Do You know about the Economic and Social Life Under the Delhi Sultanat ?
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GOVERNMENT, AND ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL LIFE UNDER THE DELHI SULTANAT
No clear law of succession developed among Muslim rulers. The Islamic theory adhered to the idea of the election of the ruler, but accepted in practice the succession of any son of a successful ruler. However, all the sons of a ruler were considered to have an equal claim to the throne. Iltutmish even nominated a daughter in preference to his sons.
The most important department of state, next to the wazir was arz or the military department.
Alauddin introduced the branding system ( dagh ) of the horses so that the soldiers may not bring horses of poor quality to the muster.
Alauddin was the first sultan who paid his soldiers fully in cash.
Qazis dispensed civil law based on the Muslim law. The Hindus were governed by their own personal laws wich were dispensed by panchayats in the villages.
The rulers posted intelligence agents called barids in different parts of the empire to keep them informed of what was going on.
Turks divided the country into a number of tracts called iqtas which were parcelled out among the leading nobles. The holders of these offices were called muqtis or walis. It were these tracts which later became provinces or subas.
Below the provinces were the shiqs and below them the pargana.
Villages were grouped into units of 100 to 84 ( traditionally called chaurasi). This was the basis of the parganas. The pargana was headed by the amil.
The most important persons in the village were the landowners/landlords or zamindars ( khuts ) and muqaddam or headmen.
Village accountant was called patwari.
Ibn Battutah, a resident of North Africa, visited India in the 14th century and lived at the court of Muhammad Tughlaq for 8 years.
A section which enjoyed a high standard of life were the Hindu rais or autonomous rajas.
Turks manufactured paper. The art of manufacturing paper had been discovered by the Chinese in the Second century.
Fine cotton cloth was called muslin.
India exported textiles to West Asia.
Fine Indian textiles were introduced to China as well where it was valued more than silk.
From West Asia, India imported high grade textiles, glassware and horses. From China, it imported raw silk and porcelain.
Ivory was imported from Africa and spices from Southeast Asia.
Since India had a favourable trade balance, gold and silver came to India from these countries.
The coastal trade was in the hands of Marwaris and Gujaratis and Muslim Bohra merchants.
The overland trade with Central and West Asia was in the hands of Multans, who were mostly Hindus but included Muslims.
An important development by the Turks was the improvement of the rahat ( wheel ) so that water could be lifted from a deeper level for irrigation.
All the women relations of the sultan, including his mother, aunts, etc also lived in the haram.
The growth of purdah has been attributed to the fear of the Hindu women being captured by the invaders. Perhaps, the most important factor for the growth of purdah was social-it became a symbol of the higher classes in society and all those who wanted to be considered respectable tried to copy it.
The Muslim society remained divided into ethnic and racial groups. The Turks, Iranians, Afghans and Indian Muslims raely married each other.
The sultans had to supplement the Muslim law by framing their own regulations ( zawabit ).
The state in India was not truly Islamic, but one based on worldy or secular considerations ( jahandari).
From the time of the Arab invasion of Sind, Hindu subjects had been given the status of zimmis or protected people i.e those who accepted the Muslim rule and agreed to pay tax called
At first, jizyah was collected along with land revenue. In fact it was difficult to distinguish jizyah from land revenue since all the cultivators were Hindus. Later, Firuz made jizyah a separate tax. Jizyah by itself could not be a means to force the Hindus to convert to Islam.
Conversions to Islam were not effected with the strength of the sword. The Muslim rulers had realised the Hindu faith was too strong to be destroyed.
