The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c15.3

c15.3

By the logic of circumstances, the Sultanate could not be feudal so long as the Mongols knocked at its doors. The sultans, except for the brief period of the Lodī supremacy, kept standing armies and employed paid generals, governors and agents who could be dismissed or transferred at the royal will. With a savage enemy on the threshold, merit was the only stepping-stone to greatness. The administration, therefore, was a bureaucracy, the major portion of which was not affected by changes of dynasty. It is a common mistake to think that a change of ruler involved the very current of the life of the people; actually, only a small number of leading officials were affected. These revolutions were little more than ripples on the surface beneath which the water continued to flow steadily.