The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c16.s6: Appendix F: Iṭlāqs, Assignments and Other Methods of Payment

The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehlī c16.s6

Language: English

Appendix F: Iṭlāqs, Assignments and Other Methods of Payment

c16.s6.2

THIS is a controversial point: *vide* Moreland's *The Agrarian System in Moslem India*, p. 56, footnote. The passage in question runs as follows: (*‘Afīf, pp. 296-297.*)

"اگرچه شاه فیروز در عهد دولت خویش بقراست و کیاست بیش باندازۀ دارالملک اختصار کرده ما آن هم محصول بلاد ممالک که آن مقدار بود آن تمام حاصلات را به نسبت هر یکے قسمت کرده خانان را بر اندازۀ خانی و زمرۀ امرا و ملوک را بر اندازۀ کامرانی - معارف را بر اندازۀ راحت جانی - و حشم را دیههای در وجه بر اندازۀ تن آسانی - و غیر وجهی را ادای مال از خزانه سلطانی - باقی مایحتاج را اطلاق بحکم فرمان حضرت سلیمانی - چون اطلاق وجه داران در اقطاعات رفتے از هر یک اقطاع وجه یار نصف کامل بر دست آمدے - در آن ایام چندین کسان اطلاقات یاران بـراضی جانبین خریدند - و ثلث مرتب در شهر می دادند - ایشان را در اقطاعات نصف مسلم رسیدے و آن خریداران اطلاقات وجه اطلاقات از اقطاعات در سواد می انداختند"

c16.s6.4

The last few lines of the text are a little corrupt. The correct reading should obviously be as follows:

c16.s6.5

"در آن ایام چندین کسان اطلاقات یاران بتراضی جانبین خریدند - و ثلث مرتب در شهر می دادند - ایشان را در اقطاعات نصف مسلم رسیدے و آن خریداران اطلاقات وجه اطلاقات در سود می اندوختند - "

c16.s6.6

The first part of the passage is quite clear. We are told that in spite of his reduced dominions, Fīrūz Shāh gave large salaries and assignments to all in accordance with their rank.

c16.s6.7

The recipients are classified as (i) khāns, (ii) amīrs and maliks, (iii) men of fame and distinction, (iv) regular troops who were assigned villages in lieu of their salaries, and (v) irregular troops who were paid in cash from the sultan's treasury. The rest of the passage has given rise to controversy. The translation of the next few phrases runs as follows in Elliot and Dowson:

c16.s6.8

"The soldiers who do not receive their pay in this manner were, according to necessity, supplied with assignments (iṭlāk) upon the revenues. When these assignments of the soldiers (wajhadārs) arrived in the fiefs (ikṭā'āt), the holders used to get about half of the total amount from the fiefs . . ." (iii, p. 346)

c16.s6.9

This translation is a little too free; I am inclined to translate the relevant sentences as follows: ". . . The regular soldiers were given villages in lieu of their salary so that they might live in comfort. The irregulars were paid in cash from the royal treasury; the rest, for their (immediate) needs, were given iṭlāqs in accordance with His Majesty's orders. When the iṭlāqs of the regular soldiers reached the aqṭā'āt (the assigned villages), a full half of the soldier's pay was obtained from every aqṭā'.¹ In those days many men bought the iṭlāqs of the soldiers with mutual consent and paid a third of the salary in the city. They themselves received a full half in the aqṭā'āt . . ."

c16.s6.10

¹ D. A. (pp. 50-51) uses mashrūḥ as well for an assignment.

c16.s6.11

This passage can be analysed as follows:

c16.s6.12

(i) Fīrūz Shāh gave villages in assignment to regular soldiers.

c16.s6.13

(ii) Irregular soldiers were paid in cash. These soldiers were not permanent servants and were paid only for the period when they were on duty.

c16.s6.14

(iii) During their stay in the city, the regular soldiers (wajhadārs) also required cash which they could get only from their assignments. The sultan permitted them to draw a half of their salary; the other half was probably paid to the soldier's family living in the assigned area. This permission to draw half the salary while the soldier was away from his assignment was termed an iṭlāq : it was probably made out in the form of a payment order, which the soldier often discounted for a third of his salary to bankers who would ultimately get the full amount for which the voucher was made. The bankers thus got a sixth of the salary as commission.

c16.s6.15

Thus iṭlāq was simply a form of payment. There is nothing in ‘Afīf’s description of the difficulties of the soldiers with Fīrūz Shāh in Gujrāt (pp. 220-221) to militate against this view. The regular soldiers had no banking facilities in a distant province to cash their vouchers; whereas these facilities had been available in the capital. Fīrūz Shāh overcame this difficulty by advancing a loan from the Treasury.

c16.s6.16

These views find full confirmation in D. A., p. 50.

c16.s6.17

The system of iṭlāq envisages a system under which the assigned areas were managed by state officials and not by the assignees themselves. D. A. (pp. 47, 48) gives a list of some methods of payment in addition to those described above. The following are the more important:

c16.s6.18

Milk—literally, property, also applies to land granted in perpetuity. It became the property of the grantee and was inherited by his heirs. Such land was generally granted for pious purposes.