Delhi Sultanate: Administration, Society, and Economy

🕌 Nature of the State

Let us begin with a fundamental understanding:
The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic State.

Now, what does that mean in practical terms?

The Sultans of Delhi — many of whom were Turkish by origin — wanted to ensure that the Islamic character of the state was clearly visible. Their ideal was to govern in accordance with Islamic principles—especially the Sharia, or the Holy Law of Islam. Of course, applying the Sharia in its entirety was not always practical in a diverse subcontinent like India, but the aspiration was there.

👑 The Sultan: Supreme Authority

The Sultan was not just a king in the conventional sense. His position was supreme — both in theory and practice. Let’s see how:

Symbolic Link with the Caliphate

Many Delhi Sultans referred to themselves as “Lieutenant of the Faithful” — Naib-e-Amir-ul-Momineen. This meant that they considered themselves to be the representatives of the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad.

✳️ But here’s the catch — this was only symbolic.
The Caliph held no actual authority over Delhi. His position was moral, not political.

Why did the Sultans do this?

Because by acknowledging the Caliph, they were associating themselves with the wider Islamic world, giving their rule religious legitimacy in the eyes of their Muslim subjects.

Real Powers of the Sultan

The Sultan was the supreme head of the state—politically, militarily, and legally.

He had four key responsibilities:

• Administration: Governing the vast empire with efficiency.
• Security and Law: Maintaining internal peace and protecting external borders.
• Justice: Acting as the highest court of appeal.
• Military Command: Serving as the Commander-in-Chief of all armed forces.

🔄 Succession to the Throne: No Rule, Only Rivalry

Unlike modern monarchies where the eldest son (primogeniture) automatically becomes the heir, the Delhi Sultanate had no fixed rule of succession.

What did this mean?

• All sons had equal claim — leading to conflicts, conspiracies, and even assassinations.
• The real deciding factor was not birth, but military strength.

Even when rulers tried to nominate a successor — like Iltutmish, who nominated his daughter Razia — it ultimately depended on whether the nobility accepted that nomination.

🎯 Hence, military capability + nobles’ approval = actual succession.

🏛️ Central Administration: Organized but Flexible

The Sultan did not govern alone. He was assisted by various departments (Diwans), each headed by an important official.

Department	Head	Key Role
Diwan-i-Wizarat (Finance)	Wazir (Prime Minister)	Most powerful after the Sultan; controlled revenue and expenditure.
Diwan-i-Ariz (Military)	Ariz-i-Mumalik	Separate department for army affairs; introduced under Balban.
Diwan-i-Risalat (Religious Affairs)	Chief Sadr	Managed religious grants, stipends to scholars, maintenance of mosques and madrasas.
Diwan-i-Insha (Correspondence)	Dabir-i-Mumalik	Handled official communication, both internal and external.
Diwan-i-Qaza (Justice)	Chief Qazi	Oversaw the judicial system.
Diwan-i-Mustakharaj (Arrears Recovery)	–	Founded by Alauddin Khalji to recover revenue arrears.
Diwan-i-Riyasat (Commerce)	Rais-i-Mumalik	Also by Alauddin Khalji; regulated market prices and supplies.
Diwan-i-Amir-i-Kohi (Agriculture)	–	Established by Muhammad bin Tughlaq to promote agriculture.
Diwan-i-Khairat (Charity)	–	Founded by Firuz Shah Tughlaq for welfare of orphans and widows.
Diwan-i-Bandagan (Slaves)	–	Firuz Tughlaq again; looked after slaves.
Diwan-i-Isthiaq (Pensions)	–	Firuz Tughlaq; provided pensions to the needy and retired officials.

🧠 Insight: Over time, as rulers like Alauddin Khalji, Muhammad bin Tughlaq, and Firuz Tughlaq expanded governance, they also innovated new departments to meet emerging needs.

⚖️ Judicial Administration: Dual System

The judicial system under the Delhi Sultanate was a dual legal structure — one for Muslims and another for non-Muslims.

A. Civil Matters:

• Muslims: Governed by Sharia law, implemented by Qazis.
• Hindus: Governed by their own customary laws, often decided by:
  • Panchayats in villages
  • Caste leaders in localities

B. Criminal Law:

Here, the Sultan’s regulations took precedence — not religious law.

So crimes like theft, rebellion, or murder were judged according to state-made laws — not necessarily Sharia.

📌 Note: This approach shows that pragmatism often prevailed over orthodoxy — especially in a culturally diverse empire.

🏙️ Local Administration: Iqta System and Decentralised Control

Let’s begin by understanding the ground-level governance of the Delhi Sultanate.

Unlike modern centralized governments, the Delhi Sultans controlled only a few key cities directly. Most of the territories were handed over to military officers who acted as governors. This was known as the Iqta system, which is central to understanding how the Sultanate functioned.

⚔️ What is an Iqta?

• Iqta refers to a land grant or assignment, given to a military commander.
• The person who received the iqta was known by multiple titles:
  • Iqtadar,
  • Muqti, or
  • Wali.

These lands later evolved into what we would call provinces or subas in later administrative terms.

📜 Role and Responsibility of Muqti (Iqtadar)

In the early phase of the Sultanate, muqtis were semi-autonomous, almost like independent lords. But their primary duty was clear:

• Lead military expeditions
• Maintain law and order
• Collect revenue from their assigned iqta

Now here’s where it gets interesting — the revenue collected wasn’t fully handed over to the state. It was distributed in three parts:

1. Pay salaries to their soldiers
2. Remit a fixed portion to the central treasury
3. Retain the remaining amount as their own salary (not fixed – dependent on how much revenue they collected)

🧠 So, the incentive structure was self-regulating, but also vulnerable to corruption and over-taxation.

🛑 State Attempts to Tighten Control

As time passed, especially under Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the Sultanate tried to clip the autonomy of muqtis. Here’s how:

• Appointed accountants to verify the actual revenue collected
• Fixed salaries in cash for soldiers and muqtis
• Ensured muqtis collected only official taxes
• Monitored that they maintained a fixed quota of soldiers

❗ Harsh administrative checks were introduced to prevent corruption and disloyalty.

But these stringent controls also had side effects:

• Discontent grew among muqtis
• Over time, many became strong enough to declare independence and form regional kingdoms

Later rulers like Firuz Tughlaq tried to relax these strict rules.

🔄 Ideal Controls over Muqtis

To prevent feudalism-like concentration of power, the following steps were taken:

• The iqta was not made inheritable
• Muqtis were transferred frequently to different regions

This prevented local entrenchment of power.

🗺️ Administrative Divisions: Hierarchical Structure

Let’s now understand the multi-tiered administrative hierarchy from the iqta to the village level.

Administrative Unit	Head
Iqta (Province/Suba)	Iqtadar / Muqti / Wali
Shiq (Sub-division)	Shiqdar
Pargana (Cluster of villages)	Amil and Chaudhri
Village	Muqaddam and Khot
Village Accountant	Patwari

🧠 Typically, a pargana consisted of 84 to 100 villages — the basic unit of rural governance was always the village.

🌾 Economic Administration

After the Sultanate secured military control, the next logical step was economic consolidation, especially through land revenue reforms.

🌍 Land Classification:

Land was categorized into three key types:

Land Type	Meaning
Iqta Land	Assigned to nobles/military officers instead of salary
Khalisa Land	Under direct control of the Sultan; revenue used for the royal household and army
Inam Land	Granted to religious scholars, institutions, or saints — tax-free

💰 Revenue System:

The peasantry was the economic backbone, but unfortunately, their life was harsh:

• Normally, 1/3rd of produce was paid as kharaj (land revenue)
• Sometimes, this went up to ½ of the produce!
• They also paid additional taxes (e.g., irrigation, cattle, etc.)
• Frequent famines further worsened their condition — leading to a subsistence-level existence.

📌 In short: The peasants lived in a hand-to-mouth condition under heavy taxation.

👥 Who Collected Revenue?

Initially, the state relied on local rural elites:

• Khot,
• Muqaddam, and
• Chaudhuri.

They collected revenue on behalf of the state and deposited it to the Diwan-i-Nizarat (a department under the Sultanate responsible for checking accounts).

But then came Alauddin Khalji, with radical reforms:

❌ He abolished the role of local chieftains in taxation.
✅ Made them taxpayers instead of tax-collectors!

📋 Revenue Administration under Alauddin Khalji

To make revenue collection centralised and scientific, he took the following steps:

• Measured land and categorized it
• Maintained detailed records
• Appointed dedicated revenue officials, each with specific duties:

Official	Role
Ummal (Amil)	Collected revenue
Mutasarrif	Oversaw collection at higher level
Mushrif	Record-keeper
Muhassilan	Ensured payment and compliance
Navisindagan	Prevented fraud and corruption

🎯 Alauddin’s system was aimed at breaking the feudal structure and centralizing economic power under the Sultan.

Social Life and Structure

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 A Society of Layers: The Muslim Social Hierarchy

We begin with a fundamental observation — society under the Delhi Sultanate, especially among Muslims, was not egalitarian. In fact, it was deeply hierarchical and exclusive, shaped by ethnic and racial divisions.

Let’s decode this social pyramid:

Rank	Group
🥇 Top Tier	Turks — the original conquerors and ruling elite
🥈 Second Tier	Persians and Afghans — mostly administrators, intellectuals, and soldiers
🥉 Lowest Tier	Indian Muslims — converts from Hinduism, often excluded from elite circles

🧠 Despite being part of the same faith, ethnic origin mattered more than religious identity.

⚠️ Social Exclusivity: No Intermingling

The various Muslim groups — Turks, Iranians, Afghans, and Indian converts — maintained strict social boundaries:

• They rarely intermarried
• Lived in separate communities
• Maintained separate identities

In short, the Muslim community during this time was not homogeneous, but fragmented by ethnicity, culture, and power.

🏰 Access to Power: A Matter of Birth

Now comes a crucial point — who got to participate in governance?

• Initially, the Turkish nobles monopolized high offices.
• Tajiks, Afghans, and non-Turkish Muslims were excluded from key posts.
• Only under the Tughlaq dynasty did the nobility start becoming more inclusive.

🎯 Noble birth was the most important qualification for high office — not merit.

📉 Limited Opportunities for Commoners

Let’s look at how opportunities varied:

• Common Muslims (especially in towns):
  Had some chances to join the army or get mid- to lower-level state jobs.
• Hindus:
  • Dominated the fields of trade, village administration, and rural aristocracy (landholding groups like zamindars).
  • But they had almost no access to higher state offices.

The Sultanate was not a meritocracy — it was a state where birth and ethnicity dictated your future.

💰 Jizyah: The Religious Tax on Non-Muslims

Now we come to one of the most debated features of medieval Islamic rule in India — Jizyah.

Let’s understand this:

📌 What is Jizyah?

• Jizyah was a tax levied on non-Muslims, especially Hindus, under Muslim rule.
• They were called Zimmis — i.e., protected people.
  • Protected so long as they paid the tax and accepted Muslim rule.
• It was not a land tax — it was in lieu of military service, which non-Muslims were exempt from.

💰 Who Paid and Who Didn’t?

Initially, there were exemptions:

Exempted Group	Reason
Women & Children	Not expected to serve militarily
The Poor	Couldn’t afford the tax
Brahmans	Seen as scholars and spiritual figures

⚠️ However, Firuz Tughlaq reversed this and imposed Jizyah even on Brahmans.

🧾 Issues in Collection

• In the early years, Jizyah was collected with land revenue, especially since most cultivators were Hindus. This created confusion.
• Firuz Tughlaq made Jizyah a separate tax to ensure religious distinction.

😠 Abuse and Harassment

• In some cases, theologians (ulama) used Jizyah as a tool to harass or humiliate Hindus.
• But conversion to Islam was not enforced through this tax — it was more about financial obligation than forced proselytization.

📌 In essence, Jizyah was a mark of non-equality, not necessarily of persecution.

🧠 Broader Social Philosophy: Privileges, Not Equality

Let us conclude this section with a core idea:

Medieval states, including the Delhi Sultanate, were not built on the idea of equality, but on the principle of privilege.

• Your ethnicity, religion, economic class, and birth all determined:
  • What rights you had
  • What taxes you paid
  • What offices you could hold