Class-structure And Social Stratification In Early Muslim India
CLASS-STRUCTURE AND SOCIAL STRATIFICATION IN EARLY MUSLIM INDIA
(1206-1526 A.D.)
After the establishment of Muslim rule in India (1206),Muslim society was divided into two distinct groups; immigrants and local inhabitants. The number of local Muslims increased with the passage of time due to missionary activities of Sufis and sometimes due to personal interest of some sultans. Immigrant Muslims were further divided into different groups including Persians, Turko-Mongols and Afghans. These groups mostly formed the ruling class. The other group of Muslims; local converts to Islam were simply the masses. There were only few instances during early Muslim rule when the converts were given any prominent position. In most of the cases they were the subjects not the masters. The objective of this paper is to discuss the structure of the social classes among Muslims in India. In this regard their professions, the taxes they paid, their general habits and festivals, status and role of their women and slaves would also be brought under light. The Muslim society in the period under review was divided into four different classes; (a) the nobility; (b) the Ulema and other religious groups; (c) slaves and (d) the Muslim masses. All these classes were further divided into many groups. Nobility included upper and lower ranks such as Khan, Malik, and Amir. The next category was of military ranks of ‘sipah salar and sar khel’.The important groups of religious class included the theologians, the ulema, the ascetics, the sayyids, the pirs and their descendants. All these groups had their own specialties and distinctions. Domestics included male and females slaves. Some male slaves were reserved for household tasks and the others for out door duties. Female slaves were kept either for domestic works or for sexual pleasure. The status of later was higher than the first type of female slaves. Muslim masses were mostly Hindu converts to Islam. They consisted of different groups; small businessmen, artisans, smiths, peasants etc. Among all four classes of Muslims first two namely nobility and religious were well off classes of society and the later two namely slaves and masses were not. The migrant Muslims were mostly settled in urban areas. There were separate mohalas (localities) for Muslims of different areas during Ghias ud Din Balban’s period in Delhi such as Abbasi street, khawarzm shahi street, Alwi street etc. Before discussing the level of education of different classes, it is appropriate to have an eye on the educational system of early medieval India. There was no entralized system of education. The general feature of the system was mostly the theological education. The curriculum consisted of Quran, Hadith, Tafseer, fiqh and other related subjects. Less emphasis was paid on Arabic literature, logic, mysticism and scholasticism. No status was given to local languages, literature, economics related subjects and sciences. The only exception is of Feroz Shah Tughluq who established large number of workshops to fulfill the requirements of royal house-hold. In such workshops slaves and others were given training to prepare different kinds of handicrafts. Educational institutions mostly depended on individual’s patronage. In case of negligence or death of the person or with the change of the dynasty madrasah or college had to lose its light. Method of teaching was traditional in which the teacher had the central position. Central and provincial courts were pivots of learning in the real sense. The most learned and the educated theologians and scholars were gathered there. The courts of Qutub-ud-din Aibak, Shams ud Din Iltutmish, Nasir-ud-Din, Prince Muhammad, Ala-ud-Din Khilji, Ghiyas ud Din Tughluq, Firoz Shah Thughlaq, Bahlol Lodhi were good examples in this regard. They opened large number of madrasahs and colleges. Shahab-ud-din of Ghor was the first Muslim King of India who established some schools at Ajmer. Qutub-ud-Din made arrangements of imparting basic religious education to Muslims inside the mosques. Iltutmish founded madrasah but it was destroyed later. Minhaj Siraj was appointed as the Principal of Madrasah-i-Nasria during the regime of Sultan Razia. It seems that this madrasah might have been established by ltutmish. Prince Muhammad established literary societies. Firoz Shahi Madrassah of Feroz ShahTughlaq was among the magnificent ones. By the time of Mohammad bin Tughluq, the number of madrasahs had increased to one thousand in Delhi alone.Such examples show that some sultans really tried to popularize the education or to make it possible for common Muslims to get education especially by awarding scholarships to poor students.13 It is mentioned that Feroz Shah, for the first time, tried to organize a regular system of public instruction. He sent scholars to far off areas to impart basic religious knowledge.14 The available sources are too meager to get substantiate knowledge about common peoples’ education. There is no method to count how many people had an access to higher education. It is only an assumption that majority of the upper classes was educated, but only a little number of children from lower classes could get education. However they might be inheriting the professions of their fathers as their teachers were their parents and other elders of the family.15 Elementary religious education of Quran and other basic religious teachings, which were available in most of the mosques, were easily accessible to them and they had been getting them. Where as most of the educational institutions were filled by the children of upper classes. As most of those institutions were in urban areas, therefore rural Muslims were mostly neglected.16 As Muslims in India were divided into different classes, so their professions varied. Immigrants were mostly taken into civil and military government jobs.17 In other words, they were civil or military bureaucrats. The immigrants included Ghurs, Khiljis and Turks.18 Governors of the provinces were also an important part of this class. They had large or small jagirs (Iqtas) according to their cadres in lieu of their services to the state. It was only Ala ud din Khilji who tried to overcome the power and authority of the iqta-holders while confiscating the whole land but after his rule the same old system came into practice again.19 Iqta-holders were free to collect revenue from their lands and a fixed amount was given to the central government. Normally, the Iqtas were not hereditary, but turned into hereditary during the regimes of weak Sultans.20 The members of religious class were originally immigrants. Many of the Ulema were government employees, related to provincial or central courts, or serving in madrasahs, colleges, courts and mosques. Majority of them were getting salaries from the government. They had respectable status in society and were among the privileged. Sayyids, another group of this class were mostly migrants like ulema and were liable to enjoy many privileges. This class was highly influential during the Slave dynasty. Even Balban used to attend funeral processions of Sayyids, ulema, theologians and ascetics.21 Gradually moral degradation started among Ulemas and two groups emerged among them. One group turned towards pir’s cult. It was kind of a profession where pirs were getting handsome amount of money from the simple, illiterate Muslims.22 A group of slaves was no doubt serving mostly at homes. Various home-assignments were given to them. Stateslaves, however, were given some important duties. The educated slaves were appointed in different civil departments. They were given commission in the army during some regimes like the Slaves and the Tughluqs. Sometimes, the slaves were given proper training of craftsmanship like Firuz Shah Tughluq appointed 12000 slaves to be trained in different crafts.23 Such skilled or educated slaves got respectable status in society with the passage of time. Local Muslim masses adopted different professions. Most of them did not leave their inherited professions. Weaver’s Class Structure and Social Stratification in Early Muslim India … 173 son was normally a weaver; goldsmith’s son was normally a goldsmith and so on. Muslims were divided into many castes (Jatis) on the basis of their professions. These were weavers (jola), livestock herders (mukeri), cake sellers (pi-thdri), fishmongers (kabari), converts from the local population (garasal), loom makers (sanakar), circumcisers (hajam), bow makers (tirakar), pa-permakers (kagaji), wandering holy men (kalandar), tailors (darji), weavers of thick cord (benata), dyers (rangrej), users of hoes (halan), and beef sellers (kasdi). Government demand appears to have brought into existence still other groups of Muslim artisans. The bow makers, for example, provided weaponry for the kingdom's armed forces, while papermakers would have met both the bureaucracy's appetite for files and the Muslim religious elite's demand for books.24 The converted Muslims who were living in urban areas could not raise their standard of living to the higher degrees, although, their general status in society was the same like immigrants, at least as a theory. Different industrial units such as textiles, carpets, bed-strings, dyeing, indigo, calico-painting, metal work, stone and brick work, coral and ivory work, leather work, imitation jewellery etc., were in the urban areas, therefore Muslims of the specific areas were working in these industrial units. But medieval Indian historians have not mentioned their salaries or income.25 Some Muslims especially on coastal areas were related to trade or broker ship. Class of Muslim brokers was an organized one and earning profits. Foreign trade was mostly in the hands of foreign Muslims. Internal trade was shared by Muslims and Hindus both. Muslims of this class were well established but were insignificant politically.26 Later when Iqta-system was introduced and Iqtadars were bound to appoint armies, the local Muslims and in some cases Hindus must have been appointed in the armies.27 Common Muslims of rural areas, too, could not leave their age old professions. They were either peasants or village artisans whose lives were very difficult and tough. The impact of local Hindus was far greater on them than that of the Islamic ideas.28 Taxation system, more or less, was the same during different dynasties with a sharp increase or decrease in land revenue. The two upper Muslim classes; nobility and Ulema, were exempted from paying any kind of taxes. In place of paying tax, they were liable to enjoy all those facilities which were not available to common Muslims.29 As the class of slaves was dependent so it was also exempted from taxes. Muslim merchants like Hindu merchants had to pay some import and export duties. .
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