The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c11.53

c11.53

Before discussing the kharājī lands, it will be better to dismiss those termed sulhī. This appellation is used in a technical sense for certain areas regarding which the earlier Muslims reached some agreement with their owners. Such lands were outside India, and, therefore, need not detain us.³ Some authors mention yet another variety called ard-i-mumlikat: conquered lands or those obtained by treaty and taken over by the public exchequer.⁴ Such lands could not be owned by private individuals; those who tilled them were merely tenants and could not sell them, give them away or convert them into waqfs.⁵ This class is not mentioned by any Indian authority; it never existed in India. Financially, this ard-i-mumlikat has no importance and much resembles kharājī land.