NCERT Class 7 - Our Pasts II • NCERT Class 12 - Themes in Indian History Part II

Sultanate Administration and Culture

The Sultanate was a military state resting on land revenue, held together by the iqta. Its lasting contribution is cultural - the arch and the dome in building, Persian as a court language, and the meeting of Sufi and Bhakti devotion.

Central departments

• The Sultan was the head of the state, the army and justice. There was no fixed law of succession, so strength decided the throne and disputed successions were common.
• The Barid-i-Mumalik headed intelligence, with news writers posted across the provinces.

The iqta system and revenue

• An iqta was an assignment of the revenue of a territory to an officer, called muqti or iqtadar, in place of a cash salary.
• The holder had to maintain troops, keep order and send the surplus to the centre; the iqta was transferable, which kept him dependent.
• When Firoz Shah made iqtas hereditary, this control weakened badly.
• Khalisa land was kept under direct state management for the Sultan's own treasury.
• Main taxes - kharaj on land, zakat on Muslims' wealth, jizya on non-Muslims, and khams, the state's share of war booty and mines.
• Below the province came the shiqq, the pargana with its chaudhari and amil, and the village with its muqaddam and patwari.

Architecture

• The new building style brought the true arch and dome (arcuate), replacing the Indian beam and pillar (trabeate) system.
• The Alai Darwaza is the first clear example of a true dome and arch in India.
• Mortar and lime made large spans possible, and calligraphy, geometry and arabesque replaced human figures as decoration.
• Indian craftsmen supplied the technique and the motifs - lotus, bell and chain, kalash - which is why the style is called Indo-Islamic.
• Landmarks - Qutb Minar, Quwwat-ul-Islam, Alai Darwaza, Tughlaqabad, the sloping walls of Tughlaq buildings, and the octagonal Lodi tombs.

Language, literature and society

• Persian became the language of the court, administration and history writing; Ziauddin Barani, Minhaj-us-Siraj and Amir Khusrau are the key writers.
• Amir Khusrau, called Tuti-i-Hind, the parrot of India, wrote in Persian and used the local speech of Delhi; he is associated with the growth of qawwali and of the mixed language that later became Hindavi and Urdu.
• Sufi orders, especially the Chishti order of Nizamuddin Auliya and Moinuddin Chishti, and the Bhakti saints, both preached devotion above ritual and used the people's languages.
• Technology spread - the Persian wheel for lifting water, the spinning wheel (charkha), paper making, and new methods in building.