A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c16.19

c16.19

With pardonable exaggeration, Muslim historians include the whole of the Deccan and South India in the empire of Delhi in this period (1324-35). They divide it into the five provinces of Devagiri, Tiling, Kampili, Dōrasamudra and Ma'bar; some adding Jajnagar (Orissa) as a sixth, although there is less justification for this. Each of these provinces had a governor (naib) set over it who was assisted by a military coadjutor in charge of the provincial army, and a kotwal who policed the capital of the province. Except in Devagiri, however, the power of the sultan was nowhere firmly established. Dōrasamudra, for example, owed nothing more than nominal allegiance, and the bulk of the people—especially in the rural areas—was not reconciled to the new rule. The system of iqtas (military fiefs) by which the land was parcelled out among Muslim chieftains who had to maintain a quota of troops and pay a stipulated amount to the treasury did not make for peace or smooth administration. No wonder that this loose fabric crumbled quickly at the first touch of revolt which came naturally not long after.