During the Sultanate of Delhi, all administrative decisions were made in accordance with Muslim laws, also known as Shariat or Islamic laws. In governmental matters, the Sultans and nobles were primarily responsible for adhering to Sharia or Islamic regulations. This time, it was rightly stated that religion had a significant impact on the Sultanate of Delhi's government. In this article, we will discuss the Administration of Delhi Sultanate which will be helpful for UPSC exam preparation.

Central Administration

The central administration of the Delhi Sultanate followed a very systematic and well-planned administration procedure that was run by different ministers who had specific work assigned to them. There were also several other departments, and the Sultan appointed their officers to carry out specific duties.

• Sultan - was the head of state and had unrestricted power in all areas of state activity.
• Naib - held a position comparable to that of the Sultan.
• Wazir - state's Prime Minister and oversaw the financial department.
• Diwan-i-arz - military department.
• Diwan-i- Risalat – Department of Religious Affairs.
• Amir-i-Majlis-Shahi - he was the minister in charge of the state's festivals, as well as all public conveniences and arrangements during festive seasons.
• Diwan-i-insha - was the minister in charge of the local correspondence of various offices.

Military Administration

• Ariz-i-Mumalik oversaw the army. Each soldier's descriptive role was kept in his office.
• He was in charge of assigning different tasks to soldiers and also of military personnel transfers.
• His office paid salaries to even court officers who held military ranks.
• He was the army's Collector General rather than its Commander-in-Chief. He wielded considerable power over the state.

Judicial Administration

• The Sultan used to convene at least twice a week to hear complaints about state officials. Qazi-i-Mumalik used to consult with the Sultan on legal matters.
• The Shariah was used to make decisions. Non-Muslims' cases were decided in accordance with their own religious laws.

Provincial Administration

• During the Sultanate period, the Sultanate was divided into lqtas (regions). The leader of iqtas is known by several names, including Muqti, Wali, and Nazim.
• The main responsibility of the Muqtis was to keep the peace, establish and extend government authority, and recover state dues.
• Governors in charge of larger or more important provinces wielded greater power.

Local Administration

• Local administration was vague and undefined, with a largely traditional system.
• The provinces were divided into six sections, each led by a shiqdar, with the main function of maintaining law and order and protecting people from zamindar oppression, as well as performing military duties.
• The shiqs were further subdivided into parganas, each with its own set of officials.

Revenue Administration

The state got five main types of revenue, according to the Shariyat. The specifics are as follows:

• Uchar: A tenth-of-a-percentage-point tax on agricultural production paid by Muslim residents.
• Kharaj: Non-Muslim citizens pay a tenth-of-a-percentage-point tax known as Kharaj.
• Jaziya: Non-Muslims are charged a fee for remaining in a Muslim state.
• Jakaq: Muslims pay a religious contribution known as jakaq.
• Khamas: The name given to 20% of the plunderer's wealth paid to the state is Khamas.

Iqta System

• The Iqtadari were a distinct type of land distribution and administrative system that developed during the Sultanate of Iltutmish.
• The entire empire was divided into several large and small tracts of land called Iqtas under this system.
• These plots of land were assigned to various nobles, officers, and soldiers for easy and flawless administration and revenue collection.
• The Iqtas were transferable, which meant that the holders of Iqtas—Iqtadars—were transferred from one region to another every three to four years.
• Individual troopers were the holders of small Iqtas. They were not in charge of anything.
• The able king Muhammad of Ghur was the first to introduce the Iqta system in India in 1206 AD, but it was lltutmish who gave it institutional form.
• During the Sultanate, the Iqtadari system underwent numerous changes. Iqta was originally a revenue-generating plot of land assigned in lieu of salary.
• However, during the reign of Firuz Shah Tughlaq in 1351 AD, it became hereditary.

Economic and Social Life

• Very little is known about the people's economic situation in the Delhi Sultanate. The historians of the time were more interested in events at the court than in the lives of ordinary people.
• However, they do occasionally inform us of commodity prices. Ibn Battutah, a North African from Tangier, visited India in the fourteenth century and spent eight years at the court of Muhammad Tughlaq.
• He travelled extensively throughout India and left a very interesting account of the country's products, including fruits, flowers, herbs, and so on, as well as the state of the roads and people's lives.
• Rice and sugarcane were grown in the east and south, and wheat, oilseeds, and other crops were grown in the north.
• According to Ibn Battutah, the soil was so fertile that it could produce two crops per year, with rice planted three times a year.
• Sesame, indigo, and cotton were also grown. They were the foundation of many village industries, including oil pressing, jaggery production, weaving and dyeing of cloth, and so on.

Peasants and Rural Gentry

• Peasants still made up the vast majority of the population. The peasant continued to work hard and eke out a living.
• There were recurring famines and wars in various parts of the country, which added to the hardships of the peasant.
• All peasants did not live at the subsistence level. Aside from the village artisans and sharecroppers, there was a more prosperous class of people who were landowners and cultivators.
• They were the village's original settlers and dominated the village panchayat. The village headmen (muqaddams) and smaller landlords (khuts) had a better standard of living.
• In addition to their own holdings, they held lands for which they received concessionary revenue.
• They sometimes misused their positions to force ordinary peasants to pay their fair share of land revenue as well.
• These people were wealthy enough to ride on expensive Arabi and Iraqi horses, wear fine clothes, and act like upper-class people. As we have seen, Alauddin Khalji dealt harshly with them and reduced many of their privileges.
• Even then, they maintained a higher standard of living than ordinary peasants. They appear to have been able to resume their separate paths following Alauddin's death.
• The Hindu rais or autonomous rajas, many of whom retained their previous estates, had a high standard of living.
• There are several references to Hindu rais visiting Balban's court. There is little doubt that these Hindu rais remained powerful even in areas directly controlled by the sultans of Delhi.

Trade, Industry and Merchants

• With the consolidation of the Delhi Sultanate and the improvement of communication, as well as the establishment of a sound currency system based on the silver tanka and the copper dirham, there was a definite growth of trade in the country, as evidenced by the growth of towns and town life.
• According to Ibn Batuta, Delhi is the largest city in the Islamic world's east. He claims that Daulatabad (Deogiri) had equaled Delhi, which is an indicator of the growth of trade between the north and south.
• Cambay (Khambaat) in Gujarat was famous for textiles and gold and silver work.
• Sonargaon in Bengal was famous for its raw silk and fine cotton cloth.
• The introduction of the spinning-wheel improved textile production because cotton could be cleaned faster and better with the use of the cotton carder's bow.
• However, the skill of the Indian craftsmen was undeniably important. During the Delhi Sultanate Period, merchants shipped Indian textiles to West Asia and Europe via the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.
• Fine Indian textiles were also introduced to China, where they were more valuable than silk.
• India imported high-quality textiles such as satin from West Asia, as well as glassware and horses. It brought raw silk and porcelain from China.
• The Arabs were the Indian merchants' dominant trading partners in the Indian Ocean.
• Marwaris and Gujaratis, many of whom were Jains, controlled the coastal trade and trade between the coastal areas and north India. This trade was also conducted by Muslim Bohra merchants.
• Multanis, who were mostly Hindus, and Khurasanis, who were Afghans and Iranians, were in charge of overland trade with Central and West Asia. Many of these merchants established themselves in Delhi.
• Another significant advancement was the advancement of the rahat, which is a type of wheel used to lift water from a deeper level for irrigation.
• Paper-making, glass-making, the spinning wheel, and an improved loom for weaving were among the other crafts.

The Sultan and the Nobles

• The Sultan and his chief nobles enjoyed a standard of living comparable to the highest standard in the world at the time, namely the standards of the ruling class in the Islamic world in West and Central Asia.
• While Europe was still trying to overcome its backwardness, the opulence and wealth of the ruling classes in the Islamic world was dazzling, and set a standard that the ruling classes in every country tried to emulate.
• Almost every sultan in India, like the Hindu rulers, built his own palace. Balban had a dazzling court that was designed to impress and awe visitors.
• The same tradition was followed by Alauddin Khalji and his successors. Ibn Battutah described the palace of Muhammad Tughlaq. Visitors to the Sultan had to pass through three lofty gates that were heavily guarded.
• He then entered the 'court of thousand pillars,' a vast hall supported by polished wooden pillars and lavishly decorated with expensive materials and furnishings. This was the location of the Sultan's public court.

Town Life: Slaves, Artisans and Others

• The Turkish ruling class was essentially an urban ruling class with a penchant for city life.
• Many of the towns grew up around military garrisons as suppliers of food, goods, and services. Many of them eventually became cultural hubs as well.
• The medieval towns had a diverse population, including many nobles and a large class of clerks running government offices, shopkeepers, artisans, beggars, and so on.
• Clerks and lower-level government officials, of course, had to be filled by people who could read and write.
• Another large section of the town was made up of slaves and domestic servants. Slavery had long existed in India, as well as in West Asia and Europe.
• The Hindu shastras discuss the position of different types of slaves—those born in the household, those purchased, those acquired, and those inherited.
• Slavery had been adopted by the Arabs and, later, by the Turks. Capture in war was the most common method of acquiring a slave.
• Skilled slaves were valued, and some rose to positions of power, as in the case of Qutbuddin Aibak's slaves. Firuz Tughlaq was also a slave collector, amassing approximately 1,80,000 of them.
• Many of them were employed in handicrafts, while others served as the Sultan's personal bodyguard. The majority of slaves, however, were used for personal service.
• It can be argued that the condition of a slave was better than that of a domestic servant because the former's master was required to provide him with food and shelter, whereas a free person could starve to death.
• Slaves were allowed to marry and own some personal property.
• It is estimated that during Firuz's reign, a family of a man, his wife, a servant, and one or two children could live on five tankas for a month.
• As a result, living costs were low for a lower-level government official or soldier. However, this did not apply to artisans and workers in the same way.
• As a result, medieval society was characterised by significant inequalities. This was reflected in Muslim society even more than in Hindu society, the latter being predominantly rural, with fewer inequalities.
• In towns, the Muslim nobility lived a life of great ostentation. Some of the wealthy merchants, both Hindu and Muslim, led ostentatious lives.
• The vast majority of people, both in towns and in the countryside, led simple lives and faced numerous hardships.
• It was not, however, a life without joy, as numerous festivals, fairs, and other events helped to relieve the monotony of their lives.

Caste, Social Manners and Customs

• During this time, there were few changes in the structure of Hindu society. The smriti writers of the time continued to elevate the Brahmans while harshly condemning the order's unworthy members.
• According to one school of thought, the Brahmans were permitted to engage in agriculture not only during times of distress, but also during normal times, because officiating at sacrifices, etc., did not provide a means of subsistence during the Kali Age.
• The smriti texts continue to emphasise that the Kshatriya's duty was to punish the wicked and cherish the good, and that the right to wield weapons for the purpose of protecting the people also belonged to him alone.
• While the shudra's highest duty was to serve the other castes, he was allowed to engage in any occupation except dealing in liquor and meat.
• The prohibition on shudras studying and reciting the Vedas was reinstated, but not on hearing the Puranas recited.
• Women's status in Hindu society changed little. The old rules requiring early marriage for girls and the wife's obligation of service and devotion to the husband remained in effect.
• Marriage annulment was permitted in exceptional circumstances, such as desertion, heinous disease, and so on.
• Widow remarriage was one of the practises prohibited during the Kali Age.
• Regarding property, the commentators upheld the widow's right to the property of a sonless husband, provided the property was not joint, i.e., had not been divided.
• The widow was not only the guardian of this property, but also had full authority over it. Thus, it appears that women's property rights have improved in Hindu law.
• During this time, the practise of keeping women in seclusion and requiring them to veil their faces in the presence of outsiders, known as purdah, became popular among upper-class women.
• The practise of shielding women from public scrutiny was popular among upper-class Hindus, and it was also popular in ancient Iran, Greece, and other places.
• During the Sultanate period, Muslim society remained divided into ethnic and racial groups. We have already noticed significant economic disparities within it.
• Turks, Iranians, Afghans, and Indian Muslims rarely marry. In fact, these sections contributed to Hindu caste exclusivity. Converts from lower caste Hindus were also discriminated against.
• The Hindu and Muslim upper classes had little social interaction during this period, partly due to the latter's superiority complex and partly due to Hindu religious restrictions on inter-marriage and interdining with them.
• The Hindu upper castes imposed the same restrictions on Muslims that they did on shudras.

Nature of the State

• The Delhi Sultanate was a theocratic state. It was founded on the power of religion and the army, and Islam was the state religion during this time period. Other religions were not recognised by the state.
• Because the rulers were Muslims and the majority of the ruled were Hindus, the rulers denied most Hindus any role in administration.
• The state of Delhi was not theocratic. It was centred on religion, but it was not founded on religion, because the primary characteristic of a theocratic state is that it is founded on the priestly class.
• The majority of the resources of the Delhi Sultanate were devoted to the spread of Islam, and the Sultan's behaviour was also governed by the Quran.
• These principles had to be followed by the Sultan during his lifetime and in the administration of the kingdom.
• A portion of the Sultanate's resources were directed toward suppressing non-Muslim activities.
• The Sultan used to perform religious duties in order to strengthen his position. For this purpose, the offices of Shaik-ul-Islam and Sadra-us-Sadra were established.
• The printing of currency in the Sultan's name and the reading of the khutba were both religious in nature, and the Sadra used to monitor the religious behaviour of the Muslim subjects.

Religious Freedom under the Sultanate

• Many cities were sacked early in the conquest, with temples being a special target, partly to justify the conquest and partly to seize the fantastic treasures they were supposed to contain.
• A number of Hindu temples were converted into mosques during this time period. The most notable example is the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque in Delhi, which is located near the Qutab Minar.
• It used to be a Vishnu temple. To convert it into a mosque, the inner sanctum containing the deity was removed, and a screen of arches containing inscribed Quranic verses was built in front of it.
• A cloister was built around the courtyard using pillars from several temples. The courtyard has mostly survived.
• In times of peace, however, Hindus practised their religion openly and ostentatiously within Turkish territories and in areas where the rajas had submitted to Muslim rule.
• Despite the pressure of some orthodox theologians and the narrow approach of some sultans and their supporters, this policy of 'toleration within limits' was maintained during the Sultanate, albeit with occasional lapses.
• Prisoners of war were sometimes converted or criminals were exempted from punishment if they accepted Islam.

Conclusion

Administration was a mix of Indian and foreign systems during the Sultanate period. It was largely based on Arabic and Persian systems. The majority of the designs were influenced by Arabic and Persian styles. The rulers adopted the Mughal army system while maintaining the Hindu land revenue system in order to achieve better results.