Economic Policies of the Delhi Sultanate-

The establishment of the Delhi Sultanate was one of the most important
political event of the Indian history. However there are many discussion among
the scholars whether the rule of the Delhi Sultanate and it’s economic stance can
be regarded as important as the political events and an important feature of the
economic history of India.. As kosambi did recognize that changes did occur with
the coming of ‘the Islamic raiders’. However Professor Lalanji Gopal in his work “
The Economic Life of Northern India” argued that ‘ poverty in India began with
the coming of the muslims’ and K.S LAL also made an equal discovery that ‘the
Sultans reduced the population of the country by one –third’.

Irrespective of these opinions Irfan Habib and his view about the Sultans stand
out. Some historians had been consciously pointing out the negative aspects of
Islamic civilizations or so sensitive to the destruction that the wars and campaigns
of the Sultans wrought on the inhabitants. Yet, Irfan Habib believed that the new
regime was qualitatively different in the economic organization than that of
which had existed before. He suggested that there was an expansion of the towns
and an important alteration in agrarian relationships. He explained that the new
rulers were interested in production of the artisans manufactures and not the
castes of artisans and so were indifferent to the impositions of caste restraints
that had burdened the town artisans and checked inter-professional mobility in
pre-Sultanate India. From the villages the rulers wanted more revenue and so the
greatest of them Alauddin Khalji eliminated the ‘intermediaries’ who used to take
a large share in the surplus and oppress the lower peasantry. Professor Habib felt
that the changes were so fundamental as to deserve respectively the designation
of ‘urban revolution ‘ and ‘rural revolution ‘. Thus there can be no doubt that
Professor Irfan Habib made an important contribution in suggesting that the
economy of the Sultanate cannot be seen as a mere continuation of the previously
existing economy and indicated important aspects of it to be explored.

There are many sources from which we can get possible picture about the
economic condition of India under the rule of the Delhi Sultans:
Important among the sources is Tarikh –i- Hind of Alberuni (973-1043 AD) an
eminent scholar at the court of Mahmud of Ghazni. According to him the
economic conditions at that time was characterized by the decline in Indian
foreign trade. He tells that India possessed huge wealth and most of the wealth
was concentrated in the temples . Internal trade and commerece flourished and
the Hindus had standard weights and measures. They also possessed the system
of coinage. The rulers raised finances through taxes and fines . According to him
although the chief source of income was the land revenue , which was 1/6 th of the
total produce , taxes were however given a privileged treatment and not
subjected to any taxes. Another important source is the Tarikh-i- Firozshahi of
Ziauddin Barani ( 1285-1357) who was a court historian of Sultan Muhammad –
bin- Tughlaq and Firoz Shah Tughlaq and Fatwa –i- Jahandari .From this work we
come to know that the economic policy of the Sultan was as same as that of
Alauddin Khalji, he desired that the prices of articles of consumption should be
fixed by the state authorities – none should be allowed to sell articles at higher
rates than thpse fixed by the state. Market inspections and officials should be
appointed to enforce the market tariff rigidly. As hindus had enjoyed monopoly of
trade and commerce Barani had at many times initiated the principles of
depriving the Hindu merchants and traders of their wealth and humiliating them
socially.

Apart from these written sources a lot can be known about the then economy
through a number of Inscriptions for instance, an inscription found at Mongol
records an order of Sultan Ahmad Shah (1412-40) abolishing a payment (wajah)
for the removal of carcasses of animals (murder kasha). Another epigraph dated
1538 found at Kondapalle mentiones the remitting of a tax anddi santa sunkam
by Malik Qutbu’ Malik ( founder of Qutub Shahi dynasty of Golconda ) after he
had obtained possesession of that place.

Alauddin Khalji holds an outstanding position among the Sultans for his
remarkable economic policies and a pre- eminent administrator. The brief period
of Khalji rule ( 1290-1320) saw a radical change in the socio- economic and
administrative composition of the Delhi Sultanate. Alauddin khalji raised
agricultural taxes straight from 20 percent to 50 percent payable in kind of grain
and rural produce or with cash. He maintained all sorts of charges on non-
muslims in the Sultanate , called as jizya or poll tax , kharaj or land tax, khari or
house tax and the last one chari as field duty. He moreover announced that his
officers jagirdars, khuts, mukkadams, chaudharis and zamindars can seize by
force half all produce as a cost on standing yields. The wage was now to be
caccu,ulated by the central organizations. Markets like Sahana-i- Mandi were
made , the muslim shippers were yielded particular licenses and a plan of action in
these mandi to buy and trade. The state of agrarian economy of the Delhi
Sultanate was radically altered in the beginning of the 14th century by Alauddin;s
establishing in a large part of north India in a new system of assessment of land
tax based on measurement of cultivated area and estimate of per biswa (1/20 of a
bigha =60 + 60 yards) produce of individual farmer. Alauddin also prohibited the
village chiefs from collecting qismat-i-khoti which was obviously some kind of
commission allowed to them for help in payment was an indication that the
village chief’s role in the collection of land tax was sought to be curtailed , this
information is given to us by Barani’s Tarikh- i- Firozshahi. As vaguely suggested
by Irfan Habib land revenue and market control measures Of Alauddin seem to
represent a deliberate attempt at establishing a tax-rent equation in the Delhi
Sultanate, maximisig the extraction of agricultural surplus in which the share of
hereditary chiefs was sought to be drastically reduced. A major part of this surplus
would be transferred to urban centeres where the nobles and their retainers
resided. Ostensebly , these fiscal measures were aimed at enhancing the economic
and strategic clout of town based ruling establishments o the Sultanate as stated
by Habib in his work “The Price Regulation of Alauddin Khalji”. Expansion of
urban economy in Northern India , including the rise of new handicrafts during the
14th century may also relate to the long term economic consequences of the same
measures.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s Token Currency is an important landmark in the

history of economic coinage. He has been called the ‘ prince of moneyers’.
Ofcourse , his most notable experiment was the introduction of the token currency
. There were several reasons for its introduction . Firstly, there was a want of
precious money in the treasury which had been drained by war and rebellions and
also by costly experiments in the field of administration. Secondly, owing to
famine and harsh taxation policy in the Doab , there was considerable fall in the
Sultan’s revenue. Thirdly, he was encouraged by the examples of Chinese and
Persian rulers before him who had introduced token currency in their countries in
the 13th century and also he was fond of expirementing. With these objectives the
Sultan promulgated an order making Copper coins the legal tender and putting
these coins on par in value with gold and silver coins. He ordered that the people
should use these coins in all transactions just like gold and silver coins but he took
no steps to make the mint a monopoly of the state and this was a failure of the
Sultan’s experiment. The drive of maximization of land revenue also seems to
have created an awareness on the part of the Sultans helping the peasants facing
financial ruin was their own long term interest . This awareness was in line with
the geberal tenor of Islamic thought as reflected in the Akhlaq texts. It may sound
paradoxical that but the fact remains that this Sultan responsible for mercilessly
devastating the peasantry of the Doab in 1334-35 , was the first Suktan to have
launched a large scale drive for the restoration of agriculture at the expense of
royal treasury as stated in “ The Cambridge Economic History of India “ by Irfan
Habib.

Firoz Shah Tughlaq on the other hand had it’s on way in keeping the economic
condition sound and just. He orders a fresh assessment of land . Khwaja Junaidi ,
the Wajir was put in charge and for six years he moved from Qasba to Qasba
collecting the data. Ultimately the land revenue was permanently fixed at six
crore and eighty five lakh tankas which was to be shared amongst the Maliks an
Amirs. According to Moreland- “ since cultivation extended largely in the period
we must infer that his officers benefitted progressively as the actual income
mounted and because the revenue from the reserved sources would also have
increased as the result if extended cultivation”.

Summarising the points raised in this section it may be argued that in deciding
their discal affairs in the territories ruled by them were guided by the realities of
the situation rather than Islamic fiq. This is so well illustrated by their agreeing to
treat land tax as Kharaj as well as Jiziya.
The survey of economic trends in medieval India seems to suggest the following
theoretical considerations being workrd behind important developments:

i. the system of land tax that evolved in the Delhi Sultanate was a novel
arrangements suited for the appropriation of agricultural surplus .

ii. the increasing financial requirements was evidently by a notion articulated in

Islamic thought that growth of civilization demands transfer of resources from
countryside to urban centres.

iii. the clear perception on the part of the rulers that trade and commerce
contributed significantly to the generation of wealth .

The rule of the Delhi Sultanate united the political power with economic power
more than ever before . In consideration with all the economic and fiscal policies
of the Sultan’s we can designate the organization of economy under the
Sultanate as the Indian medieval Economy.