History Quiz: Delhi Sultanate (Political and Administrative policies) | 14th Dec, 2020

The inability of the Sultanate to effectively harness the agrarian resources of its North Indian territories to sustain its political ambitions was evident in its relentless military campaigns in search of loot and plunder.
Ala-ud-din’s campaigns into Devagiri (1296, 1307, 1314), Gujarat (1299–1300), Ranthambhor (1301), Chittor (1303) and Malwa (1305) were meant to proclaim his political and military power as well as to collect loot from the defeated kingdoms. It was with the same plan that he unleashed his forces into the Deccan.
The first target in the peninsula was Devagiri in the western Deccan. Ala-ud-din sent a large army commanded by Malik Kafur in 1307 to capture Devagiri fort.
Following Devagiri, Prataparudradeva, the Kakatiya ruler of Warangal in the Telengana region, was defeated in 1309. In 1310 the Hoysala ruler Vira Ballala III surrendered all his treasures to the Delhi forces.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 169.

Qutb-ud-din Aibak was enslaved as a boy and sold to Sultan Muhammad Ghori at Ghazni. Impressed with his ability and loyalty the Sultan elevated him to the rank of viceroy of the conquered provinces in India.
Muhammad Bin Bhakthiyar Khalji, a Turkish general from Afghanistan assisted him in conquering Bihar and Bengal.
Qutb-ud-din Aibak reigned for four years (1206 to 1210 CE) and died in 1210 in Lahore in an accident while playing chaugan.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 165.

In the Delhi Sultanate, nobles were drawn from different tribes and nationalities like the Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Egyptian and Indian Muslims.
Iltutmish organized a Corps of Forty, all drawn from Turkish nobility and selected persons from this Forty for appointments in military and civil administration. The Corps of Forty became so powerful to the extent of disregarding the wishes of Iltutmish, and after his death, to place Rukn-ud-Din Firoz on the throne.
Razziya sought to counter the influence of Turkish nobles and defend her interest by organizing a group of non-Turkish and Indian Muslim nobles under the leadership of Yakut, the Abyssinian slave. This was naturally resented by the Turkish nobles, who got both of them murdered.
Thus in the absence of rule of primogeniture, the nobles sided with any claimants to the throne and either helped in the choice of the Sultan or contributed to the de-stabilization of the regime. The nobles were organized into several factions and were constantly engaged in conspiracies.
Balban therefore abolished the Corps of Forty and thereby put an end to the domination of “Turkish nobles”. Alauddin Khalji also took stern measures against the “Turkish nobles” by employing spies to report to him directly on their clandestine and perfidious activities.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 170.

Ala-ud-din was the first Sultan to pay his soldiers in cash rather than give them a share of booty. As the soldiers were paid less, the prices had to be monitored and controlled. Moreover, Ala-ud-din had to maintain a huge standing army.
In order to restrict prices of essential commodities, Ala-ud-din set up an elaborate intelligence network to collect information on black-marketing and hoarding. The transactions in the bazaars, the buying and selling and the bargains made were all reported to the Sultan by his spies.
Market superintendents, reporters and spies had to send daily reports on the prices of essential commodities. Violators of the price regulations were severely punished. If any deficiency in weight was found, an equal weight of flesh was cut from the seller’s body and thrown down before his eyes!
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 170.

Equally innovative was Muhammad Tughlaq’s scheme to expand cultivation. But it also failed miserably. It coincided with a prolonged and severe famine in the Doab. The peasants who rebelled were harshly dealt with.
The famine was linked to the oppressive and arbitrary collection of land revenue. The Sultan established a separate department (Diwan-i-Amir Kohi) to take care of agriculture. Loans were advanced to farmers for purchase of cattle, seeds and digging of wells but to no avail.
Officers appointed to monitor the crops were not efficient; the nobility and important officials were of diverse background. Besides, the Sultan’s temperament had also earned him a lot of enemies.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 172.

Timur appointed Khizr Khan as his deputy to oversee Timurid interests in the Punjab marches. Khizr Khan (1414-21) went on to seize Delhi and establish the Sayyid dynasty (1414–51).
The Sayyid dynasty established by Khizr Khan had four sultans ruling up to 1451. The early Sayyid Sultans ruled paying tribute to Timur’s son. Their rule is marked for the composing of Tarikh-i- Mubarak Shahi by Yahiya bin Ahmad Sirhindi. By the end of their rule the empire was largely confined to the city of Delhi.
In the entire history of the Delhi Sultanate there was only one Sultan who voluntarily abdicated his throne and moved to a small town away from Delhi, where he lived for three full decades in contentment and peace. He was Alam Shah of the Sayyid dynasty.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 174.

The Delhi Sultanate deserves to be considered an all-India empire. Virtually all of India, except Kashmir and Kerala at the far ends of the subcontinent, and a few small tracts in between them had come under the direct rule of Delhi towards the close of Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s rule.
There were no well-defined and accepted rules of royal succession and therefore contested succession became the norm during the Sultanate. The Sultans required the holders of iqta’s (called muqtis or walis) to maintain troops for royal service out of the taxes collected by them. Certain areas were retained by the Sultans under their direct control (khalisa). It was out of the revenue collected from such areas that they paid the officers and soldiers of the sultan’s own troops (hashm-i qalb).
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 175.

The Lodi Dynasty was established by Bahlol Lodi (1451–1489) whose reign witnessed the conquest of Sharqi Kingdom (Bengal). It was his son Sikander Lodi (1489–1517) who shifted the capital from Delhi to Agra in 1504. The last Lodi ruler Ibrahim Lodi was defeated by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat, which resulted in the establishment of Mughal Dynasty.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 174.

The last Tughlaq ruler was Nasir-ud-din Muhammad Shah (1394–1412), whose reign witnessed the invasion of Timur from Central Asia. Turkish Timur, who could claim a blood relationship with the 12thcentury great Mongol Chengiz Khan, ransacked Delhi virtually without any opposition.
On hearing the news of arrival of Timur, Sultan Nasir-ud-din fled Delhi. Timur also took Indian artisans such as masons, stone cutters, carpenters whom he engaged for raising buildings in his capital Samarkhand.
Nasir-ud-din managed to rule up to 1412. Then the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties ruled the declining empire from Delhi till 1526.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 174.

Jizya is a tax levied and collected per head by Islamic states on non-Muslim subjects living in their land. In India, Qutb-ud-din Aibak imposed jizya on non-Muslims for the first time. Jizya was abolished by the Mughal ruler Akbar in 16th century but was re-introduced by Aurangzeb in the 17th century.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 174.