9.(MEDIEVAL INDIA)ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL LIFE IN NORTH INDIA UNDER THE DELHI SULTANAT

References: Satish Chandra(Medieval India) and JL Mehta(Advanced Study In History Of Medieval India).Also minor facts from other books and figure and facts from verified Internet sources.

9.ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL LIFE IN NORTH INDIA UNDER THE DELHI SULTANAT

• One view was that the Turks wrought such damage to the economic life and the social and cultural fabric that it could only be repaired after a long time and, to some extent, only under the Mughals. In other words, the entire period of Sultanat rule was painted in dark colours, so much so that it was argued that there was a decline of population in northern India during the period!
• A second opinion was that since Indian society had hardly changed over the millenia, the negative aspects of Turkish rule were soon overcome, and that after some time the Turkish rulers emphasised justice and protection of the people rather than conquest. Hence, the even tenor of life was continued as far as the mass of the people were concerned, the effect of Turkish rule being felt mainly by the former ruling section—the Rajputs, and their close associates and beneficiaries Brahmanas.

• In recent times, a new view of Indian history has emerged which emphasises change rather than continuity. Thus, it traces the various phases of social development from the time of the Vedic Age. It is argued that along with periods of growth, decline and stagnation, there have been important structural changes in Indian society during its long history. 
• The period following the decline of the Gupta empire in north India is seen as one during which towns and long distance trade declined, gold coins virtually disappeared and even the silver currency was debased. At the local level, the power of the landed elites increased not only on the economic and social life, but over the administrative processes of the state. The word "feudal" has been used for this system, even though some of the characteristic features of European feudalism, the manor system and vassalage, were absent.
• The establishment of Turkish rule in north India led to far-reaching changes in society and economic life. The new Turkish regime released social forces which created an economic organisation considerably superior to the one that had existed before, that it led to the expansion of towns, and to important alterations in agrarian relationships.

A. Economic Life

i. Agricultural Production

• There were hardly any elements of change in the rural economy during the Sultanat period. Ibn Battutah, who travelled all over India, has left us a detailed account of the food-grains and various other crops, fruits and flowers produced in the country. Most of them are familiar to us, with rice and sugarcane being produced in the east and south, and wheat, oil-seeds etc, in the north. Cotton was grown widely, as also barley, sesame and other inferior crops. Ibn Battutah says that the soil was so fertile that it produced two crops a year—the familiar rabi (winter) and kharif (monsoon) crops. Rice was sown three times a year. 
• Some of the crops were the basis of village industries, such as oil-processing, making jaggery, indigo, spinning and weaving etc. 
• Potato, maize, red chillies and tobacco which were introduced during the 16th century are, of course, missing.
• During the 14th century, under Muhammad bin Tughlaq and Firuz Tughlaq, there was a marked development of gardens. Firuz Tughlaq is said to have built 1200 gardens in the neighbourhood and suburbs of Delhi, 80 on the Salora embankment, and 44 in Chittor. These gardens led to the improvement of fruits, especially grapes. Thus, wine, apparently grape -wine, used to come to Delhi from Meerut and Aligarh. Dholpur, Gwaliyar and Jodhpur were the other places where improved methods of fruit cultivation and gardening were adopted. Special attention was paid to the improvement of pomegranates at Jodhpur. Sikandar Lodi declared that Persia could net produce pomegranates which were better than the Jodhpur variety in flavour.
• However, the fruits produced in these orchards were meant mainly for the towns, and for the tables of the wealthy. They may, however, have produced some employment, and added to the avenues of trade.
• Regarding implements,there was no change in them till the 19th century.
• We have no idea of the productivity of the soil. It may have been higher because of more extensive manuring by cattle which were plentiful, as testified to by the fact that charai based on the number of animals was an important agricultural tax. Also, banjaras had thousands of oxen for their journeys.
• The peasants had more land per head because of a much smaller population. Forests were also much more extensive.However, on account of social constraints, we hear of landless labourers and menials in the villages.
• Most of the land was rain fed, though digging of wells and making of bunds (embankments) for storing water for irrigation were considered holy acts, and the state took an active part in building and preserving them.
• An extensive system of canals was set up for the first time by Firuz during the second half of the 14th century.He cut two canals from the Jamuna, and one each from the Sutlej and the Ghaggar. But these mainly benefited the areas around Hissar in modern Haryana. Other smaller canals in Sindh and the Punjab are also mentioned.

Rural Society

• The contemporary sources are almost silent on the subject of rural society. This deficiency can be made up, to some extent, by taking recourse to information available in Sanskrit, Apabhramsh and some of the south Indian languages. Although the information on village life available in these sources deal with the period from the 9th—10th centuries onwards, they provide us a background, and enable us to understand better the changes and continuities in village life under the Delhi Sultanat.
• From the writings of the 12th century Jain writer, Hemachandra, we can divide the village folk into four categories, i.e. (i) the produce-sharing peasants or share-croppers for whom the words karshak or ardhikas (receivers of a half share) are used; (ii) plough-shares and field labourers for whom various words such as halavakaka, kinasa and even karshak are used. These two sections constituted the lowest, most dependent peasantry. It seems that the word karshak, literally meaning the tiller of the soil, was a generic word for the lower peasantry which formed the largest group in the villages.(iii)Free peasants, but for whom the word owner-proprietor may be more appropriate. In later times, they were called malik-i-zamin (owners of the land) or khud-kasht (owner cultivators). They were entitled to inherit the land they claimed by descent. They also owned their huts or houses, and had the use of the village commons. They were often organised on a caste basis. Lastly (iv)The villages artisans: the cobbler, the rope-maker, the watchman, etc. Some of the village artisans, such as the cobbler and field-labourers belonged to the svapach (untouchable) category. The word low or adhama is generally applied to them.
• The commentators on Dharma Shastras, and other writers are agreed about the harrowing poverty and wretched life of the mass of the toiling peasantry. The Padma Purana describes the miserable life of the karshaks and that they were so much oppressed by the rulers of the time as to be unable to even support their families. 
• The poverty of the peasants and field-labourers is contrasted with the luxurious life of the landed aristocracy, the samantas.
• Village society was highly unequal. The growth of a cash nexus which became more rapid under the Sultanat increased the disparities further. While the agrarian policies of the Sultans were meant to ensure a steady income for the ruler and the officials who administered the state, their policies also had an impact on the rural society and economy. This is an aspect which we have to infer because the medieval chroniclers were hardly concerned about it.
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• The Revenue System
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• We have little idea about the agrarian policies and practices before the arrival of the Turks in north India. The cultivators were required to pay a large number of cesses which were subsumed under the broad categories of bhaga (land revenue), bhog (cesses), and kar (extra cesses). However, it is difficult to calculate the share of the produce they comprised, individually or collectively, nor how much of it went to the ruler, and how much to his subordinates.The traditional share of the produce payable by the peasants,according to the Dharamashastras, was one-sixth, but we hear of kings in south India demanding one-third, or two thirds of the produce. We also hear of a Chola king who had authorised his feudatories to collect half of the produce.
• There was hardly any change in the structure of rural society during the 13th century. The early Turkish rulers depended on the Hindu chiefs to pay the land-revenue, leaving it to them to collect it from the peasants according to the existing practices. 
• The general approach of the Turkish ruling class is indicated by Barani who wrote almost a hundred years later. According to him, Balban advised his son, Bughra Khan, not to charge so much land-revenue (kharaj) as to reduce the peasant to a state of poverty, nor so little that they become rebellious on account of excess of wealth. In general, it was designed not to interfere with the existing village set up.
• The 14th century saw a number of new developments. Alauddin Khalji raised the land-revenue demand to half in the upper Doab region upto Aligarh, and in some areas of Rajasthan and Malwa. This area was made khalisa, i.e. the land-revenue collected there went directly to the Imperial treasury. The land-revenue demand was based on the measurement of the area cultivated by each cultivator. Further, except in the area around Delhi, the cultivators were encouraged to pay land-revenue in cash. Alauddin tried to ensure that the cultivators sold their grains to the banjaras while the crops were still standing in the field, i.e. without transporting them to their own stores so as to be sold later when more favourable prices might prevail. However, this had to be modified in practice because we are told that many of the cultivators themselves brought their grains for sale in the local mandi. These could only have been the rich cultivators.
• Alauddin's agrarian measures amounted to a massive intervention in village affairs. Thus, he tried to operate against the privileged sections in the villages—the khuts, muqaddams, and chaudhuris and, to some extent, the rich peasants who had surplus food-grains to sell. The khuts and muqaddams were suspected of passing their burden on to the weaker sections, and not paying the ghari and charai taxes. 
• The attempt to take away all the inherited privileges of the khuts and muqaddams, or of the upper sections of the landed nobility and to appoint an army of amils, most of whom proved to be corrupt, to supervise revenue collection was not liable to succeed.Alauddin's revenue measures collapsed with his death.The restoration of the privileges of the khuts and muqaddams implies that the state no longer tried to assess the land-revenue on the basis of the holdings, i.e. area cultivated by each individual, but assessed it as a lump sum, leaving the assessment of individuals to the khuts and muqaddams. This was also a recognition of the economic and social power wielded by the khuts and muqaddams in the country-side.
• Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq took the definite step of replacing the system of measurement by sharing in the khalisa areas. This was considered a step towards providing relief to the cultivators because while under measurement the risk of cultivation of crops had to be largely borne by the cultivator, under sharing both the profit or loss were shared by the cultivator and the state. Ghiyasuddin took another important step. In the territories held by the holders of iqtas, i.e. outside the khalisa areas, he ordered that the revenue demand should not be raised on the basis of guess or computation, but "by degrees and gradually because the weight of sudden enhancement would ruin the country and bar the way to prosperity."Perhaps, the traditional demand in the area outside the khalisa areas remained one -third as before. 
• Muhammad Tughlaq tried to revive Alauddin's system and to extend it all over the empire. His measures led to a serious peasant uprising in the doab. The reason for this, it seems, was that in assessing the land-revenue on individuals, not the actual yield but the artificially fixed standard yield was applied to the area under measurement. Further, when converting the produce into cash, not the actual prices but official standard prices were applied. There was also harshness in levying the tax on cattle and houses. Thus, the actual incidence of land-revenue demand rose considerably, to half or even more.Like Alauddin Khalji's agrarian reforms, Muhammad Tughlaq's measures were also designed to curtail the privileges of the more affluent sections in village society, especially the khuts and muqaddams. But his measures also hurt the average cultivator. This may explain why there was a serious uprising against his measures in the doab.
• Muhammad Tughlaq then tried to reverse direction. In the doab which was the directly administered area (khalisa), he tried to improve cultivation by changing the cropping pattern, replacing inferior crops by superior crops. The main inducement for this was granting loans (sondhar) for digging wells, etc. This policy could only have succeeded with the co-operation of the richer cultivators, and the khuts and muqaddams who had the largest land-holdings, as well as the means. However, it failed because the officials appointed for the purpose had no knowledge of local conditions, and were only interested in enriching themselves.
• Firuz met with greater success by providing water to the peasants of Haryana by his canal system, levying an extra charge of 10 per cent, and leaving it to the peasants to cultivate what they wanted.
• All in all, it would appear that the land-revenue under the Sultans, especially during the 14th century, remained heavy, hovering in the neighbourhood of half, and that there was a definite effort to reduce the power and privileges of the old intermediaries, the Rais, Rawats etc., with the khuts and muqaddams forging ahead. This was the first time that such a high magnitude of land-revenue was assessed and collected from a large and highly fertile area for several decades. Both the administrative methods adopted, and the centralisation of such large, liquid resources in the hands of the ruling class had important consequences, both for rural life and for the urban manufacturers, trade and commerce.
• Firuz Tughlaq's rule is generally considered a period of rural prosperity. Barani and Afif tells that as result of the Sultan's orders, the provinces became cultivated, and tillage extended widely so that not a single village in the doab remained uncultivated. The canal system extended tillage in Haryana. 
• Rural society continued to be unequal, with imperial policies siphoning off a large share of the rural surplus. However, there was some limited success to the efforts to improve the rural economy even though the benefit of these was reaped largely by the privileged sections in rural society.
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• Non-Agricultural Production
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• We do not have any detailed account of the economic resources of the country during the Sultanat period, and it has to be supplemented by the account provided by Abul Fazl in the Ain-i-Akbari, written towards the end of the 16th century. Briefly, the most important manufactures pertained to textiles, metallurgy, building activities, mining and other ancillary activities, such as leather-work, paper-making, toy-making, etc.
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• Textiles
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• Textile production was the biggest industry of India and goes back to ancient times. It included the manufacture of cotton cloth, woollen cloth and silk. Cotton cloth itself could be divided into two categories—the coarse (kamin) and the fine (mahin). The coarse cloth, which was also called pat, was worn by the poor and the faqirs. It was often manufactured in households in the villages, but was also produced in some regions, such as Awadh, from which it was imported into Delhi.
• Cotton cloth of a little superior quality was called calico (kirpas), and was widely used. Cloth of fine variety included muslin which was produced at Sylhet and Dacca in Bengal, and Deogir in the Deccan. This was so fine and expensive as to be used only by the nobles and the very rich.
• Gujarat also produced many variety of fine cotton-stuff. Barbossa tells us that Cambay (Khambayat) was the centre for the manufacture of all kinds

of finer and coarse cotton cloth, besides other cheap varieties of velvets, satins, tafettas or thick carpets.

Various varieties of cloth was both painted, and printed by using blocks of wood. Thus, the 14th century

Sufi Hindi poet, Mulla Daud, talks of printed (khand chaap) cloth. Apart from the manufacture of cloth,

other miscellaneous goods such as carpets, prayer

carpets, coverlets, bedding, bed-strings, etc. were also manufactured in other parts of Gujarat.

The production of cloth improved during the period because of the introduction of the spinning-wheel

(charkha). According to a modern historian, Irfan Habib, the spinning wheel is attested to in Iran in the

12th century by some well-known poets. Its earliest reference in India is in the middle of the 14th

century. Thus, it apparently came to India with the Turks, and came into general use by the middle of

the 14th century. We are told that the spinning-wheel in its simplest form increased the spinner's

efficiency some six-fold, in comparison with a spinner working with a hand spindle.

Another device introduce during the period was the bow of the cotton-carder (naddaf, dhunia) which

speeded up the process of separating cotton from seeds.

Silk was imported from Bengal where silk worms were reared. However, a greater supply of silk yarn,

including raw silk, was imported from Iran and Afghanistan. There was much use of silk cloth, and of

cotton and silk mixed at Delhi and its neighbourhood. The silk of Cambay (Khambayat) was among the

costly items of cloth controlled by Alauddin Khalji. The patolas of Gujarat with many fancy designs were

highly valued. Gujarat was also famous for its gold and silver embroidery, generally on silk cloth.

Wool was procured from the mountainous tracts, though sheep were also reared in the plains. The finer

qualities of woollen cloth and furs were largely imported from outside, and were almost exclusively

worn by the nobles. However, the shawl industry of Kashmir was well established. Muhammad Tughlaq

sent Kashmir shawls as a present to the Chinese emperor. Carpet weaving also developed under the

patronage of the Sultans, with many Iranian and Central Asian designs being incorporated.

Mention may be also made of the dyeing industry. Indigo and other vegetables dyes were responsible

for the bright colours of which both men and women were fond. The dyeing industry went hand in hand

with calico-painting. The tie and dye method was of old standing in Rajasthan, though we do not know

when hand-printing using wooden blocks was introduced.

We do not know much about the organisation of the textile industry which gave employment to a large

number of people. Then as later, spinning was considered to be women's work, and was carried out in

the homes. Even slave-girls were used for this purpose. Weaving was also a house-hold industry, carried

out in towns or in some of the villages. The weaving material was purchased by the weavers themselves, or supplied

to them by merchants. The luxury items were, however, generally produced in the royal workshops or

karkhanas. Thus, we are told that in Muhammad Tughlaq's karkhanas, there were 4000 silk workers who

wove and embroidered different types of robes and garments. Firuz Tughlaq had recruited and trained a

large number of slaves to work in his karkhanas, and in the parganas.

Metallurgy

India had an old tradition of metal-work as testified to by the iron-pillar of Mehrauli (Delhi), which has

stood the ravages of time and weather over centuries. Many idols of copper or mixed-metals also

testified to the skill of the Indian metal-workers. Indian damascened swords and daggers were also

famous all over the world. Vessels of bronze and copper, including inlay work, produced in the Deccan

had a steady demand in West Asia. The high quality of the Sultanat coinage is also an evidence of the

skill of the Indian metal workers. The gold and silver-smiths of India were known for the fine pieces of

jewellery produced by them for which there was an insatiable demand from both women and men.

Building Industry

The building industry was a major means of employment. There had been a spurt of temple building

activity in north India from the 10th century, as witnessed by the temples at Khajuraho in Bundelkhand,

at Dilwara in Rajasthan and other places in Orissa and Gujarat. The Turkish sultans, too, were great

builders. They introduced a new style of arch, the dome and the vault, and a new mortar, the lime

mortar for cementing. They built cities, forts and palaces, the remains of many of which are still visible.

It seems that there was a great spurt in brick making, and more and more people began to live in brick

and stone houses, though the poor continued to live in mud houses, with thatched roofs. As stone

cutters, the Indian craftsmen were unrivalled. Amir Khusrau proclaimed that the mason and stonecutters of Delhi were superior to their fellow craftsmen in the whole Muslim world. As is well known,

Timur had taken masons and stone-cutters of Delhi to build his capital, Samarqand. We have no idea of

the number of people engaged in building industries. Barani tells us that Alauddin Khalji

employed 70,000 craftsmen for the construction of his buildings. Both Muhammad Tughlaq and Firuz

were great builders. Firuz not only established a number of new towns, but had many old buildings,

including mausoleums repaired. Enamelled tiles were introduced in India during the period. Hindu Rajas

and chiefs also patronised building-artisans, and a number of new towns, such a Jodhpur in Rajasthan,

were built during the period. Wood work of excellent quality was carried out throughout the country,

with doors, seats, bed-stands for domestic use being made.

Other Crafts including Paper-making

Another crafts which was widespread in India was leather-working, based on the large cattle wealth in

the country. This was largely organised on a caste basis. Superior quality saddles were produced for a

large number of horses in the stables, or gifted to nobles. Gujarat produced exquisite mats of red and

blue leather, decorated with birds and beasts, or inlaid work.

A new industry which arose during the period was paper-making. Although known to China in 100 A.D.,

knowledge about paper technology reached Samarqand and Baghdad only in the 8th century. The Arabs

introduced a new technology, using rags and ropes instead of the mulberry trees and the bark of trees.

There is no evidence of its use in India before the 13th century, and the earliest paper manuscript in

India available to us is from Gujarat dated 1223-24. Paper making undoubtedly meant a great increase in

the availability of books.

Other crafts included salt-making, quarrying for stone and marbles, and extraction of iron and copper

ore. There was also diamond mining in Panna and in south India, as also diving for pearls from the sea.

Ivory working was another important craft.

iii. Trade:

(a) Domestic Trade

During the Sultanat period, as during the earlier period, India remained the manufacturing workshop for

the Asian world and adjacent areas of East Africa, with brisk and well -established domestic trade. India's

position was based on highly productive agriculture, skilled craftsmen, strong manufacturing traditions,

and a highly specialised and experienced class of traders and financers. We have noted the growth of

towns and a money nexus in north India following the Turkish centralisation which led to improved

communications, a sound currency system based on the silver tanka and the copper dirham, and the reactivation of Indian trade, especially over-land trade with Central and West Asia.

Domestic trade may be divided into local trade between the villages, and with the mandis and district

towns; and long distance trade between metropolitan towns and regions. Trade between district and

metropolitan towns fell between the two. Local trade involved the sale of crops for the payment of landrevenue and to feed the towns which were growing in size and number. The sale of crops was primarily

the responsibility of the village bania who also provided the peasants with such necessities as salt and

spices, and raw iron for use by the village blacksmith. Sometimes, the rich cultivators themselves took

their surplus produce to the local mandis—a practice which Alauddin Khalji tried to encourage to

prevent hoarding at the village level. The mandis were supplemented by local fairs where animals were

also sold, animals being a necessity for field operations, local transport, milk etc. We have no means of

assessing the volume of this local trade. It undoubtedly played a vital role in the economic life of the

country. However, local trade did not generate enough wealth to make the traders engaged in it

wealthy enough to lead a life of ease and plenty. Thus, the much reviled village bania probably did not

have a standard of living higher than that of a rich peasant.

At the other end of the spectrum were the rich traders and financers, the sahs, modis and sarrafs. Their

trading activities were geared both to the movement of bulk commodities within the country, as well as

to cater to the demand for luxury goods required by the nobility living in the big cities. The bulk

commodities included food-grains, oil, ghee, pulses, etc. with some regions having a surplus and some

others a deficit. Thus, rice and sugar which were surplus in Bengal and Bihar were carried by ships to

Malabar and Gujarat. Wheat which was surplus in modern east U.P. (Awadh, Kara/Allahabad) was

transported to the Delhi region. But transport of bulk commodities overland was expensive, and was

carried on mainly by the banjaras, who moved with their families along with thousands of bullocks.

Perhaps, the operations of the banjaras were financed by the rich merchants, the sahs and the modis,

though we do not have enough information on the subject. Expensive but bulky commodities, like fine

quality textiles, were carried on the backs of horses or in bullock carts. The movement of these good

was in caravans or tandas, protected by hired soldiers because roads were unsafe on account of both

wild animals and dacoits.

The building of the road from Delhi to Deogir by Muhammad bin Tughlaq illustrates the manner in which

road communication were sought to be improved. Thus, trees were planted on both sides of the road,

and a halting station (sarai) was built every two miles (karoh) where food and drink was available. In

Bengal, an embankment was made so that a part of the road to Lakhnauti which had remained under

water during rains could become passable.

Regarding the commodities transported in long distance trade, apart from the bulk commodities,

textiles were the main item. We have already referred to muslin from Bengal and Deogir, and fine

textiles from Gujarat. Horses, both foreign and domestic, were also an important item of import. Indigo,

spices, ungents, drugs, leather-goods were other important items. Shawls and carpets from Kashmir

were in demand at Delhi. So were dry fruits. Wine was imported from abroad, and also produced at

Meerut and Aligarh in the Gangetic doab.

Regarding the financing of long distance trade, the hundi system must have continued. The modis and

sarrafs were the main means of operating and financing the hundi system. Although there was no

system of banking as such, the village bania at the village level, and the modis and sarrafs at the national

level were the main means of providing finance for agricultural operations and trade. According to an

eminent modern historian, K.M. Ashraf, the interest charged on loans was 10 per cent per annum for big

loans, and 20 per cent on small or petty sums.

(b) Foreign Trade

India had an old tradition of trade with West Asia and extending through it to the Mediterranean world,

as also to Central Asia, South-East Asia and China both by over-seas and over-land routes. The overland

routes lay through the Bolan pass to Herat, and through the Khyber pass to Bokhara and Samarqand,

and also by the Kashmir routes to Yarkand and Khotan for onward transmission to China. These trade

routes were sometimes disrupted due to the outpouring of nomadic hordes from Central Asia, such as

the Hun eruption during the 6th-7th centuries, and the Mongol onslaught during the 13th century. The

rise and fall of empires also effected the safety of these trade routes. However, the traders proved to be

extremely hardy and skillful in overcoming these obstacles. Also, the nomads quickly realised the value

of permitting trade to flow, and tax it to their benefit. Thus, the Mongols not only permitted trade

but, when not at war, themselves traded in camels and horses, arms, falcons, furs and musk. Although

Balban had difficulties in getting horses from Central Asia on account of the Mongols, this must have

been temporary because Alauddin Khalji had no such difficulty. With the establishment of the Mongol

empires, and the security of roads, trade with China and West Asia became easier than ever before. The

effect of the destruction of flourishing cities such as Samarqand and Bokhara by the Mongols should

not, therefore, be overestimated. With the gradual assimilation of the Mongols to Islam, conditions for

trade improved further during the 14th century. However, overland trade concentrated on commodities

which were light in weight but high in value because of the high cost of transportation. Horses were the

most important commodity imported overland into India. There was a steady demand for Arabi, Iraqi

and Central Asian horses in India for the needs of the army, the cavalary being the principal instrument

of warfare. They were also valued for purposes of show and status. Hence, the careful regulation of sale

and purchase of horses was a priority for the state. The other commodities imported into India included

camels, furs, white slaves, velvet, dry fruits and wines. Tea and silk were imported from China, though

silk was also imported from Persia, the mulberry tree and silk cocoons having been introduced there

during the 13th and 14th century by the Mongols. The exports from India included cotton textiles, food

stuffs such as rice, sugar and spices. There was a continuous export of slaves from India for whom the

demand in the Islamic world was quite considerable.

The principal centre for overland trade from India was Multan. Lahore had been ruined by the Mongols

in 1241, and was not able to regain itself till the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq. Multan was also the entry

point of all foreigners, including traders who were all called Khurasanis. It is difficult to estimate their

number, but in wealth they appear to be inferior to the Multanis. However, the foreign merchants,

especially the Arabs, were more active in Gujarat and Malabar in overseas trades. Indians, both Hindus

(Agrawal and Maheshwari) and Jains and Bohras were also active in this trade, with colonies of Indian

traders living in West and South-East Asia. Bengal also carried on trade with China and countries of

South-East Asia, exporting textiles, and importing silks, spices etc. Ma Huan, who came to Bengal in the

early part of the fifteenth century, mentions that "wealthy individuals who built ships and go to foreign

countries to trade are quite numerous."

B. Social Life

i. The Ruling Classes

(a) The Nobility

The most important class which emerged in northern India during the 13th century was the ruling class

consisting of the nobles. Generally, the nobles have been divided into three categories, the Khans being

the highest category, followed by Maliks and Amirs. However, this categorisation was never very clear.

To begin with, people holding junior posts in and around the court, such as sarjandar (commander of the

king's personal forces), saqi-i-khas (in-charge of water and other drinks etc.), as also those holding the

posts of sipahsalar, sar-i-khail (junior commanders of military forces) were called amirs. Later, the word

amir began to be used in a loose sense to signify a person of wealth and influence in the government.

The most important categories remained the Maliks, and the Khans. All the top posts in the government

were held by persons belonging to these categories. In the lists of nobles given by Minhaj Siraj and

Barani, only Maliks are mentioned. The category of Khan was the result of Mongol influence among

whom the Qa-an (Khan) was the commander of 10,000 troops. In the Delhi Sultanat, the word 'Khan'

was only used to give a special status. Thus, Balban was given the title of Ulugh Khan. The nobles were

also dignified by being given other titles, such as Khwaja Jahan, Imad-ul-Mulk, Nizam-ul-Mulk, etc. They

were also awarded various privileges (maratib), such as robes of different kinds, sword and dagger, flags,

drums, etc. These were greatly valued because they often signified status, and closeness to the Sultan.

Horses and elephants with costly trappings were also awarded to them on special occasions.

We do not have any precise idea of the number of nobles in office at any one time. Minhaj Siraj gives a

list of 32 Maliks under Iltutmish which included 8 princes who were displaced Central Asian rulers.

Perhaps, the term Turkan-i-Chahalgani, or the corps of forty Turks used by Barani is a reflection of the

number of top nobles. For Balban's reign, Barani gives a list of 36 Maliks excluding qazis. The number of

top nobles rose to 48 under Alauddin Khalji, out of which 7 were relations, including sons. From this, we

may conclude that till the Sultanat suddenly expanded after the death of Alauddin Khalji, the number of

top nobles or Maliks in the country was quite small. As we have seen, even among this small group of

nobles, there was bitter factional fighting. In this struggle, mutual relationships, ethnicity etc. played a

role. The Turks considered themselves superior

to all others such as Tajiks, Khaljis, Afghans, Hindustanis etc. The Turks ousted the Tajiks after the death

of Iltutmish, and established a virtual Turkish monopoly over high offices. This was broken with the rise

of the Khaljis. Under the Khaljis and the Tughlaqs, Indian Muslims forged ahead, largely on the basis of

personal efficiency. However, foreign blood, or descent from a well-known foreign family continued to

have considerable social value and esteem, as the Moorish traveller, Ibn Battutah, testifies.

We do not have much knowledge about the social origin of the high grandees. During the early phase,

there was considerable social mobility among the nobles, and people from a wide social background,

who had the capacity to attract and maintain a military following (jamiat) or who caught the eye of the

Sultan, could, with luck, rise to the position of a Malik. Many of the nobles had, in fact, started their

career as slaves, and slowly climbed the social ladder. This open character of the nobility continued to a

large extent during the 13th century on account of the rapid rise and fall of dynasties, resulting in large

scale displacement of nobles belonging to the previous regimes. Thus, in the 13th century we hardly

hear of families whose members continued to hold the position of high grandees for more than one

generation.

During the 14th century, with the rise of the Khaljis, and then of the Tughlaqs who ruled for almost a

hundred years, the social character of the nobility broadened, and it became more stabilized. With the

breaking of the Turkish monopoly of high offices, the zone of recruitment to the nobility broadened.

Many Khaljis, Afghans and Hindustanis were admitted to the nobility. No attempt was made to exclude

the Turks. However, according to popular perception, even when a noble lost his power and position,

the tradition of former dignity and social honour were handed over to his descendants who believed

that their restoration to former power was only a question of time and opportunity.

Along with the clergy, these sections constituted what were called ashraf (pl. of sharif) or the respected

sections. According to contemporary thinking, the state had a special responsibility towards these

sections, not only in matters of employment, but for giving pensions to the widows, even providing

funds for the marriage of their unmarried daughters.

Generally speaking, there was a broad division among the ahl-i-saif or men of the sword, and the ahl-iqalam or the literati. The latter were chosen for judicial and clerical posts. The ulema also fell in this

category. As long as administration was tantamount to

a military exercise for realising land-revenue from recalcitrant chiefs, muqaddams and peasants, the

literati had to be kept away from administration, although i t was urged that the wazir should come from

the class of the literati. In general, the nobles looked down on the literati, and considered them unfit for

administrative or political matters. Thus, Alauddin Khalji not only rejected the advice of Qazi Mughis to

try and arrange a compromise with the Mongols, but ridiculed him for offering advice on military and

political matters although he was a nawisanda (clerk), and the son of a nawisanda!

The emergence of a class of ashraf from whom the nobility was expected to be recruited gave it a

measure of social stability, but also heightened stratification in Muslim society. The counterpart of the

ashraf were the ajlaf or kam-asl, i.e. the lower, inferior classes consisting of citizens, and professionals

such as weavers, peasants, and labourers. Not only marriage between the two sections, the ashraf and

the ajlaf, was unthinkable, even social intercourses between the two was at a discount. While such

social gradations had existed among the Muslims in West and Central Asia, they became even more rigid

and pronounced after their coming to India which had a tradition of stratification on the basis of

heredity, i.e. caste.

Arising from this deep social division was the belief that only persons belonging to the 'respectable'

classes had the right to occupy high offices in the state. Hence, there was widespread resentment

among the upper classes when Muhammad Tughlaq appointed to high offices, apparently on the basis

of their efficiency, Hindus and Muslims belonging to the 'inferior' classes or castes, such as winedistillers, barbers, cooks, gardeners, shop keepers (bazaris) etc. The experiment failed for a variety of

reasons. Firuz Tughlaq earned high praise and approval when he chose as nobles only those whose

ancestors had been in the service of the king or belonged to the 'respected' classes. That the prejudice

was not against 'Hindustanis' as such but against the so-called inferior classes, whether Hindustani

Muslim, is borne out by the fact that Firuz's wazir, Khan-i-Jahan, who was a converted brahman, was

acceptable to all sections of the Muslims. This was in stark contrast to the Baraduis or Parwaris, wrongly

considered to be low-caste converts, who had come to the top for a brief time after the death of

Alauddin Khalji, and have been sharply denounced by Barani.

We are told by Barani that during the time of Balban when, apparently, the nobles did not have much

ready cash in their hands, whenever they wanted to hold a majlis or a convivial party, their agents would

rush to the houses of the Sahs and Multanis to borrow

money, so that all the money from their iqta went to them as repayment, and gold and silver was to be

found in the houses of the merchants alone. This situation seems to have changed with the coming of

Alauddin Khalji and the growth of a new centralised system of land revenue administration which began

with him, and continued under the Tughlaqs. In the new system of revenue administration, there was an

emphasis on payment of land-revenue in cash. This applied not only to khalisa territories, i.e. reserved

territories income from which went to the central treasury, but even in areas assigned as iqta. Thus,

when Ibn Battutah was appointed a judge and given a salary of 5,000 dinars, it was paid for by assigning

him 21/2 villages, the annual income of which came to that sum. We now also hear of nobles being

assigned large salaries. Thus, a Malik was paid between 50,000 to 60,000 tankas; an amir 30,000 to

40,000 tankas, a sipahsalar got 20,000 tankas. These salaries were even higher under Firuz Tughlaq.

Thus, Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul got 13 lakh tankas over and above the expenses of his army and servants,

and separate allowances for his sons and sons-in-law. Other nobles got salaries ranging from four to

eight lakh tankas per year.

This implied unprecedented centralization of the rural surplus in the hands of the central elite. The high

emoluments not only implied great affluence for the nobles, but possibility of hoarding of wealth. When

Malik Shahin, who was naib amir-i-majlis of Sultan Firuz, died, he left behind 50 lakh tankas besides

jewels, ornaments and costly robes. Imad-ul-Mulk Bashir-i-Sultani, who had been the Sultan's slave, left

behind 13 crores tankas of which the Sultan confiscated 9 crores. However, these appear to be

exceptions rather than the rule. Apart from being an insurance against uncertainty, the growth of such

hoards was also an index of a slow growth of a money economy in the country. However, the growth of

a money economy seems to have led to a change in the attitude towards trade and traders. Ibn Battutah

alludes to the ships owned by the sultan of Delhi. On one occasion, the sultan, Muhammad bin Tughlaq,

placed three ships at the disposal of Shihabuddin Kazruni, a friend and associate, who had a flourishing

overseas trade, and was called a "king of merchants." Almost for the first time, traders began to be

involved in the tasks of administration. This, Muhammad Tughlaq gave Shihabuddin the city of

Khambayat in charge. If Battutah is to be believed, the Sultan had even promised him the post of the

Wazir, but he was murdered at the instance of the Wazir, Khan-i-Jahan, while on his way to Delhi.

We are also told that Abul Hasan Ibadi of Iraq, who lived in Delhi, used to trade with the money of

Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq, and to buy weapons and goods for him in Iraq and Khurasan. Other

nobles may have followed the Sultan's example, though we have no evidence of it. On balance, it

appears that the major investments of the nobles were not in trade but in orchards, the numbers of

which grew sharply under Firuz with the growing prosperity of the nobles. However, further

development in the direction of productive investments by the nobles had to await the re-centralization

of the empire under Akbar.

We have little information about the education and cultural outlook and values of the Turkish nobles.

Apparently, they were not illiterate: even slaves purchased by merchants in the slave market of

Samarqand and Bokhara were educated before being resold. Although many of the slaves were newly

converted, they had imbibed the Islamic religious and cultural norms prevalent in Central Asia, Khurasan

etc. Nonetheless, they could hardly have imbibed the cultural graces of an old and well-established

nobility. Nor could they be expected to be knowledgeable patrons of culture, though it was considered a

mark of prestige to patronize poets and writers, sometimes even to give them extravagant rewards. This

began to change with the rise of Amir Khusrau and his companion, Amir Hasan Sijzi, towards the end of

the 13th century. Gradually, a new Indo-Muslim culture developed, and many nobles and sufis actively

contributed to it. Thus, Zia Nakkshabi (d. 1350) wrote on many subjects including poetry, and had a

number of Sanskrit works translated into Persian.

Thus, from being merely rude warriors, the nobles began slowly to emerge as patrons of culture as well.

(b) The Chiefs—Emergence of "Zamindars"

Although the Rajputs had lost state power almost all over north India, with the exception of Rajasthan

and adjacent areas, and in the remoter hill regions of the Himalayas, Bundelkhand, etc., Rajput rajas

continued to dominate large tracts of the countryside even in the centrally administered areas of

Punjab, the doab, Bihar Gujarat, etc. They were called rai, rana, rawat, etc. However, the term 'chief' has

been applied to them. They had their own armed forces, and generally lived in the countryside in their

fortresses. We have little idea of their numbers or the strength of their forces, but they were important

in the political, social and economic life of the countryside.

Although the contemporary sources invariably portray them as enemies against whom constant jihad

was not only legitimate but necessary, a relationship of permanent hostility was not feasible for the

Turkish rulers, or for them. For the Turkish rulers, it was convenient to allow them to rule the areas

under their control as long as they paid a stipulated sum of money regularly as tribute, and generally

behaved in a loyal manner.

We have evidence of a growing political relationship between the Turkish rulers and the Hindu chiefs.

Thus, we are told that Hindu rais from a hundred kos used to come and witness the splendour of

Balban's court. After Balban's victory over Tughril in Bengal, he was welcomed in Awadh by many,

including the rais of the area. Later, when Firuz Tughlaq invaded Bengal, he was joined by the rais of

eastern U.P., the most important of them being Udai Singh, the Rai of Gorakhpur and Champaran, who

paid 20 lakhs of tribute that was due from him.

In another instance, when Malik Chhajju, a nephew of Balban and governor of Kara rebelled against

Jalaluddin Khalji, he was joined by the local rais, and rawats and payaks of the area who "swarmed

around with their forces like ants and locusts." They stood by his side in his contest with Jalaluddin

Khalji. Malik Chajju was defeated, but from this time onwards, Hindu chiefs seem to have been in

attendance of the Sultan at his court. Thus, we hear that under Firuz Tughlaq, Aniratthu who was "lord

of two royal canopies (chatra)," Rai Madar (or Ballar) Deva, Rai Sumer, Rawat Adhiram, etc. were not

only allowed to attend, but were allowed to sit down in the court.

Despite these growing political linkages during the Sultanat rule, the position of the chiefs was one of

considerable uncertainty. It was a part of the policy of the sultans of Delhi to overthrow the Hindu chiefs

whenever they could, or at any rate, to try and reduce their powers and privileges by extending the

imperial system of revenue administration to the territories dominated by the chiefs. While such a

process did not, in all probability, reduce the actual burden on the cultivators, it meant a reduction of

the perquisites of the chiefs, and possibly other intermediaries.

By the beginning of the 14th century, we find increasing references to the zamindars. This term, which

does not exist outside India, was used increasingly to designate the hereditary intermediaries. Amir

Khusrau was amongst the first to use it. In course of time, the term began to be applied to the khuts and

muqaddams and chaudhris, and even to those former chiefs who had been forced or

pressurized to pay not a fixed lump sum, but a sum fixed on the basis of land-revenue assessment.

Under the Mughals, and word "zamindar" began to be used for all hereditary owners of land or those

who had a hereditary share in the land revenue. Even chiefs were included in this category.

We have little idea of the life style of the privileged rural sections, but generally their affluence is

contrasted to the poverty of the rest.

ii. Adjuncts to the Ruling Class: Judicial and Junior Administrative Officers, and the Ulema

The ruling classes, especially the nobility, could hardly have functioned without the help of a group of

lower functionaries, in addition to the large number of servants, slaves and other retainers they

employed. These functionaries can be broadly divided into two: judicial and religious functionaries, on

the one hand, and revenue and administrative functionaries on the other. The former consisted of qazis

and muftis who were appointed in every city where there was a sizable population of Muslims. They

dispensed civil justice where Muslims were concerned, leaving the Hindus to deal their own cases on the

basis of customary law, and the Dharmashastras. They also dealt with criminal justice. At their head was

the Chief Qazi. In the capital and perhaps in other cities there was a Dad Bak who was responsible for

checking arbitrary exaction of taxes, and supervising and controlling the amirs who were responsible for

surveying and keeping a record of properties of Muslims for purposes of taxation. There was also the

muhtasib who worked under the kotwal and was responsible for seeing that the Muslims did not openly

violated the sharia, or disregard compulsory obligations such as observation of roza, namaz etc. He was

also responsible for checking weights and measures.

All these posts were paid, and their numbers grew as the size of the Muslim population in the country

increased. There were also Imams, muazzins etc. who were appointed in various mosques, and reciters

of the Holy Quran who were appointed to mausoleums, or were called to various religious functions. In

addition, there were religious divines who were appointed as teachers in various schools (maqtab),

colleges (madrasa), etc. All these sections broadly constituted the theological class or ulema. The ulema

were highly respected. As a general rule, they had undergone a course of training in Muslim Law, logic

and theology, including some knowledge of Arabic. In

addition to these official classes, there was a large group of Muslim scholars, pious men etc. who

received support from the state through stipends, grant of revenue-free lands etc.

We have little idea of the social base of this large and amorphous group of people. In general, they

formed what in modern times would be called the lower middle and m iddle classes, though some of the

ulema rose to the position of chief qazis etc., and became more a part of the ruling class. Very often,

poets, scholars, historians, doctors and lower functionaries in the government—the amils (revenue

collectors), muharrirs (accountants) etc. came from the same social class. We can also call this class the

literati, or the educated, literate class. As we know, in a country which was predominantly illiterate,

people who were educated and could also speak in the name of religion, had enormous prestige.

Nevertheless, the ulema, as a class, did not enjoy a high reputation among the discerning sections.

Bughra Khan, the son of Balban, warned his son, Kaiqubad, against the latter day theologians whom he

described as "greedy rogues whose highest duty was this world and not the next." Amir Khusrau

considered the qazis who accepted judicial offices to be corrupt and ignorant, and unfit to occupy any

responsible positions in the kingdom. They were arrogant and vain, and were generally considered timeservers who were prepared to sacrifice their principles and beliefs to please those in powers. In general,

the Sultans did not allow them to have any say in political affairs, confining them to deciding judicial

cases, religious matters and education. Nonetheless, the ulema did play a positive role in acting as a

bridge between the ruling classes and the ordinary Muslims, and imbuing the Muslims with a sense of

unity. Simultaneously, it must be noted that many of the ulemas were foreigners who had taken refuge

in India on account of the Mongols, or were attracted to India by its prosperity. They had little

understanding of India, and they and a section of theologians in India accentuated social tensions and

bitterness between the ordinary Hindus and Muslims by constantly harping on elements of religious

conflict, ignoring the sense of social amity that generally prevailed among the people.

A large number of clerks and officials were needed to man the growing machinery of administration at

the centre, and in the various provincial and district towns following the new system of revenue

administration introduced by Alauddin Khalji. The power of these officials, possibilities of corruption and

oppression on their part, and the harsh corrective steps taken by Alauddin against them have been

described graphically by Barani. We do not know the

social background of these new recruits to government service. A large number of them may have been

converted into Indian Muslims, or members of the ulema class. If we exclude the muqaddams and the

patwaris who were Hindus, and who lived in the villages, most of these lower officials must have been

Muslims. However, Hindus seem to have entered into this class under Muhammad bin Tughlaq. This

would explain the selection by him of a small number among them to high positions. Thus, we have the

emergence of a class of Persian knowing Hindus by this time.

iii. The Trading&Financial Classes

India had an old tradition of trade and a well developed class of traders and financers since ancient

times. Thus, laws relating to contract, loans, sale and purchase are set out by the Dharmashastras. The

emergence of the Vaishyas as a separate trading community, and their being included in the category of

the dvija (lit. twice born or the privileged sections) is an index of their position in the social and

economic life of the country. It is, however, necessary to make a distinction between the leading

merchants or nagar streshtins from the ordinary shop-keepers (banik), and transporters (banjaras). The

former, according to the Panchantantra, a 5th century fable, were considered socially close to the ruler,

and mingled freely with his family members. The leading merchants not only dealt with wholesale and

long distance trade, which included foreign trade, but also dealt with finance and money-changing. Long

distance trade was financed, insured against risk, and money transported from place to place through

the system of hundis.

The establishment of a strong centralized empire in north India; the establishment of a sound currency

system, mainly based on the silver tanka; the growing security of roads; growth of towns, and opening

up of India to the Islamic world were important factors which led to the growth and expansion of India's

overland trade to West and Central Asia, as well as overseas trade, mainly from Gujarat. This is testified

to by the frequent reference to the Multanis as traders and financers. As is well known, throughout the

medieval times, Multan was a very important trading centre, being linked directly across the Bolan Pass

to Qandhar, Herat and Bokhara which was the junction of the "silk road", extending eastward across

Central Asia to China, and westward across Iran to Constantinople and Lebanon. Multan was also linked

via the river Indus to the western sea ports. It would appear that the bulk of the Multanis "were Hindus.

We have already referred to Barani's accounts how the Multanis and the Sahs of Delhi had become so

rich by lending money to the nobles that gold and silver was to be found in their houses alone. Barani

testifies to the wealth and prosperity of the Multanis and the Sahs in other ways also. He says that

Jalaudin Khalji bluntly refused to take stern action against the Hindus who even at the  capital, Delhi, had

full religious freedom, and the wealthy ones among them, obviously the Multani traders and merchants,

were leading a life of ease and pleasure, with no fear about the safety of their life and property.

Another section of traders to whom Barani refers to are the dallals or brokers. The brokers were

commission agents who charged a fee for bringing buyers and sellers together. Their emergence is an

index of the growth of trade at Delhi. We are told that buyers of different commodities, esp ecially

textiles, used to throng to Delhi following the control of the market by Alauddin. Barani refers to brokers

especially in the context of Alauddin's effort to control the sale of horses. He uses strong words about

these dallals many of whom, specially the horse traders, were Muslims. They formed a rich and powerful

group which, on occasions, could even defy the Sultan, and disregard his orders.

The Muslim traders at Delhi were generally foreigners—Iraqis, Iranians, Khurasanis, etc. although we

hear of a few Muslim Multanis. Thus, the father and grand-father of Hisamuddin, whom Alauddin had

appointed a qazi, had been leading merchants of Multan. According to Ibn Battutah, in India all the

foreign traders were called Khurasanis. The Afghans were another group of Muslim trader. They

specialized in caravan trade, and trade in horses.

We have little idea about the trading communities in different parts of India. Gujarat had a well

established tradition of trade, and of trading communities, both India and foreign. We have already

referred to an Egyptian, Shihabuddin Kazruni, who owned many ships, and lived at Khambayat. The

Jains, the Marwaris, the Gujarati banias and the Bohras were also active, according to traditional

accounts. It was from one of these traders that Malik Kafur was procured for Alauddin.

iv. Standard of Living

Contemporary chroniclers give a lot of space in describing the extravagant life style of the Sultans—their

palaces, their furnishings, the lavish expense on the upkeep of the large number of women

and relatives in their harems, their costly cloths and jewellery, expenses on the royal stables, and their

extravagant gifts to nobles, poets, the learned and the saintly etc. Such a life style had become

customary, and was also supposed to impress the subjects and the courtiers.

We need not concern ourselves unduly with the life style of individual sultans, any more than we need

bother about the life styles of the modern day play-boys, except that the Sultans, being centres of

patronage and accepted as leaders of society, exercised a tremendous influence on the life-style and

behaviour pattern of the elites.

We have already noticed the growing affluence of the nobles from the time of the rise of the Tughlaqs.

However, even during the reign of Balban, we are told that his cousin, Malik Kishli Khan, on one occasion

gave in gift all his horses and 10,000 tankas to poets and minstrels. Fakhruddin, the kotwal of Delhi

under Balban, used to give financial grants to 12,000 readers of Quran, and give dowries to 1000 poor

girls each year. He never wore the same dress twice, or slept in the same bed twice. Balban's diwan-iarz, Imad-ul-Mulk, was famous for the lavish repast, consisting of fifty to sixty trays of food which were

served to his officials and clerks every day. Mir Maqbul, a noble of Muhammad Tughlaq, used to spend

three and a half lakh tankas on his personal expenses. Khan-i-Jahan, the wazir of Firuz, had 20,000

women in his harem. Such examples of extravagence on the part of the nobles can be multiplied.

The life style of nobles did lead to the setting up of specialized industries in different parts of the

country, catering to the demand created by them. It is difficult to estimate the number of people

employed in such industries, or those who provided them services. But their numbers must have been

considerable, since most of the nobles did not hoard their riches. Nor did the nobles invest their wealth

in productive enterprises, except in gardens during the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq, more specially

under Firuz.

We have little idea of the standard of living of the junior bureaucrats, members of the judiciary and the

ecclesiastical classes and professionals, such as hakims, poets, musicians, etc. Some of the famous

hakims seem to have been financially well off. The position of the poets etc. depended upon the nature

of the patronage they received. Thus, the father of Amir Khusrau had a stipend of 1200 tankas a year

from Balban when he was a noble. Ahmad Chap, Balban's ariz, once gave 10,000 tankas, 100 horses and

320 dresses for the royal musicians to sing at his house. In general, these sections led a life of comfort,

but not affluence.

As far as the general population in the towns is concerned, their standard of living was largely

determined by prices and wages. We have little idea of prices before Alauddin Khalji. By his market

control measures, Alauddin ensured the supply of cheap food stuffs. Thus, Barani tells us that wheat was

sold at 71/2 jital per man, barley at 4 jitals, and good quality rice at 5 jitals. However, while the cost of

subsistence was low, wages were also low. Thus, we are told that in Alauddin's reign, the wages of an

artisan amounted to 2 or 3 jitals per day or about 11/2 to 2 tankas a month.1 Barani tells us that six jitals

worth of bread and meatstew, i.e. a bare subsistence would suffice for seven or eight persons. The

salaries of servants, we are told, were 10 to 12 tankas, probably a year. The salary fixed for the

cavalrymen by Alauddin, 234 tankas a year, or about 20 tankas a month for the soldier and his mount

was thus one which allowed the trooper to live in some style. We are told that after the death of

Alauddin, the price control system collapsed, and prices rose rapidly, with wages rising four times. These

figures cannot be calculated exactly. By analyzing the prices mentioned by Ibn Battutah, it seems that

prices rose a little over one-and-a-half times. Wages may have risen in the same proportion. Prices and

wages were higher still during the early years of Firuz's reign. During his reign, according to Afif, without

any effort on the Sultan's part, the prices declined almost to the level of Alauddin's reign. However,

wages still remained high. The causes of the fluctuation of the prices of food grains—whether they were

linked to good harvest and expansion of cultivation, or was part of a world-wide shortage of silver is still

a matter of debate among historians.

v. Towns and Town Life: Artisans and Slaves

We have already seen that there was a revival of towns in north India from the 10th century. This

process was considerably accelerated from the 13th century as a result of Turkish centralization, and the

growth of a new city-based ruling class with a high standard of living. Apart from Delhi, which Ibn

Battutah calls the largest city in the eastern part of the Islamic world, we are told that Daultabad

(Deogiri) equalled Delhi in size. Other cities which rose to prominence in north India during the period

were Multan, Lahore, Kara (near modern Allahabad), Lakhnauti and Khambayat.

1. In north India, 48 jitals made a tanka. Alauddin's man was equivalent to 16 kgs. of modern times.

The economic life of the town was dominated by the nobles and their retinues, traders and shopkeepers, as we have noted. The largest section in the cities consisted of the servants and slaves, artisans,

soldiers, and a miscellaneous group consisting of peddlers, musicians, performers (nat), self-employed

people and beggars. We hardly have a profile of these miscellaneous sections, i.e. their lifestyles, social

background etc. It seems that the cities performed the function of a large social churner whereby people

of diverse backgrounds and ethnic origins, slaves, artisans, and others came to live together. The entry

to the city was carefully regulated by the kotwal, who was not only responsible for the maintenance of

law and order, but regulated the markets, and houses of ill -fame (gambling, prostitution, etc.) According

to tradition, people following a particular profession lived in a particular area (mohalla) which was

locked at night for the sake of safety. There was a definite pattern in the lay-out of the towns: there was

a separate quarter for the king and the nobles, while scavengers, leather-workers, beggars etc. were

allotted quarters at the outskirts of the towns, but within the town-wall. Delhi had a large mass of

beggars who thronged the houses of the nobles for charity, or resorted to mausoleums, shrines of sufi

saints etc. Like the ordinary population, they carried arms, and could sometimes create problems of law

and order.

The city was a centre of many crafts; weaving, painting on cloth, embroidery, etc. The royal karkhanas

employed many artisans in preparing costly items, such as cloth embroidered with gold and silver

thread, silk etc. But most of the artisans worked at home, and were organised in guilds along caste lines.

However, not all the specialized crafts, such as weaving, were located in the towns. In south India and

Gujarat, there were many villages and small towns which specialized in particular types of textile

production. Thus, unlike medieval Europe, we should not divide crafts in India into water-tight

compartments between towns and the countryside. The craft link between the towns and the

countryside was also a factor which facilitated the movement of artisans from the  countryside to the

towns.

Slaves

Another large section in the town consisted of slaves and domestic servants. Slavery had existed in India

as well as in West Asia and Europe for a long time. The position of different types of slaves—one born in

the household, one purchased, one acquired

and one inherited is discussed in the Hindu Shastras. Slavery had been adopted by the Arabs and later,

by the Turks also. The most usual method of acquiring a slave was capture in war. Even the

Mahabharata considered it normal to enslave a prisoner of war. The Turks practiced this on a large scale

in their wars, in and outside India. Slave markets for men and women existed in West Asia as well as in

India. The Turkish, Caucasian, Greek and Indian slaves were valued and were sought after. A small

number of slaves were also imported from Africa, mainly Abyssinian. Slaves were generally bought for

domestic service, for company, or for their special skills. Skilled slaves or comely boys, and handsome

girls sometimes fetched a high price. Skilled slaves were valued and some of them rose to high offices as

in the case of the slaves of Qutbuddin Aibak.

Slave raiding was widely practised in West and Central Asia, the ghazis being specially used to capture

and then convert slaves from Central Asia. The early Turkish rulers, such as Qutbuddin Aibak, continued

this practice in India. Thus, when he invaded Gujarat in 1195, he captured and enslaved 20,000 persons,

and another 50,000 during his raid of Kalinjar. However, we do not hear of any such large scale

enslavement during the campaigns of Balban and Alauddin Khalji, although slaves were still considered a

part of the booty. More often captured prisoners of war were slaughtered, only a few chosen ones being

brought back as slaves. But during campaigns of "pacification" in the country-side, large number of men,

women and children were enslaved, and sold in the slave market at Delhi. The sale and purchase of

slaves was such a routine matter that Barani mentions the price of slave-girls and handsome boys along

with cattle! However, unlike Central Asia where captured Turkish slaves were used for military purposes,

the slaves sold in the market in Delhi were used mainly for domestic service. This was so common than

even clerks did not think it amiss to employ slaves. Generally, slaves were not used or trained for being

craftsmen, though maid-servants were often used for spinning, and we hear of even sufi saints living on

the earnings of their slaves.

A departure from this practice was made by Firuz Tughlaq. He instructed the bigger nobles to capture

slaves whenever they were at war, and to pick out and send the best among them for the service of the

Sultan. Even the various subordinate chiefs were asked to follow this practice. In this way, 180,000

slaves were collected. While some of them were trained for religious studies, 12,000 among them were

trained as artisans, and dispersed into various paragans.

This suggests an acute shortage of trained artisans in the towns. The slaves also formed a corp of armed

guards. However, the effort to create a corp of Janissaris on the Turkish model failed. The corp of slaves

tried to act as king maker at the death of Firuz and was defeated and dispersed.

Although domestic slavery continued under the Mughals, the slaves did not play any important role in

manufacturing, or in the military. However, there is little doubt that the practice of slavery was not only

inhuman, it lowered the status of free labour, and depressed wages.

vi. Women, Caste, Social Manners and Customs

There were hardly any changes in the structure of the Hindu society during the period. The Smriti

writers of the time continued to assign a high place to the brahmanas, while strongly denouncing the

unworthy members of the order. According to one school of thinking, the brahmanas were permitted to

engage in agriculture not only in times of distress, but also in normal times since officiating at sacrifices,

etc. did not furnish means of subsistence in the Kali Age.

The Smriti texts continue to emphasize that punishing the wicked and cherishing the good was the duty

of the kshatriyas, and that the right to wield weapons for the purpose of protecting the people likewise

belonged to them alone. The duties and occupations of shudras and their disabilities were more or less

repeated. While the highest duty of the shudra was the service of the other castes, he was allowed to

engage in all occupation, except to deal in liquor and meat. The ban on the study and recitation of the

Vedas by shudras was repeated, but not on hearing the recitation of the Puranas. Some writers go as far

as to say that not only eating a shudra's food but also living in the same house with him, sitting in the

same cot and receiving religious instructions from a learned shudra were to be avoided. This may be

regarded as an extreme view. However, the severest restrictions were placed on mingling with the

chandalas and other 'outcastes'.

There was little change in the position of women in the Hindu society. The old rules enjoining early

marriage for girls, and the wife's obligation of service and devotion to the husband, continued.

Annulment of the marriage was allowed in special circumstances, such as desertion, loathsome disease,

etc. But not all writers agree with this. Widow remarriage is included among the practices

prohibited in the Kali Age. But this apparently applied to the three upper castes only. Regarding the

practice of sati, some writers approve it emphatically, while others allow it with some conditions. A

number of travellers mention its prevalence in different regions of the country. Ibn Battutah mentions

with horror the scene of a woman burning herself in the funeral pyre of her husband with great beating

of drums. According to him, permission from the Sultan had to be taken for the performance of sati.

Regarding property, the commentators uphold the widow's right to the property of a sonless husband,

provided the property was not joint, i.e. had been divided. The widow was not merely the guardian of

this property, but had the full right to dispose of it. Thus, it would appear that the property rights of

women improved in the Hindu law.

During this period, the practice of keeping women in seclusion and asking them to veil their faces in the

presence of outsiders, that is, the practice of purdah became widespread among the upper class

women. The practice of secluding women from the vulgar gaze was practised among the upper class

Hindus, and was also in vogue in ancient Iran, Greece, etc. The Arabs and the Turks adopted this custom

and brought it to India with them. Due to their example, it became widespread in India, particularly in

north India. The growth of purdah has been attributed to the fear of the Hindu women being captured

by the invaders. In an age of violence, women were liable to be treated as prizes of war. Perhaps, the

most important factor for the growth of purdah was social—it became a symbol of the higher classes in

society, and all those who wanted to be considered respectable tried to copy it. Also, religious

justification was found for it. Whatever the reason, it affected women adversely, and made them even

more dependent on men.

During the Sultanat period, the Muslim society remained divided into ethnic and racial groups. We have

already noticed the deep economic disparities within it. The Turks, Iranians, Afghans and Indian Muslims

rarely married with each other. In fact, these sections developed some of the caste exclusiveness of the

Hindus. Converts from lower sections of the Hindus were also discriminated against.

The Hindu and Muslim upper classes did not have much social intercourse between them during this

period, partly due to the superiority complexes of the latter and partly due to the religious restrictions

of inter-marriage and inter-dining between them. The Hindu upper castes applied to the Muslims the

restrictions they applied

to the shudras. But it should be borne in mind that caste restrictions did not close social intercourse

between the Muslims and the upper caste Hindus and the shudras. At various times, Hindu soldiers

were enrolled in Muslim armies. Most of the nobles had Hindus as their personal managers. The local

machinery of administration remained almost entirely in the hand of the Hindus. Thus, occasions for

mutual intercourse were manifold. The picture of the two communities being confined within

themselves and having little to do with each other is, thus, neither real nor one which could be

practised. Nor is it borne out by the evidence available to us. Conflict of interests as well as differences

in social and cultural ideas, practices and beliefs did, however, create tensions, and slowed down the

processes of mutual understanding and cultural assimilation.