The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c11.218

c11.218

Privy purse. There can be little doubt that the monarchs maintained a privy purse, for 'Afif is quite definite on the point.¹ It is, however, not known what were the particular items on which this money was expended. The royal household contained certain departments which to-day are public offices, hence the monarch was not expected to meet the entire expenditure of his household from his privy purse. That certain departments of the household were dependent on the sultan's privy purse in the Deccan is obvious from an incident in the life of Ismā'īl 'Ādil Shāh; this sultan commanded half of the villages set aside for the support of his wardrobe and kitchen to be allotted to the army, for an economy in his personal expenditure was necessary to maintain the troops.² In any case, the existence of a privy purse is only an academic question for the real problem of every age is whether public money is being wasted or spent properly. To keep royalty in a state of comparative luxury has always been considered necessary; but the East has generally attached special importance to this idea. The sultanate of Dehlī maintained its rulers in a state of magnificence, but it also encouraged learning, patronized arts and ran a well-organized government. In those days the splendour of the court was an indispensable political asset. Even when the sultan was immersed in merriment and pleasure-seeking, as in the cases of Mu‘izz-u’d-dīn Kaiqubād and Quṭb-u’d-dīn Mubārak Shāh, the financial administration did not break down. The only serious dislocation was the result of Muḥammad bin Tughluq’s political experimenting and extravagance in the patronage of learning; but then this sultan had also to face great famines. The financial stability of the sultanate must have been due to some restriction on the sultan’s personal expenditure; probably they had to find money for any indulgence out of their own estates, which were known as amlāk.