The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c12.31

c12.31

The army was distributed according to the need and the strategic importance of the area concerned. The difficulties in transport resulted in a very wide allocation. Naturally, if disorders broke out in any area, the local troops would first try to cope with the situation; only if they failed or proved inadequate, were reinforcements rushed from neighbouring areas. In the last resort the detachments stationed in the capital or its vicinity were sent. The troops at Dehlī were styled ḥashm-i-qalb, and consisted of the household brigade called khāṣah khail, comprising royal slaves and guards like the jāndārs, the afwāj-i-qalb or the troops directly under royal command, and other picked men under nobles kept at the capital. Garrisons in the provinces or at provincial headquarters were called ḥashm-i-aṭrāf.³ Great attention was paid to the north-west frontier where princes of royal blood or veteran generals with picked and reliable troops were stationed.⁴ The founders of the Khaljī and the Qarāwinah dynasties had laid the foundations of success by service as wardens of the north-west marches.⁵ The garrison system goes back to early times. The Ghaznavids as well as the Abbasids had a network of citadels; we hear of Quṭb-u’d-dīn Aibak establishing garrisons under kotwāls in India.¹ The chronicles mention kotwāls and garrisons throughout the period; ‘Alā-u’d-dīn Khaljī repaired old forts and built new ones; Sher Shāh attached great importance to the upkeep of forts and to providing them with artillery.² He built Rohtās to defend his dominions against the Mughuls, and created four strongholds in the Rājpūt country by garrisoning Chitor, Ranthambor, Biyānah and Jodhpūr.³ Similarly he stationed troops in Bengal, in Mālwah and in the Panjāb.⁴ Humāyūn had a fantastic scheme of establishing viceroys at various centres in his dominions where he would reside in turn.⁵