The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c18.s8: Administration of justice
The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c18.s8
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Administration of justice
c18.s8.1
The Sultan was the fountain-head of justice. He had not only to provide for an equitable administration of justice but was also required to hear and decide cases himself. Thus the Sultan was the highest court of appeal in the country. But sometimes he decided cases in the first instance also. In cases arising out of religious disputes he was assisted by the chief *sadr* and the *mufti*, while in other cases he sat with the chief *qazi*. The next highest judicial authority in the Sultanate was the chief *qazi* who was appointed by the Sultan. The historian, Minhaj-ud-din Siraj, held this office for a long time. He lived at the capital and decided cases. The chief *qazi* was also the *sadr* of the kingdom and was called *sadr-i-jahan* in that capacity. In his capacity as the chief *qazi* he supervised and controlled the lower judges in the provinces and heard appeals coming from their courts.
c18.s8.2
There were *qazis* in the provinces and also in important cities. They were appointed by the chief *qazi*. There was another officer known as *dad-i-bak* or *amir-i-dad*. His office corresponded to that of the modern city magistrate. The cases in which Hindus alone were involved were generally decided by their *panchayats*, but those cases in which Muslims and Hindus were parties were decided by the qazis. The *kotwal* was the head of the police department in the towns. Besides being the police officer, he was also a committing magistrate. Criminal law was very severe. Torture and mutilation were common punishments. The so-called Slave kings followed the policy of minimum interference with the lives of the people of rural areas. The State made no arrangements for administering justice in the villages where the people had their own courts or *panchayats*.
c18.s8.3
The ruling class was composed of Turks belonging to various tribes. There were other foreigners besides them, such as, the Persians, the Afghans and the Arabs. The Turks suffered from superiority complex. They believed in the theory of racial purity and racial superiority and did not associate the Indian Muslims, whose number was growing, with the administration of their kingdom. But, inspite of this complex, there was a considerable mixing of the different races with the result that the Muslim population in Hindustan in the thirteenth century was becoming hybrid. Inter-marriages with the native Muslims and refugees from Central Asia and also Mongols, newly converted to Islam, became common and brought about a fusion of the various races of Muslims in the land.
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Broadly speaking, the Muslim society of the thirteenth century was divided into two classes, namely, the men of the sword and the men of the pen. The Turks belonged to the former category, while the theologians and literary men, who were mostly non-Turks, formed the latter group. They provided to the state the class of teachers and preachers. The Muslim aristocracy was predominantly of Turkish blood. It was a hierarchy with a series of ascending ranks at the top of which were *amirs*, *maliks* and *khans*. The highest title was *Ulugh Khan* and there was only one *Ulugh Khan* at a time. Slaves were gradually promoted and could become amirs and maliks. None of them, except Balban, was promoted to the rank of Khan. The Muslim society was mainly urban. It must have included, besides soldiers and administrators, traders, artisans, shopkeepers, clerks and beggars. An influential class was that of the slaves, most of whom had been born of non-Muslim parents, but had been sold as slaves, converted to Islam and brought up in the houses of their Muslim masters. The Muslim population was predominantly Sunni. Shias mostly belonged to Multan and Sindh. Quite a large number of the latter class lived in Delhi and other cities in the Turkish dominion. There was no sympathy between the followers of the two sects. In fact, the Shias were hated by the Sunnis who were in power. The Shias made more than one attempt during our period to capture power, but were ruthlessly punished. There was a third religious group the members of which were known as *Sufis*. They were Muslim mystics who were men of learning and believed in direct communion with God. They practised piety and poverty and lived far away from the society of the townsmen. The *sufi* saints had many followers whom they initiated into *sufi* practices. They had two important orders among them, namely, the Chishtia order and the Suhrawardia order, founded, respectively, by Muin-ud-din Chishti at Ajmer and Bha-ud-din Zakariya at Multan. These two saints had many disciples who were instrumental in gaining a large number of willing converts to Islam.
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The vast majority of the population was, of course, Hindu. As has been said before, a Hindu was called *zimmi* or a protected person and was required to pay a special tax called *jizya*. He suffered from many disabilities and was not accorded rights of full citizenship. His existence and that of his religion were tolerated as evils.¹ A considerable number of the Hindus were masters of the land and were fairly well-to-do. There is evidence to believe that some of the Hindu merchants and bankers advanced loans to the Muslim nobles. They did not, however, exercise any influence on the politics of the day except indirectly, as they could not be easily repressed and weeded out. Much of the business, industry and commerce were in their hands. Most of them were cultivators. Most of the Hindus lived in villages and hardly came into touch with the ruling minority.
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¹ *For the status of non-Muslims in an Islamic state, see* Sir Jadunath Sarkar's *History of Aurangzib*, Vol. III, pp. 251-57 and 263-64.
c18.s8.7
During this period the contact between Hinduism and Islam had begun to exert some influence on the followers of the two creeds. The Hindu convert to Islam naturally retained some of his Hindu habits and mode of life. He readily took to the practice of worshipping saints and shrines, as he was accustomed, while Hindu, to the worship of local and tribal deities. *Sufism* provided a common ground to the followers of the two creeds. Among the intellectuals of the two creeds, however, there was not much of cultural or religious contact.
c18.s8.8
Some of the Turkish rulers were patrons of learning and gathered around themselves theologians, historians, and men of letters in general. Balban particularly had many a literary light at his court. The greatest among the literary lights of the period were Amir Khusrav and Amir Hasan of Delhi both of whom wrote in Persian and whose works were read even outside India. We are told that many valuable works of history, theology and fiction were produced in the thirteenth century. There was some arrangement also for the education of children. In every Muslim colony there were two educational institutions. They were the *maktab*, that is, the primary school attached to the mosque and the *madrsah* or a seat of higher learning. Some of the Sultans founded colleges at Delhi and other places and richly endowed them. Iltutmish is said to have built a college at Delhi and another at Multan. Generally two arts were practised. They were architecture and calligraphy. The Turks were fond of fine buildings and they imported Muslim architectural ideas and designs from Central Asia. We have already seen that Qutub-ud-din Aibak, Iltutmish and Balban built several notable edifices, particularly mosques. Though taboo for the orthodox, music could not have altogether been neglected. Some of the modern Muslim writers describe the Sultanate of Delhi as a culture state. This, however, is a tall claim. If some of the rulers were fond of literature, they were also ferocious tyrants for the vast majority of their subjects; and if there was any real culture, it was confined to the court and the capital. The cultural activity was that of the classes and not of the masses. The Sultanate of Delhi was, in fact, a military state. It held the country by means of powerful military garrisons established at various strategic places. It concerned itself with two duties only, namely, the maintenance of law and order and the collection of revenue. It did not care for the cultural, moral, physical and even material welfare of the people. Such a state could not deserve the designation of a culture state. Inspite of its duration of about eighty-five years, it was definitely a foreign State on the Indian soil.