The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c16.6

c16.6

of regular troops¹. We however, know very little about its character and composition. The king's bodyguards, the *jandars*, it may be assumed, must have formed its nucleus. These *jandars* not only acted as a police force, in so far as the maintenance of order around the person and for that matter, the court and the palace of the king was concerned, but also joined in battles. They were largely drawn from the king's personal slaves, though their leader, the *sar-i-jandar*, was usually, a free-born noble². Their number naturally depended on the will of the ruler, but it must have been fairly strong; the Muizzi and Qutbi *jandars* gave no inconsiderable trouble to Iltutmish when he assumed the crown at Delhi. Minhaj seems to designate the standing army as the *hashm-i-qalb*, or *qalb-i-sultani*³; the *jandars* would obviously form a brigade of the centre army⁴, which apears to have been always stationed at Delhi. In Mahmud's reign, this force was occasionally brought out of the city for military exercise and parade¹. Whether the garrisons, placed in important fortresses or localities near the capital, also were drawn from this centre army or from the province in which they were situated is a moot point². This army, along with the jandars, was directly under the management of the ariz-i-mamalik who was responsible for its recruitment, efficiency and payment. Its numerical strength is unascertainable; it contained both cavalry and infantry and the two thousand Shamsi iqtadars certainly formed part of its cavalry section³.