social conditions differed widely from those contemplated by the Muslim-jurists, it was not
possible to maintain the full rigidity of the Islamic law. Also the degree of modifications depended on the
personality, capability and power of the ruler and the situations circumventing his freedom, initiative and
judgment. The Delhi Sultanate also combined several elements of a military state. Usually it is said that a
military state does not follow religious tenets. But the Delhi Sultanate which sometimes appears to be a
military state derived its inspiration from religion.In fact as against the invasions of the foreigners like the
Huns, the Shakas and the Kushans, the foreign Muslim invaders invaded India primarily for the sake of
spreading their religion. They therefore used their military power, defeated the Indian rulers and
established their rule which by and large was based on Islamic injunctions. Military in a theocratic as well
as a non-theocratic state is used for crushing internal revolts.During the period of the Sultanate the
military commanders were appointed governors or Iqtadars’ of the ‘Idtas’ or provinces or territorial units.
The state’s major revenue was spent in maintaining the army. Accordingly state revenue policy was
dictated by military expenditure. The state suppressed the internal revolts, maintained peace and defended
the empire from foreign invaders on the strength of its military.The Sultan himself was the commander-
in-chief of the army2. The Sultan’s success primarily depended upon his military skill. Balban and Alau-
ud-Din paid great attention towards making effective reforms in their military organization and
successfully faced all internal and external dangers. Nevertheless, the Sultans also took interest in public

1 History Of Medieval India, V.D. Mahajan , S.Chand, pg 319

2 http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/whether-the-state-during-sultanate-period-was-a-theocracy-or-
military-state/2702

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welfare programs like construction of canals, roads, postal arrangement and currency reforms etc. Many
took interest in controlling prices. Several Sultans patronized art, architecture, music and literature etc.
Thus we can say that the Sultanate State combined several elements.

The sultan
Although many of the Turkish sultans in India declared themselves ‘lieutenant of the faithful’ 3, i.e. Of the
Abbasid caliph at Baghdad, and includes his name in the khutaba in the Friday prayers, it did not mean
that caliph became the legal ruler. The caliph had only a moral position. By proclaiming his supreme
position the sultans at Delhi were only proclaiming that they were a part of the Islamic word. The sultan’s
office was the most important in the sultanate and supreme political, military and even legal authority was
vested in him. He was responsible for safety and security of the state. As such, he was responsible for
administration and was also the commander-in-Chief of the military forces. He was also responsible for
the maintenance of law and justice. To discharge his function, he appointed judges but the sultan acted as
court of appeals from the judiciary. A direct appeal could be made to him against the high handiness of
any of his official’s. The dispense of justice was regarded as most important function of any of the ruler.
We have referred to the stern manner in which balban dispensed justice not sparing even his relations or
high officers of state. Muhammad Tuglaq applied this even to religious classes who had previously been
exempted from harsh punishment. No clear law of succession developed among Muslim ruler. The
Islamic theory adhered to the idea of election of rulers but accepted in practice the succession of any son
of the ruler. However all son of the ruler were considered to have equal claim over throne . According to
the Muslim theology sovereignty was vested in the Muslim Law. Subject to general conformity with the
Law, the Sultan was the head of the state and he enjoyed unlimited powers. All legislative, executive and
judicial powers were concentrated in his person. His order was the law in the state. He was the highest
commander of the army. He appointed all ministers, nobles and other officers of the state.

Sultans of early middle ages while paying lip services to canonical theories looked upon themselves as
monarch independent of the caliph and deriving the authority directly from god. Minhaj-ud-Din Siraj
gives the title of Zil Allah Fil Alamin to iltutmis, Sayah-i-Yazdan to Nazir-ud-Din Mahmud and Balban.
Amir Khusrau speaks to Kaiqubad as Sayah-i-Yazdani Pak.QUTUB-ud-Din Mubarak Shah called himself
Khalifatal-Allah4. What could curb the despotism of the rulers was that they could not defy the Muslim
law. But in fact, not in theory, many rulers were the supreme interpreters of the Law. There was no law of
succession to the throne. It was not necessary that the eldest son or the daughter of the Sultan should

3 History Of Medieval India, Satish Chandra, Orient BlackSwan, pg 118

4 History Of Medieval India, V.D. Mahajan, S. Chand, pg 324

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succeed. However, tradition developed that the throne belonged to the eldest son. The Sultan also had the
right to nominate anyone as his successor. These were wars of succession and a lot of blood was shed for
capturing the throne. However, the experiment of placing a woman (Raziya was the only example) or
minor on the throne failed.5 In several cases ‘sword’ decided the issue of succession. Another important
check on the royal power was the privileged position of the nobles. At the time of Iltutmish, there was the
struggle between the crown and the nobles for clutching the real power. Nobles dominated during Nasir-
ud-Din Mahmud’s time. Balban kept the nobles at check. Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq showed through his
coins bearing the message that he was the shadow of God. During Lodhi rule nobles claimed the status of
equality with the king. Everything depended on the personality of the ruler.

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

The Nobles
A very effective check was put on the power of the king by nobles. No sultan
could afford to offend the power of the power of the powerful nobles without endangering his
own position. Some of these nobles were the hands of the clans and consequently had a
permanent following. It was not easy to impose royal will on them6.

The ministers
There is an Arab adage that “the bravest of the men requires arms and the
wisest of the king needs ministers’’ and the same was true of the Delhi Sultans. During the rule
of the so called slave dynasty, there were four ministers, viz, the wazir, the Ariz-i-Mamalik, the
Diwan-i-Insha and the Diwan-i-Rasalat. Sometimes the naib or Naib-i-Mamalik was also
appointed 7

Wazir
The chief minister was called the wazir. The great importance was given this post. The Wazir
was stood mid way between the sovereign and his subjects. He was considered to be a partaker in
sovereignty. It was considered that no empire would be able to prosperous without a wazir.
“Sovereignty and dominion could not attain the pinnacle of their height without the help and co-
operation of Wazir, whose wise deliberations would result in promoting the welfare of the
5 A comprehensive history of India,volume 5, MOHAMMAD HABIB-KHALIK NIZAMI,PEOPLES
PUBLISHING HOUSE
6 id
7 History Of Medieval India, V.D. Mahajan, S. Chand, pg 325

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country and the prosperity of the people”.8 In the earlier period wazir were primarily military
leaders. In the fourteenth century the wazir began to be considered to be more an expert in
revenue affairs, and presided over large department dealing both with income and expenditure.
Muhammad tuglaq paid close attention to the organization of the revenue department. His Wazir,
Khwaja Jahan, was widely respected and was left in charge of the capital when Muhammad
Tuglaq went out to deal with rebellions. A separate Auditor General for scrutinizing expenditure
and an Accountant General for inspecting income worked under the Wazir.9 The chief minister
of the sultan was called the wazir. Fakhr-i-Mudabbir considered the wazir a "partaker
in sovereignty" and recommended that in his own technical domain he must be left
free by the monarch. He describes the normal functions of the wazir in the following
passage: "The kings know well how to lead expeditions, conquer countries, give
rewards, and shine in the assembly or battlefield; but it is the domain of the wazir to
make a country prosperous, to accumulate treasures, to appoint officials, to ask for
accounts, to arrange for the stock-taking of the commodities in the karkhanas, and the
census of horses, camels, mules, and other animals, to assemble and pay the troops
and artisans, to keep the people satisfied, to look after the men of piety and fame and
to give them stipends, to take care of the widows and the orphans, to provide for the
learned, to administer the affairs of the people, and to organize the business of the
state.This was the position in early days, when the wazir was in charge of the entire
government, both the civil and the military departments and the functions which were
later entrusted to Sadr-i-Jahan, but this arrangement underwent drastic changes in the
light of practical experience. In view of the importance of the office, and to illustrate
the administrative experiments that were carried on under the sultanate, it will be
useful to sketch the history of the wizarat .

Although few details are known about administrative arrangements during the
brief rule of Qutb-ud-din Aibak, presumably the practice of combining civil and
military offices remained in operation. This was also the position under Iltutmish. His
first wazir, Nizam-ul-Mulk Junaidi, was in charge of all sections of the government,
and in addition to his civil duties, was occasionally entrusted with military commands.
During the troubled reign of Raziyya and her successors, Khwaja Muhazzab-ud-din
used his influence with the weak rulers and his own capacity for intrigue to
consolidate his position by taking all power out of the hands of the nobles. An attempt
was made to curb the wazir's powers by the creation of the post of naib , but this was
unsuccessful and the wazir continued to be all-powerful. Muhazzab's opponents,
therefore, joined forces and had him assassinated.

His death marks the close of a period in the history of the wizarat. The provincial
governors and other administrative officers would not permit an individual selected
for his ability in office to obtain so much power. His successors were selected for their

8 History Of Medieval India, V.D. Mahajan, S. Chand, pg 325

9 History Of Medieval India, Satish Chandra, Orient BlackSwan, pg 119

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docility. Balban, even before he became deputy, was more powerful than the wazir,
and when he became sultan, he took away the military functions of the wizarat.
The rawat-i-arz was made independent of the wazir.

Some fifty years later, Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq made an even more interesting
experiment. He created a board of three ex-wazirs, with the senior having the high
title of malik-ul-wuzara (chief minister). Ghiyas consulted them in all important
matters, but the routine work of the wizarat was carried on by Malik Shadi, his son-in-
law.

With the general policy of the Tughluqs to approximate standard Muslim practice
in all matters and with Muhammad Tughluq's preference for Arab and Persian ways,
we notice a reversion to the earlier character of the wizarat. Khwaja Jahan, though
essentially a civil servant, was occasionally entrusted with military duties. This
change is more marked under Firuz, whose wazir fulfilled the Arab notion of an all-
powerful wazir. Khan Jahan, a Hindu from Telingana who had accepted Islam at the
hands of Hazrat Nizam-ud-din Auliya, exercised both civil and military powers. His
position may be judged by Firuz's frequent remark that Khan Jahan was virtually the
sultan of Delhi. After his death in 1372, his son became wazir and followed his
father's ideas for a long period, but this led to jealousy, and in 1387 he was killed in a
quarrel with a noble. This also marked the end of Firuz Tughluq's power and the
decline of the dynasty. Khwaja Jahan Sarvar-ul-Mulk, the wazir (1390–1394) of
Muhammad Shah, exercised authority both in civil and military spheres, but realizing
that the sultanate was tottering, he had one of the military leaders made wakil-i-
sultanat, and he himself left for the eastern provinces, where he carved out a kingdom
for himself in Jaunpur.

With the accession to power of the Lodi dynasty, the wizarat lost some of its
importance, for Buhlul Lodi, with his tribal conception of kingship did not establish
an organized wizarat. Sikandar Lodi, however, saw the impossibility of applying this
tribal conception to a huge territory and had a regular diwan and a wizarat. His wazir,
however, seems to have confined himself to civil work.

Diwan-i-Rasalat
There is a diference of opinion among the scholars regarding the function of Diwan-i-Rasalat.
The view of Dr. Qureshi is that he dealt with the religious matter and was also in charge of the
grant of stipends to scholars and pious men. However, the view of Dr. Habib Ullah is that he was
a minister of foreign affairs and was in charge of diplomatic correspondence. Ambassadors and
envoys were sent to and receive from foreign rulers. It is pointed out that the view of Dr. Habib

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Ullah is more preferable because there is already an officer whom was in charge of religious
affairs endowments and charity and was known as Sadr-us-Sudur.10

Sadar-us-Sudur
Very often, the office sof sadar-us-sudur and diwni-qaza were held in one person. The sadar-
us-sudur was required to enforce Islamic rules and regulations. He was required to see that the
muslims observed those rules and regulstion in their daily life. He had in his charge a lot of
money to give muslim divines, scholars and men of piety. The head of the Diwan-i-Qaza was
Qazi-i-Mumalik and also known as Qazi-i-Quzat

Diwan-i-Insha
The Diwan-i-Insha dealt with the royal correspondence. All the correspondence, formal or
confidential, between the ruler and the sovereign of other state and with his subordinate officials
was dealt with this department.11 It was rightly called “the treasury of secrets.” That is due to the
fat that Dbir-i-Khash who presides over the department was also the confidential clerk of the
state. The Dabir-i-Khash was assisted by number of Dabirs who had established their reputation
as matter of style. Every order from the Sultan was first drafted in this department and then taken
to him for sanction after which it was copied, registered and dispatched.

Barid-i-Mumalik
The barid-i-mumalik was the head of the state news agency. His duty was to keep himself
informed of all that was happening in various parts of the empire. There was local barid at the
head quarter of every administrative sub division and it was his duty to send regulsrly news
letters to the central office. It is only men of honesty who were appointed to this post. If a barid
did not report a misdeed or some act of gross injustice committed by a well placed official he had
sometimes to pay for his mistake with his life. The barid was paid well so that he may be above
temptation.

Wakil-i-Dar
The head of the department of the royal household, which included large number of production c
enters and stores that supplied the court as well as different central establishmentswith provisions
and equipment. In the Delhi sultanate, this office was generally occupied by a very senior noble.
Under Iltutmish (1211-1236), the office of wakil-i dar was held by 'Izz al-Din Salari.

Diwan-i-Arz
10 History Of Medieval India, V.D. Mahajan, S. Chand, pg 326
11 id

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The Diwan-i-Arz was instituted especially to look after the military organisation of the empire. It
was headed by the Ariz-i-Mumalik. With the DelhiSultanate always having a large military
entourage, this ministry was very important inthe empire. The Ariz, along with his office,
maintained the royal contingents, recruitedthe soldiers, ensured the discipline and fitness of the
army, examined the horses and
branded them with the royal insignia. During times of war, the Ariz arranged the military
provisions, transportation and administered the army at war, provided constant supplies,and was
the custodian of war booty. The importance of his position, and that of thearmy, is evident from
the fact that in later times the Ariz could actually reward individualsoldiers by increasing their
salaries. Alauddin Khilji introduced the system of dagh(branding) and huliyah (description) and
cash payment to soldiers. This was meant to
strengthen his control over the army.Firuz Tughlaq did away with the system of dagh and huliyah
however Muhammad Tughlaq continued the system of dagh. Under Sikandar Lodi huliyah was
referred to
as chehrah.

Naib-ul-Mulk
Theoretically,the Naib was the deputy of the Ariz, and was supposed to assist him in his many
administrative chores; however, as the example of Ghiyasuddin Balban [naib of Sultan
Nasiruddin Mahmud, and later to become sultan] shows, sometimes the Naib could
become more important than the wazir. But these were exceptions rather than the rule,
dependent more on individual personalities and circumstances. It does however indicate
the possibility of ambitious individuals to use the exceptional practice to their advantage.12

Sar-i-Jndar
The sar-i-Jandar was attached to the court. He commanded the king’s bodyguard called Jandar.
He was a salaried officer and a high noble. It appears that there were there was more than one
sar-i-jandar at a time possibly in command of different groups. His primary duty was to guard the
person of the king.the jandar formed an integral part of the routine A passage in the tabaqat-i-
nasiri seems to suggest that the sar-i-jandar was also entrusted with the custody, punishment and
execution of the prisioners of the war and convicted criminals.

Provincial Administration
Although contemporary historians give meager details about the provincial
governments, it seems a fair inference that the provincial administrative structure did
not crystallize until the days of Sher Shah and Akbar. It is possible that this

12 http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-optional-subjects/group-iv/history-pakistan-india/21446-administrative-
structre-delhi-sultanate.html

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development was facilitated by the establishment of regional kingdoms in the original

iqtas (regions) of the Delhi Sultanate. From the earliest period governors were
appointed for large iqtas which later became provinces, but their responsibilities were
mainly the maintenance of peace, establishment and extension of the authority of the
government, and recovery of tribute from the Hindu chiefs and others. The observance
of state laws and the maintenance of order depended on the ability and the interest of
the individual governor, and in some areas their authority must have been confined to
main centers of administration and places easily accessible. The provincial boundaries
were shifting and vague, and it was a long time before the territorial units took a
stable form. Even the powers of all the governors were not identical. Governors in
charge of bigger or more important areas or with special personal claims exercised
wider powers than ordinary muqtis and were referred to as walis13.

Before Balban's time, the governors were often semi-independent military chiefs
of the territories conquered by them or by their ancestors, but even then many
functions remained outside their domain. They were not given authority in religious
and judicial affairs, nor were the local intelligence officers under their control. The
governor's main concern was military control and revenue collection. With Balban the
wizarat became more organized at the center and the provincial diwans were posted
from Delhi, and a close check was exercised by the central government over the
recovery and transmission of revenue. The provincial sahib-i-diwan was appointed by
the sultan on the recommendation of the wazir, and submitted detailed statements of
provincial accounts to the capital. On the basis of these statements the wazir's
department settled the accounts with the muqtis. Even in the military sphere the
powers of the provincial governors came to be regulated by the presence of the
provincial ariz who was under the chief ariz at Delhi.

Balban had asserted the authority of the central government over the provincial
chiefs, and Ala-ud-din Khalji tried to introduce system and uniformity in the
administration of the Doab (the fertile area between the Ganges and the Jamna), the
most dependable source of state revenue. Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq, who had a long
experience of provincial administration in the Punjab, tried to improve the
administration, but details of his provincial administration have not been recorded.
Under his son, Muhammad Tughluq, we get details of the hierarchy of provincial
officials, and this possibly follows a pattern introduced earlier. The empire consisted
of twenty-four provinces divided into a number ofshiqs, or rural districts. The next
smallest unit after the shiq was the pargana, or group of villages. In a pargana and in
the villages the old Hindu organization continued. The head of each pargana was
a chaudhari, while a muqaddam or a mukhiya was the head man of the village. The
most important feature of Muslim administration in India was the acceptance of the

13 History Of Medieval India, Satish Chandra, Orient BlackSwan, pg 122

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local autonomy enjoyed by rural areas. This policy had been followed by Muhammad
ibn Qasim in the earliest days of Muslim rule in the Sind and was maintained by the
sultans of Delhi. Qutb-ud-din Aibak, who originally handed back Ajmer to a son of
Prithvi Raj, first adopted the policy of appointing Hindu officers for the administration
of the country. "The Hindu chief played such an important role in the rural life of the
period that too many he was the government, whereas the sultan was almost a
mythical figure."

The position of the nobility and the officers was so dominant in the early period
that Minhaj, the historian of the period, devotes more space to an account of the
principal officers of the realm than to the sultans. The existence of this bureaucracy
made possible a large degree of stability in administration, and even in the periods of
decline the succession of dynasties at Delhi was not usually reflected in changes of
government at the local level.

Emphasis on administrative stability during the sultanate should not be taken as

an indication that the period was peaceful or that normal judicial processes were
always respected by either the sultans or their officials. Maintenance of control in a
conquered area requires force, and, in addition, the ceaseless struggle for power that
went on made violence commonplace. The smallest incident could be turned into a
pretext for the drawing of the sword and the shedding of blood. Nor was violence
confined to the cruel and heartless. Rulers such as Balban were not deficient in a sense
of justice or in political ability, but these qualities did not deter him from severe
punishments and free spilling of blood. At times a sense of justice and concern for the
public welfare seemed to militate against human kindness. Once the deterrent theory
of punishment was adopted and carried to extremes, all other human considerations
gave way before it. In vain did the religious lawyers and intellectuals try to curb the
extreme punishments inflicted by the sultans. Qazi Mughis argued before Alaud-din
Khalji that his punishments were unauthorized and opposed to Islam, and the historian
Barani told Muhammad bin Tughluq that human life could be taken only for eight
specific crimes, but the autocratic sultans listened unmoved.

Not only was human life held in little esteem, but there were abhorrent cases of
torture and mutilation. In this Muhammad bin Tughluq, who was a highly educated
monarch and enjoyed the company of intellectuals and philosophers, was the worst
offender. Some of the punishments meted out by him—for example to his cousin
Gurshashp—are truly revolting. The Moorish traveler Ibn Battuta wrote of him:
"Notwithstanding all his modesty, his sense of equality and justice, and his
extraordinary liberality and kindness to the poor, he had immense daring to shed
blood. His gate was hardly ever free from the corpse of a man who had been executed.
And I used to see frequently a number of people killed at the gate of the royal palace
and the corpses abandoned there. … The sultan used to punish all wrongs whether big
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or small and he would spare neither the men of learning and probity, nor those of high
descent. Every day hundreds of people in chains with their hands fastened to the neck
and their feet tightened were brought into the council hall. Those who were to be
killed were killed and those who were to be tortured were tortured and those who
were to be beaten were beaten. … May God save us from calamity."

It is true that these punishments were reserved for treason, and it is also true that
conditions in the medieval ages in other parts of the world were not very much better,
but the position in Muslim India in this respect seems to have worsened distinctly
during the hundred years or so following the death of Iltutmish. Possibly the instances
of brutality and cruelty during the sultanate in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
reflect the impact of the Mongols; certainly the extremes of ruthless severity
associated with Muhammad Tughluq or even with Balban and Ala-ud-din Khalji, did
not exist in the days of Muhammad ibn Qasim, Aibak, and Iltutmish. 14

FISCAL POLICY OF THE SULTANATE

The financial arrangements of the sultanate were in accordance with the normal
Islamic theory and practice as inherited from the Ghaznavid predecessors, but they
were modified in the light of local needs and usages. Land revenue was, as in Hindu
India, the mainstay of the government. Sultan Qutb-ud-din Aibak, the first Muslim
ruler, fixed the state demand (kharaj) at one-fifth of the gross produce. In land
revenue, as in other spheres, Balban laid down the administrative pattern for the
sultanate. Apart from the land revenue there were a number of local imposts imposed
on various occasions. Orthodox Muslims considered them illegal, and the two
monarchs who made an attempt to run the state in accordance with Islamic law, Firuz
Tughluq and Aurangzeb, abolished these taxes. These imposts were of ancient origin,
however, and most sultans permitted them. And when the rulers abolished them, they
were realized by corrupt officials or even by panchayats. A tax which gained
importance during Firuz's reign was the charge levied for use of canal water. Firuz
was not the first to dig canals, but he was the first monarch to ask Muslim jurists
whether an irrigation tax was lawful. The jurists' reply was in the affirmative, and so a
10 percent addition was made to the land revenue in cases where canal water was used
for irrigation.

During the early period, when the subcontinent was being conquered and new
areas were being occupied, the ghanimah (the spoils of war) provided an important
source of state income. According to Islamic law, all booty should be collected and a
fifth set apart for the state, the rest being distributed among the soldiers. Later the
practice was reversed and four-fifths of the booty was appropriated by the state
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treasury. Firuz's ulama considered it illegal, and Firuz ordered the restoration of the
old rate as fixed by the law.

The taxes which had a special religious significance in an Islamic state—zakat

and jizya—have been the subject of much controversy, both as regards their nature
and their actual imposition during Muslim rule in India. Zakat was imposed only on
Muslims; it is not, strictly speaking, a tax in the normal sense, since its payment was
an act of piety. Contemporary historians do not record that zakat was levied by the
sultans of Delhi, and their silence has been taken to mean that the procedure, common
to all Islamic states, was followed. There were, at any rate, arrangements for the
receipt of zakat, paid voluntarily by Muslims as a religious duty, and Fiqh-i-Firuz
Shahi mentions a separate treasury for zakat. Toward the end of the sultanate,
Sikandar Lodi abolished the zakat on grain and it was not renewed by any subsequent
sultan15.

The question of jizya is even more complex, not only because of the lack of
clarity in the contemporary records but also because of the strong emotional reaction
that has been aroused in discussion concerning it. Under Islamic law, jizya was a tax
levied on non-Muslims. This action can be interpreted as an equitable arrangement,
since only Muslims had to pay zakat and, in addition, they alone were liable to
military service. From this point of view it was, in the words of a modern historian, a
poll tax levied on non-Muslims "in return for which they received protection of life
and property, and exemption for military service." In the Quran jizya is used in the
same sense as kharaj, meaning simply a tax, and the fact that early Muslim writers in
India preserve this usage without attaching any technical significance to the term
suggests that it was not levied during the first conquests. However it was later levied
as a poll tax. As such it was borrowed from Persia, where it was called gezit. The
failure of the historians to indicate when jizya was paid cannot be taken as an
indication, as has been sometimes suggested, that some rulers, notably Ala-ud-din, did
not levy jizya because they refused to accord the Hindus the status of zimmis, or
protected peoples.The reason jizya is not more definitely mentioned in the records is
probably that for the sake of convenience in rural areas, where the population was
overwhelmingly Hindu, jizya and kharaj, the land tax, were realized as a consolidated
tax. In the early days of the sultanate the ruler had not built up an elaborate
organization and tax farming—through Hindu middlemen—was the normal means of
recovery. It appears unlikely that apart from a comprehensive demand made on a
village or a territory, separate or specific realization of jizya was feasible. Where jizya
was recovered it was charged in three categories. The wealthy paid four dinars per
head per annum, the middle groups two dinars, and the poor, one dinar. Women,
children, and those on a bare subsistence level were excused.In the early days of the

15 History of medieval India, Satish Chandra, orient blackswan, pg124

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sultanate, the jital, an adaptation of the old dehliwala current before Muslim rule, was
the token coin in use. Iltutmish introduced the silver tankah (which was replaced by
the rupiah of Sher Shah and Akbar), but even this innovation, in addition to its
indigenous name, was linked to an Indian weight standard. Once the monetary system
was established, the rulers introduced changes and improvements in the designs and
legends of their coins and made them approximate to the normal Muslim coinage in
legend and appearance. Apart from Muhammad Tughluq's unsuccessful effort to
introduce token currency of mixed metals, the coins were made of pure metal and the
state took precautions to maintain their purity and weight.

The Army
Good generalship, disciplined troops, and sound knowledge of warfare techniques
had been responsible for the conquest of India, and the ablest of the sultans were
aware that continuance of power depended upon these same factors. The steps taken
by Balban to keep his troops in good trim, and by Ala-ud-din Khalji to raise and
maintain a large standing army, have been described by Barani. The cavalry was the
backbone of the army, but the sultans did not confine their organization to the
traditional pattern. They soon began to employ elephants on an extensive scale, and
Balban considered a single war elephant to be as effective in battle as five hundred
horsemen. The foot-soldiers (payaks) were mainly Hindus of the lower classes. The
military grades were organized on a decimal basis: a sar-i-khail had ten horsemen
under him; a sipah salar commanded ten sar-i-khails; an amir ten sipah salars;
a malik ten amirs; and akhan ten maliks.The uses of naphtha and Greek fire was
known from early times. Incendiary arrows and javelins as well as pots of
combustibles were hurled against the enemy. The Delhi army used grenades,
fireworks, and rockets against Timur, but although there are references to a crude form
of cannon, and in the provincial kingdoms of Gujarat and the Deccan this weapon was
properly developed, the sultanate of Delhi had not made much progress in the use of
artillery. It was the neglect of this weapon which turned the scales against the Delhi
forces in the battle of Panipat in 1526.

For maintaining the army, the important functionary within the central
government was the ariz. Although Fakhr-i-Mudabbir, writing at the beginning of the
sultanate, does not emphasize the office of ariz, possibly because it was directly under
the wazir, by the time of Balban the position was independent of the wizarat. With the
expansion of the empire and the growth of the military side of the government, the
importance of the ariz increased. Not only did he function sometimes as the general of
the forces, but he also acted as the chief recruiting officer and fixed the salary of each
recruit. The commissariat was under him, and his office, diwan-i-arz, disbursed
salaries to the troops. Even the poet Amir Khusrau and the other court officials who

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held a military rank received salaries from this office. Thus already under the sultanate
we can see the beginnings of the Mughal system of placing all public servants on the
army pay-list and giving them mansabs. The ariz-i-mumalik was not the commander-
in-chief, or even the senior general—the sultan named the generals for different
campaigns—but it is not difficult to see in contemporary accounts the power and the
importance of the head of the diwan-i-arz. Jalal-ud-din Khalji held this post before he
ascended the throne, and the part played by Shaikh Farid, who held the corresponding
position of mir bakhshi under Akbar, in securing the accession of Jahangir is well
known. 16

Justice
The administration of justice received attention quite early in the sultanate, and
here as elsewhere traditional Islamic practice was modified to suit the peculiar
problems of India. Four types of courts were normally recognized in Islamic society:
the diwan-i-mazalim, the court of complaints, presided over by the ruler or his
representative; the qazi's court, which administered the Holy Law of Islam; the courts
of the muhtasib, or censor, which dealt with public morals and offenses against
religious ordinances; and the shurta, or police courts. In India the third type of court
gained in power and prestige under the Tughluqs, and later under Aurangzeb.

1. The first important judicial dignitary of the sultanate at Delhi to whom a

reference is found in contemporary records was the amir-i-dad, or chief
magistrate. He was a layman, and the office was usually reserved for a
leading noble with special aptitude for judicial work. Fakhr-i-Mudabbir
suggested that only a member of the royal family, or a nobleman known
for piety and learning, should be appointed to this post. A large salary was
to be paid to him, as he might have to try complaints against governors
and high commanders. In the absence of the sultan, who functioned as
supreme judge throughout Muslim rule, the amir-i-dad presided over the
court of complaints, but his office had many other functions. He controlled
the police, was responsible for public works, including the maintenance of
the city walls, kept copies of documents registered with the qazi, and
forbade covenants which transgressed the law.If he felt that there had been
a miscarriage of justice he could either draw the attention of the qazi to the
fact or delay the execution of the decision until the matter was
reconsidered by a fuller or a higher court; he also ordered the arrest of
criminals, dealt with breaches of law, and tried cases, where necessary
with the assistance of a qazi who functioned as a legal adviser.

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While the system of dispensation of justice by the sultan or his representative

continued, administration of justice by the qazis grew in importance and became a
prominent feature of the Tughluq rule. The main concern of the qazi was civil disputes
among Muslims, although later his jurisdiction was widened to include the
supervision and management of the property of orphans and lunatics. Appointed by
the central government, he was completely independent of the provincial governors.
The office of the qazi-i-mumalik, or chief judge, was normally held by the head of the
ecclesiastical department, who was generally known as the sadr-i-jahan. It is not
certain whether he heard appeals against the judgments of the qazis. He was also the
sultan's legal adviser in matters relating to shariat, the holy law of Islam. With the
monarch retaining the powers of appointment of the chief qazi, though the enlightened
opinion and books on Muslim statecraft emphasize the importance of appointing only
honest, pious, and well-qualified qazis in the realm, the sultan had the final say in the
framing of the judicial structure. Public opinion was critical of the appointment of
chief qazis for considerations other than those of merit, and most of the kings took
steps to uphold the prestige of the judiciary. The manner in which on one occasion
Muhammad Tughluq appeared like an ordinary plaintiff in the court of a qazi and
saluted him may be nothing more than a theatrical gesture, but such episodes built up
the prestige of the courts and enabled the general public and the legal profession to
realize what was expected of the judges. Although under a despotic monarchy there
were obvious limitations to the role which an individual could play, the jurists
generally acted with courage and independence. When Jalal-ud-din Khalji wanted
Sayyid Maula, who was accused of high treason, to vindicate himself by walking
through fire, the jurists vetoed the idea by contending that fire did not distinguish
between the innocent and the guilty. The sultan bowed to their decision, though he
later connived at Sayyid's murder. Similarly, in spite of Ala-ud-din Khalji's reputation
for ruthlessness, Qazi Mughis-ud-din did not fail to criticize his actions, and in spite
of this condemnation, he rewarded the qazi. The sanctity attached to the office of qazi,
as an expert in Islamic law, and the pressure of public opinion, encouraged an honest
and independent judiciary, the need for which was universally recognized.

An important development during the sultanate was the crystallization of the

Indo-Muslim legal tradition. The first important figure in the legal history of the Delhi
Sultanate was Sayyid Nur-ud-din Mubarik, originally of Ghazni . He was held in high
regard by Sultan Muhammad Ghuri, and he maintained his position even though he
was extremely critical of court etiquette and the mode of living adopted by Muslim
rulers. He wanted Iltutmish to deal firmly with non-Muslims, and he condemned not
only all heresy but also the study of philosophy. Barani often puts some of his own
ideas in the discourses which he attributes to important personalities, but the
puritanical, ascetic approach which he attributes to Nur-ud-Din Mubarik appears

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typical of the early days of Muslim India, when simplicity and piety found favor with
the jurists and the ruling monarch.

A different type of personality, and one whose policy left a great mark on the
history of Islamic law in India, was Qazi Minhaj-us-Siraj, the most important historian
of the Slave dynasty. A native of Ghazni, he came to the subcontinent during the reign
of Iltutmish and received many important assignments. In the days of Iltutmish's
successors, including Nasir-ud-din Mahmud, he held the important office of the chief
qazi of the realm. It is said that the sama (ecstatic dances performed by groups similar
to the "whirling dervishes") to which most orthodox lawyers objected, became
prevalent in Delhi when Minhaj was qazi. A contemporary of Minhaj thought that he
was not fit to be a qazi, but should have been the principal Sufi shaikh. These
statements give a clue to his policies, for as he himself has recorded, he was so
unpopular with other ecclesiastics that once they even attempted to have him
assassinated.17

In the light of these observations it is reasonable to infer that Minhaj was not
rigid in the application of Islamic law, and that his long tenure as chief qazi
contributed toward the evolution of a suitable modus operandi for the new Muslim
government. His views on Islamic law in fact appear to have been in agreement with
those of Balban. Although personally punctilious in his religious observations, and
careful about showing formal courtesy to religious leaders, Balban attached no
importance to the views of ulama in political and administrative matters. He used to
say that these things had to be decided in accordance with political considerations and
not the views of jurists. According to Barani, "he would order whatever he considered
to be in the interest of the realm, whether it was or was not sanctioned by Islamic
law." Balban's practice and Minhaj's theory united to provide the flexibility needed by
Islamic law if it were to operate in the peculiar conditions created by the existence of
a tiny Muslim ruling class and a vast Hindu populace. The tradition of strong common
sense and a realistic approach to problems built up by Minhaj was maintained by his
daughter's son, Sadr-ud-din Arif, who was a deputy to the chief qazi for a long time,
and whom Ala-ud-din Khalji promoted early in his reign. According to Barani he was
not distinguished for scholarship, but he was a strong executive officer who
understood the temperament of the people, so that "in spite of the freed slaves who
overran Delhi, it was not possible for anyone to resort to swindling, deception, or
trickery before his court."

Hidaya, the great legal textbook this remained the basis of Muslim law for centuries,
and was finally translated into English by officials of the East India Company.Books,
which were brought to India mainly by refugees during Balban's reign, were in

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Arabic. With the efforts made by Firuz Tughluq to run the government according to
Islamic law, it became necessary to have summaries and abstracts of Islamic law in
Persian, the court language of Muslim India. We accordingly see a large number of
manuals prepared in his reign, usually based on the compilations of the lawyers of
Central Asia. In addition more substantial efforts for compilation of books on Islamic
law in Persian and Arabic were made. The earliest of such compilations prepared in
India was in the time of Balban and was dedicated to him. Others were prepared
during the Tughluq period but the most comprehensive digest compiled in Muslim
India prior to the compilation of Fatawa-i-Alamgiri in Aurangzeb's reign was
the Fatawa-i-Tatar Khania, named after the pious nobleman, Tatar Khan, who
sponsored the compilation. Prepared by a committee of ulama, it consisted of thirty
volumes. It attracted attention ouside the subcontinent, and a summary was prepared
by Shaikh Ibrahim, the imam of the mosque of the Ottoman sultan, Muhammad the
Conqueror, in Istanbul.

Bibliography
 History of medieval India, Satish Chandra, orient blackswan

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 History Of Medieval India, V.D. Mahajan, S. Chand

 http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/ part1_07.ikram/
html#provincial
 http://www.cssforum.com.pk/css-optional-subjects/group-iv/history-pakistan-
india/21446-administrative-structre-delhi-sultanate.html
 A comprehensive history of India,volume 5, MOHAMMAD HABIB-KHALIK NIZAMI,PEOPLES
PUBLISHING HOUSE
 http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-india/whether-the-state-during-sultanate-
period-was-a-theocracy-or-military-state/2702

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