Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c15.s1: Pay and allowances

The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c15.s1

Language
English

Pay and allowances

c15.s1.1

fixed in proportion to the entire revenue¹. Except as a punishment, as in the case of Kabir Khan who was recalled from Multan by Iltutmish and placed in charge of the small iqta of Pulwal², or in the case of Kashlu Khan, who, on Balban's dismissal from the court in 651|1253 A.D., was transferred from his extensive iqta of Nagaur to Karra³, no muqti appears to have been transferred from a larger to a smaller iqta. It is important to note that, although the muqti was assigned a fixed share in the revenue, his financial position was different from that of the assignee (iqtadar) who had no financial liability to the central exchequer. This is clear from the position of the two thousand Shamsi iqtadars who were assigned the revenue of the villages as their pay for personal service in the army⁴. To this category also belonged the iqta of Bakhtiyar granted to him by the muqti of Awadh⁵. Other assignments for services of a non-military character were those made to the qazis of the realm as well as to the amir-i-dad of the city.

c15.s1.2

¹ What this proportion was, it is impossible to ascertain. Ghiyasuddin Tughluq, early in the 14th century, asked his revenue minister not to punish the "maliks and amirs" if they appropriated "half-tenth or half-eleventh or one-tenth or one-fifteenth of the revenue of the iqta or wilayat,—besides the customary perquisites of the office; Barani, p. 431. The wording here indicates that while the perquisite—whatever its value may have been—was his usual remuneration, the Tughluq king was prepared to allow the muqti an extra percentage at the rate mentioned. Perhaps it was a revival of an earlier practice, suspended by the Khalji centralization. Ibn Battuta observes that Muhammad b. Tughluq's governors receive 1/20 off the revenue as commission. Rahlah, Def. et Sang. III, p. 117.

c15.s1.3

² Minhaj, p. 234.

c15.s1.4

³ Ibid, p. 270.

c15.s1.5

⁴ Barani, p. 61-63. This was their mawajib. Cf. Moreland, Agrarian System of Moslem India, p. 27.

c15.s1.6

⁵ Minhaj, p. 147; the muqti of Budaun had previously paid him in cash.

c15.s1.7

Mention has been made of the muqti's responsibilities for the civil and military administration of the province. As the conquest was in the nature of a military occupation, the maintenance and command of the provincial troops was the primary Duties.

c15.s1.8

duty of the *muqti*. He enjoyed considerable freedom of action in the matter of fighting against the Hindus and also against foreign invaders. He was expected to join the royal forces with his contingents whenever required to do so, and failure was consideredd an act of rebellion. Although every *muqti* was liable to military service, only those in the neighbourhood of Delhi were generally ordered to be present.

c15.s1.9

From a passage in Barani, the Tughluq central government appears to have fixed the strength, pay, and equipment of the provincial army, which the *muqti* was not allowed to alter¹; but it is doubtful if this was a continuation of the earlier system. For the 13th century autonomy would hardly square with this limitation on his action. Before Alauddin's centralization, no such detailed interference with his army administration was in evidence. Balban instructed Bughra Khan, the *muqti* of Samana and Sunam, to double the existing number of the provincial force by new recruitment and also to raise their pay². He also impressed on him the necessity of keeping himself informed about every detail of his military affairs. "Consider no expense for the army as too much and let your muster-master (*ariz*) engage himself always in maintaining the old and recruiting new troops and keeping himself informed about every expenditure in his department"³. The strength of the provincial contingent is nowhere indicated but it must have varied according to the revenue of the province. The *muqti* also had his muster-master (ariz) who was representedd at the central government by his naib¹.

c15.s1.10

¹ Barani, p. 431.

c15.s1.11

² Barani, p. 80.

c15.s1.12

³ *Ibid*, p. 101-2.

c15.s1.13

¹ Barani, p. 116.

c15.s1.14

It does not appear that the judicial organisation of the province was under his control, or that he had any judicial function to perform. Apart from his general duties of maintaining law and order, which incidentally, was ordinarily limited to the chief cities and fortresses, and could be performed by the kotwal appointed by him, his duties were confined, besides what has been described above, to the raising of the king’s share of the revenue from the peasants, and the Hindu chiefs. We have little information respecting the existence of Muslim peasants at this period, but in the cities there were owners of land who were liable to the payment of kharaj. Hindus formed the bulk of the peasantry and in most of the provinces they paid the revenue through their village headmen, called muqaddam and chaudhuri². Some of the tributary Hindu chiefs were under the muqti while others paid directly to the diwan-i-wazarat.

c15.s1.15

² Barani, p. 106.

c15.s1.16

The muqti was generally a resident in the province but in some cases, particularly in provinces nearer the capital, there were absentee governors who ruled through deputies (naibs), sometimes appointed by the central government³. Hindu Khan ruled Uch through his naib after he returned to court in the reign of Bahram⁴; Balban, who held the office of amir-i-hajib and later, that of the naib-i-mamlikat, which required his constant presence at the court, must have administered his iqta of Hansi and Siwalikh through such a deputy. At his dismissal in 1253

c15.s1.17

³ E.g. the naib of Kanouj was appointed by Iltutmish; Barani, p. 33.

c15.s1.18

⁴ Minhaj, p. 399.

c15.s1.19

Hansi was placed in charge of the infant son of Mahmud¹ and in this case a *naib* was clearly a necessity. In larger provinces, the *muqti* himself appointed his deputy over important cities and outpost. Probably to this class of deputy governorship should belong the *iqtas* of Narangoi held by Ali Mardan, and Ganguri held by Husamuddin Iwaz in Bengal². The *muqti* obviously had power to assign land to his officers as in the case of Bakhtiyar who received a military *iqta* from the governor of Awadh. Balban advised Bughra Khan to give *iqtas* to trusted and loyal officers. That the *muqti* could also make free grant of land like the Sultan, is proved by Minhaj receiving villages from Balban which produced an income of "thirty thousand *jitals*"³.

c15.s1.20

¹ *Ibid*, p. 217.

c15.s1.21

² *Ibid*, p. 157-58.

c15.s1.22

³ Minhaj, pp. 214 and 295.

c15.s1.23

There is little detailed information as to the *muqti's* subordinate staff, but since he was a miniature king, the reproduction of the Sultan's main departments in his province may perhaps be presumed. At the head of his secretariat stood the *dabir*; he had also a confidential adviser⁴. It does not appear that he had any prime minister or *wazir*, so called; Ainul Mulk Ashari, who is said to have been detailed as *wazir* to prince Firoz on his appointment to Budaun, was most probably only a tutor or guardian (*atabek*)⁵. Lesser officers, described as *mutasarrif*, *karkun* and *amil*, formed his administrative and fiscal staff⁶, controlled by his own revenue department over which the central *diwan-i-wazarat* could, at best, claim only auditing authority. The incident recorded by Barani of Iltutmish once appointing, on the wazir's recommendation, the clerk (khwaja) of the iqta of Kanouj, only illustrates a tendency rather than normal practice¹. Over the judiciary and the barid organization in the province the muqti, however, had little control.

c15.s1.24

⁴ *Ibid*, p. 243; he was actually called *katkhuda*; see also *Ijaz i-Khusravi*, f. 106 b.

c15.s1.25

⁵ Minhaj, p. 174.

c15.s1.26

⁶ For the mention of a *mushrif* under the *muqti* of Kol. see *Fawadul Fawaid*, ff. 56-5. The salary of these subordinate officers was paid in cash but those attached to the revenue work appear to have been allowed a commission of 1/2 or 1 p.c. of the collected revenue; Barani, p. 430.

c15.s1.27

¹ Barani, p. 36. Balban also is reported to have appointed the mutasarrif of Amroha, ibid, f. 38.

c15.s1.28

Extensive as the iqta system was, it was by no means exclusive. We hear ocasionally of Khalisah areas, comprising cities and districts, which were governed by amir or shahnah instead of the muqti.

c15.s1.29

*Khalisah.* Latterly, the term came to have a purely fiscal connotation, but in the 13th century its administrative organization also was different. Raverty translated the term as ‘crown-land’ but Moreland, more correctly, rendered it as ‘reserve area”, in which no assignment was given, the kharaj being collected directly by the central revenue ministry². Such an area was Bhatinda in the first half of the century when it was in charge of a shahnah³. Since the revenue was collected by the king's fiscal staff and was all credited to the central exchequer, the superintendent was most probably remunerated by a fixed salary. Under the same system was the territory in the immediate neighbourhood of Delhi, the area described as the havali-i-Dehli and also known as Harianah⁴, for it does not appear as part of any iqta. Its administrative officer is nowhere mentioned, but the diwan-i-wazarat directly supervised the fiscal staff. Bhatinda was later converted into an ordinary iqta⁵.

c15.s1.30

² Moreland: op. cit. p. 29.

c15.s1.31

³ Minhaj, pp. 188, 250, 251.

c15.s1.32

⁴ See Moreland: op. cit. p. 23, for its approximate boundary. For Harianah, see EIM, 1913-14, p. 38.

c15.s1.33

⁵ Minhaj, p. 277.

c15.s1.34

Different from the *iqta* organization was also the newly conquered areas and fortresses. Gwalior was always under an *amir*, evidently a military officer¹.

c15.s1.35

¹ Iltutmish’s first appointment was as the *amir* of Gwalior; Minhaj, p. 169. Among the officers appointed there on its reconquest in 1231, there is no *muqti* mentioned, but only the *amir-i-dad*, *kotwal* and the *qazi*; *ibid*, p. 175. Malik Tyasai, when he held charge of the fortress, was called *shahnah* and not *muqti*; *ibid*, p. 240.

c15.s1.36

Military districts. The case of Karra on the Ganges near Allahabad, may be cited as an example of a military division being eventually converted into a civil administrative unit. During Iltutmish’s reign it formed the military charge of an *amir*, but by the time of Mahmud, it had attained the status of an ordinary *iqta*².

c15.s1.37

² Minhaj, p. 177 and 217, also see Raverty’s note, p. 626.

c15.s1.38

The chronicles mention no smaller administrative unit below the *iqta* as comprising rural areas. Barani occasionally mentions *parganahs* and *foujdars*, but no adequate evidence is forthcoming to enable us to consider these as representing subdivisional organizations. Early in the next century, we hear of the *shiqq* and the *sadi* but to ascribe them inferentially to the Mameluke governmental arrangement would require more contemporary evidence than is at present available.

c15.s1.39

Smaller divisions.

Linked texts (3)