The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c9.134

c9.134

The etiquette at the court was complex and exacting. The order of precedence of the various officials and members of the household was carefully defined and maintained.⁴ Except under Buhlūl Lodī, whose attitude was that of *primus inter pares*, the monarchs were treated with servile respect. On all public and semi-public occasions very few dignitaries were allowed to sit in the royal presence.⁵ The un-Islamic ceremony of kissing the ground in the presence of the monarch had been adopted by the Abbasids from whom it was passed on to Dehlī through the Ghaznavids.⁶ Even the jurists do not seem to have protested against this degrading custom; it was probably to respect their feelings that people of religious sanctity were exempted.¹ Even when the sultan was absent, the wazīrs and others saluted the throne on entering the hall of audience with so deep an obeisance that the head almost reached the ground and the backs of their fingers touched the floor.² This idea of paying homage to an absent monarch dates back to the Ghaznavids and even before their time, but it was probably carried to an extreme in the time of Islām Shāh Sūr. Every Friday the officials in the districts gathered in a solemn assembly where the regulations made by the sultan were read out and administered. The place of honour was occupied by an empty throne on which were placed the monarch's quiver and slippers.³