THE DELHI SULTANATE (1206-1526AD)

ART & ARCHITECTURE

• Aibak constructed 2 Mosques:

1. Quwwat-ul-Islam (Delhi).

2. Arhai din ka Jhonpara (Ajmer)

• He Started construction of the Qutub Minar dedicated to Sufi Saint, Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakthiyar Kaki – later completed by Iltutmish.
• He patronized Fakhar-ud-Din author of Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi & Hasan Nizami who wrote Tajul-Ma’asir, the first official history of the Delhi Sultanate.

Administration

• Separated Diwan-i-wizarat (Finance Department) from the Diwan-i-Arz (Military Department).
• Administered justice with extreme impartiality.
• He followed policy of blood& iron.
• Excluded non-Turks from administration.
• Indian Muslimsà not given important posts.
• Appointed spies to monitor the activities of the nobles.
• Introduced sijada (prostration) and paibos (kissing the Sultan’s feet) to prove his superiority over the nobles.

• Famous gateway known as Alai Darwaza, Hauz Khas, Mhal Hazaar Satoon, Jamait Khana Mosque, Alai Minar and constructed a new capital at Siri.

Military Reforms:

• 1st sultan to have large permanent standing army & paid in cash from royal treasury.
• Innovated: Chehra and Dagh system.

Ø Chehra – detailed description of each soldier

Ø Dagh– Branding of horse.

Land Revenue administration

• Revenue was half of the produce & was based on land under cultivation.
• First ruler to fix land revenue in cash. It enabled him to pay his soldiers in cash.
• Biswa was standard unit of measurement. Imposed one fifth of the produce and along with it house tax (Grahi) and pasture tax (Chari).
• Abolished Kismat-i-Khuti (Headman’s cess). Confiscated religious endowments and free lands (Inam and Wakt).
• Mukadam & khuts had to pay taxes.
• He created post of Mustakraj to collect revenue.
• He brought area surrounding to Delhi directly under the state for revenue purpose. Thus, Iqta system was not applied there.

Architecture

• In 1296, Alauddin constructed the Hauz-i-Alai.
• Alauddin built the Siri Fort & camped in Siri during the Mongol invasion in 1303.
• He built the Qasr-i-Hazar Situn palace at the Siri fort.
• Alauddin constructed the Alai Darwaza – entrance gate to Qutub Minar.

Market Reforms

• Fixed cost of all commodities. For this purpose, he set up 3 markets – one for food grains, second for costly and third for horses, slaves etc.
• He appointed Shahna-I-Mandi, Naib-I-Riyasat & Diwan-I-Riyasat to keep check on these markets.
• He also received daily reports of markets from Barids (intelligence officer) and munhiyans (secret spies).
• Not clear whether these reforms were applied to only Delhi or also to other towns.
• Reasons for Market Reforms:

Ø To enjoy the support of citizens

Ø To sustain large army with low salaries.

• Market regulations of Allauddin came to end after his death.

Muhammad Tughlaq’s

Experiments:

• Transferred capital from Delhi to Devagiri (Daulatadab). Shifted back after 2 years because of lack of water supply.
• Token Currency– Issued bronze coins at par with the value of the silver tanka coins. He had also introduced the copper currency system. Later withdrew both.
• He launched Khorasan project to counter the threat of Chinses incursions – Failed.
• Quarachi expedition – launched in Kumaon hills to counter the threat of Chinses incursions – failed.
• He set up Diwan -i- amir- kohi a separated department to extend cultivation by giving loans to cultivators (takkavi loans) – Failed due to corrupt officials.

ADMINISTRATION

• Delhi sultanate was powerful & highly centralized state, for some time it was extended till Madurai covering almost all India.
• The Sultans considered themselves as representatives of the Caliph at Baghdad (lieutenant of the faithful).
• They included the name of the Caliph in the khutba or prayer and inscribed it on their coins.
• The office of the Sultan was the most important and supreme political, military and legal authority.
• He was also the commander in chief of the military forces.
• He was also responsible for the maintenance of law & justice.
• There was no clear law of succession during this period.

CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

• Naib à most powerful à practically enjoyed all the powers of the Sultan and exercised general control over all the departments.
• Next to him à Wazir who was heading the finance department called Diwani Wizarat.
• The military department à Diwani Ariz. Headed by à Ariz-i-mumalik. Responsibility was to recruit the soldiers and administering the military department.
• Diwani Rasalat àdepartment of religious affairs. Headed by chief Sadr. Grants were made by this department for the construction and maintenance of mosques, tombs and madrasas.
• The head of the judicial department was the chief Qazi.
• Muslim personal law or sharia was followed in civil matters.
• The Hindus were governed by their own personal law and their cases were dispensed by the village panchayats.
• The criminal law was based on the rules and regulations made by the Sultans.
• The department of correspondence à called Diwani Insha. All the correspondence between the ruler and the officials was deal with by this department.
• Wakil-i-Dar – officer responsible for maintenance of proper decorum at the court.

LOCAL ADMINISTRATION

• The provinces were called iqtas under the control of muqtis or walis.
• Their duty was to maintain law and order and collect the land revenue.
• The provinces were divided into shiqs and pargana.
• The shiq was under the control of shiqdar.
• The pargana comprising number of villages was headed by amil.
• The village headman was known as muqaddam or chaudhri. The village accountant was called patwari.

ECONOMY

• The land was classified into three categories:

1. Iqta land – lands assigned to officials as iqtas instead of payment for their services.

2. Khalisa land – land under the direct control of the Sultan and the revenues collected were spent for the maintenance of royal court and royal household.

3. Inam land – land assigned or granted to religious leaders or religious institutions.

• The peasantry paid one third of their produce as land revenue, and sometimes even one half of the produce.
• Sarais or rest houses on the highways were maintained for the convenience of the travelers.
• Sericulture was introduced on a large scale.
• Bengal and Gujrat were famous for fine quality fabrics, Combay (Gujrat) was famous for textile, gold & silver work. Sonargao was famous for raw silk & muslin.
• Indian textiles were exported to China.
• The royal karkhanas supplied the goods needed to the Sultan and his household.
• Gold coins or dinars became popular during the reign of Alauddin Khalji after his South Indian conquests. Copper coins were less in number and dateless.
• Turks introduced many new crafts (manufacturing of paper) and techniques ex- use of iron stirrup, amour. It led to the growth of metallurgical industry.
• They also introduced spinning wheels.
• Postal system based on relays of horses or fast-runners was developed.

SOCIAL LIFE

• There was little change in the structure of the Hindu society during this period.
• The practice of sati was widely prevalent.
• The seclusion of women and the wearing of purdah became common among the upper-class women.
• The Arabs and Turks brought the purdah system into India and it became widespread among the Hindu women in the upper classes of north India.
• During the Sultanate period, the Muslim society remained divided into several ethnic and racial groups. The Turks, Iranians, Afghans and Indian Muslims etc. There were no intermarriages between these groups.
• Very rarely the Hindu nobles were given high position in the government.
• The Hindus were considered zimmis or protected people for which they were forced to pay a tax called jiziya.

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

• The Turks introduced: arches, domes, lofty towers or minarets and decorations using the Arabic script.
• Arch or dome was not Turkish or Muslim invention. They learned from Rome, developed and done many experiments in its use.
• Indian knew about Arch & Dome but they didn’t use on large scale.
• Turks also used slab and Beam method in buildings. They also added color to their buildings by using marbles, red and yellow sand stones.
• They used geometrical & floral designs with inscriptions containing verses of Quran. It was called Arabesque.
• They also freely borrowed Hindu motifs such as Swastik.
• Converted temples and other structures into mosques. The Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque near Qutub Minar in Delhi was built by using the materials obtained from destroying many Hindu and Jain temples.
• The palace complex called Tughlaqabad with its beautiful lake was built during the period of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq built the tomb of Ghyasuddin on a high platform.
• The Kotla fort at Delhi was the creation of Firoz Tughlaq.
• Imp features of Tughlaq architecture – Sloping walls, combined principles of arch, lintel and beam e.g. – Hauz khas, use of grey sandstone and minimum decoration.
• Lodi placed a building especially tombs on high platform.
• Some of toms are placed in midst of gardens. ex- The Lodi garden in Delhi.
• Double dome was another feature of Lodis architecture. E.g. Mothi ki Masjid (built by Sikandar Lodi).

MUSIC

• New musical instruments such as sarangi and rabab were introduced during this period.
• Amir Khusrau introduced many new ragas such as ghora and sanam.
• He evolved a new style of light music known as qwalis by blending the Hindu and Iranian systems.
• The invention of sitar was also attributed to him.
• The Indian classical work Ragadarpan was translated into Persian during the reign of Firoz Tughlaq.
• Pir Bhodan, a Sufi saint was one of the great musicians of this period. Raja Man Singh of Gwalior was a great lover of music.
• He encouraged the composition of a great musical work called Man Kautuhal.

LITERATURE

• The most famous historians of this period were Hasan Nizami, Minhaj-us-Siraj, Ziauddin Barani, and Shams-Siraj Afif.
• Barani’s Tarikhi- Firoz Shahi contains the history of Tughlaq dynasty. Minhaj-us-Siraj wrote Tabaqat-i-Nasari, a general history of Muslim dynasties up to 1260.
• Sanskrit and Persian functioned as link languages in the Delhi Sultanate.
• Zia Nakshabi was the first to translate Sanskrit stories into Persian.
• The book Tutu Nama or Book of the Parrot became popular and translated into Turkish and later into many European languages.
• The famous Rajatarangini written by Kalhana belonged to the period of Zain-ul-Abidin, the ruler of Kashmir.
• Many Sanskrit works on medicine and music were translated into Persian.
• Regional languages also developed during this period.
• Maldhar Basu, compiler of Sri-Krishna Vijaya was patronized by Bengali Sultans and was granted title of Gunaraja Khan. His son was honored with title of Satyaraja Khan.
• Chand Baradi was the famous Hindi poet of this period.
• Bengali literature had also developed and Nusrat Shah patronized the translation of Mahabharata into Bengali.