1. ADMINISTRATION
Sultan
(i) Included Caliph in the khutba and pledged allegiance to him, but this was a moral position and not a legal one. Political, legal and military authority was vested in the sultan.
(ii) Judges were appointed for dispensing justice and sultan acted as a court of appeal.
No clear law of succession developed because idea of primogeniture was not acceptable either to hindus or muslims.
(iii) Military strength and loyalty of nobility were main factors in succession to the throne, and both could be bought.
(iv) Khaljis built a new town called Siri after deposing Balban since they feared public opinion.
Central Administration
(i) The Sultan was the head of the empire. He possessed vast powers. Also, other officials were appointed to take care of the administration.
(ii) Key figure = wazir. HE was earlier a military expert but considered an epert in revenue affairs by 14th century. Auditor general (scrutinizing expenditure) and accountant general (inspecting income) worked under the wazir.
(iii) Ministers to Sultan
- Wazir - Prime Minister and Finance Minister
- Diwani-I-Risalt - Foreign Affairs Minister
- Sadr-us-Suddar - Minister of Islamic Law
- Diwan-l-lnsha - Correspondence Minister
- Diwan-I-Ariz - Defence or War Minister
- Qazi-ul-quzar- Minister of Justice
(iv) Diwani-i-arz = military department. Head = ariz-i-mamalik; not commander-in-chief but tasked with recruitment, equipping and paying the army. Setup for the first time by Balban.
(v) Alauddin introduced dagh (branding) system so that poor quality horses could not be brought to the muster.
(vi) Diwan-i-risalat = department of religious matters, pious foundations and stipends to scholars. Head = chief sadr, who was also a leading qazi.
(vii) Chief Qazi = Head of Dept. Of Justice. Qazi = dispensed civil law based on sharia. Criminal justice system depended on the ruler of the time.
(viii) Hindus were governed by their own personal laws dispensed by panchayats in the villages.
(ix) Diwan-i-insha = state correspondence department. Informal and formal communication between the king and other sovereigns as well as the king's subordinates was handled through this division.
(x) Barids = intelligence agents deployed around the kingdom. Nobleman with full confidence of the king would be appointed Chief Barid.
(xi) Household department = looked after comforts of sultan and the women, supervised royal workshops. Officer-in-charge = wakil-i-dar.
Local Administration
(i) Turks divided territory into iqtas which were divided among leading nobles = muqtis/walis. These tracts later became provinces = subas.
(ii) Muqtis maintained law and order and collected land revenue. Maintained army from that revenue and gave a portion to the king. With increasing power of sultan, muqtis were supervised more closely, accounts were audited and harsh punishments were meted out for misappropriation. Such harsh punishments were phased out by Firuz Shah Tughlaq.
(iii) Subas (provinces) Shiqs (“districts) Parganas (“a group of 100 or 84 villages; called Chaurasi)
(iv) Subas under muqtis, parganas under Amils. Village had khut (landowners) and muqaddam (headman).
(v) Accountant = oatwari
Judicial Administration
(i) The Sultan was the highest judicial authority.
(ii) Qazi-ul-quzar-the Chief Judicial officer.
(iii) A Quazi was appointed in every town.
(iv) Criminals were punished severely.
Military Administration
(i) The Sultan was the Commander of the army
(ii) The four divisions of the army were
- The Royal army
- Provincial or Governor's army
- Feudal army and
- War Time army
2. ECONOMIC & SOCIAL LIFE: Little is known but Ibn-Battuta, a resident of Tangier (Africa) visited india in 14th century and stayed at MBT's court for 8 years. Left behind a colourful account. Soil was fertile and bore two, sometimes three, crops. Sesame, sugarcane and cotton formed the basis for industries like oil pressing, jiggery production, weaving etc.
Peasants and Rural Gentry:
(i) Khuts and muqaddams enjoyed a higher standard of life compared to other peasants. They were prosperous enough to ride costly horses and wear fine cloothes. Alauddin took stern action against them and curtailed their privileges.
(ii) Autonomous raias or Hindu Rais enjoyed high standard of life
Trade, industry and Merchants:
(i) Trade increased due to improvement in communication and establishment of currency based on silver tanka and copper dirham.
(ii) Sultanate was a flourishing urban economy. Bengal, Cambay were famous for textiles, gold and silver. Sonargaon was famous for raw silk and muslin. Paper manufacturing was introduced in India by Turks. Spinning wheel was introduced, as was the cotton carter's bow (dhunia).
(iii) Trading groups involved:
(a) Coastal trade and trade b/w ports and north India = Marwaris and Gujaratis, most Jain. Muslim Bohras too.
(b) Overland trade with central and west asia = Multanis (hindus) and Khurasanis (afghans, Iranians etc.)
(c) Gujarati and Marwari merchants spent large sums for construction of temples. Lived lavish lifestyles and lived in manors.
(iv) Travel was risky due to robbers, dacoits and marauding tribes. Many sarais were there for comfort of travellers. MBT built a road from Peshawar to Sonargaon (Bengal) and also from Delhi to Daulatabad. Horse relays were used for delivering posts, fruits for the sultan etc.
(v) Economic life quickened. Growth of metallurgical industries and metal crafts due to large scale use of armour etc. Rahat was improved and made it easier to lift water from deeper levels for irrigation. Improved mortar enabled Turks to erect larger buildings based on arch and dome.
Sultan and Nobles:
(i) Lived opulent lifestyle.
(ii) Sultan gave numerous gifts to nobles during his birthday, navroz and annual coronation day.
(iii) Robes consisted of cloth velvet and costly materials. Royal workshops manufactured goods for use of sultan.
(iv) They also catered to haram = chamber containing queens, female relatives and women from various countries.
Town Life:
(i) Many towns grew around military garrisons.
(ii) Government servants and clerks had to read and write. Since education was in the hands of Muslim theologians = ulama, both of them shared identical views.
(iii) Beggars formed a large mass and could create law and order problems.
(iv) Slaves and domestic servants formed a sizeable proportion of population. Positions of different types of slaves has been discussed in Hindu shastras.
(v) Slave markets existed in India as well as West Asia. They were used for personal service, as artisans or as some skilled labourers. Slaves were better off than domestic seevants since the masters were obliged to provide food and shelter to the former. Slaves were allowed to marry and own personal property.
(vi) Medieval society contained many inequalities.
Caste, social manners and customs:
(i) No change. Brahmanas dominated, but were allowed to engage in agriculture since officiating at sacrifices did not generate enough income. Shudras were supposed to serve other castes but allowed to carry out any occupation except dealing in liquor and meat. Forbidden to listen to or recite Vedas, but not Puranas. Severest restrictions placed on mingling with chandalas or outcastes.
(ii) Little change in position of women. Widow remarriage prohibited. Annulment allowed in special circumstances. Early marriage for girls continued. Sati was prevalent in different regions of the country, but with permission of Sultan. Property rights of women improved under Hindu law.
(iii) Practice of Purdah became widespread among upper class women, both Hindu and Muslim. This may have been done to prevent capture of women by invaders. Most important reason was social - purdah signified upper class.
(iv) Muslim society remained divided into racial and ethnic groups. Turks, Iranians, Afghanis and Indian muslims did not inter-marry. Hindu and muslim upper classes did not interact much due to superiority of latter and restrictions on intermarrying and interdining. But there was no closure of interaction, several opportunities were there since hindus assistants were hired by muslim nobles and vice versa. Some tensions were created from time to time and this slowed down the process of mutual understanding and cultural assimilation.
Nature of State
(i) Turkish state was militaristic and aristocratic.
(ii) Formally Islamic. Rulers did not violate Islamic law and granted places of importance to Islamic divines and granted rent-free revenue generating lands to them. However, the divines were not allowed to hold sway over State's policies. Sultans had to supplement Muslim law with their own regulations (zawabit). So Barani refused to acknowledge State as Islamic but insisted that it was based on secular considerations (jahandari).
(iii) Hindus were regarded as protected people (zimmis) who accepted muslim rule and agreed to pay Jizyah. Actually, a tax in lieu of military service and levied according to one's capacity. Women, children, dependents and initially, even Brahmanas were exempt. Collected along with land revenue and indistinguishable from it.
(iv) Later, Firuz made Jizyah a separate tax and levied it on brahmanas. Could not be attributed as a tool for conversion to Islam. Medieval states were not based on the idea of equality, but on the notion of privileges.
Religious Freedom:
(i) In early phase of conquest, many Hindu temples were sacked and plundered and religious justification given for it. Many temples were converted into mosques.
Examples = Quwwat-ul-islam mosque near Qutab Minar was a Vishnu temple. Inner sanctums were pulled down and a screen of arches containing Quranic verses was put up.
(ii) Turks built new mosques but no new temples were built because sharia prohibited new places of worship in opposition to Islam. Repair of old temples was allowed since buildings could not last forever. So, temples could be erected in villages and private homes, where there was no Islam. This was revoked in war times. Policy of broad tolerance was maintained despite protests from orthodox theology.
(iii) Simultanously, there were instances of conversion of Muslims to Hinduism. Chaitanya converted several muslims even though the theology considered apostasy to be a capital punishment. Conversions were not done by sword. Rulers realised Hindu faith was too strong to be destroyed by force. Conversions to Islam were done in hopes of political gain or social improvement. Saintly character of sufi saints created a receptive climate for islam. Discrimination to lower castes of hinduism did not result in conversions to islam.
