The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c7.52

c7.52

Modern works. A large number of modern works on the various aspects of the subject of this treatise have been consulted; but most of these deal with subsidiary topics only. Of the works dealing directly with the period, the most useful from the author's point of view was W. H. Moreland's The Agrarian System of Moslem India, which leaves little to be desired in erudition and criticism; where this book differs from the views expressed by Moreland, it is in the spirit of further examination of the question in the light of extended information. Unfortunately, Moreland deals with only one of the many topics under examination; for the rest there was little in modern works to guide the writer. The Cambridge History of India, Volume III, is mainly a chronicle; Dr. Ishwari Prasad's History of Medieval India is too much of a text-book and his views hardly bear the test of impartial criticism; Lane-Poole's *Medieval India* is charming to read, but now out of date. Of recent works there is Dr. R. P. Tripathi's *Some Aspects of Muslim Administration*, a history of the monarchy and *wizārat*; its chapters on the agrarian system were written before Moreland's book was published. Dr. Ishwari Prasad has also written *A History of the Qaraunah Turks in India* of which the first volume only has been published. A much better work is Āghā Mahdī Ḥusain's *The Rise and Fall of Muḥammad bin Tughluq* which deals with the same subject; for he has used a larger number of sources and his views are more balanced. The author discusses the administration, but he relies only on the contemporary authorities and specially on Ibn Baṭṭūṭah, whereas it is necessary to take a more extended view even to understand the working of institutions in a single reign. His thesis on *Le Gouvernement du Sultanat de Dehli* is sketchy and mainly reproduces Ibn Baṭṭūṭah. Kanwar Muḥammad Ashraf has published his thesis on *Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan (1200-1550 A.D.)*; he has excluded, as he himself states, "all references to the civil administration, the system of land revenue, the army, the system of transport, the ideas on education, and the development of literature, or even to the religious life of the people."¹ Even in the realms he has explored, it would be difficult to agree with all his opinions and conclusions. The various English and French translations of Persian and Arabic authorities have been used with great caution; it is necessary to rely on the original texts in unravelling the technicalities of administration. Most of the translations, in any case, need editing. However, of a different nature is Professor Hodivala's learned commentary on Elliot and Dowson, which has unravelled many a knotty problem of *Indo-Muslim History*.²