During the Delhi Sultanate, the designation ‘Muqaddam or Chaudhuri’ was used for
Village headmen
Muqaddam and Chaudhuri were village headmen — option 1.
The rural hierarchy of the Sultanate. Between the state and the peasant stood a layer of intermediaries, collectively called the khuts and muqaddams, who collected the revenue from the villages and kept a share for themselves :
| Designation | Role |
|---|---|
| Muqaddam | Headman of a village, responsible for collecting its revenue |
| Chaudhuri | Headman over a group of villages, a pargana; the same class of rural notable |
| Khut | A landholder of the village, of the same intermediary class |
| Patwari | The village accountant who kept the records — which is why option 2 is a real designation but the wrong one |
| Amil, Amir | Revenue officials appointed by the state |
| Balahar | Village servant |
Alauddin Khalji’s attack on them. These intermediaries had grown prosperous by passing the burden of revenue down to the ordinary peasants while paying nothing themselves. Alauddin’s agrarian measures were directed at them as much as at the peasantry :
| Measure | Effect |
|---|---|
| Revenue fixed at half the produce, assessed by measurement (masahat) | A uniform demand across the doab |
| Khuts and muqaddams made to pay the same taxes as ordinary peasants | Their privilege abolished |
| Grazing tax (charai) and house tax (ghari) | Further revenue from the same class |
| Abolition of their right to levy cesses of their own | Barani records that they were reduced to such straits that they could no longer ride horses, bear arms or wear fine clothes |
Firoz Shah Tughlaq later reversed much of this and restored the position of the rural gentry, which is one reason his reign is remembered as easy on the landed classes and hard on the treasury.
Hence, the answer is Village headmen.
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Important Questions from Delhi Sultanate
Consider the following statements :
1. It was during the reign of Iltutmish that Chengiz Khan reached the Indus in pursuit of the fugitive Khwarezm prince.
2. It was during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq that Taimur occupied Multan and crossed the Indus.
3. It was during the reign of Deva Raya II of Vijayanagara Empire that Vasco Da gama reached the Coast of Kerala.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- Which of the following Sultans died while playing Polo or Chaugan?
In which of the following years did Razia become the Sultan of Delhi?
Which of the following dynasties ruled before the Tughluq Dynasty?
Which Sufi saint was put to death by Jalaluddin Khilji for attempting a rebellion?
