The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c3: Preface to the First Edition

The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehlī c3

Language: English

Preface to the First Edition

c3.1

SCHOLARS and teachers of Indian Muslim history have long felt the need of a comprehensive study of the administration of the sultanate of Dehlī. This is an attempt to meet this need. I will consider myself amply rewarded if this book is considered useful by the students of this period.

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I have attempted to consult all available sources. I have spared no pains to base my conclusions on sound evidence and have not neglected any material which I was able to find. The work is based mostly on primary authorities; but the writings of later scholars have not been ignored. Numismatic and epigraphical evidence has been extensively used.

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It is now being gradually recognized that the sultanate was a part of the greater world of Islam, that it possessed intimate sources of knowledge about the rest of the Muslim world, in particular of the eastern lands, and that the history and institutions of the empire of Dehlī cannot be properly understood if they are divorced from the general background of Islamic history. Hence, I have considered it necessary to consult relevant works on law, politics and statecraft.

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I am greatly indebted to the works of many scholars. In particular my obligation to Mr. Moreland is great; where I have differed, it has been with a full sense of my temerity, but my opinions are based on fresh evidence as well as on further examination.

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It would have been impossible to write this book without the help and guidance given me by my teacher and supervisor at Cambridge, Dr. R. B. Whitehead. I can never repay the debt of gratitude that I owe him; he has been much more than a teacher to me, and took a paternal interest in my welfare at Cambridge. He shared my enthusiasm and encouraged me whenever I felt baffled by a problem.

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Nor can I ignore the advice and help which I received from others. Mr. James Passant, director of studies in History in my college (Sidney Sussex) at Cambridge, was always willing to discuss problems and their bearings with me. Sir Richard Burn and Dr. Collins Davies, reader in Indian History at Oxford, made valuable suggestions. I am also grateful to Dr. T. G. P. Spear, my teacher, friend and colleague and until very recently the head of the department of History in St. Stephen's College as well as in the University of Delhi. I learnt History at his feet in St. Stephen's College as an Honours and post-graduate student. He most cheerfully came to my rescue whenever I required his help. I am also under deep obligation to another teacher of mine, the revered Shams-u'l-'ulamā al-Ḥāj Maulawī 'Abd-u'r-Raḥmān, until lately the head of the department of Arabic, Persian and Urdu in St. Stephen's College and in the University of Delhi. It was his erudition and encouragement which first fired my enthusiasm for the study of Indo-Muslim history. I must also mention my late lamented friend and colleague, Mr. K. M. Sarkar, a man of great promise, who had to bear the entire burden of my post-graduate work in St. Stephen's during my absence.

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I also take this opportunity to thank the authorities of the various libraries and museums in Europe and India for giving me every facility in prosecuting my studies. My special thanks are due to Dr. Arberry of the India Office Library, Mr. Thomas of the Cambridge University Library and the authorities of the British Museum, the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and the National Bibliothek in Vienna.

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I could not possibly have had this wonderful opportunity of devoting myself entirely to the preparation of this book but for the generosity of the authorities of St. Stephen's College who released me from teaching work for the entire period I spent in Cambridge. I am full of gratitude to this institution, my *alma mater*, and in particular to its principal, Rai Bahadur S. N. Mukarji, who evinced constant interest in the progress of my work. My friend, the Revd. J. A. Lovejoy, vice-principal of St. Stephen's College, has laid me under a great obligation by correcting the proofs.