The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c17.7

c17.7

The question is, however, purely speculative so far as our period is concerned, for the conquest was not so thorough as to affect the social system of the native people. Numerous Hindu chiefs were allowed to retain their principalities where established legal practice was little disturbed. In the districts directly under Muslim administration, the Hindus lived in villages and came in little contact wth the application of Muslim law. The ancient system of local government was hardly touched by the conquest and the village or caste *panchayet* was left to carry on its traditional functions so long as they did not clash with the *qazi’s* jurisdiction³. In crimes occuring within the village, the headman (*muqaddam*) acted both as the committing and trying magistrate. A hint to the appointment of Hindu officers, presumably for adminisering justice and maintaining order among the natives, is contained in a passage of the *Tajul Maasir*, where, in describing Aibak’s conquest and settlement of Asni in 1193, Hasan Nizami refers to his posting of “*Ranahs*” in every side for the administration of the people and the territory⁴. To leave the newly conquered territory for the time being under native officers and to recognise the establishd customs was the natural course to adopt, and was even resorted to by the Arabs in Sind¹. Barani mentions a body of conventional and customary law, which he calls *zabitah*, followed by the government in dealing with the Hindu subjects².