The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c7.86

c7.86

The first sultan of Dehlī to receive explicit recognition was Shams-u’d-dīn Īltutmish. The name of a’n-Nāṣir-li-dīn-i’llāh had appeared on his coins as early as 622 A H. (1225 A.C.), or even earlier.⁶ On Monday, the 22nd Rabī‘-u’l-awwal, 626 A.H. (1229 A.C.), the emissaries of the caliph Abū Ja‘far Manṣūr al-Mustanṣir-bi’llāh reached Dehlī. It was a day of rejoicing, for the newly established empire was receiving formal recognition from the Commander of the Faithful. The city was decorated and the emissaries were given a befitting reception. In sending robes for the sultan the caliph had not forgotten his sons and nobles, and even the slaves were remembered.⁷ Al-Mustanṣir’s name now replaced a’z-Ẓāhir’s on the coinage and was, for the first time, mentioned in Hindī on the humble billon currency so that the poorest might come to know who was their legal overlord.⁸ They were to learn that their land was a part of Dār-u’l-Islām and their mighty ruler was only one of the many who owned allegiance to the caliph. Mustanṣir’s name was removed from the new dies of the mint by ‘Alā-u’d-dīn Mas‘ūd Shāh in 641 A H. (1243 A.C.) when the news of the caliph’s death reached Dehlī, and the name of his unfortunate successor, Musta‘ṣim, was inscribed instead.¹ It is curious, however, that Mustanṣir’s name appears on a few coins of Nāṣir-u’d-dīn Maḥmūd’s reign; these were probably old dies in distant mints.²