Administration, Revenue and Military of the Sultanate

Prerequisites

• Foundation, Mamluks and Khaljis: which Sultan introduced which institution
• Tughlaqs, Sayyids and Lodis: Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s and Firuz Shah’s measures
• Kalachuri Administration and Revenue: a useful comparison with the contemporary system in Chhattisgarh

The Hook: Why Was Grain Cheap in Alauddin’s Delhi?

Why it matters: Prelims tests matching departments with their functions and taxes with their meanings. Mains asks you to explain the iqta system and to evaluate Alauddin’s market reforms.

Nature of the State

• The Sultan (सुल्तान) was the supreme military, executive, legislative and judicial authority. There was no fixed law of succession: nomination, the nobles’ choice and force all decided it.
• In theory the Sultan ruled under the Sharia and acknowledged the Caliph (Iltutmish’s investiture, 1229). In practice Sultans also made zawabit (state regulations), a term used by Ziauddin Barani in his Fatawa-i-Jahandari. Alauddin openly governed by “the needs of the state”.
• The ulema (Muslim scholars and jurists) influenced justice, education and religious policy, but strong Sultans (Balban, Alauddin, Muhammad bin Tughlaq) limited them, while Firuz Shah leaned on them.
• The state was military and centralised: it depended on the army and on a nobility of military commanders.

Central Administration

graph TD
    S["Sultan"] --> W["Wazir
Diwan-i-Wizarat
finance, revenue"]
    S --> A["Ariz-i-Mamalik
Diwan-i-Arz
army"]
    S --> I["Dabir-i-Mamalik
Diwan-i-Insha
royal correspondence"]
    S --> R["Sadr-us-Sudur
Diwan-i-Risalat
religious affairs, grants"]
    S --> Q["Qazi-ul-Quzat
Diwan-i-Qaza
justice"]
    W --> M1["Mustaufi-i-Mamalik
auditor-general"]
    W --> M2["Mushrif-i-Mamalik
accountant-general"]
    S --> B["Barid-i-Mamalik
news and intelligence"]

Special departments created by particular Sultans

Provincial and Local Administration: the Iqta System

What an iqta was

An iqta (इक़्ता) was an assignment of the land revenue of a territory to a noble or officer, in place of a cash salary. The holder was called the muqti or iqtadar (a large province was held by a wali). In return he had to:

• Maintain troops for the Sultan and bring them when called.
• Keep order in the territory.
• Send the surplus revenue (beyond his own and his troops’ pay) to the central treasury.

Iltutmish organised the system across the Sultanate’s territories; it originated in the wider Islamic world.

Below the province: In the 14th century, larger units were divided into shiqs under a shiqdar, and further into groups of villages (later called parganas). At village level, the khut, muqaddam and chaudhuri were hereditary headmen who helped collect revenue, and the patwari kept village accounts. Alauddin curtailed the privileges of the khuts and muqaddams.

Revenue and Taxation

Alauddin’s land-revenue reforms

• Revenue assessed on measurement (masahat) of cultivated land, using the biswa as the unit.
• State demand fixed at half the produce, collected largely in kind in the Doab, so that grain flowed into state granaries.
• Intermediaries curbed: the khuts, muqaddams and chaudhuris lost their special privileges and had to pay like everyone else.
• Diwan-i-Mustakhraj recovered arrears; corrupt revenue officials were punished severely.

Alauddin’s Market Control

The Military

• Standing army: Alauddin was the first Sultan to maintain a large permanent army at the capital paid in cash from the treasury, rather than relying mainly on iqtadars’ troops.
• Dagh (दाग़): branding of horses to stop soldiers from presenting inferior or borrowed horses at inspection.
• Huliya / chehra: a descriptive roll of each soldier, to prevent proxy soldiers.
• Composition: cavalry was the core arm; war elephants were valued and controlled as a royal monopoly; the troops at the centre were called the hashm-i-qalb.
• Balban reorganised the Diwan-i-Arz; Firuz Shah let soldiers send substitutes and made army posts hereditary, weakening it.

Economy and Society in Brief

• Urban growth: Delhi became one of the largest cities in the Islamic world; trade linked north India with Central and West Asia.
• Coinage: Iltutmish’s silver tanka and copper jital; Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s token currency; Bahlul Lodi’s Bahluli.
• Technology: historians associate the period with the wider spread of the Persian wheel (saqiya) for irrigation, the spinning wheel (charkha), the carder’s bow and paper.
• Religious life: the Sufi silsilas (Chishti, Suhrawardi) and the Bhakti saints flourished in this period. See Bhakti and Sufi Movements.

Memory Tricks

Don’t Confuse

Common Mistakes

Practice

All questions below are original practice questions in CGPSC style. They are not previous-year questions.

Level 1: Foundation

1. The head of the Diwan-i-Arz was called the ______.
2. Land whose revenue went directly to the Sultan’s treasury was called ______.
3. Alauddin Khalji fixed the land revenue demand at ______ of the produce.

Level 2: Prelims MCQs

Q1. Consider the following statements about the iqta system of the Delhi Sultanate:

1. The iqtadar was given ownership of the land assigned to him.
2. The iqtadar had to maintain troops for the Sultan.
3. Firuz Shah Tughlaq made iqtas hereditary.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 and 2 only
• (b) 2 only
• (c) 2 and 3 only
• (d) 1, 2 and 3

Q2. Match List I (Department) with List II (Function):

• (a) A-2, B-1, C-4, D-3
• (b) A-2, B-4, C-1, D-3
• (c) A-4, B-2, C-1, D-3
• (d) A-2, B-4, C-3, D-1

Q3. In Alauddin Khalji’s market system, the Sarai-i-Adl was:

• (a) The grain market
• (b) The market for cloth and other manufactured goods
• (c) The market for horses and cattle
• (d) The court that tried dishonest merchants

Q4. Which of the following was not among the taxes associated with the Delhi Sultanate?

• (a) Kharaj
• (b) Khams
• (c) Chauth
• (d) Zakat

Q5. The practice of dagh in Alauddin Khalji’s army refers to:

• (a) Paying soldiers through revenue assignments
• (b) Branding horses to prevent fraud at inspection
• (c) Keeping a descriptive roll of every soldier
• (d) A tax on soldiers’ booty

Level 3: Mains Answer Writing

Q1. (60 words) What was the iqta system?

Q2. (150–200 words) Critically evaluate the market reforms of Alauddin Khalji.

Quick Revision Table

Key Takeaways

What’s Next

• Art, Architecture and Literature: the monuments these revenues paid for
• The Mughal Empire: how the mansab–jagir system grew out of Sultanate practice
• Public Administration: modern principles to compare with historical systems
• Delhi Sultanate — Quick Revision