Delhi Sultanate

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Delhi Sultanate

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Measures against Nobility
Alauddin realised that it was important to crush the powers of the nobles. He took the
following steps against his nobles:
Nobles were forbidden to organise any party or intermarry without the prior permission of the
Sultan. Gambling was prohibited. This was done to ensure that the nobles do not gather and
conspire against him.
Nobles were not allowed to maintain armies.
Drinking wine was also banned.
An efficient spy system was set up. Spies reported every activity of the nobles to the Sultan.
Land grants which were given to the nobles by the previous rulers were taken back from them.
New grants of land were made, but the landholders were only allowed to collect the revenues
from the land and were not entitled to impose any additional taxes on the peasants.
Military Reforms
Alauddin .introduced various reforms to make the army efficient and disciplined. These were
He was the first Sultan of Delhi who laid the foundation of a permanent standing army.
He introduced the system of maintaining the descriptive roll of soldiers (chehre) and the
branding of horses (dagh).
He built new forts and repaired old ones.
Spies were employed in every army unit. Soldiers were paid regular salaries in cash.
Revenue Reforms
Alauddin .had maintained a huge army. To meet the expenses of such a huge army, he
introduced many revenue reforms. These were
The land was carefully measured and the taxes to be paid to the state were fixed.
Taxes were collected by the revenue officers who were appointed for this purpose.
The revenue to be paid was increased from one-third to half and had to be paid in cash.
The Tughlaq Dynasty
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The Khilji dynasty came to an end when Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq, the Governor of Dipalpur,
became the Sultan of Delhi.
He was succeeded by his son Muhammad bin Tughlaq.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq


Muhammad bin Tughlaq was one of the most remarkable rulers of his age.
He was a great scholar and a lover of Persian literature, music, fine arts and calligraphy.
He is known for some of his schemes and policies which failed disastrously over a period of
time.
Transfer of Capital
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Muhammad bin Tughlaq transferred his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad.
He did this primarily because of two reasons:
Daulatabad was centrally located and was equidistant from Delhi and other important places.
Because Delhi was within the reach of the Mongols, Daulatabad appeared to be at a safe
distance from possible Mongol attacks in the future.
It is said that he ordered most people of Delhi to shift to Daulatabad.
There was resentment among the people as they did not want to shift from Delhi.
Because the 1,500 km journey was arduous, many people died on the way, and the survivors
were not able to adjust to the new conditions.
Without the king, Delhi now became prone to Mongol attacks. Later, Muhammad bin Tughlaq
shifted his capital back to Delhi.
Token Currency
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Muhammad bin Tughlaq is criticised for his failed experiment with the token currency.
The scarcity of silver and the abundance of copper and bronze prompted the Sultan to issue
copper coins bearing the same value as that silver coins.
However, the new copper coins bearing the same value as the silver coins did not have any
complicated designs and they could be easily forged.
People started minting coins in their houses.
The forged copper coins flooded the markets.
The situation became worse when the traders and merchants refused to accept these coins.
The economy came to a standstill. Realising his folly, Muhammad bin Tughlaq issued genuine
silver coins in place of the copper coins.
This further drained the royal treasury.
Taxation in Doab
Doab is a fertile alluvial tract lying between Rivers Ganga and Yamuna.
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Muhammad Tughlaq increased the taxes in the Doab region as he was in need of money for
raising a large army.
Unfortunately, the increase in taxes coincided with a severe famine in the region.
The tax collectors however showed no signs of mercy and ruthlessly collected taxes.
Unable to pay the taxes, peasants abandoned their lands and fled to forests.
When the plight of peasants reached Muhammad Tughlaq, he ordered several relief measures.
He opened free kitchens and distributed free grains.
However, these measures came too late and agriculture greatly suffered in the region. Thus, his
scheme of taxation in Doab failed.
Plan of Conquests
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Muhammad bin had an ambition of conquering the world.
He thus organised a strong army and paid them one full year’s salary in advance.
He decided to annex Khurasan, Persia and Iraq.
However, because of financial pressures following the failure of taxation in Doab and the token
currency, he abandoned the project and disbanded the army.
Administration of the Delhi Sultanate
The administration under the Turks was highly centralised as all executive, legislative and judicial
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powers were centred in the hands of the king.
The Sultan was assisted by several ministers. Wazir was the Prime Minister who supervised the
works of various ministers.
The minister in charge of the army was known as ‘Ariz-i-mumalik’. His main responsibility was to
recruit, equip and pay the army men.
The king was the commander-in-chief of the army.
Some important departments were the diwan-i-risalat and the diwan-i-insha. While the former
dealt with religious matters, the latter dealt with state correspondence.
The qazi was the head of the department of justice and advised the sultan on civil and religious
matters.
The empire during the Delhi Sultanate Period was divided into various provinces known as ‘iqtas’.
Each province was placed under a ‘muqti’.
The provinces were further divided into paranganas or districts.
The muqaddam was a village headman who looked after the affairs of the village.
The ‘patwari’ maintained the records of the land and the ‘mushrif’ was the village accountant.
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Each village had a panchayat to settle local disputes.
During the Delhi Sultanate period, the practice of giving grants of revenues in the form of
territory came to be known as the ‘iqta system’.
The persons to whom iqtas were given were known as ‘iqtadars’.
They also maintained troops of soldiers to be used by the Sultan during wars.
They paid salaries to soldiers through the revenues received by them from the iqta which was
granted to them by the king.

Nobles
The nobles formed an extremely powerful group as they held positions of provincial governors
and military commanders.

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