The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c14.51

c14.51

Were the provinces sub-divided into shiqqs? Moreland writes: "My impression is that during the fourteenth century the word shiqq was coming into use as a synonym for the terms which I have rendered 'province'."⁵ It seems, however, more probable that with the suppression of the authority of the Hindu chieftains and the growth of direct administration, the original provinces proved too extensive, and some of them at least were split into smaller administrative areas. For instance, Muḥammad bin Tughluq divided the viceroyalty of the Deccan into four shiqqs.⁶ Again, in speaking of the same sultan's suppression of the rebellion in the province of the Doāb, Baranī says that 'the shiqqdārs and the faujdārs' were ordered to plunder and seize the rebels.⁷