The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c12.151

c12.151

The soldier’s pay must have varied at different times. Under ‘Alā-u’d-dīn Khaljī a fully equipped cavalryman drew two hundred and thirty-four *tankahs* per annum.⁶ This figure, however, should be interpreted in terms of normal prices; because, to get a soldier at that figure, the sultan had to regulate prices severely. The extravagant Muḥammad bin Tughluq paid about five hundred *tankahs* with food, dress and fodder. It is not clear if the soldier received dress and food only when he was on active service or in normal times as well; the difference would be immaterial towards the end of the reign when the army was constantly employed against rebels. The *Masālik-u’l-abṣār* also gives the salaries of the officers: a *khān* was paid a lakh of *tankahs*, a *malik* fifty to sixty thousand, an *amīr* thirty to forty thousand, a *sipah-sālār* twenty thousand or so, and petty officials received one to ten thousand a year.⁷ Soldiers were paid directly by the state.¹ The nobles were given assignments during the greater part of the period, but the soldiers usually received their pay in cash.² The systems of assignment and valuation resulted in profit to the noble who often got much more than their official salary.³ These assignments were for the personal salary of the officers and did not include the pay of the soldiers.⁴ The regular troops, called wajhīs, constituted a standing army; irregulars, called ghair-wajhīs, were employed for short periods. Sometimes payment was made by an order on some local treasury; this cheque was called an iṭlāq and its holder an iṭlāqdār. This was only a method of payment and had no bearing on the status of the soldier.⁵ Fīrūz Shāh revived the assignment system for the soldiers to such an extent that he made it almost hereditary.⁶ He even allowed the old and aged soldiers to send their relations to musters and campaigns.⁷ It was under the Lodīs that the army became tribal and was attached to the nobles instead of being under the direct control of the sultan.⁸