A) Persian Tarikh traditions: Barani and Mushtaqi

Introduction

Tarik

Taʾrīkh is an Arabic word meaning "date, chronology, era", whence by extension

"annals, history, historiography". It is also used in Persian and the Turkic languages. It
is found in the title of many historical works. Prior to the 19th century, the word
referred strictly to writing of or knowledge about history, but in modern Arabic it is,
like the English word "history", equivocal and may refer either to past events
themselves or their representations.

The word taʾrīkh is not of Arabic origin and this was recognized by Arabic philologists
already in the Middle Ages. The derivation they proposed—that the
participle muʾarrakh, "dated", comes from the Persian māh-rōz, "month-day"—is
incorrect. Modern lexicographers have proposed an unattested Old South
Arabian etymon for the plural tawārīkh, "datings", from the Semitic root for "moon,
month". The Ge'ez term tārīk, "era, history, chronicle", has occasionally been proposed
as the root of the Arabic term, but in fact is derived from it.

The word first appears in the titles of certain 8th-century works and by the 9th century
it was the standard word of the genre of these works. The word akhbār, "reports,
narratives", is a synonym and was also used in the titles of works. It may even be an
older word than taʾrīkh. The word taʾrīkh was never universal in the titles of works of
history, which were just as often identified by subject matter (i.e., biography,
conquests, etc.) as by genre. As its etymology implies, taʾrīkh originally described only
a strictly chronological account, but it soon came to refer to any kind of history (e.g.
historical dictionaries).
Conclusion
 B)Malfuzat and premakhyans; Persian, Sanskrit and
Vernacular interactions.

Introduction

Malfuzat and premakhyans

The two famous genres of Sufi literature, Malfuzat and Premakhyans. 

Sanskrit and Persian
The Hindu rulers, particularly those of Gujarat, Warangal and the Vijayanagara empire,
provided encouragement to Sanskrit literature. All sorts of works—poetry, prose, drama etc.
were produced in Sanskrit and good works on philosophy and religious commentaries were
written by different scholars.

Thus, extensive literature was produced in Sanskrit during this period. Hammir Deva,
Kumbha Kama, Prataprudra Deva, Basantraja, Vemabhubhala, Katya Vem, Virupakaya,
Narsingh, Krishnadevaraya, Bhupal and many other alike rulers patronised Sanskrit
scholars and encouraged their writings and some of them were themselves scholars.

Agastaya was a great scholar at the court of Prataprudra Deva who wrote the
Prataprudradeva- Yasobhusan and the Krishna-charita. Vidya Chakravartin who was at the
court of Vir Ballal III wrote the Rukamani-Kalyan and Madhan who flourished at the court
of Virupakya, the ruler of Vijayanagara wrote the Narkasur-Vijay. Vaman Bhatt Bana was a
famous scholar of this period and wrote books in drama, prose and poetry. His one famous
work was the Parvati-Parinaya.

Vidyapati was another great scholar who wrote the Durgabhakti-tarangini besides many
other works. Another scholar Vidyaranya wrote the Sankar-Vijava. Divakara, Kirtiraja, and
Srivara were other famous scholars of Sanskrit. The Jain scholar Nayachandra wrote the
Hammir-Kavya. King Virupakya wrote the Narayanvilas and Krishnadevaraya wrote the
Jambavati-Kalyan besides some others.

The great Bhakti saint Ramanuja wrote commentaries on the Brahmasutra, Parthasarathi
wrote a number of books on the Karma-Mimansa. Jayadeva produced his famous work the
Gita-Govinda, Jai Singh Suri wrote the Hammir-Mad-Mardana and Gangadhar produced
the Gangadas Pratap Vilas. Kalhan the famous historian of Kashmir wrote the Rajatarangini
which was further completed by Jonaraja and Srivara in the second and the third the
Rajatarangini afterwards.

One of most the famous works on Hindu law, the Mitakshara was written by Vijnanesvara
and the great astronomer, Bhaskaracharya also flourished during this period. Many other
works, besides these, were produced by different scholars which prove that even without the
protection of Muslim- rulers, the Hindus persisted in their efforts to enrich Sanskrit
literature. However, the literature of this period mostly suffered from lack of originality.
Persian Literature:
The Sultans of Delhi were interested in the progress of Persian literature. Al-Beruni, who
visited India in the company of Mahmud of Ghazni was a great scholar. He was well-versed
in Persian and also studied Sanskrit. He gave a vivid account of India which provides us
valuable information regarding affairs of India in the eleventh century.

Most Sultans of Delhi provided patronage to scholars of Persian at their court which helped
in the growth of Persian literature. Khwaja Abu Nasr, poetically surnamed Nasiri, Abu
Bakar Bin Muhammad Ruhani, Taj-ud-din Dabir and Nur-ud-din Muhammad Awfi were
famous scholars at the court of Sultan Iltutmish. Nur-ud-din wrote Lubab-ul-Albab and the
Jaw am i-ul-Hikayat wa Lawami-ul-Riwayat.

Many Muslim scholars from Persia and Central Asia fled away from there because of the
Mongols and found shelter at the courts of Sultan Balban and Ala-ud- din Khalji. Each of
them participated in the enrichment of Persian literature and therefore, Delhi became one
great centre of its learning.

Prince Muhammad, eldest son of Sultan Balban was a patron of scholars of his times, that is,
Amir Khusrav and Amir Hasan Dihalvi. Amir Khusrav made use of Hindi words in his
poems which was a novelty. He has been regarded as the greatest Persian poet of his age and
is said to have written more than four lakhs of couplets.

He wrote a number of prose books also, most famous of them being the Khazain-ul-Fatuh,
Tughluq-nama, and the Tarikh-i-Alai. Badr-ud-din Muhammad was the most famous poet
of Persian at the court of Muhammad Tughluq. Historian Isami was also his contemporary
writer. Sultan Firuz Tughluq wrote his autobiography and provided patronage to historians
Ziya-ud-din Barani and Shams-i-Siraj Afif.

Sultan Sikandar Lodi wrote many verses and provided patronage to different scholars. Rafi-
ud-din Shirazi, Shaikh Abdulla, Shaikh Azizulla and Shaikh Jamal-ud-din received
patronage from Lodi Sultans. A large number of scholars flourished at the courts of
provincial rulers as well.
Sayyid Muin-ul-Haq was famous in Sindh, Ibrahim Farukhi flourished in Bihar and
Fazlullah Zain-ul-Abidin was a scholar of Gujarat. The Bahmani ruler Taj- ud-din Firoz
Shah was a scholar and so was Mahmud Gawan who worked as a Prime Minister in that
kingdom.

Among historians of the period of the Sultanate, Al-Beruni, Hasan Nizami who wrote Taj-ul-
Maasir, Minhaj-ud-din Siraz, the author of Tabqat-i-Nasiri, Zia-ud-din Barani who wrote
Tarikh-i-Firozshahi and the Fatwah-i-Jahandari, Shams-i-Siraj Afif, the author of another
Tarikh-i-Firozshahi, Yahya-bin- Ahmad, the author of Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi and Khawaji
Abu Malik Isami who wrote Futuh-us-Salatin have been regarded as the most famous ones.
Translation of certain Sanskrit books was also done in Persian language during this period.

Hindi, Urdu and Other Regional Languages:

The one novelty of this period in literary field was the beginning of literature in different
regional languages of India. The khari-boli and Braj-bhasa mostly spoken in western Uttar
Pradesh provided the base for the growth of Hindi literature.

Some of the famous works written in Hindi during this period were the Prithviraj Raso of
Chand Bardai, the court-poet of Prithviraj Chauhan, the Hammir Raso and the Hamir Kavya
written by Sarangdhar and the Alha-Khanda produced by Jagnayaka. Urdu language was
first called Hindvi.

It marked its beginning during this period though could develop only afterwards. Amir
Khusrav, however, has been regarded as a writer of both Hindi and Urdu. Vidyapati Thakur
who wrote works in Sanskrit, Hindi and Maithili encouraged the beginning of Maithili
literature towards the end of the fourteenth century.

The saints of Bhakti movement who gave their messages in the languages of the people also
helped in the growth of different regional languages and, thereby, their literatures. This
period, thus, witnessed the beginning of the growth of practically all regional languages of
India like Bengali, Punjabi, Rajasthani, Sindhi, Gujarati, Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil,
Malayalam, etc.

The Marathi literature began to grow during this period. Chakradhar, Bhaskar, Bhatt and
Mukandaraya were the early poets and writers of Marathi. Afterwards saints of Bhakti-cult
did a lot towards enrichment of Marathi literature. Saint Janeswar wrote his commentary
on the Gita called the Janeswari in Prakrit Marathi. It was most appealing to the masses.

Eknath who flourished nearly 250 years after Janeswar translated the Bhagwat in Marathi
and wrote Rukmani-Swayamber and the Bhawarth-Ramayan. His writings were also very
popular. But above all, the Abhangas of Saint Tukaram are most famous in the Marathi
literature of this period.

The Gujrati literature also developed during this period. Several Jain monks helped in
building it up by their writings. The Bharatbahubali Ras of Gunaratna Suri, the Shil Ras of
Vijay Bhadra, the Gautam Swami Ras of Udaywant and the Shant Ras of Sunder Suri were
poetic works in Gujrati.   

Saint Narsingh Mehta composed more than one lac verses in Gujrati in devotion to Lord
Krishna. Several Sanskrit texts were also translated in Gujrati. The Panchatantra, the
Ramayana, the Gita and the Yogavasistha were translated in Gujrati prose while, in poetic
form, Vatzo wrote the Subhadra Haran, Vachharaja wrote the Ras Manjari and Tulsi wrote
the Dhruva. Thus, both prose and poetry of Gujrati began to take shape.

In Bengali, the works of Vidyapati and Chandidas provided stimulus to the growth of
Bengali literature. Several rulers of Bengal also patronized Bengali. Sultan Nusrat Shah of
Gaur got the Mahabharat translated into Bengali while Sultan Hussain Shah got the Gita
translated into Bengali by Maladhar Vasu.

One of the nobles of Hussain Shah got the Mahabharat translated into Bengali by Kavindra
Parmeswar. Then Chaitanya and his disciples enriched the Bengali literature by their songs
and Bhajans. In the South, Tamil literature got impetus because of the Saiva movement in
the 13th and 14th century. The rulers of Vijayanagara gave incentive to the growth of
literature of Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, etc.

Thus, this period witnessed the growth of literature in different fields and different
languages and was remarkable at least from two points of view. One was that historical texts
were prepared during this period because of the Muslim court-writers which was mostly
neglected by the Hindus; and, secondly, it marked the beginning of literatures of different
regional languages in India.
D) Architecture: The Study of Hampi
Hampi is situated on the southern bank of the river Tungabhadra. Once it was the seat
of the mighty Vijayanagara Empire.

Hampi was also rich in art and architecture. The rulers who ruled the region
were great lovers of religion and art and hence most Kings put in a lot of effort
to set up magnificent empires using one of the best architectural designs,
which is for you to see now. Hampi had reached its prime during the rule of
Krishna Deva Raya who ruled this city between 1509 and 1529. This was the
same period when international trading had flourished and reached great
heights under the progressive trading practices and also several international
trade agreements that were carried out. During this era, Vijayanagara Empire
had almost taken up most of South India and also beyond. However, Hampi
succumbed to the attacks carried out by five Deccan Sultans called Bidar,
Bijapur, Ahmednagar, Golconda and also Berar. They attacked Hampi in 1565
and looted them for a long period, approximately six months. An attack of six
months long definitely had to bring such massive destruction that it would
have taken them forever to rise again. The temples of Hampi were damaged
and most of the markets were robbed. This was one of the biggest attacks
that Hampi witnessed and their golden era with this came to an end. After the
attacks, the empire was ruled by different Kings; however, nobody really could
bring back the lost glory.

Most of the structures at Hampi are constructed from local granite, burnt bricks and
lime mortar.
 Vijayanagara architecture is also known for its adoption of elements of Indo Islamic
Architecture (like the Queen’s Bath and the Elephant Stables).

Hampi has around 500 of monuments and other attractions. Some of them are named
below:-
i. Virupaksha Temple,is the oldest and principal temple in Hampi. This temple located on the
south bank of the river Tungabadr. It has been an important pilgrimage centre for the worshipers
of lord Shiva.
ii. Hampi Bazaar, also known as Virupaksha Bazaar, this street is located in front of
the Virupaksha temple.
iii. Courtesans' Street : Once the liveliest of all the temple streets in Hampi, the
Courtesans' Street lies in front of the Achyuta Raya's Temple.
iv. Achyuta Raya's Temple : This temple is an example of Vijayanagara style temple
architecture in its most advanced form than any other temples in Hampi. The temple
dedicated to Lord Tiruvengalanatha, a form of Vishnu.

v. Sasivekalu Ganesha : Thanks to the resemblance the giant monolithic Ganesha

statue is locally called Sasivekalu (mustard seed) Ganesha. This is located on the
southern foothill of the Hemakuta Hill.
vi. Hazara Rama Temple : The first thing comes to mind on seeing this temple, or
more precisely its walls, is the locally popular comic strips of Hindu mythology,
Ramayana.

vii. Stone Doors : This is situated between the northwest corner of the Royal
Enclosure and the mud track that goes around it.
viii. Mahanavami Dibba : When you would enter the Royal Enclosure you will find
this as the tallest building in this area.  The whole structure is made as a giant square
structure in three layers.

ix. Zenana Enclosure : Zenana enclosure was a secluded area reserved for the royal
women.
x. Palace of Vira Harihara : Like many other palatial structures in Hampi, all what
you can see here is the ground level remains of the palace and associated structures.
The base of this palace, along with a number of other residential artifacts, is located
inside a compound that is at south of Hazara Rama Temple.
Political structures

[a] Sultanates of Delhi: transitions in ruling elites,

service cultures, iqtas .

Transition in Ruling elites

Iqtas
 B) Articulating political authority: Monuments and
Rituals

The only near-contemporary account of Muhammad Bakhtiyar’s 1204

capture of the Sena capital is that of the chronicler Minhaj al-Siraj,
who visited Bengal forty years after the event and personally
[10]
collected oral traditions concerning it.  “After Muhammad
Bakhtiyar possessed himself of that territory,” wrote Minhaj,
he left the city of Nudiah in desolation, and the place which is (now) Lakhnauti he made the seat of
government. He brought the different parts of the territory under his sway, and instituted therein, in every
part, the reading of the khutbah, and the coining of money; and, through his praiseworthy endeavours, and
those of his Amirs, masjids [mosques], colleges, and monasteries (for Dervishes), were founded in those
[11]
parts.
The passage clearly reveals the conquerors’ notion of the proper instruments of
political legitimacy: reciting the Friday sermon, striking coins, and raising monuments
for the informal intelligentsia of Sufis and the formal intelligentsia of scholars,
or ‘ulamā.

Both their coins and their monuments reveal how the rulers
viewed themselves and wished to be viewed by others. Both,
moreover, were directed at several different audiences
simultaneously. One of these consisted of the conquered Hindus of
Bengal, who, having never heard a khuṭba, seen a Muslim coin, or
set foot in a mosque, were initially in no position to accord
legitimate authority either to these symbols or to their sponsors. But
for a second audience—the Muslim world generally, and more
immediately, the rulers of the Delhi sultanate, the parent kingdom
from which Bengal’s new ruling class sprang—the khuṭba, the coins,
and the building projects possessed great meaning. It is important
to bear in mind these different audiences when “reading” the
political propaganda of Bengal’s Muslim rulers.
 Fig. 1. Gold coin of Muhammad Bakhtiar, struck
in A.H. 601 (A.D. 1204–5) in Bengal in the name of
Sultan Muhammad Ghuri. Obverse and reverse. Photo by
Charles Rand, Smithsonian Institution.
[Full Size]
Militarily, Muhammad Bakhtiyar’s conquest was a blitzkrieg; his
cavalry of some ten thousand horsemen had utterly overwhelmed a
[12]
local population unaccustomed to mounted warfare.  After the
conquest, Bakhtiyar and his successors continued to hold a constant
and vivid symbol of their power—their heavy cavalry—before the
defeated Bengalis. In the year 1204–5 (601 A.H.), Bakhtiyar himself
struck a gold coin in the name of his overlord in Delhi, Sultan
Muhammad Ghuri, with one side depicting a Turkish cavalryman
charging at full gallop and holding a mace in hand (fig. 1).
Beneath this bold emblem appeared the phrase Gauḍa vijaye, “On
the conquest of Gaur” (i.e., Bengal), inscribed not in Arabic but in
[13]
Sanskrit.  On the death of the Delhi sultan six years later, the
governor of Bengal, ‘Ali Mardan, declared his independence from
North India and began issuing silver coins that also bore a horseman
image (fig. 2).
[14]
 And when Delhi reestablished its sway over
Bengal, coins minted there in the name of Sultan Iltutmish (1210–
35) continued to bear the image of the horseman (fig. 3).
[15]
 For
neither Muhammad Bakhtiyar, ‘Ali Mardan, nor Sultan Iltutmish was
there any question of seeking legitimacy within the framework of
Bengali Hindu culture or of establishing any sense of continuity with
the defeated Sena kingdom. Instead, the new rulers aimed at
communicating a message of brute force. As Peter Hardy aptly puts
it, referring to the imposition of early Indo-Turkish rule generally,
“Muslim rulers were there in northern India as rulers because they
[16]
were there—and they were there because they had won.”

Fig. 2. Silver coin of ‘Ali Mardan (ca. 1208–13),

commemorating the conquest of Bengal in A.H. Ramazan
600 (A.D. May 1204). Obverse only.
[Full Size]
Fig. 3. Silver coin of Sultan Iltumish (1210–35), struck in
Bengal. Obverse only.
Full Size]
[

Such reliance on naked power, or at least on its image, is also

seen in the earliest surviving Muslim Bengali monuments. Notable in
this respect is the tower (mīnār) of Chhota Pandua, in southwestern
Bengal near Calcutta (fig. 4). Built toward the end of the
thirteenth century, when Turkish power was still being consolidated
in that part of the delta, the tower of Chhota Pandua doubtless
served the usual ritual purpose of calling the faithful to prayer,
inasmuch as it is situated near a mosque. But its height and form
suggest that it also served the political purpose of announcing
victory over a conquered people. Precedents for such a monument,
moreover, already existed in the Turkish architectural tradition.
[17]
 Bengal’s earliest surviving mosques also convey the spirit of an
alien ruling class simply transplanted to the delta from elsewhere.
Constructed (or restored) in 1298 in Tribeni, a formerly important
center of Hindu civilization in southwest Bengal, the mosque of Zafar
Khan (fig. 5) appears to replicate the aesthetic vision of early
Indo-Turkish architecture as represented, for example, in the
Begumpur mosque in Delhi (ca. 1343). Clues to the circumstances
surrounding the construction (or restoration) of the mosque are
found in its dedicatory inscription:
Zafar Khan, the lion of lions, has appeared
By conquering the towns of India in every expedition, and by restoring the decayed charitable
institutions.
And he has destroyed the obdurate among infidels with his sword and spear, and lavished the
treasures of his wealth in (helping) the miserable.
[18]

Zafar Khan’s claims to have destroyed “the obdurate among infidels” gains some
credence from the mosque’s inscription tablet, itself carved from materials of old
ruined Hindu temples, while the mutilated figures of Hindu deities are found in the
[19]
stone used in the monument proper.  Near Zafar Khan’s mosque stands another
structure, built in 1313, which is said to be his tomb; its doorways were similarly
reused from an earlier pre-Islamic monument, and embedded randomly on its exterior
[20]
base are sculpted panels bearing Vaishnava subject matter.
Fig. 4. Minar of Chhota Pandua (late thirteenth century).
[Full Size]
 Fig. 5. Mosque of Zafar Khan Ghazi, Tribeni (1298).
[Full Size]
How was the articulation of these political symbols received by
the several “audiences” to whom they were directed? As late as
thirty years after the conquest, pockets of Sena authority continued
to survive in the forests beyond the reach of Turkish garrisons.
Whenever Turkish forces were out of sight, petty chieftains with
miniature, mobile courts would appear before the people in their full
sovereign garb—riding elephants in ivory-adorned canopies, wearing
bejeweled turbans of white silk, and surrounded by armed retainers
—in an apparent effort to continue receiving tribute and
[21]
administering justice as they had done before.  In 1236 a Tibetan
Buddhist pilgrim recorded being accosted by two Turkish soldiers on
a ferryboat while crossing the Ganges in Bihar. When the soldiers
demanded gold of him, the pilgrim audaciously replied that he would
report them to the local raja, a threat that so provoked the Turks’
[22]
wrath as nearly to cost him his life.  Clearly, after three decades of
alien rule, people continued to view the Hindu raja as the legitimate
dispenser of justice.
If Muslim coins and the architecture of this period projected to
the subject Bengali population an image of unbridled power, they
projected very different messages to the parent Delhi sultanate, and
beyond that, the larger Muslim world. Throughout the thirteenth
century, governors of Bengal tried whenever possible to assert their
independence from the parent dynasty in Delhi, and each such
attempt was accompanied by bold attempts to situate themselves
within the larger political cosmology of Islam. For example, when
the self-declared sultan Ghiyath al-Din ‘Iwaz asserted his
independence from Delhi in 1213, he attempted to legitimize his
position by going over the head of the Delhi sultan and proclaiming
himself the right-hand defender (nāṣir) of the supreme Islamic
[23]
authority on earth, the caliph in Baghdad.  This marked the first
time any ruler in India had asserted a direct claim to association
with the wellspring of Islamic legitimacy, and it prompted Iltutmish,
the Delhi sultan, not only to invade and reannex Bengal but to
upstage the Bengal ruler in the matter of caliphal support. After his
armies defeated Ghiyath al-Din in 1227, Iltutmish arranged to
receive robes of honor from Caliph al-Nasir in Baghdad, one of which
he sent to Bengal with a red canopy of state. There it was formally
bestowed upon Iltutmish’s own son, who was still in Lakhnauti,
having just had the erstwhile independent king of Bengal beheaded.
[24]
 By having the investiture ceremony enacted in the capital city of
the defeated sultan of Bengal, Iltutmish vividly dramatized his own
prior claims to caliphal legitimacy. For the time being, the delta was
politically reunitedwith North India, and for the next thirty years
Delhi appointed to Bengal governors who styled themselves merely
[25]
“king of the kings of the East” (mālik-i mulūk al-sharq).
But Delhi was distant, and throughout the thirteenth century the
temptation to throw off this allegiance proved irresistible, especially
as the imperial rulers were chronically preoccupied with repelling
Mongol threats from the Iranian Plateau. So governors rebelled, and
each brief assertion of independence was followed by their adoption
of ever more exalted titles on their coins and public monuments. In
1281 Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Balban, the powerful sovereign of Delhi,
ruthlessly stamped out one revolt by hunting down his rebel
governor and publicly executing him. Yet within a week of Balban’s
death in 1287, his own son, Bughra Khan, whom the father had left
behind as his new governor, declared his independence. Bughra’s
son, who ascended the Bengal throne as Rukn al-Din Kaikaus (1291–
1300), then boldly styled himself on one mosque “the great Sultan,
master of the necks of nations, the king of the kings of Turks and
Persians, the lord of the crown, and the seal,” as well as “the right
hand of the viceregent of God”—that is, “helper of the caliph.” On
another mosque he even styled himself the “shadow of God” (z̄ill
Allah), an exalted title derived from ancient Persian imperial usage.
[26]

Exasperated with the wayward province, Delhi for several

decades ceased mounting the massive military offensives necessary
to keep it within its grip. In fact, the actions of Sultan Jalal al-Din
Khalaji (r. 1290–96) betray something more than mere indifference
toward the delta. A contemporary historian recorded that on one
occasion the sultan rounded up about a thousand criminals
(“thugs”) and “gave orders for them to be put into boats and to be
conveyed into the Lower country to the neighbourhood of Lakhnauti,
where they were to be set free. The thags would thus have to dwell
about Lakhnauti, and would not trouble the neighbourhood (of
[27]
Dehli) any more.”  Within a century of its conquest, then, Bengal
had passed from being the crown jewel of the empire, whose
conquest had occasioned the minting of gold commemorative coins,
to a dumping ground for Delhi’s social undesirables. Already we
discern here the seeds of a North Indian chauvinism toward the
delta that would become more manifest in the aftermath of the
Mughal conquest in the late sixteenth century.

• • •

The Early Bengal Sultanate, 1342–ca. 1400

In 1258 Mongol armies under the command of Hülegü Khan sacked

Baghdad and executed the reigning caliph, al-Musta‘sim, thereby
formally extinguishing the ultimate font of Islamic political
legitimacy. Nonetheless, for a half century after this disaster, coins
struck in India continued to invoke the phrase “in the time of the
caliph, al-Musta‘sim,” suggesting the inability of Indo-Muslim rulers
to conceive of any legitimizing authority other than that stemming
from the titular Abbasid caliph. But finally, in 1320, Qutb al-Din
Mubarak, the Delhi sultan, broke from tradition and boldly declared
himself to be the caliph of Islam. Although the title did not stick, and
was in fact harshly received, the principle was now established that
Islam could have multiple caliphs, and that they could reside even
outside the Arab world. This revolution in Islamic political thinking
occurred just about the time when Bengal again asserted its
independence from the Delhi sultanate. In 1342 a powerful noble,
Shams al-Din Ilyas Shah (1342–57), wrested Bengal free from
Delhi’s grip and established the first of several dynasties that
remained independent from North India for the next two and a half
centuries. The break with Delhi was marked by a shift of the Ilyas
Shahi capital from Lakhnauti, the provincial capital throughout the
age of Delhi’s hegemony, to the new site of Pandua, located some
twenty miles to the north.
 Initially, Delhi did not allow Bengal’s assertions of independence
to go unchallenged. In 1353 Sultan Firuz Tughluq took an enormous
army down the Ganges to punish the breakaway kingdom. Although
Firuz slew up to 180,000 Bengalis and even temporarily dislodged
Shams al-Din Ilyas Shah from his capital at Pandua, he failed to
reannex the delta. Six years later, Firuz made another attempt to
restore the delta to Delhi’s authority, but he was again rebuffed, this
time by Shams al-Din’s son and successor, Sikandar Shah (r. 1357–
[28]
89).  These inconclusive invasions of Bengal, and the successful
tactics of the two Bengali kings to elude the North Indian
imperialists by fading into the interior, finally persuaded Firuz and
his successors of the futility of trying to hold onto the distant
province. After 1359 Bengal was left undisturbed by North Indian
armies for nearly two centuries.
In reality, the emergence of the independent Ilyas Shahi dynasty
represented the political expression of a long-present cultural
autonomy. In the late thirteenth century, Marco Polo made mention
of “Bangala,” a place he had apparently heard of from his Muslim
informants, and which he understood as being a region distinct from
India, for he described it as “tolerably close to India” and its people
[29]
as “wretched Idolaters” who spoke “a peculiar language.”  Our
first indigenous reference to “Bengal” appears in the mid fourteenth
century, when the historian Shams-i Siraj ‘Afif referred to Shams al-
Din Ilyas Shah (1342–57) as the “sultan of the Bengalis” and the
[30]
“king of Bengal.”  The coins of this ruler, and the architecture of
his son and successor, clearly reflect the new mood of
independence. Shams al-Din’s coins are inscribed:
[Obverse]:The just sultan, Shams al-dunya va al-din, Abu’l Muzaffar, Ilyas Shah, the Sultan.
[Reverse:] The second Alexander, the right hand of the caliphate, the defender (or helper) of
the Commander of the Faithful. [31]

Here the sultan not only proclaims an association with the caliphate but lays claim to
imperial glory, calling himself “the second Alexander.” Though perhaps not measuring
up to the accomplishments of Alexander the Great, Shams al-Din certainly did a
creditable job of “world-conquering” in the politically dense theater of fourteenth-
century India: in addition to resisting repeated invasions from Delhi, he defeated a
host of neighboring Hindu rajas, namely those of Champaran, Tirhut, Kathmandu,
Jajnagar, and Kamrup (corresponding to modern Bihar, Nepal,Orissa, and Assam).

The most spectacular evidence of the dynasty’s imperial

pretensions is seen in a single monument built by the founder’s son
and successor, Sultan Sikandar (r. 1357–89). This is the famous
Adina mosque, completed in 1375 in the Ilyas Shahi capital of
Pandua (figs. 6 and 7). Although its builders reused a good deal of
carved stone from pre-conquest monuments, the mosque does not
appear to have been intended to convey a message of political
subjugation to the region’s non-Muslims, who in any event would
not have used the structure. In fact, stylistic motifs in the mosque’s
prayer niches reveal the builders’ successful adaptation, and even
[32]
appreciation, of late Pala-Sena art.  The imposing monument is
also likely to have been a statement directed at Sikandar’s more
distant Muslim audience, his former overlords in Delhi, now bitter
rivals. Having successfully defended his kingdom from Sultan Firuz’s
armies, Sikandar projected his claims of power and independence by
erecting a monument greater in size than any edifice built by his
North Indian rivals. Measuring 565 by 317 feet externally, and with
an immense courtyard (445 by 168 feet) surrounded by a screen of
arches and 370 domed bays, the Adina mosque easily surpassed
Delhi’s Begumpur mosque, the principal mosque of Firuz Tughluq
[33]
(1351–88), in size.  In fact, the Adina remains the largest mosque
ever built in the Indian subcontinent.

Fig. 6. Interior of Adina Mosque, Pandua (1375). Interior

facing western wall, showing collapsed barrel vault.
Photo by Catherine Asher.
Full Size]
[
 Fig. 7. Exterior of Adina Mosque, Pandua (1375).
Exterior of western wall, showing fac^lade of barrel
vault.
Full Size]
[

Fig. 8. Taq-i Kisra, Ctesiphon (near Baghdad, third

century A.D.). Façade in the late nineteenth century.
From Arthur Upham Pope, A Survey of Persian
Art (Ashiya, Japan: Jay Glück, 1964), vol. 7, pl. 149.
Reprinted by permission of Jay Glück.
Full Size]
[

Its style, moreover, signals a sharp break from the Delhi-based

architectural tradition. The western, or Mecca-facing, side of the
mosque projects a distinctly imperial mood, reminiscent of the grand
 [34]
style of pre-Islamic Iran.  This wall is a huge multistoried screen,
whose exterior surfaces utilize alternating recesses and projections,
both horizontally and vertically, to produce a shadowing effect.
Whereas such a wall has no clear antecedent in Indo-Islamic
architecture, it does recall the external façade of the famous Taq-i
Kisra palace of Ctesiphon (third century A.D.), the most imposing
architectural expression of Persian imperialism in Sasanian times
(A.D. 225–641) (fig. 8). Even more revealing in this respect is the
design of the mosque’s central nave. Whereas the sanctuary of the
Tughluqs’ Begumpur mosque in Delhi was covered with a dome—a
feature carried over, together with the four-iwan scheme, from
Seljuq Iran (1037–1157) to India in the twelfth and thirteenth
[35]
centuries —that of the Adina mosque is covered with a barrel
vault. Never before used on a monumental scale anywhere in India,
this architectural device divided the whole structure into two halves,
as did the great barrel vault of the Taq-i Kisra. The mosque thus
departed decisively from Delhi’s architectural tradition, while
drawing on the much earlier tradition of Sasanian Iran. We know
that generations of Iranian architects and rulers had considered the
Sasanian Taq-i Kisra palace to be the acme of visual grandiosity and
[36]
splendor, and a model to be consciously imitated.  Thus Sikandar
was at least an heir, if not a conscious imitator, of this tradition.

Fig. 9. Royal balcony of Adina Mosque, Pandua (1375).

Royal balcony, interior.
[ Full Size]
The interior of the Adina mosque also projects an aura of
imperial majesty. To the immediate north of the central sanctuary is
a raised platform, the so-called “king’s throne” (bādshāh kā takht),
which enabled the sultan and his entourage to pray at a height
elevated above the common people (fig. 9).
[37]
 And, while the
latter entered the mosque from a gate in the mosque’s southeast
corner, the “king’s throne” could be reached only through a private
entranceway that passed through the western wall. This entire
doorway was evidently stripped from some pre-Muslim structure, as
can be seen by the defaced Buddhist or Hindu image in its lintel
(fig. 10). As if the mosque’s imperial architecture did not speak
for itself, Sultan Sikandar ordered the following words inscribed on
its western facade:
In the reign of the exalted Sultan, the wisest, the most just, the most liberal and most perfect of the Sultans
of Arabia and Persia, who trust in the assistance of the Merciful Allah, Abul Mujahid Sikandar Shah the Sultan,
[38]
son of Ilyas Shah, the Sultan. May his reign be perpetuated till the Day of Promise (Resurrection).
One word of praise for God, mentioned in passing, and the rest for the sultan!

Both the coinage and the architecture of the early Ilyas Shahi
kings, then, indicate a strategy of political legitimization
fundamentally different from that of their predecessors. Whereas
the governors of thirteenth-century Bengal had merely transplanted
Delhi’s architectural tradition to the delta, the sultans, having
wrested their autonomy from Delhi, asserted their claims of
legitimacy by placing state ideology alternately on pan-Islamic and
imperial bases. If Sultan Sikandar’s architecture and Sultan Shams
al-Din’s coinage reflect an imperial strategy of legitimation, we see
the pan-Islamic approach in the latter’s claimed association with the
caliph, and in the lavish patronage of the holiest shrines of Islam by
Sikandar’s son and successor, Sultan Ghiyath al-Din A‘zam Shah (r.
1389–1410), who sponsored the construction of Islamic colleges
[39]
(madrasas) in both Mecca and Medina.
Fig. 10. Adina Mosque, Pandua (1375). Lintel over royal
doorway of Adina Mosque, Pandua (1375)
Full Size]
[

Moreover, although the Bengal sultans continued to inscribe

most of their monuments and coins in Arabic, from the mid
fourteenth century on, they began articulating their claims to
political authority in Perso-Islamic terms. They employed
Persianized royal paraphernalia, adopted an elaborate court
ceremony modeled on the Sasanian imperial tradition, employed a
hierarchical bureaucracy, and promoted Islam as a state-sponsored
religion, a point vividly and continuously revealed on state coinage.
Foreign dignitaries who visited Pandua at its height in the early
fifteenth century remarked on a court ceremony that we can
recognize as distinctly Persian. “The dwelling of the King,” wrote a
Ming Chinese ambassador in 1415,
is all of bricks set in mortar, the flight of steps leading up to it is high and broad. The halls are flat-roofed and
white-washed inside. The inner doors are of triple thickness and of nine panels. In the audience hall all the
pillars are plated with brass ornamented with figures of flowers and animals, carved and polished. To the
right and left are long verandahs on which were drawn up (on the occasion of our audience) over a thousand
men in shining armour, and on horseback outside, filling the courtyard, were long ranks of (our) Chinese
(soldiers) in shining helmets and coats of mail, with spears, swords, bows and arrows, looking martial and
lusty. To the right and the left of the King were hundreds of peacock feather umbrellas and before the hall
were some hundreds of soldiers mounted on elephants. The king sat cross-legged in the principal hall on a
[40]
high throne inlaid with precious stones and a two-edged sword lay across his lap.
Clearly dazzled by the ceremony of Pandua’s royal court, the ambassador continued:
“Two men bearing silver staffs and with turbaned heads came to usher (us) in. When
(we) had taken five steps forward (we) made salutation. On reaching the middle (of
the hall) they halted and two other men with gold staffs led us forward with some
ceremony as previously. The King having returned our salutations, kotowed before the
Imperial Mandate, raised it to his head, then opened and read it. The imperial gifts
were all spread out on carpets in the audience hall.” The ambassador was then treated
to a sumptuous banquet, after which the sultan “bestowed on the envoys gold basins,
[41]
gold girdles, gold flagons, and gold bowls.”  The peacock feathers, the umbrellas,
the files of foot soldiers, the throne inlaid with precious stones, the lavish use of gold—
all of these point unmistakably to the kind of paraphernalia typically associated with
Perso-Islamic and even Sasanian royalty. Only the presence of elephants recalls the
ceremony of traditional Indian courts.

Whether appealing to mainly Islamic symbols of authority, as

was typically the case from 1213 to 1342, or to imperial Persian
symbols of authority, as was typically the case from 1342 on, the
Muslim ruling class sought the basis of its political legitimacy in
symbols originating outside the area over which they ruled. No more
were Bengal’s rulers, like the early governors, content with
declaring themselves merely first among “kings of the East.” On the
Adina mosque, Sultan Sikandar proclaimed that he was the most
perfect among kings of Arabia and Persia, not even mentioning those
of the Indian subcontinent, where he was actually ruling. In the
same spirit his son and successor, Sultan Ghiyath al-Din A‘zam Shah,
tried without success to persuade Hafiz, the great poet of Shiraz, to
[42]
come and adorn his court at Pandua.  The political and cultural
referents of these kings lay, not in Delhi or Central Asia, but much
further to the west—in Mecca, Medina, Shiraz, and ancient Ctesiphon
 C) Political Cultures: Vijaynagar and Gujarat

The Vijayanagar empire, 1336–1646

Founded in 1336 in the wake of the rebellions against Tughluq rule in

the Deccan, the Hindu Vijayanagar empire lasted for more than two centuries
as the dominant power in south India. Its history and fortunes were shaped by
the increasing militarization of peninsular politics after the Muslim invasions
and the commercialization that made south India a major participant in the
trade network linking Europe and East Asia. Urbanization and monetization
of the economy were the two other significant developments of the period that
brought all the peninsular kingdoms into highly competitive political and
military activities in the race for supremacy.

Development of the state

The kingdom of Vijayanagar was founded by Harihara and Bukka, two of five brothers
(surnamed Sangama) who had served in the administrations of both Kakatiya and Kampili
before those kingdoms were conquered by the armies of the Delhi sultanate in the 1320s. When
Kampili fell in 1327, the two brothers are believed to have been captured and taken to Delhi,
where they converted to Islam. They were returned to the Deccan as governors of Kampili for
the sultanate with the hope that they would be able to deal with the many local revolts and
invasions by neighbouring Hindu kings. They followed a conciliatory policy toward the
landholders of the area, many of whom had not accepted Muslim rule, and began a process of
consolidation and expansion. Their first campaign was against the neighbouring Hoysala
king, Ballala III of Dorasamudra, but it stagnated; after the brothers reconverted
to Hinduism under the influence of the sage Madhavacarya (Vidyaranya) and proclaimed their
independence from the Delhi sultanate, however, they were able to defeat Ballala and thereby
secure their home base. Harihara I (reigned 1336–56) then established his new capital,
Vijayanagar, in an easily defensible position south of the Tungabhadra River, where it came to
symbolize the emerging medieval political culture of south India. The kingdom’s expansion in
the first century of its existence made it the first south Indian state to exercise enduring control
over different linguistic and cultural regions, albeit with subregional and local chiefly powers
exercising authority as its agents and subordinates.
 Vijayanagar, Karnataka, India: Tiruvengalanatha temple complex
Tiruvengalanatha temple complex, Vijayanagar, Karnataka, India.

Frederick M. Asher

Conquests

In 1336 Harihara, with the help of his brothers, held uneasy suzerainty over lands extending
from Nellore, on the southeast coast, to Badami, south of Bijapur on the western side of the
Deccan. All around him new Hindu kingdoms were rising, the most important of which were
the Hoysala kingdom of Ballala and the Andhra confederacy, led by Kapaya Nayaka. However,
Ballala’s kingdom was disadvantageously situated between the Maʿbar sultanate and
Vijayanagar, and within two years after Ballala was killed by the sultan in 1343–44, his kingdom
had been conquered by Bukka, Harihara’s brother, and annexed to Vijayanagar. This was the
most important victory of Harihara’s reign; the new state now could claim sovereignty from sea
to sea, and in 1346 the five brothers attended a great celebration at which Bukka was made joint
ruler and heir.

Harihara’s brothers made other, less significant conquests of small Hindu kingdoms during the
next decade. However, the foundation of the Bahmanī sultanate in 1347 created a new and
greater danger, and Harihara was forced to lessen his own expansionist activities to meet the
threat posed by this powerful and aggressive new state on his northern borders.

During Harihara’s reign the administrative foundation of the Vijayanagar state was laid.
Borrowing from the Kakatiya kings he had served, he created administrative units
called stholas, nadus, and simas and appointed officials to collect revenue and to carry on
local administration, preferring Brahmans to men of other castes. The income of the state
apparently was increased by the reorganization, although centralization probably did not
proceed to the stage where salaried officials collected directly for the government in most areas.
Rather, most land remained under the direct control of subordinate chiefs or of a hierarchy of
local landholders, who paid some revenue and provided some troops for the king. Harihara also
encouraged increased cultivation in some areas by allowing lower revenue payments for lands
recently reclaimed from the forests.

Consolidation

Harihara was succeeded by Bukka (I; reigned 1356–77), who during his first decade as king
engaged in a number of costly wars against the Bahmanī sultans over control of strategic forts in
the Tungabhadra-Krishna Doab, as well as over the trading emporia of the east and west coasts.
The Bahmanīs generally prevailed in these encounters and even forced Vijayanagar to pay a
tribute in 1359. The major accomplishments of Bukka’s reign were the conquest of the short-
lived sultanate of Maʿbar (Madurai; 1370) and the maintenance of his kingdom against the
threat of decentralization. During Harihara’s reign the government of the outlying provinces of
the growing state had been entrusted to his brothers—usually to the brother who had conquered
that particular territory. By 1357 some of Bukka’s nephews had succeeded their fathers as
governors of these provinces, and there was a possibility that the state would become less and
less centralized as the various branches of the family became more firmly ensconced in their
particular domains. Bukka, therefore, removed his nephews and replaced them with his sons
and favourite generals so that centralized authority (and his own line of succession) could be
maintained. However, the succession of Bukka’s son Harihara II (reigned 1377–1404)
precipitated a repetition of the same action. A rebellion in the Tamil country at the beginning of
his reign probably was aided by the disaffected sons and officers of Bukka’s deceased eldest son,
Kumara Kampana, who were not ready to acknowledge Harihara’s authority. Harihara was able
to put down the rebellion and subsequently to replace his cousins with his own sons as
governors of the provinces. Thus, the circle of power was narrowed once again. The question of
succession to the throne had not been settled, however. On many occasions, the conflict
resumed between the king and his lineal descendant, who tried to centralize the state, and
the collateral relatives (cousins and brothers), who tried to establish ruling rights over some
portion of the kingdom.

The temporary confusion that followed the assassination of the Bahmanī sultan ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn
Mujāhid in 1378 gave Harihara the opportunity to recapture Goa and some other western ports
and impose his authority southward along the Malabar Coast. During the next decade, pressure
increased for expansion against the Reddi kingdom of Kondavidu in the northeast. Prince
Devaraya captured Panagal fort and made it a base of operations in the region. The slight gains
made in 1390–91 against an alliance of the Velama chieftain of Rajakonda and the Bahmanīs
were more than offset when the Bahmanī sultan besieged Vijayanagar in 1398–99, slaughtered a
large number of people, and exacted a promise to pay tribute. The tribute was withheld two
years later, however, when Vijayanagar made alliances with the sultans of Malwa and Gujarat.
Nevertheless, Harihara’s reign was relatively successful, because he expanded the state,
maintained internal order, and managed to fend off the Bahmanī sultans. The control of ports
on both coasts provided opportunities for the acquisition of increased wealth through trade.
Political History
Vijayanagar was founded in 1336 by Harihara and Bukka of the Sangama
dynasty. They were originally served under the Kakatiya rulers of Warangal. Then
they went to Kampili where they were imprisoned and converted to Islam. Later,
they returned to the Hindu fold at the initiative of the saint Vidyaranya. They also
proclaimed their independence and founded a new city on the south bank of the
Tungabhadra river. It was called Vijayanagar meaning city of victory.
 
The decline of the Hoysala kingdom enabled Harihara and Bukka to expand
their newly founded kingdom. By 1346, they brought the whole of the Hoysala
kingdom under their control. The struggle between Vijayanagar and Sultanate of
Madurai lasted for about four decades. Kumarakampana's expedition to Madurai
was described in the Maduravijayam. He destroyed the Madurai Sultans and as a
result, the Vijayanagar Empire comprised the whole of South India up to
Rameswaram.
 
The conflict between Vijayanagar Empire and the Bahmani kingdom lasted for
many years. The dispute over Raichur Doab, the region between the rivers Krishna
and Tungabhadra and also over the fertile areas of Krishna-Godavari delta led to
this long-drawn conflict. The greatest ruler of the Sangama dynasty was Deva
Raya II. But he could not win any clear victory over the Bahmani Sultans. After his
death, Sangama dynasty became weak. The next dynasty, Saluva dynasty founded
by Saluva Narasimha reigned only for a brief period (1486-1509).

D) SOCIETY AND ECONOMY

1. Ecological Context and Agricultural

production.
2.Technology and changes in society

Technically development in Medieval age

Changes in society

The Delhi sultanate society was broadly divided into four major groups viz. nobles
(Aristocrats), Priests, Towns people and Peasants.

Nobles included Sultan and his relatives, courtiers and holders of Iqta, Hindu and
Muslim chieftains, merchants, bankers etc. Almost all the wealth and power was
concentrated in this group. They lived in luxury and style.

Second group of priests included Brahmins and Ulemas. Brahmins as well as Ulemas
were given tax free land grants so they were also rich and powerful. During most of
Sultanate era {except under Alauddin Khilji}, the influence of Ulema was so much
that it often influenced the policies of the Sultan.

The town people included urban wealthy merchants, traders and artisans. Since
nobles and merchants lived in towns, they gradually became centres of
administration and military. The places where Sufi saints lived became pilgrim
centres. In urban centres, there was a trend of colonies of artisans, for example,
weavers living in weavers’ colony while Goldsmiths living in their colony.
International trade was flourishing. State patronized the royal Karkhanas for
producing goods.

The lowest stratum of the society of Delhi Sultanate was peasants. They lived in
villages, paid taxes to state as land revenue. A change in dynasty generally did not
brought any change in their lives. There was a rigid caste system. Intercaste
marriage and dining got totally prohibited. Hindus and Muslims influenced each
others’ customs and traditions. Those who converted to Islam continued their old
traditions and thus a composite culture of India was born.

[Muslim Nobles:
During the Sultanate period, the nobles stood at the apex of the social system. They were
mostly of foreign origin. They were the most respected and privileged class in the society.
They were appointed in high posts and in lieu of their services, they received jagirs. As they
belonged to different nationalities like Persians, the Afghans, the Turks, the Arabs, the
Abyssinians etc. they are quite hostile to each other.

Indian Muslims:
The other section of the society was that of Indian Muslims. They were either of the
converted Hindus or were descendants of such converted Muslims. They were deprived of
enjoying social and economic privileges like other Muslims in the society. They were also
not given a share in the work of administration. This state of condition of the Indian
Muslims continued till the end of thirteenth century. During fourteenth century the attitude
of the Sultans underwent a change when the migration of the Turks from Central Asia to
India was stopped. Sultan Ala-ud-din-Khilji for the first time had appointed Malik Kafur, an
Indian Musalman as his general. Khwaja Jahan, a brahmin convert was the Prime Minister
of Sultan Firuz Tughlaq. However, the well placed Indian Muslims always tried to conceal
their parentage as they desired to acquire equal footing with their foreign counterparts.

In India the Muslims were divided into two classes namely the Umaras or nobles and the
Ulemas or the theologians. The nobles were divided into three groups such as Khaas, Malik
and Amirs. They enjoyed high offices in the state. The Ulemas or the thologians were
assigned the duties of clergymen, teachers and judges. They exerted commanding influence
on the government.
The cultivators, the artisans, the shop-keepers, clerks, petty traders, servants, slaves etc.
formed the lowest class of the muslim society. During that period a very few muslims lived
in villages. Slave System. Slave system was in vogue. They were engaged in domestic works
only. Both the Hindu and Muslims used to keep slaves. There were slave markets. The
sultans provided them with proper education and training so that a good number of slaves
rose to eminence.]

During the Delhi Sultanate, the society was in transition phase. Based on the religion, people were
broadly categorised into Hindus and Muslims. Muslims were again divided into two categories:
nobility and the chiefs. The nobles were divided into three classes: the Khans, the Maliks and the
Amirs. The chief included the emergent Zamindars and other administrative cadre.

Most of the nobles were Turkish and Persian Muslims, but even Indian Muslims also emerged. Still
foreign Muslims were given preference, and when a noble lost his power, it goes to his descendants.
The nobles called Ashraf were the respected segment who enjoyed the prime position on the social
structure. This established the social stratification among Muslims.

Nobles lived a luxurious and lavish life because of their position and monetary condition. Warrior
noble’s gradually transformed into patrons of culture. During those days, political relationship
between the Turkish rulers and the Hindu Rajputs became common.

Qazis and Mujiis were the judicial functionaries that helped the nobles. Mehtasib used to supervise
the behavioural pattern of Muslims in following shariath. All these were paid posts. There were
number of clerks and petty officials, and also slave population.

There was no distinguished change in the society structure of the Hindus. During Delhi Sultanate, the
Purdah system became widespread. In the upper classes, the women were hidden, but in the lower
classes enjoyed more freedom. At that time, customs like sati and the ban on widow remarriage were
established. Only one favourable thing was that widows were allowed to inherit their husbands’
property.

Muslim society was divided into ethnic and racial group, with great economic inequality. There were
hardly any marital contacts amongst the Turks, Iranians, Afghans and Indian Muslims. Hindu converts
to Islam were given a lower rank and less preference.
The Hindus were holding the entire local system of administration. Both Hindu and Muslim
communities were overlapping with each other. Still there were differences in social and cultural ideas
and beliefs. This created an atmosphere of tension and led to decreased mutual understanding and
cultural adjustments.

2. Monetization, market regulation, urban centers, trade and craft

Monetization

The establishment of the Delhi Sultanate was marked by a

considerable growth of the money economy which
accelerated particularly in the first half of the 14th century.
Since the growth of the money economy in simple words
means larger use of currency in transactions (monetisation
is another term for this phenomenon), a large
scale minting of gold, silver and copper coins that followed
the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate was an attendant
process of the monetisation of the Indian economy. The
period prior to the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate was
marked by the scarcity of coinage, particularly of pure
silver. Except for an increase in the number of coins
stamped, no changes were introduced in the beginning.
The coins continued to bear the image of goddess
Lakshmi or bull-and-horseman, etc. Only the name of the
new ruler in a corrupt form got inscribed over it in Nagri
script. These coins were called Dehliwal.
         Iltutmish (1210-36) is credited for standardizing the
coinage of the Delhi Sultanate. The currency system
established by him in its essentials survived the Delhi
Sultanate. He introduced gold and silver tankas and a
copper jital that was reckoned at 1/48th of tanka in North
India and 1/50th in the Deccan after the conquest of
Devagiri. A firm ratio of 1:10 between gold and silver
appears to have been established. The Sultanate mints
generally uttered coins in three metals: gold, silver and
billon (copper mixed with a very small quantity of silver).
The main coins were tanka and jital but some smaller
currencies were also in circulation. Barani mentions dangs
and dirams in use at the capital Delhi. The equation
between these currencies in the north has been worked
out as:
             1 silver tanka = 48 jital = 192 dangs = 480 dirams
The gold and silver remitted from Bengal was the main
source of coinage during the 13th century. The seizure of
treasure hoards in northern India and later in the Deccan
was the other major source of silver and gold for coinage.
The Sultanate mints should not only have coined
government money but also stamped bullion and foreign
coins brought the private merchant.
 The silver currency remained dominant until the reign of
Alauddin Khalji. From Ghiyasuddin TughluQ's reign, a
decline in silver coinage in relation to gold and billon set
in. Under Muhammad Tughluq gold coinage
overshadowed the silver, and silver coinage practically
disappeared under Feroz Tughluq. In the 15th century,
billon coinage dominated (the Lodis (1451-1526) uttered
no other coins).
Market Regulation
1. Fixation of prices:
Prices were fixed not only of varieties of grains, pulses, cloth, cattle and horses but also of
articles like meat, fish, dry fruits, sugarcane, vegetables, betal-leaves etc.—all articles of
daily use. Even prices of slaves were also fixed.

(a) Prices of essential commodities

Soldiers could lead a reasonable standard of living with this salary.

2. Grain market:
Ala-ud-Din opened government stores of grains to sell them from where everybody could
buy. The peasants brought their surplus grain in the market. The government officials made
purchases of grain from them, stored it in their stores and sold it to the people.

3. Cloth market:
The cost of cloth was comparatively higher than the food articles. The cloth market sold a
variety of cloth. Cloth merchants were given advances to purchase cloth from outside and
sell it in Delhi at fixed prices.

4. Slave market:
In the slave market, slaves were bought and sold like any other commodity.

5. Rationing system:
During the time of famine or other natural calamity, the king introduced rationing system
for the people of Delhi. Under this system, half a maund of grain was given to every family
in distress.

6. Government granaries:
The Government had established god-owns for storing grain in reserve to be released in
time of scarcity. In every ‘mohalla’, there were two or three royal stores filled with food
stuffs.

7. Appointment of officials:
A special officer known as ‘Diwan-i-Riyast’ was appointed to look after the working of the
system. The Shahana-i- Mandir was the Superintendent of the grain market. Marketing
officers were appointed to fix price, to ensure that the fixed prices were charged. The
officials were required to ensure that the traders complied with the instructions issued to
them by the Sultan.

Quality control officials were appointed to check the quality of the articles supplied by the
traders to the consumers.

8. Determination of weights and measures:

The government prescribed weights and measures and no body dared to sell any commodity
underweights as the same amount of flesh was cut off from his body.

9. Registration of traders:
A person desiring of entering into trade was required to get himself registered.

10. Ban on hoarding:

No producer or trader could indulge in hoarding. Severe punishments were inflicted upon
the law breakers.

11. Information of market through children:

The king used to send small children to test the honesty of the traders. Those who cheated
children were given severe punishment.

12. Spy system:

Ala-ud-Din’s spy system was very elaborate and trustworthy. The king kept himself well-
informed of the working of the control system of the market through the spies.

13. Control of supplies:

Ala-ud-Din realized that mere fixation of prices was not enough and it had to be enforced
with the regular supply of commodities. He, therefore, established government stores of
different commodities.

14. Control of transport:

Traders and ‘banjaras’ who carried goods from one place to another were registered. Every
possible facility was provided to them in the transportation of goods.

Trade and Craft

Introduction
Trade increased immensely during the Delhi Sultanate. Currency system existed,
which was based on the silver tanka. Roads were developed, connecting Delhi,
Lahore, and Sonargaon in Bengal. Communication system also emerged, where a
relay system of post was created, with horse riders to carry the post. Delhi,
 Lahore, Multan, and Lakhnauti were centers of new industries, such as metal
work, paper making, and textile. Textile trading was done with China and west
Asia, where horses, ivory, and spices were imported in place of textiles. The trade
was dominated by the Arabs, but the Tamils, the Kalingas, and Gujaratis also
participated in trade.

India carried a brisk trade—both internal as well as external. Delhi was the
largest city and the most important trading centre. Other important trade
centres were: Daultabad, in the south, Lahore and Multan in the north-west,
Kara and Lakhnauti in the east and Anhilwara (Patan) and Cambay
(Khambayat) in the west.

External trade was very profitable and it was one of the main causes of the
wealth of India. India had trade relations with Iran, Arabia, European
countries, Africa, China, Malaya, Afghanistan and Central Asia, etc.

The Arabs were the dominant partners in trade through Indian ocean.

The Gujarati and Tamil traders played an important part in trade.

The main items of India’s exports were: cereals, cotton and silken cloth,
opium, indigo, sea-pearls, sandal wood, saffron, ginger, sugar and coconuts,
etc.

India imported horses, salt, rosewater, colour valvets, perfumes, wines etc.
The external trade was carried on both by land and sea.

Goa, Diu, Chaula, Cochin and Quilon were the important parts on the western
Sea-coast of India. There were several seaports on the eastern coast also.

 Inland and foreign trade flourished under the Sultans.

 As for the internal trade we had the various classes of merchants and
shopkeepers.
 The main being The Gujaratis of the North, the Chettis of the South, Banjaras
of Rajputana were the main traders.        
 Bigger deals of commodities were made in the 'Mandis.'
 The native bankers or the Baniks used to give loans and receive deposits.
 The chief articles of import were silks, velvets, embroidered stuff, horses,
guns, gunpowder, and some precious metals.
 The chief items of export were grain, cotton, precious stones, indigo, hides,
opium, spices and sugar.
 The countries affected by India in commerce were Iraq, Persia, Egypt, East
Africa, Malaya, Java, Sumatra, China, Central Asia and Afghanistan.
 Boat traffic on waterways and coastal trade along the seashore was more
highly developed than now. Bengal exported sugar and rice as well as delicate muslin
and silk.
 The coast of Coromandel had become a centre of textile
 Gujarat was now the entry point of foreign goods.