Twilight of the Sultanate c17.s2: Urban Life
Twilight of the Sultanate c17.s2
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Urban Life
c17.s2.1
The standards of cultural life and social behaviour of a people are best reflected in their urban life. Cities in Medieval India were few, but they were large and impressive. Foreign travellers like Nikitin and Barbosa give a favourable comparison of Indian cities with those of Europe. Cities and towns generally were built on the pattern of the metropolis. The Delhi of that period consisted of many "cities" grouped together, each having a special name.¹² The lay-out of Delhi gives an idea of the life of its residents as well as of those of the provincial capitals, port-towns and other important cities. From a study of the accounts of the fourteenth century it appears that there were separate quarters built for different classes of people.¹³ There was the palace of the Sultan, a cantonment area for the troops, quarters for the ministers, the secretaries, the Qazīs, Shaikhs and faqīrs. "In every quarter there were to be found public baths, flour mills, ovens and workmen of all professions...." ¹⁴ The author of *Masālikul Absār* writes: "The houses of Delhi are built of stone and brick, the roofs are of wood and the floor is paved with white stones resembling marble. The houses are not built more than two storeys high, and often are made of only one."¹⁵ Besides, there must have been hut-like houses of the poor huddled together in congested localities.
c17.s2.2
¹² Besides Delhi proper, the other chief townships were Sīrī (founded by 'Alāuddīn Khaljī), Tughlaqābād (founded by Ghāzī Tughlaq), Jāhān Panāh (residence of Muhammad Tughlaq) and Fīrōz Shāh's city and fort (Kotla). *Taqwīmul Buldān*, as cited in Alqal., 27; I.B., Def. and Sang., III, 146; H.C. Hearn, *The Seven Cities of Delhi*. al-Qalqāshindī, quoting Shaikh Abū Bakr, says, "All the cities of Delhi to which the name of Delhi is given are twenty-one in number".
c17.s2.3
¹³ *Masālik*, E and D, III, 576; Alqal., 30; T.F.S. (B), 318. Also C.H.I., III, 110 ff.
c17.s2.4
¹⁴ *Masālik*, E and D, III, 576.
c17.s2.5
¹⁵ *Ibid*., 576.