The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c11.155.3

c11.155.3

in fact they had come to regard these villages as their hereditary property.¹ Subsequently the nature of the assignment changed and the holder was only entitled to the revenue of the area; he had no right to manage it.² This was certainly the position under Muḥammad bin Tughluq and his successor.³ It is not possible to date the change precisely, but it was probably due to ‘Alā-u’d-dīn Khaljī who curbed the power of the nobles in so many ways. He probably did not confiscate assignments, but took over their management. This reform, however, was swamped in the anarchy after Tīmūr’s invasions; Farīd, the future Sher Shāh, found it difficult to persuade Afghān nobles that the parganah under his control was not hereditary property but an assignment from the emperor and, therefore, could not be divided among his brothers like personal belongings. This happened in spite of Sikandar Lodī’s efforts; in the royal communication granting an aqṭā‘ to the successor of an Afghān noble, it is clearly mentioned that the grant was made in the assignee’s personal capacity, not because he was a relation of the late noble.⁴ We also know that Farīd managed the assignment and the entire control rested in his hands.⁵ There can be little doubt that the Afghāns had brought a good many notions from Roh. In the matter of assignments the trooper was not different from the noble except in the size of his holding.