History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c12.43

c12.43

The whole territory included in the dominions of the Sultan was parcelled out into provinces, each of which was placed under a viceroy (naib Wazir) who was answerable to the Sultan for his actions. There was no line of demarcation between the civil and the military departments. Neither the jurisdictions of these two branches of the administration nor the duties of officers were clearly defined and the military functionary was also invested with civil duties like the amirs sadah who were captains of one hundred with power to manage the collections of revenue in the provinces. The author of the Masālik, basing his statement on the information of Shaikh Mubarak, who was acquainted with the affairs of the Sultan of Dihli mentions four principal grades of officers whose duties seem to have been primarily of a military character. His account is not exhaustive. It leaves out a number of functionaries who were entrusted with important business. But it gives us some idea of the basis of organisation of the civil and military departments. He mentions four principal grades of officers without drawing any distinction between the civil and the military branches of the administration. These were the Khans, the maliks, the amirs, the Isfahsālārs or Sipahsālārs and the Jund. The Sultan was assisted by a nāib who was chosen from among the Khans and who bore the title of Amriyah and held a Jagir as large as 'Iraq. He was as it were, the alter ego of the Sultan and acted for him during his absence. He had also a Wazir or chief minister who enjoyed a similar Jagir and who was assisted by four deputies called Shiqdars¹³ who received from twenty thousand to forty thousand tankahs per annum. It appears that the author of the Masālik has made a mistake in calling these officers Shiqdars, for these were sometimes governors of provinces and sometimes officers responsible for the collection of revenue. The minister had four Dabirs or secretaries, each of whom was allowed a Jagir for his maintenance. Each of the Dabirs had a staff of three hundred clerks and the lowest pay of these officers was ten thousand tankahs a year. The Dabirs possessed large powers; all ambassadors, travellers, men of letters, and poets, both native and foreign, were under them. Some of them held Jagirs and some were granted both Jagir and salary. It is difficult to vouch for the accuracy of the figures given by the author of the Masālik but there is no doubt that the Sultan maintained large and costly establishments and a confirmation of this view is to be found in the pages of Ibn Batūtah. From the writings of Barani, Ibn Batūtah and other contemporary and later writers we learn that the number of officers was formidably large and that the various departments of the state worked with regularity and efficiency under the personal supervision of the autocrat. The principal officers of the state were:—