The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c12.138

c12.138

From very early times the Muslim army was organized on a decimal basis.³ The system persisted under the Ghaznavids, through whom it descended to the sultans of Dehlī. Bughrā Khān, in his advice to his son, Kaiqubād, describes the military grades. A *sar-i-khail* had ten horsemen under him; a *sipah-sālār* directed ten *sar-i-khails*; an *amīr* commanded ten *sipah-sālārs*; a *malik* had authority over ten *amīrs* and a *khān*’s forces contained at least those of ten *maliks*.⁴ The existence of the decimal system is supported by the *Ṣubḥ-u’l-a‘shā*; according to this book, a *khān* had ten thousand horsemen or more, a *malik* had a thousand, an *amīr* a hundred, and a *sipah-sālār* less.⁵ Baranī repeatedly mentions *amīrān-i-panjāh*, *amīrān-i-ṣadah* and *amīrān-i-hazārah*.⁶ Khusraw tells us that in the reign of Kaiqubād ‘five thousand famous *maliks*,’ commanded more than a hundred thousand soldiers.⁷ The poet seems to have used the term *malik* loosely for a military officer. It appears that in practice an *amīr* commanded from fifty to a thousand soldiers, and the minimum force under a *malik* was a thousand soldiers. Khusraw also mentions the Mughal term *tūmān* which signifies 10,000 soldiers. A curious fact is that the title *sipah-sālār*, though later it denoted no more than a centurion, was, at one time, applied to the commander-in-chief and was proudly displayed by the great Quṭb-u’d-dīn Aibak on his buildings.⁸ Islām Shāh Sūr organized his army under commanders of 50, 150, 200 and 500. The higher officers were each given five, ten or twenty thousand.¹ Unattached soldiers were called *mufrads*.² Clerks were attached to each division for keeping accounts and registers. There were other officers whose duty was to marshal the troops for review or for battle; the *naqībs* shouted orders and the *chā’ūsh*es and the *sahm-u’l-ḥashm*s arranged the soldiers in lines³ Great attention was paid to the maintenance of discipline; every subordinate was expected to obey his superior promptly.⁴ Care was taken to prevent damage to cultivation or property even in hostile country, unless a place was given up to plunder.⁵