Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200–1550 A.D.) c5.s4.t2.13

c5.s4.t2.13

Along with their titles of honour the nobles held other ‘dignities’ which were called *maratib*. The *Maratib* signified for instance, their privileges when the royal court was held, the specific quality of the dress, the sword and the dagger which the Sultan presented to them once a year, and the number of horses or elephants they were entitled to have in their processions; similarly, the number of their retainers, their ensigns, drums, trumpets and pipes, etc.⁵ In some cases, these *maratib* were almost regal in appearance.⁶ (b) *Aqta’*.—The award of *Aqta’s* or revenue-assignments was the most important, since in the last resort the material resources at the command of a noble determined his social position and his political influence. It appears that the system of *Aqta’s* in the form in which it came to India was first designed by the Caliph Muqtadir to secure a regular remittance of revenue from the governors who had made themselves almost independent on their lands. The *Muqti’* collected the entire revenue of the district, defrayed the administrative charges, paid the troops and remitted a fixed sum from the remainder to the Court of Baghdad. These grants were given the name of *Aqta’at*,¹ the grantee being styled the *Muqta’*. The assignments of revenue in Hindustan retained these essential features all along. It appears that the holder of an *Aqta’* was given a more or less free hand in the administration of his assignment, which he sometimes leased out to other persons for a bigger sum, the poor peasantry suffering all the burden of these increased exactions. The revenue department at Delhi sent out its touring auditors but it was very difficult to control the *Aqta’*-holders, especially in outlying places.² In form, and as long as the state was powerful enough to enforce its will in fact, the *Aqta’s* of a noble as well as his distinctions and honours were purely personal. The State insisted on a very clear distinction between private property, which was subject to the law of inheritance, and public offices and assignments in which no vested or contingent rights could accrue. The position was left somewhat undefined because of the weakened power of the central administration after the death of Muhammad Tughluq. When the Afghan nobles began to treat their *Aqta’s* as heritable Sultan