Agriculture

➢ Contemporary records like the Rehla written by Ibn Batuta provides rich information on
the condition of agriculture in India. But the information are limited
➢ According to Batuta the soil was so fertile that it produced two crops every year; rice
being sown three times a year.
➢ The land in the empire was divided into three
➢ Iqta land – Lands assigned to officials as iqtas instead of payment for their services
➢ Khalisa land – Land under the direct control of the Sultan and the revenues collected
were spent for the maintenance of royal court and royal household
➢ Inam land – Land assigned or granted to religious leaders or religious institutions.
➢The land lords and the vassals enjoyed a high standard of life at the expense of the
peasantry
➢The village headmen (muqaddams), Chaudharis and smaller landlord (khuts) enjoyed a
higher standard of life. In addition to their own holdings, they held lands for which they
paid revenue at concessional rates.
➢They enjoyed superior rights over the ryots or the common peasantry
➢But under Alauddin Khalji stern actions were taken against them and were made to pay
revenue for their lands
➢The peasants paid 1/3 of their produce as tax (Kharaj)
➢During Alauddin Khalji the tax was raised to 1/2
➢Kharaj was a tax on production and not on land
➢The tax was fixed in kind and was in most cases collected in cash especially under
Alauddin Khalji
➢Muqtis were appointed to collect the land revenue and a Khwaja (accountant) was
attached to each muqti
➢In recalcitrant areas (mawas) where the arrangements for revenue extractions did not
work, tribute was extorted through plunder
➢The peasants also paid other taxes and always led a hand to- mouth living.
➢Frequent famines made their lives more miserable.
➢Sultans like Muhammad bin Tughlaq and Firoz Tughlaq took efforts to enhance
agricultural production by providing irrigational facilities and by providing takkavi
loans
➢ They also encouraged the farmers to cultivate superior crop like wheat instead of
barley.
➢ Firoz encouraged the growth of horticulture.
➢ Muhammad bin Tughlaq created a separate agricultural department, Diwan-i- Kohi
➢The Delhi sultanate did not bring any radical change to agriculture production
➢But new irrigation and cultivating techniques were introduced
➢Canals were dug in the reign of Ghiyassudin Tughlaq
➢The Tughlaqs were the single most dynasty in the sultanate to concentrate highly on
agriculture
➢The cutting of two canals from Yamuna to Punjab and to Haryana led to the cultivation
of water intensive cash crops like Sugarcane
 Urban centres
➢ During the Sultanate period, the process of urbanisation gained momentum.
➢ A number of cities and towns had grown during this period.
➢ Lahore and Multan (in the north west), Broach, Cambay, and Anhilwara (in the west),
Kara and Lakhnauti in the east, Daulatabad, Delhi, and Jaunpur were important among
them.
➢ Delhi remained the largest city in the east.
➢ The growth of trade and commerce was described by contemporary writers.
➢ India exported a large number of commodities to the countries on the Persian Gulf and
West Asia and also to South East Asian countries.
➢ Bengal (specially Sonargaon for muslin, i.e., fine cotton cloth) and the towns in
Gujarat were famous for fine quality fabrics.
➢ Cambay in Gujarat was famous for textiles and for gold and silver work.
➢ India imported high grade textiles (satin, etc.), glassware, and horses from West Asia.
➢ From China, it imported raw silk and porcelain.
➢ Overseas trade was under the control of Multanis (mostly Hindus) and Khurasanis
(Afghan Muslims).
➢ Inland trade was dominated by Gujarati, Marwari and Muslim Bohra merchants.
➢ Construction of roads and their maintenance facilitated for smooth transport and
communication
➢ In addition to royal road from Peshawar to Sonargaon, Muhammad bin Tughlaq built
road to Daulatabad
➢ Sarais or rest houses on the highways were maintained for the convenience of the
travelers.
➢ There were also arrangements for posts to be carried very quickly from one part of the
country to another with the help of relays of horses and runners who were posted every
few kilometres.
➢ Cotton textile and silk industry flourished in this period.
➢ Sericulture was introduced on a large scale, which made India less dependent on other
countries for the import of raw silk.
➢ The paper industry had grown and there was an extensive use of paper from 14th and
15th centuries.
➢ Other crafts like leather-making, metal-crafts, and carpet-weaving flourished due to the
increasing demand.
➢ The royal karkhanas (factories) supplied the goods needed to the Sultan and his
household. They manufactured costly articles made of gold, silver and gold ware
➢ The smooth flow of trade depended to a large extent on the co-operation of other
classes such as carriers of goods, brokers, bankers and money lenders.
➢ The Banjaras of Rajasthan were engaged in transporting agricultural and other produce
from one part of the country to another.
➢ Their operations were extensive.
➢ They employed hundreds and thousands of oxen in their carts and wagons.
➢ Brokers played an important role in commercial operations.
➢ They often raised the price of commodities by charging their commission to both the
seller and the purchaser.
➢ Alauddin Khalji’s price control measures included the suppression of the class of
brokers.
➢ This was however, a temporary interruption of their work.
➢ By the time of Firuz Shah Tughluq ‘the business rules and practices of brokers were
sufficiently important to find a place in the legal compendium of the reign’.
➢ The bankers provided capital in the form of loans and accepted deposits (hundis or
bills of exchange).
➢ The money lenders, known as sahus and mahajans, played the same role on a smaller
scale; they lent money on interest through bonds.
 Urban centres
➢ Factors that sustained urban centres under Delhi Sultanate
1) Monetization of economy and issuing of currencies- The system of coinage had also
developed during the Delhi Sultanate. Iltutmish was the first to come up with
organised coinage. He issued a silver coin (Tanka) and copper coin (Jital). Gold coins
or dinars became popular during the reign of. Alauddin Khalji after his South Indian
conquests. Muhammad bin Tughlaq had not only experimented with token currency
but also issued several types of gold and silver coins. They were minted at eight
different places. At least twenty five varieties of gold coins were issued by him.
➢ In the first half of the 14th century, the Sultanate introduced a monetary economy in
the provinces (sarkars) and districts (parganas) that had been established and founded a
network of market centres through which the traditional village economies were both
exploited and stimulated and drawn into the wider culture
2) Centralization of the administration- The Delhi sultanate was able to develop an
organised and centralised administrative apparatus with the Sultan as the fountain head of
power. He was in turn assisted by a wazir and other minister.
➢ Provincial and local administration was also organised and provincial administration
resembled that of the central administration. This enabled a proper control of the
economy
3) Regularization of the revenue system- The sultanate relied chiefly on the tax from
agriculture and also from trade and commerce. Though the tax on agriculture was assessed
on kind it was paid in cash. The collection of revenue in cash ensured sufficient inflow of
currency to the treasury
➢ State revenues remained based on successful agriculture, which induced Sultan
Muhammad bin Tughluq (1325-51) to have village wells dug, to offer seed to the
peasants, and to encourage cash crops like sugarcane. The expansion and centralization
of the Khalji sultanate paralleled economic and technological developments of the late
13th and early 14th centuries.
4) Iqtas- various Iqtas in due course emerged as prominent urban centres under certain
agile nobles/governors.
➢ Since these iqtas were held by the nobles as long as they held their respective
assignments and it was expected from the iqta holders to work for the expansion of
agriculture and facilitate trade.
➢ For example When Malik Bahauddin Tughril was granted khitta (town) of Bayana in
1196 by Muhammad Ghori, he expanded the area and built a new city, Sultankot
(modern Bayana) and made it his headquarter. He invited merchants, scholars and
gothouses constructed for them
5)Cities as capitals- Some cities achieved greater vibrancy on becoming capital. Lahore
flourished under the patronage of rulers of Ghazna and Ghor. Muhammad Ghori made
Lahore his winter capital, later the capital of the Sultanate of Delhi. With the coming of
Iltutmish to throne Delhi was made the capital and remained so till Agra was made capital
by the Mughals
6) Cities also flourished around sufi Khanqah (hospice), Sarais (resting place for
merchants), Thanas (military outposts) forts, mosques, madrasas, bazaars, mandis and
Karkhanas.
➢ The first few Muslim Sultans could not devote their attention to trade and commerce as
they were preoccupied with the problem of securing their position
➢ Balban is the first Sultan who got dense forests cut; roads built and secured form the
danger of bandits.
➢ This helped the traders and their commercial caravans to move from one market place
to another.
➢ Delhi in the 13th century became one of the largest cities in the whole of the Islamic
world, and Multan, Lahore, Anhilwara, Kar, Cambay (Khambhat), and Lakhnauti
emerged as major urban centres.
➢ The repeated Mongol invasions certainly affected the fortunes of some northwestern
cities, but on the whole the period was marked by a flourishing urban economy and
corresponding expansion in craft production and commerce.
➢ An expanding trade in textiles and horses provided constant nourishment to the
economies of these towns
➢ A measure of commercial expansion was the emergence and increasing role of the
dallals, or brokers, who acted as middlemen in transactions for which expert
knowledge was required, such as the sale of horses, slaves, and cattle.
➢ By the mid-13th century a stable equation between gold and silver was attained,
resulting in a coinage impressive in both quality and volume.
➢ Northern Indian merchants now benefited from the unification of the Central Asian
steppes, which from 1250 until about 1350 opened up a new and secure trade route
from India to China and the Black Sea.
➢ The economic reforms of Alauddin Khilji brought the prices to very low ebb though it
was an artificial measure and had nothing to do with the true prosperity and economic
growth
➢ However, it encouraged import of foreign goods form Persia, since the Sultan made
advances to the foreign traders to import their goods and he always subsidised in such
cases.
➢ During the days of the tughlaqs we hear of Karkhanas in which he utilised his slaves.
Besides these public commercial undertakings, there were private enterprises as well
➢ Despite this industrial development the main occupation of the people was agriculture
 Towns in Delhi sultanate
➢Delhi Sultanate saw upsurge of new towns like Hansi, Hissar, Thanesar, Sunam,
Bhatinda, Kara, Bayana, Panipat, Meerut, Baran (modern Bulandshahr), Kol (modern
Aligarh), Qanauj, Badaun, Amroha, Pakpattan and Abohar.
➢Towards northwest the traditional towns Uchh, Multan, and Lahore not only continued
to enjoy status of vibrant production centres but also as dynamic centres of cultural
activities.
➢Ibn Battuta mentions Uchh ‘a large town’ with ‘fine bazaars and buildings’.
➢Kol (modern Aligarh) and Meerut emerged as important centres of wine distilling.
➢About Kol, Ibn Battuta informs that ‘it’s a handsome city possessing gardens’.
➢ Dhar in Malwa, remarks Ibn Battuta, was a chief city of Malwa and became known for
its exports of betel leaves; Kara and Manikpur for its cloth.
➢ Ibn Battuta records that they were very prosperous centres of production of wheat, rice
and sugar along with production of fine cloth which was exported to Delhi.
➢ Ayodhya was another important town where coarse cloth pat was produced; Gola
(mod. Rohilkhand) developed as an important centre of silk production (khaz);Nagaur
for lining cloth (aslan-i lal) and Deogiri for bhairow (a kind of muslin).
➢ Among important centres of production towns Lahore was known for its sugar; while
Sirsuti(Sirsa) and Lakhi along Sutlej emerged prominent centres of ghee production.
➢ Ibn Battuta praised Bayana as ‘a large and well built town with a magnificent mosque’.
➢ He also praises Qanauj as ‘a large, well built and strongly fortified city’ where sugar is
‘plentiful’ and ‘cheap’.
➢ He also applauds Gwalior as ‘a large town with an impregnable fortress’ and Ujjain ‘a
fine and populous town’.
➢ Muhammad bin Tughluq’s transfer of capital to Daulatabad resulted in the emergence
of a number of towns on Delhi-Daulatabad route.
➢ Chanderi assumed a place of importance with flourishing markets thronged by
merchants.
➢ By the fifteenth century there emerged certain new towns as a result of the centrifugal
tendencies following the decline of the Delhi Sultanate.
➢ Muqtas and Zamindars took advantage of the political chaos and consolidated their
position in their areas of influence.
➢ It led to considerable growth of new cities and towns
➢ During the Sultanate period a new category of towns, qasbas (townships), which were
smaller than the shahr (town), emerged. Qasba was initially a walled fortress-cum-
administrative township which later developed into a full-fledged township and the
term began to be used as synonym of a ‘town’ lower than ‘shahr’ in hierarchy.
➢ In the Sultanate period there was a spurt of metropolitan towns, with planned layout
which soon acquired cosmopolitan character
➢ Medieval texts clearly distinguished between a small town and a metropolis
➢ The metropolitan towns were called Hazrat, a word commonly used to address royal
capitals in central Asia
➢ Historians like Minhaj Us Siraj who wrote Tabaqat-i-Nasiri and Shams Siraj Afif
author of Tarikh I Firoz Shahi quotes Delhi as Hazrat
➢ Yahya Sirhindi also records Delhi as dar-ul khilafat, dar-ul mulk and hazrat Delhi
➢ For big cities words like madina-i azima, madina-i kabira were used
➢ The idea behind laying down of new cities was mainly the establishment and display of
power and authority.
➢ The new ruling elite carried with them a distinct connotation of a city.
➢ Islamic cities were well planned like that of Hissar Firuza established by Sultan Firuz
Shah Tughlaq and Daulatabad constructed by Muhammad bin Tughlaq
➢ During the Sultanate period we get references of architects of Iran and Central Asia
supervising construction of palaces, water works and pleasure gardens.
➢ To add to this the emperor, forced by political compulsions, established a series of new
towns
➢ Introduction of arches and domes added new skyline to the cities
➢ Fortification was key to all Islamic cities.
➢ For example Multan had such a strong fortification that it could withstand repeated
Mongol onslaught
➢ To the existing city landscapes new features like mosques, madrasas (educational
institutions) were added
➢ Soon with the fusion of indigenous trabeate and corbelled with acuate style a new form
of Indo-Islamic architecture emerged.
➢ Arch and dome became the distinguishing features of newly established cities.
➢ The new motifs, particularly calligraphy (arabesque) inscribed on the buildings added
distinct decorative elements.
➢ Further, the cities were generally accompanied by fortification walls with lofty
entrance gates spread into various directions.
➢ The birth of cosmopolitan towns were a contribution of the ‘urban revolution’ brought
by the establishment of Islamic rule in India
Lotus Mahal Red Fort
➢ The major transition in morphology of towns occurred with the expansion of coastal
and overland trade, Arab invasion of Sind in 712 and finally with the establishment of
the Delhi Sultanate.
➢ It facilitated relaxation in caste stringency.
➢ The cities gradually got transformed from a ‘caste based’ into a ‘cosmopolitan urban
centres’.
➢ Mohammad Habib argues that the invaders, who hardly believed in caste hierarchies
opened the city gates for all irrespective of caste and creed, which he termed as ‘urban
revolution’.
➢ This completely transformed the cityscape.
➢ Earlier, as mentioned by Al-Biruni, people of lower castes including artisanal classes
were not permitted to live within the city walls.
➢ However, as early as mid-fourteenth century, records Isami (1350), tanners were living
in their huts in the vicinity of the Royal Palace in Lahore, clearly suggestive of the fact
that social segregation of earlier type within the cities was gradually fading away
➢ Thus the towns moved towards ‘secularisation’ especially that in Gujarat
➢ Gujarat was hub of artisans, workers, Muslim traders, Zoroastrians, Hindu business
community and the aristocracy
➢ India also became hub of migrant Muslim population on account of destabilised
conditions in Central Asia and Persia on account of Mongol and Turk onslaught.
➢ This changed the character of Indian cities which now thronged with learned and sufi
migrants from Persia, Khurasan, (northeaster Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan
and northen Afghanistan) and Central Asia
➢ Metropolis cities like Delhi, Multan, and Lahore developed into centres of
‘international culture’.
➢ Under the patronage of royal courts and elites various sciences flourished in the cities
➢ Ibn Battuta travelled from Sind, Multan to Gujarat, Konkan and Malabar coasts thence
to China via Maldives mentions the cities that he visited were full of not only Muslim
population, mosques, etc. but also foreigners were also appointed at high posts in these
Cities
➢ Demographic mobility was closely linked with the process of urbanisation. Newly
built towns and metropolis attracted in large numbers artisans, learned men, traders and
merchants for better prospects
➢ Muslim literati and other migrants coming from diverse backgrounds and traditions
and groups turned Delhi into a vibrant cultural
➢ When the immigrants mingled with the local populace it ‘enriched the urban culture’
and led to the ‘establishment of a symbiotic relationship between the followers of
anthropocentric and cosmocentric traditions’
➢ The establishment of sultanate witnessed the emergence of new elite groups in these
towns
➢ Initially Turks dominated the city life.
➢ Later, in the process of eradication of Turkan-i Chihilgani (the select group of Forty)
Balban brought to the fore a new group, the Afghans, who were a Turkish tribe settled
long before in the region of Afghanistan.
➢ The Mongols who accepted Islam, also known as neo-Muslims settled down in
different parts of the Sultanate during Alauddin Khalji’s reign
➢ Similarly, Hindu peasant caste of Kambos, embraced Islam under the influence of
Suhrawardi saint Bahauddin Zakariya of Multan. They soon enjoyed prominence in
learning.
➢ By 15th century many of the Kambos distinguished themselves as ulema (scholar) and
mashaikhs (sufi saints) and emerged prominent
➢ The institution of slavery was also instrumental in bringing changes in the urban life.
➢ The slave population in Sultanate towns was considerable.
➢ By 13-14th centuries urban population of Delhi was around four lakhs.
➢ Alauddin had 50,000 slaves and Firuz Shah maintained 1,80,000 of them, which is
clearly suggestive of a considerable slave population in Delhi.
➢ This number would swell if we take into consideration slaves maintained by the nobles
➢ Each prominent city had specialised slave (and cattle) market known as nakhas.
➢ It was filled with both Indian and foreign slaves
➢ Urban elites, nobles, foreign merchants and even laymen took active part in the slave
trade
➢ Slave labour emerged as a significant component of urban labour during the Sultanate
period Firuz Shah employed 12,000 slaves in the karkhanas
➢ Muhammad Habib has argued that Islam broke caste restriction/barriers facilitating the
inter-craft mobility of population
➢ The spurt in urban activities attracted artisans and labourers to the cities.
➢ Introduction of new crafts and modification of indigenous crafts as a result of
introduction of new technologies and of infusion of new scientific ideas and crafts,
facilitated the emergence and expansion of urban based new artisanal crafts.
➢ Large slave population taught and trained in the new crafts led to the emergence of
new artisanal classes/castes in the due course.