The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c9.141

c9.141

A court so particular about formalities could not ignore the question of royal insignia. Khutbah, sikkah and ṭarāz have always been considered in Muslim countries to be the exclusive privilege of independent monarchs.⁴ The khutbah is a formal sermon preceding or following a congregational service, and its last part contains a prayer for the welfare of the Faithful and the sultan as the head of the community; mention in the khutbah was tantamount to formal recognition of sovereignty. The sultans who did not claim the caliphate for themselves had the name of the caliph recited with their own name, or prayers were offered for an unnamed caliph. If a claimant declared his independence, he removed his suzerain's name and substituted his own. The sultans did not allow the recitation of a subject's name in the khutbah. The only exception in the history of the sultanate of Dehlī is Fīrūz Shāh's consent to the inclusion of his son's name in the khutbah; but Fīrūz had practically abdicated.⁵ Sikkah, or the right of coining money, was also a royal privilege and every monarch who came to a throne, and each claimant who declared independence, struck at least a few pieces to commemorate the event. The assumption of royalty was proclaimed by at least these two methods. Ṭarāz was the weaving or embroidering of the royal name on pieces of silk or gold brocade; no other name could be embroidered on fabrics.¹ There were several other tokens of royalty: ‘Afīf gives a list of twenty-one.² But the privilege of using some of them was granted to the nobles or the tributary chiefs to exalt them above others: no real importance was attached to these minor distinctions.