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Old Monday, June 08, 2009
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Default Administrative Structure Of The Delhi Sultanate

Administrative Structure Of The Delhi Sultanate



Adab-ul-Mulk wa Kifayat al Mamulak, rules for kings and the welfare of the subjects and Adab al Harb wa al-Shujaah, rules for welfare and bravery, the two important sources of information about political thought of the Muslims of Delhi. In the first book, the writer has drawn the administrative pattern set up at Ghazni, following the models of Baghdad and Bukhara. This book was presented to Iltutmish and his administrative set up was much influenced by this book. Fatwa-e-Jahandari (ruling on government) is another important work of Zia ud Din Barani.

This book maintains general policies of the structure of the state. Barani is bitter not only against the Hindus but also against the Muslims of lower classes. He is of the opinion that low born Muslim should not be taught because this causes a plenty of disorders. But Barani’s book presents an individual view and made no impression on the course of trade, Muslim history or political thought. The spirit and sentiments in Barani’s book is incomplete contrast with Fakhri-i-Muddabir’s book which is inspired by practical idealism.

Tarikh-e-Firoz Shahi of Afif has dealt in at length with political philosophies of early Muslim rulers, statesmen and religious leaders.

DELHI SULTANATE NOT A THEOCRACY

. Delhi sultanate was not a theocracy in practice.
. It was not possible due to area directly under control of Khalifa but other historical factors and a large number of non-Muslims.
. The link with Khalifa was nominal because when Muslim rule was established at Delhi, the temporal authority of Khalifa was dwindled into mere shadow.
. It was particularly under the Tughlaq that the Muslim jurists first received recognition but the pattern of Muslim rule in India had become firmly established.
. The rigidity shown by Ulma may be judged by the fact that they accepted the throne of Razia Sultana (1236-40).

THE SULTAN

The title of the sultan signifies a sovereign ruler and makes the transition from the quasi theocratic Khalifa to a secular institution. The sultan of Delhi had powers and Persian ideas regarding the divine right of Kings. The Hindus were already used to regard the king a representative of the divine power.
There was no permanent law of succession in India during the Sultanate period.

When there was no competent heir to throne, nobility got the right to choose Sultan as in case of Iltutmish and after him upto Tughlaq. The swords also decided the issue of succession. Ala-ud-Din Khilji, Khizar Khan and Bahlul had got the throne by sheer force.

Sultan was all powerful despot and enjoyed the supreme military, judicial and administrative power. His order was law in the state.
The other was the consent of nobility but influence of nobility was different in different periods.

Majlis-i-Am or Majlis-i-Khalwat were the forums where Sultan discussed important matters with his advisors. He was not bound to follow their advice. The concept of election although had been changed with nomination, yet still present to some extent. According to Tripathi, “In spite of the fact, the theory of election was abandoned. The gulf between the two principles was bridged by the leading officials and many consulted to this election.” The acceptance of the governors, the principle nobles of the capital and the chief of the theologians was taken as the indirect consent of the mass of the people.

DEPARTMENTS OF THE STATE

The naib, the post was created during the region of Sultan Bahram Shah. It was influential during the reigns of weak rulers. If the king was weak, then the naib enjoyed the powers, otherwise the post was quite ceremonial.

THE VAZIR

The Prime Minister was called the vazir. He was primarily the head of finance department called the Diwan-e-Wazarat. He was empowered to supervise income and expenditure including all other departments. He was assisted by many subordinates, most important among them were Naib-Vazir, Mumalik (Accountant General) and Mustaufi- Mumalik (Auditor General).

ARIZ-l-MUMALIK

He had the department of Diwan-i-Arz and was the controller governor of the military department. His function includes the recruitment of soldiers, fixation of their salaries, inspection and maintenance of discipline.

DIWAN-l-RISALAT

He was the minister of the foreign affairs and maintained diplomatic relations with other countries and welfare of diplomats.

DIWAN-l-KHAS

He was head of Diwan-e-Insha. All kinds of correspondence between Sultan and others were carried on by his department. He was assisted by a large number of dabirs (writers).

SADAR-US-SADUR

He was minister of the religious affairs. The main duty was to propagate Islam and protection of the privileges of the Muslims. He also controlled the funds of Zakat. He looked after the distribution of charity by the state. The Muslim scholars were also financed by him.

QAZI-UL-QAZAT

He was highest officer of the state after Sultan. Mostly the officers of Sadar us Sadur and Qazi ul Qazat were held by one person.

BARID-l-MUMALIK

He was the head of the intelligence and posted department.

AMIR-I-HAJIB

He was the master and organizer of royal ceremonies. All petitions were presented of Sultan by Amir-l-Hijab.

WAKIL-I-DAD

He was to converse with Wakil-i-Sulatanate of Sayyed’s dynasty and Wakil-i-Mutliq of the Mughals, he was the controller of the royal household.

AMIR-I-SIKHAR

He arranged the hunting parties for the king.

PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION

The provincial administrative structure did not crystallize till the days of Sher Shah and Akber. During sultanate period, Sultanate was divide into lqtas (regions). The head of iqtas has various names including Muqti or Wali or Nazim. The main duty of the Muqtis was to maintain the peace, establishment and extension of authority of government and recovery of the state dues. The governors were in charge of big or more important provinces exercised wider power.

PROVINCIAL AUTONOMY

The government enjoyed greater autonomy in administrative affairs. It had no authority to interfere in judicial affairs. Department of intelligence was also under center. Provincial head was primarily concerned with military and revenue departments. The province was sub-divided into ‘Shiqs’ which was equal to modern commissioner’s division. The Shiqs were under Shiqdars. Head of the each ‘Parghnah’ was Chaudhry while Muqaddim was the head of village.

The most important feature of Muslim administration in India was the local autonomy enjoyed by the rural areas. This was introduced by Mohammad bin Qasim and was maintained by Sultans of Delhi. The Hindu chiefs enjoyed such an important position in rural life that too many felt as they were personally governing, where the Sultan was almost a mythical figure.

FINANCE

There were various sources of income of the Delhi Sultans. They are given as under:

KHARAJ (LAND TAX)

This was the mainstay of the finance of the government. It was charged from Muslims and non-Muslims ranging from 1/5 to 1/2 under various reigns. Balban paid much attention towards sound and peaceful peasanty.

KHAMUS (1/5 OF THE WAR SPOILS)

It also includes the products of mines. According to Islamic law, 1/5 of the booty goes to state and rest 4/5 to soldiers. But all Sultans, except Firoz, collected 4/5 to state.

JIZYA

This was the religious tax on non-Muslims which they had to pay for their protection. It is exempted if a non-Muslim undertook military duties in an Islamic state. It was common in middle ages for military needs. According to Tripathi, Jizya served the purpose of what called ‘common penny’ in Germany and ‘virtual money’ in England.

The Jizya was recovered in the following three categories:

. Richest paid four diners per head per annum.
. Middle paid two diners per head per annum.
. Lowest paid one diner per head per annum.
. Many people were exempted of this.

ZAKAT

This was a religious tax which was imposed only on the Muslims and consisted of 2-1/2 of the Money,7-1/2 tola of gold or 52 1/2 tola of silver kept for a year.
Separate treasury was maintained for Zakat.

IRRIGATION

It was imposed by Firoz Tughlaq as 1/10 of the product on the peasants who used the water of the canals developed by the state. Ala ud Din also imposed two new taxes i.e. house tax and grazing tax.

ARMY

There were four kinds of soldiers in the army under Sultans.

. The soldiers recruited by the center.
. Ala ud Din kept 4,75,000 standing army.
. This army was maintained by Ariz-i-Mumalik.
. There was no regular course of training.
Balban took measures to train his army for hard life by taking them to hunting parties. Soldiers were recruited by provincial nobles and governors. Nobles were assigned jagirs to finance their troops. Some soldiers were recruited only in times of war.

There were three parts of army:

CAVALRY

This formed the backbone of the army. The cavalry men were of two kinds: the Sawar (having one horse) and do-aspe (having two horses).
The horses were imported from Arabia. Ala-ud-Din started the practice of brading horses and that of keeping Hulya and Dagh; this was to check the replacement of both.

WAR ELEPHANTS

Only Sultan had the privilege to keep elephants. There was separate department for the training and maintenance of elephants. Elephants were armored during the course of battle.

INFANTARY

The foot soldiers were called “Payaks”. They were aimed with swords, spears and bows and arrows.

ARTILLERY

There was nothing like modern artillery. However, there was a sort of mechanical artillery through which fire-balls, fire-arrows, snakes, stones etc., were hurled on the enemy with the help of the gun-powder.
In the provincial kingdoms of Gujarat and Deccan, cannon were properly developed. Army of the Sultan consisted of different modalities and diverse faiths, the Persians, the Afghans, the Mongols, the Indian Muslims and the Hindus etc. Most of the soldiers were Muslims and were united on the basis of Islam.

DIVISION OF ARMY

Military grades were organized on decimal basis. A Sarkhail had ten horse men; a Sipah Salar directed ten Sarkhails; an Amir had ten Sipah Salars; a Malik has authority over ten Amirs and a Khan’s forces contained nearest those of ten Maliks.

NAVY

Sultan maintained a large number of boats primarily for transport purpose and fighting as well.

DIVISION OF THE ARMY IN THE BATTLE FIELD

Army was divided into four parts during the war: the center, the left, the right and the reserved. Elephants were kept in the center and space was left for the foot soldiers. Way was also kept open for the attack of the cavalry.

. The forts were built and maintained.
. The Sultan was the supreme commander.
. In Jagirdari system, army was more loyal to noble than to king.
. It lacked effective use of gunpowder.

JUDICIAL SYSTEM

There were four types of courts i.e.
. Diwan-e-Mazalim presided by the ruler to his representative.
. Qadis Courts.
. The Courts of Muhtasibs.
. Police courts (Shurta).
The third type of courts gained power under Tughlaq and Aurangzeb in India.

AMIR-I-DAD

Amir-l-Dad functioned as supreme judge throughout the Muslim rule in the absence of the Sultan. He president over the court of complaint and justice.He also controlled he police and the Muhtasib.

His main duty was to deal with civil disputes among the Muslims, but later his jurisdiction widened and embraced the supervision of Awqaf.
They were appointed by the central government. The Qazis were completely independent of governors. The chief Qazi was also the Sultan’s legal adviser in matters relating to Shariah.

Most of the Sultans took steps to uphold the prestige of Qazi. Even the powerful Sultan like Ale-ud-Din Khilji in spite of condemnation by Mughis ud Din rewarded Qazi with a Khilafat. The main reason of independent judiciary was the pressure of public opinion.
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