Market Reforms taken by Alauddin Khilji: (1:15 PM)

• He sought to fix the price of all commodities.
• He wanted to feed a large standing army.
• And perhaps price control was necessary. 
• No Iqtas were awarded in the Ganga Doab region.
• The tax was collected directly by the state. 
• All Banjaras were registered and any type of hoarding was severely punished.
• He became the first Delhi Sultan to start paying his soldiers in cash.
• He forbade all festivities, wines, and intoxicants, and instituted a spy network to ensure that none conspires against him.
• In fact, marriage between Noble Families could not occur without Sultan’s permission. 
• He started collecting higher taxes from Khuts and Muqaddams (Local Landlords).
• Amils were hired for Land Revenue collection. 
• Allaudin Khilji introduced the system of Dag (branding of horses) and Hulia (description of the face) in his army. 
• Allaudin did not accept the authority of Kalifa.
• Barani writes that he became the first Delhi Sultan to separate state and religion. 
• After his death Malik Kafur appointed Shihabuddin (a minor son of Allaudin), however, Malik Kafur was assassinated and another son of Allaudin, i.e. Qutubiddin Mubarak Shah became sultan. 
• Mubarak Shah was killed by his trusted friend Khusrau Khan along with the entire family of Allaudin.
• Khusro Khan declared himself to be Sultan.

Tughlaq Dynasty (1320-1412): 

• Giyasuddin Tughlaq rebelled against Khusrao Khan who was disposed and killed.
• The Tughlaq dynasty provided three competent rulers: 
• Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq,
• Muhammad Bin Tughlaq,
• Firoze Shah Tughlaq. 
• On a victorious campaign from Bengal, Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq was returning and a celebration was hosted in the city of Delhi.
• Platforms were raised in haste which could not sustain the weight of elephants and in an accident, Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq died.

Muhammad Bin Tughlaq and his territories: (1:57 PM)

• He had imperialistic ambitions and annexed a major part of India into his territory.
• However, he experimented with administration and because of grand ideas but hefty implementation, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq is considered as the ‘wisest of fools’.
• For example: 
• Shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad to effectively rule Deccan and South. 
• But later abandoned Daulatabad and came back to Delhi. 
• Because of the shortage of silver, he introduced the concept of Token Currency, i.e. issuing bronze coins to have the same value as Silver Takka. 
• Merchants and the common man did not accept it, so he withdrew and promised to exchange bronze coins for silver coins, but because of large-scale forging, this promise was abandoned.
• He recruited a large army in order to occupy Ghazni, but later this army was disbanded. 
• He made incursions in hilly regions, even though successful, suffered from heavy losses. 
• A serious famine occurred during his time, which led to peasant rebellion.
• The rebellion was crushed, however, he set up a new department called Diwan-e-Amir Kohi to provide loans to cultivators, but his officials were dishonest.
• Delhi Sultanate reached its zenith during his period, but the process of disintegration also started a serious rebellion in Deccan and South leading to the emergence of 2 kingdoms, Bahamani and Vijayanagar.

Firoze Shah Tughlaq: 

• He was a nephew of Giyasuddin Tughlaq.
• Started a policy of appeasement towards nobles and Ulemas.
• He did not assert his authority over Deccan and South.
• He also lost Bengal but later attacked the temples of Odisha.
• He tried to implement elements of Shariya.
• For example, Jizyah became a separate tax which till now was part of revenue. 
• He got many works of Sanskrit translated into Persian.
• He also took many humanitarian measures such as the welfare of slaves and reduced the severity of punishments.
• He made iqta system hereditary and the same was applied in the Army.
• Many new cities such as Firozpur, Hisar, and Firozabad were established by him.
• He also made significant investments in Canal irrigation in Delhi and adjoining areas. 
• 10 years after his death, the authority of Delhi Sultan Nasiruddin Muhammad Tughlaq was limited to Delhi only. 
• Timur invaded India in 1398 AD.
• The city of Delhi was sacked for a few days by his army.
• He looted huge wealth and returned to his capital Samarkand. 

Sayyid Dynasty (1414-1450 AD)

• Taimur appointed Khizr Khan a ruler of Multan.
• Khizr Khan attacked Delhi which led to the establishment of the Sayyid Dynasty. 
• As per the book Tarikh-e-Mubarak Shahi written by Yaha Sirhindi, Sayyids were descendants of Prophet Muhammad.
• In fact, they used to put on a pointed cap known as Kullah Darren.

Lodhi Dynasty: (2:51 PM)

• Bahlol Lodhi: An Afghan, attacked Delhi in 1450 and established Lodhi Dynasty. 
• Bahlol Lodhi ruled in 1489, he did not consider himself to be king, but an Afghan peer.
• His successor Sikandar Lodhi was an intolerant ruler.
• The last ruler was Ibrahim Lodhi, he was a cruel ruler.
• Because of this, many of his own nobles rebelled against him.
• His governor of Punjab, Daulat Khan, sent a letter to Babur and invited him to invade India. 
• This led to the First Battle of Panipat in 1526, which ended the Lodhi Dynasty and Delhi Sultanate. 

Administration of Delhi Sultanate: (2:57 PM)

• The central administration was despotic in nature; however, many Sultans’ positions were also checked by nobility and Ulemas. 
• After Sultan, Wizarat was the most important office headed by Wazir.
• He was a general supervisor of all departments, but his main function was to look after the financial organization of the state. 
• Many smaller departments worked under Wazir, such as Mustaufi-i-Mamalik (Auditor General).
• Mushrif-i-Mamalik (Accountant General)
• Mazoomdar (Keeper of loans and balances).
• Diwan-i-Amir Kohi (to provide credit to farmers and to bring uncultivated lands into cultivation)
• Diwan-i-Ariz (under Ariz-i-Mumalik, it looked after military organization). 
• Diwan-i-Insha (under Dabir-i-Khas) State correspondence. 
• Barid-e-Mumalik (Head of the intelligence department)
• Diwan i-Rasalat (under Sadr-e-Sudr) This department dealt with the administration of justice, it appointed local judges called Kazis, and also approved various charitable grants, like Waqf, wazifa, Idrar, etc. 
• Amir-i-Akhur: He looked after the Royal stable. 
• The royal workshops called Karkhanas played an important role, the needs of the Royal household were met through Karkhanas. 

Provincial Administration: (3:27 PM)

• Different control mechanisms were adopted by the Sultan.
• For example, provinces were divided into Shiqs under Shiqdar, who worked with Fauzdar.
• Kotwals responsible for law and order worked under Fauzdar. 

Iqtadari System: (3:33 PM)

• The land of the Sultanate was classified into 3 categories: 
• Khalisa Land: Revenue was directly collected by the Central administration,
• Inam Land: A piece of land was given to religious functionaries as a grant which was called Inam land.
• Iqta Land: The rest of the land was divided into several small and large tracts of land called Iqtas. Army commanders and nobles were given Iqta Land to administer and collect revenue. In this capacity, they were called Iqtadar or Muqti.   
• Iqtas were transferable, however, Firoz Shah made it hereditary. 
• From the time of Balban, Iqtadar was expected to send the fawazil income (balance income) to the center. 
• Sahib-e-Diwan was appointed to keep a record of the income of Iqtas. 
• At the local level village functionaries Khut and Muqaddams (rich peasants and local landlords) worked in close coordination with Muqti in the collection of revenue and maintaining law and order.
• Patwari maintained a land record at the village level. 
• A number of villages formed pargana.
• Important pargana officials were Amil (revenue collector) and Karkum (accountant). 
• Land revenue was often 1/3rd of the produce, however, Allaudin Khilji had increased it to half of the produce. 
• Persian wheel irrigation method Araghatta became popular in India.
• Hundi: 
• A new commercial practice emerged known as Hundi.
• Hundi essentially was a paper document, promising payment of money after a fixed period of time at a certain place. 
• Sarafs were employed to ensure smooth transactions in Hundi. 

Topic for the next class: Regional Kingdoms, Vijaynagar Empire, etc.