Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s2.t1.1

c5.s2.t1.1

After the analysis of the theory of sovereignty given in the preceding pages, it will be clear that the Sultan and the State were more or less coterminous. A division of the personality into private and public in relation to the Sultan is somewhat arbitrary. We have considered it convenient to make this division in order to emphasize the great influence of the monarch on the private life and the social behaviour of various classes of people. The example of the Sultan (or of the Raja in a Hindu State) was almost literally imitated by those under him, as far as their powers and resources permitted them. In a word the private person of the Sultan set the tone of society in general.¹