{"id":5343,"date":"2026-01-04T23:47:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T18:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/?p=5343"},"modified":"2026-01-07T16:06:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T10:36:37","slug":"economy-religion-and-society-during-the-delhi-sultanate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/economy-religion-and-society-during-the-delhi-sultanate\/","title":{"rendered":"Economy, Religion and Society during the Delhi Sultanate"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>Economy during Delhi Sultanate<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n<p>Since the economy in the Indian subcontinent was predominantly agricultural, the primary source of income for the state was land revenue.<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>The taxation principles followed by the Delhi Sultan were, to some extent, based on the\u00a0<strong>Hanafi School of Muslim Law.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3><strong>Revenue Administration<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p>The state held large tracts of land<strong>\u00a0[khalisa],\u00a0<\/strong>which was tilled by farmers maintained by the centre and from where all the revenue came to the central treasury through the agency of officials called<strong>\u00a0amils.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li><strong>Hukm-i-misahat:<\/strong>\u00a0This is a policy of actual\u00a0<strong>measurement of land<\/strong>\u00a0introduced by\u00a0<strong>Alauddin Khilji<\/strong>\u00a0in which land was measured and revenue demand determined on its anticipated yield.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>The regions that refused to pay land tax or\u00a0<strong>kharaj<\/strong>\u00a0were known as\u00a0<strong>mawas.<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Iqta:\u00a0<\/strong>The iqta was a revenue assignment that the\u00a0<strong>muqti<\/strong>\u00a0held at the pleasure of the\u00a0<strong>Sultan.\u00a0<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>This system combines the two functions of\u00a0<strong>revenue collection<\/strong>\u00a0and distribution without immediately endangering the unity of the\u00a0<strong>political structure.<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Khalisa:\u00a0<\/strong>The territory whose revenues were directly collected for the\u00a0<strong>Sultan's own treasury<\/strong>\u00a0was designated khalifa.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Kharaj\u00a0<\/strong>(land tax)<strong>:<\/strong>\u00a0It was essentially a share in the produce of the land and not a rent on the land.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Revenue officers:<\/strong>\u00a0Ummal, Mutasarrif, Mushrif, Muhassilan, Navisindagan.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>\u00a0Agrarian measures of Alauddin Khilji:<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Increase the\u00a0<strong>revenue collection\u00a0<\/strong>by enhancing the demand.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Introduced\u00a0<strong>direct collection.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Cutting down the leakages to the intermediaries.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Revenue collectors\u00a0<\/strong>were ordered to demand the revenue with such rigour that the peasants should be forced to sell their produce immediately at the side of the fields.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Peasants should pay<strong>\u00a0tax<\/strong>\u00a0in kind and not in cash.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Agrarian measures of Mohammad Tughlaq:<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>He became the first Sultan to attempt to formulate an agricultural policy for\u00a0<strong>promoting agriculture.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Introduced the practice of giving agricultural loans named\u00a0<strong>Sondhar<\/strong>.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>A new ministry designated\u00a0<strong>diwan-i amir-i Kohi<\/strong>\u00a0was established to promote agriculture.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Firuz Tughlaq (1351-88)<\/strong>\u00a0abandoned these projects, abolished\u00a0<strong>agrarian cesses,<\/strong>\u00a0and forbade levying of\u00a0<strong>ghari and charai.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>But he is reported to have imposed a separate tax \u2013<strong>\u00a0jizya<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 distinct from kharaj on the peasants. He also introduced an irrigation tax<strong>\u00a0(haqq-i sharb)\u00a0<\/strong>in Haryana, where he dug up canals.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3><strong>Currency System of Delhi Sultanate<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p>The period before the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate was marked by the scarcity of coinage, particularly of pure silver.<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Except for an increased number of\u00a0<strong>coins stamped<\/strong>, no changes were introduced initially.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>The coins continued to bear the image of<strong>\u00a0goddess Lakshmi or bull-and-horseman,<\/strong>\u00a0etc. Only the name of the new ruler in a corrupt form got inscribed over it in<strong>\u00a0Nagari script<\/strong>. These coins were called<strong>\u00a0Dehliwal.<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Iltutmish (1210-36)<\/strong>\u00a0is credited for standardising the coinage of the Delhi Sultanate.\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>He introduced<strong>\u00a0gold and silver tankas and a copper jital.<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>The Sultanate mints generally uttered coins in<strong>\u00a0three metals<\/strong>: gold, silver (dominated till the reign of\u00a0<strong>Alauddin Khilji<\/strong>) and\u00a0<strong>billon\u00a0<\/strong>(copper mixed with a very small quantity of silver).<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Barani\u00a0<\/strong>mentions dangs and dirams in use at the capital Delhi.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Token Currency of\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Muhammad Tughlaq<\/strong><strong>:\u00a0<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>The Sultan introduced a\u00a0<strong>coin of copper and brass alloy<\/strong>\u00a0and reckoned it at the value of a\u00a0<strong>silver tanka.<\/strong>\u00a0This coin, for the first time, carried an inscription in\u00a0<strong>Persian.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>This new currency was a token currency whose face value was much higher than its intrinsic value (the value of the metal it was made of)<strong>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Later, due to failure, all the token currency was brought to the treasury and exchanged with pure currency.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3><strong>Trade during Delhi Sultanate<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>The\u00a0<strong>inland trade\u00a0<\/strong>developed at two levels:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li><strong>Short-distance village-town trade<\/strong>\u00a0in commodities of bulk (food grains)<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Long-distance inter-town trade<\/strong>\u00a0in high-value goods (luxury items): The long-distance inter-town trade also carried goods coming from other countries exit-points.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Foreign Trade:<\/strong>\u00a0During the Sultanate period, overland and overseas trade was flourishing.\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li><strong>Seaborne Trade<\/strong>: Gujarat was connected with the\u00a0<strong>Persian Gulf\u00a0<\/strong>(Hormuz, Basra-ports) and the\u00a0<strong>Red Sea<\/strong>\u00a0(Aden, Mocha and Jedda).\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Through these ports, commodities moved on to the\u00a0<strong>Mediterranean Sea<\/strong>\u00a0with linkages to<strong>\u00a0Europe.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Linkages in East:\u00a0<\/strong>Port of Malacca, Bantam, and Achin in the Indonesian archipelago.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>The ports of\u00a0<strong>Bengal\u00a0<\/strong>had trading relations with\u00a0<strong>China, Malacca<\/strong>\u00a0and the Far East.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Overland Trade: Multan<\/strong>\u00a0was the major trading centre for overland trade. India was connected to\u00a0<strong>Central Asia, Afghanistan and Persia<\/strong>\u00a0through the\u00a0<strong>Multan-Quetta route.<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Imports and Exports:<\/strong>\u00a0The two principal items of import were\u00a0<strong>horses\u00a0<\/strong>(demand for cavalry) and<strong>\u00a0precious metals,<\/strong>\u00a0viz. gold and. silver, especially silver.\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Brocade and silk were imported from\u00a0<strong>Alexandria<\/strong><strong>, Iraq and China.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>The Sultanate of India mainly exported\u00a0<strong>grain and textiles.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Some of the\u00a0<strong>Persian Gulf<\/strong>regions depended on India for their food supply. Besides, slaves were exported to Central Asia, indigo to Persia, and numerous other commodities. Precious stones like\u00a0<strong>agates<\/strong>\u00a0were exported from\u00a0<strong>Cambay.<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Commercial Classes:<\/strong>\u00a0Two types of merchants are mentioned in the sources of the Delhi Sultanate:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li><strong>Karwanis or nayaks:<\/strong>\u00a0merchants specialising in carrying grains.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Multanis:<\/strong>\u00a0long-distance trade was in the hands of these merchants.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2><strong>Religion and Society during Delhi Sultanate<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li><strong>Rituals and Ceremonies:<\/strong>\u00a0In both Hindu and Muslim families, ceremonies started with the child's birth.\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>\u00a0Among the Hindus,\u00a0<strong>upanayana samskara<\/strong>\u00a0(marks a child's entrance into the fold of education) and<strong>\u00a0dvija ceremonies<\/strong>\u00a0were performed.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Among the Muslims,\u00a0<strong>Bismillah Khani\u00a0<\/strong>(sending the child to the maktab) and\u00a0<strong>circumcision ceremonies\u00a0<\/strong>were performed.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Marriage:<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Among the Hindus, marriage within the\u00a0<strong>sub-caste<\/strong>\u00a0was allowed, but\u00a0<strong>intermarriage\u00a0<\/strong>with other varna was forbidden.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>As for the Muslims, there was complete freedom in choosing a wife or a husband. But importance was given to the<strong>\u00a0'status' (kafu)\u00a0<\/strong>of the respective social groups.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Caste:<\/strong>\u00a0Caste was still the dominant category in marking\u00a0<strong>social differences.\u00a0<\/strong>The\u00a0<strong>smriti texts<\/strong>\u00a0continued to emphasise that punishing the wicked and upholding the\u00a0<strong>Chatur-varna\u00a0<\/strong>(four-fold caste) social order by the force of arms was the duty of the Kshatriya.\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li><strong>Life of Shudras:<\/strong>\u00a0The duty of the Shudra was still one of service to the higher castes.\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>The ban on the Shudras reciting the\u00a0<strong>Vedas\u00a0<\/strong>still held good, though they were now allowed to listen to the recitation of the\u00a0<strong>Puranas.<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>They are banned from sharing their food and participating in the ritual feasts of the\u00a0<strong>upper castes.<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3><strong>Position of Women<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p>There was almost no change in the lifestyle of the upper-caste Hindu women during this period. Women are\u00a0<strong>subordinate<\/strong>\u00a0to men in every walk of life - as daughters, wives and even after their husband's death (under her eldest son's care).<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li><strong>Birth of a daughter<\/strong>\u00a0was considered a symbol of dishonour for the father.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Their primary duty was to produce<strong>\u00a0progeny,<\/strong>\u00a0especially the male child.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Early marriages\u00a0<\/strong>of girls were prevalent.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Education:<\/strong>\u00a0Women of poor classes did not have a chance for education, but the<strong>\u00a0higher strata<\/strong>\u00a0women seem to have received education and training. For example,\u00a0<strong>Raziya\u00a0<\/strong>shows that the Muslim aristocracy also imparted education to their daughters.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Prevalence of social evils:<\/strong><strong>Ibn Battuta<\/strong>\u00a0mentions the \u2018<strong>Sati\u2019\u00a0<\/strong>practice. He mentions, however, that prior permission for one wanting to be a sati had to be taken from the Sultan. Among the\u00a0<strong>Rajputs, the\u00a0<\/strong>practice of\u00a0<strong>Jauhar\u00a0<\/strong>was also prevalent.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Property rights:\u00a0<\/strong>The commentators uphold the\u00a0<strong>widow's right\u00a0<\/strong>to the property of a son-less husband, provided the property was not commonly held. The widow was not merely the guardian of this property but had the<strong>\u00a0full right<\/strong>\u00a0to dispose of it.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Custom of purdah:\u00a0<\/strong>Both Hindu and Muslim aristocracy guarded their women by keeping them hidden within the walled space of the<strong>\u00a0antahpura (inner sanctum)\u00a0<\/strong>and the harem. In contrast, the poor (Muslim) women used a burqa to cover their bodies.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3><strong>Slaves and Servants<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<p>The master-slave relation formed a category by which the authority in the Sultanate society expressed itself. Most noblemen referred to themselves as the\u00a0<strong>slave of the Sultan.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>The slaves in India can be graded into<strong>\u00a0two groups:\u00a0<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>Those who were bought in an\u00a0<strong>open slave market:\u00a0<\/strong>existed in West Asia and India.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Those who were<strong>\u00a0first prisoners of war<\/strong>\u00a0and then made slaves.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Slaves were generally bought for\u00a0<strong>domestic service\u00a0<\/strong>for their special skills. For example,\u00a0<strong>Feroz Shah Tughlaq\u00a0<\/strong>had a special penchant for slaves; he employed them in\u00a0<strong>handicrafts\u00a0<\/strong>and bodyguards.<\/li>\r\n\t<li>A special type of male slaves who were castrated in childhood were trained to be the guards of the harem. These were known as\u00a0<strong>Khwaja Sara (eunuchs).\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Women slaves<\/strong>\u00a0were generally graded into two groups:\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n\t<li>for\u00a0<strong>domestic service<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>for<strong>\u00a0entertainment and pleasure.<\/strong><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t<li>Keeping slaves became a special mark of<strong>\u00a0prosperity,<\/strong>\u00a0and nobles vied with each other over the possession of a comely boy or a girl slave.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Religion Aristocracy:\u00a0<\/strong>The Sultanate administration accorded a special place to the\u00a0<strong>ulema.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>Those among them who were associated with the administration of justice and religious law were known as<strong>\u00a0'dastarbahdan'<\/strong>\u00a0since they were distinguished by a special cap.<\/li>\r\n\t<li><strong>Ulema\u00a0<\/strong>helped the ruler in<strong>\u00a0theological matters.<\/strong>\u00a0They had to undertake special training and follow a definite course of study which consisted of<strong>\u00a0Islamic theory, law, logic, Arabic and religious texts such as tafsir, Radis, Quran, etc.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>These men, along with a few others, formed the elite intellectual group known as\u00a0<strong>abl qalam.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\r\n\t<li>The needs of the centralised state and an autocratic emperor determined their social roles<strong>.<\/strong> These men provide moral support to imperial rule.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Economy during Delhi Sultanate covering agrarian system land revenue currency trade administration society women slavery and religious aristocracy in medieval India.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":8314,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[294,40,295],"class_list":{"0":"post-5343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-quest-level-3","8":"tag-economy","9":"tag-quest","10":"tag-religion-and-society-during-the-delhi-sultanate"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5343"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22915,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5343\/revisions\/22915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/upsc-exam\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}