THE DELHI -12th to 15th CENTURY
In Chapter 2, we learned that places like the Kaveri delta became the centre of big kingdoms. You may have noticed that there was no mention of a kingdom with Delhi as its capital. That’s because Delhi became an important city only in the twelfth century.
Delhi first became the capital of a kingdom under the Tomara Rajputs. Later, the Chauhans (also called Chahamanas) of Ajmer defeated them. During the rule of the Tomaras and Chauhans, Delhi became an important trading centre. Many rich people lived there, and there were many temples. Coins made in Delhi, called dehliwal, were used in many places.
Delhi became even more important when the Delhi Sultanate was started in the thirteenth century. After that, Delhi became the capital of a large empire.
The Delhi Sultans built many new cities in the area we now call Delhi.
Understanding Delhi under the Sultans
In the time of the Delhi Sultans, histories were written in the Persian language. One history was called a tarikh. Many histories were called tawarikh.
The people who wrote these histories were educated men. They were secretaries, poets, courtiers, and people who worked in the king’s court. They wrote about important events and gave advice to the Sultans on how to rule the kingdom. They said it was important to be fair and just.
Here are some important things about these writers:
1. They lived in cities like Delhi, not in villages.
2. They wrote for the Sultans, hoping to get rewards.
3. They wanted a perfect society, where people had different roles based on their birth and whether they were men or women. But not everyone agreed with them.
In the year 1236, a woman named Raziyya became Sultan. She was the daughter of Iltutmish. A writer named Minhaj-us-Siraj said Raziyya was better than all her brothers. But he still did not like the idea of a woman ruler.
The nobles (important men) were also unhappy because Raziyya wanted to rule by herself. So, in 1240, they removed her from the throne.
How the Khalji and Tughluq Sultans Ruled
The Delhi Sultanate was a big kingdom. To control it well, the Sultans needed good and loyal officers.
Instead of choosing rich people or kings, early Sultans like Iltutmish chose slaves who were trained to work in the army. In Persian, they were called bandagan. These slaves were given important jobs because they were loyal and could be trusted.
Later, Khalji and Tughluq rulers did the same. They also gave poor people important jobs like generals and governors. But this caused problems. These people were loyal only to the Sultan who gave them the job, not to the next ruler. So, when a new Sultan came, there were often fights between the old and new officers.
Rich people didn’t like this. Some Persian writers also criticised the Sultans for giving big jobs to people from poor families.
The Sultans gave army commanders land to rule. This land was called an iqta, and the man who ruled it was called a muqta. The muqta's job was to:
1. Lead the army, Keep peace in his area
2. In return, he collected taxes from the people and used the money to:, Pay himself, Pay his soldiers
3. To stop the muqtas from becoming too powerful, the Sultans:
4. Moved them from place to place, Sent accountants to check their work
5. Made sure they collected only the correct taxes, Made sure they had the right number of soldiers
Under Alauddin Khalji, the government started collecting land taxes directly. Local leaders were not allowed to collect taxes anymore. They had to pay tax to the Sultan like everyone else. Officials measured the land and kept records.
There were three main taxes:
1. Kharaj – Tax on crops (about half of what the farmer grew)Tax on animals, Tax on houses
But the Sultans could not control all of India. Far places like Bengal and South India became independent. Some forest areas could not be ruled by the Sultan’s army. Local leaders ruled those places.
In 1219, the Mongols led by Genghis Khan started attacking. These attacks became worse during the rule of Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad Tughluq. So, they built a big army in Delhi, but it was hard to manage.
The Sultanate in the 1400s and 1500s
l After the Tughluq kings, the Sayyid and Lodi kings ruled from Delhi and Agra until 1526.
l At the same time, other places like Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and South India had their own kings.
l These kings made their kingdoms rich and strong, Afghans and Rajputs also became new important rulers, Some kingdoms were small, but they were well-run.
Who was Sher Shah Suri?
l Sher Shah started by helping his uncle in Bihar.
l Later, he became powerful and defeated the Mughal king.
l He ruled from 1540 to 1545.
l He made the government better and easier for people.
l He used some old ideas from a king named Alauddin Khalji and made them better.
l Later, the famous Mughal king Akbar used Sher Shah’s ideas to build a strong empire.
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