The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c19.70

c19.70

The main-stay of the state's economy was of course agriculture. The Memelukes showed an early realisation of their dependence on the peasantry. Ghiyasuddin Tughluq's great concern for their welfare only stressed an attitude that was shared by his predecessors. "The peasant is the back bone of the state," Balban used to say; "while he should not be allowed to develop into a rich potential rebel, ruinous exaction on him would cause a falling off in agriculture and the consequent impervishment of the state." "Follow the middle course in realising the kharaj" said he to Bughra Khan¹. We possess no details respecting assessment and collection of the land revenue; we at least hear of no agrarian discontent. One can perhaps postulate large agricultural holdings and plenty of live stock. Except for military operation due to political trobules, the peasant in the countryside lived in contented isolation leading a communal life in his self-sufficient villages, selling his surplus grain in the market town and paying the revenue through the headman. The Memeluke Sultanate covered a transitional period continuing, as it did, many of the old ways of life; it is reasonable to think that the rural economy, as a result, felt no sharper turning in its course than it did under the eternally warring Rajput².