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' UNIT 1 AGRARIAN ECONOMY

Structure Objectives Introduction Agrarian Expansion 1.2.1 Gwgmphial and Chronological Patterns 1.2.2 ldeologial bckgmund Agrarian Organisation 1-1.1 Character and Rok of Various Types of Agrarian Settkments 1.3.2 R~ghts in Land Technological Improvements Rural Tension Agriculture and the Exchange Network The Characterisation of Early Medieval Agrarian Economy Let Us Sum Up Key Words Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

1.0 OBJECTIVES

After rdding this Unit you should be able to explain the:

factors responsible for the expansion of agriculture in the Indian subcontinent,

chronological pattern of land grant system,

ideology behind land grants,

character and role of various types of agrarian sdtkments,

growth and nature of land ights,

technological improvements in the sphere of agriculture,

interdependence amongst different groups related to land,

role of agriculturists in trade, and

. characterisation of early medieval agrarian economy.

1.1 INTRODUCTION

The early medieval period in Indian history marks the growth of cultivation and organisation of land relations through land grants. These grants began around the beginning of Christian era and covered practically the entire subcontinent by the end of the twelfth century. In the early medieval period agricultural expansion meant a greater and more regular use of advanced agricultural techniques, plough cultivation and irrigation technology. Institutional management of agricultural processes, control of means of production and new relations of production also played an important role in this expansion. With this expansion, new type of nwal

.tensions also emerged. Commercial activities in agricultural and non-agricultural commodities increased. All these aspects have been dealt in this Unit which ends with a discussion on the characterisation of early medieval agrarian economy. Let us start with the aspects related to agrarian expansion.

Early Mediwll Ezonorny : 8th - 13th Century AGRARIAN EXPANSION

The agrarian expansiol, which began with the establishment of b m b d q a and a p r h r n settlements thfbugh land grants to Brahrnanaa from the fourth century onwards acquired a uniform and universal form in subsequent centuries.

The centuries between the eighth and twelfth witnessed the processes of this expansion and the culmination of an agrarian organisation b a d on land grants to religious and secular beneficiaries, i.e. Brahmanas, temples and officers of the King's government. However, there are important regional variations in this development, both due to geographical as well as ecological factors.

1 .2.1A Geographical and Chronological Patterns Cultivation was extended not only to the hitherto virgin lands but even by clearing forest areas. This was a continuous process and a major feature of early medieval agricultural economy.

There is a view prevalent among some scholars that land grants started in outlying, backward and tribal areas first and later gradually extended to the Ganga valley, which was the hub of the brahmanical culture. In the backward and aboriginal tracts !he Brahrnanas could spread new methods of cultivation by regulating agricultural processes through specialised knowledge of the seasons (astronomy), plough, irrigation, etc., as well as by protecting the cattle wealth. However, this is not true of all regions in India, for, land grants were also made in areas of settled agriculture as well as in other ecological zones, especially for purposes of integrating them into a new economic order.

I A Telupu lmcriptbn of lOtb ecatury A.D. from lndu K w ~ p d i e recordr tbe &atbof m h a o afta rcacuhc cattle.

2 & 3 Inscriptions from North Arcot in memory ofthose heroes whodidprotectingcanleduringcn~lemids.

The chronological appearance of the land grant system shows the following pattern:

fourth-fifth centuries : s p m d over a good part of central India, northern Deccan and Andhra,

fdth-seventh centuries : eastern India (Bcnpl and Orissa), beginnings in Western India (qujarat and Rajasthan),

seventh and eighth centuries: Tamil Nadu and Karnataka,

ninth century : Kerala, and

end of the twelfth century : almost the entire sub-continent with the possible exception of Punjab.

1.2.2 Ideological Background Ideas relating to the gift of land emphasise the importance of dam or gift. The idea of dm8 or gift to Brahmanas was developed by Brahmanical texts as the surest means of acquiring merit (puny.) and destroying sin (pataka). I t appears to be a conscious and systematic attempt to provide means of subsistence to the Brahmnnan. Grants of cultivable land to them and registration of gifts of land on copper plates are recommended by all the Smritb and Purmm of the post-Gupta centuries.

There were different items of gifts :

food, grains, paddy, etc.

movable assets like gold, money, etc. and

r rL- :--A.,~LI- saa-+a ; r fi..l+:~sLlr lsrrl ' -4-a --A rr&4rat;ml mlnt

Agruinn Economy

Early Medieval Lonomy : 8th - l a b .Century

Amon8 the gifta are llro included the plough, corn, oxen lad plougbhue. Bomwt, the gift of land was conridered to be tbe bat of all typa of gift# nude to the learned Brahmana. imprecations against the destruction of such gifts and the resumption of L d donated to t Brahmana ensured their pqctuity. Thua knd grants bemn to follow r set let@ formula tystcmatbed t h r o w Lw books (DWmubrJnr).

While the early land d n t a were nude d y to Vedic priuta (Shrotriya fire priests), from the fifth to thirteenth centuries, grants were also made to temple priests. The temple, as an institution, assumed a more central role in agrarian expansion a d ormnisrtion from t k eighth century A.D. Omnta to the temple, either plota of Lnd or Whok vil lap, were known u d.rrl.nr in the south Indian context. It needs to be stresred that what k p n M a mere trickle, beame a migbty current. The process of acquiring h d e d property was not confined to bnhmanical temples. The non-brahxmtanical religious establishmenta such M the Buddhist and Jain monasteries (samghas and basadis) too, specially in Karnataka. Andhra. Gujarat and eastern India (Bihar and Orha), vied with one another to become landed magnates (you will m d more about this in Units 67-in Block 2).

I) & b n ~ o o l r r m n ' A * d m t p a i o b ~ ~ P i e L t h c ~ ~ a s ~ i a ~ L c u andpo!inCdolrm'Fagaixsttimpaiodwknhadlg~atqystem.ppeprrdin that mghn (Ccoaal lndk Bmga& Oriur. Northan Dcoua, Andhn, Tamil Nadu. Kcraia G u m Rajastban, Karnalaka),

ii) 5th-7th antuna ii)

hi 7th - 8th maury

iv) 9th ceotury

iii)

iv)

2) What were tbc di't items d drr (gift) to Brrhmrnul Which was oolrsidcrcdutbcbarJ#i.

- 1.3 AGRARIAN ORGANISATION

The agrarian orpnisation and economy were highly complex. This can be understood on the basis of intensive studies of the regional patterns of land grants and the cbuDcter and rale of the brahnadeya and nowbmhadqa and temple . ecttlementa. The growth and nature of Lnd ri#hta, interdependence -on# the different groups related to land and the production and distribution processes also help in a better understanding of the situation.

13.1 Churetcr raid Role d V ~ O W T m of A g d m Scttitmmts

Bnhmadeya : A bnhmadeya represents a grant of land either in individual plots or whole vilIagcs given away to Bnhllvnu making tbem landownm or land controllen. It was mcmt eitber to bring v i r a land under cultivation or to integrate existin8 agricultural (or pasant) settlements into the new economic order dominated by a Brahmrm proprietor. Thae Bnhmuu donee8 played a major role in intepating various socio-cconomic groups into the new order, througb service tcnurcs and a t e mnuninm undar the VI.M tun Fnr cumnk. the rawi in^

peasantisation of shudras was so-t to be rat ional id in the existing brahmanical social order.

The practice of land grants as bnhmadeym was initiated by the ruling dynasties and slrbsequently followed by chiefs, feudatories, etc. Brnhmadgm facilitated agrarian expansion because they were :

exempted from various taxes or dues either entirely or at least in the initial stages of settlenlent (e.g. for 12 years);

also endowed with ever growing privileges (padharm). The ruling families derived economic advantage in the form of the extension of the resource base, moreover. by creating brahmadeyns they also ,gained ideological support for their political power.

Lands were given as bnhmadcya either to a single Brahmana or to several Brahmana families which ranged from a few to several hundreds or even more than a thousand, as seen in the South Indian context. Brahmadeyas were invariably located near major irrigation works such as tanks or lakes. Often new irrigation sources were constructed when brnhmadeyas were created, especially in areas dependent on rains and in arid and semi-arid regions. When located in areas of intensive agriculture in the river valleys, they served to integrate other settlements of a subsihena level production. Sometimes, two or more settlements were clubbed together to form a brahmadeya or an agrahara. The taxes from such villages were assigned to the Brahmana donees, who were also given the right to get the donated land cultivated. Boundaries of the donated land or village were very often carefully demarcated. The various types of land, wet, dry and garden land within the village were specified. Sometimes even specific crops and trees are mentioned. The land donations implied more than the transfer of land rights. For example, in many cases, along with the revenues and economic resources of the village, h u m v resources such as peasants (cultivators), misans and others were also transferred to donees. There is also growing evidence of the encroachment of the rights of villagers over community lands such as lakes and ponds. Thus, the Brahmanas became managers of agricultural and artisanal production in these settlements for which they organised themselves in to assemblies.

Agrarian Econon~?

1. A Record from Rajkot (A .D . 5 3 6 ) of the reign of Dhruvnsenu-l mention5 1111 er:r~ll o f ;I \ i l i . , n ~ :I \

Early Medieval Fxonomy : 8th- 13th Century

5. Inscripticms of Kakaf ya Ganapti (A.D. 1199) from Knrimnagar Dist riet records a land gvnt made by the Governor of Chuneridesa to Msnchi-Bhattopndhyaya, the priest of king (;anpati.

Secular Grants : From the seventh century onwards, officers of the state were also being remunerated through land grants. This is of special significance because it created another class of landlords who were not Brahmanas.

The gift of land on officials in charge of administrative divisions is mentioned as early as c. A.D. 200 (the time of Manu) but the practice picks up momentum in the post-Gupta period. Lite*ry works dealing with central India, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bihar and Bengal between the tenth and twelfth centuries make frequent references to various kinds of grants to ministers, kinsmen and those who rendered military services. The rajas, raja- ranakas, mahasamantps; etc. mentioned in Pala land charters were mostly vassals connected with land. The incidence of grants to state officials varies from one region to another. To illustrate, while we hear of about half a dozen Paramar official ranks, only a few of them are known to have received land grants. But very large territories were granted to vassals and high officers under the Chalukyas of Gujarat. The available evidences suggest that Orissa had more service grants than Assam, Bengal and Bihar taken together. Further, the right of various officials to enjoy specific and exclusive levies-irrespective of the tenure of these levies-was bound to create intermediaries with interests in the lands of the tenants.

Devadanas : Large scale gifts to the religious establishments, both brahmanical and non-brahmanical, find distinctive places in inscriptional evidences. These centres worked as nuclei of agricultural settlements and helped in integrating various peasant and tribal settlements through a process of acculturation. They also integrated various socio-economic glroups through service tenures or remuneration through temple lands. Temple lands were leased out to tenants, who paid a higher share of t l~c produce to the temple. Such lands were also managed either by the sabha of the brnhmadeya o r rnahajvnss of the agrahara settlements. In non-Brahmana settlements

ternplcs became the central institution. Here temple lands came to be ;itlm~nistrred by the temple executive committees composed of land owning non- 131.~1i1rnanas. r Q thc Velalas nf Tamil Nadu the O k k a l ~ l Knmnu l~ i etc of Karnataka

different groups were assigned a caste and ritual status. I t is in this process that people following 'impure" and "low occupations" were assigned the status of untouchables, kept out of the temple and given quarters a t the fringes of the settlement.

The supervision of temple lands was in the hands of Brahrnana and non-Brahmana landed elite. The control of irrigation sources was also a major function of the local bodies dominated by landed elite groups. Thus the Brabmona, the temple and higher strata of non-Brahmanas as landlords, employers and holders of superior rights in land became the central feature of early medieval agrarian organisation.

The new landed elite also consisted of local peasant clan chiefs o r heads of kinship groups and heads of families, who had kani rights i.e. rights of possession and supervision. In other words, several strata of intermediaries emerged between the King and the actual producer.

1.3.2 Rights in Land An important aspect relating t o land grants is the nature of rights granted to the assignees. Rights conferred upon the grantees included fiscal and administrative rights. The taxes, of which land tax was the major source of revenue, theoretically payable to the King o r government, came to be assigned to the donees. The reference to pariharas or exemptions in the copper plate and stone inscriptions registering such grants indicate that what was theoretically payable t o the King was not being completely exempted from payment but the rights were now transferred to the grantees. This was apparently based on the sanction of the dharmashastras. which sought to establish the royal ownership of land and hence justify such grants, creating intermediary rights in land.

Although there is some evidence of a communal basis of land rights in early settlements, the development of private ownership o r rights is indicated by the fact that the grantees often enjoyed rights of alienation of land. They also enjoyed other hereditary benefits in the settlements. Land gifts were often made after purchase from private individuals. Hereditary ownership seems to have developed out of such grants, both religious and secular.

- -

1.4 TECHNOLOGICAL IMPROVEMENTS

During the early medieval period there: was a n increase in irrigation sources such as canals, lakes, tanks (tataka, eri) and wells (kupa and kinaru). That the accessibility to water resources was an important consideration in the spread of rural settlements is shown by regional studies. Keres or tanks in south Karnataka, nadi (river), pushkarini (tank), srota (water channel) etc. in Bengal and nmghatta-wells in western Rajasthan used to be natural points of reference whenever distribution and transfer of village lands had t o be undertaken. Naturally, the concern for water resources contributed to the extension of cultivation and intensification of agricultural activities. Water-lifts of different kinds operated by man and animal power were also known. Epigraphic sources record the construction and maintenance of such irrigation works between eight and thirteenth centuries. Many of the lakes/ tanks of this period have survived well into the modern times. Some of them were repaired, revived and elaborated under the British administration. The step wells (vapis) in Rajasthan and Gujarat became extremely popular in the eleventh-thirteenth centuries. They were meant for irrigating the fields a s well a s for supplying drinking water.

The increase in the number of irrigation works was due to an advance in irrigation technology. There is evidence of the use of more scientific and permanent methods of flood control, damming of river waters, sluice construction (with piston valve and cisterns) both a t the heads of canals and of lakes and tanks. Flood controkwas achieved gradually through breaching of rivers for canals and mud embankments which ensured the regulated use of water resources.

Lakes or reservoirs were more commonly used in semi dry and rain fed areas, a s well QE r;.,ar h ~ c ; n c xx~horo t h o r i ~ ~ o r c A A o A 1.- in c . . m m a r Pnnr+rmmnt;nn nf ..r-tar m c o m t n ; r r

Agrarian Economy

Early Medieval Economy : was initiated by ruling families and maintained by local institutions such as the 8th- 13th Century sabha (Brahrnana assembly) and ur (non-Brahmana village assembly) in Tamil Nadu.

Maintenance of lakes/ tanks etc. i.e. desilting, bund and sluice repair was looked after by a special committee of local assemblies and cesses were levied for the purpose.

Royal permission was accorded for digging tanks or wells, when gifts were made to Brahmanas and temples. Land was demarcated for construction and maintenance of canals and tanks, etc. Digging of tanks was considered a part of the privileges enjoyed by the grantees and an act of religious merit. Hence, resourceful private individuals also constructed tanks.

No less significant were the improvements in agricultural implements. For example, a tenth century inscription from Ajmer refers to 'big" plough. Similarly, separate implements are mentioned for weeding parasitic plants. VrikshsyuvcBP mentions steps to cure diseases of trees. Water lifting devices such as nrqghatta and ghatiyantra are mentioned in inscriptions and literary works. The former was specially used in the wells of Rajasthan in the ninth-tenth centuries. The Krishisukti of Kashypa prescribed that the ghatiyantra operated by oxen is the best, that by men was the worst while the one driven by elephants was of the middling quality.

Advanced knowledge about weather conditions and their use in agricultural operations is noticeable in such texts as the Gurusunhit. and Krishinarashwara.

More than one hundred types of cereals including wheat, barley. lentils, etc. are mentioned in contemporary writings on agriculture. According to the Shunyapwarn more than fifty kinds of paddy were cultivated in Bengal. The knowledge of fertilizers improved immensely and the use of the compost was known. Cash crops such as arecanuts, betel leaves, cotton, sdgarcane, etc. find frequent mention. Rajashekhara (early tenth century) tells us about the exmllent sugarcane of north Bengal which yielded juice even without the use of pressing instrument. Commodity production of coconut and oranges assumed special importance in peninsular India during this period.

Marco-Polo hints at increased production of spieces when he says that the city of Kinsay in China alone consumed ten thousand pounds of pepper everyday which came from India. He also mentions the great demand for Indian ginger in European markets. Harvesting of three crops and rotation of crops were known widely. Thus, advanced agricultural technology was being systematised and diffused in various

, parts of the country causing substantial boom in agricultural production. ,

6. A Knnnnda Inscription (on hero-stone) of 9th century A.D., from Nnvnli, records the construction o f n +..-I, :- ------ -8 La-,. 2.. -2- -r mf:-- . ~ - r n : - ~ .

Cheek Y ourTrqgccss. 2

1) How did' brahmadeyas helped in a g r a d expansion?

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2) What is the difference between brahmadeya, secular. and devadana grants?

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3) What was the nature of rights enjoyed by land grantees?

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Agrarian Econornj

. . , ' . . . .

7. A- Tenth centurl Tamil Inscription from Erode which +eli!ibns-a$o;i the ci)&trucIion of a tank and 3virig of money For its ma;-tenance hy u person named ~ u n j i - $ d l ' i l i . .

Early Medievd Fxonnmq : 8th - 13th Century

1 .

4) Describe bfiefly the main methods of irrigation.

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1.5 RURAL TENSION

Notwithstanding agrarian expansion, the rural landscape was far from being a homogeneous sceue. There is, to begin with, heterogeneous and stratified peasantry. Unlike the age old and pre-Gupta gahapatis we now have graded personnel associated with land : Xshetrik, hrshaka, hnlin and a r d ~ k . Regrettably, there is hardly any indication of landownership in these terms, which seem to be refemng to various categories of cultivators. The conversion of the brahmadeyas into non- brahmadeyas and that of the latter into ngrnharns were potential sources of tension in rural areas. The damarn revolts in Kashmir, rebellion of the Kaivarthas in the reign of Ramapal in Bengal, acts of self immolation in situations of encroachments on land in Tamil Nadu, appropriation of donated land by shudras in the Pandya territory, are indices of distrust against the new landed intermediaries. The fact that donors often looked for land where cultivation was not disputed also shows the seeds of turmoil. The possibility of the hero-stones in and around agrphams also has the potential of throwing light on rumblings beneath the surface in agrarian settlements. Why does the concept of brahmahatya (killing of a Brahmana) become very pronounced in early medieval times? Answers to this question raise doubts about the validity of "brahmana-peasant alliance* and "peasant state and society" (see Sec. 1.7). This is, however, not to deny other possible areas of tension within rural society between Brahmanas and temples and within ranks of secular land holders.

1.6 AGRICULTURE AND THE EXCHANGE NETWORK

I t is sometimes maintained that in the early medieval economic organisation, which was a predominantly agrarian and self-sufficient village economy, production was mainly subsistence oriented and was not in response to the laws of the market. Hence there was little scope for economic growth. Craftsmen and artisans were attached either to villages or estates or religious establishments. H e n a then was no significant role for traders and middlemen, who only procured and supplied iron tools, oil, spices, cloth, etc. to rural folk. In other words the functioning of the market system was extremely limited.

The aforesaid picture is certainly true for the period 300-800 A.D. However, the subsequent 500 years witnessed a rapid increase in the number of agrarian settlements and the growth of local markets (see Unit 2) initially for local exchange. Subsequently, the need for regular exchange within a region and with other regions led to organised commerce. This in turn led to the emergence of merchant organisations, itinerant trade and partial monetisation from the ninth century. Though the relative importance of these features varied from one region to another (See also Units 3 and 4) the increasing role of agriculture in this new economy is easily seen.

. . Agricultural products d h e to be exchanged with items of long distance trade carried on by itinerant traders. This development also led to a change in the pattern of landownership towards the close of the early medieval period. Merchants and economically influential craftsmen, like weavers, invested in land i.e. purchased land . . . . . .- - . . -- . -

called the Jagati-kottali (community of weavers) and the community of Telligas (oil pressers) were active participants in agriculture. The former are repeatidly mentioned as excavating tanks and laying out gardens.

Agrarian Economy

1.7 THE CHARACTERISATION OF EARLY MEDIEVAL AGRARIAN ECONOMY

~ Different views have been put forward regarding the nature of the overall set up of early medieval agrarian economy. On the one hand, it is seen as a manifestation of feudal economy, while on the other it is dubbed as a peasant state and society.

I The salient features of 'Indian Feudalism' are:

1 ) Emergence of hierarchical landed intermediaries. Vassals and officers of state and other secular assignee had military obligations and feudal titles. Sub-infeudation (varying in different regions) by these donees to get their land cultivated led to the growth of different strata-of intermediaries. I t was a hierarchy of landed aristocrats, tenants, share croppers and cultivators. This hierarchy was also reflected in the power/administrative structure, where a sort

-of lord-vassal relationship emerged. In other words, Indian feudalism consisted in the gross unequal distribution of land and its produce.

Another important feature was the prevalence of forced labour. The right of extracting forced labour (vishti) is believed to have been exercised by the Brahmana and other grantees of land. Forced labour was originally a prerogative of the King or the state. It was transferred to the grantees, petty officials, village authorities and others. In the Chola inscriptions alone, there are more than one hundred references to forced labour. Even the Msan t s and artisans come within the jurisdiction of vishti. As a result, a kind of serfdom .

emerged, in which agricultural labourers were reduced to the position of , semi-serfs.

3) Due to the growing claims of greater rights over land by rulers and intermediaries, peasants also suffered a curtailment of their land rights. Many were reduced to the position of tenants facing ever growing threat of eviction. A number of peasants were only ardhikas (share croppers). The strain on the

b peasantry was also caused by the burden of taxation, coercion and increase in their indebtedness.

4) Surplus was extracted through various methods. Extra economic coercion was a conspicuous method. With the rise of new property relations, new mechanisms of economic subordination also evolved. The increasing burden is evident in the mentioning of more than fifty levies in the inscription of Rajaraja Chola.

5) It was relatively a closed village economy. The transfer of human resources along with land to the beneficiaries shows that in such villages thk peasants, craftsmen and artisans were attached to the villages and hence were mutually dependent. Their attachment to land and to service grants ensured control over them by the beneficiaries.

In brief, a subject and immobile peasantry, functioning in relatively self-sufficient villages buttressed by varna restrictions, was the marked feature of the agrarian economy during the five centuries under survey.

The theory of the existence of autonomous peasant societies is put forward in opposition to the theory of Indian feudalism. It is based mainly on the evidence from south Indian sources.

According to this theory, autonomous peasant regions called the nadus evolved in South India by early medieval times. They were organised on the basis of clan and kinship ties. ,Agricultural production in the nadus was organised and controlled by the nattar. i.e. people of the nadu, organising themselves into assemblies, 1.e. nadu. Members of this assembly were velahs or non-Brahmana peasants. Their autonomy is indicated bv the fact that when land erants were made bv the kings and lesser

. . F ; ~ ~ I ? Medieval Economy : chiefs, oiders were issued with the consent of the "attar. Orders were first addressed

, : . . 8th- 1.3th Century to them. They demarcated the;'gift-land and supervised the ex&utibii.df.the grant . . . .

because they were the organisefs.of produc~ion.'ihe ~ri t imiha ' i~arid dbniinait . . . . . peasants became allies in the productibA prbckss. ' ~ ~ ~ a r e n t l j l , ttie ejtpcincnts of..this hypothesis share the notion of rural-self-~ufficiency, which:,is 11 ibp&&nt:. . , .

component of Indian feudalism. The theories df lndian feudalism and a u t o n o ~ o u s peasant societies have their adhere~ts .and claim .to :be?ba'&d: o n ' e m p i ~ ~ ~ a l &iderice.

. . . . . . However, early medieval agrariari'kconomy' w&.a high& cohplex onk.';~n :&dir,.to understand its character and t o prbvide',i .general framework for ~ts'study, detailed studies of its regional patterns will' have 10 be ~ o r k e d ' ~ & t .

Check Your Progress 3

I) Give a few causes for tensions In rural areas during the period under review.

2) What was the pattern of commerce in early medieval period? Did it effect the pattern of land ownership?

3) Give five saiient features of Indian feudalism.

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1.8 LET US SUM UP

In this Unit the survey of agrarian economy during the five centuries between the eighth and thirteenth highlights:

Perceptible expansion of agriculture in practically all over the Indian sub-continent as a result of land grants. While the hitherto virgin lands and forested areas attracted this expansion, grants were also made in regions which were already under cultivation,

the deep rooted ideological interests of religious establishments-both brahmanical and non-brahmanical, which sang praises of gifts of land,

the einergence of various types of agrarian settlements with graded land rights,

growing interests of non-agriculturists in land. specially those of state officials, traders, artisans. etc., . the spurt in technological improvements-in ~rrigation, agricultural implements, rrn...? -..,A rrnrr;"" rs..rr.. ...

the mutual relationships amongst different groups related to land underlining seeds of rural tension, and

the debate on the characterisation of early mdieval agrarian economy focussing on the distinguishing traits of 'Indian feudalism" and "Peasant State and Society ".

1.9 KEY WORDS -

Agrahara : Primarily a rent free village in the possession of Brahmanas.

Ardhika : A cultivator who t:lls land of others and gets half the crop as his share.

Basadi : Jaina monastic establishment.

Brahmadeya : Generally tax free land or village given as gift to Brahmanas.

Damar : Powerful officials in Kashmir who developed landed interests and were opposed to Brahmanas.

Devodana : Rent free land gifted to brahmanical temples deities. Its Jain and Buddhist counterpart is pallichanda.

Dharmashastra : Brahmanical scriptures, law books.

Halin : Ploughman

Karshaka : Tiller of soil.

Mahajana : A sort of assembly of Brahmanas.

Mahasamanta : The 'great chieftainn, feudatory of a higher rank than samanta.

Parihara : Exemptions from taxes and obligations (privileges granted to the donees of rent-free land).

Peasant State and Society : A set-up where peasants are "freen to own means of production and cultivate land according to their interests.

Peasantisation : Process through which people unconnected with land were encouraged to undertake cultivation as a profession.

Ranaka : Title of feudatory ruler.

Shrotriya : Brahman, learned in the Vedas.

1.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your Progrgss 1

1) i) Central India, Northern Deccan and Andhra ii) Bengal, Orissa, Gujarat and Rajasthan iii) Tamil Nadu, Karnataka iv) Kerala

2) You should include in your answer items like foodgrains, gold, money, cultivable land, garden, plough, cows, oxen, etc. Gift of land was considered the best. Also see Sub-sec. 1.2.2

Check Your Progress 2 1) Bnhmrdeyr could help in agrarian expansion because these were exempted from

land revenue and enjoyed other ptivileges, therefore, the grant holders had more incentives to develop these lands. Besides most of these lands were virgin and making them cultivable helped in expanding the cultivable area. Also see Sub- set. 1.3.1.

2) Brahmadeya grants were given to Brahmanas only while secular grants were given to state functionaries in lieu of their salaries and devadam grants were ": .,-.. *,. L-,.L-..-i--l -- ..,- 11 -- --- L--L-..-:--l . - - . - I - - &I-- - - - O . . L --- I 1 1

A p v h n Economy

Early Medieval Economy : 3) The grantees had such rights as collection of land revenue, other taxes and 8th - 13th Century maintain administrative control. See Sub-sec. 1.3.2.

4) Your answer should include such devices as wells, tanks, lakes, canal. You should also mention the water lifting devices such as ghatiyantra, rrrghattr and the use of animal power. See Sec . 1.4.

Check Your Progress 3 1) The main reasons for tension were the conversion of brahnmdcya lands into non-

brahmadeyas and rgraharas, encroachment on other land and number of intermediaries. See Sec. 1.5.

2) The commeicial activities within a region, and with other regions were undertaken. Agriculture produce was exchanged with other products often from distant regions. The investment in land by merchants and influential craftsmen changed the pattern of.landownership. Also see Sec. 1.6.

3) Your answer should include such features of Indian feudalism like emergence of hierarchical landed intermediaries, prevalence of forced labour, curtailment of land rights of peasants, economic subordination by surplus extraction and existence of a relatively closed village economy. Also see Sec. 1.7.

UNIT 2 URBAN SETTLEMENTS

~ Structure I 2.0 Objectives

2.1 Introduction 2.2 Form and Substance of Urban Centres 2.3 The General Pattern 2.4 Regional Variations and Types

2.4.1 Rural Centres Transformed into Urban Centres 2.4.2 Market Centres. Trade-ndwork and Itinerant Trade 2.4.3 Sacred/ Pilgrimagr: Centres 2.4.4 Royal Centres or Capitals

2.5 Let Us Sum Up 2.6 Key Words 2.7 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises.

2.0 OBJECTIVES --

After reading this Unit you should be able to explain the:

factors responsible for the rise of urban centres,

various phases in the history of urbanism,

criteria for identifying settlements as urban,

general pattern of the post-Gupta urban growth,

regional variations in urban settlements, and

a types of towns.

INTRODUCTION

The study of urban settlements is an indispensable element in the understanding of socio-economic history of the post-Gupta centuries. It should be taken as a complementary component along with the agrarian economy. Recent writings have particularly focussed on the place of urban settlements in the overall framework of Indian feudalism. This and the two subsequent Units make an attempt to review the problems associated with such developments.

2.2 FORM AND SUBSTANCE OF URBAN CENTRES

Study of urban czntres is an important aspect of socio~conomic history. Urbgn centres in early medieval India have generally been studied in two ways :

i) As a part of economic history i.e. history of trade, commerce and craft production, etc., and

ii) as a part of administrative or political history, i.e. as capitals, administrative centres, centres of major and minor ruling families and fort towns.

Hence the focus of urban studies has so far been mainly on types of urban centres. Accordingly towns or cities have been listed under various categories such as market, trade or commercial centres, ports, political and administrative centres, religious centres, etc. However, there has been no sufficient attempt to explain the causes behind the emergence of towns. In other words the form of an urban centre is studied but not its meaning or substance. In order to understand both' the form and . . . - . . . - . . . . .

Early Medievd Economy : 8th - 13th Century

to study the processes of urban growth as a part of the broader socio-economic I changes.

Phases and Dciinition

How do we define an urban centre and what are its essential traints; are some of the questions that we take up here. Prior to the coming of the Turks, the Indian sub-continent experienced a t least three phases of urban growth:

1) During the bronze age Harappan civilization (fourth-second millennium B.C.),

2) Early historic urban centres of the iron age (c. sixth century B.C. to the end of the third century A.D.),

3) Early medieval towns and cities (c. eighthlninth to twelfth centuries A.D.).

Amongst the earliest attempts,to define an urban centre one can easily mention Gordon Childe's notion of 'Urban Revolutionn. He listed monumental buildings, large settlements with dense population, existence of such people who were not engaged in food production (rulers, artisans and merchants) and cultivation of art, science and writing as prominent features to identify an urban centre. Further, Chi-lde laid great stress on the presence of craft specialists and the role of agricultural surplus which supported non-food producers living in cities. Not all these traits, which were spelt out in the context of bronze age cities, are to be seen in the towns of iron age. There has been no dearth of urban centres with sparse population and mud houses.

Though agrarian surplus collected from rural areas is almost indispensable for the existence of a town, merely a settlement of non-agriculturists cannot be regarded as an urban centre. Early medieval literary texts refer to towns inhabited by people of all classes surrounded by a wall and moat and marked by the prevalence of the laws and customs of the guilds of artisans and merchants. A recent study based on excavated data from 140 sites spread over the entire Indian subcontinent (R.S. Sharma, Urban Decay in India, c.A.D.300-1000) focusses on:

Quality of material life and the nature of occupations, and

need to study urban centres not as parasites thriving on agricultural surplus but as centres integrally linked with rural hinterland.

Accordingly, some prominent traits of urban centres which can be applied to early medieval settlements as well, are identified as :

i) Size of a settlement in terms of area and population.

ii) Proximity to water resources-river banks, tanks, ring wells, etc.

iii) Presence or absewe of artefacts representing activities of aitisans, e.g. axes, chisels, plough-shares, sickles, hoes, crucibles, ovens, furnaces, dyeing vats, moulds for beads, seals, sealings, jewellery, terracotta, etc.

iv) Evidence of coin moulds signifying mint towns. The discovery of metallic . money, when listed with the presence of artisans and merchants, certainly lends

a clear urban chatacter to such sites.

v) Presence or otherwise of luxury goods such as precious and semi-precious stones, glassware, ivory objects, fine pottery etc. The possibility is not ruled out that luxuries of ancient towns might become necessities for superior rural classes of early medieval times.

vi) Considering the moist, rainy climate of many alluvial plains such as themiddle Ganga plain, baked brick (not just burnt bricks) structures on a good scale assume special importance. Thoug) in Central Asia towns consisting of mud structures are also not unknown.

vii) Streets, shops, drains and fortifications also give a good idea of the nature of the urban settlement. At several places in the Deccan and elsewhere silos and granaries occur at historical sites, like at Dhulikatt in Andhra Pradesh. Apparently such structures were meant to store surplus foodgrains for feeding

Check Your P r o m 1

1) List the ihrce'kain phases of urban growth in India prior to the coming of the Turks.

................................................................................................................................

2) What are the important features of a town spelt by Gordon Childe?

3) ' List the important traits of urban centres applicable to early medieval India. . . . . . . . ................................................................................................................................

. . ................................................................................................................................

2.3 THE GENERAL PATTERN

The post-Gupta centuries witnessed a new socioeconomic formation based on the system of land grants. The gradual expansion of cultivation and agrarian economy through land grants (for details, see Unit 1) had an impact on the growth of towns and cities between the eighth and twelfth centuries. Though the overall picture of the Indian sub-continent is that of revival, of urban centres, there are some regional variations as well. Such variations are seen in the nature, category and hierarchy of such centres due to operative economic forces, ecological and cultural differences and the nature of political organisation. Regional studies of urban centres are, therefore, essential for providing the correct perspectives. Such studies are available only for a few regions like Rajasthan, Central India and South India.

2.4 REGIONAL VARIATIONS AND TYPES

In a vast country like India there are a lot of regional variations in the pattern of emergence and growth of urban centres. In this section we will discuss some important variations.

2.4.1 Rural Centres Transformed into Urban Centres

The brahrnadeyas and devadanas which are seen as important sources of agrarian

Urban Settletiwnts

expansion of the early medieval period, also provided the nuclei of urban growth. The Brahmana and temple settlements clustered together in certain key areas of agricultural production. Such centres, initially rural, became points of convergence r . J - - . . r . . , J C . I . "

Early Medieval Economy : cl(h - 13th Century

Examples of such centres of urban growth are datable from the eighth and nineth centuries and are more commonly found in South India. The Cola city of Kumbakonam (Kudamukku-Palaiyarai) developed out of agrarian clusters and became a multi-temple urban centre between the ninth and twelfth centuries. Kanchipuram is a second major example of such a n urban complex. While Kumbakonam's political importance as a residential capital of the Colas was an additional factor in its growth, Kanchipuram too had the additional importance of being the largest craft centre (textile manufacturing) in South lndia.

2.4.2 Market Centres, Trade-Network and Itinerant Trade Early medieval centuries also witnessed the emergence of urban centres of relatively modest dimensions, a s market centres, trade centres (fairs, etc.) which were primarily points of the exchange network. The range of interaction of such centres varied from small agrarian hinterlands to regional commercial hinterlands. Some also functioned beyond their regional frontiers. However, by and large, the early medieval urban centres were rooted in their regional contexts. This is best illustrated by the nagnram of South India, substantial evidence of which comes from Tamil Nadu and also to a limited extent by the existence of nakhara and nagaramu in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh respectively. The nagaram served as the market for the nadu or kurrrrn, an agrarian or peasant region. Some of them emerged'due to the exchange needs of the nadu. A fairly large number of such centres were founded by ruling families or were established by royal sanction and were named after the rulers, a feature common to all regions in South India. Such centres had the suffix pura o r pattana.

Nagarams located on important trade routes and at the points of intersection developed into more important trade and commercial centres of the region. They were ultimately brought into a network of intra-regional and inter-regional trade as well as overseas trade through the itinerant merchant organisations and the royal ports. Such a development occurred uniformly throughout peninsular India between the tenth and twelfth centuries. During these centuries South lndia was drawn into the wider trade network in which all the countries of South Asia, South-east Asia and China and the Arab countries came to be involved (See also Units 3 and 4). The nagarams linked the ports with political and administrative centres and craft centres in the interior.

In Karnataka nagarams emerged more as points of exchange in trading network than as regular markets for agrarian regions. However, the uniform features in all such nagarams is that they acquired a basic agricultural hinterland for the non-producing urban groups living in such centres. Markets in these centres were controlled by the nagaram assembly headed by a chief merchant called pattanasvami.

A similar development of trade and market centres can be seen in Rajasthan and western parts of ~ a d h ~ a i ~ r a d e s h . Here, the exchange centres were located in the context of the bases of adrarian production i.e. where clusters of rural settlements occur. In Rajasthan these centres were points of intersection for traffic of varying origins, giving rise to a certain measure of hierarchy. The network was further elaborated with the growth of generations of well-known merchant families in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. They are named after their places of origin such as Osawala (Osia), Shrimalis (Bhirimal). Pallivalas and Khandclvalas, etc. The resource bases, the main routes for the flow of resources and the centres of exchange were integrated through the expansion of these merchant families. Rajasthan provided the main commercial links between Gujarat, Central India and the Ganga \.alley. Such links were maintained through towns like Pali, which connected the cca coast towns like Dvaraka and Bhrigukachcha (Broach) with Central and North India. Gujarat, with its dominant Jain merchants, continued to be the major trading region of Western lndia where early historic ports or emporium like Bhrigukachcha (Broach) continued to flourish as entrepots of trade in early medieval times. Bayana, another notable town in Rajasthan was the junction of different routes from different directions. The range of merchandise started probably with agr~cultural produce (i~tcluding dairy products) but extended to such high-value items as horses, elephants. horned animal4 and jewels.

In Karnataka, the steady increase in towns during the period under review is marked

Shimoga. In the trade with the West i.e. Arabia, Persian Gulf and beyond, the West Coast of Peninsular India played a consistently dominant role from the early historic period. Several ports such as Thana, Goa, Bhatkal, Karwar, Honavar and Mangalore developed during the revival of long distance trade, between the tenth and twelfth centuries, with evidena of coastal shipping and ocean navigation. Surprisingly, this commercial activity was taking place (see also Unit 3) only through limited monetization. Incidentally, the Konkan coast (under the Shilaharas) does not even show any signs of risc of markets and their network.

Wider trade networks also existed between Karnataka. Andhra and Tamil Nadu, for the presence of Kannada, Tamil and Telugu merchants is well attested in several towns such as Belgaun (Karnataka), Peruru in Nalgonda district (Andhra Pradesh) and coastal towns of Visakhapatnam and Ghantasala. The Andhra coast turned to the south eastern trade with Motupalli, Visakhapatnam and Ghantasala acting as the major outlets. Market centres of inter-regianal importance are represented by places like Nellore, Draksharama, Tripurantakam and Anumakonda in Andhra Pradesh. On the northern and southern banks of Kaveri in its middle reaches arose a number of exchangt points between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu such as Talakkad and Mudikondan.

Kerala developed contracts with the West and foreign traders such as the Jews, Christians and Arabs who were given trading towns under special royal charters. Coastal towns such as Kolikkodu, Kollam etc., became entrepots of South Asian trade. The location of such trading groups aa the Anjuvannan and Arab horse dealers enhanced the importance of coastal towns in Karnataka and Kerala.

Major craft centres which developed in response to inter-regional trade were weaving. centres in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Some of the craft and commercial centres of the early historic urban phase survived till the early medieval period and were brought into the processes of re-urbanisation which llnked them with the new socioeconomic institutions like the temple. Kashi (Varanasi) in the north and Kanchipuram (near Madras) in the south are two very prominent examples of such processes.

2.4.3 Sacred/Pilgrimage Centres The idea of pilgrimage to religious centres developed in the early medieval period due to the spread of the cult of Bhdcti. Its expansion in different regions through a process of acculturation and interaction between the Brahmanical or Sanskritic forms of worship and folk or popular cults cut across narrow sectarian interests. As a result, some local cult centres of great antiquity as well as those with eerly associations with brahmanical and non-brahmanical religions, became pilgrimage centres. The pilgrimage network was sometimes confined to the specific cultural region within which a cult centre assumed a sacred character. However, those cult centres, which became sacred tirthas attracted worshippers from various regions. Both types of pilgrimage centres developed urban features due to a mobile pilgrim population, trade and royal patronage. The role of emerging market in the growth of tirthas is now being recognised by historians in a big way.

Pushkara near Ajmer in Rajasthan was a sacred tirtha of regional importance with a dominant Vaishnava association. Kasi (Banaras) acquired a pan-Indian character due to its greater antiquity and importance as a brahrnanical sacred centre. In South India, Srirangam (Vaishnava), Chidambaram (Shaiva) and Madurai (Shaiva) etc. developed as regional pilgrimage centres, while Kanchipuram became a part of an all India pilgrimage network. While Melkote was a regional sacred centre in Karnataka, Alampur, Draksharama and Simhachalam show a similar development in Andhra Pradesh. Tirupati was initially an important sacred- centre for the Tamil Vaishnavas but acquired a pan-Indian character later in the Vijayanagara period.

Jain centres of pilgrimage emerged in Gujarat and Rajasthan where merchant and royal patronage led to the proliferation of Jain temples in groups in centres such as Osia, Mount Abu, Palitana, etc.

In South India the elaboration of temple structures in sacred centres show two types nf anrhsn nrnurth .

firly ~ e d i c v d &orlomy : First, it was organised around a single large temple as in Srirangam, Madurai, 8th - 13th Century Tiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu), Melkote (Karnataka), Draksharama and

Simhachalam (Andhra Pradesh).

- The second type involves the growth around several temples of different religions such as Shivaism. Vishnuism and Saktism.

The early medieval urbanisation is sometimes characterised as "temple urbanisation" particularly in the context of south India. Sacred centres also provided important links in the commerce of a region as temples and the mathas attached to them were the biggest consumers of luxury articles and value goods.

2.4.4 Royal Centres or Capitals

Royal centres of the seats of power of the ruling families were a major category of urban centres in early medieval India. Some of them had been the seats of royal power even in the early historic period, for example, in the Janapadas of North India or in the traditional polities of South India. Royal families also developed their own ports, which were the main ports of entry into their respective territories and which also linked them with international commerce. Thus, the commercial needs of royal centres created new trade and communication links and built up much cIoser relationships between the royal centre and their agricultural hinterlands or resource bases. In all the region$ south of the Vindhyas, where brahmanical kingdoms came to be established by the eighth century A.D. there is substantial evidence of the growth of such royal centres. Some representative examples are:

Vatapi and Vengi of the Chalukyas in the northern Karnataka and Andhra.

Kanchipuram of the Pallavas with their royal.port at Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram).

a Madurai of the Pandyas with Korkai as their port.

Tanjavur of the Colas with Nagappattinam as their port.

Kalyana of the Western Chalukyas, Dvarasamudra of the Hoysalas, and

Warangal of the Kakatiyas with Motupalli at their port.

Warangal was a rare example of a fortified royal city in South India.

Examples of royal centres in North India are:

the Gurjara Partihara capital at Kanyakubja (Kanauj).

Khajuraho of the Candellas.

Dhara of the Paramaras, and

Valabhi of the Solankis.

A fairly large number of cities emerged under the powerful Gurjara-Pratiharas, Chahamanas and Paramaras in Rajasthan. Most of them were fortified centres, hill forts (garhkila and durga). Examples of fort-cities in Rajasthan are.:

Nagara and Nagda under the Guhilas.

b Bayana, Hanumanghrh and Chitor under the Gurjara-Pratiharas, and

Mandor, Ranathambor, Sakambhari and Ajmer under the Chauhans and so on.

On the basis of various sources, a list of 131 places has been compiled for the Chauhan dominions, most of which seem to have been towns. Nearly two dozen towns are identified in Malwa under the Paramaras. Gujarat under the Chalukyas was studded with port towns. The number of towns, however, does not seem to be large in Eastern India although all the nine victorv camps (jayaskandavars) of the Palas (Pataliputra, Mudgagiri, Ramavati, Vata Parvataka, Vilaspura, Kapilavasaka, Sahasgand, Kanchanapura and Kanaui) may have been towns. To these may be added four capitals of the Senas in northern and eastern Bengal, viz. Lakhnaut~,

-. -.

in the Candellas records. The Palas and the Candellas also account for nearly twenty and twentyfour fortresses respectively.

Sometimes, important trade and market centres were also conferred on feudatory families. Examples of such minor political centres a re numerous in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

3

Check Your Progress 2

1) What led to the transformation of some rural centres in to urban?

2) How did the trading activities help in the growth of towns?

3) Did religious centres p h y a role in the process of urbanisation?

4) Write five lines on "administrative centres a s towns".

-- - ---- - - - - - - - - - - - -- ---

2.5 LET U S S U M U P --

The changes introduced by the system of land grants in the post-Gupta c e n t ~ ~ r i e s were not confined to a new agrarian economy. Urbdn settlements, which had been in the state of decay in the few centuries after the arrival oT tlre Guptab, saw a new life infused into them. The revival of trade, rise of new markets, dispersal of political authority and consolidation of economic power by religious establishments had given rise to numerous towns and cities in different regions of the lndian sub-continent with only minor variations noticeable in the relative importance of causative factors.

2.6 KEY WORDS

Kurram : sometimes the same a s nadu (see below) but sometimes only a part of a nadu.

Urban Scttlancnts

Nadu : a district o r a subdivision; also used in the sense of the local asscmblv to

E u l y Medltvd Economy : 8th - 13th Century

Nrpnm/Nakhir l /Nugi l lnu : a sort of merchant assembly located in market towns with wide ranging commercial interests.

Skrndhrvrr : military camps-functioning as mobile capitals.

Tirthr : sacred/ pilgrimage centre.

- --

2.7 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1

1 ) See Sec. 2.2 under the heading phrases and definition.

2) Your answer should include features like I a ~ y c st.ttlcr~len(s. dcllsc population, large sections of people engaged ill iirtis;i~l cr;~fts arltl conlnlcrcc ctc. See Sec.2.2 :1lso.

3) Seven such traits lihted in Sec. 2.2. Please read tllcrll and write in britt five of them.

Check Your Progress 2

1) In some cases the rural e n t r e s provided a nuclei for the growth of urban centres. At times rural centres became a point of convergence of trade and developed in to towns. See Sub-sec. 2.4.1.

2) Your answer should include factors such as the' I~ca t ion of place on it major ' trade route, interaction of route or market for regional trade or inter-regional

trade of a port. See Sub-sec. 2.4.2.

3) A numbcr of religicrus centres developed in towns bccausc these were visited by a vast number of people and in due course markets elc. developed. Also read Sub-sec. 2.4.3 agaid.

4) You should write a s t o how adm~nistrativc centre\ or \c;lts of poucr dvvclopd in established towns. Sec Sub-sec . 2.4.4.

UNIT 3 TRADE AND COMMERCE

Structure 3.0 Objectives 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Trade : Definition and Phases 3.3 The First Phase (c. A.D. 700-900)

3.3.1 Media of Exchange 3.3.2 Relative Decline of Trade 3.3.3 Urban Settlements : Decay

3.4 , The Second Phase (c. A.D. 900-1300) 3.4.1 Crafts and Industry 3.4.2 Coins and other Media of Exchange

3.5 Aspects of Trade 3 5.1 Inland Trade a) Commod~ties of Trade and their Consumers. and

b) Trade Routes and Means of Communications 3.5.2 Maritime Trade a) The Chief Participants

b) Cornmoditla Exchanged c) Ports d) Safety and Security of Merchants

3.5.3 Revival of Towns 3.6 Let Us Sum Up 3.7 Key Words 3.8 Answers to Check Your ~ ; o g ~ e s s Exercises

3.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unit you should be able to explain:

the importance of trade and commerce in the overall economic history of India ,

during the six centuries between c.A.D. 700 and c.A.D. 1300,

the historical features of trade in two broad phases: i) c.700-900 and ii) c.900- 1300,

the relationship between trade and commerce with i) metallic-currency, ii) village economy and iii) towns,

the role of crafts and industry in the trade operations,

about the commodities of trade and their consumers-both in the inland a & ' foreign trade,

the principal trade routes and means of communication, and

the role of political authorities in furthering the intemsts of traatr. I ?d merchants.

- 3.1 INTRODITC'TIGX

---- --- .- --- The study of urbar. settle-ireas UIA,,.,. 2,. in the cecond Umt would l r i n r ~

incomplete :f it is not reliltcd to trade and commeize. 5specr :.f Indian cconcnly in the early rnecii=val cencmz: an integrai component. Like the tv~t pece2in:~ L1nits ( I and 21, 2r f-im: ;a iiii~ch t&l~ a~er~!,orls took place are ~ r : iisved in this .- . Unit in the bdckarop of the deuelr~:.,tr.' c v -:.-.i,; f y L h i.-, Thp- n..turc and extin; .,f tire ;.a. of r*.. I::, r:.? <CCC!~;,J~,~ J; md:Ltt th: -ole of Lgr-u;tbral production, and s u g e ~ ;:. :. , . ~ . r d l t i ~ i i ~ ~f siban sc::leaeat: are i: terrelare. 'rv.lo;n;ct.: - None of these 1s unreiated to the system of land :rants w5iiil ,:.. ;!ledoj jeer. described (Unit 1) as an almost all India phenome~~on u . l r i ~ b t>t ct !~~~+lr . , under discussion (eighth to thirteenth). One may even suggr~t tt~ar trad: .d cLmmerLc too

3.2 TRADE : DEFINITION AND PHASES

The collection, distribution and exchange of goods is called trade. It is a process which depends on a number of factors such as the nature and quantity of production, facilities of transport, safety and security of traders, the pattern of exchange, etc. It also involves different sections of society including traders, merchants, peasants and artisans. In a somewhat indirect manner, even political . authorities have a stake in it as taxes on the articles of commerce imposed by them constitute an im~ortant source of revenue of the state.

The historical features of trade during the early medieval times can be best understood if we divide this period into two broad phases:

1) c.700-900 A.D.. and

ii) c 900-1300 A.D.

Briefly, the two phases are marked by :

a) relative decline of trade, metallic currency, urban centres and a somewhat closed viUage economy in the first phase, and

b) reversal of most of the aforesaid tendencies in the second phase. So, one notices trade picking up momentum not only within the country b$t in relation to other countries as well. Metal coins were no longer as scarce as they were in the first phase. Of course, it was not a phase of deeply penetrated monetary economy as was the case in the five centuries following the end of the Mauryas (c.200 B.C.-A.D.300). Nor did the pattern of urban growth remain unaffected by the revival of trade and expansion of agriculture.

3.3 THE FIRST PHASE (c.A.D. 700-900)

The period from A.D. 750-1000 witnessed wide-spread practice of granting land not only to priests and temples but also to wamor chiefs and state officials. As already seen (Unit 1) it lead to the emergence of a hierarchy of landlords. Even graded state officials such as maha-mmdaklvara, mandaka, =manta, mahammanta, thakkura, ttc. developed interests in land. However, they were different from the actual tillers uf the soil and lived on the surplus extracted from the peasants who were hardly left with anything to trade. It resulted in the growth of rural economy where local needs were being satisfied locally through the imposition of numerous restrictions on t'le mobility of actual producers. The relative dearth of medium of exchange, viz.. m+tal coins only strengthened this trend.

3.3.1 Media of Exchange Zndia was ruled by many important dynasties between .A.D. 750 and 1000. These include the Gujara Prathiharas in Western India, the Palas in Eastern India and the Rashtrakutas in the Decan. All had the distinction of having been served by some of the most powerful kings of the day, many of whom had very long lasting reigns. It is astonishing that their available coins are very few and in no way compare either in quantity or quality with the coins of earlier centuries. Since money plays an important role in the sale and purchase of goods, the paucity of actual coins and the absence of coin-moulds in archaeological finds lead us to believe in the shrinkage of trade during the period under survey.

p o u g h first suggested by D.D. Kostimbi, it was the publication of Professor R.S. Sharma's 1adi.n Ftmdrlkm in 1965 that brought to focus the paucity of coinage in the post-Gupta times, its link with trade and commerce and consequent emergence of feudal social formation. The subject has been keenly debated in the last twenty five years. There have been four major types of responses :

ii), A cast study of Orissa substantiates complete absence of coins between c.A.D. 600 and 1200 but argues for-trade with Southeast Asia and emphasizes the role of barter in foreign trade.

iii) Kashmir, on the other hand, shows emergence of copper coinage from about the eighth century A.D. Extremely poor quality of this coinage has been explained in terms of the decline of trade based economy and rise of agricultural pursuits in the valley.

iv) Finally, a point of view questions not only the idea of paucity of coins but also the decline in trade. This is based on the evidence from what is described as the mid-Eastern India comprising Bihar, West Bengal and the present Bangladesh during A.D. 750-1200. While it is conceded that there was no coined money and that the Palas and Senas themselves did not strike coins, it is also argued that there was no dearth of media of exchange. To illustrate, it is emphasized that there was not only a long series of Harikela silver coinage but also cowries and more importantly churni (money in the form of gold/silver dust) also functioned as media of exchange.

Well, there may have been some regional exceptions but the all-India perspective fits in the general hypothesis of Professor Sharma. Even with regard to the regional exce~tions, the following questions require some attention:'

a) What was the nature and extent of such commercial activities?

b) Were such activities capable of giving rise to stable commercialised class?

C) Who took away the profits of this trade?

d) Did this so called flourishing trade gave any incentive to the toiling, subject and immobile peasantry?

It is significant to note in this context that:

The relevant sources cited in the context of the mid-Eastern India, are silent about the participation of indigenous people in the maritime trade of the area.

Even the limited trading activities were confined to the ruling elite.

The miserable conditions of the common man are reflected in the meaning of the word vangali (literally, a resident of Bengal) which denoted somebody "very poor and miserable".

Similarly, those who talk about India's trade with Southeast Asia may also do well to keep in view the position of metal money in that region. Detailed study of Cambodia, for example, shows that during the two centuries of post-Gupta times (A.D. 600-800) Southeast Asia failed to evolve any system of coinage and barter (largely based on paddy and only marginally on cloth) provided essentials of the Khmer economy. Even when such early medieval coin types as the Indo-Sassanian. Shri Vigraha, Shri Adivaraha, Bull and Horseman, Gadhaiya, etc. emerged in Western and North western India and to some extent in the Ganga valley, they could not make much dent in the overall economy. Apart from the doubts about the period of emergence of these coins, their extremely poor quality and purchasing power also indicate the shrinkage of their actual role, Further, in relation to the rising population and expanding area of settlement, the overall volume of mon'ey circulation was negligible. Hence, we can say that the case for the relative decline of metallic money during the fmt phase is based on convincing empirical evidence. This was bound to have an impact on India's trading activities.

3.3.2 Relative Decline of Trade Internally, the fragmentation of political authority and the dispersal of power to local chiefs, religious grantees, etc. seem to have had an adverse effect, at least in the initial centuries of the land grant economy. Many of the intermediary landlords, particularly of less productive areas, resorted to loot and plunder or excessive taxes on goods passing through their territories. This must have dampened the enthusiasm of traders and merchants. No less discouraging were the frequent wars.amongst potential ruling chiefs. Though two Jain texts of the eighth century,

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29

Early Medievd Framomy : 8th - 13th Century

S.mnnicchaluha of Haribhadra Suri and the Kuvalayarmrh of Uddyotana Suri, ' refer to brisk trade and busy towns, it is rightly argued that these texts heavily draw

their material from the sources of earlier centuries and. therefore, d o not necessarily reflect the true economic condition of the eight century.

8. Coins of Tenth Century A.D. 1 As regards the decline of foreign trade with the West, it is pointed out that it bad greatly diminished after the fall of the great Roman Empire in the fourth century. It was also affected adversely in the middle of the sixth century when the people of Byzantine (Eastern Roman Empire) learnt the art of making silk. lndia thus. lost an important market which had fetched her considerable amount of gold in the early centuries of the Christian era.

The decline of foreign trade was also caused by the expansion of Arabs on the North-west frontiers of India in the seventh and eighth centuries. Their presence in the region made overland routes unsafe for Indian merchants. A story in the Kathacmritsagara tells us that a group of merchants going from Ujjain t o Peshawar were captured by a n Arab and sold. Later, when they somehow got free, they decided to leave the North-western region forever and returned to South for trade. The fights amongst the Tibetans and Chinese during these centuries also affected the flow of goods along the routes in central Asia. Even the Western coast of lndia suffered dislocation and disruption of sea trade as the Arabs raided Broach and Thana in the seventh lcentury and destroyed Valabh~. an important port on the Saurashtra coast, in the eighth century. Though as we have pointed out. later, the Arabs played an important part in the growth of Indian maritlme trade after the tenth century; initially their sea raids had an adverse effect on the Indian commercial activity. There are some references in the contemporary literature to India's contact with Southeast Asia, but it is doubtful whether it could make up for the loss

x - 1 . - - I . I. 0 . . . I . l . . r

3.3.3 Urban Settlements : Decay The first phase was also marked by-the decay and desertion of many towns. It is an important symptom of commercial decline because the towns are primarily the settlements of people engaged in crafts and commerce. As trade declined and the demand for craft-goods slumped, the traders and craftsmen living in towns had to disperse to rural areas for alternative means of livelihood. Thus towns decayed and townsfolk became a part of village economy. Beside the accounts of Hiuen Tsang,

the Pauranic records too, while referring to Kali age indicate depopulation of important cities. This seems to have been the continuation of the trend already indicated by Varahamihira (5th century). Reference was made in Unit 2 t o the excavated data from 140 sites. The decay of important towns such as Vaishali, Pataliputra, Varanasi, etc. is evident from the archaeological excavations which reveal poverty of structure and antiquities. The pan-Indian scene is marked by desertion of urban centres or their state of decaysin the period between the third and eighth centuries. Even those settlements which continued upto the eighth century, were deserted thereafter. One can mention Ropar (in Punjab), Atranjikhera and Bhita (in Uttar Pradesh), Eran (in Madhya Pradesh), Prabhas Patan (in Gujarat), Maheswar and Paunar (in Maharashtra), and Kudavelli (in Andhra Pradesh) in this category of urban settlements. Even the medieval greatness of Kanauj (in the Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh) for which several wars were fought amongst the Palas, Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas, has still to be testified by the excavator's spade.

The commercial activity during the first phase of early medieval period had declined but did not disappear completely. In fact, trade in costly and luxury goods meant for the use of kings, feudal chiefs and heads of tkmples and monasteries continued to exist. The articles such as precious and semi-precious stones. ivory, harses, etc. formed an important part of the long distance trade, but the evidence for transactions in the goods of daily use is quite meagre in the sources belonging to this period. The only important article mentioned in the inscriptions are salt and oil which could not be produced by every village, and thus had to be brought from outside. If the economy had not been self-sufficient, the references to trade in grains, sugar, textile, handicrafts, etc. would have been more numerous. In short the nature of commercial activity during A.D. 750-1000 was such which catered more to the landed intermediaries and feudal lords rather than the masses. Though there were some pockets of trade and commerce such as Pehoa (near Karnal in Haryana) and Ahar (near Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh) where merchants from far and wide met to transact business, they could not make any significant dent in the closed economy of the country as a whole.

Check Your Pmgm 1

I) Write in brief the important features of the economy during c. 700-900 A.D.!

2) Which of the following statements are right or wrong? Mark (d ) or (X).

i) According to R.S. Sharma then was decline of coinage during the post- Gupta period.

ii) There was abundance of coins in Orissa between 600-1200 A.D. L

iii) The poor quality of copper coins of Kashmir (around 8th century) can be ascribed to the decline in trade.

iv) Apart from minted money there were no media of exchange during 8th-

Tm& and Commerce

Euly Medicvd Ecoaomy : Bb- 1 s Century 3) How did the Arabs influence the Indian trade between 8th-12th centuries A.D.?

'4) Give main reasons for the decay of towns between'7th-9th centuries A.D.

3.4 THE SECOND PHASE (c.A.D.900 - 1300)

This phase is marked by the revival of trade and commerce. It was also the period of agrarian expansion, increased use of money and the reemergence of market , economy in which goods were produced for exchange rather than for local consumption. These dnturies also witnessed a substantial growth of urban settlements in different parts of the sub-continent.

As already explained (Unit l), the widespread practice of land grants had been a significant factor in agrarian expansion. Though it is recognised that it is not easy to quantify this development, one can also not overlook the noticeable regional variations and disparities. However, the period from the beginning of the tenth century to thcend of the thirteenth was the age of greater production of both cereals and pulses as well as of commercial crops. Naturally, it created a favourable climate for widening the scope of both internal and external trade.

3.4.1 Crafts and Industry The growth of agricultural production was supplemented by increased craft production. In the first phase of early medieval period the decline of internal and external trade meant the narrowing down of markets for industrial products. The production remalned largely confined to local and regional needs. In the second phase, however, we notice a trend towards increased crafi production which stimulated the process of both regional and inter-regional exchange.

Textile Industry, which had been well established since ancient times, developed as a major economic activity. Coarse as well as fine cotton goods were now being produced. Marco Polo (A.D. 1293) and Arab writers praise the excellent quality of cotton fabrics from Bangal and Gujarat. The availability of madder in Bengal and indigo in Gujarat might have acted as important aides to the growth of textile industry in these regions, Manaeohsa, a text of the twelfth century, also mentions Paithan, Negapatinam, Kalinga and Multan as important centres of textile industry. The silk weavers of Kanataka and Tamil Nadu also constituted a very important and influential section of the society.

The oil industry acquired great importance during this period. From the tenth hntury onwards, we get more references to the cultivation of oilstods as well as to phanaka or oil mills. An inscription from Karnataka refers to different types of oil pills operated both by men and bullocks. We also notice the affluence of oilmen

... f6-1116-,,\ I.--"..m- -.....a ..C 6L-, ..-As-r,-L *La -...l...-..̂ r:..- ..C *--- ---I ..*La-

public works. -M iediater t h t the oil industry offered profits to its members. Similarly, r e f e m to 8- bltivation and cane crushers in this period also Endicate large scale production of jaggcry and other forms of sugar. Besides the agro- based industry, the craftamanship in metal and leather goods too reached a high level of excellence. The literary sou- refer to craftsmen connected with different types of metale such as copper, brans, iraa, gold, silver, etc. A number of large beams at Puri and Konarka temples in Orisaa indicate the proficiency of the iron smiths of India in the twelfth ctntury. Iron was also used to manufacture swords, spearheads hnd other arms and weapons of high quality. Magadha, Benaras, Kalinga and %crashtra were known for the manufacture of good quality swords. Gujarat was known for gold and silver embroidery. The Ginza records of the Jewish merchants belonging to the twelfth century reveal that Indian brass industry was so well known that the customers in Aden sent broken vessels and utensils to India to refashion them according to their own specifications. The existing specimens of Cola bronzes and those from Nalanda, Nepal and Kashmir display the excellence of the Indian metal workers.

In the field of leather industry Gujarat occupied an enviable position. Marco Polo mentions that the people of Gujarat made beautiful leather mats in red and blue whicb were skilfully embroidered with figures of birds and animals. These were in ,

great demand in the Arab World.

3.4.2 Coins and Other Media of Exchange The revival of trade received considerable help from the reemergence of metal money during the centuries under discussion. There is, however, substantial discussion about the degree and level of monetization. Very often the contenders of the penetration of money in the market invoke literary and inscriptional references to numerous terms purporting to describe various types of coins of early medieval India. Thus texts such as Prabandhachintnrnanl, Lilavatf, Drivyapariksha, bkbapddlmtf, etc. mention bhagaka, rupaka, virnshatika, karshapana, dinar, dramnm, niahla, gadhaiya-rnudrn, pdyanaka, tanka, and many other coins with their multiples. No less prolific are inscriptional references. For example the Siyadoni inscription alone refers to varieties of drarnrnm in the mid-tenth century. The Paramara Chalukya, Chahmana, Pratihara, Pala, Candella and Cola inscriptions corroborate most of the terms found in contemporary literature. There has also been considerable speculation about the value'of these coins, their metal content and their relationship with one another. Nothing could be more simplistic than to guggat the penetration of money in the market simply on the basis of listing of numismatic gleanings from a mixed bag of inscriptions and literature. We need to scrutinize the contexts of such references. Aspects requiring detailed exploration are:

i) Whether references to coins are in the context of exchanges in the rural area or in the urban setting?

ii) the types of exchange centres and the nature of 'market" where such transactions take place;

iii) - the personnel involved in these transactions; and

iv) o how far are the inscriptional references to coins only notional? etc.

As far as the actual specimens of coins are concerned, one can say that the practice of minting gold coins was revived by Gangeyadera (A.D. 1019;1040); the Kalacuri King of Tripuri (iri Madhya Pradesh) after a gap of more than four centuries. Govindachandra, the Gahadavala King near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, the Chandella rulers ~if t6varman and Madanavarman in Central India, King Harsha of Kashmir anddsome Cola Kings in Tamil Nadu also issued gold coins. Reference has already been made above to certain early medievalcoin types in Western and North- western Iv ia . According to one estimate, about nine mints were founded in different parts of Karnataka during the twelfth and thirteenth century. An important mint functioned at Shrimol (near Jodhpur) in Rajasthan.

As far as the actual role of metal money is concerned, the little work that has been A n n - ,.- r --,4n,nl LI.,:., A-.. -,.A L-I- ..- A - -L - 3. . .

Trade and Commerce

Early Medieval Economy : 8th - 13th Century

Despite the plethora of references to coins, the evidence of overall volume of money in circulation is almost negligible. Nor can one overlook the poor purchasing power of early medieval coins, irrespective of the metal used. All coins of the period were highly debased and reduced in weight. Also, in terms of the rising population and expanding area of settlement, the use of money seems to have been highly restricted. The case study of early medival Rajasthan shows that the revival of trade, multiplication of exchange centres and markets and prosperity of merchant families took place only with the help of "partial monetization". Similarly, the cash nexus on the Western coast (Konkan area) under the Shilaharas (c. 6 . D . 850-1250) was also marked by limited use of money. The types and denominations of coins remained not only extremely localised but could not penetrate deep into the economic ethos. Masses were far away from handling of coins. The currency system of South India during A.D. 950-1300 also shows that transactions at all levels of the society were not equally affected by coined money. For example, the fabulous expenses reported to have been incurred by the Pandyas as regular buyers of imported horses cannot be thought in terms of what we know as very poor Pandyan currency. Barter was still an important means of exchange in local inter-regional and perhaps even in inter-national commerce. There are references which indicate that carvanas of merchants exchanged their commodities with those of other regions. According to one account, horses imported from abroad were paid for not in cash but in Indian goods which may have been silk, spices or ivory. These Indian goods enjoyed constant demand in the markets all over the world.

Though the revival of even '"partial monetization" was contributing to economic growth, yet no less significant was the parallel development of credit instrument by which debits and credits could be transferred without the handling of cash money. In the texts of the period we find references to a device called hundika or the bill of exchange which might have been used by merchants for commercial transactions. Through this device credit could be extended by one merchant to another and, thus. the obstacle to commerce due to shortage of coined money could be overcome. The Lakhapaddhati, a text which throws light on the life of Gujarat in the twelfth- thirteenth centuries, refers to various means of raising loan for consumption as well as commercial ventures t h r ~ u g h the mortgage of land, house and cattle.

Check Your Progress 2

I ) Briefly comment on the variety and qual~ty of textiles produced in India between 9th-13th centuries.

2 ) List the main metal works of Indian artisans between 9th-13th centuries.

3) Can we describe the economy between A.D. 9th-13th centuries as fully dependent on minted coins?

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3.5 ASPECTS OF TRADE

The increased agricultural production and the momentum picked by industrial and craft production were responsible for giving rise to a hierarchy of exchange centres. . . . e ---- .:---A L 2 -L- - - r . r A- . . -

Trade and Commerce

E a l y Medieval Ecmwny : nth - 1% Century

inter-regional and intra-regional exchange networks were creating cracks in the relatively closed village economy of the first phase (c. A.D. 750-900).

3.5.1 Inland Tnde A large variety of commodities wen carried for trading through a network of trade r0utes . i~ the country. h t us fvst discuss the commodities of trade. .. 8) Cohrmadltkc of T r u e and tbeir Cormurnem There are numerous inscriptions which refer to merchants carrying foodgrgns, oil, butter, salt, coconuts, arecanuts, betel leaves, madder, indigo, candid sugar, jaggtry, thread cotton fabrics, blankets, metals, spices, etc. from one place to another, and paying taxes and tolls on them. Benjamin Tudela, a Jesuit priest from Spain (twelfth century) noticed wheat, barley and pulses, besides linstd fibre and cotton cloth brought by the traders to the island of Kish in the Persian Gulf on their way home from India. A1 Idrisi also refers to the transhipment of rice from the country of Malabar to Sri Lanka in the twelfth century. The export of palm sugar and coir for ropes is noted by Friar Jordanus who wrote in about A.D. 1330. Marco Polo refers to the export of indigo from Quilon (on the Malabar Coast) and Gujarat. Besides, cotton fabrics, carpets, leather mats, swords and spears also appear in various sources as important articles of exchange. High value items such as horses, elephants, jewellery, etc. also came to various exchange centres.

The chief customers of Indian goods were of course the rich inhabitants of China, Arabia and Egypt. Many of the Indian goods might have found their way to Europe as well as via Mediterranean. While the aspects of foreign trade will be discussed at length later, it needs to be highlighted that the domestic demand was not insignificant. A new class of consumers emerged as a result of large scale landgrants from the eighth century onwards. The priests who earlier subsisted on a meagre fees offered at domestic and other rites were now entitled to hereditary enjoyment of vast landed estates, benefices and rights. This new landowing class, along with the ruling chiefs and rising mercantile class, became an important buyer of luxuries and necessities because of their better purchasing power.

The brahmanical and non-brahmanical religious establishments, which commanded vast resources in the form of landed estates and local levies, developed as important consumers of almost all marketable goods. They required not only such articles as coconuts, betel leaves and arecanuts, which had acquired great ritual sanctity, but also increased quantity of food for presentation to gods or for distribution as prrsndau. The personnel of religious establishments, which numbered up to many hundreds in case of big and important temples, constituted an important consuming group to be fed and clothed by peasants, artisans and merchants. Thus big temples with their vast resources and varied requirements also helped in generating commercial activity. This phenomenon was more marked in South India where many temple sites became important commercial centres (See also Unit 2; Sub-sed2.4.3).

b) Tnde Routes and Means of Communication A vast network of roads connected different ports, markets and towns with one another and served as the channel of trade and commerce. The overland connections amongst different regions is indicated by the itinerary of the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsang who came to Indk in the seventh century from across the Hindukush and visited various towns and capitals from Kashmir in North to Kanchi in South and from Assam in East to Sindh in West. An inscription of A.D. 953 refers to merchants from Karnataka, Madhyadesha, South Gujarat and Sindh coming to Ahada in Rajasthan for mercantile activities. Bilhana, an eleventh century poet from Kashmir tells us about his travels from Kashmir to Mathura, and how he reached Banaras after passing through Kannauj and Prayaga. From Banaras he proceeded to Somanatha (on the Sautashtra coast) via Dhar (near Ujjain) and Anahilavada (in North Gujarat). From Somanatha, he sailed to Honavar (near Goa), and then went overland to Rameshwadm on the Eastern coast. Finally, he came t o Kalyani in

Arabic and Persian accounts provide us a more detailed information on the contemporary trade-routes. Albiruni (A.D. 1030) mentions fifteen routes which started from Kannauj, Mathura, Bayana, etc'. The route from Kannauj passed through Prayaga and went eastward up to the port of Tamralipti (Tamluk in the Midnapur district of West Bengal), from where it went along the Eastern coast t o . Kanchi in South. Towards the Northeast, this route led to Assam. Nepal and Tibet, from where one could go overland to China. Kannauj and Mathura were also on the route to Balkh in the North-west. This alsa joined Peshawar and Kabul and tlltimately the Grand Silk route connecting China with Europe. This North-western rob-* was the chief channel of commercial intercourse between India and Central Asia in the pre-Gupta centuries. But in the early medieval period. it was largely under the control of Arab and Turkish traders who used it primarily to bring horses f r o q Persia, Balkh and other regions. The route starting from Bayana in Rajasthan passed through the desert of Marwar, and reached the modern port of Karachi in Sindh. A branch of this route passed through Abu in the Western foot of the Aravali Hills, and connected ports and towns of Gujarat with Bayana. Mathura and other places in North and North-western India. Another route from Mathura and Prayaga proceeded to the port of Broach on the Western coast via Ujjain. These routes played an important role in opening the interior of India to the international sea trzde which acquired a new dimension in the post-tenth centuries. Besides roads, the rivers in the plains of Northern India, and the sea route along thd Eastern and Western coasts in South lndia also served as important means of inter-regional contacts.

The pleasures and pains of travel in ancient times depended on the geographical conditions of the trade routes. The routes through desert and hilly areas were certainly more arduous and difficult. In the plains, bullock-carts were the chief means of conveyance. but where they could not ply animals, human carriers were employed to transport goods from one place to another. In the contemporary literature, there are references to different types of boats which must have been used in river traffic whereas big ships plied on the high seas.

A sign~ficant development in the post-tenth centuries was the keen interest shown by I

i rulers to keep the highways in their kingdoms safe. They took measures to punish thiefs and robbers and provided military as well as monetary help to villagers to protect the traders and travellers passing through their region. The Chalukya kings of Gujarat had a separate department called the Jiala-patha-karana to look after h~ghways. They also built new roads to connect important ports and markets in their state and excavated tanks and wells for the benefit of travellers. Trade being an important source of revenue. political authorities had to be concerned about the safety and well be~ng of traders and merchants. Marco Polo's reference to Cambay as a place free from plrates ~nd~cates that lndian kings also took steps to safegu'ard t he~r ports against piracy wh~ch %as a major threat all along the sea route from South Ch~na to the Persian Gulf.

1

3.5.2 Maritime Trade I

I During this period.large scale trading activities were carried through sea. Here we will d~scusS the main countries engaged in sea trade, the commodities of trade, main ports and security of the sea routes. Let us first start with the main participa'nts in maritime trade.

i a) The Chief Participants The period under survey was marked by great expansion of sea trade between the

1 . two extremetles of Asia. vi7. the Persian Gulf and South China. lndia which lay midway between the two extremeties greatly becefited from this trade. The hazards

I of long aea \o}ages were sought to be curtailed by anchoring on the Indian coasts.

I 1he Asian trade during these centuries was largely dominated by the Arabs. After ha\ing destroyed the important port and market ol' Valabh~ o n the Saurashtra coast I D the eighth century, they madc themselves the chief ma) ir~r:lc: force in the Arabian

Early Mediev J Economy : 8th - 13th Century

Ocean. Later in the ~welrtl: --... . U C L U I , . ~ . ,mportant part~clpant ~n this trade and started lsending her olbn ships to Southeast Asia and lndia. However, it did not affect the position of Arabs who continued to maintain their supreme hold on the Asian trade.

Fragmentary informalion in indigenous sources and notices in foreign accounts suggest that despite the forceful competition of the Arabs, Indians were going to the lands beyond the seas for trade from the tenth century onwards.

Abu Zaid, an Arab author of the tenth century refers to lndian merchants visiting Siraf in the Persian Gulf, while Ibn Battuta (14th century) tells us of a colony of Indian merchants a t Aden in the Red Sea. A Gujarati text of the 14th century refers to a merchant Jagadu of Kutch who traded with Persia-with the help of lndian agents stationed at Hormuz. In South India, the Colas, took keen interest in maritime trade. The Tamil inscriptions found in Malaya and Sumatra ind~cate the commercial activities of Tamil mercantile community in these regions. The Colas also sent a number of embassies to China to improve economic relations with her. They even sent naval expedition against the Srivijaya empire in the eleventh century to keep the sea route to China safe for their trade. However, by and large the references to the physical participation of Indian merchants are quite limited. This did not affect the demand for Indian products which reached the outside world through the Arabs and the Chinese. -

b) Commodities Exchanged -'.. As regards the articles involved in the Asian trade, the Chinese texts indicate that the Malabar coast received silk, porcelain-ware, camphor, cloves. wax, sandalwood. cardamom, etc. from China and South-east Asia. Most of these may have been the items of re-export to the Arabian world, but some were meant for India, particularly the silk which was always in great demand in local markets. Marco Polo informs us that the ships coming from the East to the ports of Cambay in Gujarat brought, among other things, gold, silver and copper. Tin was another metal which came to India from South-east Asia.

I

In return-for eastern psoducts, India sent its aromatics and spices. particularly pepper. According to Marco Polo pepper was consumed at lhe rate of 10.000 pounds daily in the city of Kirisay (Hang-Chau) alone. Chab Ju Kua. a Chinese port official of the thirteenth century, tells us that Gujarat, Malwa. Malabar and Coromandel sent cotton cloth to China. It is pointed out by Ibn Batruta (A.D. 1333) that fine cotton fabrics were rarer and more highly priced than SIU in the cities of China. India also exported ivory, rhinoceros horns, and some precious and semiprecious stones to China.

A number of Arabic inscriptions found at Cambay. Samaratha and Junagadh reveal that merchants and shippers from the Persian Gulf visited Westerh lndia in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The ships coming to the Gujarat coqst from Hormuz in the Persian Gulf are also mentioned in the Lekhapaddhati.

As regards the articles of trade with the Arab and the Western World, thy Jewish merchants carried many goods from the West coast of India to the Egyptian markets. These included spices, aromatics, dyes, medicinal herbs, bron7e and brass vessels, textiles, pearls, beads, coconuts, etc. India also exported teakwood which was required for .ship-building and house construction in the almost treeless areas of Persian Gulf and South Arabia. Some surplus food-grains, mainly rice, were also sent out from the Indian ports to the communities in other coastal regions which did not produce enough foodstuffs to meet their needs. The fine and embroidered leather mats of Gujarat were according to ~ a r c o Polo highly priced in the Arab world. India was also known for its iron and steel products, particularly the swords and spears, which enjoyed a wide market in Western countries.

As far as imports from the West are concerned, the most significant item was the horse. As the number of feudal lords and chiefs increased in the early medieval period, the demand for' horses also increased manifold. Horses were brought both by land and sea. Ibn Battuta tells us that horse-dealers coming through the North- western land routes earned large profits. According to an Arab author, Wassaf (A.D. 13281 more than 10.000 horses were hroueht annuallv to the Coromandel

coast, Cambay and other ports of India in the thirteenth century. Horses were brought from such p laas as B a h ~ i n , Muscat, Aden, Persia, etc. Besides horses, dates, ivory, coral, emtralds, etc. were also brought to India from the West.

Tmdr m n d Commerce

10. A 16th century plnting from Thiruppudaimnruthur Temple in Tirundveli district showing Arab troden and horse being brought an ships.

c) Ports There were a number of ports on the Indian coasts, which not only served the inland trade network but also acted as a link between the eastern and western trade. In fact; almost every creek that cou!d provide facility for a safe anchorage of ships, developed into a port of some national or international significance.

On the mouth of the Indus,, Debal was an important port which according to Al Idrisi (twelfth century), was visited by vessels from Arabia as well as from China and other Indian ports. Chief ports on the Gujarat coast were Somanatha, Broach and Cambay.

Somanatba had links with China in the East and Zanzibar (in Africa) in the West, Broach or ancient Bhrigukachha has had a very long history. Cambay is known as Khambayat in Arabic sources, and Stambhatirtha in Sanskrit sources. Its earliest reference goes back to the ninth century A.D. Sopara and Thana were other important ports on the Western coast of India.

I

On the Malabar coast, Quilon had emerged as the most important port. The Arab Writers tell us that ships coming from the West called at the port of Quilon for collecting fresh water before sailing for Kedah in South-east Asia. Similarly, the Chinese sources of the thirteenth century also state that Chinese traders going to the country of the Arabs had to change their ships at Quilon.

During the three centuries between the tenth and thirteenth, the Coromandel coast deveIoped into a virtual clearing house for the ships coming from the East and West. The Arab author, Wassaf, tells us that the wealth of the isles of the Persian Gulf and the beauty of other countries as far as Europe is derived from the Coromandel coast The most important port in this region was Nagapattinam. Puri and Kalingapattam pxre important ports on the Orissa coast. In Bengal the fortunes of Tamralipti were reviving though according to some scholars, it was being superceded by another port of 'Saptagrama.

d) Safety and Security of Merchants In view of the heavy returns, the contemporary political authorities showed keen t - r ---- r Z - r L - I - - : l l r : - - :>-a r - L---- J 1 - I - - _ I - - A _ - > -

Euly Mcdkd Ecolw#ly : &b - 13th Century

Chalukyas of Gujarat (10th-ljth centuries) set up a separate department of harbours (VelakulaL.rana) under royal control. In South India too, the Cola Kings managed :heir ports through royal officials who, with the- help of local merchant organisations, looked after the foreign merchants and collected the portcesses. The Arab writers unaniniously praise the Rashtrakuta kings for their policy of peace and toleration towards the Arabs. The Chalukyas of Gujarat also granted religious and economic freedom tb the muslim merchants in their state. Ibn Battuta tells us that whenever a foreign merchant died, his property was not confiscated but kept in sal custody to be handed over to the next of kin. An inscription 0f.A.D. 1244 found a Motupalli in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh reveals that the King guarante p~otection to the s t o m strayed ships and promised to collect duty as per the law 0.

land in order to win over the confidence of foreign merchants.

3.53 Revival of Towns

The second phase of early medieval India (c.900-1300 A.D.) was a departure from the preceding two centuries in so.far as it is marked by a very distinctive revival of urban centres. This revival became an almost all India phenomenon. It is often described as the "third urbanisation" of the lndian sub-continent. (For details see Unit 2.)

Check b u r Progress 3

i) a) List -the mcaittaitems of land trade which find mention in inwriptiom.

1 . . . . . . ................................................................... I............................... .................... . . . . . . . . . . . \ ' , . . ................... . . ....................................................................................................

b) Haw did the rdligioils-establishrne~~ts help'in trading acti+ities'?

................................................................................................................

2) Describe-briefly the main land routes used for trading purposes.

3) Mark (d ) against the right and (X) against the wrong statements given below :

i) The Indian goods reached to outside world through Chinese and Arab merchants.

ii) The main owrseas trading activities were undertaken by rndian merchants.

iii) Some inscriptions in Malaya and Sumatra indicate the presence of Tamil .

merchants.

iv) There was a settlement of Indian merchants in Aden.

4) a) Write five lines on the import of horses in India.

Tmde and Commerce

b) List 2 ports each of East, We3, and South coasts of India dl*.. .he peril under study.

3.6 LET U S SUM UP

The present study of trade and commerce during c.A.D. 700-1300 has focussed on :

the two phases of inland and foreign trade,

the nature and extent of the use of metal coins and. the role of other media of i exchange in the trade network,

contribution of expansion of agriculture and increased agricultural production in i furthering interests of trade, and I I impact of trade and commerce on the condition of towns through the centuries.

The overall picture of trade and commerce during the six centuries under discussion is that of feudalisation. The way in which money transactions took place, the manipulations of landed interests including those of state officials and ruling chiefs, functioning of the ruling elite in the interests of big traders and merchants and putting restrictions on artisans and craftsmen (see also Unit 4) are indicators of the process of feudalisation.

3.7 KEY WORDS

Ghnnnkn : Oil mill.

I Jnlnpnthnknrann : Department1 Officer for looking after highways;

Market : Space where buying and selling of goods take place as a regular activity.

I Tellika : Oilman. I

Velakuln-Knrnnn : Department1 Officer for harbours.

ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

I Check Your Progress 1

I I) The first phase is marked by the decline of trade, metallic currency and urban I centres and the second phase by the reversal of these. See Sec. 3.2. I i 2) i) J ii) X iii) J iv) X Also see Sub-sec. 3.3.1.

I 3) The Arab presence in the North-west and the sea raids adversely affected the I Indian trade. However, from 10th century onwards they contributed to the

growth of Indian sea trade. See Sub-sec. 3.3.2.

4) The main reason for the decay of town was the decline of trade. 41~0 See Sub-sec. 3.3.2.

h r l y Medieval Economy : 8th - 13th Century Check Your Progress 2

1) India produced cotton and silk textiles. Their quality was comparable with the best textiles in the world. See Sub-sec. 3.4.1.

2) The main metal works were iron, copper, gold, silver, etc. See Sub-sec 3.4.2.

3) There is a noticeable increase in minted money but a number of transactions were carried through exchange of commodities. The economy was not fully dependent on minted money. See Sub-sec. 3.4.2.

Check Your Progress 3

1) a) Compare with Sub-sec. 3.5.1 (a)

b) The religious establishments with their vast resources generated a demand for a number of commodities. See Sub-sec 3.5.1 (a) .

2) A number of routes are mentioned in contemporary sources. See Sub-sec. 3.5.1 (b).

4) a) See Sub-sec. 3.5.2 (b). b) West-Broach, Cambay; East-Puri, Kalingapator; South-Quilon,

Coromandel.

UNIT ' 4 TRADING COMMUNITIES ORGANISATION

AND

Structure

4.0 Objectives 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Trader as a Link 4.3 Position of Merchants during the First Phase

(c.A.D.700-900) 4.4 Position of Merchants during the Second Phase

(c. A.D. 900-1 300) 4.5 Social Role of Traders 4.6 Organisation of Traders

1.6.1 Guilds : Definition and Fundions 4.6.2 Organisation of Trading Guilds in South India

4.7 Relationship Between Merchants and Craftsmen 4.8 Let Us Sum Up 4.9 K e y Words 4.10 .Ann-ers to Check Your Progress Exercises

4.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unit, you should be able to explain the:

relative position of traders and merchants in the society during the two major dhases of early medieval India, viz. c.A.D.700-900 and c.A.D.900-1300,

regional characteristics of trading communities,

major activities of traders,

types of traders and merchants,

character and conduct of traders,

trading guilds and their functioning-both in the North and South India, and

control of merchants on artisans and craftsmen.

4.1 INTRODUCTION

Units 2 and 3 in this Block sought to explain the role of trade and commerce in the economic activity and its linkage with the growth of towns and cities. Their place in the overall growth of feudal tendencies was also emphasized.The present Unit ought to be seen as a complementary facet. An attempt has been made here to demarcate the role of traders and merchants in the society with reference to their organised economic activities. The fluctuations in their relative positidn through centuries have also been shown. The Unit also draws special attention to the overawing influence of big merchants on petty artisans and craftsmen.

TRADER AS A LINK

The traders form an important link between producers and consumers. They collect agricultural surplus and products of artisans and craftsmen from different regions and distribute them over a wlde area. They trade not only in finished goods but also

During the early medieval centuries, the process of collection and distribution of goods involved a large number of merchants, big as well as small, local as well as inter-regional. There were hawkers, retailers and other petty traders on the one hand and big merchants and caravan traders on the other. The relative position of traders and merchants in the society is related to the two phases of commercial activity outlined in Unit 3. While their role was adversely affected during the first phase (A.D. 700-900) on account of limited commercial exchange, the revival of trade in the second phase (A.D. 900-1300) led to considerable increase in the status, effectiveness and power of merchant communities. The ancient Indian texts specify trade along with agriculture and cattle rearing as the lawful means of livelihood for vaishjjas. In the seventh century, the Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang distinctly mentions vaishyas as traders and shudras as cultivators. However, the process of the two coming closer had already started and shudras were undertaking trade in such articles as wine, honey, salt malt, etc. The barriers of brahmanical varna order were crumbling in the post-Gupta centuries and people were adopting professions cutting across varna divisions. Trade was followed by the people of all varnas and castes. Lome were compelled t o take it up while others found it more lucrative than other economic activities.

4.3 POSITION OF MERCHANTS DURING THE FIRST PHASE (c. A.D. 700-900)

In view of the relative decline of trade during these centuries, the role of merchants in the society was considerably eroded. As trade slumped and markets disappeared, the merchants had to seek patronage and shelter with the temples and other emerging landed magnates. It robbed them of their independent commercial activity, and forced them to cater to the needs and requirements of their patrons. Some inscriptions from Orissa and Central India reveal that traders, artisans and merchants were amongst those who were transferred to donees. This must have meant a serious reduction in their free trading activities. Nor is there any significant evidence of administrative role being assigned to merchants between the eighth and tenth centuries. This is in obvious contrast to their role in administration evident from seals and sealings from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the Gupta period. However, trade did not disappear completely, some merchants were still active, particularly along the coast. But they were small in number and their activities were largely confined to the luxury articles required by kings, chiefs and temples. In South India too, trade was not a very important activity during the centuries under survey. This is indicated by the relative absence of the mention of merchants as a distinct class in the records of the period. In other words, it can be said that the first phase of early medieval India was marked by the thinning away, if not disappearance, of the prosperous and free merchant class.

4.4 POSITION OF MERCHANTS DURING THE SECOND PHASE (c.A.D.900-1300)

The second phase of early medieval India brought the mercantile community back into prominence, and we notice large number of merchants carrying luxury and essential goods from one place to another. They accumulated fabulous wealth through commercial exchanges and acquired fame in society by making gifts to temples and priests. Macy of them look active part at various levels of administration, and even occupicd the ministerial positions in royal courts.

The literature and inscriptions of the period refer to the large number of merchants who were known by the specialised trade they followed. Thup, we come across dealers in gold, perfumes, wine, grains, horses, textiles, curds. betels, etc. Some of the merchants employed retailers or assistants to help them In trading activities. As inter-regional trade developed a group of merchants specialised in examining and rhnnoino rninc fnr trader-.

Moneylending also became one of the major activities of mrcbants. Though people deposited money in temple treasury for the religious purpose of endowing flowers. oil, lamps,. there are very few referenas to guilds accepting deposits and paying

I interest thereon. There emerged a separate group of merchants, called nikrhcpa-vaalla in western India, who specialised in banking or moneylending. The Ldrb.prddb.ti, a text from Gujarat, rdem to a m e r c h n t ' ~ mn who claimed hin share in the ancestral property to start the business of moneylending. Medhatithi, a legal commentator, speaks of the association or corporation of moneylenders. The contemporary literature, however, presents a bad picture of moneylenders and describes them as greedy and untrustworthy who cheat common man by misappropriating deposits.

This period also witnessed the emergence of many regional merchant groups, i.e. the merchants-who were known after the region they belonged to. They were mostly from Western India. As this region had a wide network of important land routes connecting coastal ports with the towns and markets of northern India, t k merchants of certain specific places in this region found it more profitable to specialise in inter-regional trade. Thus, the merchant groups called Oswal derive their

-' . name from a place called Osia, Palivalas from Patlli, Shrimali from Shrimala, Modha from Modhera and so on. Most of them are now a days collectively known as Marwaris, i.e. the merchants from Marwar. Apart from their functional and regional names, merchants were also known by various general terms, .the two most common being-shreshthi and sarthavaha. Both these terms were known from very early times.

1 I Sresthi was a rich wholesale deakr who lived in a town and carried on his business with the help of retailers and agents. At times he lent out goods or money to small merchants, and thus acted as a banker too, though, as we have already pointed out, moneylending was becoming a separate and specialiscd activity.

I

The sarthavaha was the caravan leader under whose guidance the merchants went to distant places to sell and purchase their goods. He was supposed to be a highly capable person knowing not only the routes but also the languages as well as the

I rules of exchange in different regions.

The expansion of agriculture and the availability of surplus from the 8th19th century onwards led to increase in commercial exchanges in South India too. It resulted in the emergena of a full time trading community looking after the local exchange. This community also participated in wider inter-regional and inter-oceanic trade. As in the North, South Indian merchants too specialised in the trade of specific commodities such as textiles, oil or #me, betd leava, hones, ctc. At the local h4 regional markets called nr-m were the centres of exchange. They were situated in a cluster of agrarian settlementg, and they integrated not only collection from hinterland but also commercial traffic from other areas.

The numbers of these naprams increased considerably during the Cola period in the I eleventh and twelfth centuries, and the term napnttu, i.e. member of the napmu

assembly, became a generic term for all Tamil merchants (See also Unit 2; Sub*. 2.4.2).

1) Mark (J 1, on the right and ( X ) on t k wrong statarrznts pAen below. i) J3e mcrchaats had a promincmt position in the vu,.i:h dr:rivg -be ~ r ~ c ~ i

C. A.D. 700-900.

ii) Ciriwx travelkr H i m Tsang menttcm vaishva. a. ts i ide~i a 112 5hudfi:b as cultivators.

iu) Dtrieg the second phase (A.D 900-1 Wt m-T >apt. r -1 r. :.;ltc.< r .-en i g l

the sratc administration. iv) Sredhi w ~ s s small retailer nlcrchant.

I V) Naprum were prcmiticnt ~rar!inp centres.

Early Medlevll Ecoaomy : 8th- 13th Century

: W ~ t e five lines an the practiu of money lending during the pctioc! 1.D. 900-1300.

4.5 SOCIAL ROLE OF TRADERS

As growth of trade brought economic prosperity to merchants, they sought to gain social prestige by participating in the maintenance of temples, priests and teligious functions. Numerous inscriptions refer to the grant of cash or goods by merchants for these purposes. Same merchants became very influential and joined the ranks of state officials and ministers. A tenth century inscription refers to a merchant of Modha caste who was the chief of Sanjan (near Thane) in Maharashtra. In Gujarat, the merchant family of Vimala played an important role in the political and cultural life of the region. He and his descendants Vastupala and Tajapala occupied important minis@rial positions a t the court and are known for building the famous marble temples dedicated to Jaina gods at Mount Abu. A thirteenth century inscription from central Gujarat reveals that many important merchants, traders and artisans were a part of the local administrative bodies.

Character and Condwt of Tradem The foreign authors and travellers such as Al-Idrisi (twelfth century) and Marco Polo (thirteenth century) praise Indian traders for their truthfulness and honesty in business dealings. But in the contemporary Indian literature we come across many instances of greedy and dishonest merchants. The Kashmiri author Kshemendra refers to a typically selfish merchant who used to feel ove joyed at the approach of a famine or some other calamity because he could expect good money on his hoarded foodgrains. A text af the eleventh century from Western India, divides merchants in two main class-on the basis of their position and character-high and low. It points out that rich merchants who indulged in large scale sea or land trade enjoyed great reputation while small merchants such as hawkers, retailers, etc. who cheated people by using false weights and measures were looked down upon in society. It also includes artisans in the list of dishonest people. I t may, however, be noted that some of these views reflect the contemporary feudal tendency in which persons working with their own hands and resources were considered low in society.

4.6 ORGANISATION OF TRADERS

The merchants derived their power and prestige not only from wealth but also from the guilds or associations formed by them to protect their interests. In the first phase the decline of trade weakened the corporate activity of merchants, and many of the guilds were reduced t o mere regional or occupational subcastes. But as trade revived in the second phase, merchant guilds reappeared as an important feature of the contemporary economic life.

4.6.1 Guilds : Defmition and Functions What was a merchant guild? How did it function? What were the benefits which accured to its members? These are important questions to be answered. Well the guilds were voluntary associations of merchants dealing in the same type of commodity such as grains, textiles, betel leaves, horses, perfumes, etc. They were formed by both local as well as itinerant merchants. The association of local merchants having permanent residence in town was more permanent in nature thdn

t the association of itinerant merchants which was formed only for a specific journey mdb~ ceerllld(kr .ad and was terminated a t the end of each venture. Om-

The guilds framed their own rules and regulations regarding the membership and the code of conduct. They fixed the prices of their goods and could even decide that specific commodity was not to be sold on a particular day by its members. They could refuse to trade on a particular day by its members. They could refuse to trade in a particular area if they found the local authorities hostile or uncooperative. The

I . guild merchants also acted as the custodians of religious interests. The inscriptions

refer to numerous instances when they collectively agreed to pay an additional tax on the sale and purchase of their goods for the maintenance of temples or temple functions.

The guild normally worked under the leadership of a chief who was elected by its members. He performed the functions of a magistrate in deciding the economic affairs of the guild. He could punish, condemn or even expel those rpembers who violated the guild rules. One of his main duties was to deal directly with the King, and settle the market tolls and taxes on behalf of his fellow merchants. The growth of corporate activity enabled guildchiefs to consolidate their power and position in society, and many of them acted as the representative of their members on the local administrative councils.

A member of the guild worked under a strict code of discipline and was also robbed of some initiative or action but still he enjoyed numerous benefits. He received full backing of the guild in all his economic activities and was, thus, saved from the harassment of local officials. Unlike a hawker or vendor, he had greater credibility in the market on account of his members ip of the guild. Thus, inspite of the fact that guildchiefs tended to be rude and aut 1 oritative at times, the merchants found guilds an important means of seeking physical and economic protections.

The digests and commentaries of the period refer to the corporate body of merchants by various terms, such as naigama, shreni, samuha, sartha, samgha, etc. The naigama is described as an associatio~! of caravan merchants of different castes who travel together for the purpose of carrying on trade with other countries. Shreni, according to Medhatithi, was a group of people following the same profession such as that of traders, moneylenders, artisans, etc. though some authors considered it to be a group of artisans alone. The Lekhapaddhati indicates that a special department called the Shreni-karana was constituted by the kings of western India to look after the activities of the guilds of merchants and artisans in their region. Another text Manasollasa reveals that many merchant guilds maintained their own troops (shrenibala) for personal safety. Inscriptions too refer to the corporate activity of merchants. An inscription from western India refers to vanika-mandala which was probably a guild of local merchants.

4.6.2 Organisation of Trading Guilds in South India The expansion of agriculture and the growth of trade from the tenth century led to the emergence of many merchant guilds or organisations in South India too. The inscriptions refer to these organisations often as samaya, i.e. an organisation born out of an agreement or contract among its members to follow a set of rules and regulations.

The two most important merchant guilds of South India were known as the Ayyavole and the Manigraman. Geographically, the area of their operation corresponded to the present day state of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and South Andhra Pradesh. The Cola kings from the tenth century onwards made a concerted effort to trade and commerce through trade missions, maritime expeditions, abolition of tolls, etc. It greatly increased the activities of thew guilds which were involved in not only inter-regional but also inter-oceanic trade across thc Bay of Bengal.

The merchant guild called Ayyavole was also known as the guild of "the 500 Swami of Aihole" nanadeshi. While some have argued that such organisations were primarily traders in various types of merchandise and not a single unified corporation of merchants, a detailed study of Kannada Ayyavole shows that the

The organisation might have had an initial membership of .500. But there is no denying the fact that with the growth of trade and commerce, the Vim B8nanj.s (representing the trading guild of Ayyavok) operafed on a trans-regional plane and had developed deep s o c i ~ c o n o m i c interests between the ninth and fifteenth centuries. They spread from Bhalvani (in Sangli district in Maharashtra) in the north to Kayalpattinam (in Tamil Nadu) in the South. The number "five hundred" also became conventiowl as the guild became a much larger body and drew its members from various regions, religions and castes. It is in this context that the term ~ n a d e s h i came to be used for this organisation.

In course of outward expansion, the members of the Ayyavole guild interacted with the local markets called naymm, and promoted commercial activity by collecting agricultural goods fiom the hinterland and distributing the goods brought from elsewhere. The commercial influence of Ayyavole spread even beyond South India. It is indicated by the inscriptions found at .Burma. Java. Sumatra and Sri Lanka. As the mercantile activities of Ayyavole increased, some of its members became quite . rich and powerful, and acquired the title of samaya chakravarti. i.e. the emperor of the trading organisation. It may suggest that as in the North, certain individual merchants in South too were trying to establish their control on the working of ,. >

Another important merchant guild of South, India was the M n n i y m m . It first appeared along the Kerala coast in the ninth century A.D. However, as i t gradually came into close contact, with the Ayynvole, it greatly improved upon its inter-regionhl activities and covered a large part of the peninsula. A ninth century Tamil inscription found at Takua pa on the West coast of Malaya indicates that it was engaged in the long distance sea trade from the very beginning.

Anjuvn~nm was another body of merchants in South India, which probably represented an association of foreign merchants, and not a group of five communities or castes as some scholars believe. Like the Mnnigramnm, it also began its commercial activity along the Kerala coast in the eighth or ninth century, and gradually spread out to other coastal areas of South India by the eleventh century. It interacted both with local merchants as well as the Ayynvole and Manigramam organisations.

The importance acquired by trading guilds is apparent in the conscious attempt to. trace exalted genealogies of traders of various corporations. The Vira Bananjas of the Ayyavole, for instance, are said to have been born in the race of Vasudeva and their qualities are compared with those of various epic heroes. A typical prashasti (panegyric) of the Vira Bananjas may be seen in the following description found in the Kolhapur stone inscription of the Shilahar King Gandarditya dated in A.D. 130 :

"Hail! They who are adorned by a multitude of Dumerous virtues obtained by following the religion of the Five hundred Heroic Men renowed in the whole world; who are virtuous by reason of the maintenance of the code of the heroic Bananjas consisting of truthfulness, pure conduct, agreeable behaviour, political wisdom, courtesy and mercantile knowledge ..... who are exalted with their unfailing adventurous spirit .... who are born in the race of Vasudeva, Khandali and Mulabhadra ... who are invincible when they fight; who are like Brahma in respect of proficiency of the sixtyfour arts; like Narayana in the possession of C h n h (discuss); like Rudra, who is the fire of the world destruction in slaying their opponents by their gaze .... who are like Rama in perseverence; like A juna in valour; like Bhisma in purity of conduct; like Bhima in adventurous spirit; like Yudhishtira in righteousness ...... like Karna in charity and like the sun in brilliance ......"

In short, the vast trading network in South India was controlled by a number of merchant organisations which worked in close cooperation and harmony with one another. The guildchiefs, on account of their control on trade and trading organisations, established close links with the royal houses and enjoyed great name and fame in the society.

4.7 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MERCHANTS AND CRAFTSMEN

The exact nature of relationship between the merchants and craftsmen, the two interdependent sections of commercial world, is not recorded in the contemporary sources. It is, therefore, not known whether craftsmen such as weavers, metal- workers, etc. acted independently or worked under the command of merchants who supplied them money or raw material or both. There is. however, some evidence to suggest that as merchants came to exert greater control on the mobilisation of raw material and finished products, their influence on the activities of artisans increased considerably.

Albiruni, who came to India in the eleventh century as well as Lakshmidhara, a jurist of the twelth century, tell us that artisans lived in the midst of merchants. It may suggest that merchants supplied capital and raw material to artisan^ who were to produce goods as per the demand and specifications provided by merchants. An inscription of the 1 l th century from Erode in Tamil Nadu refers to an asylum given by merchants to the craftsmen, and thus indicates the dependence of the latter on the ----La-. ,.--..-:....*:,.-m A " *-..A- ....A A,.----..- A....al,.-..A L..-... *--AaA *.-.

E u l y Medieval Economy : 8th --13th Century

ability of artisans to market their goods personally. There are references to some oilmen and weavers who sold their goods themselves and became rich enough to make endowments to temples and priests. In general, the artisans and craftsmen during the early medieval period were economically dependent on big merchants.

meel Your Prgm 2

1) What role merchants played in Administration?

2) Mark (d ) on the right and ( X ) on the wrong statements given below.

i) Al-Idrisi and Marco Polo praise Indian merchants for their honesty.

ii) During the period under study people working with their own hands were considered low in society.

iii) Guilds were established by the state to regulate trading.

iv) Murignmrrm, the merchant guild in South India came into existence along the Kerala mast.

v) During the period of our study artisans controlled the merchant activities.

3) Define the Guilds d merchants. List their main functions.

4) What was the role of Ayyavole in the expansion of tradingactivities in Soutll India'.'

................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................

4.8 LET US SUM UP

Seeing trader as an important link between the producer and consumer, this Unit underlined :

the ups and downs in The relative position of traders and merchants in early

the centuries of relative decline in trade(c.A.D. 700-m), with the thinning away, if not the complete disappearance of the prosperous and free merchant class;

the revival of trade and commerce during C.A.D.~OO-1300 bringing the mercantile community back into prominence by accumulating fabulous wealth and acquiring fame in society by making gifts to religious establishments. Many traders also

! become influential with administrative set-up;

emergence of regional merchant groups;

' organisations of traders, viz. guilds, which regulated corporate activity of merchants;

trans-regional and inter-oceanic activities of guilds in South India;

the role of itinerant traders; and

growing hold of big merchants over artisans and craftsmen.

4.9 KEY W0RD.S

Napram : see Unit 2. '

Naprat tar : member of nagnram.

N d p m : trading guild.

Nandahi : guild of traders having a membership from different regions and castes.

Pnrha8ti : descriptionsi, of exaggerated praise.

Suthavnha : carvan leader.

Shreni : general term for guild of traders, artisans and craftsmen.

Shrenibala : fighting force maintained by guilds.

Shreshthi : general term for trader.

4.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1 9

1) i) X ii) J iii) J iv) X (Sreshti was a rich wholesale dealer ) v)J

I 2) During this period money lending was emerging as a specialised commercial practice. See section 4.4.

Check Your Progress 2

1) Your answer should include the influence of merchants in society and their position in administration. Also read section 4.5.

2) i) J ii) J iii) X iv) J V)X (artisans were mostly dependent on merchants)

I 3) The guilds were voluntary associations of merchants dealing in the same commodity. The main functions of guild were to fix the prices, area of activity, decide market regulations, etc. See subsection 4.6.1.

4) The Ayyavole was the guild of merchants in South 1ndia.This was a strong body of merchants and contributed to the expansion of trade not only in South India but overseas also.

I SOME USEFUL BOOKS FOR THIS BLOCK

Jha, D.N., ed. Feudo1 Social Formation in Early India, Delhi, 1987

E u l y Medieval Economy : Sharma, R.S. Indian Feudalism, 2nd ed., Delhi, 1980. 8th - 13th Ccntuq

R.S. Sharma, Perspectives in Social and Economic History of Early India, New Delhi, 1983.

R.S. Sharma, Urban Decay in India, c.300-1000, New Delhi, 1987.

Thapar Romila, A Hisiory of India, London, 1983.

Jain V.K., Trade and Traders in Western India (A.D. 1000-1 300) Delhi, 1990.

Deyall John S., Living Without Silver; The Monetary History of h r l y Medieval North India, Delhi, 1990.

I UNIT 5 SOCIAL ORGANISATION

Structure

, 5.0 Objectives 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Sources for the Reconstruction of Society 5.3 Brahmanical Perspective: Growing Rigidity 5.4 Voice of Dissent 5.5 Changing Material Base and The New Social Order 5.6 The New Social Ethos

5.6.1 Emergence of Shndrm as Cultivators 5.6.2 A k n c e of Intermediary VUMS in Bengal and South India 5.6.3 . Rise of a New Literate Class 5.6.4 . Phenomenal Increase in the Rise of New Mixed Castes

i) Amongst BrPhma~@ ii) Amongst KhPtrj.os iii) Amongst Vaishym and Shudrrrs

5.7 Land Distribution, Feudal Ranks and Varna Distinctions 5.8 Increasing Social Tensions' 5.9 Let Us Sum Up 5.10 Key Words 5.11 Answers To Check Your Progress Exercises

After reading this Unit you will be able to familiarise yourself with the:

myth of an unchangifig and the so-called static Indian sqciety,

copious agd varied literary and epigraphic sources useful for reconstructing the nature of social change, .

f

varying perspectives on the social set-up ranging between a call for making it more rigid and an all-out cry to question its fundamental bases, b

role of the chan$ng material base in social transformation,

leading feat& of the new social ethos, such as the changing position of vaishyas and shudras, rise of a new literate class, multiplication of castes, weakening of vama order and emergence of feudal ranks, and

increasing evidence for social tensions.

5.1 INTRODUCTION

For almost a century, we have been fed with the falacious colonialist and imprialist notion about the Indian society being static through the millennia. This Unit seeks to show that the Indian social organisation during five hundred years under survey (8th-13th century) was extremely vibrant and responsive to changes taking place in the realms of economy, polity and ideas. The Unit focusses on the essentials of the new social ethos, whose tone was being set by the nature of new land rights and power bases.

5.2 SOLTRCES FOR THE RECONSTRUCTION OF SOCIETY . .

There is an extremely wide ranging source material for the reconstruction qf social organi~tion during hdf a millenium (circa eighth to the thirteenth centuries). These sources comprise both literary and epigraphic notices. Practically all major powers of Ihdia are known to us through copioys inscriptional data. Though no quantscation

~ - - - - ----

has been attempted at Bn all India level, the number of the post-Gupta inscriptions must run in thousands even on a rough impressionistic assessment. These inscriptions are available in a variety of languages and scripts (See also Unit 7). These records help us in identifying rregional and local pecuharities without sacrificing a macro view of the sub-continental scene.

The literary sources are also very varied. It is not merely the writings on dhannashastras in tha form of commentaries and other d8urm-nibondbrrs which tell us about the ups and downs in the social system. Even works belonging to the realms of kavyas (poetic works), drama, technical and scientific works as well as treatises . and architecture throw enormous light on the post-Gupta developments in the sphere of society. Kahana's Rajatarangini, Naistwdhiyacbarita of Shriharsha, P r I l b d a Chintamani of Merutunga, Soddhala's Udaya-Sundari-Katha, Adipurana of Jinasena, the dohas of the Siddhas, Medhatithi's and Vigymeshwar's commentaries on the Manusmriti add Yajnavalkyasmriti r e s e v e l y , 'and works such as Manasollasa, Mayamata and Aparajitapriccha are useful aids for reconstructing the social fabric of India during the period under survey.

5.3 BRAHMANICAL PERSPECTIVE: GROWING . .RIGIDITY

Coming of mle@ws such as the Hunas, Arabs, Turks, etc. had created a fear psychosis and-resulted in a tendency, where the emphasis was on the need to preserve the age-old social order. Shankaracharya, the famous religiophilosophic ,

leader stated that the varna and ashramadharmas were in a disturbed state. .&

Dhanapala, a writer of the eleventh century, also talks about chaos in the conduct of vama order. Various rulers between the sixth and thirteenth centuries make rather pompous claims about preserving the social order. These are reflected in their inscriptions. Varnasb-dharma-sthapana, i.e. the establishment of the system of varna and ashrama becomes a frequently used expression in contemporary inscriptions. A twelfth-century work called Manasollasa eveh mentions vamadhkub-an bfficer responsible for the maitenance of v ~ m u ~ . It n&o be underlined that thisitrend of closing social ranks, making social system rigid and denouncing all efforts to change the system was largely the concern of Brahmanical law givers and polit@ advisers who had developed vested interests in maintaining a status quo (See alsa Unit 6). However, it was by no means a universal phenomena.

- 5.4 VOICES OF DISSENT

The fundamental b m of the caste system were being questioned, speclally.by non-brahmanical followers. Centuries ago the ~ u d h had raised doubts about the rationale of castes based on birth. His anger was particularly heaped upon brahmanas. Thou h these voices could not achieve si&cant breakthrough in the long run, they did a ot cease either. Simmering discontent against the brahrnanical social order r&&s head at regular intervals. No wonder, in Dhanuaparik&a (eleventh century) Jaina Amitagati determined caste on the basis of personal conduct. The caste superiority of the brahmanas was challenged by the Jainas in such works as the Khthdnwhpraltarurrr. A' satirical work called Latalcamelaka menfions a ~uddhk t monk who denies importance of caste, regards it as baseless and denounces

, ', pollution and caste-based segregation. Kshmendra, the literary genius of Kashmir refers to Kula-JaWdarpa (vdnity of caste and clan) as a disease of the society for

?: which he himself +as a physician. The Padmapurana reveals a conflict of two

rn - ideologies-the orthodox one enjoining on the s h u b a life of penury, and the heterodox one urging upon him the importance of wealth.

. An eleventh cen* work focuses on social ranks and divisions bgsed n& on birth .' but on -patio&. While the priests of different religions are called hypocrites, thet second broad so& c l d c a t i o n of householders takes note of the fdowing six -2 categories:

I

1 the highest included chakravartins, m the high ones comprised the feudal elite,

the middle ones included traders, moneylenders, possessors of cows, buffaloes, camels, horses, etc. small businessmen and petty cultivators, the degraded ones such as the members of guilds off artisans and craftsmen, and the highly degraded included chandaias and others following ignoble occupations

I such as killing of birds and animals.

It js obvious that this social categorisation takes note of economic factors in the determination of social status. Even if such attempts were not aiming at a more egalitarian society than the one espoused and buttressed by the brahmanical' -

interest; even if such categorisations show their biases and prejudices, it needs to be highlighted that such reconstructions were evidently more rational.

I

CHANGING MATERIAL BASE AND THE NEW SOCIAL ORDER

The aforesaid review of broad but conflicting trends shows that the social organisation was in a flux and far from being harmonious. lqdeed, it could not have been so, particularly in view of the momentous changes taking place in the economic structure of the sub-continent. The mechanics of the scxial systeni is difficult to

I comprehend if the improving economic conditions of a sizeable number of lower classes are ignored. One single factor which seems to have set the tone of the post-Gupta society, specially from the eighth-century, was the ever growing

I phenomenon of land grants (See also Unit 1.2.1). Its impact on the agrarian expansion changed the entire social outlook. This was coupled with:

a fillip to tendencies of localisation, its bearing on fluctuations in the urban setting, its nexus with the monetary system, its role in increasing social and economic immobility and subjection of peasantry and non-agricultural toiling workers, and the resultant hierarchy of ruling landed aristocracy (See also Block-1, Unit 1-4 ahd Blmk 3, Unit 9.3.4).

A new social ethos was in the making. It was shown above that the new trends in Indian economy were conductive to feudal formation. In the realm of political organisation too, as will be discussed in Block 3, a great majority of power centres were marked by feudal tendencies based on graded land rights. No wonder, the sOcial landscape could not escape the domineering impact of the fast pace of economic changes outlined above. The resultant social changes demolish the myth of an unchanging and static social organisation of India which was propagated .by ! colonialist and imperialist historians. Regrettably, even nationalist historians too did not question such assumptions. More recent writings, specially of the last three e

decades, have rightly focussed on the dynamism and vibrancy of the Indian social fabric by highlighting its interlinks with changhig economic patterns.

Check Your Progress 1 1) List the sources which throw light on the social reconstruction between eighth

and thirteenth centuries.

2) Which of the following Atements are right( J) or wrong (x)? i) The foundational bases of caste system were questioned during the period

8th-13th century A.D. ii) The social structure remained static. iii) The vanm system was in a diiturbed state. iv) An eleventh century literary work bases social rank divisions on occupations

' rather than birth. 3) Discuss in about'ten lines the voices of dissent raised against the varna order.

- -.- . 5.6 THE & SOCIAL ETHOS

The post-eighth century sodal organisation &h seems to have prevailed till at least the establishment of the Turkish political power in the thirteenth century, was mBrked by:

modifications in the varna system such as the transformation of shodks into cultivators thereby bringing them closer to the vaishyas, newly founded brahmanical order in Bengal and South India wherein the intermediary varnab were absent, and finally, rise of the new literate class struggling for a pla& in the varna order, phenomenal increw in the rise of new mixed castes, unequal distribution of land and milrtary power, which ,in turn, accounts for the emergence of feuddl ranks cutting across varna distinctions, and increasing evidencd of social tensions.

5.6.1 Emergence of Shudras as Cubbatom

. The expansion ef the tural space and agricultural activities hgd been responsible for changes in notiom abcbut persons entitled to undertake these. The law books of the postdGupta centuries hclude agriculture in the sama~~ya-dhrumrr (corninon occupation) of all the varnas. The smriti of Parashar further emphask that in

,- addition to their traditional Mold duties (studying, teaching, sacrificing, officiating as sacrificer to help others, acceptance of gifts from a worthy peison of three higher varnaa and making of @), the brahumas could also be associated with agricultural activities, preferably through labour of s h h . It was also enjaised uponbrdmmas that in or+r to avoid any kind of sin, they should show proper treatmentlto oxen and offer certain fixed quantities of corn to King, Gods and fellow brahmanas.

. Surely, such fdmalitie~ hdicate thaf very s i d c a n t dent was being made in the . brahmanical social order and the v a r ~ norms were being mught to be redefined. A major indicktor of this effort was the bridging of the gap between the vaisbyas and the shudras. While this trend makes it beginnings ,in the early centuries of the Christian era, it is significant that in the post-Gupta centuries the vaishyas practically lose their identity as a peasant .caste. The famous Chinese traveller of the early .

seventh century, Hsuan-Tsang, mentions shudras as agriculturists. Al-biruni, who came to India alongwith Mahmud Ghanavi in the first quarter of the eleventh

'

century, also notes the absence of any difference between the vaishyas and shudras. The Skanda Purana talks about the pitiable conditions of the vaishyas. By the eleventh century they came to be treatd with the shodras, both ritually and legally. . Al-biruni, for example, says that both vaishyas and shudns were punished with amputation of the tongue for reciting the vedic texts. There were certain shudras who were called bhojyanna, i.e. food prepared by whom could be taken even by brahmanas. Many Tantric and Siddha teachers were shudras performing works of fishermen, leather workers, washermen, blacksmiths, etc. A text of the eighth century states that thousands of mixed castes were produced as a result 'of marriages between vaishya women and men of lower castes. There is also a mention of anashrita shudras (shudns who were not dependent) who were well-to-do and sometimes became members of the local administrative committees and even made their way into the ruling aristocracy.

b Such aqhievements of shudns were, 0J c o r n , rather rare. Dependent peasants, ploughmen and artisans were greatly needed to strengthen the early medieval economic and political set-up characterized by a relatively self-sufficing local economy and the emergence of a dominant class of rural aristocracy. Such a need was being fdfdled by the approximation of the vaishyas and shudras.. This happened

, despite persistence of brahmana orthodoxy reflected in the attitude of Parashar who threatened the shucbrrrs abandoning their duty of serving the dvijas with the dire consequence of hell. Even some orthodox sections of the jainas had developed the notion that the shudras were not eligible for religious initiation.

5.6.2 Absence of Intermediary Varnas in Bengal and @utb India The aforesaid tendency of removing distinctions between the vaishyas and shudras resulted in the emergence of a social order typified by an absence of interne- varnas in Bengal and South India. The new brahmanical order in these areas provided mainly for brahmans and shudrrs. This may have been partly due to the influence of non-brahmanical religions in these regions. However, the nature of the progress of brahmanism also contributed to this development. It was not a case of mass migration of violent Sanskrit spealung people. There was considerable, intermixing and acculturation. Tribal and non-brahmanical population in the

'

peripheral regions were admitted to the brahmanical system as shudras. Many early medieval texts provide long lists of aboriginal forest tribes who had been instrumental in the rise of political powers. From the ninth to the thirteenth centuries almost'all powers fought Abbiras. The Brabmavaivarta Purana, which is attributed to Bengal of the thirteenth century, refers to such tribal people as like Agaris, Ambashthas. Bhillas, Clumbk, Kauncbas etc, who were accommodated as shudras in the brahrnadcd order. This is true of the Abhiras as well as far as the Deccan was

1 at: v -..L-itm~ita dealing with the career of a Sena King of Bengal in the twelfth century speaks of the reordering of the social order. The King raised the position of the Kaivarthas, potters, blacksmiths, garlandmakers while the goldsmiths and t r a d e r - b n l r u were depded . In the region of another Sena King ( ~ ~ s h m a n a Sena), a writer says in connection with the unfurling ceremony of traders' banner called Shakradhvaj~: "0 where are the traders who once held you aloft. You are now being used as plough or animal post." Vallalasena's dwading of trading brabmanns can also be favourably compared with allusions to nishpd brPhmonas (aboriginal priests making their way into the brahmma fold) who got reoognised as bcabmanas but were assigned low status in the society. In South India, a Shaiva brahmana teacher called Basava preached religious equality of men and women. The tendency to eliminate intermediary v~ raa s is also noticeable in. the status of scribes. The Kayaithas, Karanas, L e k h h s and IipiLarrs are classed as shudras. Same was true of gavundas (modem day Gowdas in Karnataka) in medieval Deccan.

5.6.3 Rise of-a New Literate CIass 1 The {henomenon of land grants involved land transactions, keeping of ownership . I --2- --2 --:-c------ nf m ~ ~ c l ~ r ~ r n ~ n t rtatistim. This meantea c h of s-&t$

of writers and record keepers. Though the first kayastha is mentioned in Gupta ipcriptions from Bepgal, the post-Gupta inscriptions are full of references to a gar variety of people involved in record keeping activities. Apart from kayasthas, these included kmnas, ean ikas , pwtapala, lekhaka, diviw, aksharachanchu, dhannalekhin, aksMpatalika, etc. Though these scribes were being recruited from different varnas, latek they got crystallized into distinct castes wth attendent marriage restrictions. From the ninth century we hear of a large number of kayastha families such as Valabha, Gapda, Mathur, Katana, Shrivastavya, Negam, etc. The use of Kula and Varnsha with kayastha from the eleventh century and terms such as jati and gyati with kayastha &om 12th-13th century show that the emergence of the kayastha caste was evident. Individual kayasthas began to play leading role in learning and literatme. Tathagatarakshita of Orissa who belonged to a family of physicians by profewion and kayastha by caste, was a reputed professor of Tantras in the Vikrarnashila U$versity (in Bihar) in the twelfth century.

5.6.4 Phenomenhl Increase in the Rise of New Mixed Castes

This is one of the mdst distinctive features of social changes during the centuries urider reference. Thd Brahmavnbarta Purana dictum deshabhda (difference based on regions/temtorie$) leads to differences in castes. A village named Brihat-Chhattivama (inhabited by 36 varnas) is mentioned in a tenth century inscription from Benkal. No vama seemed to have remained homogeneous and got fragmented on account of territorial aflliations, purity of gotras and pursuance of specific crafts, professions and vocations:

i) Amongst Brahmanas: The multiplication of castes as a phenomenon appears to be most pronounced among brahmanas. As already mentioned, they were no longer confined to their traditional sixfold duties. Apart from occu~ying high governmental positions such as those ktf ministers, purohitas, judges, etc. they had also started performing military functions. For example, the senapati of Prithviraj Chauhan was a brahmana named Skanda and another brahmana named Rak was Leading the army of a ruler of Sapadalalaksha (In Rajasthan). Inscriptions from Pehoa and Siyadoni and dated in ninth-tenth century mention brahmanas as horse dealers and betel sellers. The eleventh century Kashmiri writer Kshemendra mentions brahmanas performing functions of artisans,

a dancers and inddlging in the sale of wine, butter-milk, salt, etc. Functional d@nction of bdhmanas is reflected in such titles as:

Shrotriya, pandii, maharaja-pandita, dikshit, yajnik, pathaka, upadhyaya, thaklrura:agnihotri, etc

Mitakshara, the famous commentary on the Smrili of Yagyavalkya speaks of the ten-fold gradation ofl brahmanas ranging between Deva (who is a professor, and devoted to religion and shastras) and Chandal, who does not perform srrndhya three times a day. In betwgen were the shudrabrahmanas who lived by profession of arms and temple priests.

Divisions within the brolhmana vama were also caused by temtorial affiliations. In North India we hear d Sarasvat, Kanyakubja, Maithi, Ganda and Utkal brahmanas. In Gujartat and Rajasthan they were identified in terms of their mola (original place of habitation) and divided into Modha, Udichya, Nagara, etc. By the late medieval times, the brahmanas were split into about 180 mulas. There were also the feelings of superiority. While there was a phenomenal migration of brahmanas, certain regions were ponsidered to be papadeshas (inpious regions). These included Saurashtra, S i d h and Dakshmapath.

ii) Amongst Kshatiiyas: The ranks of kshatriyas also swelled in the post-eighth century. Numerous works give varying lists of 36 clans of Rajputs in northern India alone. They arose out of different strata of population-kshatriyas, brahmanas, some other tribes including even the original ones and also out of the ranks of foreign invaders who settled here and got assimilated into the Indian social system. While the traditional notion invested the kshatriya vama as a whole with func%ons of rulership, the ideologues were never opposed to

. I recagnising in many cases the non-kshatriya rulers as kshatriyas. It is said that from amone the kanutred "resnectahle men were enrolled amnnv the Shekhavat

and the Wadhela tribes of Rajputs whilst the lower kinds were allotted to castes of Kolis, Khantas and Mers". Thai there was a conscious attempt to give exalted genealogies to rulers in many parts of India has been discussed in details below

, (See Units 10.4, 11.4.3 and 12). Some of the new kshatriyas were called Samskara-Varjita, i.e. they were deprived of ritualistic rites. This may be taken as a coverup for their admission to the brahmanical social order through inferior rites.

iii) Amongst Vaishyas and Shudras: The process of caste proliferation did not leave the vaishyas and shudras untouched. While these two broad varnas, as seen above (Unit 5.6. I), were clearly coming closer to each other, there is an equally unmistakable evidence of jatis (castes). Like the bral~maoas, the vaishyas too were being identified with regional affiliations. Thus, we a&unt for vaishyas called Shrimal's, Palliwals, Nagar, Disawats, etc. No less striking is the heterogeneity of the Shudras who had been performing multifarious functions. They were agricultural labourers, petty peasants, artisans, craftsman, servants and attendants. The Brahma Vaivarta Purana lists as many as one hundred castes of shudras. In their case too, these sub-divisions were based on regional and territorial affiliations. In addition, shudra castes were also emerging which were related to a specific process of industrial working, e.g. Padukakrit, Charmabra (makers of shoes, leather workers), etc. Crystallization of craftd into castes was a complementary phenomenon. It seems that napita, modaka, tambdika, suvanrakara, sutrakara, malakara, etc. emerged as castes out of various crafts. These castes increased with the growth of nrling aristocracy and their dependence is reflected in their characterization as ashrita. Their subjection and immobility is indicated in the transfer of trading guilds (called shrenis or prakritis) to brahmana donees. An inscription of 1000 A.D, belonging to Yadava mahasamanto Bhillama-I1 defines the donated village as comprising eighteen guilds. Incidentally, these guilds also functioned as castes.

;:heck Your Progress 2 I) List the six duties of brahmaoas.

............................................................................................................................................. 2) What led to the increase in .the rise of new mixed castes? Answer in about ten

............................................................................................................................................. 3) W c h of the following statements are right or wrong? Mark (J) or (X).

i) During eighth to thirteenth centuries varna norms were being redefined. 6

ii) The intermediary varnas were present in Bengal and South India.

iii) An unequal distribution of land and military power accounted for the growth of feudal ranks cutting across varna distinctions.

. . iv) The famous Chinese traveller'Hsuan-Tsang mentions shudras as

.n-m.lt..r;ctc

5.7 LAND DISTRIBUTION, FEUDAL RANKS AND VARNA DISTINCTIONS

The studies of the past-Gupta economic and political structures (Blocks 1 and 3 respectively) have @ken due note of newly emerged graded land rights. The hierarchy of officials and vassals (See also Unit 9.4) also shows the impact of unequal distribution of land. The kultifarious functions of vassals and officials (See Unit 9.9, show among other feratures a strong predilection of military obligations. The nature of power dispersal and its links with the structure of land distribution were bound to influence the social wt-up as well. One very significant dimension of this impact was the emergence of feudal ranks cutting across varna distinctions. Constituting the ruling aristacracy wag no longer the monopoly of Lrsbatriyas.-That the feudal ranks were open to all varuas is clear in the 1Mansam (a text on architecture) when it lays

'

down that everybody irrespective of his varna could get the two lower military ranks in the feudal hierarchy: praharka and astragrahin. Although lowest in rank, the astrPgrPhin was entitied to have 500 horses, 5000 elephants, 50,000 soldiers, 5000 women attendants and one queen. We do not have to take these figures literally but surely, the text is an important indicator of v a m distinctions getting a rude shock by new distribution of 4nd and power. Further, the titles such as thakur, raut, nayaka, etc. were not confined to kshatriyas or Rajputs. These were also conferred on kayasthas and other mtes who were granted land and who sewed in army. Kulluka's commentaty on the Smriti of Manu mentions the tendency of bigger merchants joining the ranks of the ruling landed aristocracy. In Kashmir, rajanaka, a little of high honour literally meaning "nearly a kingn, got closely associated with the brahumas and later on it became a family name in the form of razdnn.

Feudal titles were also bestowed upon artisans. For example, the Deopara inscription of Vijayasena tells us that Shulapani; who was the head of artisans of Varendra (in West Bengal), held the title ranaka .

The symbols and ilsipia of social identity amongst feudal rank holders were alsb related to landed postsessions. Badges of-honour, fly whisk, umbrella, horses, elephants,%palanquin$, acquisition of pancha-mahashabda (See also Unit 9.6), etc. depended on the s-c place in the feudal hierarchy. To illustrate, chakravarth and mahasamantas were permitted to erect the chief gate (sinhadvar) which could not be done by lesser vassals. The provision of varying sizes of houses for different grades of vassals and officjals was also the product of the impact of unequal holdings.

5.8,' INCREA$ING SOCIAL TENSIONS

Though various modifications were taking placewd developments were happening which cut across vama distinctions, nevertheless, the pace of social changes in the pst-eighth centuries was far from being an agent of harmonious and egalitarian set-up. The manifestations of social tensions were too many.

A society which was based on an unequal distribution of bases of economic power was bound to be iniquitous. Though the shudras were rising in their status but untouchability was very much part of the social fabric. A fairly large dumber of' shudras appear to have been the actual workers, whether on land or in industry, . working for their feudal overlords, notwithstanding the few and rare examples of rurrrshrita shudras. Pursuit of the so-called impure occupations, being guilty of prohibited acts, adherence to heretical acts and physical impurities were major factors for the growth of untouchability. The Brihad Naradiya Purana reveals the beginnings of the exdusion of the shudras from places of workship. The chandalas and dombas were to cany sticks by striking which they made themselves known so that people could avbid touching them. When Vastupala was the governor of Cambay, he construcked platforms and thus stopped the promiscuous mingling of all castes in shops where curd was sold. Though the brahrnanical lawgivers were showing their concern f ~ r the proprietory rights of women, specially on stridban, it was also an age when the b e o u s practice of sati seems to have made a real beginning. Kina Warsha's mnther nerfnrminn it even before the death of her husband

Prabhakanarandhhe, is a classic example. It is mentioned in the Harshacbarita of Banabhatta. The Rajatarangini comprising chronicle of Kashmir also refers to the performance of sati in royal families. The archaeological evidence is to be seen in the numerous sati-satta plaques found in both North and South India. .

Sectarian rivalries must have caused sufficient tensions in the society. A brahmana who believed in Jainism was considered to be an outcaste. In the Latakamelaka, two brahmanas indulge in the exchange of hot words and charge each other with 'abrahmanya without any rhyme or reason. The p d e l between the multiplication of religious sects and that of castes in medieval times is very close. Differences in rituals, food, dress, etc. caused religious splits. For example Budhism split into 18 sects: The Jainas in Karanataka had as many as seven sects: Karnataka was also the scene of tussle between the Lingayats and Virashaivas. Very often, the religious sects tended to crystallize into castes. Isn't it an historical irony that the religions whose avowed aim was to abolish caste distinctions and cleavages based on birth were themselves swallowed by the caste system? It is also true that quite ~ f t e n these sectarian tensions were products of the land grant economy. There seems t o v e been an inevitable competition amongst numerous religious sects-both br anical and non-brahmanical, to grab as much land as possible. Indeed, great majority of religious establishments tended to become lafiied magnates. "91; or example, some rulers of the post-eighth centuries, such as Avantivarman of the Mattamayara region (possibly a Chalukya prince of central India, near Gwalior) and a Cedi King of Dahala are said to have dedicated their kingdoms to be religious heads of the Shaiva Siddharta school and then apparently ruled as vassals. The movement of a particular sect of the Jainas emerged in the eleventh century in Gujarat and Rpjasthan, which was called vidhi-ehaitya. It was a sort of protestant movement aiming at denunciation of greedy and acquisitive Jaina ascetics who were Qrhg to grab land.

The rise of kayasthas, the new literati class, had its own implications as far as social tensions were concerned. This class had clearly emerged as a challenge to the position of brabmanrrs. The example of kayastha Tathagata-rakshita of Orissa

, becoming a reputed professor of Tantras in the Vikramashila University has already I been cited above (See Sec. 5.6.3). Kshemendra of Kashmir clearly writes that the rise

of kayasthas led to loss of economic privileges becah hyaatbp officials hesitated in ' resuming landgrants to bmhmmm. In Kashmir the members of the temple-purohita

corporation used to organise prayopaveebrr (hunger strikes) as a weapon for getting their grievances redressed. As if with a vengeance, the brdmamw in order to reiterate their superiority, often despised kayaPthPs as shrdrPa.

No less significant were the manifestations of rural tensions. The damara revolts in Kashmir, rebellion of the kaivarattas in the region of Ramapala in Bengal, acts of self-immolation in situations of encroachments on land in Tamil Nadu, appropriation of donated land by shpdrps in the Pandya territory are indices of distrust agpinst the new landed intermediaries (See also Unit 1.5, Block-1). .

b

Check Your Progress 3 1) C o w e n t on the increasing social tensions in the post-eighth centuries in about

10 lines.

- 2) Write a note oh the emergence of feudal ranks cutting across vama distinctions.

Answer in 10 Unes.

............................................................................................................................................. 3) Mentien six castes that emerged out of various crafts. , .

5.9 LET US 'SUM LIP Z

This survey of social changes during the centuries between eighth and thirteenth centuries highhghts the following:

extremely rich and varied source material for the survey

the brahmanical perspective with a concern for social rigidity and the need to maintain the vama order,

questioning of the bases of caste system where an emphasis is put on consideration of economic factors in the determination of social status,

changing material base and its impact on the emergence of the new social ethos,

modifications in the varna order, particularly the changing position of the vaishyas and shudras and the disappearances of intermediary varnas, specially in Bengat and South India,

rise of kayasthas-a new lite~ati class,

multiplication of castes in all varnas,

linkage between land distribution and the emergen& of feudal ranks and how the later were cutting across varna lines, and hally,

absence of a harmonious and egalitarian society marked by various sources of tension.

5.10 KEY WORDS k

m ~ t n : hdependent shudras. . asBCita : dependent shudras.

bhojyannn : those shudras, whose food preparations could be taken by brahmanas.

gavundas : scribes in Karnataka with landed interests. haia-jati F r p a : vanity of caste and clan. I*

ashrita : dependent shndras.

mula : place of origin of a family Kaste. papadishas : impious regions. prakritis : trading guilds. samskara-va jfqa : those who were deprived of the rights to perform rituals. varnadhikarin : officer responsible for the maintenance of vanus.

I 5.11 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS I EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1 1) Base your answer on Sec. 5.2 2) i) J ii) X iii)/ iv) J 3) Base your answer on Sec. 5.4

Check Your Progress 2 4 1) The sixfold duties included studying, teaching, sacrific& etc. See Sub-sec. 5.6.1

2) Refer to Sub-sec. 5.6.4. 3) i) J ii) X iii) J iv) J

I Check Your Progress 3 1) Base your answer on Sec. 5.8 2) Refer to Sub-sec. 5.7 3) Some of the castes were napiter, modaka, malakara etc. Refer Sub-sec. 5.6.4.

Social Organisation

I .-

UNIT 6 IDEOLOGY Structure

6.0 Objectives 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Ideology: Varied Standpoints

6.2.1 Ideology as a System of Knowledge 6.2.2 Sociological Approaches 6.2.3 Psycho-cultural Approaches

6.3 Religion, Ideology and Society 6.4 ' Ideology: The Early Indian Setting 6.5 Ideology: Its Role and Nature in the Post-Gupta Cenhires.

6.5.1 Land Orahts: Their Philosophy 6.5.2 Bhakti and Pilgrimage 6.5.3 Tantricism 6.5.4 Hero-Stones - 6.5.5 ReliGon as Ideology-For Whom?

6.6 Let Us Sum Up . 6.7 Key Words 6.8 Answers?~ Check Your Progress Exercises

After reading this Unit you should be able to explain the:

complexities of difining ideology,

nuances of ideology and the ways of looking at these,

major s t a m in the writings on ideology from various standpoints,

recent developmdnts in the analysis of ideology,

place ojreligion and ideology in society,

philosophical background of land grants in the post-Gupta centuries, and

specific religious developments tn India through the millennia and their potentiahties to act as ideology.

6.1 INTRODUCTION . ,

&Unit deals with the pioblem of ideology. Broadly, three major issues have been discussed. First, the theoretical dimensions of ideology take cognizance of various approaches of studying ideology. It also mentions distinctive contribution in each i ' case. Second, the Unit has also attempted to determine the place of religion and ideology in society. Finally, the theoretical understanding of ideology is applied in the Indian setting. In this cbntext, the focu's is on the role and nature of ideology in the post-Gupta centuries, though certain important religious developments of the pre-Gupta millennizizlhave also been mentioned. The overall thrust underlines the need to study ideology in its potentialities to sway masses.

6.2 IDEOLOGY: VARIED STANDPOINTS The concept of igeology has been one of the most controversial concepts in the history of socispolitical thought as well as in the history of ideas. An understanding

. . of multifarious components of ideology depends on the standpoint from .which it is - viewed. The standpoints are many:.

. It can be viewed as a system of knowlehge,, ,.

scholars have emphasized its.sociologica1 components, and

there have also been writings which emphasize the need to study it through . psychological and cultui?l approaches.

Before undertaking an analysis of ideology as a concept of social thought it is necessary to distinguish between ideology as a concept and ideology as a political doctrine. The analysis of ideology in terms of its nature and functions is quite afar from its ann'-.;is as a body of political beliefs, such as conservatism, liberalism, ~0c idk .i. .

6.2.1 Ideology As a System of Knowledge Amongst the earliest conceptions, the expression 'Ideology' designated a philosophical discipline con&mdt to examine the methodological foundations of all sciences and to guarantee their impartial application. Its basic conception goes back to the d&s of famous English thinker Francis Bacon (1561-- 1626 A.D.). He maintained that progress in science can be guaranteed only if scientific thought can be secured against fallacious ideas. With his doctrine of "idols" (phantoms of misconceptions) Bacon hoped to elucidate why human reason is inhibited from perceiving actuality.

. . Bacon spoke of four types of idbls which affect humans very strongly. The idols of the tribe represent the incapacity to reflect reality adequately. This basic cognitive barrier-common to all humans-is further compounded by the idols of cave: human being appears as an isqlated cavedweller who tends to judge the outside world only from his personal viewpoint. The idols of the market place are misunderstandings in communication which originate in the imprecision of language. Finally, the idols of the theatre consist of obstacles conditioned by authority. tradition, convention and irrational doctrines. Thus, Bacon's doctrine of idols-the earliest form of a theory of ideology-points to feeling, will, communication and transmitted prejudice as factors disturbing pure cognition. Only by disciplining reason can unprejudiced knowledge, and thereby truth, be attained.

This hypothesis of Bacon was the basis for the French ideologues of the latter part of the eighteenth century (Condillac, Cabanis and de Tracy in particular) who sought to do for philosophy what the Englush thinker had done for science. The basic assumption of the ideologues was that all ideas, all knowledge and all faculties of human understanding (perception, memory, judgement) rest on sensory data. The study of the origin and development of ideas in terms of sensations is the only guarantee against errors in cognition and judgement.

Fallacious ideas can41ay claim to a certain authority in society; indeed they may even be championed by those in authority. Consequently, the "ideologists" must not hesitate to apply their scientific methods to the critique of religion and official political ideas. Ideology is, in this sense, a genuine scientific endeavour inlpoten,tial opposition to every sort of authority. However, the post-revolutionary France considered criticism of religious and political ideas as a threat to social stability. 'Ideology' became a term of abuse, and ideological thought was rejected as destructive. For example, Napoleon saw "ideologists" as "ideologues" in a pejorative sense), i.e. isolated worshippers of reason, lacking in common sense-as people who operate on ideas and not facts.

6.2.2 Sociological Approaches C.W. Frohlich in Germany was first to state in 1792 A.D. that human thought depends on social relations. He goes on to demand that the critique of religion and metaphysics be carried to its logical conclusion by a change in property relations. According to Frohlich only a property-free society can make right thinking and

, moral action possible. This suggests an aspect of the ideology problem which is '

systematically developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

The works of Marx and Friedrich Engels represent a watershed in the study of the concept of ideology. They viewed ideology as a system of false ideas, a statement of class position, and a justification for class rule. Ideologies are secondary and unreal, since they are part of the "superstructure" and as such reflection of the more fundamental material economic "base".

Marx and Engels attached a derogatory connotation to ideology, since they viewed all ideological thought as the dishonest use of reasoning; as the conscious or unconscious distortion of facts in order to justify the position of the ruling class. "The

Ideolog

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class, which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its &ing intellectual forcew. Ideology represents, in EngeIs' memorable phrase, "false consciousness". 5 In presenting such a motion of ideology, Marx and his d a t e were profiting from FeuerbachP ( a German Philosopher) insight into the projective character of the religious conceptual world. He perceives in religion the necessarily false form of consciousness deriviog from social relations and conditioned by contradiction between human needs and the means available for satisfying them @ax Weber in Germany had seen the rationale of religion in this contradiction (See also Sec. 6.2.3). For Marx critique of ideology implies more than mere negation of religion, since the latter constitutes priqation for manyit is the reflection of characteristic human traits which have emerged under specific socio-historical donditions. Religion is understood as an "expression" of the social order and as a "protest" against it. Thus, religion is exposed merely in its role of justifying the political status quo: it is also perceived in its negative, anticipatory function and is included in the critique of &al conditions which require ideological clarification. For example, the enlightened man o p ~ any further enlighteximent in order to protect his own interests. Criticism of religion in a society where it has a power-political function is criticism of the political statos quo.

n arx and Engels, b i basing ideas on the socio-economic system, raised an issue that, , at the hands of Karl Mannbeim came to be known as the "Sociology of knowledge",

i.e. the study !,f social bases, conditions, varieties and distortions of ideas. However, unlike Marx and influenced by Weber, Mannbeim gave up primarily class approach and based ideology on the total social structure, particularly political parties.

Conclusions strikingly similar to those of Marx were reached via an entirely different route by two early European sociologists-Mosca and Pareto. Both believed in a scientific approach to social anaiysis. h(

According to Mosca, irs the most decisive feature of any sooiety is its ruling class. A society's art, culture, politics, religion, etc. are all determined by the dominant social' stratum. As such, soaial analysis must begin and end with the ruling.class. The leaders maintain, perpetuate, rationalize, and justify their own rule through the skiiful manipulation of "political formulae" or idelogies.

Pareto divides all human conduct into two categories logical and non-logical--in terms of whether it employs suitable means in pursuit of attainable objectives. He stresses the prevalence of the irrationhl in human conduct. He insists that significant portions of human behaviour are motivated and sustained by non-logical drives lying well below the level of consciousness. All societies, he points out, are filled with taboos, magic and m).ths. In the political realm, codes, constitutions, platforms, and programme fail to meet the criteria of logical action. his is because, among other things, they are stated in the vaguest, most rhetorical, and most meaningless terms.

Thus, in the analyses of society by Mosca and Pareto, ideology is a major varidble. Used synonymously with "myth", "political formula", or "derivation", ideology is viewed as the guiding force imf i ' an society and the principal means for attaining social solidarity.

Among contemporary sociologists, Parsons defines ideology as "an empirical belief system held in c o m n by the members of m y collectivity". It binds the community together, and it legititnizes its value orientations. More significantly, ideology involves an element of distortion. Daniel Bell is an exponent of the "functionalw approach to . ideology. It implies: ,

a action orientation,, ability to promote or undermine legitimacy, potential for attaiqing social solidarity, and value integration.

The "functional" nature of ideology)us also been in thae sense of those forms of social consciousness that are so moulded as to maintain exploitative relation? of production in'any class society. The general function of ideology is to maintain social

cohesion through mystified social relations and class domination. In this way ideology in general is a mystified form of consciousness. Being part of social consciousness, ideology in general appeals to every person in the social formation. However, ideology does not spring automatically out of consciousness. In other words, " consciousness does not develop (in an evolutionary sense) into ideology. Ideology has a material origin in the first place. The analysis of its function is pursued within the social formation as a totality with the social relati,on of production as the object of that analysiS. Inevitablf, the investigator is led to consider, in dealing with class-relations, in whose benefit ideology is. It is the specific social formation of which a specific ideology is an element, and the class struggle appropriate to it, which determines the character of that sp&c ideology.

In sum, the sociological approaches are centrdly concerned with ideology as a system of socially determined ideas, without necessary truth-value but with great potential for social solidarity as well as for social control, mobilization, and manipulation. In addition, ideologies may serve to justify (or reject) a particular set of goals and values and to legitimize (or denounce) political authority. Some writers atta .h a derogatory connotation to ideology, whereas others see it in a neutral light.

6.2.3 Psyc)o-cultural Approaches The psychological theories see ideology primarily as a means or managing personal strain and anxiety, whether socially or psychologically induced. Among the most important exponents of this approach are Sigmund Freud and Franas Sutton. Suggesting that religion and ideology have much in common, Freud makes the follo+g statement: "ReLigious doctrines are all illusions, they do not admit of proof and no one can be compelled to consider them as true or to believe in them....". The strength of religious-ideas lies in the fact that it:

performs the function of wish fulfilment, affords protection and security to the individual, controls instinctual behaviour and relieves humans of their sense of guilt, and counteracts human's alienation from society.

The case for substituting "ideology" wherever Freud uses "religion", is strengthened by his following statement:

Having recognised religious doctrines to be illusions, we are at once confronted with the further question: may not all cultural possessions, which

, we esteem highly and by which we let our life be ruled, be of a similar nature? Should not the assumptions that regulate our political institutions likewise be called illusions?

Sutton and his colleagues offer a conception ol ~deology as a response to strain . generated by social roles. Individuals daily confront conflicting demands and anxiety situations in the course of performing their roles. Ideology is a system of ideas that enables humans to cope with strain.

Such psychological aporoaches also rekind us of Max Weber's emphasis on the , "religious anchorage" ,f economic, political, social and cultural institutions primarily because ."religion7' wzls human's saviour in situations of scarcity, anxiety and deprivation. Weber thought that specific religious features are not only partially independent of the relevant social and economic conditions Bntthg religious determination of life conduct and "economic ethic" was also a major consideration. Weber's was thus an anti-Marxist position.

Although there is some relationship between ideology and strain, the actual linkages are by no means clear or simple. This is because the individual may react to strain in a variety of ways. Hence ideology is merely one way of responding to stress.

Among the psycho-cultural approaches to ideology Leon Dion refers to ideology as - *a more or less integrated cultural and mental structure". By this he means a pattern of norms and values that is both objective (cultural) and subjective'(mental). Clifford Gee- defines it in terms of symbols and symbolic action. For him ideology is more than a mere psychological response to strain; it embodies social and cultural element as well. Broadly speaking, ideology is a cultural symbol-sjlstem that aims to guide the

humans in their political life: "Whatever else ideologies may be .... They are, mest distinctively, maps df problematic social reality and matrices for the creation of collective conscience."

We have identified and e x m e d at some length several approaches to the concept of ideology. Each approach throws light on a different dimension of concept; together they reveal its extraordinarily rich heritage. Ideology is an emotion-laden, myth-saturated, action-related system of beliefs and values about humans and society, legitimacy abd authority. The myths and values of ideology are communicated through symbols in simplified and economical manner. Ideologies have a high potentid for mass mobilisation, manipulation, and control; in thaJ sense, thky are mobilised belief systems.

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Check Yohr Progress 1 1) List the four types of idols referred by Bacon?

............................................................................................................................................. 2) How "Ideology" was conceived by Marx and Emgels. Answer in about ten lines.

.................................................. ............................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. 3) What are the categoties of human actions defined by Pareto?

6.3 RELIGION, IDEOLOGY AND SOCIETY

Without identifying religion and ideology, it may be safely asserted that writin& in the last decades-particularly those of Marxists in varied disciplines-have considerably enriched the study of both as cultural forms and processes.

Amongst the classic statements about the relations between religion and society one can mention scattered and unsystematic references to religion in the works of Marx and Engels. As early as 1844, Marx wrote:

"The basis of keligious criticism is "man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion is the self-consciousness and.self-esteem of man who has either not yet found himself or has already lost himself again*.

For Marx "man is up abstract being encamped outside the world." The only way for man to rid himself of this illusion is to destroy the social world that produces it. As hiam PrWop: . .

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R e l i o n s distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and also the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature.

So the struggle against religion is necessarily a struggle against that world whose "halo is religion" and "of which religion is the spiritual aromn". It i,s in this context that religion becomes the "opium of people". Here Marx anticipdtes one of the crucial elements of his concept of ideology, namely, that religion compensates in the mind for a deficient reality; it reconstitutes in the imagination a coherent solution which goes beyond the real world in an attempt to resolve the contradibns of the real world. So Marx confirms his conviction that the ideological inversion responds to and derives from a real inversion. As he suggests:

Man is the world of w, the state, society. This state, this society, produce religion, an inverted world consciousness because they are an inverted world.

It was largely the earliest exponent of sociology of religion, Durkheim to begin with, who contributed to the discussion on religion as an ideology, Like Marx, Durkheim made clear that religion and ideology have a ,social basis, particularly in patterns of

I social relations and organisation, but they also have a degree of autonomy, followihg

i c e m rules peculiar to culture.

Max Weber, a junior contemporary of Durkheim and a product of Bismarckian Germany, is known for his numerous writings not only on religions of specific countries such as India and China but also on specific religions as well as sociology of religion. From the perspective of sociology of relgion, he highlighted the following three forms of relationship between social organisation and religious ideas:

Social groups with particular economic interests often show themselves to be more receptive to some religious ideas than to others. ~ h & e they were chivalrous warrior heroes, political officials, economically acquisitive classes or finally, where an organised hierocracy dominated religion, the results were different than from where genteel intellectuals were decisive. The social stratum including artisans, traders, entrepreneurs engageed in industry are attracted by all sorts of individual phu i t s of salvation. Everywhere the hierocracy has sought to monopolise the administration of religious values. The individuals quest for salvation or the quest of free communities by means of contemplation, orgies or asceticism has been considered highly suspect and has had to be regulated ritually and controlled hierocratically. From the standpoint of the interests of the priesthood in power, this was considered natur.al.

Religious ideas lead to the formation of certain groups, such as monastic orders, guilds of magicians, or a clergy and these groups may develop quite extensive economic activities.

The gap between the elite and the masses poses a problem with which each of the great religions of the world has had to wpe with. With specific references to religion in China, particularly Confucianism and Taoism, Weber shows how the former remained amfin@ to the Emperor and the bureaucratic order but broadly excluded the masses. In contrast, the brahmanns in India, who were royal chaplains, spiritual advisers, theologians and authorities on questions of ritual propriety, achieved a "systematic rationalization of magic" and effected a compromise between their own elite interests in a digdied way of life and their need to provide for the release of the masses from the misfortunes that were their lot. I Surely with such an analysis, Weber had produced one of the most sensitive and complex accounts of "elective &ties" between social groups and sets bf beliefs or ideologies. However, Weber's notion of the "religious anchorage" and his emphasis of channelling effegs of "ideas" rather than "material interests" in determining people's action make him an anti-Marxist.

Recent developments in the analysis of ideology have been concerned with improving explanations of how anti why ideology takes a particular form and how it works. Two important developments are noticeable.

First, more attention has been given to what Geertz has called "autonomous p r v ~f symbolic formulation," which as already seen above (See Sec. 6.2.3),

md Culture: 1. l rl1Ul-T

entails examining ideologies as systems of,interesting symbols and the ways in which they provide plausible interpretations of problematic social reality. This h a helped us in appreciating Intricate and complex nature of symbolic processes, wh~ch cannot beldifferentiated s~rnply in terms of false consciousness versus true consciousness.

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ii) Second, there is now an awareness in the field of ideology in relation to classes .

and groups as being one of contestation and a 'lived relationship', not a mechanical procless.

IDEOLOGY: THE EARLY INDIAN SETTING

There are certain crucial questions which need to be raised before the specificities of early Indian re@on$ are taken up for discussion. If ideology is considered to be subservient to the interests of ruling/dominant classes, do we simultaneously assume the existence of an ideology of the dominated classes? What is the raison d'etre of dominant ideas? Are they dominant because they are supposed to be widely shared by the dominated classes themselves? Under what conditions do the dominated groups come to sharp interpretations of the world that legitimize the existing social order not only in the eyes of the dominant group, but also in their own eyes? Do we say that the ideas of xhe dominated do not constitute an ideology since they do not legitimize the existinp social order?

We review below certain phases of Indian religions to illustrate the theoretical position. The Indian scene may not enable us to answer various questions raise'd,

- nevertheless it would be worth determining the parameters of religion functioning as ideology in early India.

Amongst one of the learliest phases, the question of religion being an "intensifying factor" of "catalyst" of the urban growth under the Harappans has been highlighted in recent specialised !writings. That this role has been attributed to rehgion on negative evidence is Pather apparent to be overlooked. Equally exaggerated is the enthusiasm with whiph it is treated like an ideology. W e it is possible to infer certain soclal divisions, it is not easy to share D.D. Kosambi's dogmatic assertion of the prototype of brahmaaa priesthood recognizable in the Harappan metropolis. . Eh in if parallels from other contemporary centres of bronze age civilizations are mvoked, one would do well to recall V. Gordon Childe's perceptive observation on pnest kmgs of Sumet, viz., it was the economic system "that made the God (through his represent )rive) a great capitalist and landlord his temple into a city bank." It must have been the potential of the people to generate agricultural surplus necessitating huge granaries at Mbhenjodaro, Harappa and possibly at Kalibangan t w . This is coupled with extensive mechanism and network of internal as well as long-distance overland and maritime trade symbolized in the Lothal "wareha&"' This must have been instrumental in giving shape to such forms of religious manifestations as we are : able to even speculate about.

The existence of pi Aary producers and managers of production in the later Vedic period is generally rbgnized by scholars. We argue that there was not only an antagonism between the two but amongst the non-producing classes too (bralunanas and kshafriyas) and that the latter struggle can be rationalised in terms of fight for agricultural surplus. But do the exalted sacnficlal cult of the Brahmanas and the atma-vidya of the dpanishads constitute ideologies of brahmanas and kshafriyas respectively? It may8be tempting to call both as ideologies of the ruling class. However, such chargcterization is not only simplistic but also ignores the dialectics of the development of these rdigio-philosophic systems. That none of them is a monolithic uniform idea should be apparent from the minutae of various sacrifices. Just one of the numerous ceremonies of only one sacrifice, viz., the ratnahavimshi ceremony of the rajLsuya shows how the tribal and matriarchal elements were being submerged by class, territorial and how priestly domination was being replaced by that of the Kshatriyps. That sacrifices aimed at the creation of large communities by transcending consideiations ought not be overlooked in the present context.

prescribed for the admission of the Vratya chief of Magadha

to Vedic society and the chief of the nishadas called Sthapati finds a place in Vedic rituals meant for higher orders.

Again it is generally accepted that as opposed to brahmanical Sanskrit works, the Pali texts of the Buddhists provided a different rationale of the origin of kingship, and the new monarchs of the Ganga Valley in the sixth-fifth centuries of the pre-Christian era were favourably disposed towards non-brahmanical religions. But it would again be an over-simplification to say that the Buddha's was an ideology of the kshatriyas. This is being suggested not only because all the concerned monarchies were cekainly not in the hands of the kshatriyas but also because it would unjustifiedly restrict the social base of early Buddhism. Apart from the material sustenance received by the Buddha from peasants and traders who were certainly out of reckoning of upper class dominance, a fairly extensive popularity of the master amongst brahmanas too is not unknown.

Ashok's Dhamma, which was anything but religion in the literal sense of the term, and is perhaps closer to ideology, offers yet another matiifatation. If the imperatives of Dhamma are to be understood, one will have to go beyond the zeal of the so-called "philosopher-king" and the "revolutionary" impact of the great event-the Kalinga War. Recent studies on the concepts of state and empire, striking a severe blow to the notions of "centralised" Mauryan empire, enable us to highlight the compulsions of the economic logic of the set-qq and comprehend the driving forces behind Ashok's Dhrunma.

6.5 IDEOLOGY: ITS ROLE AND NATURE IN THE- POST-GCTPTA CENTCTRIES

Since we are concerned with ideology within the broad framework of society and culture between the eighth and thirteenth centuries, it would be worth working out its role and nature. We have been emphasizing the dominance of land-grant economy in the post-Gupta centuries. Could this phenomehon of almost pan-Indian dimensions be seen as an ideological force? Why land-grants at all?

6.5.1 Land Grants: Their Pbilosopby Epigraphic records, which constitute our principal sources, are marked by a contradiction. On the one hand, they are quite eloquent about descriptions of cruelty, violence and lust for temtorial power on the part of kings, while on the other, same powers show magnanimity to blPhmana donees. Perhaps these grants were means to satisfy or the,manifestation of Kings, vanity. The pompous genealogies, full of grandiloquent titles for donor and his predecessors were typical examples of political psychophancy. Apparently, there was certain amount of selfishness on the part of donor kings. The ostensible purpose for these large munificent gifts was to earn puoya not only for donors but for their predecessors as well.

It is argued that landgrants served the purpose of financial support to selfless' brahmanas-who were engaged in imparting learning and educition. The brahmanas used to lead a plain and simple life. Such an argument is an oversimplification for wc have already seen (Units 5.6.1 a& 5.6.4) that the vocations of bralunanas were getting diversified. There was a distinct transformation of brahmanas from priesthood to landlords-they were emerging as a property seeking and property owning class.

A significant dimension Uf the epigraphic evidence under discussion is the close correspondence between dhannashastric prescriptions and terminology of gift making in inscriptions. The whole concept of dana (gift making) was undergoing perceptible change. The dharmashastms underline prayashchitta (expiation, repentance) for sins committed in this world. Imagine, which King would have been free from sins and transgressions? After all, they had all been guilty of Loot, arson, killing-particularly in wars. The lawmakers, who were invariably brahmanas, instilled a feeling of fear by a graded system of sins and punishments and by evolving such notions as that of mahapatakw.

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The'sense of y i l t in kings coupled with principle of its prayashchitta was exploited by brahmanas. Huge gifts of cows, bulls, land and gold were strongly recommended by them if the kings did not want themselves or their ancestors to lead a miserable plight of an insect or lower animal in the next world. Of all the items of gift, land got the pre-eminent position. Vyasa, who is quoted very often in epigraphic records, is known to have laid down that giver of land lives in heaven for, 16000 years. Many puranas, similarly, stipulate that the donor of land would have the good fortune of being in the charming company of apsaras (celestial nymphs). In the hands of brahmana lawgivers, the sacred texts did not remain abstract theories and prescriptive works only. Instead. they seem to have acquired the character of some sort of policy statements.

Were the kings who madelarge gifts of land, only victims of avarice of brahmanas? Evidently not. The quest for legitimacy was a major consideration for political authorities. (The issue has been discussed in detail in Block 3; see specially Units 9.7, 10.4 and 11.5). In the present context it would be sufficient to underline the mutuality of interests bf the donor as well as the donee. The pmhastikaras (eulogy singers), the dharmasbastrakaras (lawmakers) and purohitas (brahmana in the court) were all collaborators in the new landed order.

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How did this new order manifest itself in the cultural ethos of the post-Gupta centuries? It appears that at the level of ideas the post-Gupta scene in the entire sub-continent is marked by two distinctive strains,. viz. growth of bbakti and an all-pervasive influence of tantric practices. It is possible to explain their widespread dispersal in terms of the growth of the feudal mode of production epitomised in the phenomenon of land grants. +

65.2 Bhakti and Pilgrimage 8

Society and Coltore: 8th-13th Cenbry ,

For about half a millennium from the mid-sixth century, Shaiva and Vaishnava saints (Nayanmars and Alvars respectively) and their followers practised and propagated bhakti in the cduntryside and went to pilgiim centres singing and dancing. The overall pattern is that of consolidation of classical brahmanical society in early . medieval India. Origiqating in sixth century Kanchipuram, area under the Pallavas,,it had traversed the full length of Tarnilaham by the end of the ninth century and ,

engulfed all the major kingdoms of the Cholas, Pandyans and the Cheras. If we are to believe in a recent analysis, the spread of the Bhakti movement in the north, epitomised in such a popular work as the Bhagavata Purana, was also the result of the impetus given by the Tamil saints. The spread of the movement is inthately associated with the temple base, which, in turn, derived its raison d'etre and economic sustenance &rough land grants received from not only kings and men at the helm of political affairs but even from influential members of the society.

\ Some recent writings on the Pallavas, the Cholq and the Alirars as well as Nayanmars have been able to show the gradual importance of the paddy cultivation in the Kaveri Valley ahd the resultant pattern of brahrnanical settlements, which, in turn, contributed to the growth of the 'Chola power. To illustrate, the specific spread of the temple movement in the Kaveri Valley may be looked at. The three famous Nayanmars, viz., Appar, Sambandhar and Sundarar sang 307,384 and 100 hymns respectively. Out of thme 442 temples, as many as 3 15 belong to the Chola period and all of which are concentrated in the Kaveri Valley (126 being situated north of this river while 189 were to its south). That this temple Bhllrti movement was an important tool of the consolidation of political power by feudal chiefs and kings is apparent from the similarities in the vocabulary and symbols used to designate temple and its officers on the one hand andl the King and his retinue on the other. For example: Koyil stands for both palace and temple; crowned deities were comparable with crowped kings; rituals of worship 1s conceived on the same pattern as the rituals of service to the King-bathing, anointing, decorating, dressing of deity, were replicas of similat practices in the court. Taxes and tributes were paid to temples, as they were experted forkings as well. Like the palace, temple is also constrbcted with mandapas; prakaras, dvarapalas, etc. (pavilions, walled enclosures, doorkeepers respectivdy),Ahe chief deity of the temple, like the King, was accompanied by his consort and relatives and served by a whole m y of musicians, dancing girls, actors, garland makers, etc. To compare the feudal p9amid consisting of plurality and co-existence of the lords-each commanding loyality from h&

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'immediate vassal-we sek in the Bhakti'moyement a clear recognition of the plurality and co-existence of different deities-each deity occupying the position of the lord for his devotee. The devotee habitually addresses the deity as udaiyar or tambiran standing for "lord" and "master" and describes himself as adiyan, i.e. slave. What becaye the hallmark of greatness in the age of growing brahrnanical power was the surrender of pride in th.e self and voluntary acceptance of the position of "the servant of the Lord" -sls Kulashckhara Alvar had proclaimed. To all this must be added the concerted drive on the part' of men of religion of evolve a mechanism of regular pilgrimage ost&nsibly to earn merit (Punya). It is well known that the brahmanical literature alone mentions more than 400 tirthas in early medieval times and that he Mahabharata and the Puranas alone contain at least 40,000 verses on tirthas, sub-tirthas and legends connected with them. And this is not all-one can add not only numerous sthalapuranas but specific digests on tirthas dealing with brahmanical and non-brahmanical centres of pilgrimage.

6.5.3 Tantricism . .

Tantricism, like bhakti, permeates all religions in the post-Gupta centuries, not excluding even the so-called puritanical non-brahmanical religious systems. R.S. Sharma has retionalised it in terms of the preponderance of the cult of the Mother Goddess consequent upon the spread of agriculture as a result of land grants. A fascinating dimension of this analysis is the process of cultural interaction of priestly Sanskritik and tribal elements. A recent study, based entirely on literary data, argues that the Devi Mahatmya of the Markandeya Puraoa (c. sixth century A.D.) is the first comprehensive account of the Goddess to appear in Sanskrit-the explanation is sought in terms of Sar+skritisation. It is yderlined that the basic impulse behind the worship of Goddess is of pon-Aryan and non-Sanskritic origin. A survey ofShakti sculptures in Madhya Pradesh alone refers to as many as 400 images. A great majority of their names such as Charchika, Umarimata, Bijasanidevi, Behamata, Biiasanidevi, etc. link them with popular tribal deities.

6,5.4 Hero-Stones In recent years there have been some very refreshing and stimulating writings on'the notions of Death-in terms of rituals, religious beliefs and practices, art forms an$ above all, in association with socio-economic developments. These have resulted in a special genre of literature on an obscure field of religious and art history of the sub-continent. These stidies centre round the hero-stones, which are littered over most parts of the Indian sub-continent. There has been a long and almost continuous history of these relics for more than 1500 years and extends to both brahmanical and nbn-brahmanical religions. They are locally called viragals, natugals, paliyas, govardhana stambhes, kirti-stambhas, ehhaya-stambhas, or merely as chhahis, stambhas devalis, etc. These tablets Qr pillars fall into several poups originating in ritual or cult practices as well as religious or social customs of its batrons :

The chhaya-stambha is among the earliest archaeological evidence, and it seems to be rwtedip the social practic& of the Buddhists.

The nhidhi represents the ritual death'practices exclusively by the Jains.

The viragals or at least the currency of this term-cross religious demarcations, if not the conventional geographical limits of southern India.

The kirti-stamba, paliya, chatri, devali and stambha share the country between the Himalayas and the Vindhyas-mostly in Gujarat and Rajasthan.

The change in style of hero-stones seems to refleg a change in the status of the hero being memorialised. Many of the earlier stones from Tamil Nadu come from the North Arcot district which is known to have been at that time q area of Livestock breeding, where cattle-raiding would be one method of increasing wealth. Later, elaborate stones commemorated heroes who claimed to belong &I the upper caste groups, often claiming Lshntriya status. The indication of the hero's religious sect may have been due to the influence of the bhakti sects. The following is suggested on an impressionistic basis: topographically and ecologically there is a frequency of such memorials in upland areas, in the vicinity of passes across hills, and in areas regarded

~racti~~onallt I\ frontier /one> w h ~ c t ~ otten ~ncluded primarily pastoral region, the % i ; \L~rt \ ot t o ~ ~ . s t s and the edgc~ of what have come to be called the 'tribal areas' of I ~rltrnl I I IL~I~.

Hero-stone\ are relatively Infrequent in the large agricultural tracts of the Indus and thc Ganga valleys a& in the agriculturally rich delta areas of the peninsula. Frontier .tones were often majntalned as buffer regions where political security was transient and where roya! armies did not necessarily guarantee protection to local inhabitants. They would, therefore, inevita hly have recourse to their own arrangements for protection, in which the village hero or the local chief played a major role. This would suggest a differentiation of military functions in a decentralised political syktem. Further, since these relics proliferated in the post-sixth century period, it would be worth finding out the correlation and correspondence, if any, between the distribution of land grants on the one hand and that of the memorial stones on the other. This is particularly desuable in view of several assumptions:

a) the phenomenon of the lanJ grants is associated with the expansion of agriculture,

b) both memoriai stones and land grants are considered -to be useful mechanisms of cultic integration- the cult of Vithoba in Pandharpur (Maharashtra) is in itself a case of the hero-stone being transformed into a deity, and

c) both the phenodena have also been instrumental in the processes of state formation.

6.5.5 Religion as Ideology - For Whom? Such prominent manifestations of the religio-philosophic outlook of people of the Indian sub-continent of the post-Gupta centuries as the rise of bhakti, tantricism, pilgrimage, etc. are indeed products of the land grant economy. Though the lardamanas were the biggest beneficiaries of the mechanism and may have also worked consciously in league with contemporary rulers to prepare a philosophic . background, it would again be difficult to rationalise these developments only in terms of dominating lbrahmana ideology. Surely, it is impossible to eliminate the symbiotic relationship between the brahmaoas on the one hand and the tribals on the other. The traffic of ideas was certainly a two-way one. And this receives support from an unexpected quarter. For example iconographic studies have so far remained confined to identification, description and interpretation of divine images and their attributes. Largely forming a pa^ Df art history, these works have rarely been looked as an index to soc~o-teligious changes at macro and micro levels. Treating iconography as an integral part of the history of religions a recent work on Vaishnava lconogrqphy in the $amil Country tries to trace the evolution of the concerned subject through folk movements and integration of tribal cults of pre-Pallavan centuries. Similarly, another 6ork undertakes a micro study of the process of cultural . coalescence and agencies of acculturation in the growth of Murugan. The growth of this significant deitv of the Shaiva pantheon is presented as a convergence of two cultural streams-'Sanskrit' and 'Tamil', without taking any of them as 'monolithic or unidimensional'. -4n analysis of sacrifice and divine mamage in the South Indian Shaiva tradition has glso been done in the light of the many traditions that have contributed to their formation, including vedic, epic, puranic, classical Tamil and southern folk traditions.

Whd about the Buddhists and the Jainas? They were also affected by the nuances of the land g r a ~ t economy. Though the sphere of the influence of the Buddhists was shrinking, it was not the case with the Jainas. In Karnataka, Gujarat and Rajasthan specially, they had c h e d out a place for themselves in the mind of people. Bbt ideas such as bhakti, tantdc practices and pilMmage were essential components of their creed too. The so-called 'Brahmans-Peasant Alliance' in the post-Gupta southern . India is based on v skimpy aAd shaky evidence. Even the hypdhesk of the rural base of the temple 3 ovement under the patronage of brPhmnna-king collaboratiod leaves many gaps if tihe role of bhakti as an ideology is to be fully appreciated. To- illustrate, the Tarnilaham, where this rural-based model has been applied, also

an extensihe hternal trade network as well as an ambitious programme of --A,:,, +-,A, ot.+;& What urac the rnle nf tradem and mprphantr in +ha ,,.*I. ,F

the temple movement? Perhaps because of the violent attitude of the Alvars and the Nayanmars, at least in the initial few centuries, non-brahmanical religions which used . to get .the support of these communities, had almost vanished frop Tarnilham. t id traders and merchants switch their allegiance to the new temple movement? Or they did not need any ideological prop? Evidence is mounting to show that even merchants and their assemblies (nagarams) exercised control over land and had interest in its agricultural output. Further, did not templt: also tend to erect barriers of both language and rituals between peasant laity and the priesthdod? If then, ideology is to be understood in terms of a mechanism of class interests in general and ruling class interests in particular how does one explain the role of bhakti? This dilemma would apply to other major post-quota religious manifestations as well. The role of religion in society, particularly aF ideomgy ought to be seen in its potentialities to sway masses and not cl sses.

Check Your Progress 2 1) Discuss the relationship between Religion, Ideology and Society. Answer in

about fifteen lines.

2) What role did ideology play in the post-Gupta centuries. Answer in aboit ten lines.

............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

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............................................................................................................................................. 3) Which of the following statements are right or wrong? Mark (J) or (X).

i) Bhakti, tantriiism, pilgrimage etc. were products of land gant economy. ii) Reli@ous ideas had no role in the formation of groups like the monastic

orders. iii) Marx said.that "religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature" iv) Man did not say that 'religion is. the opium of the ahasses" v) The brahmanical literature meritions more than 4Oa'firthas in e d y medieval

times.

Society and Culture: 8th-13th Ccahrly 6.6 LET US SUM UP

This Unit w& concerned with three broad issues, viz. the theoretical dimensions of ideology, religion and ideology and their place in society and finally an application of these in the specific Indian setting through millennia.

The underlined facets of the theoretical dimensions of the ideology showed:

complexities of d e w g ideology. differences betweeg ideology in terms of nature and functions and ideology as body of political belief. ideology as a system of knowledge is based on assumption that all ideas, all knowledge and all faculties of human understanding rest on sensory data. major stages in tha writings on ideology from sociological standpoint with a pronounced focus on Man and Engels. fundamental postulates and critique of psycho-cultural dimensions of ideology, and high potential for mass mobilisation and manipulation on the part of ideologies.

The section dealing with the place of religion and ideology in society has focusid on :

recent developments in the analysis of ideology which are concerned with improving explanations of how and why ideology takes a particular form and how it works, and certain question requiring answers bearing on the name, role and functions of ideology.

The issues raised in the theoretical discussions of ideology are sought to be applied 'in the specific Indian setting through the millennia-literally from the Harappan times to the thirteenth century A.D. The points highlighted in the discussion include:

-

weakness of the hypothesis about the autonomy of religious ideas, hegemony and dominance attributed to religion and ideology are exaggerated and somewhat unwarranted, philosophic backgmund of h d grants in the post-Gup@ centuries, and the need to study the role of religion in society, particularly as an ideology, in its potentialities to sway masses and not classes.

6.7 KEY WORDS

Congruent

Dana

slave

Vaishnava saints

having some size a d shape

gift miking

p a t sinner

Pavilion in palace/temple

Saiva saints

Wded enclosure in palace/temple

eapiation

religious merit

a V&C sacrifice

Lord/Master

6.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOtTR PROGRESS . EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1 1) These are idolr of tribe: idols of cave, idols of market and idols of theatre. See

Sub-sec. 6.2.1. 2) Base your answer on Sub-sec. 6.2.2. 3) Base your answer on Sub-sec 6.2.2.

Check Your Progress 2 1) Base your answer on the views expressed by Mam, Max Weber and Geertz.

See Sec. 6.3 2) Base your answer on Sec. 6.5 and its Sub-secs. 3) i) J ii) X iii) J iv) X v) J

A UNIT 7 DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL CULTURAL TRADITIONS

Structure 7.0 Objectives 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Temple Architecture

7.2.1 Major Styles 7.2.2 Presidink Deities 7.2.3 Shapes, Plans and Language of Temples 7.2.4 Ecdogiaal Setting, Raw Materials and Regionalisation 7.2.5 Rok of Decorative Elements

Organisation of Building Programme Chronological and Geographical Spfead of Indian Temples Temples and Ibdian Cultural Ethos Sculptures: Stone and Metal Images Paintings, Temcottas and the "Medieval Factor" Education and Learning L d Chronicles and Eras The New Religious Trends Let Us Sum Up Key Words Answers To Check Your Progress Exercises

This Unit aims at acquainting you with the development of regional cultural traditions and after reading it, you should be able to understand the:

emergence of regional cultural units,

manifestations of re6onalisation in various spheres of peoples' activities in the realms of arts, literature, education, learning and religion,

development of architectural styles and basis of classlfying various temples,

terminology used in the descriptions of architectural features,

relationship between the ecological setting and temple constructions.

impact of the availability of raw materials on the construction of temples,

role of temples in the overall cultural ethos,

emergence of localised schools of sculptures in stone and metal,

regionalisation of larlguages, scripts, chronicles and eras, and

linkages between the essence of the "medieval factor" - the spreaa of feudal ethos and the cultural manifestations.

7.1 INTRODUCTION

The centuries between the eighth and the thirteenth stand out rather prominently from the point of view of the making of cultural traditions in India. The most arresting feature of thew traditions is regionalism, which gets reflected in every sphere, whether it be the formation of political power or the development of arts or the transformations in languages and literature or even religious manifestations. In very general terms, the emergence of regional cultural units such as Andhra, Assam, Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtm, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, etc. was the outcome of significant material changes. As already delineated (Block I), the pace of agrarian chmges and the developments in the no!?-agrarian sector were setting the tone of f e u d socio-economic formation (see also Unit 5 in this Block).

1 As we shall see in Block 3, nor could the political structure remain unaffected by these developments.

Development of Rqional Cnltanl Traditions

It should, not, therefore, surprise us if the cultural rhos too got permeated by similar strains. The Mudrakshasa, a play writtcn in Sanskrlt by Vishakhadatta and generally ascribed to the fifth century, speaks of different regions whose inhabitants differ in customs, clothing and language. The identity of some kind of subnational groups is recognized by the Chinese pilgrim Hsiuan-Tsang who visited India in the first half of the seventh century and mentions several nationalities. The Kuvalayamala, a Jain text of the eighth century and largely concerned with western India, notes the existence of 18 major nationalities and describes the anthropologcal character of sixteen peoples, pointing out their psychological features and citing the examples of their language. The Brabmavaivarta Purana, ascribed to the thirteenth century Bengal explicates deshabheda - differences based on regions/territories.

I Indian temples have symbolised the very ethos of life-style of people through the millennia. The panorama of Indian temple architecture may be seen across at extremely wide chronological and geographical horizon. From the simple beginnings at Sanchi in the fifth century of the Christian era to the great edifices at Kanchi, Jhanjaw and Madurai is a story of more than a millennium.

i

I The prominent Shilpashastras that deal with the subject of temple architecture are:

1 Mayamata, Manasam, Shilparatna, Kamikagama, Kashyapasbipa and I Ishanagurudevapaddbati

In the majority of these works the subject is dealt with under the three heads of:

the geographical distribution e their differentiation from the point of view of shapes, and

their presiding deities and castes.

All these topics, however, are not mentioned in all these.works. Some later texts as the Kamikagama and Kashyapashilpa show that the nature of ornamentation, number of storeys, the size of prasadas ctc. ,I,W . , ,. t ituted bases of differentiation.

7.2.1 Major Styles

The ancient texts on Indian temple architecture broadly classify them into three orders. The terms Nagara, Dravida and Vesard indicate a tendency to highlight typological features of temples and their geographical distribution: These terms describe respectively temples that primarily employ square, octagonal and apsidal ground plans which also regulate the vertical profile of the structure. Nagara an*, Dravida temples are generally identified with the northern and southern temple styles respectively. All of northern India, from the foothills of the Himalayas to the central plateau of the Deccan is furnished with temples in the northern style (See Illus. 1). There are, of course, certain regional variations in the great expanse of this area. A work entitled Aparajitapriceha confines the Nagari (Nagara) style to the Madhyadesha (roughly the Ganga-Yamuna plains) and further mentions Lati and Vaimti (Gujarat and Rajasthan respectively) as separate styles. The local manuscripts of Orissa recognise four main types of Orissa style temples, viz., the Rehka, Bhadra, Kharkhara and Gaudiya.

The ~ravida or southern style, comparatively speaking, followed a more consistent development track and was confined to the most southemly, portions of the sub-continent, specially between the Krishna river and Kanyakumari. The term Vesara is not free from vagueness. Some of the texts ascribe the Vesara style to the country between the Vindhyas and the river Krishna but there are texts placing it

'between the Vindhyas and the Agastya, the location of which is uncertain. Since the temples of the Nagara type are found as far south as Dharwad (in Karnataka) and those of the Dravidian type as far north as Ellora (in Maharashtra), a narrow and compartmentalised geographical classification is misleading. At certain periods there

- I s

SodetgradCWuc:, 8th-13th Centwy , occurred striking overlapping of major styles as influends from'different regions

confroqed each other, e.g., the temples of the early Chalukyas whose kingdom was strategically positioned in the middle of the peninsula in the seventh and eighth centuries. The Kandariya Mahideva temple in Khajuraho is another striking exanfple where the vMous architectural elements 'combined into an integrated whole. . simjldY, the Kerala temples display variety in their plan t@s. Square, circular or apsideended buildings are utilized. The earlibt examples in Kerala go back to the twelfth century.

7.2.2 Presiding Deities Temples were dedicated not only to two great gods of the Brahmanical pantheon, viz., Shiva and Vihqu but to the Great Mother Goddess as well. In fact, consecration and depiction of divinities big and small, benevolent and malevolent, celestial and terrestrial, atmospheric .and heavenly, devas and asuras and countless folk deities such as vakshas, vakshis,' apsaras and kinnaris represent a world of their own. It is .indeed fascinating to see that even animal or bird 'vehicles' (vahanas) of these divinities shed their mu!eness and become eloquent carriers of meaningful symbolism. Thus, Nmdi, the agriculiural bull of Shiva is fully expressive of the god's sexuality (See Illustration No. 2); tiger, the mount of Durga embodies her fierce strength and aggressiveness. The river goddesses, Ganga and Yamma are identified by their vahanas, vii, crocodile and tortbise respectively. Lakshmi's association with elephants, lotus flowers and water not only symbolise her popularity as the goddess of fortune but more importantly as a divinity conveying the magical power of agricultural fertility - an aspect that goes back to the days of the Rigvetla. Swan canying Saraswati typified not only her grace and elegance but classic Kshira-nira i

viveka - the tremendous intellectual discerning capacity which is an integral . I - 1

element of this goddess of learning. The Kashyapashilpa has a chapter on the deities to be enshrined in the principal styles mentioned above. Thus, the Shantamurtis (peaceful, calm and serene deities) are to be installed in Nagara; couples or moving deities in vesara shrines; and heroic, dancing or enjoying deities in the Dravidg structures. However, these injunctions about presiding deities, like the basic styles, ought not to be taken in a cornpartmentalised sense. Similarly, textual prescriptions about the Nagara, Dtuvida and Vesara styles being associated with brahmana, Kshatriya and Vaishys varnas respectively cannot be taken literally. 9

f-- Check Your Progress 1 1) How do we come to know about regional cultural units?

............................................................................................................................................. 2)" List six major works which dea1:with the sub,ect of temple architecture.

2) " 1) 3) '5)

4) 6 )

3) List the three major temple styles with their geographical distribution.

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,..I ........................................................................................................................................ 4) . List the main deities placed in different styles of temples.

7.2.3 Shapes, Plans and Language of Temples Each temple style has its own distinctive technical language, though some terms are common but applied to different parts of the building in each style. The sanctuary, which is the main part is called the vimana where the garbhagriha or the inner sanctum containing the main presiding deity is located. The part surmounting the vimana is known as the shikhrua. The other elements of ground plan are: mandapa or pavilion for the assembly of devotees; antarala, which is a vestibule connecting the vimana and mandapa and the pradakshiapath, i.e. circumarnbulatory passage surrounding these. The natmandir or dance hall and bhogamandapa were evolved subsequently in the Orissan temples such as the famous Sun temple at Konarka, to add to the dignity and magnificence of the deities who were honoured in them. The exterior of the Nagara type is characterized by horizontal tiers, as in the jagamohan or porch in front of the sanctum of the Ligaraj temple at Bhubaneswar, and the viman, is usually circular in plan. Fundamentally, there is no structural similarity between the Brahmanical and the Jain temples in the North except that the need for housing the various Tirthankaras dominates the disposition of space in the latter.

' The ~ r i v i d a style has a polygonal, often octagonal ohikhara and a pyramidal vimana, which is rectangular in plan. A temple of the Dravida type is also notable for the towering gopurams or gatetowers of the additional mandapas. From the days of Ganesh ratha of the Pallava times (seventh ceniury) at Mahabalipuram (near Madras) to the gigantic Brihadishvara temple (c.985-1012 A.D.) of the Cholas at Thanjavur:the Dravida style took many strides. (For various Temple plans see lllustration Nos. 3 to 8.)

7.2.4 Ecological Setting, Raw Materials and Regionalisation I

1 The stylistic evolution of temples was also rooted in ecological setting which gave

I them specific regional identity. In the relatively heawy rainfall areas of the western coast of India and Bengal, temples have sloping tiled roofs, giving rise to timber gables. To overcome the hazards of snow and hail, wooden sloped roofs are also 1 employed in the temples of the Himalayan belt. In general, the hotter and drier the climate, the flatter the roof; open porches provide shaded seating, and pierced stone. I .screens are utilised to fiter the light. Some such features which are noticeable in the famous Ladkhan temple of the Chalukyas at Ahole (north Karnataka) are direct adaptations of thatch and timber village and community halls.>The distribution of space in Jain shrines was affected by their placements on high hills. These structures are characterized by an air of seclusion and aloofness. Some such typical examples can be seen at the Shatrunjaya and Palitana hills in Gujarat or the Dilwara temples at Mount Abu in southern Rajasthan.

Apart from the ecological influences, the availability of raw materials also affected styles of craftsmanship. While the transition from wood to stone attributed to the Mauryas of the third century B.C. was in itself a great step forward, local raw materials played a dominant role in techniques of construction and carving. No wonder, the Pallava King Mahendravarman (early seventh century) is called vichitra-chitta (curious minded) because he discarded conventional perishable materials such as brick, timber and mortar and used the hardest rock surfact (granite) for his cave temples at Mahabalipuram. Hard and crystalline rocks prevented detailed carving, whereas soft and sedimentary stone permitted great precision. Friable and schistlike stones, such as those by the Hoyshal architects and craftsmen at Belur and Halebid (Karnataka) in the twelvth and thirteenth centuries promoted the carving of mouldings created by sharp and angled incisions. Brick building traditions continued

I to survive where there was an absence of good stone and techniques of moulding and carving bricks doubtless influenced the style of temples in these areas, e.g. the temples at Bishnupur in Bengal. The influence of timber and bamboo techniques of construction represent a unique architectural development in north eastern state of Assam. Almost no stone temples are found in the Himalayan valleys of Kulu, Kangra and Chamba. It is obvious that timber and brick building traditions dominate temple f ~ r m s in these areas. The sloping and gabled roofs which are preserved only in stone in the temples of Kashrnir can be seen in these areas in pure wooden conrext. In the ninth celitury or so, a remarkable multi-towered temple was excavated into a natural

I escarpm :nt at Masrur in Kangra.

Development of Regional C d b n l Tnditiom,

Society and Culture: 8th-13th Centmry

7.2.5 Role of D e c o r a t i v e Elements T h p evolution of vadious styles in tenns of decorations, ornamentations and other embellishments is a natural phenomenon. However, it needs to be stressed that these elements did not affect the basic structure of temples already outlined above. Amongst conspicuous decorative elements one can mention growth of pillars from simple oblong shafts in early Pallava structures to extremely finely chiselled (almost giving the impressioh of lathe work) columns in Hoyshala temples. Later still, the temples of Madurai and Rameshvaram give extraordinary place to long corridors studded with animals based caryatids. The niches, pavilions and horse shoe-shaped windows (kudu) (See llustration No. 9), among others, are also important decorative motifs which help in the delineation of stages of evolution. In general, the tendency is to make constant indrease in embellishments. T o illustrate, the kudu which at the Mahabalipuram monuments has a plain shovel-headed firial, develops a lion head in the Chola monuments. The process of excessive ornamentation is noticeable in North India too. Shikharas, ceilings and other walls receive great attention of artisans and craftsmen. Extremely exquisite catvings in marble in the ceilings at Dilwara Jain temples at Mt. Abu do not serve any structural purpose and are purely decorative.

Sometimes it is argued that multiplication of roofs constitutes a distinctive feature of temples of Malabar, Bengal and the eastern and western Himalayas. In a west coast or Malabar temple the walls resemble a wooden railing in structure and were made of wood, though stone bpies from about the fourteenth century also exist. Such temples (for exampl&, the Vadakkunath temple at Trichur - 15th-16th century) may have either a simple pitched roof of overlapping slabs, or they may have a series of pitched roofs one above another, which bear an obvious resemblance to the multiple pitched roofs of Chinese and Nepalese temples.

In the Kashmir Valley of the western Himalayas, temples bear two or three roofs which were also copiled from the usual wooden roofs. In the wooden examples the interval between the two roofs seems to have been left open for light and air; in the stone buildings it is dosed with ornaments. Besides this, all these roofs are relieved by types of windows comparable to those found i6 medieval buildings in Europe. Example of such roofs in Kashmir may be seen in Shiva temple at Pandrethan and Sun temple at Martand. In Rengal, temples have been identiaed which have been borrowed from leaf-huts that are very common in the region. In this form of temple with curved caves we also find the same tendency to a multiplication of roofs one above another. The temples at Bishnuvir such as the famous Keshta Raya (17th century) are built with a variety of roofs forms on square and rectangular plans. Even contemporary Mughal architecture makes use of this so-called "Bengal roof" in sandstone or marble. (For various types of roofs see lllustration Nos. 10 to 15 for pillars No 16 and niches No. 17).

7.3 ORGANISATION OF BUILDING PROGRAMIME

In the erection of the structural temple an organised building programme was fonowed. Bricks were baked either on or near the site and stone was mostly quarried locally. From reliefs carved on temples and from a palm-leaf manuscript (See Illustration No. 18) that has been discovered about the building operations carried out at the world famous thirteenth century Sun temple at Konarka, (See lllustration Nos. 19, 20) it is learnt that stone from quarries was sometimes transported to the building site on wooden rollers drawn by elephants or floated on barges along rivers and canals. At the site the masons roughly shaped the stone blocks which were then hoisted into position by rope pulleys on scaffolding. Ramps were a!so constructed of timber and sand to facilitate the placing of extremely heavy stone pieces in place. A classic example of this is the stone constituting the huge shikhara of the Brihadishvar temple at Thanjavur. Whis shilchara weighing about 80 tonnes is popularly believed to have been raised to it6 present height of about 200 feet by being dragged on an inclined plane, whichhad its base about seven kilometres, away at Sarapallan (literally, meaning 'elevation from depression'). Occasionally, as in Konarka, iron beams (For iron beams see Illustration No. 21) were used in the sanctuary and hall. The architects, artisans and workmen engaged in the various activities associated with the building of a temple were organised into groups which functioned as guilds. The

above-mentioned Kdnarka temple manuscript lists the workmen, their salaries and rules of conduct and provides an account over several years of the various building operations. Quite often, these get reflected in stone as well, e.g., an eleventh century panel from Khajuraho shows cuttings, chiselling and transporting stone for temples.

Check Your Progress 2 1) What are the main parts in a temple plan?

2) How did the ecological setting and raw material decide the shape of the roof of the temples?

,,3)' In which are& multiplication of roofs was used for temple decoration? . +

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'7.4 CHRONOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL , SPREAD OF INDIAN TEMPLES

In this section we mention some of the prominent temples according to their chronology and geographical spread.

THE NORTHERN.STYLE Northern, Central and Western India (Fifth-seventh centuries) The Pawati temple at Nachna (South-east of Khajuraho, M.P.); the Dashavatara temple at Deogarh.(Jhansi District, U.P.); the brick temple at Bhitaragon (Kanpur District, u.P.); ihe Vishnu temple at Gop (Gyarat); Mundeshwari temple (an unusual example of octagonal plan) at Ramgarh (Bihar) and temples at Sanchi and Jigawa (both in Madhya Pradesh).

The Deccan and Central India (Sixth-eighth centuries) E Cave temples at Ellora (near Aurangabad in Maharashtra, see Illustration No. 22), Elephanta (near Bombay) and Badarni (north Karnataka; Early Chalukyan temples) in north Karnataka at Btdami, Aihole (Ladkhan temples), and Pattadakal (Papanatha and Galganatha temples).

Western and Central India (Eighth - thirteenth centuries) Harihara and other temples at Osian (North of Jodhpur, Rajasthan); Jelika Mandir (Gwalior); Chandella temples at Khajuraho (specially, Lakshman, Kandariya Mahadev and Vishvanatha); temples at Roda (North of Modhera in Gujarat); Sun temple at Modhera (Gujarat) and Marble temples of the Jains at Mt. Abu (Rajasthan). '

Development of R m l C.lbml Trdltiocms

society and Ctllture: 8th-13th Century

-- -

Eastern India (Ei&th - thirteenth centuries) Parashurameshvar Vaital Deul, Mukteshvar, Lingaraj and Rajarani temples (all at Bhubaneshwar); Sun temple at Konarka (Orissa) and the jagannatha temple at Puri (Orissa).

The Himalayan belt (Eighth century pnwards) Sun temple at Martand; Shiva temple at Pandrethan and Vishnu temple at Aventesvamin (all in Kashmir); temple at Masrur (Kangara, Himachal Pradesh) and brahmanical temples in Nepal (Kathmandu, Patan and Bhadgaon).

THE SOUTHERN STYLE The Deccan and Tamil Nadu (Sih-tenth centuries) Cave temples, the Rathas and the 'Shore' templepf~he Pallavas at Mahabalipuram (near Madras); (See Illustration No. 23) the Vdikunthaperumal and Kailasanatha temples at Kanchipuram (also near Madras); Chalukyan stqctures at Aihole ( ~ e g u t i temple), Badami (Malegitti Shiva temple) and Pattadakal (Virup@csKa temple) and the Kailas temple at Bllora carved out under the patronage of the RashtrakuJas,

Karnataka, Tgmil Nadu and Kerala (~enth-seymieenth centuries) Brihadishvar temples of the Cholas at Jhanjaw and Ganga;! 6ndacholapuram; Hoyshal temples at Belur, Halebid and Somnathpur (all irl Karnataka); later Chalukya temples in -ataka (at Lakkundi and Gadag); the Pampati temple of the Pandyas at Vijaynagw; the Shrirangam (near Trichinopoly, Tamil Nadu) and Minakshi temples (Madurai, Tamil Nadu,See Illustration Nos. 24,25); the Kattilmadam (at Chalpurarn, District Palghat, Kerala) temple and ~arasguram temple at Tiruvallam (near Trivandrum).

THE VESARA STYLE The Buddhist Chaitya halls of the early centuries of the Christian era and situated in the western ghats in the modem state of Maharashtra may be said to be prototypes of this style. Its most conspicuous feature-is the apsidal ground plan. As already mentioned, t iwe is certain vagueness about its essential components and geographical distribution. Amongst the early examples (seventh-tenth centuries) can be cited the structures at Chezarla (Andhra Pradesh), Aihole (Durga temple), Mahabalipuram (Sahdeva and Draupali rathas) and Kerala (Shiva temples at Trikkandiyur and Tiruvannur). The classic post-tenth century examples include the Nataraja shrine at Chidambaram (Tamil Nadu) and the Vamana temple at Kizhavellur (District Kottayam, Kerala). <

I

7.5 TEMPLES AND I N D ~ N CULTURAL m O S

Indian temples symbalised the very mundane urges of humans and were for varied activities of the community as a whole.

To begin with, general education within the temple was of great importance. Many endowments to temples were specifically made for establishment of colleg&which were incorporated into temple complexes. Teaching of such subjects as gramm'ar and astrology as well as recital and teaching of texts such as the Vedas, the Epics Ramayana and the Mahabharata and the Puranas were encouraged. Music and dance generally formad part of the daily ritual of the temples and during special celebrations and annual festivals these played a particularly dominant role. Large temples wouldpaintab their own musicians - both vocal and instrumental, together with dancers, actors and teachers of performing arts. The life-size delineations of

I

such musicians in a tenth-century temple at Khajuraho (See Illustration No. 26) as well as in the Sun temple at Konarka and nata mandir (dancing hall) forming an absolutely integral element in the Orissan and other temples also provide eloquent testimonies to that effect. And, of course, who can forget the performance of the great cosmic-dance of the Mahadeva Shiva himself at the Chidambaram temple. No Iess important was the institution of devadasii. These teruple maidens played a significant role in dancing as well as in singing of devotional hymns by which the temple god was e n t e m e d . The fact that the Chola emperor Rajaraja 1 (984-1-012) constructed two long streets for the accommodation of four hundred dancing women attached to the Brihadishvar temple (Thanjavur), gives us an idea of the lavish scale

A Pandrethan A Avantipur A Martand

,

A Main Brahmanical temple sites - .

on which he endowed the temple and its functions. Many temples had regular festivals which provided opportunities for mingling of mythology and folklore, as for instance, the annual hthayatra of the Jagarinatha temple at Pun. The undertaking of pilgrimage (tirthayatra) is yet another mechanism through which the participation of the community in temple activities was facilitated.

As temples prdvided work and the means of livelihood for a large number of persons, they were able to exert great influence upon the economic life of people. Even small temples needed the services of priests, garland-makers and suppliers of clarified butter, milk and oil. One of the most detailed accounts that have been preserved of the number of people who were supported by a temple and the wages they received is that given in an inscription on the above-mentioned Thanjawr temple, and dated 1011 A.D. The list includes cooks, gardeners, dance-masters, garland-makers, musicians, wood-carvers, painters, choir-groups for singing h@ns in Sanskrit and Tamil, accountants, watchmen and a host of other officials and servants of temples, totalling more than six hundred persons (See also Units 6.5 and 11.5) ,

7.6 .SCULPTURES: STONE AND METAL IMAGES The regional spirit asserting itself is seen in sculptural arts as well. Stylistically, schools of artistic depictions of the human form developed in eastern, western, central and northern India. Distinctive contribution also emerged in the Himalayan regions, the Deccan and the far South. A great majority of these regions produced works of arj that were chqracterized by what has been described as the "medieval factor" by the great art historian and critic Nihar ~ & j a n Rai. This "medieval factor" was marked by a certain amount of slenderness and an accent on sharp angles and lines: The roundness of bodily form acquires flatness. The curves lose their convexity and turn into the concave. Western and Central Indian sculptures, Eastern Indian and Himalayan metal images, Gujarati and Rajasthani book and textile illustrations, Bengal terracottas and wood carvings and certain Deccan and Orissa miniatures registered this new conception of form through the post-tenth centuries.

The pivot of the early medieval sculpture is the human figure, both male and female, . in the form of gods and goddesses and their attendants. Since these cult images rest on the assured foundations of a regulated stiucture of form, it maintains a more or less uniform standard of quality in all art-regions of India. Curiously, the creative climax of each art-region is not reached at one and the same time all over India. In Bihar and Bengal it is reached in the ninth and tenth centuries; 'in Orissa in the twelfth and thirteenth; in Central India in the tenth and eleventh; in Rajasthan in the tenth; in Gujarat in the eleventh; and in the far south in the tenth-eleventh centuries. It is in the Deccan alone that the story is of increasing torpor and petrification - indeed, Deccan ceases to be a sculptural province after the eighth century.

It is not only the cult images but non-ironic figure sculptures too which conform to . more or less standardised types within each art-province and hardly reveal any

personal attitude or experience of the artist. The multitude of figures related themselves to a large variety of motifs and subjects. These include: narrative reliefs, ,

historical or semi-historical scenes; music and dance scenes, mithuna couples in a variety of poses and attitudes, arrays of warriors and animals and shalabhanjikas (women and the tree) (See Illustration No. 24).

Metal images cast in brass and oct-alloy (ssthta-dhata j , copper and bronze emerge in profusiom in eastern India (Bihar, Bengal and Assam), Himalayan kingdoms (specially Nepal and Kashmir) and more particularly in the south. The North Indim images largely portray brahmanic and Buddhist deities penqeated with tantrik influences. The main types represented in the remarkable galaxy of South Indian metal images are the various forms of Shiva, especially the Nataraja, Parvati; the Chaiva saints such as Apgar, Sambaudar and Saudarar; Vaishnav saints called Alvars and figures of royal donors.

All oaer the country, the post-Gupta iconography prominently displays a divine hierarchy which reflects the pyramidal ranks in feudal society. Vishnu, Shiva and

Durga appear as supreme de!ties lording over many other divinities of unequal sizes and placed in lower positions as retainers and attendants. The supreme Mother Goddess is clearly established as an independent divinity in iconography from this time and is represented in a dominating posture in relation to several minor deities. Even hitherto a puritanical religion l i e Jainism could not resist the pressure of incorporating the Mother Goddess in its fold, which is fully reflected in the famous Dilwara temples at Mt. Abu in Rajasthan. The pantheons do not so much reflect syncretism as forcible. In the rock-cut sculptures of Ellora one can feel the fighting mood of the divinities engaged in violent struggles against their e n e m i ~ . The reality of unequal ranks appear in the.Shaivite, Jain and Buddhists monastic organisations. The ceremonies recommended for the consecration of the acharya, the highest in

/ rank, are practically the same as those for the coronation of the prince.

Check Your Progress 3 1) List two main temples each of the five categories listed under Northern style.

2) List four temples of the Southern and Vesara styles each.

Which were the main groups of people associated with various activities in temples?

4) What are the peculiar features of sculptures described by art historians as ' "medieval factor"?

Development of Regional Coltan1 Tnditioas

7.7 PAINTINGS, TERRACOIT'AS AND THE L

"MEDIEVAL FACTOR"

The medieval tradition in paintings has the following traits:

sharp, jerky and pointed angles, e.g., at the elbow and the shoulders, sensuous facial features - sharp and peaked nose, long wide swollen eyes projected sharply and crescent lips, richness of variegatled patterns, motifs etc. gathered and adapted to the grip of sharp curves, and an intense preference for geometric and abstract patterns of decoration.

The manifestations of these traits can be seen in the paintings on the walls of the Kailas temple (eighth century) of Ellora; the Jain shrine at Sittanavasal (ninth century) and the Brihadishvar temple at Thanjavur (eleventh century), both in Tamil Nadu. However, these traits are still more pronounced in t!e well-known manuscript-illustrations of Bihar and Bengal, Nepal and Tibet in $he post-tenth centuries. Textiles sudaces also offered a very rich field for the development of this tradition. At least from the thirteenth century onwards West Indian textile designs, and later, those of the Deccan, South, Orissa and Bengal also register their impact in unmistakable terms.

The feudal ethos of the post-Gupta economy, society and polity is also noticeable in the terracotta art. The change is noticeable in the patrons and content of depictions. Art activity, as a whole, was being feudalised. The pre-Gupta art at Bharhut, Sanchi, Karle, Amaravati, Nagaqunakonda, etc. was patronised mainly by the mercantile and commerical class, artisans and craft-guilds as well as royal families. Art in the Gupta period (fourth-sixth centuries), when feudal tendencies had just begun to appear, reflects that vitality and zest of renewed brahmanism - for the first time brahmanical temples were construcded in permanent material, i.e. stone. The art of the post-Gupta centuries (650-1300 A.D.) was supported mainly by kings of different principalities, , feudatories, military chiefs, etc. who alone could patronise large-scale art activities. The terracotta art, which had once symbolised the creative urges of commonman, ceased to be so and instead, became a tool in the hands of resourceful patrons. The output of miniature portable terracottas made for the urban market dwindled in the post-Gupta period. Though some of the old urban centres such as ~aranasi , Ahichchatra and Kanauj survived and some new ones like Tattanandapur (near Bulandshahr in U.P.) merged in the early medieval period, very few of them ha9e yielded terrawttas. Instead of producing for the market, the clay modeller (pitakaraka) become subservient to the architect and now produced for big landlords, brahmanical temples and non-brahmanical monasteries. Terrawtta acquired the character of an elite art and was preserved in feudal headquarters and religious centres such as Paharpur, Rajbadidanga (Bengal), Vikramashila ( B i b ) , Akhnur and Ushkar (Kashrnir). Terrawttas in the post-Gupta centuries were used by landed aristocrats and kings to dewrate religious buildings and their own places on auspicious occasions such as marriages as rewrded by Bana in the Harshacharita.

.7.8 EDUCATION AND LEARNING

Just as the Church was the principal organiser of education in Europe in tbe Medieval times, similarly the post-Gupta centuries saw the concentration of the centres of education in religious establishments, such as the Virrrs, mathas and temples. Colleges also existed in some royal capitals such as Dhara, Ajmqr. AnahillaFura, etc. The fame of Mithila in North Bihar and Nadia in Bengal as centres of brahmanical learning increased in these centuries. Kashi (Varanasi) with its Shaiva monasteries was also a flourishing seat of brahmanical learning. Kashmendra tells us

that students from such distant regions as Gauda (Bengal) travelled to Kashmir for study in the mathas. The evidence of Hemachandra reveals the existence of Vidya-mathas in Gujarat in the twelfth century. Numerous agraharas in the south were developing as educational centres. Amongst notable universities, one can mention Nalanda, Vikramashila and Odantapuri (all in Bihar), Valabhi (Gujarat), Jagadalla and Somapuri (in Bengal) and Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu.

The concept of temple libraries was evolved from the eighth century. The real ,ginnings in this sphere were laid by the Jainas. The long lists of their achers/preceptors - bhattarakas and shripujyas, and the place of honour given to em is symptomatic of this development. Their espousal of the cause of Shastradana

dift of religious texts/manuscripts) explains the great bhandaras (store houses) such is patan, Khambhat, Jainsalmer, etc., which became integral parts of Jain :stablishments in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Karnataka in particular. The trend was picked up by brahmanical mathas as well and we get a phenomenal pcd$feration of the manuscript tradition almost all over India.

That tantra and mantra became a favourite subject of study may be inferred from the fact that a full-fledged department of Tantra was run in the University of Vikramashila. The Tibetan traveller Taranatha, who came to India in the 17th century is very eloquent about tantrik curricula at Nalanda, Odantapuri and other prominent universities of Bihar and Bengal. The growth and popularity of occult sciences also constitute a significant feature of the post-eighth centuries. The list of subjects pursued by people in the thirteenth century has been given in Rajashekhara's Prabandhakosha. It includes many occult sciences in the long list of more than 70 subjects.

Amongst the most notable phenomena in the sphere of learning may be recounted:

a) . regionalisation of languages, b) emergence of regional scripts, and c) growing verbosity in literature.

The post-Gupta centuries are epoch-making in the history of language and literature Although the large-scale dispersal of Sanskrit &owing brahmanas was resulting in the spread of that language in distant areas due to the landgrant phenomenofl. The scope of. Sanskrit was graduaUy getting confined. It was being used by the ruling class at the higher administrative levels. In the Naishadhiyaeharita we find the dignitaries present in the svayamvara of Damyanti having the fear of not being understood and, as such, taking recourse to Sanskrit.

'According to Al-biruni, vernacular literature which was used by the common people was neglected by the upper and educated class. However, a development of undeniable significance is the differentiation of Apabhramsha into proto-Hindi, proto-~engali, proto-Rajasthani, proto-Gujrati, proto-Marathi, proto-Maithili, etc. The Apahhramsha, which formed a link in our period between the Old-classical languages guch as Sanskrit and Prakrit on the one hand and modem vernaculars on the other, originated much before our period. The Kuvalayamala, an eighth century work,.enumerates as many as 18 Apabhramshas spoken in various regions of India, which tQrned into modem Indian languages later. In the list of Rajashekhara, Prakrit, Paishachika, 'Apabhramsha and Deshabhasha are mentioned alongwith Sanskrit as subjects to be studied by a prince. Vernaculars such as Avahatha, Magadhi, Shakari, Abhiri, Chandali, Savali, Draviti, etc. f.ormed part of curriciduhi mentioned in the Varna Ratnakara. The pace of linguistic variations quickened in the country in the post-Gupta centuries mainly on account of lack of inter-regional communication and mobility. The migrating brahmanas enriched the vocabulary of regipnal languages. They also helped to develop and systematize local dialyts into langpages through the introduction of writing. ,

The emergence of regional scripts run parallel to the growth of regi6nal languages. ,As there are numerous languages, so also there are quite a large nuthber of scripts used to express these languages. From Maurya to Gupta times the s~ript changed mainly as a result of the passage of time and anyone knowing the Brahmi script of the Gupta period could read inscriptions from any part of the country. This was not possible after the seventh century. From this period the regional variations become so

Development of Regional CdtumI T d o m

I Society md Cubre: 8th-13th Centory

pronounced that one has to be well-versed in several scripts to be able to rwd. Obviously, the regions1 script was produced by regional insulation and the availability

. of the locally educated scripts to meet the needs of local education and . administration. Manu$cripts, inscriptions and other written material use Devanagari,

Assamese, Bengali, Osiya, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Sharada (in Kashrnir) scripts. That the proliferation of scripts went beyond linguistic confines, is clear from the case of Tamil. A study of various inscriptions leads one to an inescapable conclusion that ' dough the Cheras, the Cholas and the Pandyas adopted Tamil as their language, each seems to have adopted a different script, .perhaps to indicate their regional identity. The Cheras used a cursive variety of Tamil Brahmi d e d VATTELUTIV (rounded script). The Pandyas seem to have populan'sed the KOLELUITU (script of straight lines) and the Cholas combined the two. This is not all. For philosophic and religious discourses, in the three kingdoms put together, the scholars gave rise to the Tamil Grantha script. Hundreds of manuscripts in this script are said to have reached as far north as Tibet, where Buddhist monasteries became great repositories.

While editing a medieval Sanskrit text called Subhashita-Ratnakasha, D.D.Kosambi brought to light many neglected poets but characterized it as a decadent poetry or

- writing of a decadent age. sometimes we understand such phenomena in absolute or total sense. It is not necessary that economic, political, social and cultwal decline run simultaneously. Also, the yardstick of "decadence" cannot be worked out in absolute terms. The erotic sculptures of Khajuraho, Bhubaneshwar, 'Konarka and Belur may appear to some to be products of a perverted mind but the same art pieces are taken by others to be manifestation of vital cultural ethos of people. '

The post-eighth centu~ies saw prolific literary output in realms of bhilosophy, logic, legal texts, devotional poetry of the Alvars and the Shaiva Agamas, Kavyas, narratives, lyrics, historical biographies, scientific writings, shilpasbastras, etc. Nonetheless, in keeping with the growing paraphernalia and personal vanity of the new landed classes, the language of most of these literary compositions became extremely verbose and ornate. This omate style marked by pompous adjectives, adverbs and sirnilies b ~ a m e the hallmark of literature as well as inscriptions. Although the prose styje of Bana, which is known for highly complex and elaborate sentence constructions, was not exactly initiated, it did continue to serve as a model for the post-seventh catury writings.

In the realm of poetry too, dvayashraya or Shlesha Kavyas were being produced consciously. These works contain verses conveying two different senses when read in different directions. The Ramacharita of Sandhyahra Nandi presents both the story of Rama and the life oh Kirig ~amapala of Bengal. The marriages of Shiva and Parvati and Krishna and Rukmani are described in a twelfth century work (Parvati Ruluniniya) produced in the (3haulukya court. Hemachandra is credited with the composition of Saptasqnbbana having seven alternative interpretations. The tendency' of working out the intdcate pattern of double, triple or even more meanings reflects the artificiality of life.

I

7.9 LOCAL C~RONICLES AND ERAS

Hsiuan-tsang, the Chinese pi lpm of the seventh century writes that he learnt thoroughly the dialects in all the districts through which he journeyed. Further, writing general observations on languages, books, etc. he says:

"with resped to the records of events each province has its own official for preserving them irl writing. The record of these events in their full character is called Nilapita (blue deposit). In these records are mentioned good and evil events, with calamities and fortunate occurrences."

The existence of historical chronicles in Kashrnir (Rajataranm), Gujarat (Rasniala. Prabandha, Chintamani, Vasanta Vilasa, etc.), Sind (Chadmama) and Nepal (Vamshavalis) supports the presumption that the archives of different states, as a rule, contained such royal chronicles as stated by Hsiuan-tsang. These chronicles are further c o n h a t i o n of the tendency of regionalisation noticeable in the overall cultural pattern and traditions. -

An analogous development which further strengthened this tendency is visible in the rise of localised eras. In addition to the older Saka and Vikrama eras which had a vast and expansive usage upto the Gupta epoch and, to some extent even later; the post-Gupta centuries are marked by regional systems of time ieckoning. Harsha himself founded an era in the early seventh century. His contemporary in Assam i.e. Bhaskaravarman started Bhasksrabda, which is used in some manuscripts from &at region. An era in Bengal also'came into being. The Jains started using the Mahavira samvat. The great Vaishnava saint and teacher of Assam, viz., Shankaradeva is credited with the starting of Shankarabda - a reckon~ng after him.

I'

7.10 THE NEW RELIGIOUS TRENDS

The religious rituals and practices underwent important changes during the centuries under discussion. In accordance with the growing practice of land grants alongwith the surrender of other property and service to the Iard and then receiving fiscal rights and protection as prasad or favour, there grew the puja system. The puja was interlinked with the doctrine of bhakti or complete self-surrender of the individual to his god (See also Unit 6.5.2).

Both puja and bhakti became integral ingredients of tantriasm, which arose outside the Madhyadesha in the aboriginal, peripheral areas on account of the acculturation of the tribal people throughout large-scale religious land grants. Brahmanical land rights in the new territories could be maintained by adopting tribal rituals and deities, especially the Mother Goddess, which eventually produced the tantras (see also Unit 6.5). Tantricism permeated all religions in the post-seventh centuries-Jainism, Buddhism, Shaivism and Vaishnavism. If a thematic compilation of thousands of manuscripts is undeytaken, it would be noticed that literature on pujas, vidhis, tantra and occult sciences is phenomenal. Even the jainas, who had been allergic to such practices gave birth to countless such manuscripts. The jaina Bhandaras are full of such manuscripts as Dharmachakiapuja, Dashalakshanap j a , etc. This is so, notwithstanding the original meaning of puja in the Jaina Anga literature, specially in the context of monks. In that context it is 'said to have symbolised "respect" shown to him and not the "worship" of limbs. It is unmistakable, however, that puja of idols of tirthankaras had the connotation with which we are concerned. According to R.C. Hazra, new topics in the Puranas, from the sixth, century onwards, mainly relate to uana to the brahmanas and their worship, tirtha (pil&image), sacrifices to the planets and their pacifibtion (installation of the images of naragraha, becomes quite conspicuous in temple architecture), vrata (religions vows), puja etc. Purtadharma which involved the building of temples, tanks and works of public utility, was emphasized as the highest mode of religion in the Puranas. Purtadharma was the dominant ideology behind the large-scale building of temples in this period (See also Unit 6.5).

Check Your Progress 4 -

1) What are the four main characteristics of early medieval tradition in painting?

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

.............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. -.

2) Discuss the scripts of Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas.

society and Cdtpro: 8tb-13th Cenhuy

b

b

3) List four main sygtems of calculating time period (eras) in usage in post-Gupta period. .; ............................................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................................. .............................. ...............................................................................................................

4) Briefly comment bn the meaning of puja and Purtadhanna in new religious trends. ,

7.11 LET US $UM UP

This Unit has focussed on "regionalism" as the hallmark of the making of Indian cultural traditions in the centuries behveen the eighth and the thirteenth A.D. The manifestation of these include:

the emergence of r~gional cultural units such as Andhra, Bengal, Gujarat, Karnataka, etc.

development of architectural,styles with broad regional specificities reflected in the three principal typGs Nagara, Dravida and V-,

the bases of classifpg temple styles in terms of geographical distribution, differentiation in gfound plans and presiding deities,

distinctive technical language used for describing architectural features,

the impact of the emlogical setting and the availability of raw materials on building activities,

the evolutionary phases of decorations, ornamentations and other embellishments,

the emergence of territorial schools in the making of sculptures in stone and metal, -

the role of the "medieval factor" in sculptures, terracottas and painting,

the emergence of ptoto-types of modem Indian languages as a tesult of ' '

differentiation of tlpabhramsha,

the growth of regional scripts, chronicles and eras, and

the permeation of feudal ethos in arts, literature, education learning and religion.

7.12 KEY WOiRDS

AntarPIa : vestibule, ante-room

Apsidal : building with a ground plan of semi-circular termination

Bhadra : flat face or facet of the Shikhara

Bhattaraka : Jain religious teacher/preceptor

Bhadra-deul : 'auspicious temple', it refers, however, to the jagamohana in front of the deul

Bhoga-mandapa: the reflectory hall of a temple

Caryatid : sculptured female/animal figures used as columns or supports

Deul : general name for a temple as a whole

I Finial : finishing portion of a pinnacle

Garbha-griha : sanctum sanctorum, the most sacred part of a temple

Gopuram : monumental gateway

i Jagamohana : hall in front of the sanctum

Kalasha : water-pot; pitcher-shaped element in the finial of a temple

Kudu - : foliated arch on dravidian temple-ornamental motif derived from the Buddhist Chaitya arch

Development of Regional Caltoml T d C o m

Mandapa : large open hall

Matha . : monastery

Nata-mandir : dancing/festive hall, usually in front of the jagamohana

Irasada : palace/shrine; also used in the sense of favour by God/Lord

Pustakaraka : clay-modeller

Ratha : literally a temple chariot used on ceremonial occasions in South Indian temples; also applied incorrectly to the monolithic Pallava structures at Mahabalipuram

Rekha-deul : order of temple characterized by curvilinear shikhara

Shikhara : spire, tower

Torpor : inactiyeness

Vimana : towards sanctuary containing the cell in which the deity is

. . enshrined.

7-13 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1 1) Texts like Mudrakshara, Kuvalyamala, Brahmavaivarta Puranaand

Hsiuan-tsang's work inform us about regional cultural units. See Sec. 7.1. 2) See Sec. 7.2. 3) The three main temple styles are nagara, dravida and vesara. See Sub-sec. 7.2.1. 4) Shiva, Durga,'Saraswati . . and Ganga etc. are main deities. See Sub-sec. 7,2.2.

Check Your Progress 2 1) Garbhagriha, vimana, shikhara, mandaps and pradakshinapth are the main

parts, See Sub-sec. 7.2.3. 2) The shape of the roof was most of the times decided by the climatic conditions

and the raw material available. See Sub-sec. 7.2.4. 3) Malabar, Bengal and the eastern and western Himalayas were the main regions

where this was popular. See. 7.2.5. 4)' Stones were raised by rope pulleys on scaffolding and ramps were also used. See

Sec. 7.3.

Check Your Progress 3 1) See Sec. 7.4 under northern style. 2) See Sec. 7.4 under the southern style and the Vesara style. 3) Musicians, garland-makers, painters, woodcarvers, accountants, devadasis, etc.

were the main erouv of veople. See Sec. 7.5.

Society .ad Culture: BcL-13I Ceahry

4) The main feature is a certain amount of slenderness and an accent on sharp ,. angles and lines. See Sec. 7.6.

4

check Your Progress 4 3

1) See Sec. 7.7. 2) All the three had Tamil as their language but adbpted three different scripts to .

maintain their identity. 3) There were Harshas system, Bhaskarabada, Shankarabda, Mahavir Samvat, See

Sec. 7.9. 4) See Sec. 7.10.

SOME USEFUL BOOKS FOR THIS BLOCK

Jha, D.N. (Ed.) Feudal Social Formation in Early India, New Delhi, 1987.

Sharma; R.S. Perspectives in Social and Economic History o f Early India, New Delhi, 1983.

Sharma, R.S. Urlian Decay in India 1987, New Delhi.

Sharma. R.S. Indian Feudalism, New Delhi 1980, 2nd Edn.

Sharma, R.S. Material,Culture and Social Formations in Ancient India, New Delhi. 1983.

Thapar, Romila.Wstory o f India 1'01. I., New Delhi.

CAY) A.D.

I. Tempk W k h ~ s (Northern Style).

2. Shivn .ad Pnnnti seated on Nnndi (Hinghjgarh 10th century).

3. plm a( Labhmnm Temple (Kbjmnbo, lOtL cemhry) .

4. Plan (semi-circular) of Duqp Temple (Aihole, Ulh century).

5. Plan (octagonal) of Mundeshvari Temple (Ramgarb, 7th centuq).

6. Plan (apsidal) of Vamana Tcmpk (KizB.vellur, 11th century).

7. Plan of V l h u Tempk (Shrimnpm).

\

AS), 1f1.1 m m j i ~ -., 8. Plan of Lingamj. Temple* .

to siuhurtersgue sdt ni ubnun to noitmodds s a .Q .(pldar, at8 , ldsbdteq) slqmsT edtmeaeIe3 sdt

.(yuiam dtr-i) ,qo3) slqmsT unllziV l o loor 9111 te zwobniw bsqd-dssrod sdeq .OI

13- N d bpe Tempk.

18. A p.B-M mlusaipt ahmt temple cooshction showing the arcitect, calculmtions, heigbt m e t i o m d phn.

19. Sun Temple (Konarka, 13th cent or^).'

. .

20. Platfonn of deul and jagamoh.lu, stonewheel (Konarh).

21. Iron beams ceiling in the natamandir (jagmnnath temple, Yorij.

22. Kailmsh Temple (Fllora, 8-Yth century).

24. mddi Tempk (Midmni). , -- 25. Colon.de witbin ~ i n a ~ i Temple. '

'IL;NIT 8 NATURE OF REGIONAL

i Structure

8.0 Objectives 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Major Political Developments

8.2.1 Northern and Eastern lndia 8.2.2 Watcrn and Cehtral lndia 8.2.3 The Deccan 8.2.4 Southan India

8.3 Recobstructions of Indian Polity between Eighth and Thirteenth Centuries 8.3.1 Feudal Polity 8.3.2 Scgncntary State 8.3.3 Integrative Polity

8.4 Let Us Sum Up 8.5 Key Words 8.6 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

8.0 OBJECTIVES

~ f t e r reading this, Unit you should be able to explain the :

contents of polity,

major political developments in different regions of the Indian sub-continent such as Northern and Eastern India, Western and Central India, the Deccan and Southern India,

links between the developments in Western and Central Asia on the one hand and those of the Indian sub-continent on the other, and

principal reconstructions of Indian polity between eighth and thirteenth cenluries.

8.1 INTRODUCTION

This Unit seeks to define the essential components of Indian polity through major

I political developments. The sub-continent has been divided into various regions for the purpose. There has also been an effort to mark the impact of certain developments across the north-western borders (in West and Central Asia) onethe Indian political scene. Finally, the major thrust of the 'unit is on understanding the

I nature of regional politics. i.e. to deal with the quest i~n of characterizing formls of polity in India.

i The study of polity calls for analysis of the nature, organisation an4 distribution of power. Political set-ups differed from region to region due to different economic an& geographical potentialities of the regions. In India, the period between eighth and thirteenth centuries was very significant not only from the point of view of economic formations (see Block-1) but also from the point of view of political processes. Indeed, the two are interlinked. The nature of polity during the centuries under 'discussion may be better understood in the context of.major political developments in different regions of the Indian sub-continent.

I 8.2 MAJOR POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS

Broadly, important regions requiring detailed investigation can be identified as northern, eastern, central, western and southern India. In addition, the Deccan also

'

constituted as a substantial political power h e .

ID- POWJ L ~b R- 8.2.1 Northem and Eastern India '

V u i a t b r : &b To 13th Century In this section we discuss the major areas of Northern and Eastern India.

i) WSHMIR '

Kashmir was mainly occupied with the internal political developments but on some occasions it was alsb involved in the politics of Northern India. It was ruled by the Karkota, Utopala apd two Lohar dynasties. Muktapida', also known as Latitaditya, conquered a part of Kanauj and annexed some parts of Tibet. Many irrigation works were undertaken by some rulers of the Karkota family. Embankments and dams were built on the main rivers which brought a large area of the valley under cultivation. Howev!t, the tenth century saw the emergence of a new development in Kashmir politics. .Military ambitions of rulers and emergence of mercenary warriors made the common p a n miserable and political conditions unstable. There were at least twenty kings between c. 1000 and 1300 A.D. Very often they became toots in

b the hands of powerful priests and no less powerful landlords such as the damaras. There were conflict$ amonmt priests and damaras too. Queen Didda, and kings such as Samgramaray, Kalash, Harsha, Jayasimha and Sinhadeva were involved in the politics of these centuries in Kashmir.

In the Ganga Valley, Kanauj became the centre of gravity due to its strategic and geographical potentiality. It was located in the middle of the doab which was easily fortifiable. The control over Kanauj implied control overtthe eastern'and western parts of the Ganga doab which was very fertile. It was also interconnected with the land and water routes. It was, therefore, not surprising that the three leading contemporary powers such as the Palas, the Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas clashed over the possession of Kanauj. The Palas were primarily centered in the Eastern India, the Pratiharas in the Western India and the Rashtrakutas in the Deccan. But all the three powen tried to control the Ganga plains, especiall!~ Kanauj. The political boundaries of the three empires kept shifting from time to time.

iii) BIHAR AND BENCAL

The political basis of thepalas was the fertile land of Bihar and Bengal and external trade relations, especially with the Southeast Asia. The founder of the dynasty, Gopal, had been responsible for taking Bengal out of chaos in the early eighth century. Before him matsyanyaya, i.e. law of fishes prevailed in Bengal and political instability was very marked. Dharmapala led a successful campaign against Kanauj but could not control it for a long time. The failure to maintain cohtrol over Kanauj' forced the Pala rulers to extend their influence towards the further east. Devapala brought Pragiyotishpur (Assam) under the influence of Palas, and Nepal also - aecepted the domidance of the Palas. After Devapala, the Pala poyer was not ver) effective in the North Indian politics, though the dynasty continued till the early thirteenth century. The polity of the Palas was within the framework of the monarchial set-up 8nd in this private and the state interests developed simultaneously. Thie empire consisted of areas administered directly and' areas adrhinist'ered by the vassal chiefs. Ramapal, the last important sovereign of the Pala dynasty who ruled from c. 1080 to 1122 A.D., is known to have organised a control of u ~ d k a and districts (vioaya) called snmantha-chakra (circle of vassal chiefs). His reign is a l sqmarkd by a peasant rebellion of Kaivarttas.

iv) ASSAM ' Towards the fuithir east, Assam was in the process of transition towards the state polity during the centuries under survey. A isam consists of two river valleys, viz., those of the Brahdaputra and Surama. By seventh century the Varmans had eqtablished their aricendancy and brorvght about territorial and political integration of the Brahmaputra vauey into Kamasupa. The Varmans made land grants to the. brahmanls who in turn extended the scope of cultivable land and brought the tribal people in the netwprk of state system. The Varman rulers constructed many embankments thereby giving stimulus to wet rice cultivation. Shalastambha kings in Pragjyotishi contidued the practice of the Varmans in the eigth and ninth centurias and made many Iahd grants to brahmmas and religious institutions. Later,, Palas also continued thici trend. The medieval Assam inscriptions refer to tefms like rJ1, qjni, qjaputra, rajanyaka and ranaka who appear to have been landed intermediaries.

vj ORISSA Nature of Regiond Politio

In Orissa a number of small kingdoms and principalities appeared along the coast of Bay of Bengal and in the hilly hinterland. Kalinga, Kongoda, Dakshina Tosali and Uttara Tosali were situated at the Bay of Bengal and Dakshina Kosala in the upper Mahanadi valley. The borders of the different kingdoms varied from time to time but the topography of their centres and their spatial distribution remained almost unchanged from the sixth to twelfth centuries. The kings donated lands to kahmanas who performed various administrative and ritualistic functions. Land

1. Canp King Naruimhdeva who commissioned the Sun Temple at Konarkp.

Indian Polity In Its Regional grants were also made to religious institutions. The rice cultivation in the fertile vu*tiom : 8th 'D lJth Cmtur). riverine nuclear areps and trade lihks, both internal and externar. gave stimulus to

the state system of bifferent kingdoms. Chiefs belonging to the Samavamsha ruled initially in western brissa and gradually extended their sway over a large part of Orissa. After the fall of the Sulkis, the Bhaumakaras seem to have divided Kodalaka-mandal (bhenkanal district) under. the rule of $wo feudatory families, viz.,

. the Tungas an6 Na~das. The Bhsnjas are known to us from about fdty inscriptions. The dynasty had va ious branches. Mayurbhanja, Keonjhar, Bandh, Sonepur and Gumsur regions of b rissa comprised the territories of different Bhanja familm. The Gangas in the twelfth century constructed many temples including the famous Sun temple at Konarka, t o consolidate their hold over tribal areas.

8.2.2 Western and Central India Western India, especially Gujarat and Malwa, was under the influence of the Gu ja ra Pratiharas. Malwa was very fertile and Gujarat was a part of internal and external trade network. The Pratiharas resisted incursions of the Arabs and were also drawn into North lndian politics. The lure of Kanauj was too great. Bhoja, the greatest Pratihara ruler contfiolled Kanauj and it was a part of his empire for sometime.later, Gujflrat was lost to Rashtrakutas thereby adversely affecting the economic base of thd Pratihara empire. However, Bhoja's successor Mahendrapal not only maintained intact the vast empire inherited by him, but also further expanded it towards less than seven of his records have been found in "

south Bihar and nor

The post tenth centuty scene in Central and Western India saw the rise of numerous powers, who claimed: to be Rajputs and many of whom were feudatories of the Gujara Pratiharas. *he emergencebf these Rajput families is linked up with increase in land gran(s and consequent new land relationships. The) were also the products of fusion ofiforeign and local elements, and some segrnentption of a few clans. Amongst theselnewly emergent powers in Central and West& lndia one can include the Chandellds in Khajuraho, the Chauhans in Ajmer, the Paramaras in Malwa, the Kalachuris in Tripuri (near Jabalpur), the Chaulukyas in Gujarat, the Guhilas in Mewar and the Tomaras with'their headquarters in modern Delhi. The different Rajput clans, constructed their fortresses on a large-scale which represented the numerous foci of ower. Certain amount of inter-clan marriages amongst some of these Rajput s led to wider areas of social and political activity.

The political develop*ents in North, Western and Central lndia were considerably influenced by the chaQges taking places in the contemporary West and Central Asia. The coming of the A+bs (seventheighth centuries), first as traders and later as invaders, had already made substantial impact in India. The Gurjara Pratiharas, Palas and the Rashtrdkutas had to deal with this challenge in economic and political spheres.

The Samanids ruled over Trans-Oxiana, Khurasan and parts of Iran in the ninth century. Among the Sgmanid governors was a Turkish slave, AMptigin, who later

. established an indepenpent kingdom with its capital at Ghazni. After sometime Mahmud (998-1030 A.D.) ascended the throne at Ghazni and brought Punjab and Multan under his contiol. Mahi@ud undertook many raids and plundered many \

temples in Indla known for their wealth, largely1 to consolidate his own position in Central Asia. Another ~ Q U S ~ that penetrated lndia was that Bhur in North-west Afghanistan. Shahabuddin Muhammed ( 1173-1206 A.D.) of this house conquered Multan, Uchch, Lahore; created a base in Punjab and finally defeated the Chauhan ruler Prithviraj in the $econd battle of Tarain in 1192. He also defeated Jaichandra of the Gahadaval dynasty (Kanauj based) in the battle of Chandwar in 1194. Such attempts of Central Asian chiefs finally led to the establishment of the Turkish empire in North lndia In the early thirteenth century under the Mamluk Sultans such as Qutbuddin Aibak arld Iltutmish.

Check Your Progress 1 in about 1s lines, the major political developments in Nqrthem lndia.

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(2) Discuss in about 10 lines the political history of Western and Central India.

13) .Which of the following statements are right ( 4 ) or wrong ( x ) ? i) Kanauj, in the.Ganga Valley became prdminent due to its strategic ana.

geographical potentiality. ii) The Rashtrakutas were primarily cen t rd in Eastern India. iii) The Varman rulers of Assam gave impetus to the construction of irrigational

works. iv) The famous Sun Temple at Konark was constructed in the twelfth century.

8.2.3 The Deccan The Deccan also known 8s the bridge between North and South India was under the control of the Rashtrakutas from the early ei&h century. They contended with the Gu rjara Pratiharas over the control of Gujarat and Malwa and tried their fortunes in the Ganga Valley. Nor did they let powers in the.eastern D e w n and southern India live in peaa. The eastern Chalukyas at Vengi (in modern Andhra Pradesh), k 'avas and Pandyas in Kanchi and Madurai respectively (in Tamil Nadu) also had tc ,ear their wrath. * Dhruva (c. 780-93 A.D.), Amoghavarsha - and Krishna I1 (c. 814-914 A.D.) were important scions of the Rashtrakutas. Some other powers of the Deccan were the Chalukysis of Kalyana, the Yadavas (Seunas) of Devagiri and the Kakatiyas of Warangal.

8.2.4 Southern India The souihern India broadly covers the portion of the peninsula which lies south of 130 Northern latitude and between the Malabar and Coroyandel coasts. It also

of ~egional Politics

comprised modern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, southern Karnataka and southern Andhra Pradesh. Tbe Coromandal (from cholamandalam) plain extending from the tip of the peninsula to the northern edge of the broad delta of the Godavari and Krishna rivers was the major core region of the South India. Tamil plain's northern most part was Tondiaimandalam and Pandimandalam was the southernmo'st portion of the peninsula. The malabar coast was significant due to the potentialities of sea- trade. The Coromandel coast too had a number of enirepots such as Kaveripatnam, Pondicherry. Masulipatam etc. These geographical configurations greatly influenced the political structure of the South India.

Map1 India c. 1000-1200 A.D. '

By mid eighth century the erstwhile powerful kindgoms of the Pallavas and ., Nature of Redorul PolItIa Chalukyas were spent forces. However, their legacies were inherited by their political successors, viz., the Cholas and the Rashtrakutas respwtively. Also, the political law of a tussle between the power based in the Kaveri Valley and that of Karnataka became a concrete course for many centuries. This was the case of not only the relations between the Rashtrakutas and the Pallavas in the late eighth and early ninth centuries but also of the strained ties between the Rashtrakutas and the Cholas, when the later succeeded the Pallavas. Wgtern Chalukyas, the political successors of the Rashtrakutas, continued the trend and were often at loggerhead? with the Cholas from the early eleventh century. Very often the small chiefdoms af the Deccan such as those of the Nolambas, Vaidumbas, Banas, etc. became victims of,these big power rivalries. Vengi (coastal Andhra Pradesh) was also an important bqne of contention amongst these powers.

The post tenth century scene in the south is also marked by three important phenomena :

i) internecine wars amongst the Cholas, Pandyas and the Cheras,

ii) involvement of Sri Lanka, and

iii) expansion of Indian influence beyond the sea~-particularly in the Southeast Asia. This climaxed in the naval expdition in the times of the Chola King . Rajendra-I (first half of the eleventh'century).

The Cholas under Rajendra-1 had also reached up to the Ganga Valley-a venture immortdised in the great temdle at Gangaikondacholapuram (north east of Thanjavur).

8.3 RECONSTRUCTIONS OF INDIAN POLITY BETWEEN 8TH AND 13TM CENTURIES

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The writings on this subject s i h the early 1960s have broadly followed three approaches, viz., emphasizing feudal, segmentary and integrative character of polity (See also Block 9 of EHI-02)

8.3.1 Feudal Polity (See also Unit 1.7) R.S. Sharma expounded this view in his book Indian Feudalism .

published in 1965. It is based on the pan-lndian character (See also Unit 1.2.1) of land grants. It focuses on : I

a) administrative structure based on the control and possession of land,

b) fragmentation of political authority,

c) hierarchy of landed intermediaries,

d) dependence of peasants on landlords, ,

e ) oppression end immobility of peasants. and

f ) restricted use of metal money (See also Unit 3.3.1 and 3.4.2)

he d e g ~ e of the dependence of the pea!ants on landlords might differ from region to region. However, the development of agrkulture. handicrafts, commodity production, trade and commerce and of urbanisation (See also Block-I) could create conditions for differentiation in the ranks of the peasantry. Hierarchical control over land was created by sub-infeudation in certain areas. Which gave rise to graded types of landlords.

Recently the validity of the feudal formation in the context of medieval India has been questioned. It bas been suggested that the medieval society was characterised by selfdependent or free peasant production. The peasants had control over the means and the processes of production. It is added that$here was relative stability in social and economic structure and there was not rnuchr&ange at the level of techniques of agricultural production. The conflicts were over the distribution and redistribut~on of the surplus than over a redistribution of means of production. The appropriation of agrarian surplus to ;he state formed the chief instrument of exploitation. The high fertility of land and the low subsistence level of the peasant facilitated the state appropriation of the surplus in conditions of relative stability. This line of approach

e

India Polity In I ts Wegionrl does not take note of superior rights and inferior rights of one party or another ovir : Ijth Cmtuq land. In fact in early medieval times in the same piece pf land the peasant held

inferior rights and the landlords held superior rights. The land grants clearly made the position of landlords stronger over the land as compared to that of peasants. The. critique of feudal polity unfortunately does not take note of massive evidence in support of the subjection and immobility of peasantry, which is an indispensable element in feudal system. Also, this critique is a disguised attempt to reinforce the colonialist view of stwnating and unchanging lndian society.

8.3.2 Segmentary State An attempt has been ,made to view the medieval polity, particularly that of the medieval South India, in terms of segmentary state. The segmentary state is ' understood as one in which the spheres of ritual suzerainty and political sovereignty do not coincide. The titual suzerainty extends widely towards a flexible, changing

'

periphery and the political sovereignty is confined to the central core area. In segmentary 'state there exist several levels of subordinate foci, organised pyramidally beyond a royal ckntre- From the primary centre of the ruling dynaSty kings unified their subordinate centres ideologically. In the state segments actual political control was exercised by l o d elite. It is also assumed that there existed close co-operation between brahmanas and dominant peasants. However, the segmentary state . formulation has some limitations. Ritual suzerainty is confused with cultural suzerainty. It also relegates the different foci of power to the periphery and does not see them as components of the state power. Moreovq, the heterogeneous'character of South Indian peasantry is not adequately understood. In so far as the notion of segmentary state subordinates political and economic dimensions of the State structure to its ritual dimensions, it does not inspire much confideye. The notion has been applied to the Rajput polity as well. Aidan Southall and Burton Stein are major exponents of this view.

I 8.3.3 Integrative Polity 1 This formation has been worked out by B. D. ~hattopadhyaya. The study of 1

I political process calls for consideration of the presence of established norms and - I nuclei of &te system,'horizontal spread of state system implying transformation of A

pre-state polities into state polities and integration of local polities into a structure that went beyond the bounds of local polities. The proliferation of ruling lineaps (ruling families) is s e n as social mobility process in early medieval India. The diffused foci of power are represented by what is broadly called as the sunanta system. The samanta were integrated into the structure of polity in which the overlord-subordinate relation came to be domina~t over othir levels of relation in the structure. The transformation of the sammta into a vital component of the political structure is itself an evidence of ranking and in turn clarifies the political basis of integration. Rank as the basis of political organisation implies differential access to the centre as also shifts within the system of ranking. It is also assumed that the rank as the basis of political organisation generated crisis between the rankholders and also between them and the overlord. This emphasis on ranking brings the integrative polity formulation closer to the notion of segmentary state.

The integrative' polity, like the feudal polity, sees political processes in terms of a

parallels with contemporary economic,'social and religious developments, such as: \.

i) horizontal spread of rural agrarian settlements (See also Unit 1.2). ii) horizontal spread of the dominant ideology of social order based on vuna

division (See also Unit 2.1 and 2.3), and iii) integration of local cults, rituals and sacred centres into a larger stkucture (See +

also Unit 2.3).

However, this formulation suffers from definitional vagueness. The terms "lineagl: domai.n" and "state society" are not clarified. Further, the samantas even in their trans-political sense remained a landed aristocracy. More importantly, neither the segmentary state nor the integrative polity models provide alternative mqterial bases which could be contrasted with that of the feudal polity. Both integration and segmentation can be explained in terms of land grants which formed the crucial element in the feudal structure. In as much as local landlords of chieftains derived their fiscd and administrative powers from the King (the overlord), paid tributes and

performed military and administrative obligations towards him. they worked for integration. On the other hand, when they ruled over the local peasants idan autonomous manner it amounted to the segmentation of authority. "Lineage geography" which is crucial for the reconstruction in terms of integrative polity, is not available 6n pan-India scale. Except in the case of the Chauhans and Paramaras, 'lineage' did not play an important part in the organisation of polity. Even ranks were'formed on the basis of unequal distribution of land and its revenue resources. Similarly, the distinction between political and ritual suzerainty coupled with their association with the core and the periphery respectively, which is considered the cornerstone of the concept of the segmentary state suffers from the absence of empirical data from many important regions of the Indian sub-continent. On the contrary, the reconstruction of medieval lndian polity in terms of feudalism relies on such elements which can be applied to practically the whole of India.

Check Your Progress 2

I) Outline the political developments in the Deccan and South India. Answer in about IS lines.

2) Write a note on the concept of Feudal Polity. Answer in about ten lines.

3) What db you understand by the term Segmentary State? Explain in about I0 lines. I

Natureof Rcgioml Politia

.. ; . badin !olity 'la Ib R t g i o d ......................................................................................... V.rl.tbm : 8tb To 13th Century 1\.

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8.4 LET US StJM UP

The geographical confi urations, the economic structure and ideologital apparatus 1 greatly conditioned the nature of polity from region to region in lndia between the eighth and thirteenth cknturies.

In Kashmir the powerful landowning social groups-particularly priests and c & m q s influenced the internal politics. - Ga,nga Valley and Hanauj were an important bone of contention till at least mid-ninth century. Three important powers of North and West lndia as well as that of the Deccan, viz., the Palas, Gurjara Pratiharas and the Rashtrakutas were actively involved in this.

Assam was undergoing the processes of transition from tribal polity to state polity and was getting linked up with Northern India.

In Orissa too. the state was emerging with strong tribal elements.

In Western and Centlral lndia there was phenomenal increase in Rajput families most of whom were feudatories of the Gurjara Pratiharas.

Developments in Webt and Central Asia had considerable impact on the lddian political scene. From the days of the arrival of the Arabs as traders in the seventh century to the establishment of the Turkish empire in the beginning of the thirteenth century, the Indian sub-continent remained an important target of external forces.

In the Deccan and the South the tussle between the Karnataka based powers and those in the Kaveri Valley was a recurring theme. Equally persistent was the lure of the coastal Andhra Pradesh (Vengi). Wars amongst the Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras and occasion@l involvement of Sri Lanka in these encounters are other important features of the political scene in the region. Also, the Chola kings made duccessful efforts td lreach beyond the seas-as far as the Southcast Asia. ' .

The reconstruction$ of medieval lndian political structure have broadly followed three lines of enquiry-feudal polity, segmentary state and integrative polity. While the latter two seem to have limited and localised applicability, they have not been able to ratianalize the concepts in terms of alternative material bases: Their reliance on the essential elements of mode of production of the 'feudal model' coupled with latter's applicability on almost pan-Indian scale make R.S. Sharma's contedtion more accephble in the present state of research. Indeed, polity of different regions is still to be analysed separately and there is a need to establish empirically the relationship amongst dwferent regions of the lndian sub-continent.

8.5 KEY WORDS Damaras : Powerful landlords in Kashmir

Mandal : An administrative diviJion

Matsya-nyaya : Law of the fishes---state of chaos

Rajanyaka : Landed intermediary and an official

Renaka : Landed intermediary and an official

Samanta Chakra : Circle of Vast.~l Chiefs

8.6 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS Naturr of Re-l Polttio

EXERCISES . -

Cheek Your Progress 1 I) Your a'nswer should include the political d e v e l o p m e r i ~ a l s h r n i r and Ganga

Valley. See Sub-scc. 8.2.1 2) See Sub-sec. 8.2.2 '

3) i) ii) x iii) W iv)

Check Your Progress 2 I) Your answer s9ould include the political history of Rashtrakutas, Cholas,

Pandyas and Cheras. See Sub-secs. 8.2.3 and 8.2.4 2) See Sub-sec. 8.3.1 3) Distinction between ritual and political sovereignty. Base your answer on Sub-

set. 8.3.2

UNIT 9 NORTHERN AND EASTERN INDIA

Structure

9.0 Objectives ' 9.1 Introduction

9.2 The Region ~ e f i n e d 9.3 Dispersal of Powers : The New Royalty

9.3.1 Growth of Administrative Units 9.3.2 Transfer of Administrative and Fiscal Rights 9.33 V u 4 s u King Makm

9.4 Tnnqformcd Bureaucracy 9.4.1 M~aals . V& and Land 9.4.2 Th'e Power Hierarchy of Sun& 9.4.3 Feudalbation of Bureaucracy 9.4.4 landholding and Clan Considerations

9.5 Functions of S.mmt.s 9.6 Inter-vassal Relationship 9.7 Land Grants and Legitimization of Political Authority 9.8 Let Us Sum Up 9.9 Key Words 9.10 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

9.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unit you should be able to explain the:

.' areas included in .Northern and Easrern India.

real nature of kingship,

distribution of administrative and fiscal power,

emergence of lmulticentered power structure,

role of vassals and state offieials,

changes in the bureaucratic set up, in the light of land-distribution,

power hierarchy of samantm and functions of snmantm,

influence of clan on landholdings,

inter-vassal relationship, and

ideological base of political authority.

f

, 9.1 INTRODUCTION

The preceding Unit (No. 8) had attempted to introduce you to a theoretical debate ,

on the nature of political organisation in the Indian sub-continent between the eighth and thirteenth centuries. The present Unit, however, is a specific case study of North and East India. The overall reconstruction has been done within the framework of +t-'

what has been described as feudal polity. The Unit seeks to show the limits of the so ' called ceqtralised monarchies and the real nature of new royalty. We will discuss the / pattern of landholdings, the distribution of adminisrrative and fiscal powers and the transfer of judicial and policing rights. We will also analyse the emergence of a new type of bureaucracy, the hierarchy of samantu and the multifarious functions of samantu and other officials. All these are indicators of the rise of multi-centered power structure in the ;region under discussion. The Unit also seeks to highlight the ideological base of this structure.

- /

9.2 THE REGION DEFINED Northern and htw India

Writings since the early 1950s have opened up great many issues bearing-on the political structure of Northern and Eastern India. It was a product of a set of changes at all levels and in all spheres. The pace of these changes was determined by the mechanism of land grants (see also Block-1). Broadly, the understanding of centuries and the regions under discussion in terms of feudalism have been the most dominating strain of recent historical writings on the political set up.

How does one define Northern and Eastern India? Generally, territories north of the Vindhyas and up to the Himalayan tarai are included. However, modern states comprising Gujarat, Rajasthan and most of Madhya Pradesh are being excluded from this discussion, for, they have been taken as constituting Western and Central India (See also Unit-lo). Thus, Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh make up Northern India while the Eastern India comprises Bihar, Bengal (including prtsent day Bangladesh), Orissa and Assam as well as other states of the Brahmaputra Valley. Important political powers of these regions have already been identified in Unit-8.

9.3 DISPERSAL OF POWERS : THE NEW ROYALTY

Early medieval Indian kings are known to have used very high sounding and pompous titles, such as puamabhattaraka, maharqjadbiraja, parameshvara, etc. This has very often formed the basis of seeing these kings as very powerful centralised monarchs. However, this is not true. The evidence relating to the territorial divisions and distribution of administrative and fiscal powers shows the real wielders of power. The growing bardic sycophancy had begun to create an aura around kings, treating them as rulers of rulers and ascribing divinity to them. As a result of this image building the King was increasingly becoming more of a private person than the real head of the state. It was not a centralised power structure but a multi- centered system of power.

9.3.1 Growth of Administrative Units The overall political structure is marked by dispersal of political and economic powers. The epigraphic evidences refer to bhuktis, mandalas, vishayas, etc. The Palas

' had, for instance, under them Pundravudhana-bhukti, Vardhamana-bhukti, D a ~ d a - bbukti, Th-bhukti, etc. Mandalas were widespread in Bengal but not so frequent in Bihar. Pala inscriptions also refer to nayas or vithis and khandala as some sort of administrative units.

A twelfth century copper plate grant of Vaidyadeva from Assam mentions bhukti, I

mandala and vishya. In Orissa too vishayas and mandalas assigned as fiefs to royal scions are mentioned in records of the twelfth century. Pattalas and pathakas were administrative units under the Gahadavalas.

The literary sources of the period are also eloquent about many of the aforesaid administrative units. Harishena's Kathakosha, a work of the tenth century, refers to a vishaya in the sense of the principality of a King who has a samanta under him. Rajrtatangini, the chronicle of Kashmir. distinguishes between Svamandal and mmdalantar, which suggests that kings in Kashmir exercised direct administrative control mostly over their own man&lns while other mandalas were governed by umantaa with a n obligation to pay tribute and a commitment of allegiance. At the lawest level perhaps villages also may have acquired a lord either by land grants placing villages under samanta chiefs or by forceful occupation or by the submission of individuals. There is a reference to qulma as consisting of three to five v,illages. Further, allusions to gramrpati, gramadhipati, dhshagtamapati, vimshatimsha- ~ u n n p a t i , sahrsragramapati indicate a hierarchy of villages. The mode and quantum of payment to village heads are also specified. Dashasha (bead of ten villages) got as much land as he'could cultivate with one plough. Vimshntisha (head of tw pty villages) got land cultivable through four ploughs. Shatesha (head of one hun d red villages) was to master one full village as his remuneration.

l n d i ~ Pollt) In Its Regional Vuirtiom : 8th To 13th Century

9.3.2 Transfer of Administrative and Fiscal Rights It was not merely the multiplication of administrative 'units at different levels. Giving away fiscal and adminibtrative rights, including those of policing and administration of criminal law and justice, to donees of land grants created a landed aristocracy between the King and the cultivators. The intensity of the process varied from one region to another.

Dispersal of administrative power which is an important trait of feudal polity, is also indicated by constant shift of the seats of power. Typical examples of this tendency are to be seen in allusions to about nine skandhavaras (victorylmilitary camps) in the Pala records. As many as twenty-one skandhavaras figure i n the Chandella records. However, in this respect the Pratiharas enjoyed relative stawlity, for only Ujjayini and Mahodaya (Kannauj) are known to have been their cajtitals. Like the shifting capitals, fortresses also assumed the functions ~f power cent tk . It is significant that the Palas built as many as twenty fortresses in their empire.

9.3.3 Vassals as King Makers The gradual accumulation of power in the hands ot ministers is another indicator of the nature of royalty in early medieval centuries. Ksheniendra's candid references to the greed of ministers and Kalhana's vivid picture of the machinations and tyranny of the damaras make it obvious that the ministers were self-seeking persons with . hardly any concern for the public g o o d Manasollasa, a text of the twelfth century advises the King to protect his subjects not only from robbers but also from ministers as well a s officers of finance and revenue.

The records of Somavamshins of Orissa show that vassals could even depose and install kings, although such cases were neither too many nor bad any legal sanction.

check Your Progress 1

I ) Comment on the high sounding titles of early medieval kings. . .........................................................................................

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2) Name the main administrative units in different regions of Easttrn and Northern lndiq.

3) What d o you understand by transfer of administrative and fiscal rights? Write in brief.

9.4 TRANSFORMED BUREAUCRACY

Parallel to the dispersalsof administrative powers as manifested in the localised units was the transformation in the bureaucratic apparatus in the administrative system. Payment to officials and vassals by land grants, the hierarchy of samantns, feudalisation of titles of kings and officials and distribution of land to members of the clan are some of the features of this new bureaucracy.

, 9.4.1 Officials, Vassals and Land The Brahrna-khanda of the Skandn Pur-, which is generally regarded as throwing light on the history and culture of India from about the eighth-ninth to the thirteenth centuries, gives a long description of a legendary grant of a number of villages along with 36,000 vaishyns as well as shudras four times that number, made in ancient times by King Rama to 18,000 brgmanas after the performance of certain religious rites. The donees were to be served by these vaishyns and shudrns. Rama enjoined the people, so transferred, to obey the commands of the donees, who had later divided the villages amongst themselves. That such allusions are not merely mythical but had definite roots in historical evidence is borne out by literary and epigraphic records which are widely dispersed-both chronologically and geographically.

The bestowal of land on the officials in charge of the administrative divisions of 1, 10, 20, 100 and 1000 villages is mentioned as early as Manu (c. 200 A.D.). The practice of service tenure picks up momentum in the post-Gupta centuries.

I

The Partabgarh inscription of Mahendrapala-11 irecords the grant of a village which was in possession of talavargika Harishena. There is mounting evidence of purely military grants. Literary works dealing with Bihar and Bengal between tenth and twelfth 'centuries make frequent references to various kinds of grants Such as deshya, Jcaraja, gramaja and pratipattaka to ministers, kinsmen and those who rendered military services. The Kamauli plate of 1133 A.D. refers to grant of a tract of land to a chief on rajapatti (royal fillet or tiara) by one of the ancestors of Govindacandra Gahadavala. The rajas, rajaputras, ranakas, rajarajanakas, mahasamantas etc. mkntioned in Pala land charters were mostly vassals connected with land. Sometimes even vassals made further grants with or without the permission of their overlords. This is calied sub-infeudation and was particularly marked under the Gurjara Pratiharas. Since the original grantee was given the right to cultivate his benefice or get it cultivated, to enjoy it or get it enjoyed, to do it or get it done, the field was wide open to sub-infeudation and eviction. The medieval land grants of Orissa also refer to bhogi, mahabhogi, brihadbhogi, mmanta, mahasamat., ranaka, rajavlabha, L -. All these appear to be landed intermediaries who also performed military and ac ~inistrative functions.

( 1 In the eleventh and twelfth centuries key officials were also being paid through I regular and exclusive taxes. Officers connected with revenue collection, criminal administration including policing, accounts and members of the palace staff enjoyed levies specifically raised for them. Thus, the akshopatalikm, pratihlrm and vifhotiathus (possibly a revenue official of a group of twenty eight villages) under the Gahadavalas received such sustenance.

Early twelfth century inscriptions of the Gahadavalas mention akshapata: .-prmtho, akshapatala-adaya, prntblm-pmmtho and vishatiathuprqtha. It is'not clear vhether these levies accounted for the total remuneration of the concerned officials or jcs!

Northan and Eastern India

Indlm Pomy 1. Ib Red& formed an additional emolumerlt. Yet, it is apparent that sucp state otYicials had V u i . ~ ~ : 8th To 13th CmPuV become so powerful as to claim grants of perquisites for t'hems~lves. In sum, the

right of various 'statel officials to enjoy specific levies-irrespectwe of the tenure of these levies-was bound to create intermediaries with some interests in the lands of the tenants.

9.4.2 The Power $kriarehy of Samantas By the twelfth century a hierarchical system of &mantas had become considerably elaborate. A text of thc twelfth century classifies various vassals in the descending order on the basis of the number of villages held by them: "Mahamandalcshvua (1 ,00,000 villages), m~dalika (50,000 villages)", mahasamanta (20,000 villages), 'samanta, Iaghu-samanta and catum~nshtka (10,000; 5,000 and 1,000 villages respectively)". Sandhyakara Nandi who wrote about Bengal under Ramapala, refers to mandaladhipati, samanta-cah-chudamani, bhupala and raja.

The hierarchy of sunrantas is corroborated by epigraphic evidence too. Rajanakas and rajaputras figure~in inscriptions of the former Chamba state. Slmanta, mahasamanta, mawmantadhipat i and thakkura figure in some eleventh century inscriptions of Garhwal. The Tezpur rock inscription of 830 A.D. refers to Shri Harjaravarman of the Shalastambha dynasty (of Assam) as mahuajadhir aja- parameshvara-pammabhattaraka under whom came the mahasamanta Shrisuchitta. Shilakuttakavaleya is mentioned as a samanta in this inscription. We conie across raja, rajanya, ranaka and rajaputras in the Shaktipur copper plate of Lakshamanasena of Bengal.

9.4.3 Feudalisation of Bureaucracy Numerous officials art: listed in inscriptions belonging to almost all North Indian states. The Pala land Warters, for example, mention nearly four dozen officials and vassals-some of them even being hereditary. More than two dozen oficials are listed in the Gahadavala inscriptions. The situation was no different in the territories of the Cahamanas, Clhandellas and the Kalachuris. Even feudatories kept a long retinue of the officers. More than two dozen of them functiolied under Samgrama Gupta, a rnahamandalika of the Karnatas of Mithila. The feudalisation of the titles and designations of these officials, becomes a conspicuous phenomenon of the times. An indicator of this development is the use of the prefix maha. While the early Pala kings such as Dharmapala and Devapala had less then half a dozen maha-prefixed officials, the number went up to nine under Navayanapala. The number of such officials under Samgrama Gupta was as high as eighteen. One car! even discern a pattern in this newly dmerged set up-the lower the power of the lord the larger the number of the dignitaries bearing the title mrha in his kingdom. Similarly, the later. the kingdom, the greater the number of maha prefixed functionaries. The growing feudalisation of officials is also found in the practice of using the same terminology to express the relationship between the officials and the King as was used between the vassals and the King. The expressions such as padapadmopajiyin, rajapadopajivin, padaprasadopajivin, puamesvara-padopajivin, etc:.,applied to both vassals and officials, They indicate that officers subsisted on the favour of their masters and thus show that they were being feudalised. Officials were placed in various feudal categories according to their status and importance. Even kayastha scribes were invested with such titles as ranaJca and thakkura to indicate their feudal and social rank rather than their functions. . - 9.4.4 Landholding and Clan Considerations The exercise of important governmental functions was gradually being linked up with landholding. There are numerous instances of assignments not only to chiefs and state officials but also to members of the clan and the relatives. Thus, we find references to estates hdld by a chief of the Chinda family ruling in the region of the modern Pilibhit distridt of Uttar Pradesh. As illustrations of clan considerationh, it is possible to cite numerous instances of apportionment of villages in units of twelve. The (Una) plates of the time of Mahendrapala of Kannauj (c. 893 A.D.) mention the holding of 84 villages by mahasamanta Balmvaman. References to queen's gram and bhukti, junior princes as bhoktsies (possessors) of villages, aejr (allotment) of a rdaputra and rajakiyaqbhop (King's estate) are not unknown. The holders of 84 villages had formed a ~ection of chiefs known as catur8ehIkm by the end of the twelfth century. Relatiirely speaking, the practice of distributhg land on clan

considerations had a greater frequency in the Western and Central India than in the . Northern and Eastern India. This practice of distributing land to the members of clan is reminiscent of tribal system of apportioning spoils of war amongst members of the tribe.

Check Your Progress 2 1) Give a list of different types of grants prevalent in different parts of Northern

and Eastern India.

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2) Write five lines on the hierarchy of samantas.

3) Was their feudalisation of Bureaucracy? Comment.

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4) Were land grants given on the consideration of clan'?

.............. ? ..........................................................................

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9.5 FUNCTIONS OF SAMANTAS

By the end of the period under survey, the multifarious functions of the samantas had come to be recognised. Some of these included regular payment of tributes, compliance with imperial orders and attendance at ,the imperial court on ceremonial occasions, administering justice, military obligations, etc. The Rajaniti RatnPlrrva written by Chandeshwar of Mithila (north Bihar) in the thirteenth century classifies =mantas into sakara and abara depending on \heir obligations in respect of the payment of tributes.

. .

Northun and Entern India

Regional The Chandellas of Jttjakabhukti (Bundelkhand) made frequent land grants to lJtb Century '-mijitary officials. Ajayapala, the brclhmana senapati of Paramardin was a recipient of

pida of land $ 1 166 A.D. A few years later in 1 17 1, a whole village was granted to the brahmaqa senapati Madanapala Sharma, whose three immediate predecessors .

b e t_akk@as. The grant was free from past, present and future dues-a charadteridic of all Chandella grants. Sometimes death in the battlefield also resulted in grants to military personnel. An evidence of a purely non-sectarian copper plate charter of land given to a hereditary brahmana military official is the Tehri plate of Trailokyavarman (1 207-08 A.D.).

Grants for military service were made to kayasthas as well. Members of the Vmtavya Kayastha family functioned as warriors. This family enjoyed importance in Chandella administration for nearly three hundred years from Ganda to Bhojavarma.

Though there are many instances of land grants to rautas and ranakas by Gahadavala kings, military services and acts of bravery are not specified as response for these grants. But it is equally true that they were vassals, distinct from regular officials under the direct control of the state because ranakas and rautas are not mentioned in the list of officials given in Gahadavala inscriptions. It is significant that the Latakamelaka, a satirical work composed in the twelfth century under the patronage of the Gahadavalas, refers to a rauttaraja called Samgramavisara. Enjoying a gramapatta apparently for military service, this rauttaraja appears as a prominent social figure.

9.6 INTER-VASSAL RELATIONSHIP

The nature of the bond between the superior and inferior vassals and between the vassal and lord is rather uncertain. While there is some evidence about a written contract embodying only the obligations of the vassal, the Rajatarangini also shows signs of mutual oral understanding between a tenth century King, Chakravarman and a leading damara chief called Samgrama. We do not find many such instances. On the one hand we hear of vassals' autonomy in their respective spheres, there is also available on the other hand the evidence of the Pala King (Ramapala) seeking help of his vassals to suppress the revolt of the kaivarttas in the late eleventh century. It is, however, interesting to note that the sentiments of loyalty and allegiance to a common overlord went beyond caste considera?ions..Thus, the shabara chief and a vakhya caravan leader, who have a common overlord, regard themselves as sambandhins.

Some insights into the lord-vassal relationship are also provided by the usage of panchamahashabda, which seems to have developed as a samanta institutiod in the post-Gupta centuries. Many inscriptions show that a measure of the high feudal rank enjoyed by some vassals was their investiture with the panchamahashabda by their overlords.

A copper plate inscription of 893 A.D. records a grant of land by the ntlhasamanta ~akavarman, whose father had obtained the panchamahashabda through the grace of Mahendrayudhadeva (Mahendrapala of Kannauj). Surprisingly, the term was not kno"wn in the Pala kingdom, although it is known in Assam and Orissa.

There is little doubt that the acquisition of the panchamahashabda was the highest distinction that could be attained by a vassal-indeed, even the Yuvaraja (crown prince) enjoyed no higher feudal privilege than this. The samantas continued t o becr this epithet even after adopting such grandiloquent titles as paramabhattarla- maharajad hiraja-parameshvara.

According to a text of the twelfth century, the privilege of pancharnahashabda -

signified the use of five musical instruments. These are referred to as shringa (horn), t m m a t a (tabor), shankha (conch), bheri (drum) and jayaghanta (bell of victory). In some parts of North India, the term panchamahashabda indicated five official designations with the prefix maha. If the word shabda is connected with the root sbap, it acquires an additional meaning of oath or vow. If so, it would have an important bearing on the rendering of panchamahashabda in terms of state officials' and lord-vassal relationship.

The lord-vassal bond and the samanta hierarchy do not show any distinctive sign of Northern and Eastern India

decay even in the changed economic scenario of the post-tenth century. Trade and cash nexus are recognised as factors whlch weaken feudal formation. There are clear signs of the revival of internal as well as external trade and currency between tenth and twelfth centuries (see Unit 3 Block-I). Indian feudalism as a political system, far from getting dissipated, shows remarkable flurd~ty and adaptability. A phenomenon of a somewhat similar kind has been noticed In the 17th century Russia where serf economy began to adapt itself to the developing markets. It IS, however, necessary to add that feudalism as an economic system does show slgns of cracking up. This is specially true of Western lndia where the self-suff~c~ent feudal economy had come under special strain due to revival of trade, money and urban growth. The situation, however, is not without its contrasts-the east, VIZ. Brhar. Bengal and Onssa, show a considerable resrlience. Further, land service grants to vassals and offlc~als are more common in the west then in the east, wlth the exceptron of Orlssa.

9.7 LANb GRANTS AND LEG&TIMIZATION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY

As far as the political organisation is concerned, the pan-lndian character of land grants served an important function. This was to give socialand legal sanction to the political authority, viz., the King or the vassal. I n Bengal and Bihar under the Palas, brahmanas, Buddhist monasteries and Shaiva temples emerged as landed intermediaries due to land grants. Elsewhere in North and East India, brahmanas were principle donees. These predominantly religious donees were agents of providing legitimacy to political authorities. An important way to achieve this objective was to work out glorious genealogies of chiefs and kings. Their descent was sought to be traced from mythical epic heroes such as Rama and Krishna. The beneficiaries of land donations also tried to provide ideological support to the ruling authorities by undertaking cultural interaction-specially in tribal areas. For instance, an important indicator is the way in which symbols of tribal solidarity and coherence were being absorbed within the fold of brahmanism. I n Orissa the political r

power was consolidated through the effective instrument of the royal patronage of tribal deities. The absorption of the cults of Gokarnasvami and Stambheshvari and

. the process of the emergence of the cult of Jagannath are pointers of the new . ideological force (for detailed discussions, see Block-2, Unit-6). Incidentally, these functions of the post-Gupta land grants, viz, imparting legitimacy to ruling powers and providing ideological support were not confined to Northern and Eastern India. They can be seen, of course with varying degrees, in all other regions as well:

Check Your Progiess 3 I) Write the main functions of sammtas.

2 ) What do you understand by panchmahashabda?,

,/ .- ........................................... ............................................. Indian Polity In Its Regional

i

Varintiom : 8th To 13th Century .........................................................................................

3) Were land grants made by the kings to legitimize their authority?

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1

/

9.8 LET US SUM UP . .

The Northern and Eastdrn lndia comprises modern states of Kashmir, Punjab. Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, Orissa, Assam and parts of northern Madhya Pradesh. The political structure of these regions between Jhe eighth and thirteenth cehturies was marked by:

a new kind of royalty which was far from being centralised,

rise of new administrative units to which were transferred numerous fiscal, judicial and policing functions,

the emergence of numerous foci of power.

simultaneous transformation of bureaucracy along with the changes in the real nature of the ,aut hority of the King,

new landholdings as the basis of power structure giving rise to a hierarchy of vassals. and

feudalisation of state officials as dell as of the entire political apparatus.

9.9 KEY WORDS

Adaya

Akshapatalika

: Taxes

: Revenue Official

Bhogi : Landed intermediary performing I administrative function.

Bhukti : Administrative Unit

-

D u ~ b : Head of ten villages Nolthun and Emtern India

D ~ & P : Land grant to ministers, kinsmen and those . 1

who rendered military services.

: . Same, as deshya i . Grrunaja

K u Ja . :. Same, as deshya \

Khandala

Mandalantu

_ Padop ajivin

v - : Administrative Unit

: Administrative division under the charge of a samanta rather then overlord.

: Vassals/ Officials subsisting on the favour of their overlord.

pathaka : Administrative Unit

Pattda ' : ~dministrative Unit

. Pratipattaka : Same, as deshya

Rajavdlabha : Same, as bhogi #

Shatesha : Head of one hundred villages i

: Victory/ military camp -' L . Skandhavya / -

Vimhatioha' : Head of twenty villages ,

Vhhatiathus . : Probably a revenue official of a group of 28 villages

Vithi ' : Administrative Unit

9.10 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1 1) The early medieval kings "sed high sounding titles though their actual pQwer

was shrinking. See Sec.9.3. 2) In Bengal bhukti, mandalas, vkhayas, nayas, vithi, etc. In Assam bhukti, mandrl

etc. In Kashmir gulma, mandalas, etc. See Sub-sec. 9.3.1. 3) The King giving certain tights for revenue collection or administration to donees

of grantees. See Sub-sec. 9.3.2.

Check J' ar Progress 2. 1) Th: 2 were different grants to different category of people like, ministers.

warriors, kinsmen or landed intermediaries, like desbya, karaja, brinabhugi, ranaka, etc. See Sub-sec. 9.4.1.

, 2) There was a definite hierarchy of samantes depending on the'size of: grant and powerenjoyed by grantees. See Sub:sec. 9,4.2.

j) During this p~riod a number of state officials were also paid through land grants. This indicates some sort of feudalisation of bureaucracy. See Sub-sec. 9.4.3. Some times grants were given to such people who did not perform any particular iork. The only consideration was their being relatives or cla-mmen. See Sub-sec. 4.4.4.

/ Check Your Progress 3 1) In some cases obligations on functions were attached. In many cases the

samantes were supposed to collect revenue, provide army or maintain law and order, etc. See Sec.9.5.

.. 2) Panchamahashabda developed as a feudal institution. It was the bighest honour

a vassal could achieve. For other details read Sec. 9.6. 3) A number of gr nts were made to religious groups or individuals who were

zxpected to pr Sa vide legitimacy to Kings to rule. Bmhmpnas were the main beneficiaries. See Sec.9.:.

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UNIT 10 WESTERN AND CENTRAL INDIA

Structure

Objectives Introduction The Rise of Rajput Dynasties Origin Legends: Their Political Implications Distribution of Political Authority 10.4.1 Prolifuat:mn of Rajput Clans 10.4.2 Formation of Lineage Power 10.4.3 Process of Rising in Social Status Consolidation of Lineage Power Nature and Structure of Polity 10.6.1 Political Instability 10.6.2 Bureaucratic Structure I

10.6.3 Lineage State and Feudal Polity Let Us Sum up Key Words Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

OBJECTIVES

After studying this Unit you will:

know about how various political power configurations emerged in Western and Central India,

understand the nature of the distribution of political authority as well as the. structure of polity, and

be able to analyse the patternsof the formation of political powers rnd their consolidation.

INTRODUCTION

In conventional studies on Indian polity there is greater stress on the genealogy of the ruling dynasties and chronology of their rules. Changes in polity are mostly conceived as chadges represented by dynastic shifts. In view of the inadequacy of this framework, recent studies on the polity have attempted to view the ancient and medieval polity from the perspective of possible processes which were in operation. There is a marked emphasis now on themes such as state formation, structure of polity, nature of power and political control, etc. However generalization at sub- continental level need to be,probed further from a microscopic point of view. In this Unit we shall know about the emergence and evolution of regional polity in Western and Central ~n'dia. This region comprises modern states of Rajasthan, Gujarat and most of Madhya Pradesh.

Owing to the fact that regional political formations in various pans of India have not been studied fully, the generalizations at sub-continental level require further' precision. The study of regional political formations should, however, assume importance in view of the fact that: I) there were frequent shifts in the centres of powers, and 2) the formation of new polities was a continuous process.

Western and Central India provide us with examples of fresh spun in the emergence of local states. For example, the Rajput clans such as the Gurjara Pratihara. Guhila. Paramara, C!,ahamana as Well as the Kalachuris and Chandella exploited, political uncertainties of post-Gupta and post tenth centuries in Western and Central India. They dominated tfie pqlitical scene for centuries, especially during the period

ndlu Polity In 118 ~egi0n.1 extending from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries. The picture of the political ui.tmn~ : 8th To 13th. <:enlury processqs that resulted !in the replacement of old dynssties by-new Rajput powers of :.

uncertain. origin is not clear. None the less, an attempt has been made to work out :

some essentia1,traits of the nature of the distri'bution of political authority. Unlike Northern and Eastern India, the region under discussion shows some influence of lineage-at least in some parts of the region (See also Unit 8.3.3). Even in these parts. the dispersal of administrative and fiscal powers along with the changes in the bureaucratic set-up----all based on new landholdings set the tone of feudal polity. ' ' i

10.2 THE RISE OF RAJPUT DYNASTIES

The A r a b Invaded Slnd and Multan In 712-13 A.D. Within the next 25 years tJey . . overran Marwar. M a l \ r ~ and Broach and threatened other ot lndla These raids contributed to remarkable changes in the polit~cal map of Western lndia and

2 the Deccan. Powers lihe Rashtrakutas and clans noy known to us as Rajputs came . to the fore in this period. These clans. not heard of in earlier times, begad to play an important part from about the eighth century. With obscure origins the lineages like the Paramaras and the Chahamanas, after passing through many'vicissitudes, came . to the fore in the context of the inter-state conflicts of the major powers such as the Gurjara Pratiharas and Rashtrakutas (See also Unit 8.2.1):

The rise of the Rajputs to political prominence appears to be accidental. but an understanding of the early pol~t~cal debelopments shows that their appearance on the political scene was not sudden. The emergence of these clans took plact within the . existing hierarchical political structure. Their emergence. therefore. should be understood as a total process.

. 10.3 ORIGIN' LEGENDS : THEIR POLITIC.AL IMPLICATIONS

The problem of the origln of Rajput dynasties IS highly complex and controversial! Their gotrochhara mak6s them kshatriyns of the Lunar family (Sonravamshi) while on the basis of old kavyas some maintain that they were of the Solar race. The myths of Solar origin tegard them as kshatriya created in kaliyuga to wipe-out the mlecchas (foreigners). Rajast h a n ~ bards and chroniclers regard them as fire-born (Agnikula).

According to the Agnikula myth recm'ded b j a court poet, the founder of the house of the Paramaras or~glnated from the firepit of sage Vasishtha on blount Abu. The man who thus sprang but of the fire forcibl! wrested the wish-granting cow of sage Vasishtha from sage Vishwamltra and restored it to the former. Sage Vasishtha gave him the fitting name of paramara-daler of the enemy. From him sprang a race which obtained high edteem by virtuous kings. The Paramara ~nscriptions also declare the origi.1 of the Paramaras from the firepit of sage Vasishtha on the Mount Abu. /

The Rajasthani bards went a step further and ascribed the fire origin not only io the Paramaras but also to the Pratiharas,.the Chaulukyas of Gujarat and the Chahamanas. Speaking of the fire origin of the Chahamanas the bardic tales said that Agastya and other sages began a great sacrifice on the Mount Abu. Demons rendered it inlpure by showering down filthy thlngs. Vaslshtha created from the firepit three warl'iors Pratihara, Chaulukya, and Paramara. but none succeeded in keeping the demons away. Vasishtha dug a new pit from where issued forth a four . armed figure. The sages named him Chahuvana. This wgrrior defeated the demons.

This Agnlkula myth was nothing more than poetic imagination of bards. In their I

hunt for a fine pedigree for their patrons they had woven the story of'the fireorigin: of the Paramaras. They found that it could splendidly explain the orfgin of the Chahamanas too if th* added'some more details.

- The problem.of the origin, when viewed in its totality instead of viewing it from the Watern md Central India angle of any particular dynasty, would help us understand its political significance. The practice of hew social groups claiming kshntriyn status became \yidesp;ead in the early niedieval period. Kshntriyn status was one of the various symbols that the emergent social groups sought for the legitimation of their newly acquired power. The early medieval and medieval Rajput clans, representing a m.ixed caste and constituting a fairly large section of petty chiefs holding,estates. achieved political emingnie gradually. There was corrpsponding relationship between the achievement . of political eminence by Pratiharas, Guhilas. Chahamanas and other clans and their movement towards a respectable social status, viz. acquiring a kshntriya lineage. In this context it is'important to note that these dynasties claimed descent from ancient

. kshntriyns long after their accession to power.,Let us note the example of the Gvrjara Pratiharas, chronologically the earliest and historically the most important of the Rajput dynasties. In an inscription of the late ninth century issued by King Bhoja-1 the.y claim Solar descent for the dynasty and say that Lakshmana, the brother of the epic hero Rama was the ancestor of their family. Their inscript~ons are silent on the question of origin till the glorious days of Bhoja. This epigraphic tradition of the Sola'r descent is connected chronologic,ally with the period during which the (iurjara Pratiharas were the dominant political power. The tradition, thus. represents a stage of imperial prominence with the temptatjon to establish a l i n k with the heroic age of the epics. The tradition of the legendary kshntriya origin of powers such as,thc Paramaras and Chahamanas too had not originated at the initial stage of the rise gf these powers. I n short, the entry to the Rajput fold was possible through the acquisition of political power. And the newly acquired power was to be

. legitimised by claiming linkages with the kshatriya lines of the mythical past. (See also Unit 9.7).

Cheek Your Progress 1

I) Why did the bards create the Agnikuln myth? Answer in about five lines.

2) List the reasons for the need to study regional polity.

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3) Which of the following statements are right ( / ) or wro& ( >c ) ? i) Rajput clans suddenly appeared on the Indian political scene.

1 ii)' New sociai groups started claiming kshntriyn status In the early med~eval period.

iii) Arabs invaded-Sind in s i x a century A.D. .

b iv) There is no problem regarding the origin of Rajput dynasties.

1 .10.4 DISTRIBUTION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY

In India the distribution of political power did not CoHow a unifeym pattern. A study I of the process of emergence of the political powers in nicdicval Wcstern India kllow* '- that the distribution of political authority could be orpaniscd by a netucirk of

lincages (kuln. vnmshn) within the framework of tk lnonarchical form al' p o l ~ v . 'l'hc

ladlaPoYLy ~n Ib R @ o d political annals of the Rajput dynasties such as the Chahamanas of Rajasthan and widam : lJtb Ccltrq the Paramaras of southern Rajasthan, Gujarat and Malwa provide examples of the

clan based distribution of political authority. k

10.4.1 Proliferation of Rajput Clans The bardic chronicles of Marwar state that Dharanivarab of the Paramara dynasty of Abu made himself master of the Navkot Marwar which hl: afterwards divided among his nine brothers: Mandovar to one brother, Ajmer to the second and so on. Thus, apart from the Paramaras of Malwa there were at least four lines of the Paramaras ruling in : il Abu, ii) Bhinmal. iii)Jalor, and iv)Vagada. Similarly, apart '

, - from the Chahamanas bf Broach there was another line of the Chahamanas in Pratabgarh region. It ww headed by a mahrsunanta of the Pratihara overlord. The ancestor of thi i 'mahwmnta was a member of the famous Chahamana line of Shkarnbhari. The Chahamanas of Shakambhari with their cradle land in the tract extending from hwhkat to Harsa (central and eastern Rajasthan) had themselves branched off into Chahamanas of i)Nadol, ii)Jalor. iii)Satyapura, and iv)Abu. During about five centuries of their rule they exercised control over a vast region in western Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The Chapas were another Rajput clan of the early medieval period. They ruled over principalities like Bhillamala, Vadhiar in Kathiiwad, and Anahilapataka in Gujarat. Similarly the Guhilas ruled over the regions of Udaipur and Mewar.

Apart from the subdjvisions of major clans, the emergence of various minor clam was another important mpect of the proliferation of the Rajputs in early medieval period: The continuing brocess of the formation of Rajput clans was through the acquisition of political power. The new clans and subdivisions of earlier clans were drawn into Rajput political network in a variety of ways.

10.4.2 Formation bf Lineage Power The formation and con~olidition of lineage power did not develop in a uniform way. One of the indicators of the process of lineage power formation was the colonization of new areas, as is evident in the expansion of the number of settlements. The colonization of new areas could result from the annexation of the new territories by means of organised military strength. The Chauhan kingdom of Nadol known as . Saptrshata is said to have been made into Saptmahrsrikadcsha by a Chauhan chief who killed chiefs of the boundaries of his kingdom and annexed their villages. Territorial expansion of the Western Indian powers was accomplished, on some areas, at the expense of tribal settlements. For example, Mandor Pratihar Kakkaka is said to have resettled a place which was terrible because of being inhabited by the Abhiras. Similarly, there are examples of the suppression of' tribal population like Shabaras, Bhillas and Pulindas in Western and Central India.

Similar movements are found in the case of the CSuhilas and the Chahamanas as well. For example, though the Guhila settlements were to be found in various parts of Rajasthan as early as the seventh century, slightly later traditions recorded in the inscriptions of the Nagada-Ahpr Guhilas trace their movement from.Gujarat. The bardic tradition also suggests that the Guhila kingdoms in south Rajasthin succeeded the earlier tribal chiefdoms of the Bhils.

The movement of the Chauhanas was from Ahichhatrapura to Jangaldesha (Shakambhari) which, as the name indicates, was an inhospitable area. Their movement led to its cobnization. A tenth century record says that Lakshmana, the son of Vakpati-I of the Shakambhari Chahamana lineage started with few followers and fought against the Medas who had been terrorising the people around Naddula with their free-booting raids. It so pleased the brnhmana masters of the area that ,

they appointed him the guard of the towns. Gradually Lakshmana built up a small b a d of troopers and suppressed the Medas in their. own temtory. The Medas agreed to keep off from villages paying tribute to Lahhmana. He became a master of 2000 horses and extended his dominions at ease and built a great palace in Nadol.

Political authority of a lineage could even be brought about by simply replacing one lineage by another as evident in the case of the Chahamanas of Jalor, a splinter line of the Nadd Chahamaba.branch. Kirtipala, a son of Nadol Chahamana Alhana was

. dissatisfied with the shdre of land assigned to him. A man of ambition, he found that

the situation in Mewar offered an advantage for an invader. Having failed there, he made his way into the region which was ruled by the Paramaras. He attacked Jalor, their capital, and made it the capital of his new kingdom. Similarly Chahamana line of Broach was brought into being when a Chahamana chief Bharatravaddha-11 founded a principality over the tract of the Gurjaras of Broach. He was helped by Pratihara Nagabhata-1 in ousting'the Gurjaras from Broach in the chaotic situation created by the coming of the Arabs. He then assumed the title of mahasamantadhipati in 756 A.D.

Thus the formation of lineage power evolved through multiple channels and . processes which were not compartmentalised and interacted with one another.

I

10.4.3 Process of Rising in Social Status The political history of Western lndia shows that a large ethnic group of an area could successfully compete for political power. It could also lay the fdbndations of large state structures lasting for centuries. Starting from a local agrarian base a lineage could in course of time, emerge as a big regional power by integrajing other local lineages. For example, a tract of land variously called as Gujaraba, Ghujuabhumi, Gurjjaruhba, etc. all referring possibly to the same area (territories contiguous with southern Rajasthan) was the base from where many lineages > emerged.

In the process of stratification that develeped within the Gurjara stock, some families attained political dominance and became ruling lineages. From sevepth century onwards various lineages that had branched off the Gurjara stock through the channel of political power became widely distributed in Western lndia. Gurjara- Pratihara power represents a classic example of the rise in the social ladder. It would suggest that potential and dominant power strugtures could emerge from within local agrarian bases by following a path of upward mobility in favourable political circumstances.

10.5 CONSOLIDATION OF LINEAGE POWER

The emergence of the political powers in Western and Central lndia was associated with certain features. At the level of economy the patterns of land distribution are noteworthy. From about the late tenth century there are evidences for the distribution of land among the members of Chahamana ruling lineages. King Simharaja, his brothers Vatsasraja and Vigrharaja and his two brothers Chandaraja, and Govindaraja had their own personal estates. In the areas held by the Chahamanas of Nadol assignments called as grsa, grasabhumil or bhukti were held by the King, the crown prince, other sons of the King, queens and so on. The incidence of these assignments was higher in Rajasthan than in other parts. This feature apparently represented a process which gradually developed and was associated with the spread of a clan. Another pattern was the holding of units consisting of villages which were part of administrative divisions as mandala or

I bhukti. These units seem to have become centres of some kind of local control. The units of 84 villages (chaurasia) which were held in Saurastra by the Gurjara Pratiharas gradual19 spread to Rajasthan. This extension facilitated the land distribution and political control among the ruling elites. Between the tenth and twelfth centuries the kings and princes of Chahamana and Paramara clans held such big holdings. The process coincided with the construction of fortresses on a large scale in different locations. Apart from serving defence purposes the fortresses also worked as foci of control for their rural surroundingi and hdped the process of the consolidation of ruling families.

The marriage network among the ruling clans is another pointer to the process of the consolidation of clan power at the social level. Marriage network brought about inter-clan relationship which had significant political implications because the families were m~s t ly the ruling Rajput clans. Apart from Paramara-Rashtrakuta and Chahamana-Paramara matrimonial relations, the Guhila marriage network was varied and widespread. Though the Guhilas extended their marriage relations with Chaulukyas, Rqshtrakutas, Chedis and Hunas in addition to those with Rajput clans like Chahamana and the Paramara, the. marriage network mostly constituted the

-u --

~ i r a P&Y 1n Its ~agioad Rajput clan categary. The choice obviously was political as the families cited above : #b To lab Cm constituted the r u l i n ~ elite of the early medieval Western India. Inter-clan marriage - ~lationships were expected to lead to collaboration in wider activities of socio-

political nature since Chey facilitated the presence of clan members in different.-- kingdom and courts.

1

Check Your Progross ;1 1) Write in about five lines about the settlement of new areas as an indicator of the

pr6cess of lineage power formation in Western India.

2) Cite examples of the assignment of land among royal klnsmen in Rajasthan in the post-tenth centpry,

&

3) Which of the follo\king statements are right ( V ) or w;ong ( x ) ?

i) The newly acqlpired power was sought to be legitimised by claiming respectable social status.

ii) The marriage network among the ruling clans had nothing to do with wider activities of socio-political nature.

I iii) Interclan marriages had significant political implications.

iv) The acquisitioniof political power had no role in the formation of Rajput clans.

I ..

10.6 NATURE AND STRUCTURE OF POLITY

The political geography of early medieval Western India and the evidence of the formation of political aqthority in disparate zones by ever proliferating lineages in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Malwa show that there was not always a necessary corresponding rilation between a ruling lineige and a fixed territory. The movement of lineages outside their early centres of power led to the establishment of new ruling families. Guhilas of Meqar may be cited as one among such lineages.

10.6.1 Political Instability I /

Mobilization of militarystrength could not only displace a ruling lineage but also 1 create new locus and neliwork of power. The case of the Vagada branch of the main line of the Paramaras pmvides an example for this. The Vagada branch was in existence from as early as the first decade of the ninth century. Following the' death of Upendra Paramara, Mis son was ruling in ~answara arrd Dungarpur area as a feudatory of the house of Malwa. This Vagada branch continued to be a loyal 1 feudatary line for centuries till Chamundaraja; one of Its rulers defied the Paramartis of Malwa and became independent in the second half of the eleventh century. The Vagada was lost to the of Malwa id the beginning of the twelfth century. After the successor of nothing is heard of the Vagada branch.-Three deedes later we find on$ Maharaja Shurapala ruling over the region of the erstwhile Vagada branch, This shaws that by 1.155 the Paramara were dethroned by the . members of a family whyd as their geneology shows, were not connected with the Paramgra dynasty cf Va$ada, Within next 25 years this line was also uprooiedrnd a Guhila King was rueng- g v $ ~ y ~ & - B y - t t39: in turn appears to have been disposyssed of @'newly' establish J-l(bdo_mma ~ I e r who styled himself

'mahshajqlhiraja. seems to have establlshbd h~nne l f there with the help o f his Chalukya overlord.

10.6.2 Bureaucratic Structure I t i s hardly likkly that t h ~ early medieval powers such as the Chaulukyas, Paramaras and hah ham an as could i i ve stable government to the colintry without a powerful bureaucracy in the structure o f thcir polit ies..-~e come across the namcs of a number, o f officer: who evidently assisted. in the transaction of' the.,al'fairs of the state.'

. - Lekhapaddhati furnishes the {lames 01' karanas (departments) of the government. It'is supposed to be applicable to the ChauLukyi~ gtivern-mcnt as the largest number o f its

, documents are datable to the Chaulukya poriod in t t ~ c history of (iujarat. A few karanas rncnticjncd in thc work also figure in the C'haulukya records. Sr i -Kara~a (Chief secretariat). for instance, i\ a familiar term in their inscriptions. Also known from ,their records are Vyaya Karana or the ilccounts department, Vyapara-Karana or the department in chargc of general supervision of tradc and the collection of import and export duties and mrrndrrpika-karna or the secretariat in charge of the col lect io~~ o f taxes. Such karanas wCrc headed by ministers known by the term mahan~atyas. Little except the namcs of. these ministers arc.,available in the rcco'rds and t l ~ r actual nature and functions .of bureaucracy are difficult to determine. Besides the mahamatyas, there were other officers called mahamantrins, mantrins and sachivns. 'l'he information about thcir status is also very meagre as they are only casually mentioned i n only a fkw inscriptions. Of' the more frequ6.ntly mentioned off'iters in early medieval Wcstern India was mahasandhivigrahiits who was a minister o f peace and war and whose duties also included that of fa conveyor of a

. , grant. A mahamatya mahasandhivigrahika of the Chaulukyas was also in charge of the Sri-Karana and the Mudra (the department that issued passports and col.lected import duties). Another oll'iter mentioned was mahakshapatalika or the head o f accounts or record office. He kept a full. account of the incomi of the statc and also o f the expenditure. He also registered land grants under the Paramari administration.

Mahamantrin or mahapradhana, literally meaning a chief minister. was an official o f great iniportance. He held charge ol t he royai seal and exercised general supervision . (over all departoicnts. Dandanaynkr or senapati was also an important official. who was primarily a niilitary ol'f~cer. I h r Chahamana records show that the cavalary commanders and baladhipas or officers in charge o f the military stationed in outposts and towns were placed under him. The whole administration was controlled by a department. the Baladhikarana, stationed at the capital.

l'he so called ccntral officialdoin also ~ncluded. among others. the dutaka who conveyed the rulers sanction o f a grant to local officiats who then had the charter drawn up and delivered. Mahapratihara (the l.ord chamberlain) and bhandagarika (in charge o f pb i s i ons ) also figure as governmental officers.

10.6.3 Lineage State and Feudal Polity From the Gupta period onwards there was a marked interrelatedness o f polities. which was the result o f the horilpntal spread o f statc society. The differentiated polities, including clan based ruling lineages, had certain vital components that cut across al l major political structures o f the early medieval period. The region o f Western and Ceritral lndra was no exception. . ,

T o begin with, let us be familiar wlth the material base o f lineage based state. (See also Unit 9.4.4). I t was not just consolidation o f the lineage power in terms o f political power. Much more than that was the factor o f landholding. One gets the impression o f some sort o f land grabbing on the part o f the members o f ruling famil~es. The exercise o f Important gokernmental functions was gradually being linked up with landholding. Thhs. under the rule o f the Gurjara Pratiharas we find references to estates held by chiefs o f the ~hahamana. Guhila and Chalukya clans. Mathanadeva, another chief of the Gurjara Pratihara lineage also claimed to have obtained his allotment as-svabhogavapta (own share). The Nadol plates o f Rajaputra Kirtipala dated i n 116.1 .refer to a group of twelve villages which a junior prince had received from the reigning prince. The Kalvan plates o f Yashovarman (of the time of the Paramara King Rhojadeva) mentions a chief who had acquired a royal charter o f 84 villages, obviously from his overlord (See also Unit 11.4.2).

1ndl.n ~ o m y I. 1b R-~I Unlike the Chahamana and Gurjara Pratiharas, there seems to be somewhat lesser V**iom : 8th To 13th C c n t ~ frequency of land grants based on clan consideration amongst the Paramaras. But

the Paramara records refer to more groups of villages than is the'case with the Chahamana records. Groups of villages in units of twelve or its multiples (12, 24, 36 etc.) and even in units pf sixteen or its multiples have been mentioned in at least scvcn cases. A Paramara inscription of 1017 refers to a stray example of district

,comprising 52 villages, which does not fit in either in the pattern of the multiples of ,

twelve or in that of sixteen. But, it cannot be ascertained fully, whether the clan. system of administration covered the major part of the Paramara kingdom.

Irrespective of the incidence or frequency of clan influences, the more substantive component of the so-called lineage state is the nature of landholding. As already indicated (see Unit 8.3.3). so far the lineage state or integrative polity has not offered any alternative materialb base of political structurels. No wonder, therefore, even in these states of Western and Central India the phenomenon of different foci or kvels of power cuts across all1 major political structures which reiterates the validity of the hypothesis of feudal polity.

What is broadly labelled as samanta system was not, however, a uniform category. It included a wide range of status all of wbch corresponded to the landed aristocracy .

of the period.

The Kingdoms of all the major powers of Western and Central India included the territories which were under the controi of the feudatories who were known under the generic title 01' man&lika, but sometimes styled themselves as mahuajadhirrl(*, mahamandalesvara, mPllamandalikas, mahasamantas and samantm. The most important of the feudatory princes of the Chaulukyas were the Paramaras of Abu and the hah ham an as of Jalor; others of minor importance being the Mer King Jagamalla and Paramara Somesvara. Similarly, a considerable portion of the Chahamana state, especially in Nadol and Jalor, was held by landed intermediaries variously known as thakkuras, ranakas, and bhoktas, on the condition that they supplied certain quotas of soldiers when required by the overlord.

The categories of feudatory chiefs under the Paramaras consisted of those officers and princes :

i) who were rewarded by the King with land in consideration of their valuable services;

ii) who had built up their own principalities during the period of aggrandisement and acknowledged the supremacy/ of the premier line. (To this categoby belonged the Pararnaras of Vagada, and the Paramaras of Kiradu),

iii) who had carved out their principalities by the force of their own arms in defiance of the central authority during the difficult days of the Paramaras. (In this category came the Paramara Mahakumaras who used subordinate titles but were for all practical purposes independent), and

iv) who were defeated ahd forced to accept the suzerainty of the Paramaras and were given the status of a vassal.

Rig feudatory chiefs such as the Paramaras of Arnbudamandala and the Paramara Mahakumaras enjoyed large amount of internal autonomy. They could create their own sub-feudatories and appoint their own officers. I t was possible for feudatory chiefs also to distribute their lands among their dependents. The thrkkarrs served the feudatory chiefs in almost all the feudatory states under the Paramaras. The feudatories could also assign taxes, alienate villages and exempt certain people from ,

taxation. This practice of'granting land and its associated fiscal and adm~nistrative rights is called sub-infeudhtion. There is surprisingly sufficient evidence for this, particularly under the Pratiharas. I t was practiced both in the areas of direct Pratihara control as well as those under their vassals. Examples of sub-infeudation caused by service grants ih Gpjarat under Chaulukyas are also known. A subordinate functionary, probably a bania under Bhimadeva-11. constructed an irrigation-well and a watering trough attbched to it, and for their upkeep he granted certain plots of land to a man of Pragvatl clan. probably a merchant. The evidence for the I

prevalence of sub-infeudation in the Paramara kingdom does not seem to be clear. Thus, in course of time the samanta system encompassed a proliferating range of

designations and assumed the characteristics of a hierarchical political formation repraented'by the ranks such as ranaka, rauta, thakkura, samanta, mahasamanta, etc.

?he incidence of grants to state officials vary from one region to another. To I illustrate, while we hear about half a dozen Paramara official ranks. only a few of

them are known to have received land grants - none at least in.the eleventh ' century. But very large terrritories were granted to vassals and high officers under ; the Chaulukyas of Gujarat. Chaulukya copperplates of 12th-13th centuries and their ' comparison with the data of the Lekhapaddhati help us in stressing that vassals and

high officers gradually merged into one another. In the I I th to 12th centuries key ' off~cials were also being paid through regular and exclusive taxes. Thus, the

pattakilm and dushtasadhym of the Kalacuri kingdom and baladhipas of the Chahamanas received such sustenance. Indeed some Chandella inscriptions of the late twelfth and early thirteenth century specifically enjoin the feudatories, royal officials, forest officials. constables, etc. to give up-their perquisites in the villages transferred as gifts. There are also references to resumption of such rights.

The feudatories owed fiscal and military obligations to the overlord. Generally the authority of the feudatories was derivative, dependent on the fulfilment of certain conditions of which supplying the overlord with certain quotas of soldiers in time of need was one. The paramar& of Vagada fought in the cause of the imperial Paramaras of Malwa for more than once. The Paramaras of Abu, Kiradu and Jalor being the feudatory chiefs of the Chaulukyas of Gujarat, laid down their lives in the cause of their masters many a times. However, the feudatory chiefs were eager to free themselves whenever there was an opportunity. In this case the relation between the suzerain and vassal rested absolutely on, the force one could use. For example. the Guhilas of Mewar accepted the Paramara overlordship when they were defeated 6y Vakapati-11 but tried to re-establish their lost position during the period of confusion which followed the death of Bhoja-I. Similarly, Chahamana Katudeva tried to assert his independence during the last years of his overlord Chaulukya Siddharaja so that Chaulukya Kumara'pala deprived him of his principality and brought Naddula under direct administration pjacing a dandanayaka in charge of the area. Kumarapalaalso removed from Abu its febellious prince Vikramasimha and installed the latter's nephew Yasodhavala, on the throne. Yasodhavala's son and successor Dharavarsha rendered distinguished~service to three genergtions of Chaulukys overlords. But even he turned agajnst Bhima-11 and was either won over or forced to submission to the Chaulukya ovtrlordship.

The most important duty of a feudatory prince was to help his suzerain against the enemy. Sometimes the feudatories conquered new territories for the suzerain or brought another prince under the later's vassalage. An inscription seems to imply that at tbe accession of a new King the feudatories swore loyalty to their new overlord who confirmed them in their possession. Feudatories are also said to have paid tribute to their overlord both in cash and kind. However, there was no hard and fast rule regarding the obligations of the feudatory chiefs of different categories. The general relations between the overlord and the feudatory depended upon the circumstances and relative strength of the feudatory vis-a-vis his suzerain. The feudatories under Chaulukyas of Gujarat such as the Paramaras of Abu or the Chahamanas of Nadol ruled over, quite extensive territories and had their own systems of administration.

Instability of the political conditions was partly the result of the samanta-feudatory system. Often the strength of the feudatory bonds depended upon the personality of the overlord. Overlbrds who went on expeditions to distant lands had to entrust some of their capable generals with the administration of certain territories as feudatory chiefs. The personal relations between the King and the subordinate, which might have been strong enough to keep the territories together for a generation or two, faded out in the course of time and the feudatory chiefs tended to assert their independence. Often samanfas had no permanent bonds and were prepared to transfer their allegiance to a powerful invader in return for greater privileges.

Indm Potkf In Ib R w Vulatlom : 8th To 13th Century

r- Ch k Your Progress 3 pe I). In column A some terms from Lekhapaddhati are given and in B the

I . degiagnnts with which they were connected. Match A and B. . -

A? B -i) Yyayohrana a) Chief Secretariat ii) Vyapara-kardna b) Accounts Department iii) Shri-karma C) Dept. in charge of supervision of trade iv) Mmdapka-khrana d) Dept. in charge of collection of taxes

2) Discuss in about 10 l ine the powers and functions of the feudatory thiefs. . . . . . . . . . . . I

, ...........................................................................................

3) Which of the followjng statements are right (v) or wrong ( x )?

i) Samanta system was not a uniform category and included a wide range of status.

i ii) Centralization is an essential characteristic of the state structure.

iii) Feudatories were permanently bonded to their overlords and could no@ transfer their allggiance to others. -

10.7 LET US SUM UP

From about the beginnink of the eighth century there emerged a political set up in ,

Western lndia and Central lndia in which new' social groups acquired political power by various means such as settlement of new areas. The pattern of the emergence of the Rajputs, which was partly clan based organization of political authority, show$ some deviations from developments outside Western lndia. However, the mobility of new powers towards kshatriya status for legitimation was not specific to Western lndia as a similar process was in operation el~ewhere~in early medieval India. After seeking legitimacy for theit new kshatriya role the ruling clans of Western and Central lndia formulated detailed geneologies in the period of their transition from feudatory to independent itatus. They consolidated their political position by means of specific patterns of land1 distribution and territorial system. ode other prominent features of the polity in the region are :

1 organisation of bureaucracy which could'connect different modes in their political

*

structures marked by different foci or levels of power,

dominance of overlord-wbordinate relations, C

landholding as an imporcant component of the somanta status,

integration of local polities into larger state polities,

certain amount of land based ranking associated with politico-administrative roles , and services, and

wielding of vast-administrative and financial powers by vassals and offlcen to the, extent of sub-infeudation,

10.8 KEY WORDS \

Baladhipa : Military officer put in charge of customs house.

Chaurasia : '~olders of grant of 84 villages. I

Duahtmadhyas k Police officials in charge of criminal administration.

Cotrocchua. : Announcing of gotra.

Legitimation : Seeking lawful acceptance or justification.

" Lineage : A line of descent, kula or vamsha.

Mleccha : Name applied to the Arabs, Turks and other foreigners.

pa&imony \

: Lands or villages granted to dependents for maintenance jagirs.

1 1 EXERCISES

Check Your Prowess 1 I) The Apikula myth was created by the bards to find a fine pedigree for their

patrons and splendidly explain their origin. See Sec. 10.3.

2) See Sec. 10.1.

3) i) x ii) iii) x iv) x

Check Your Progess 2 1) The colonization and annexation of new areaslterritories led to the spread of

clans etc. See Sub-sec. 10.4.2. I

2) See Sec. 10.5.

3) i) ii) x iii) 4 iv) )(

Check Your Progess 3 I ) i) b ii) c iii) a iv) d

2) Your answer should be based on the powers and functions mentioned in .

. ,Sub-sec. 10.6..3.

3) i) i ) iii) x

UNIT 11 THE DECCAN

Structure

I I .O Objectives /

I I. I Introduction 1 1.2 Identification of the Region 11.3 Formation of Political Authority : The Historical Background 1 1.4 Emergence and Expansion of Ruling Families

1 1.4.1 The Lineage and its Territory 1 1.4.2 The Patterns of the Emergence of Ruling L~neages 1 1.4.3 Fabrication of Genealogies 1

1 1.5 The Power Brgkers . 1 1.6 Inter-Lineage Networks 11.7 Land and Integration of Dispersed Foci and Levels of Power 1 1.8 The Bureaucratic Structure 1 1.9 Resource Base of the State 11.10 Political Instability in the Deccan Polity 11.11 Let Us Sum Up 11.12 Key Words 11.13 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

11.0 OBJECTIVES

In this Unit we will know about the nature, organisation and distribution of power in one select region-the Deccan. After studying this Unit you will be able to :

understand the geographical spread of the Deccan,

list the major and minor powers that.exercised their authority over different territories of the DBccan between the eighth and the thirteenth centuries,

grasp the political processes of the formation of local powers and their integration into the power structure beyond local bounds,,

grasp the totality of the differential distribution of power, And

understand the nature of early medieval polity in the Deccan.

11.1 INTRODUCTION

Keepi,ng in view the general trend of political developments, specially the nature of polity in Western and Central lndia (Unit lo), the present Unit should be seen as a complementary component. Beginning with the historical genesis of state society in the times of the Mauryas, the Unit demardtes important strands in the political structure in the Deccan during the early medieval centuries. It attempts to show the . operation of such factors as lineage and land rights in the rise of states. Also, the social and economic bases of political power are identified. Finally, it also highlights the nature of the integration of plethora of power levels.

11.2 IDENTIFICATION OF THE REGION '

The name Deccan apparently derives from the Sanskrit term 'Dakshina' meaning the South. As to the exact limits of the region called the Deccan, the historical e v i d c n q give divergent pieces of information. Sometimes its correspondence is established withJhe whole ,of peninqalar lndia and sometimes it is restricted to a part thereof. 111 its narrowest delimitatioh the Deccan is identified with Marathi speaking area and lands immediately adjoining it. But the term Deccan may be extended so as to cover the whole of lndia sauth of the Narmada. Generally, it is understood as designating a more limited territory in which Malabar and the Tamil regions of the extreme

south are not included. Southern India as distinguished from the plateau of the Deccan (from which it is separated by the Krishna-Tungabiiadra rivers) has a

I character of its own. i t Thus limited, the term Deccan signifies the whole region occupied by the Telugu

speaking populations as well as Maharashtra with certain parts of northern Karnataka (Kannada speaking).

11.3 FORMATION OF POLITICAL AUTHORITY : THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The Deccan was among those nuclear regions which were covered by the state society by as early as the Mauryan period (third century B.C.). The territorial expansion of the Mauryas had resulted in a horizontal extension of authority. The Mauryan control in the Deccan which was supervisory in nature was exercised through the viceroys and a section of the bureaucracy stationed in provincial headquarters. The establishment of provincial.headquarters and the association of the local chieftains in a subordinate position ww the emergence of a ruling elite after the retreat of the Mauryan authority from the Deccan. These local elite groups consolidated themselves, ascended to power and established ruling houses after the disintegration of the Mauryan power. The process was particularly marked during . the Satavahanas. They evolved a system of government in which vice-royal functions were assigned to the local chieftains conquered by them and assimilated into their power structure. The Satavahana administrative units which were placed under the supervision of the functionaries drawn from the clans of local chiefs emerged later as seats of political authority during the post-Satavahana period.

The Deam

The total political mechanism came to be built up on a kinship base. It was characterised by a system of alliances controlling subordinate semi-tribal fam-ilies dominant-in different local bases. A permdent ruling class came to be established when the titles became hereditary with further intensification of the process of assimilation and consolidation of the ruling elite. Incidentally, the Satavahanas have left for us the earliest inscriptional evidence of land grants in India. This phenomenon, as already seen (Units 1.7 and 8.3.1) was to affect not only social and economic processes but also the political structure. In course of time, these developments culminated in the real crystallization of state in the Deccan.

Cheek Your Progcss 1

I) Read the following statements and mark right ( d ) or wrong ( X ). i) The Decean is to be identified with Marathi speaking area only. ii) The understanding of the real nature of political structure is possible only

through totality of socio-economic groups and their resource mobilisation. iii) The Deccan was outside the pale of state societies till as late as the eighth

century. iv) The administrative units placed by the Satavahanas, under the supervision of

the subordinate officers belonging to local elite families emerged later as seats of political power.

2) Define three linguistic areas that constitute the Deccan.

3) Write ten lines on the emergence of the ruling elite in the Deccan in the post- Maurya period.

11.4 EMERG&NCE AND EXPANSION OF RULING FAMILIRS

The crystallization of the state had taken place. over a major portion of the Deccan much before the eighth century. However, it does not mean that there were no shifts in the centres of power and changes in the pattern of the emergence of ruling lineages. The emergenae of new ruling lineages was a cont'inuous process.

AS elsewhere in India the inscriptions of the Deccan from the seventh century start producing elaborate genealogies of the ruling lineages. The inscriptiohs issued between the eighth and the thirteenth centuries speak of the emergence of several major and minor ruling powers such as the Rashtrakutas, Chalukyas, Silaharas, Kakatiyas, Sevunas (YBdavas), Hoysalas, etc.

he. period in the Deccan was characterised not only by the emergence of the new ruling lineages but also the branching off of the existing ones. Thus, apart from the main Chalukyan house ruling from badami, there were collateral Chalukya lines ruling in various places such as Lata, Vengi as also a line bearing the Chalukya . name in vemulavada. lhdividual members claiming to belong to the Chalukya kula or vamsha in different localities in Karnataka are also known. Similarly, apart from the main Sevuna lineap ruling from Devagiri, we hear of a minor Sevuna family ruling over a territorial divisiop called Masavadi. We al$o hear of differegt branches d i n g in different localities bearing the name of a particular line, as for example, the Haihayas of Morata and Aralu, the Kadambas of Karadikal, Nurumbada, Goa, Hanagal, Banavase and Bandalike. The Gangas and the Nolambas had thrown off many junior branches. The branches of a ruling line continued to be operative for centuries even after the main line disappeared from the arena. As an example can be cited the Vengi line of the Chalukyas, which was brought into being by Pulakesin-I1 of the Badami Chalukyas. The minor branches of the Gangas, the Kadambas and others also outlived the main lines of their respective families.

11.4.1 The Lineage and its Territory The status, power and territorial extent of the lineages w-re not uniform. Somei~mes the relationship between the lineage and its territory was expressed in the form of the name of the area in which the lineage was dominant as for example the Gangavadi, Nolambavadi etc. The ducleus of the power of a lineage could be a small territory. The Sevunas of Masavddi 140, and the Haihayas of Aralu 300 were powerful over the areas comprising the number of villages indicated in the suflixes to their names.,

-t

The changing distribution patterns of ruling lineages did not necessarily correspond to static territorial units. For example, the Kalachuris who appear in the sixth century A.D. as the rulers of a vast area comprising Malwa, Gujarat, Konkan, Maharashtra and Vidarbha also estqblished several nuclei of power as in Tripuri (near Jabalpur) and Ratanpur in the upper Narmada basin. One of their branches ' ventured into a remote area of Eastern India which came to be known as Sarayupar. A segment of the Kalachuri line migrated to Karnataka. Kalachuris of Karnataka claim to be the descendants of the Kalachuris of central India.

11.4.2 The Patterns of the Emergence of Ruling Lineages The formation and mobilization of lineage power developed along a variety of ways. A lineage power could be brought into being by simply replacing another. The Vengi line of the Chalukyas was brought into existence by eliminating the erstwhile powerholders of the Telugu speaking country when Pulakesin-11 of the Badami Chalukya line conquered it. Second, it could involve settlement of new areas by an immigrant line and change of the economic pattern of the region. For example, ' Kalanjara having been conquered by the Pratiharas and subsequently by the ! Rashtrahtas, some members of the Kalachuri line living there migrated southward to seek new pastures. A segment of it'migrated towards the forested tract of Kuntala and settled at Mangaliveda now in the Sholapur district of Maharashtra.

Generally the emergence of a ruling lineage as a potentially dominant political force was from a local. often agrarian, base. The interpretation that the term Chaluki resembles the name of an agricultural implement would make one think that the Chalukyas were originally tillers of the soil who took to arms and founded a kingdom subsequently. However. the emergence of the Hoysalas who were the hill chiefs of the forests was characterised not by their association with an agrarian base but by their ability to command other hill forces and to use the political situation in the plains to their advantage. .

Again, although it is generally true that the large state structures of lndia of the early medieval period thrived in potentially rich resource bases or nuclear regions in Ganges basin, Kaveri basin and Krishna-Godavari doab, the resource potential was sought to be expanded. In this context it is notable that Orugallu (Warangal), away from the Krishna-Godavari doab, remained a base on which the large state structure of the Kakatiyas was built. Before the time of the Kakatiyas the tanks were small, the irrigation facilities inadequate and the area of cultivation limited in extent. The Kakatiya kings like Beta-11, Rudra, Ganapathi, Prataprudra got several tanks built in different parts of their kingdom. Prataprudra tried to increase the extent of cultivable land by cutting down forests and bringing large tracts under cultivation. e.g. in the Rayalaseema area. A similar movement of the expansion of arable lands also characterised the early phase of the emergence of the Hoysalas in the Southern Katnataka.

11.4.3 Fabrication of Genealogies i Many of the ruling families, which headed large power structures in the Deccan like

the Chalukyas of Kalyan, the Sevunas of Devagiri and the Kakatiyas of Warangal.

i began their political career as humble feudatories under the Rashtrakuta sovereignty. Rashtrakutas themselves were ruling in the feudatory capacity in central lndia prior to the rise of Dantidurga in the first half of the eighth century. The exploits of Rashtrakuta Dantidurga and his successors who grew into a regional power from a small patrimony somewhere in Berar can be cited as instances as to how a small family could not only make a bid for political authority .but also establish the qundations of large state structures.

The haul

Indian Polity In Its Regional Variations : 8th T o 13th Century

1. WESTERN GATE

2. OUTER MOAT

3. MUD FORT

4. NORTHERN GATE

5. EASTERN GATE

6. SOUTHERN GATE

10. RUINS OF SVAYAMBHU SIVA TEMPLE AND FOUR

TORNA GATES I I. VISHNU TEMPLE '

12. VENKATESWARA TEMPLE ' - - - ~

13. NELA SHAMBUNIGUDI

I4 TANK - . . - . - - - - 7. INNER MOAT & BASTIONS

15. OMTI-KONDA (EKASILA) 8. INNER FORT (KANCHO-KOTA)

9. SHAMBUNIGUDI

Orugallu Fort

A notable feature of the process of the emergence of ruling lineages in early medieval Deccan is their attempt to align their local roots with a mythical tradition or trace their descent from mythical-heroic lineages. The Rashtrakutas and the Sevunas profess to be descended from Yadu, a puranic hero. The Hoysalas claimed descent from the lunar race through that eponymous hero Yadu and said they were the Yadavas and Lords of the excellent city of Dvaravati, the legendary capital of the Yadava Prince Krishna. Similarly, while the spiritual guru of the Kakatiya king Ganapatideva provided them with the Suryavamsi Kshatriya identity, an inscription of the king himself traces the geneology from a mythical and legendary account of Manu, Ikshvaku, Bhagiratha, Raghu, Dasharatha and Rama.

Such claims are often dismissed on the ground that they were later inventions. It is true that such claims, freely drawing their inspiration from mythology and puranic legends, lack historical accuracy as they refer to times for which no records exist. But from the point of view of political processes the attempts to claim descent in solar or lunar lines assume impyrtance because these claims sought to conceal rather than reveal the original ancestry. Hoysalas for instance were the hill chiefs who gradually established their command over the rest of the hill chiefs, migrated to the plains and established a nucleus of power. The Kakatiyas were the shudrm. Their political power and "low origin" had to be reconciled by assuming a higher status for themselves. In other words the achievement of political dominance was Sought to be correlated with a torresponding social status. The Chalukyas of Kalyan, for example, sought this status by claiming that their progenitor was born out of a handful (Chuluka) of water taken by the Sage Bharadvaja i. e. Drona, or the water of Ganga poured out from the cavity of his hands by Ashvatthama, the son of Dron'a. The

ex

Kshatriya status was a symbol of legitimation. The new and upcoming non- kshatriya groups sought to validate their political power through this. H e n ~ e the Yadu vamsha came in very handy and most lineages traced their descent from Yadu.

11.5 THE POWER BROKERS l

The process of legitimation of royal power cannot be viewed simply in terms of a newly emerged local polity seeking validation through connections with a respectable ancestry. The validation of power was sought not only in areas where a transition to state society was taking place but also in established states of the Deccan. I t means that the need for validation was constant. . ,

Theoretically the temporal power was required to guarantee protection. According to a phrase (Dushta nigaha-Shishta pratipalana) which occurs constantly in the inscriptions of the Hoysalas in southern Deccan, a King'sduty was two-fold: to restrain the evil and to protect the good. The phrase summarises d l the commands addressed to the king by the dharmashastraf. However, the protection did not simply mean physical protection of subjects. It also meant the protection of the social order. In fact, the danda or force was intended by the priestly class not so much as a political expedient; it was intended more for the preservation of the social order.

However, the state society was to cut across the barrier of disparate dharmas or Oorms if it were to spread horizontally. The territorial spread of the bmhmanas, heads of religious sects, institutions such as temples and the mathas which represented some kind of a central focus to disparate norms was therefore supported by the early medieval states. There is an obvious emphasis on the mutuality of interests of the ruling chiefs and the menlinstitutions of religion. In fact, the latter were not only at the receiving end but also contributed to the sanctioning of the authority of rulers. Formation of the ruling elite is quite evident. That accounts for the territorial mobility of the religious beneficiaries and massive support in the form of munificent gifts of gold and land made by the royalty and the nobility to them. There are many examples of the brahmanas of one province moving freely to settle in another. While the immigrant brahmanas who received grants from the Rashtrakuta kings included those from Vengi (Andhra). Pataliputra (Bihar),' Pundrawardhana (in Bengal) and Kavi (Gujarat), those in the Sevuna kingdom included brahmanas from central India and Uttar Pradesh. The kings identifying themselves with a particular religious sect or cult, calling themselves as the parama- maheshvaras, or p~uamabhagavatas, and even attributing their political rise to the grace of the divinities was not unknown in the Deccan. For example Ta~la-ll, the overthrower of the Rashtrakutas believed that it was the favour of Jagadguru lshvara Ghalisasa, the head of a brahmadeya village, that had secured him the throne. Madhavavarman, the founder of the Kakatiya family, is said to have acquired an army comprising thousands of elephants and lakhs of horses and foot soldiers by the grace of the goddess'Padmaksh~. The benefactions of some kings of .the Deccan, for example Kakatiya Prola-I and Beta-11 seem to have been confined to the followers of the Shaiva doctrine. There were also a few persecutions here and there.

11.6 INTER-LINEAGE NETWORK

An essential feature of the early medieval polity in the Deccan was a marked inter- relatedness of the polities. No political unit or entity operated in isolation. Military activities of the mighty rivals for the hegemony over the fertile-strategic lands would render neutral existence of the small powers impossible.

While owning real or nominal allegiance to the overlord power, the smaller polities would conserve and consolidate their strength and resources.

In a polity of this nature, the more powerful among the subordinate powers such as the mahamandaleshvaras were always to be feared. Their tendency to form alliances against the overlord or to grow at the cost of the other subordinates of the overlord needed to be checked. It is well-known how the Chalukyas of Kalyan, who were the feudatories of the Rashtrakutas, entertained political ambitions and declared

The I)cccan

Indian Polity In Redona1 independence realising the weakness of the Rashtrakuta power structure during tne Vulatiom : 8th To 13th Cmtur~ period of the successors of Krishna-111. In the mid-twelfth century the Sevunas, the

Hoysalas and the Kakatiyas utilised the Chalukya-Kalachuri struggle for their own good and asserted their independence.

Despite these possibilities the intet-lineage relations could not be disregarded as they proved extremely helpful in situntions of the military exploits requiring mobilization . of greater force. As examples can be cited the Hoysalas of Southern Karnataka rushing to the aid of their ovsrlord Chalukya Someshvara-11. Similarly, the Gangas helped their Rashtrakuta ovzrlords in capturing the fortified town Chakrakuta in Bastar in central India.

Check Your Progress 2 I ) List the names of any five ruling families which emerged in the Deccan between

tht: eighth and thirteenth centuries.

iii) ....................................................................................

2) Read the following and choose the right answer. Mark ( \/ ) in the columns. i) The patterns of the emergence of the ruling lineages in the early medieval

Deccan shows that: A a) only the Kshatriyas could wield political power

b) any clan or a larger ethnic group could make a bid for political power. ii) The state encouragd the territorial spread of the brahmanas and religious

institutions because: a ) it was deemed lo be an act of merit. b) they posed a threat to the social order. C) they represented some kind of uniform norms. d ) the state society had to cut through the barrier of disparate social norms

if ~t were to spread horizontally.

11.7 LAND A N D INTEGRATION OF DISPERSED FOCI - A N D LEVELS OF POWER

An important p0in.t that needs to be noted with reference to the structure polities is the phenomenon of the dispersed distribution of power which was not specific to the Deccan alone but was present in all major political structures of the early medieval period. '

These diverse or diffused foci and levels of power in the Deccan were represented by what is called the Samanta-feudatory system. Two types of feudatory powers were noticeable in the Deccan:

I ) Those petty lineages which were integrated by a n expanding polity into its' power structure by either reducing them to submission by military manoeuvres or by peaceful means.

2) Those which came to be created by the political powers by means of the grant of landed estates as a reward for their help in some military exploit. However, these latter were originally app@inted only as governors of an area with feudatory privileges s6ch as the panchamahashabdas (See also Unit 9.6). But the principle of hereditary transmissions df office tendW t; convert them in course of time into full fledged feudatories. Most of the feudatory powers of the larger polities were such pre-existing lineages /ncorporated into their power structures. For example, when the Rashtrakutas started expanding their power, they had to deal with the

representatives of the famous ruling lineages of the Deccan. Among their feudatories were the Chalukyas of Vengi, Chalukyas of Vemulavada and many individual petty chiefs. The feudatories of the Hoysalas. Sevunas and Kakatiyas bore the names of the erstwhile lineages like the Nolambas. Gangas, Chalukyas, Kadambas, Abhiras, Haihayas and so on. .

Inter-marriages into the families of the suzerain and subordinate served as the social bases while the recognition of the enjoyment of the landed estates by the local powers served as the economic bases of the interlinked political process.

In strict political terms the use of force was not unknown especially when the local powers stood in the way of the expansion of a lineage's power. The territories of the Nishad Boyas, a race of hardy warriors who inhabited the region around Nellore were sought to be integrated by means of involving their chief men into the bureaucratic structure. But when the Boyas continued to offer resistance to the

1 advance of the Chalukya arms in the south, the King dispatched an army under Pandaranga with instructions to demolish the strong-holds of the Boyas and to

(subjugate their country. Similarly, Kakatiya Rudra reduced to submission the Kota chiefs.

Another important political mechanism of the integration of diffused foci of power was the system of ranking i.e. the conferring of titles and ranks associated with roles and service's. Kakatiya Ganapatideva conferred upon Recherla Rudra, a Reddy by caste, the rank of mnndnlikn along with royal insignia like throne, a pair of chauris, etc., in recognition of the help that Rudra rendered to him in a situation of crisis. . Ranks in the families of chiefs varied from one generation to the next. The Kayastha chiefs under the Kakatiyas who were a class of warriors and whose rank was sahini (men in charge of cavalry) were elevated to the position of mahnmandaleshvnras by the king Ganapatideva. These chiefs from the time of Gangaya sahini onwards became the governors 6f a large region extending from Panugallu in Nalagonda to Valluru in ,Cudappah district. This elevation in their position was in recognition of the participation of Gangaya sahini in several battles on behalf of Ganapatideva. Thus in a situation in which the basis of territorial political control was not static, the ranks which had a correlation with such structure could not remain static either.

Integration of dispersed foci of power was not confined to the award of feudal ranks such as nnyaka, snmanta, samnntadhipati or mahasamanta, mandalika, mahamandaleshvara, etc., but also extended to bureaucratic positions. Irrespective of multiple forms of integration, it must be realised that the mechanics of integration always did not work only in the direction of integration. Second, whether it was integration or disintegration, land rights served a common feature. Local landlords or chieftains performed the role of integrators when they derived their administrative and financial powers from their overlords, paid tributes and performed various other obligations to them. However, the same landlords became real breakers and wreckers when they lorded over peasants and artisans unmindful of overlords' concern. They acted as an autonomous power within their territory. even though the degree of autonomy varied from region to region. If the central government became weak the feudatories used to be practically independent; in such a situation they could exact their own terms for supporting the fortunes of their titular overlord. Their position became still more strong if there was a war of succession. They could then take sides and try to put their nominee on the imperial throne thus playing the role of the kfng makers. On such occasions they could settle their old scores by dethroning their overlord and imposing their own terms on the new successor. Rashtrakuta Dhruva, Amoghavars ha-1 and Amoghavars ha41 owned their thrones to a considerable degree to the support of their feudatories.

11.8 THE BUREAUCRATIC'STRUCTURE

The political processes of the early medieval Deccan came to be characterised by the dominance of the overlord subordinate relation over other relations and the role of the bureaucracy in the over all'structure of polity was varied and sometimes limited.

In the Rashtrakuta grant charters only the royal sign-manual and the names of the composer of the grant and the person who conveyed it to the grantees are found. Ministers and secretaries are conspicuous by their absence. The assumption of a very

The Deccan

@

lndlrn PoMy In Its R e g i d big secretariat at their capital is not supported by any information about the maliner Vuhd- : 8th To 13th Century in which the daily business of administration was carried on at the capital. Although

a body of high ranking officers and ministers known as nmntyas or mantris existed in the capital to assist the King the questions regarding the size, constitution and position of a regular council of ministers, if any, have not been satisfactorily' answered. In the capital and in provincial headquarters in the Rashtrakuta administration the revenue records, records bearing upon land ownership and original drafts of copperplate grants were carefully preserved.

In the areas directly administered by the officers of the state, the provincial governors (Rashtrapatis) enjoyed considerable power over their subordinates h ' t he provinces. Some of the provincial governors were royal princes. The provinces which, are said to have been administered by the princes and queens in the later Chalukya administration appear to have been those bestowed upon them as their personal fief. Some others were appointed as governors in recognition of their distinguished military services. Petty offices like those of the supervision over small units consisting of 10 or 12 villages very soften went tp relatives of the provincial governors.

Provincial governors and district level governors in the Rashtrakuta administration were assisted by a body of assistants called the kashtrmnhnttarns and Vishnynmahnttaras respectively. But very little is known about their powers, modes of election, meetings etc. Their powers must have been considerably less than those of the village councils which were made up of the rural elite.

The nature of the office of the village headmen and divisional headmen, the revenue officers who helped the state officers of the subdivisions shows that these officials were often remunerated for their services in the form of hereditary rent free fields.

The integration of dispersed foci of power also expressed itself in the absorption of the members of local lineages into the bureaucratic structure. In the Rashtrakuta structure, the district and provincial governors and lower officers like Vbhayapatis enjoyed feudatory status and were allowed to use feudatory titles. Apparently they were the descendants of the local kings who were once independent but were subsequently conquered by the imperial powers. In such cases they seem to have continued as the government's officers.

RESOURCSE BASE OF THE STATE

The main source of the state income was agricultural taxation. Private individuals holding arable lands paid to the state the land tax which formed the backbone of its revenue. The cultivators were also subject to some additional imposts called the Upgkriti. Upakriti and Wanikn seem to refer to a kind of customary tax levied by the government on villagers and townsmen in return for some service performed for their benefit by the k ing or their officers.

Land taxes were assessed both in kind and cash. In the Kakatiya kingdom the taxes in kind were generally paid in two instalments in the months of KIlrtikn and Vnishnkha, the two main crop seasons. Under the Rashtrakutas they could be paid

* in three instalments in Bhadrnpnda, Knrtikn and Mnghn, the king's officers went rourfd the villages to collect his share of the grain from them. The State's share of a householder's income was also collected in kind.

Land was divided into dry, wet and garden lands for purposes of assessment in accordance with the nature and fertility of the soil. Part of the state income came from the pastures and forests, the ownership of which was cia-imed by the state. It also claimed ownership in mines, hidden treasures, waste lands, orchards on State lands, lakes and public wells.

Other important source of state income included customs, excise duties and charges levied on trade and industry. Sunkamu or Sunka, a term used in this context was of, broad import and denoted duties on exports and imports excise duties and customs - duties collected on articles of merchandise brought to and taken from market towns. Iri the-Kekatiya system the tolls collected on articles of trade were farmed-out to merchant associdtions cami,ii$irrg members of the trading community oh payment of a fixed s~;z :; ;kc gcv^:rcrfiment.

Regular offerings and tributes by the feudatory chiefs comprised another source of the income of the state. A Rashtrakuta inscription refers to an occasion when King Govinda-111 toured about in the southern parts of the empire to collect the tributes due from his feudatories. Special presents were exacted from the feudatory chiefs on the occaSions of festivities in the imperial household.

The picture of the State expenditure is not clear. There is no mention of a department in charge of public works or of officers directly appointed with the duty s f carrying out irrigation and other welfare projects. Apparently the state undertook no direct responsibility for the construction and maintenance of irrigation works though some Hoysala and Kakatiya kings were known for evincing keen personal interest in creating,a series of irrigation works. Influenced by the belief that the construction of tanks was an act of merit, the kings, chiefs, nobles, officials, religious leaders,' merchants and wealthy men sponsored the construction of tanks. State doesn't appear to have spent enormous cash resources on the salaries of the menin its service as the practice of remunerating by grant of landed jagirs to officials was on an increase throughout this period in theaeccan. In military organisation too the state forces consisted partly of the standing army directly recruited by the government and partly of the levies contributed by the provincial viceroys and feudatories.

11.10 POLITICAL INSTABILITY IN THE DECCAN POLITY

~nstability was built into the nature of early medieval polity. Frequent changes in the composition of territorial limits of the political powers itself is an0indication of this. (See the map showing the territorial extent of the Sevunas in different periods.)

State society even in nuclear areas did not necessarily have a stable locus. Mobilization of military strength could displace existing power holders and create new locus and networks of political relations. We have already noted the decentralised character of the state with different foci of power. The shifting allegiances of the diffused foci of power, e.g. those represented by the subordinate chiefs or samantn.feudatories would add to political instability.

Increasing land assignments to various classes of functionaries, including those rendering military service, rent-free grants of villages to various categories of beneficiaries and an increase in the incidence of land grants by the diversification of the ruling elite would weaken the control of the state over revenue resources of the constituent territorial units. A tilt in the balance of loyalty of the landholders and the m a n t a landed aristocracy would weaken its control on its polity as well. These weaknesses surfaced in the face of external threats and brought about the disintegration of even long existent power structures. The dramatic fall of the mighty Rashtrakuta empire can be noted as an example. In 967 A.D. Rashtrakutas under Krishna I11 were the masters of practically all the territories to the South of the Narmada. Only six years later, with the overthrow of his nephew Karkka by their Chalukya feudatory Taila in 973 the empire of the Rashtrakutas fell and remained only in memory.

Cheek Your Progress 3 1) Which of the following statements is right or &ong? Mark (4 ) or ( X ).

i) The phenomenon of differential distribution of power was a special feature of the Deccan alone.

ii) An important political mechanism of the integration of diffused levels of power was the system of ranking.

iii) All the feudatory powers in the early medieval polity of Deccan enjoyed the same'measure of internal autonomy.

2) In Column A are given the names of some prominent regional polities and in B the iiames of their feudatories. Match A with B.

a) Rashtrakutas i) Haihayas of Morata and Aralu:

b) ~ a k a t i ~ a s ii) Velanadus

The Dcerm

Indian Polity In Its Rcgbnal Variations : 8th To 13th Century

47

c) Chalukyas of Vengi iii) The Shilaharas of Konkan

d) Sevunas iv) The Kota chiefs. 1

3) Write in ten lines about the integration of the dispersed foci of power into the state society.

4) List the main sources of State income. i ) ....................................................................................

! iii) . ................................................................................... .

iv) ........ : ........... : ............................................. .- ~.

Map 3. Territarial extent of Sevunas

11.11 /LET US SUM UP 11

The foreg%& account of the political structure in early medieval Maharashtra. Andhra Pradesh and northern Karnataka shows:

the local chieftains who were integrated into the Mauryan polity in the Deccan emerged as the ruling el!tes and introduced monarchicpl ideology and form of

*- polity in the Deccan,

.o the formation of the new ruling lineages and centres of power was a continuous process,

various social groups, often non-kshatriya in origin, continued to emerge and &ow into big political powers by integrating preexisting lineage powers into their structures. These latter represented diffused foci of power and became vital components in the newly emerging political structures.

the overlord-subordinate relation came to be dominant over other levels of relations in the political structure,

apart from claiming Kshatriya status to legitimise the acquired power, the early medieval lineages also encouraged territorial spread of brahmanas and religious institutions as they could provide a central focus to disparate norms.

land rights explain inter-lineage network,

*, resource base of the state relied upon the vast agrarian surplus which sustained - integrative elements in society, and '

state also penetrated into growing networks of trade and exchange and diversified , and expanded its resource base considerably.

11.12 KEY WORDS

Dyda : Force

Eponymous : One which gives his name to people, place or institution

Kmika : Tax on villagers/townsmen in return for services performed for their benefit by kings or their officers

Panchamabashabda : A feudatory privilege

Puamabhagavata : Devotee of Vishnu and associated divinities

Puamamaheshvara : Devotee of Shiva

Rashtramahattarr : Official of province

Sahini : Men in charge of Cavalry

Sunkamu/Sunka : Customs and excise duties

Upakriti : 'See Kanika I

b

11.13 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1 "1 (i) X (ii) V (iii) y (iv) d

2) See Sec. 1 1.2

3) See Sec. 11.3

Check Your Progress 2 I) SeeSec..ll.4

2) (9 b - (ii) d - --

The Dearn

ladim Polity In Its Regiotul Cheek Your Profiess 3 a $

Vuiatiom : 8th To 13th Century 1) (i) x (ii) M (iii) X

2) (a) iii (b) iv (c) ii (d) i

3) See Sec. I I. 7

4) See Sec. l 1.9

INDIA : II c.A.D. 700-1000

1 The Deccan 2 9outh India

- UNIT 12 ' SOUTH INDIA : F

Structure

12.0 Objectives 12.1 Introduction

. 12.2 The Region 12.3 Emergence of Political Powers 12.4 Perspectives on the South lndian Polity 12.5 Sub-regional Polities 12.6 The Agrarian Order and Polity

12.6.1 The Nadu 12.6.2 The Bmhradqs

12.6.3 Valanadu 126.4 The Temple 126.5 The Nagman : The Market Centre

12.7 Taxation .

12.8 Bureaucracy 12.9 Military Organisation 12.10 Structures of Control 12.1 1 ideological Bases of South lndian Polity 12.12 Let Us Sum Up 12.13 Key Words 12.14 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

12.0 OBJECTIVES

I After reading this Unit you should be able to:

I determine the parameters of South lndia in terms of regional polity.

I sketch the broad spectrum of political powers.

I identify important ways of studying polity of the concerned region.

1. delineate major foci of polity and their socio-economic bases.

I 'e know about major components df the political structure such as taxation. bureaucray and military control, and

1 . outline the ideological bases of South lndian polity between the eighth-thirteenth

i centuries. 1

I 12.1 INTRODUCTION -A

I This is the last Unit concerning regional variations of early medieval polity. It deals with South lndia, which broadly covers the portion of the peninsula lying south of 130 Northern Latitude. It begins with the emergence of the Pallavas in the sixth century of the Christian era and ends with the establishment of the Tamil macro- region as a regional state with distinctive politico-cultural features under the Cholas (ninth-thirteenth centuries). After analysing the major lines of enquiry the Un~t seeks to demarcate'various tiers of administration. These tiers have been identified with a distinct focus on their social and economic bases. The nature of resource mobilisation and apparatus to regulate it have also been sketched. Finally. the ideological support of the South lndian polity has been suggested.

l n d h Polity 16 Im R e V u l d a m : IMb To 13tb CIlltury 12.2 THE REGION

Here South India refers to the region called Tamil Nadu, not in its present form as a linguistic state, but as a macro-region, which evolved from the seventh to the thirteenth centuries and at times extended into parts of South Karnataka, southern Andhra and South Kerala. This region may be divided into various zones, which had a long historical evolution, viz., the core and subsidiary zones in the plains, on the basis of its river systems and a.secondary zone located in its north-western parts marked by the upthrusting eastern ghats and the edges of the plateau leading to Karnataka and Kerala. These zones represented different politico-cultural regions, which were known as m ~ d a l a m s from the Chola period onwards. The geography of the whole region determined to a large extent the nuclei of the regional polities which emerged during the c nturies under discussion. 'i

12.3 EMERGENCE OF POLITICAL POWERS '

The post-Gupta history of India is dominated by the evolution of a number of regional polities. Some of them emerged as regional states (Orissa and Tamil Nadu) coinciding with regional cultures. Others were smaller polities located as buffers between larger ones. This is well illustrated by the larger polities of South India such as those of the Pallavas of Kanchipuram and the Pandyas of Madurai in Tamil Nadu (sixth to ninth centuries A.D.). Dispersed between these larger ones were several smaller powers such as the Western Gangas, Kadambas, Banas and a host of others, owing allegiance alternatively to the larger lineages of the Deccan (See also Unit 11.4) and Tamil plains or occasionally establishing their independence. The most powerful of these regional polities was, however, that of the Cholas (ninth to thirteenth centuries),wh with the Kaveri Valley as the nucleus of their,power, succeeded in establishing their territorial sovereignty covering the whole of the Tamil macro-region. The Cholas were able to estab1ish.a regional state with its distinctive politico-cultural features.

12.4 PERSPECTIVES ON THE SOUTH INDIAN POLITY

There are three different perspectives on the Tamil regional polity. The pioneering works on South lndian polity in general and Tamil polity in particular showed a direct concern with administrative institutions and their history and were devoted to the study of institutionq like kingship, brahmadeya with its sabha and the temple, their orpnisation and functions. They neither adopted a viable framework of analysis nor an integrated approach to study the political processes and their linkages with the socioeconomic organisation. In short, they treated polity in isolation from society and economy. They were also influenced by imperialistic notions of the state and empire, centralised monarchies and powerful bureaucracies.. Their assumptions were that all the known features of a modern state were prevalent in the earlier periods.

New perspectives on pality have been provided by more recent works, which emphasise the need for understanding the inter-connections between social formation, economic ocganisation and political structures. They focus on the processes of evolution and change, leading to the emergence of regional polities and the role of institutions such as the brahmadeya and the temple in the formation of political structure. As a result, the theory of the centralised state followed by the conventional studies has been seriously questioned. As an alternative, the concept of the segmentary state has been used to charazterise the medieval South lndian state. The main difference between these two perspectives is based on the nature of local organisations, the degree of their autonomy and the extent of central control or direct political control txercised by the ruling dynasties over the different zones of the Tamil region. The first view assigns greater and more effective control to the central authority over all regions, despite the existence of local initiative and autonomy (what they called "local self government")hile the second view rejects it as contradictory and assigns a high degree of autonomy to the local Organisations n n A P mnrn r;tnmnl'cn.rmr~;nnt.r tn thn rrml:nn Arrnaatrr n v n n r t :m t h a nnr- n w s n

As against both these extreme views, the studies of the Chola' itate, based on a careful statistical analyses of the rich inscriptional data, provide a third perspective suggesting the need for modifications of both the above views. They show the development of a centralised polity from an earlier stage of independent peasant regions controlled by peasant assemblies. These peasant regions were integrated through various institutions and through the introduction of innovative administrative measures by a political authority. The zenith of the Chola power was reached in the eleventh century, which also marked the crystallization of a centralised polity.

12.5 SUB-REGIONAL POLITIES

Under the Pallavas of Kanchipuram and the Pandyas of ~ a d u r a i (sixth to ninth centuries), two sub-regions of the larger Tamil region became the territorial bases of - two monarchies, in the Palar-Cheyyar Valley and the Vaigai-Tatnraparni Valley respectively. The Pallavas were influenced by the political climate of the Deccan and Andhra regions, where they originated as the subordinates of the Satavahanas (See also Unit 11.3). The Pallavas later emerged to power in the p6st-~atayahana period, ivhich was marked by a transition to the brahmanical socio-political order and a land grant economy. Hence, the Pallava polity introduced into the northern part of the Tamil country the sanskritic elements of the Gupta and post-Gupta periods as they developed in the Deccan and Andhra regions. However, this polity of northern Tamil Nadu (known as Tondai nadu) was slightly different from the North lndian brahmanical variety due to the specific agrarian context. The nature of agrarian society in the region was dominated by peasant organisations, which had evolved from the early historic period, popularly known as the "Sangam" age (first to the third centuries). Though Pallava statecraft was inspired by the Dharmashastra

' model, the northern regal forms were adapted to suit the Tamil regional context and the Pallavas succeeded in establishing a brahmanical monarchy, a territorial base around Kanchipuram and new forms of integration through the brahmadeya and the temple. This is illustrated in their copperplate records, which are bilingual (Sanskrit and Tamil) and in the Puranic religion and temples which they sponsored. The Pallavas acquired legitimation through impressive genealogical claims of descent from Vishnu and epic heroes, their basic ideology being derived from Puranic cosmological. world view. The Pandyas of Madurai also established a monarchical state of the same type, although they claimed descent from Shiva and Chandravarnsa (lunar lineage), with the sage Agastya as their preceptor.

The Pallava and Pandya dynasties aspired for control over the Kaveri Valley, the most fertile add well irrigated agricultural core of the Tamil region. They also set in motion a process of agrarian expansion and integration through the brahmadeya and the temple, which helped to integrate the agrarian or peasant units called the nadus (also k u r r m ) (see also Units 1.2.2 and 1.3).

. . Check Your Progress 1 - I) What are the three main perspectives of studying South lndian polity?

South India

l n d h PoYy In Ib Rqlonrl ) What are the spkific features of agrarian society of northern Tamil Nadu? Vulrtiona : 8th To 13th Centur; - -

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12.6 THE AGRARIAN ORDER AND POLITY >

For a proper understanding of the agrarian order and polity wc will study a number of aspects. Let us start with the nadu.

1.2.6.i The Nadd It dates from pre-Palllava times and is marked by common agrarian t'katures and a :. kinship based social arpnisation. The production processes in the ndu were controlled by the nattrr assembly (the Nadu) composed of the heads of'pcajant a families of veWm (agriculturists). The nadu consisted of subsistence level settlenkntb. coming together for common economic and social activitks. The integration of the - nadus into a larger and sy,stematic agrarian organisation through land grants to *

br lmanm (brahmadcya) and the temple by the ruling families (Pallavas, Pandyaa and Cholq) let to the emergence of the first regional Tamil polities. Special emphasis was laid on the const~uction of irrigation works, advanced irrigation technology and their management through the br lmana assembly called the Sabh.. Thus, the earlier subsistence level production of the nadu was transformed into a surplus oriented one which resulted in a restructuring of the.economy (see also Unit 2.4.2). The brlmadeya and temple not only helped in agrarian integration but also played political roles by acting as instruments of mobilisation and redistribution of resources.

With its expansion and integration through the brah&leya and the temple, and duc to new irrigation worb, the internal structure of the nadu also changed. Land rights and tenures became wore complex, land relalions became stratified, and the composition of the netter also underwent changes. The kinship basis of social organisation was eroded and gave place to a brahmanical caste and ritual ranking, i.e. caste hierarchy.

The nadu, although it ev6lved as a kinship bas* agrarian unit, shows the prevalen4 of awariety of collective controls over production. This is seen in the k.hi rights or ' hereditary rights in land which were transferable by.sale or donation. Various '

categories of rights in land existed and were determined and enjoyed within the norms accepted by the contemporary organisations of the brabmrdeya, non- brahmadeya(ur) settlements and the family.

In the earlier conventional approach, the nadu received only marginal attention in:- its significance was lost in such studies. In view of the segmentarypate, a high degree of autonomy is assigned to the nadu as a segment and hence the medieval South Indian'state is characterised as a segmentary and peasant state. However, t k nadu cannot be studied independently of the other institutions. In reality, the mdu brahmadeya and the temple together mark the phased opening of the Tamil plains. With the recognition oh the nadu as the basic unit of agrarian organisation, the o lda

t h e m of the uncha'ngini village communities has lost its validity. The debate now centres on the degree of nadu autonomy and the stability of the natter organisation and hence also on the validity of the segmentary state concept.

12.6.2 The Brahmadeya Land grants to brahrnanas are known from early historic times. However, it is only by the end of the sixth century that it assumed an institutional character in the Tamil region. Bmhmadeyrs were invariably created by iuling families in hitherto uncultivated land or among existing settlements (within a nadu or kottam) by 'clubbing together two or more settlements. They introduced advance farming methods-irrigation, management of means of production and resources. The Pallava and Pandya reservoir systems were managed by the brahrnana assembly viz. the Sabb.. The brrhmadeym were separated from the jurisdiction of the nadu. The major brrhrnadeyaa also'bqcame independent units (tan-kuru) from the tenth century especially under the Cholas, adding to their economic and administrative/political signir~cances. They are often regarded as pace makers of royal authority, enlarging the sphere df political action.

f i e Sabba or the assembly of the brahmana landowners grew into a more prominent institution vis-a-vis the Ur, the assembly of a non-brahmadeya settlement. The growing maturity of the Sabha is illustrated by the famous Uttaramerur (Chingleput district), a major brahrnadeya and tan-kuru of the eighth to thirteenth centuries as well as by Manur (Tiruneleeli district), an important brnhmadeya of the eighth and ninth centuries. The tan-kuru had a central function also and often had under its purview several other centres of agricultural and craft production. The brahmanical; temple, which was invariably the nucleus of many of these settlements, was also under the supervision or direct control of the Sabha, which functioned through various committets called vuiyams.

12.6.3 Valanadu Revenue surveys and assessment of land revenue were systematically undertaken under the Cholas, in the eleventh century. In the process, new and larger revenue units were formed by grouping some n d u s together and even by partitioning some

'

under different valanadu-s. This was determined by their irrigational -needs and hedce I

vdanadu-s had consciously chosen boundaries such as water courses. The valanadu was an artificial unit and a politicoeconomic division created by the will of a political authority. The valanadu-s were named after the kings who created them. Their organisation was also linked with the establishment of a hierarchy of officers and a department of revenue collection, which kept detailed records of revenues. This department (the puravu-vui-tinakkalrm) was the most impressive of the ldrninistrativc machinery eZrolvcd by the Cholas for mobilisation of resources.

12.6.4 The Temple The temple was looked upon and functioned as a "superordinate" instrument of the political apparatus from the ninth century. Under the Cholas its role progressively increased and diversified, thereby forging institutional links for territorial sovereignty. This is well illustrated by the imperial temples such as those at Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram. Its economic outreach became phenomenal with a widening orbit through huge temple endowments land and money grants. gold deposits, merchant interaction through gifts and the luxury trade of larger merchant -

l&orporations. ItS social function was the integration of various ethnic and -5 professional groups through ritual ranking within the brahmana varna order. Temple administration was in the hands of the h b h a , ur and the Nagararn. In the redistribution of resources the temple assumed a more direct role than even the brrhrnadeya. It is through the temple that the ~ h o l a s achieved a greater degree of centralisation in the eleventh century, f o ~ it broke local ties by virtue of its economy and management of resources across nadu limits. It provided a foothold for the King to intervene in local affairs through royal officers "quditing" or enquiring into temple endowments, scale of expenses and making reallocat~diis. The temple was. in short. the symbol of royal authority.

t2.6.5 Nagaram: The Market Centre Aaguam was another major tier of administration. .merged by the ninth century

Indian Polhy In Its Regional Variations : 8th To 13th Century

as a market centre with a merchant body (nagarattar) administering it. With the growing needs of an expanding agrarian society, such market centres came up in most nadug to serve their exchange requirements as well as those of the )mhmrdcya and other settlements. The nadu and nagnram were m'utually supportive. The nagaram members ware themselves agriculturists who could channelise their surplus produce into trade. They became a full fledged trading community called the nagarattar. At the same time the nqgaram, like the brahmadeya enjoyed a special status, with considerable autonomy vis-a-vis the nadu. The nagarm, often created or sponsored by the ruling family, had direct revenue arrangements with the King's ,

government-and participated in temple administration. The brahmadeya and nagaram brought the nadus together in a system of unified political organisation and economic exchange, thereby assisting in the process of a state synthesis.

A network of naprruns emerged between the ninth and twelfth centuries. The royal and political centres as' well as larger commercial centres such as Kanchipuram and Thanjavur were designated as managarams or great nagarams. This network was further brought into a wider inter-regional exchange due to the revival of ~ & t h Asian trade by the tenth century involving South India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia and China. The Cholas promoted this trade by undertaking maritime expeditions to Sri Lanka and Sri Vijaya (Sumatra) and sending trade missions to China. They extended their patronage to their merchant organisations by issuing royal charters .

for establishing mercantile towns protected by mercenaries. Warehouses'and distribution centres knpwn as erivirappattana interacted with the n a g u m as well as other smaller localised merchant organisations like the manigramm and foreign merchant organisations like the Anjuvannm. They traded in luxury goods, exotic items from other countries and in South Indian textiles. They also obtained in exchange agricultural products from the Chittkameli Periyanadu. The Chittbmeli was an organisation of agriculturists belonging to all the "four castes" (atuwunya). It originated in the Tamil regiog and extended their activities into South Karnataka and southern Andhrl regions in the twelfth century. -,

Check Your Progress 2 I

I) Why and how the internal structure of the Nadu changed?

2Y How brahmadeya became more important?

The existence of a regular taxation system, which the segmentary state concept denies, is indicated by a statistical analysis of tax t e k s in Chola inscriptions. The major land tax called kdrmmai was uniform as also many other smaller ones related to land. There was a system of storage and transfer of revenue from the locality to the government at the vrlmrdu, nadu and ur levels. Taxes, both central and local, have been identified. Increase in non-agricultural taxes over time has also been recognised. Local official involvement in tax collection also increased. Local forms of collection and re-investment in regional economy avoided problems of antral collection and redistribution. The state's active interest in trade and commercial ventures provided a second resource base. Royal ports were consciously developed and tolls were levied by royal agents. Exemption from tolls also formed part of the policy of encouragement of trade venture&.

, ,

12.8 BUREAUCRACY

3) How the temple came to occupy significance in polity?

4) How ayr.mr came into prominence?

12.7 TAXATION

South India

The Chola, state was viewed as a highLy bureaucratised one by the pioneering scholars. This is denied by the followers of the segmentary state theory. Statistical data from inscriptions, however, have been used to show the existence of officers at

I

Indlmn Pdlt y In Ib R e g i o ~ l both central and local levels. The term adhikui pref~xed to names of important Vuirtber : llth To personages with the Muvenda ve!an Ule indicates the presence of a bureaucracy

especially in the hiera'rchically structured revenue department. Ranking among officers is also shown by the terms perundaram (higher grade) add sirut.ram (lower grade), both in the 'civil' and 'military' establishments. Officers at the royal court (udan kuttam) and officers touring the country (vidaiyil adhikari) are also known.

. The King's government was present in the localities through a hierarchy of officers - the mandal~mudali, nadu vagai and kadhyastha acting as important links between the King and the locality.

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12.9 MILITARY ORGANISATION

mere is no conclusive evidence in Chola records of the existence of a regular army, recruited by clearly defined criteria. Hence there are alternative interpretations of the meagre evidence. According to the conventional view, there was a royal military force. But this denied by the proponents of the segmentary state concept, who look at the military forces as an assemblage of "segments", peasant militia and/or caste and guild armies. However, there are references in inscriptions to grants for army chiefs and to army camps at strategic points indicating the existence of a royal force. The higher and lower grades were also prevalent among the Right Hand units of the army corps known as the Velaikkuu. There was also a Left Hand unit mentioned in royal records. Armies of local chiefs supplemented royal military expeditions.

12.10 STRUCTURES OF CONTROL f

Given the nature of politico-cultural zones which evolved from the early historic period, the Cholas evolved different structures of control by adopting the concept of the mandalam to designate such zones. Each mandalam was named after the King. It was one of the innovations of Rajaraja-l (983-1014 A.D.), who also initiated revenue surveys and the valanadu system. For example. earlier structures such as the K o t t m (a pastoral-cum-agricultural region) were left undisturbed in the Tondaimandalun' (also called Jayankondacholamandalam), but the tan-kuru was introduced. The valanadu replaced earlier chief6incies in the Cholamandalam and the adjoining Naduvil nadu or mandalam in the north. Similarly, army units came to be stationed at strategic points in transit zanes-and routes of trade leading to the adjoining Karnataka region to establish lines of communication. Chola princes and mandda mudalis were appointed to rule over such sub-regions.

Lesser chieftains. described as feudatories, represent another distinct level of intermediate strata in the Chola polity. Arrangements were made by the King with the powerful chiefs. under different terms, either by conceding a certain amount of local autonomy in return for military support or in return for trading interests in zones of transit. Somelchieftaincies were conquered but re-instated and others were newly created lineages supborting the king in return for local control. They were also ranked at different levels as chiefs or even as Chola officials with 'civil'and 'military' service tenures and policing rights.

12.11 IDEOLOGICAL BASES OF SOUTH INDIAN POLITY

In the Pallava and Pamdya polities genealogies claiming descent from divinities, epic heroes, and lunar lineage formed an important ideological force. KshalYiya status and the gift (dana) provided additional concepts in support of sovereignty. Puranic religions and world view were other important aspects of the ideological base.

The Chola genealogies are more complex in their ideological claims. Apart from the solar lineage, the Cholas directly linked themselves with the "Sangam" Cholas, the Kaveri region and the temple building activities of their ancestors for legitimating

their claims to sovereignty. Above all, they adopted and promoted in a signifidnt way the bhakti ideology of the Tamil Vaishnava and Saiva saints by popularising it through temple building, temple rituals and iconography. The symbolism of the temple, equated with territory/cosmos considerably enhanced royal power. The ritual and political domains coincided which shows further limitations of the idea of segmentary state (for a critical evaluation of this idea, see also Unit 8.3).

' Check Your Progress 3 1 ) Was there a bureaucracy in ~ h o l a state? Give names of some officers.

I What was the Chola system of administrative control?

.i2 LET US SUM UP

'iis Unit was concerned with the :

region of South India comprising modern states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and southern portions of the states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh,

@ the nature of political structure in the aforesaid region between the eighth and thirteenth century.

relative viability of hypotheses concerning so called centralisation and segmentation in the political order,

expansion of agriculture and trade network and their impact on the evolution of centres of administrative and fiscal powers,

nature of resource mobilisation and mechanism to regulate it, and

role of prominent socioeconomic ~ n d religious forces in providing $mlogical support to the newly emerging'polity.

Indian Pollty In Its Regional Vuiatiom : 8tR To 13th Century 12.13 KEY WORDS

Bhakti

Chittir me l i

Kadamrri

Kottun

Mad hyastha

Ma"iIala mudali

Mandalam

Nadu

: Devotional cult

: Organisation of agriculturists belonging to all the 'four castes"

: Warehouses and distribution centres

: A major land tax

: Pastoralcum-agricultural region ~.. - : ~ b c a ~ officer-impartially supervising royal orders

relating to land aqd other grants I

: Chief of a mandalam

: Term used for a politicocultural region

: Peasant assembly or organisation

Nadu vaqd : Officer organising the nadus ,

Perundarm : Higher grade amongst officials

Purava-vari-tinaikkdm : Department of revenue records

Right Hand and Left Hand : A vertical division of the army into Right and Left Hand groups ,'

,'

Sabha : Bmhmana assembly

Sirutuun : Lower grade amongst officials

Tan-kuru

Ur

Valanadu

Variyam

Vidayil adhikui

: Independent unit

: Non-brahmadeya~settlement and assembly

: Artificial revenue unit created by the Chotas

: Committee through which the %bha functioned

: Officials touring the country

12.14 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1 . I) The South Indian polity was first studieg through the organisation and

functions of institutions. The recent works emphasise the need for understanding the interconnections between social formation, economic organisation and political structure. The third view points out the development of a centralised polity from an earlier stage of independent peasant regions controlled by peasant assemblies. See Sec. 12.4.

2) The organisations and their influence were the main features of agrarian society. Also See Sec. 12.5.

Check Your Progress 2 1') Through integration and expansion of bnhmadeya and temple the Nadu

underwent a change. New irrigation works also contributed. Land right and tenures became complex. Land relations also became stratified. Also see Sub-sec. 12.6. I.

2) After brahmadeyas bwame independent units they gained economic and administrative significance. See Sub-sec. 12.6.2.

3) Through large donations and grants temples became important. With the hdp of the temples Cholas could intervene in local affairs and tempJes became the symbol of royal authority. See Sub-sec. 12.6.4.

4) Nagrama came into existence to fulfil the exchange requirements as market centres. In due course through inter-regional and South Asian trade they became very important. See Sub-sec. 12.6.5.

Check Your Progress 3 I ) There was a hierarchical bureaucracy under-the Chdlas both at central and state

levels. See Sec. 12.8.

2) The Cholas dvolved the administrative zones (mandalam). These were generally placed under princes. Chieftains were also governed through well established norms. See Sec. 12.10.

SOME USEFUL BOOKS FOR THIS BLOCK

Burton Stein Peasant State and Society in Medieval South India, Delhi, 1980.

C. Minakshi : Administration and Social Life under the Pallavns, Madras, 1977 (Rev.Ed.)

D.N Jha(ed) : Feudal Social Formation in Early India, Delhi, 1987.

K.A. Nilakanta Sastri : The Cholas, Madras, 1975.

: History of South India, Delhi, 1984.

South Indian History and Society, Delhi, 1984.

R.S. Sharma : Indian Feudalism, New Delhi, 198 1 .

1 Romila Thapar : History of India, Vol. 1, New Delhi, 1983.

I T.V. Mahalingam : South Indian Polity, Madras, 1955.

Y. Subharayalu Political Geography of the Chola Country, Madras, 1973.

South India

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UNIT 13 RISE OF TURKS AND MONGOLS IN CENTRAL ASIA

Structure

Objectives Introduction Central Asia 13.2.1 Central Asia: A More Detailed View 13.2.2 Central Asia: An Ensemble of Micro-Regions Pastoral Nomadism Civilhition and Turkish Nomads: Early Contacts 13.4.1 The Tiukiu Empire 13.4.2 Two Forms of Contact Turkish Irruptions The Mongols 13.6.1 Chengiz Khan and the Steppe Aristocracy .13.6.2 Conquests and Expansion Let Us Sum Up Key Words Answers tb Check Your Progress Exercises

The rise of the Turks and Mongols; their rapid conquests and expansion over the regions of Central Asia and the adjoining territories between the tenth and thirteenth centuries, marks the beginning of a momentous period in history. Its consequences #or India were direct, palpable and far-reakhing. After reading this Unit you should be able to:

know who the Turks and Mongols were and what precisely was their role in an exciting period of history, acquaint yourself with the geography and some of the characteristics of Ce~tral Asia as a region of considerable historical sigdicance, and place medieval India in a larger historical contep of political and social developments.

t

1 13.1 INTRODUCTION

I The tenth century witnessed a westward movement of a warlike nomadic pimple inhabiting the eastern corners of the Asian continent. Then came in wave upon wave, each succeeding invasion more powerful and more extensive than the last. In a relatively short span of time, the barbarian hordes had overrun and brought down the once prosperous empires and kingdoms of Central and West Asia, reaching the . shores of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. While between the tenth and twelfth centuries the invaders were primarily 'Turks', the invasion of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries involved a kindred but more ferocious people, the Mongols.

Nthough the devastations caused by these dovements here immense-particularly those wrought by the Mongols-they left behind a trail'of blood and gruesome massacre wherever their advance was resisted. These invaders were eventually tamed by the civilizations they had conquered. Settling down in conquered territories, the resulting fusion between them and their new environments became the basis of a new order.

Mahmud of Ghazni's invasions of India at the close of the tenth century, followed some hundred years later by the Ghorian invasions (both Ghami and Ghor are in Afghanistan) were distant proieitiorh of these vast nomadic movec --'9. As in other

. 1 .

"mdependent political !entity; the Delhi Sultanate in the early years of the thirteenth ' century. The term 'W Sultanate' signifies the rule of Turks over large parts of Northern India from their capital at Delhi. in more than two centuries of existence, the Sultanate gave bifh to institutions-political, social and economic-which though greatly different from the ones existing earlier, were a unique combination of what the Turks had brought with and what they found in India. One could say the same ?bout the Mughal empire which succeeded the Delhi Sultanate. -

In this Unit we will be taking a w s - e y e vim o f . d m d o ~ Central Asia by the dse of Turks and Mongols.

13.2 ' CENTRAL ASIA -1

.Before we discuss the rise of Turks and Mongols, it is necessary to form a mental p i m e of the regions comprising Central Asia and to acquaint ourselves with some of their outstanding features. 'Central Asia' is a loose geographical term that refers to the huge and varied territory bounded in the South by an immense chain of mountains of which the Himalayas form a part. Its northern limits may be roughly placed around the Ural mountains; the western alonn the Aral and Cas~ian Seas; and the eastern somewhere between the lakes Balkash and Baikal, perhaps around lhe Thfer Irtysh (S=W). As the name of a region Central Asia has at least one other competitor, namely, hukestan, though not identical in geographical spread, Turkestan does cover a very large portion of the territories one includes in Central Asia. Perhaps it also offer$ a more apt descriptioa of a region whose population is @ominanrly Turkic in pornposition. But, when using the term in an historical context, one has to remember that 'Turkestan' is an ethnonym: it signifies an et ldc temtory as well as a human community. And, in both respects, changes down the centuries have b e b profound. Both the physical and human boundaries of Turkestan hzive shifted, contracted and expanded by turnsiuntil perhaps our own times when modem states acquired relatively stable bou~daries and populations. In terms of modern political frontien, it comprises the Soviet Sociplist Republic of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, bghizia and 'Chinese ~hkestan'.

133.1 Cential Asia: A More Detailed View As we close in on Central Asia, focusing attention on its distinctive natural features, an area of considerable complexity comes into view. It looks like an extraordinary mosaic of mountains, deserts, oases, steppes and river valleys. The foothills and the valleys contain oases, i.e. fertile islands of cultivation surrounded by desert. And beyond the deserts are the Eurasian steppes-those limitless expanses of arid and patchy vegetation. Towards the north and east the Steppes once again disappear into the great Siberian desert.

As we shall see latet, the steppes have been crucial in determining the course of , history of Central Asia and indeed of the world. For, atjeast, a few thousand years

the steppe environment could support only one kind of fife-the nomadic as opposed to sedentary.

The oases, by contrast, were the rallying points of settled existence. The history of civilized communities in Central Asia goes back to a few thousand years at least. Periods of peace, intermittently ruptured by barbarians churning on the periphery, led to the extension of imgation works and agriculture. With the growth of trade and I

handicrafts, towns sprouted. Together these enabled garden kingdoms and dates to flourish. The oases Were thus real counterpoints to the preponderance of deserts and steppes. Owing to them Central Asia could emerge as the centre piece in a commercial highway connecting the far-flung civilizations of India, China, Mesopotamia, and Europe. We will talk more about this a little later.

13.2.2 Central Asia: An hscrn~le of Micro Regions At another level, Central Asia could be seen as composed of distinct micro regions, or, in other words, territorial units that owe-tbeir identity to a peculiar & of

~eography and history-Khwarizm, Khurasan, Transoxiana, Soghdiana, Semireck Farghana-these are same of the names you will frequently come across in any btorical literature dealing with the area. Most of these regions have been broadly bdicated on the map.

~ransoxiana (i.e. Land across the Oxus) is the region carved out by the rivers Oxus m d Jaxartes (also knom as, the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya respectively). Both )low into the inland Arhl Sea arid are the two most important rivers of Central Asia. The Arabs, who conquered Transoxiana in the eighth century (A.D.), called it wawaraunnalu, literally meaning "that which is beyond the river". Along the middle of the Oxus-Jaxartes babin flows the Zarafshan river, after whose ancient name Aghd, the region came to be called Soghdiana. The two. most famous towns of Central Asia, Samarqmd and Bukhara, are located within this tract.

T o the south of the Aral Sea, around the fertile delta of the Oms, is the region bown as Khwatizm (niodern Khiva). Here, as early as the seventh or sixth century - (B.C.), a large centraked state came into existence which lasted a few centuries. At ?he end of the first centiry A.D., KhwariPn became part of the vast Kushan empire which straddled the Hindukush and included the whole of North India within its fold. Cultural contacts between India and Central Asia were greatly strengthened as a consequence.

To the west of Transoxiana begins the region of Khurasan. As a land-locked region; IUl(msan has no access' to the sea. Its rivers peter out into lakes and swamps. But around its oases excellent pastures abound. These have recurrently attracted nomads to descend into its valleys from across the steep mountains that jut out into Central Asia from the Eurasian steppes. "Because of such movements of people Khurasan inevitably became a cockpit ...." The Arabs used it as a springboard to conquer Central Asia.

To the east of the Jaxartes, along its middle reaches is the Farghana valley-the pncestral home of Babur, the first Mughal ruler of India. As early as B.C. 102.the Chinese subdued Farghana and, henceforth, Chinese influence over Central Asia remained an abiding factor. U

Check Your Progress 1 1) Give the main geographical features of Central Asia.

.............................................................................................................................................. - 2) Name a few Micro-regions of Central Asia giving their geographical extent.

..............................................................................................................................................

............................................................................................................................................. Write five lines on the region called Turkestan.

Rise of Turks rind Mongols in Contra1 Asia

13.3 PASTORAL NOMADISM. st'#

The Turks and Mongols were the product of deserts and steppes that encircle Central Asia in a massive area, extending north and east of Transoxiana. More specifically, they descended from the mass of nomads who roamed in the area of the Altai mountains, south of Lake Baikal-regions that are now part of outer Mongolia. They had a primitive mobile civilization based on tribal organization and ownership of herds of cattle, sheep and horses. In addition, the tribes often possessed camels, mqles and asses. The animals supplied most of the essential needs of the nomad in the way of food, clothing and shelter. Milk and flesh gave him nourishment. The hide of animals was used as clothing, and also to make tents, yurts, in which he lived.

Pastoral nomadism was governed by one great drive-the searchfor grazing lands. This kept the nomads constantly on the move, from place to place, with their flocks and herds. In the absence of agriculture and fixed habitation, the 'nomads attachment to land was minimal, lasting only as long as it yielded fodder for the animals. When the tribes camped, each tent or household was allotted a piece of land for its exclusive use. Once exhausted, the tribes migrated in search of new pastures.

Mobility, thus, was central to nomadic society, and the horse its most outstanding asset. One description of pastoral nomads aptly characterises them as a people whose country was the back of a horse. In consequence, among the Mongols, for instance, no offence was greater than stealing a horse. It invited execution.

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Horsemanship combines with skill in archery made the nomads a formidable fighting force. The Mongols brought the art to perfection in the thirteenth century. Galloping at full speed, they could rain arrows in every direction-forward, rear, and sideways-with deadly accuracy.

Opportunities for testing and amplifying these skills were provided in plenty by the steppe environment where conflict over grazing lands were normal occurrences. Periodically, these magnified into large-scale bloody battles.

It would, however, be too simplistic to see all nomadic irruptions into settled areas as merely a spill over of conflicts within the steppes. The inadequacies of a pastoral economy have as much to explain. Although it met most of the basic needs of the nomads, specially when supplemented with hunting or fishing, pastoralism had one serious drawback: ~nlikeagriculture, it produced no durable reserves. Its produca were rapidly consumed. Therefore, nomadic urge was not only to acquire more and better foraging lands but also products of agrarian communities. Pastoralism by its very nature veered to a 'mixed economy'-secured by trade and alliance or by aggression.

13.4 CIVILIZATION AND TURKISH NOMADS: EARLY CONTACTS

According to an old view, it was the Oxus that clearly demarcated civilization from barbarism. The classic expression of this view was the one given by Firdausi, the famous tenth century poet at Mahmud Ghazni's court. In his Shahnama, Firdausi poses a stark antithesis between the two worlds of Iran and Turan: "Two elements fire and water which rage against each other in the depths of the heart." For Firdausi, Iran was the realm of the Turks, of barbarism. A natural antipathy, born of opposed ways of life, set apart the two racial groups.

I

However a closer look at the Oxus regions reveals that the two worlds had been in

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tenth century. Although the Oxus had been the historic bastion against nomadic incursions, it was relentlessly breached by the nomads, no less in times of peace than during violent collisions. Far from being stark and clear, by the tenth century the boundary had become greatly blurred.

13.4.1 The Tiukiu Empire The fitst contact betwesn civilization d d Turkish nomads dates back to the mid-sixth century when a vast nomad empire, extending all the way from the borders of China to Byzantium, came int6 existence. The empire, known as the Tiukiu empire, was really a confederacy of twenty-two tribes of a people then called the Toghuz-Oghuz. It lasted for close to two hundred years. During the next three centuries, the Tiukiu dominions in Central Asia came to be partitioned and repartitioxied between its constituent tribes and other newly arrived Tlirkic nomads (the Qipchaqs, the Qarlughs and the Oghw called Ghur). Stray elements of the Oghuz had already found their way into the upper Oxus lands a couple of centuries earlier. The en bloc migration of the Oghuz across Siberia during the eighth century brought them "into the field of Muslim Writers." The appellation of 'Turks' or 'Turkeman', which came, into use in the late tenth century, was initially applied by these writers to Oghuz tribesmen. Its gradual extension to Turkic nomads in general appears to have proceeded alongside a progressive weakeningeof the Oghuz ethnlc identity as tribes either broke away from the larger confederacy or new ones were incorporated into it ,

, after being defeated.

13.4.2 Two Forms of Contact 1 'I

The contact between the Turks and settled people took two major forms: (i) military '

conflict, and (ii) commercial transactions. In either event the result was mutual assimilation and acculturation. Let us first discuss the military conflict.

The natural instinct of the nomads was to conduct raids into settled areas south of the Oxus. To ward off these attacks, states in western Asia evolved active defence policy centred on Transoxiana-the principal staying zone for invasions from the east. During the sixth century the Sassanids, who ruled Iraq and Persia, were the bearers of this-mission. In the eighth century it was the Arabs. After penetrating Transoxiana and displacing a considerable Turkish population east of the Jaxartes, the Arabs laid out fortified walls and rabats (frontier-posts) along the frontier, manned by aemilitary guard system. On either side, Muslim and Turkish, the frontier bristled with colonies of guards. On the Muslim side, they were called ghazis, i.e. men whose business it was to defend the faith against infidel hordes. Though belonging to hostile camps, both groups nonetheless "came to live the same kind of borderline existence, adopting each other's weapons, tactics and ways of life and gradually forming a common military frontier society, more similar to each other than to the societies

-from which ihey came and which they defended."

In TrCQ. oxiana the distinction between Turk and non-Turk had been worn thin by the time of the Arab takeover in the eighth century. Internal disturbances had often prompted Transoxianean leaders to enlist Turkish mercenaries as a counterbalancing force. At least one account has it that the earliest settlers of the Bukhara oasis came from 'Turkestan'.

The second form of contact was established through trade and commerce. The centre of a nomad empire has always attracted merchants because of the ready market it provided for products of the settlements. In the case of the Tiukiu empire, the attraction was more pronounced because it lay across the great Silk Road, the premier channel of international commerce. The bulk of these materials was of every day use, like lather, hides, tallow, wax, and honey. It also included luxuries like furs. Then there was the regular traffic in slaves-also procured from the steppes. From these northerly regions the foods anived in Khurasanian towns lying on caravan routes and eventually reached Iraq and Baghdad, the supreme centres of consumption in West Asia, via the transit trade.

Tenth century accounts refer to numerous settlements of the Turks &I the lower Syr in-....- --A,... ...L,.~~ ;..L~I.;+~..~~ Y . . . ~ ~ ~ ..A+ ..rrmnrlr I... t ...n.-n n ~ c r r n n t t l e - - i ~ ~ ~

! fishermen and agriculturists." Most of these Turks were of Oghuz extraction, the

i group under whose leadership the Turks emerged the rulers of Central and West Asia!

Check Your Progress 2 . 1) Write' in brief the main features of nomadic life of peOple in Central Asia.

...............................................................................................................................................

2) Write flve lines on Tiukiu Empire.

3) Discuss the main items of trade between Turks and settled people. Which trade route was followed by them?

13.5 TURKISH IRRUPTIONS

Rise of Turb and Mnnprols . in Centrrl Anis

Not only were the Turks known, settled, or commercially active in the civilized parts of Central Asia, they often rose to positions of considerable influenze iu the prevailing military administrative apparatus. The dominant social . a s e s of pre-Islamic Transoxiana, the dihqans (small landed propriefors) inerchants had made increasing use of Turkish mercenaries as the coercive arm for guarding and extending their patrimony.

The Arabs, who conquered Transoxiana (in the early eighth) century, pushed the Turks beyond the Jaxartes, converting Mawaraunnahr into a bulwark against barbarian inroads. However, in the long run, the idea of employing Turks as soldiers was not lost upon the Arabs either. The hardy steppe background made the Turk a

warrior. With training and discipline he could be made into a first rate machine. Moreover, he could be bought like any other commodity: markrrs

/' Transoxiana abounded in slaves captured from Central Asian st:-ppes north of Mawaraunnahr.

Establishment of Delhi Sultanate

Under the Omgyyads (A.D. 661-750) recruitment to the military was almost totally confined to the Arabs. The replacement of the Omayyads by the Abbasids in A.D. 750 as undermined the Arab monopoly of the army especially in the decades after the Caliphate-of Harun a1 Rashid (d. 809 A.D.). The civil wars among the sons and successor of this last great Caliph shook the foundations of the Abbasid empire. In these circumstances, recruiting mercenaries of foreign origin, not involved in the internal affairs of the empire, see,med to be the answer.

The Caliph Mu'tassim (A.D. 833-842) was the first to surround himself with a large body of Turkish slaves and make it the base of his troops. In order to impart them a distinct and separate identity, the Turkish soldiery was kept well away from the indigenous population and could only marry women of the same origin: "Thus he created a sort of military class, whose role-was to protect the Caliph and the regime without taking part iri the palace struggles or in the political or religious internal quarrels. But the reverse happened, and the interference of this cl?ss in the conduct of the state took on proportions which became more and more disastrous as the officers of the guard, divided into rival clans .... supporting different claimants ... and did not hesitate in so doing to trigger off palace revolutions."

Withethe weakening of the power of Abbasid Caliphs their control over Islamic world became nominal and limited just to issue farmans to confirm their authority. It gave way to the emergency of a number of small independent kingdoms during the 10th century the Jahirids, the Saffavids, the Buwaihids, Qara-Khanids and the Samanids.

Alaptgin, the Samanid governor and slave of the Turkish origin, established an independent kingdonl at Ghazna. The Ghaznavid kingdom became prominent under Mahmud Ghamavi (A.D. 998-1030). Under him, the Iranian influence reached its peak. Mahmud claimed to have traced his descent from Iranian mythical hero Afrasiyab. This process Islarnised and Persianised the Turks completely. Mahmud - also made regular inroads in India. As a result, Punjab became part of the Ghamavid Empire.

Mahmud's death was followed by the emergence of the mighty Seljuqs. They soon overran Iran, Syria and Transoxiana. These developments gave a great jolt to the power of the Ghaznavids which became confined to Ghazna and parts of Punjab only.

During th i twelfth century, the Seljuq power was destroyed by a group of Turkish tribes. The vacuum created by the Seljuqs led to the rise of the Khwarizmian in Iran and the Ghorid power in north-west Afghanistan. T o begin with, the Ghorids were vassals of Ghazna. On the other hand, the Khwarizmian ruler's started in a big way engulfing Ghazni and almost whole of Central Asia and )an. ~ n b e r such circumstances it was not possible for the Ghorids to expand at the cost of the Khwarizmian power. The possible direction left was India. This process of expansion started towards the end of 12th century.

13.6 THE MONGOLS

In the early decades of the thirteenth century Asia and Europe experienced a new . wave of nomad conquerors from the east, an invasion more formidable and devastating than any other known to history before. These new invaders were the Mongols, who are best known'for the great empire which they formed under Chengiz Khan. By the close of the thirteenth century, the Mongol empire covered a vast portion of the known world: China, Manchuria, Korea, North Vietnam, Tibet, Turkestan, Afghanistan, Iran, Mesopotamia, Southern Russia and Siberia.

Before rising to world dominion, the Mongols were dwellers of the steppe region, north of China and eadt of Lake Baikal. To their east lived a kindred people, the Tatars, presumably M~ngolised Turks, who lent the name-of 'Tartars' to the Mongols in European literature in conjunction with Tartarus, the Greek word for ell. T o the west of the Mongols lived the Keraits and Naimans, once again people Qfturkish origin and speech. All these people were in different stages of development, mrnhinino h ~ r d i n o k i t h h ~ ~ n t i n o and fichino2n varvino tieoreec

The sudden rise of Mongols to power appears t o fall in line with ah old pattern characteristic of the steppes. Long periods of internecine conflict between bands of nomads would throw up a leader of outstanding ability who after ironing out diierences between the warring hordes welded them into a powerful coalition. Through choice or compulsion, the smaller, fragmcntcd nomadic groups were absorbed into the coalition. The next stage saw the nomads aggressively directed at the surrounding sedentary societies.

Rise of Turks and Mongols in Ccntml Asia

13-6.1 Chengiz Khan and The Steppe Aristocracy Chengiz Khan built the Mongols into a stupefying striking force. Born of a powerful Mongol chief sometime in the sixties of 12th century. Chcngiz Khan (also spelt as Chingiz, Chengez Khan), or Temuchin as hc was originally called. Three decades of a bitter struggle within the steppes paved the way for Tcmuchin, who eve~tually emerged as the pre-emir:ent leader of the Mongols. During this time he developed his skill both as a warrior and a canny tactician who cxccllcd in dividing and circumventing. his enemies.

The nucleus of Chengiz Khan's army, and his imporial government, came from a mrps of carefully selected guards (bahadur). Units of the Mongol army were put under command of generals drawn from it. Military mobilisation reached its peak under Chengiz Khan. Using a well-established nomadic tradition, he enrolled all adult males into mingghan, literally "units of ten thousand". The mingghan in turn were divided into smaller units of ten and hundred. Ten mingghans constituted a tuman and these were deployed for largescale operations. Each of these units was placed under the command of a general whose worth had been personally tested by Chengiz Khan. The~authority of the commander extended over the soldiers and their families. Thus, administrative control and military mobilisation were parts of a single mechanism.

13.6.2 Conquests and Expansion ,

The first military efforts of Chengiz Khan were devoted to bringing the pastoral tribes of the eastern steppes under his sway. Temuchin now ruled over an immense confederacy of Mongol, Turkic and Manchurian tribes. He was the head of all their kibitki (tents) and his family held the conquered/hordes in patrimony.

At a k d t a i (assembly of nomad chefs) held in 1206, Temuchin was declared "Qaghan of all Mongolia" and received the title of Chengiz Khan.

Internally consolidated, the Mongols burst out of the confines of Mongolia. At the end of a series of annual campaigns beginning in A.D. 121 1, they breached the Great Wall of China and laid hold of Peking.

Soon after, their attention was drawn to Transoxiana and Khurasan which formed the dominions of the Khwarizm Shah. The defence of the Khwarizm empire crumbled before Mongol siege-craft which used battering rams, flame-emitting machines (using naphtha), mangonels or catapults (manjaniq), etc. ~ u k h a r a and Samarqand fell in 1220 in the midst of fearful carnage. A witness reporting on the state of Bukhara said: "They came, they sapped, they burnt, they slew, they plundered, they departed."

It had taken the Mongols just about three years, 1219-22, to complete the annexation of Transoxiana and Khurasan. Two years after, returning to Mongolia in 1225, Chengiz Khan died. By then the whole of northern China had been annexed. The empire was divided among his sons. Ogedei, his third son, was declared the Great Khan in 1229. They as yet unconquered Eurasian steppes went to Jochi. The second son, Chaghtai, received Turkestan, and Tolui, the youngest, got the Mongolian homeland.

Hulagu, one of the successors of Chengiz Khan, attacked Baghdad in A.D. 1258. The city was the capital of the Abbasids. It perished in blood and flame. According to a conse -timate some 800,000 were savagely murdered. The Abbasid C a b d himself mel a &lent end.

1. hinqjdq

Emally, four great empires aydbed out of the .Moog01 conquests: The Golder Horde rule1 the Volga steppe land and southern RuSsia; the nLbrnn who contra Afghanista and Iran; the Chaghtai empire which hduded most of Central Asia, and the em re of KuMai Khan which ruled over China and neighbouring territonz These empha lasted Well into the 15th century.

Check Your Progress 3

1) How Turks got in~~olved with the Arab caliphate?

2) How Cxengiz K h a ~ rose to . Power? .

3) Give a brief account of Chengiz Khan's conquests outside Mongolia. Hiw of Turks and illongols in Central Asia

13.7 .LET US, SUM UP

We hope this Unit has given you a general overview of the developments in Central Asia during 10-13th century. Now you know briefly the geographical features of Central Asia. You have also learnt about the nature of pastoral nomadism. In due course, the Turks, who were mainly nomadic tribes, established powerful egdoms . We also described the consolidation of Mongol power under Chengiz Khan and the Mongols' expansion into Central Asia, etc. In the next Unit, we will narrate the expansion of the Turks towardq India, and the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate by them.

13.8 KEY WORDS

Nomad: Groups of people who do not have a settled habitation.

Eurasian Steppes: A geographic region on the borders of Europe & Asia.

Kushan Empire: The Empire covered the north-westem part of India and ruled from mid first century A.D. to the end of third century A.D.

Land-locked region: A geographic region which has no access to sea.

Shahnama: A tenth century poetic work written by Firdausi in Persian.

Silk Route: Overland route-srarting from China passes through the North-West frontier of India, across Central Asia and Russia to the Baltic.

Omayyads: The dynasty of Caliphs which ruled from A.D. 661-A.D. 750.

Tatars: A nomadic tribe.

13.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOURPROGRESS

I Check Your Progeae 1 Check your PrbgFegs 3

I 1) See Sec. 13.2 1) See Secl. 13.5

I I

2) See Sub-sec. 13.2.2 2) See Sub-sec. 13.6.1 *.

f 3) See Sub-sec. 13.2.2 3) See Sub-sec. 13.6.2

Check Your Progress 2

1) See Sec. 13.4

2) See Sub-sec. 13.4.1

UNIT 14 ESTABLISHMENT AND CONSOLIDATION

14.0 Objectives 14.1 Introduction 14.2 India from 7th to 12th Century: An Overview 14.3 Initial Conquests up' to Circa 1 190 A.D. . . 14.4 The Ghorian Invasions, 1192-1206 14.5 Why the Turks Succeeded? 14.6 Conflict and Cansolidation 1206-1290 14.7 The Mongol Problem 14.8 Political Consequences of the Turkish Conquest of India / 14.9 Let Us Sum Up U.

14.10 Key Words 14.11 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

14.0' OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unit you will know:

the political and socio-economic condition of India during the centuries preceding the Turkish conquest,

the stages in which Northern India was conquered,

the 'causes' of Turkish success; and

the conflicts, nature, and basis of power of the class that ran the Sultanate.

14.1 INTRODUCTION

In the last Unit, we took an overview of the region called 'Central Asia', its peculiar environment, and its volatile population of nomad wamors. These nc~mads set out of their steppe habitat in great numbers and came into contact and collision with the surrounding civilizations of China, Europe, West Asia and India.

The empires of the Ghamavids and the Seljuqs were built on the ruins of the Abbasid Caliphate. In the final analysis, both these states were products of the acculturation of the Turks in the institutions of settled societies. The latter, too, saw considerable changes iri their own mode of organisation and direction after coming into contact with the hbngols.

Under the Seljuq umbrella, the Turks had expanded into the Meditarranean and Byzantine territories. Anatolia (modem Turkey) was conquered and settled by the 'Ottoman Turks'. The Seljuq empire which warded off pressure from incoming tribes was itself engulfed by political developments drawing upon nomadic movements. The Khwarizmian empire which undermined the Seljuqs, was swept away by the Mongols. These cataclysmic and cyclical developments convened the 'Old World' into a vast melting pot.

In this Unit we will be looking at the conquest of India by the Turks, leading to the ~ctahlichment nf the nelhi Sirltanate at the heoinnino nf the 1 Bth rentiirv

14.2 INDIA FROM 7TH TO 12TH CENTURY: AN OVERVIEW

We have already discussed the political, social and economic conditions of lndia during this period in Blocks 1 to 3 of this course. In this section, we will recapitulate in brief the conditions prevalent in lndia during this period. It will help you in understanding this Unit.

Politico-economic Order, A.D. 700-1200

The five centuries or so preceding the Turkish invasions have been described by Indian historians as 'feudal'. Though the use of this concept in characterising the era has been subjefted to some criticism, the political and socio-economic realities of lndia during this time answer to many of the general, and some of the specific, features of feudalism.

The central essential feature of feudalism in India (as in other parts of the world where it came into vogue) was the grant of land by the king among his officers and certain sections of society. In return, the grantees (or feudatories, vassals) were under obligation to serve the king and supply him with men and materials whenever he called for them. A portion of the revenue collected by the feudatory went to the king by way of annual tribute. T~G-remainder was used by them to maintain armed levies which were put at the disposal of the king in times of war.

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The ~ ~ r q m \ l l e r f u l feudatories were permitted to grant land, in turn, thus creating t 6 r own sub-'teudatories and in the process giving birth to a hierarchy of commands and obligationi. In India, the feudatories came to adopt various titles. The more impp~tant -&Yes called themselves mahasamantas, m_ahamandaleshvara, etc. The

-*6ser ones took the titles of raja, ranaka, samanta, thakura, bhoghika, etc.

The origins of this system-the alienation of rights over land by the king-have been traced back to the land grants made to Brahmans from the 2nd century onwards. These Brahmans, who were the beneficiaries of these grants not only collected the land tax, but also looked to the maintenance of law and order. From the 7th century onwards, the practice was extended to other sections of society also. In particular, the officers of the king were granted land in lieu of cash salaries, With time there was a tendency for these grants to become hereditary, leading to the disappearance of the distinction between royal officials and 'feudatories', hereditary feudatories being appointed to royal offices, and officials being granted the titles and, presumably, the privileges of feudatories.

From 7th century the ruling class was inevitably ruralised. The tendency reinforced an environment in which urban life had steadily declined (since the Mauryas) along with commerce as witnessed by the extreme paucity of coins for the period under consideration. In such conditions, the officials and aristocracies 'lived off the land'. Dislocation of centralised political power, the appearance of landed magnates and crystallisation of warrior castes, notably the Rajputs, Were the natural fallout of this environment.

14.3 INITIAL CONQUESTS UP TO CIRCA 11 90 A.D.

The period between the 9th and I lth century saw the emergence of 'warrior castes'--military ruling clans which ultimately coalesced into a single caste, that of the Rajputs, the term being derived from the Sanskrit word rajaputra. The four Rajput clans that claimed a special status during his timepere the Pratiharas, the Chalukyas, the Chauhans (also called Chahamanas), and the Solankis.

1) Mahmud of Ghazni w

In political and military terms, the invasions of Mahmud of Ghami were the actual precursors of the Delhi Sultanate. Beginning in A.D. 1000, when the Shahiya king,

Establishment and Consolidation

Jaypala was routed, the incursions became almost an annual feature of Mahmud and came to an ead only with his death in A.D. 1030. After taking Multan, he occupied Punjab. Later, Mahmud made incursions into the Ganga-Yamw doab. The major interest of Mabmud in India was its fabulous wealth, vast quantities of which (in the form of cash, jewdery, and golden images) had been depoeited in temples. From 1010 to 1026, the inva8ions were thus directed to the temple-towns of lbmwar , Mathura, Kannauj and, finally !bmnath. The ultimate result was the breakdown of Iudian dstance, pa*g the way for Turkish conquests in the future. More importantly, the afternlath of the campaigns had exposed the inadequacy of Indian politics to offer a unit4 defence agairlst external threats.

Within a short time'of Uahmud's death, his empire met the fate of other empires. Newly emerging cemtre$ of powers, formed around growing clusters of Turkish . soldieradventurers, replaced the older ones. The Ghamavid possessions in Khurasan and Transoxiana were thus annexed, first by the Seljuqs (Unit 13), and later by the K h w a r h Shah. In their own homeland, Afghanistan, their hegemony was brought to an end by the principality of Ghor under the Shansabani dynasty. However, in the. midst of these buffeting, the Ghaznavid rule survived in Punjab and Sind till about A.D. 1175.

The extent of the Ghaznavid territory in the north-west India is difficult to ascertain. Towards the north, it included Sialkot and probably, Pesbewar. The southern limits w a r steadily plshed),back by the Chauhan Rajputs who re-established control over *

portions of h j a b .

h the initial phase of invasions, Muhammad Ghori's military objective was to gain contrd over Punjab and Sind. Unlike earlier invaders, he decided to enter the Indus plains through the G o a d pass and not through the more common Khyber pass W e r north. By 1 17g1 Peshawar, Uchh and Multan were seized. Later, Lahore was ~ttacked. Muhammad Ghori now pressed his conquests further into India. Within a short time, military operations cam6 to be directed against the Rajput kingdoms controlling the Gangetic plains. The Chauhans faced the most acute pressure as they ruled the territory from Ajmer to Delhi-the gateway to Hindustan. Bhatinda was besieged in 1191. The garrison quickly surrendered, but the Chauhans, under Rithviraj, speedily retrieved it after inflicting a humiliating defeat on the Ghorians. In the following year, Muhannmad Ghori returned with a larger force. At the famous battle of Tarain, fought in 1192, he conclusively defeated the Chauhans. All places of military importance-Hansi, Kuhram, Sarsuti-were immediately occupied and garrisoned. Muhammad Ghori returned to his projects in Central Asia, leaving behind 'an occupation army at Indraprasth (near Delhi) under the command of Qutbuddin Aibak'. The latter was given wide powers to extend and consolidate the conquests.

check Your Progress 1

1) What were Mahrnud Ghazni's main objectives for invatling India?

............................................................................................................................................. 2) Briefly mention the initial conquests of Muhammad Ghori in India.

14.4 THE GHQRIAN INVASIONS: 1192-1206

way for the ascendancy of the Turks. From this date onwards, the Rajput power eritered the phase of irreversible decay. For some time to come, the Ghorians did not think it convenient to immediately take over the administration of all the conquered territories. Wherever it seemed feasible, they allowed the Rajputs to continue, provided Turkish suzerainty was acknowledged. Thus Ajmer, for instance, was allowed to be retained by Prithviraj's son as a vassal ruler. This uneasy balance, powever, was often disturbed by the recurrent conflicts between the imperial designs of the Ghorians and local rulers.

I , Under Aibak's leadership, the Turks continued to make territorial advance in all bedions. After having refortified Hansi towards the end of 1192, Aibak crossed the Yamuna to establish a military base in the upper Doab, Meerut and Baran (modem Bulandshahr) capitulated iri. 1192. In 1193 Delhi was occupied. Its location and historical tradition made it most suitable as a capital for Turkish power in India. It was both close to the Ghorid stronghold in Punjab as well as conveniently placed for

1 sending expeditions towards the east. In 1194 Aibak ~ ~ o s s e d the Yamuna for the second time and captured Kol (Aligarh).

The a ~ o v e military successes encouraged Muhammad Ghori to confront king I Jayachandra of the Gahadavala dynasty in the vicinity of Chandwar (between Etah

and Kanpur). Jayachandra, eventually lost. Afterwards, Turkish military stations were placed at Bharas, Asni and other important towns. However, the capital city of Kannauj could not be occupied until 1 198-99.

I The other important areas over which the Ghorians were able to extend their sway were Bayana, Gwalior and Anhilwara in 1195-96, and Badaun in 1197-98. The opening of the 13th century saw action against the 'last surviving imperial Rajputs'-the Chandellas of Bundekhand. Around 1202, Kalinjar, Mahoba and Khajuraho were occupied and grouped into a military division.

I From 1203 onwards, the Turks made forays into the eastern provinces of the Indian subcontinent with varying degrees of success. Magadha was conquered for the 'Sultanate' by Bakhtiyar Khalji and his tribesmen. Under him, the Turkish intrusions could also penetrate Bengal (ruled by the Lakshrnanas).

In general, during this phase, the Ghorians were able to extend their hegemony over a very considerable part of Northern India. But, as yet, they stood on shaky ground. Areas once conquered tended to slip out of control. It took several decades before their control found firm ground.

14.5 WHY THE TURKS SUCCEEDED ?

Various reasons have been assigned for the success of the Turkish conquests of North India. Many of the contemporary chroniclers do not go beyond the standard explanation of attributing this major event to the 'Will of God'. Some British historians, who initiated the study of Indian history in greater depth, accounted for the success of the Turks as follows: The Ghorian armies were drawn from the warlike tribes inhabiting the difficult region lying between the Indus and the Oxus. They had gathered military powers and expertise fighting the Seljuq @es and other fierce tribes of Central Asia. On the other hand, <he Indians were pacifist and not given to war. Moreover, they were divided into small states which hampered expansionist ambitions.

! I I The explanation is inadequate and unbalanced insofar as it leaves out of 1 consideration well-known facts of Indian history as well as the history of countries

Erom where the invaders came. It should be remembered that the large-scale conquest .and destruction of the so-called warlike Islamic regions by the Mongols in 1218-19

I I was camed out without any real resistance. On the other hand, the Rajputs, whom the Turks conquered, were not lacking in bravery and martial spirit. The period from the 8th to the 12th century is one long story of warfare and violent internal struggles. It is, therefore, hardly worthwhile to emphasise the peaceful or docile temperament of the Indian populations as the cause of the Turkish success. -

Some Indian historians have traced the Turkish success to the peculiar social structure created by Islam. Jadunath Sarkar, for instance, lays stress on three unique characteristics which Islam imparted to the Arabs, Berbers, Pathans, and Turks: first complete equality and social solidarity as regards legal and religious status. Unlike India, the Turks were not divided into castes that were exclusive of each other. Secondly, an absolute faith in God and his will which gave them drive and a sense of mission. Finally, Islam secured the Turkish conquerors from drunkenness which, according to Sarkar, was the ruin of the Rajputs, Marathas, and other Indian rulers. Whatever partial truth it might contain, this explanation, too, seems insufficiently grounded in history.

, A more comprehensive view of the Indian debacle must perhaps take into account at least two major factors: the prevailing socio-political system in India and her military preparedness.

After the fall of the Gu jara-Pratihara empire, no single state took its place. Instead, there arose small independent powers like Gahadavalas in Kannauj, Parmaras in Malwa, Chalukyas in Gujarat, Chauhans in Ajmer, Tomars in Delhi, Chandellas in Bundelkhand, etc. Far from being united, they tended to operate within the confines of small ~emtories and were in a state of perpetual internal conflicts. Lack of centralized power was an important factor in emasculating the strength and efficiency of the armed forces. Fakhr Mudabbir in his Adab-ul Harb wa al-shuja't mentions that Indian forces consisted of 'feudal levies'. Each military contingent was under the command of its immediate overlord/chief and not that of the king. Thus, the army lacked 'Unity of Command'. Besides, since only few castes and clans took military profession, the bulk of the population was excluded from military training. This made the general population of the country totally detached from the defence of the country; when the Turks came, we find the Indian masses hardly came to the rescue of their kings. The concept of physical pollution (Chhut) also hampered military efficiency since it made the division of labour impossible; the soldiers had to do all their work on their own, from fighting to the fetching of water.

Another important reason for the success of the Turks was their superior military technology and art of war. These nomads from the steppes could be credited with introducing the age of the horse'. The Turks used iron stirrup and horse-shoes that reinforced their striking power and the stamina of the cavalry, while horse-shoes provided greater mobility to the horse, stirrup gave the soldiers a distinct advantage.

The popular notion that the Indians were defeated on account of the use of elephants does not seem plausible now, we do not find any evidence in the Tabaqat-i Nasiri or other sources in support of this view. Jayapala's case is an exception where his elephants took to flight:Such examples are hard to come by. In fact, Mahmud of Ghazni is reported to have maintained large number of elephants that he took to his Kingdom from India and employed them with success.

Check Your Progress 2

1) Match the following: A B

Battle Year i) Kol 1193

Tarain 1194 Delhi 1 1 98-99 Anhilwara 1192 Kannauj 195-96

ii) Match the following: A B

Dynasty Place Gahadavalas Bundelkhand Chauhans Delhi Tomars Ajmer Chalukyas Kannauj Chandellas Gujarat

htnblishment .and Consolidation

2) Write in about ten lines the causes for the Turkish Success. I ...............................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................................

14.6 CONFLICT AND CONSOLIDATION, 1206-1290

The period from 1206 to 1290 constitutes the formative and the most challenging period in the history of the Delhi Sultanate. It was marked by a prolonged, multi-cornered cbnflict within the Ghorian ruling class as well as against the renewed Rajput resurgence.

Muhammad ~hori ' s sudden death in 1206 resulted in a tussle for supremacy among his three important generals, Tajuddin Yalduz: Nasiruddin Qubacha and Qutbuddin Aibak. Yalduz held Karman and Sankuran on the route between Afghanistan and upper Sind. Qubacha held the important charge of Uchh, while Aibak had already been deputed as the 'viceroy' of Muhammad Ghori and the over all commander of the army in India. Though, technically still a slave, the title of sultan was conferred upon him soon after the death of his master. The formal establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, as an entity in its own rights, is traced back to this event. Subsequent ,

developments made this a reality. t.

Early in* brief reign of four years, Aibak (d. 1210) moved his capital to Lahore in brder to frustrate Yalduz's ambition of annexing Punjab. With the Khwarizm Shah keadly advancing on Ghor, there was partly a compulsion in Yalduz's attempt to

- kstablish himself in India.

'Aibak 'was succeeded on the throne by his son-in-law Iltutmish who brought back the I capital to Delhi. Large portions of the territories conquered by the Turks had slipped .'out of control and subjugated Rajput chieftain had 'withheld tribute and repudiated allegiance'. Iltutmish's quarter century reign (1210-1236) was distinguished by a concerted drive to re-establish the Sultanate's authority on areas that had been lost. in 1215, Yalduz was defeated at Tarain and in 1217 Iltutmish wrested the province of w o r e from Qubacha and placed it under his own governor.

. Within three years of this event, t he '~on~o l s , under Chengiz Khan's leadership, appeared on the banks of the Indus in pursuit of Jalduddin Mangbarni (the son of the Khwarizmian ruler) who had taken refuge in Punjab. In Unit 13, we have discussed the destruction of Islamic lands by the Mongols. Henceforth, the Mongols remained a constant factor among the concerns of Delhi Sultans. We will discuss Mongol intrusions during the 13-14th century in the subsequent section.

Though the Mongol presence had upset ~ltutrnish's plan of consolidation on the north-west, it also created conditions for the destruction of Qubacha who held Uchh and faced the brunt of Mangbami's invasion. As a consequence, lltutmish was able to seize Bhatinda, Kuhram, and Sarsuti. About 1228, he launched a two-pronged attack on Multan and Uchh. Defeated; Qubacha drowned himself in the Indus. Unified control over the north-west now became posib!e for the Delhi Sultanate. In Rajputana, the Turks were able to reclaim Ranthambhor, Mandor, Jalor, Bayana and

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Thangir. After 1225, IPtutmish could turn towards the east. Apart from sporadic military successes, however, Lakhnauti (in Bengal) and Bihar continued to evade the authority of the Sultanate. A modern historian asseses the Sultan's achievement as follows:

"to him the Sultanate owed the first outline of its administrative system. He laid . the foundations of an absolutist monarchy that was to serve later as the instrument of a military imperialism under the Khaljis. Aibak outlined the Delhi

I Sultanate and its sovereign status; litutmish was unquestionably its first king."

lltubnish's death saw more sharpened factionalism and intrigue among the Turks. In a period of some thirty years, four rulers, (descendants of Iltutmish) occupied the

I throne. The most prominent group to decide the course of high politics during these years is identified as the k L . 4 & M g d brreQgm SLoaPsi (the 'forty' Turkish slave "officers" of Iltutmish). The fourteenth century historian, Ziauqdin Barani, has

I left behind concise and insightful account of these critical years:

I .... t "During the reign of Shamsuddin - (Iltutmish), owing to the presence of

1 peerless m&ks, wazirs....educated, wise and capable, the court of the .... .... Sultan (Sharnsuddin) had become stable But after the death of the Sultan his .... 'forty' Turkish slaves got the upper hand So owing to the supremacy of the

Turkish slave officers, all these men of noble birth .... were destroyed under . various pretexts during the reigns of the successors of Shamsud din....".

In the main, Barani's account is borne out by contemporary developments. Between 1235-1265 political developments revolved round a conflict between the crown and a military aristocracy,determined to retain its privileged position with the balance often increasingly tilting in favour of the latter.

In these circumstances, the very survival of the Sultanate was under question. Pditical instability was exacerbated by the recalcitrance of smaller Rajput chiefs and local leaders. Moreover, the Mongols were constantly active in and around Punjab.

The accession of Balban in 1265 provided the Sultanate with an iron-willed ruler. Balban addressed himself to two major objectives:

i) to raise the prestige of the crown through elaboratecourt ceremonials, and inculcation of Sassanian traditions that distanced the ruler from ordinary folks, converting him into a symbol of awe; (ii) consolidating Turkish power: rebellions were put down with determination and administrative procedures were streamlined.

After the death of Balban, struggle for the throne started. Balban had nominated Kai Khusrau, son of Muhammad (Balban's eldest son) but the nobles helped Baiqubad, son of Bughra Khan, to ascend the throne. Intrigues continued for more than two years. Finally, Jalaluddin Khalji, who was a prominent noble during this period, managed to capture the throne which was strongly resented because it was thought

I that the Khaljis were not Turks but belonged to a different race. Barani does not

I speafy the race to which the Khaljis belonged. The Khaljis had been occupying impartant positions during the period 1206-1290. For example, Bakhtiyar Khalji was the m.qti of Bengal. Even Jalaluddin Khalji was the muqti of Sunam in Western

I Punjab.

Jalaluddin Khalji started consolidating his kingdom but was killed in 1296 by his nephew Alauddin Khalji who captured the throne. For almost 20 years, the Sultanate under Alauddin Khalji fdoweh a policy of conquests. You will read about this in. Unit 15.

CLeeLYoerPIogess3 1) Write in five lines how Qutbuddin succeeded in crushing the power of Yalduz.

Fstnblishment and Consolidation

EstPMishment of Delhi Sultanate ............................... b ...............................................................................................................

2) Iltutmish was the teal founder of the Turkish rule in India. Explain.

14.7 THE MONGOL PROB-

We have already discussed the &e of the Mongol power in Central Asia and Persia in Unit 13. Here our emphasis would be on the Mongol threat on the north-west border of India and its kepurcussions.

For the Delhi Sultans, wntrol over Kabul-Ghazni-Qandahar line flanked by the Hindukush, was impo-t not only for stabilizing the 'scientific frontier' but also for the fact that it connected India with the major silk-route passing from China through Central Asia and Persia. But the development in Central and West-Asia did not permit the newly founded Turkish state to do the job. The situation on account of the Mongd onslaught (as p u would see) compelled the Delhi Sultans to take comfort along the Chenab, while the cis-Sutlej region became the cock-pit of ccmfrontatio~ls. Thus, the "Indus remaiOed only the cultural boundary of Iadia," and for all practical purposes the line of codtrol was confined to the west of the Indus only.

Professor K.A. Nizami has categorised the response of the Sultanate towards, the M o w challenge into three distinct phases: (i) .loehess, (ii) and (iii) reswlmce.

lltutmish followed the @icy of 'd-.The Delhi Sultans had to face the Mongol threat as early as A.D. 1221 when, after destroying the Khwarizmi empire, Chengiz Khan d e d the Indiap frontiers in pursuit of the crown-prince Jalaluddin Mangbarni. The latter seeing no alternative, crossed the Indus and entered the cis-Indus region.

lltutmish had to take ndte of the Mongols who were knocking at the Indian frontier, but equally pime was the p r m w of Mangbarm in the cis-Indus region. The Sultan feared a W b l e alliance of Qubacha and the Khokhars with Mangbarni. But, Qubacha and Maugbami locked their horns for political ascendancy, and meanwhile bonds of friendship developed between Mangbarni and the Khokhm through a matrimonial alliance. Tbis strengthened the position of Maugbarni in the northwest. Ata MaliL Juwaini in hid T d - i JPhPn Gaehp decisively opines that Ututmish smelt danger from Mangbarni who might "gain an ascendancy over him and involve him in ruin." Besides, lltutmishlwss also aware of the weaknesses of the Sultanate. These factors compelled Utu- to follow the pohcy of 'doofnecas'.

Chengiz Khan is reported to have sent his envoy to Iltutmish's court. It is difficult to say anything about the Sultan's response, but so long as Chengiz Khan was alive (d. A.D. 1227), Iltutmish did not adopt an expansionist policy in the north-west region. An understanding of non-aggression against each other might have possibly been arrived at. Iltutmisln shrewdly avoided any political alliance with the Khwarizm Prince. The latter sent hi+ envoy Ain-ul Mulk to lltutmish's court requesting for asylum which lltutmish denied by saying that the climate was not codgenial for his my. On the other hand, Ihe put the envoy to death. Minhaj Siraj mentions that 11tgtmish led an e x p d t i m against Mangbarni but the latter avoided any confrontation and finallylleft the Indian soil in A.D. 1224.

shift from ~ltbtmish's policy of 'aloofness' to 'appeasement' was the result of the extension of the sultanate frontier up to Lahore and Multan which exposed the

Sultanate d h d y to the Mongol incursions with no buffer state left between them. Razip's dkowa& rapooae to anti-Mongd alliance, proposed by Hasan Qarlugh of Bamym is t)le indicata of her appmmmmt policy. We must bear in mind that this policy of nak-- m due pnmanly to the partitioning of the Chengiz's empire among his stma which weakened their power; and also on account of the hlongd p.esccuptioos in West-Asia.

At any rate, between 1240-66, the Mongols for the first time embarked upon the ~ofPaacrrtionofIndiP~dthegoldenphaseofmutual'.oll-.ggeseionp.ct' with Delhi ended. During this phase, the Sultanate remained under serious Mongol t h a t . 'Ibe main reaeoa m the change in the situation in Central Asia. The Mongol Khan of Tnumxiana found it difficult to face the might of the Persian Khanate and, thus, was left with no alternative except to try his luck in India.

In 1241, Tair Bahadur invaded Lahore and completely destroyed the city. It was

I followed by two successive invasions in A.D. 1245-46. In spite of the best efforts of Balban during the reign of Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud, the Sultanate frontier during

1 AD. 1 ~ 1 6 6 m at &ar ~ n d , yet, the y t pdicy mtinued for sometime. In A.D. 1260 Halagu's envoy to Delhi was well received and this diplometic gesture was reciprocated by Halagu also.

A distinct change in Delhi Sultan's policy can be seen from Balban's reign onwards. On the whde, it was the phase of 'resiebce'. By and large, Balbm remained in Delhi and his energies concentrated mainly in keeping away the Mongols, at least from the Beas. Barani mentions, when the two nobles Tamir Khan and Adil Khan suggested the conquest of Malwa and Gujarat and advised him to pursue an expansionist policy Balban replied:

'When the Mongols have occupied all lands of Islam, devastated Lahore and made it a paint to invade our country once in every year....If I move out of the capital the Mongols are sure to avail themselves of the opportunity by sacking Delhi and ravaging the Doab. Making peace and consolidating our power in our own kingdom is far better than invading foreign territories while our own kingdom is insecure."

Balban used both 'force and diplomacy' against the Mongols. He took some measures to strengthen his line of defence. Forts at Bhatinda, Sunam and Samana were reinforced to check any Mongd advance beyond Beas. Balban succeeded in oclWing Multan and Uchh but his forces remained under heavy Mongol pressure in Punjab. Every year Prince Muhammad, Balban's son, led expeditions against the ~~. 'Ibe Prince died in AD. 1285 while defending Multan. Actually, till A.D. 1295, the Mongols did not show much enthusiasm to occupy Delhi.

During Alauddin Khalji's reign, the Mongol incursions extended further and they atmnpkd to ravage Delhi for the first time in'A.D. 1299 under Qutlugh Khwaja. Since then, Delhi became a regular target of the Mongols. For the second time, Qutlugh Khwaja in A.D. 1303 attacked Delhi when Alauddin Khalji was busy in his Chittor campaign. The attack was so severe that the Mongols inflicted large-scale cb t rudon and so long as the Mongols besieged Delhi, Alauddin could not enter the aty.

Constant Mongol attacks pressed Alauddin to think of a permanent solution. He recruited a huge standing army and strengthened the frontier forts. As a result, the Mongols, were repulsed in 1306 and 1308. Another reason for the Mongol reversal was the death of Dawa Khan in 1306, followed by civil war in the Mongol Khanate. It weakened the Mongols greatly, and they ceased to remain a power to reckon with. This situation helped the Delhi Sultans to extend their frontier as far as the Salt Range. The last signidcant Mongd invasion was under the leadership of Tarmashirin &uing the reign of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq.

Thus, the Delhi Sultans succeeded in ta&8 the Mongol problem and succeeded in teeping their kingdom intact. It shows the strength of the Sultanate. Besides, the Mongol destruction of Central and West-Asia resulted in large-scale migration of (rholars, mystics, artisans and others to Delhi, which transformed it into a great town i.f la la mi^ nrlhrre-area

K%tablishment and Consolidation

bla~lishrnent of Delhi - Sultanate POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE

TURKISH CONQUEST OF INDIA

f i e Turkish conquest of Jndia brought about some far reaching changes in the polltical economic and axial conditions of India.

Its first major consequence was to replace the 'feudal', multi-centred, polity of the buntry by a centralised state, in which the king enjoyed practically unlimited powers. m e 'Sultanate' which we briefly referred to in Unit 16, was the form in which this power was expressed.

The chief institution which made the Sultanate possible was that of the iqta: transferable revenue assignments, an institution which the Seljuqs found in operation In the Abbasid ruled areas and which they updated in the light of their own fequirements. In Block 9 and 6, you will be reading the history of the iqh system in w a in greater detail. Here we will simply touch upon its principal features to hlustrate how it provided the basis of a different polity. Under this system, the .rfficers of the king were assigned territories to realise revenue and maintain troops md cavalry cuntingents. The holders of such assignments were known .as rnoqti . Unlike the pre-Turkish system wherein the land grantees had acquired permanent tights of ownership, the iqta-holders were regularly transferred and their tenure in. particular places or localities was normally for 3 to 4 years.

Taking the Delhi Sultanttte as a whole, such a system made the assignee dependent on the central authority to a far greater extent than it was +ble under the earlier Indian politics. While the rais, ramw and thakures failed to unite the country, the Turks succeeded in establishing an "all-India administntion by bringing the chief cities and the great routes under the control of the government of Delhl."

-

Much as the iqta system provided the base for a despotic state, it was also a means of exmcbg the agricultural surplus. The Turks had brought with them the tradition of Cving in the cities and, as a result, the large surplus produce of the countryside found p way into the cities in the fonn of land tax. This led to a c o n d d l e grbwth of ;*

urban economy. Turks also brought with them the Persian wheel and the spinning wheel. The former helped greatly in inaeasing the agricultural production (for further details see Block 6, Unit 22).

ehecLYoarProgress4 1) Aloobesg -t and resabrce were the thrq w e a p n s ~ u s d by the

Delhi Sultans to face the Mongd challenge. Explain in ten lines.

............................................................................................................................................

2) Match the following A B . b

i) Falrhr Mudabbii T d - i , Feroa ShPbi Ata Malik Juwaini T-t-i NIsn Minhaj Siraj Adab-PI, E b b wa PI-Shja't . 7 : - - - ~ ~ 2 - n---: m - 2 ~ ~ 9 1-~-- I~--L-

A B '@) ~ K b o n ' s d e r r t h 1241

JrLLuddbhh@am?sretum 1260 Hah#u's envoy to India 1227 Tair Bahdur's attack 1224

3) Briedly discuss the political consequences of the Turkish conquest.

................ ............................................................................................................................. : ............................................. ............................................................................ .................... 4

........................................................................ ......................................................................

Thii Unit began with the description of Indip p6litical scenario on the eve of fl;rliish invasion. India was not a mitied political unit but divided into number of mall states ruled by k+ and autonomous chiefs. Muhammad Ghori tried to subjugate them, the culmination of which may be seen in the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhau at the battle of Tarain. This laid the foundation of the Turkish rule in India. After Muhammad Ghori's departure one of his commanders, Qutbuddin Aibak got busyinestablrsbmg

. . the Turkisb power in Iedia In the proces he suppressed Yalduz, the Muhi slave who had rival claims to the Muhi throne in India. But, he failed to suppress Qubacha, 'Ihe task was left to Il~tmis&. Rtutmish not only expanded the Muhi empire but also organised and strengthened the admiuismtive machinery with the hdp of the group of nobles called-the 'Forty'. He also introduced certain Sassanid htituticms like iqta that helped greatly in centralizing the administration. 'Ihio~nithPs&covdthefactorsbehioldthe~urkishsu~andits coasequences. Turks succeeded primarily because of their superior military tedmdogy and on account of the fact that hdian armies mainly consisted of 'feudal levies'. Turkish conquest was not, simply the change of one dynasty by another. It bad a far reaching affect on Indian society, economy and polity. You will study about these as- in Blocks 5 to 8.

I

14.10 HEY WORDS

burlgr m*.

Forays:

Horseshoe:

' Inn-s(imp:

Cltutmish's Turkish officers' group (T--I C L I Y d e ) (popularly called -'the forty')

A tribe in Central Asia

Shocks

Suddexi videnit change

Sudden attadw

Horses were nailed to protect their hoofs (Persian MI)

D-shaped iron foot-supports hanging down from a horse's saddle.

A water-lifting d&ce used to lift the water from some depth. Fgr details See Block 6

Device for spinning the cotton. This was moved with the help af meal-handle and had six spindles.

14.11 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

~ Y a ~ 1 1) See Sac. 14.3

2) See Sac. 14.3

CbcdrYaP1ogese2 1) i) 1194,1192,1193,1195-96,1198-99

ii) ~ ~ ~ a U j , Ajmem, Dew, Gujarat, Budelkhand I

2) See Sac. 14.5 I

C k d r Y a R a g e s s 3 1) See Sac. 14.6

2) See Sac. 14.6

CbscLYffProgess4 1) See See 14.7

' 15.0 objectives 15.1 In- 15.2 ExpcrasionuntkrtheKhaljis

15.2.1 W a t md Ceadnl 15.2.2 North-West md N a t h Indis 15.2.3 Dccan +SoutLnud Exp.luioa

15.3 E x p r n s i o a u n d c r t h e ~ u ~ s 15.3.1 'Lhe South 15.3.2 Eest Iadir 1%3.3 N n t b W a t m d North

15.4 Let Us Sum Up 15.5 Keywads 15.6 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

You have r d in Unit 14 that after military conquests, the rulers of the Delhi Sultmate ad thanadvc8 on the t& of d d a t i n g the Sultanate. 'Ihe first buadrea years of the -Ddbi Sultanate did not thus witness any- large-scale expansion of t b e i a i C b l ~ ~ o f t h e S u l t s a r t c . I t w a s o a l y a f t c r f i r s t e s t a ~ g t h e r o o t s d the SulClraate that attention was paid to the expansion of the boundaries of the Mtmmc in the fommcath century.

Aha reading this Unit you will know about:

a the tedtorial expamion of the Delhi Sultanate in the 14th century in the north, north-west and north-east, and

'. 'Ibe initial surge of occupation untkr the early Turkish Sultans died down about the middle of the t b t en th century. Now the primary obj&ve,of the hter Sultans hrrune.theconsold.bon

. . of the Sultanate. Tbus, it was not until the establishment of the Kbslji rule that the boumhies of the Sultanate expanded beyond the early gains. 'ibe werthmw of the Turtirh hegemony at the end of the thirteenth century and its replacement with the Khaljis, under whom the exclusive racial character of the ruling dass was thoroughly diluted, is thus an event not without significance. 'Ihe opening up of the Sultanate and d i v e participation of ruling groups in managing the &f i rs of the !Wauate made ~~ expansion a feaaiMe propsition. Initial fora into main and Ranthambhar soon after the accession of Jalaluddin Feruz Khalji to r" t b e S u l c l r n r t e o f ~ h s d ~ t h o m e t h e ~ t h a t t e r r i ~ ~ o n w a s n o w r poWcal necessity. Ncighbdng kingdoms had become strong and any ;concerted attamp @mt the Sultpnw coukl cast it dear. Moreover, Alauddin's glittering p q e c t of the acquisition of wealth, besides extending territorial gains, had sei the ~ a t t h e b ~ d t h e f o u r t e e n t h c e n t u r y f o r t h e ~ o n o f anexpansionist policy-

154 EXPANSW)N UNWl THE KHALJIS

The first of the Khalji Sultansi Jalaluddin, did neither have will nor resources to undertake any large-scale expansionist programme. His six years reign was gripped by the i n t d - . . of ha* to reumcile between the policies of the Sultan

and the interests of his supporters. The resolution of @ problem came in the unfortunate assasination of the Sultan. Alauddin Khalji, his assassin and successor, had a different imperial design. He was to herald an age of territorial annexation and expansion of the Sultanate which saw the frontiers of the Sultanate reaching close to the tip of the Southern peninsula by the middle of the fourteenth century.

15.2.1 West and Central India Alauddin Khalji, after consolidating his position and firmly establishing himself at Delhi, undertook the first expedition in the region of Gujarat in 1299. This aIso happened to be the first project of temtorial expansion under him. possibly Alauddin was attracted by the wealth of Gujarat whose flourishing trade had always lured invaders.

The imperial army was jointly commanded by Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan, two of Alauddin's best army generals. Gujarat was an easy prey-the province was plundered and the capital Anhilwara was sacked. The administrative control of Gujarat was entrusted to Alp Khan as governor.

In the control and westward expansion of the empire, the next kingdom to fall was hat of Malwa in 1305, It was an extensive region and was governed from the capital Mandu by Rai Mahalak Dev with the assistance of a powerful rnioister Koka

, . Radhan. The impe army was outnumbered by the forces of Rai but did eventually wceed and the fort "I o Mandu was captured. The province of Malwa, after its fall, was given for adrhinistiation to Ainul Mulk who was known to have soon brought Ujjain, Dhar and Chadderi, too, under his control.

Malwa was followed by Siwana, a town situated some eighty kilometres to the south-west of Jodhpur. Alauddin's army had been besieging Siwana for five or six years beginning 1304-05 without much success. The fort was finally captured in , / 1309. The ruler of Siwana, Rai Sital Dev, was killed in action and the fort and the '

'territory was put under the charge of Kamaluddin Gurg.

)II the same year (1309), Jalor was attacked and its ruler Kanhar Dev was killed in the battle and the fort annexed to the Sultanate under the control of Karnaluddin Gurg.

15.2.2 North-West auk North India Soon after his accession, Alauddin was faced with the problem of suppressing the prospects of revolt by the surviving member of Jalaluddin's family who had fled to Multan. Ulugh Khan md Zafar Khan were entrusted with the job .of eliminating Arkali Khan at Multarl. Arkali Khan was made prisoner and escorted to Deihi. Multan once again carbe under the control of Delhi. Strictly speaking, Multan expedition was not an act of temtorial expansion but formed part of the policy of consolidation.

In 1300, Alauddin sent Ulugh Khan to march against Ranthambhor ruled by Rai Harnir. Nusrat Khan, then posted at Awadh, joined Ulugh Khan. The Imperial army captured Jhain on the way and then laid a siege. Alauddin had to personally take the ~coqmand of the campBign. The siege lasted for over six months. Ultimately, the women inside the fort performed jauhar and one night the gates of the fort were o ~ n e d by Hamir Dev who died fighting.

51 pursuance of the saqne policy, Alauddin attacked the kingdom of Chittor in 1303. After several assaults, the ruler of Chittor suddenly sent an offer of surrender to the Sultan on his own. The heir apparent KhiP Khan was assigned the governorship of , the temtory. But soonlthe fort was bestowed upon Maldeo, a son of the sister of the leariier ruler of Chittori who remained loyal to Delhi till the end of Alauddin's reign.

By the end of the first decade of Alauddin's rule the frontiers of the Delhi Sultanate had expanded to cover~almost the whole of north, west and central India. From Multan in the north-west to the Vidhyas in central India, and almost the entire

A.D.1290-1320

Approximate Boundary , , - -

BAY OF BENGAL

Dewgin in the Deccgn had already tasted Alauddin's plunder in A.D. 1296 during bis tenure as the governor of Kara. The next military campaign in the Deccan was

planned by Alauddin against Rai Ram Chandra Dev of Ddagiri in 1306-7. An bunedhte cause for this was an unduly long delay in sending the m u d tribute to Delhi in 12%.

'Lbe command of the ~eccan'cam~ai~n was given to Malik Kafur, and directions were sent to Ainul Mulk Multani and Alp Khan for providing assistance. Only a feeble re&tmce was1 provided by Ram Chandra Dev as he surrendered to the lmpenal army under the assurance of personal safety. His, son, however fled with a part of the army. Ram Chandra Dev was accorded great honour by the Sultan and nstored to the throne of Devqm in return for the assurance of regular and prompt payment of an a n n u tribute to the Sultan. The Rai also gave his daughter in Furriage to the Sult4n. It appears that Alauddin's policy was not to annex Devagiri but main it as a protectorate and amass as much wealth as possible from the kiogdom.

.L

Malik Kafur's careful handling of the affair of Devagiri enhanced Sultan's confidence b his abilities as a military general and he decided to entrust him with the mspomibility to malce forays in the peninsular region in the South. Acquisition of 'trerlth from southern kingdoms and not actual territorial annexation seems to have been the prime motive in sending these exped~tions. Accordingly, in October 1309 be impexid army began its southward march under the command of Malik Kafur. Amir Khusrau has given details of these campaigns in his Kbrrzrrin-d Fatuh. Enroute a surprise assault wss made by Malilr Kafur on the fort at Sirpur (in Adilabad W c t ) . The nobles of Sirpur fled to Rai Rudra Dev of Warangal and the fort was captured by the 1 r n p - d army.

, By the middle of January 1310, the marching army had reached the suburbs of warangal.

On 14 February 1310, Kafur attacked the fort. The war came to an end because Rai Pudra Dev decided to surrender. He agreed to part with his treasures apd pay an manual tribute as token of submission.

Warangal was a qx$taah success for the Sultanate army: the booty comprised of 20,000 horses, 100 dephants, and an enormous stock of gold and precious stones Men on thousand ~amels. The province was not territorially annexed but accorded the status of a protectorate. The imperial army came back to Delhi at the beginning of June 1310. Sultan's avarice now knew no bounds. Since the Sultanate was by this time made secure of Mongol menace and almost the entire country to the north d

\

the Vindhyas had come under the sway of Alauddin, he planned another military campaign in the far south.

The sight of the Sultan was now set on Dwarasamudra, further south of Warangal. M a U Kafur was odce again commanding imperial army and was instructed to capture nearly 500 elephants besides the treasures of gold and precious stones. The Port was besieged in February 131 1 and the very next day a message seeking peace came from Ballala Dev, the ruler of Dwarasamudra. Like earlier cases the terms included parting of much wealth and a promise for annual tribute.

Encouraged by his success in Dwarasamudra, Malik Kapur decided to move further muth. Accordingly, he marched towards Ma'bar in a little less than a month's time reached-Madura, the capital of the Pandyas. Sundar Pandya, the ruler, had already led. The elephants and treasure were captured by Malik Kafur. There were 5 12 elephants, 5000 horses and 500 mans of precious stones.

Alauddin's Deccan and southward campaigns *ere aimed at achieving two basic Ipbjectives: (i) a fortnal recognition of the authority of Delhi Sultan over these M o m , and (ii) the amassing of maximum wealth at the minimal loss of life. His

phcy of not annexing the conquered tenitories but accepting the acknowledgement

i of the Sultan's suzerainty speaks of Alauddin's political sagacity.

Within a year, however, of Malik Kafur's return from Ma'bar, developments in the Deccan called for a review of the policy of non-annexation. Ram Dev, the ruler of I

Devagiri, died sometime in the latter half of 1312 and was succeeded by his son BhiUama. Bhillama refused to accept the suzerain status of the Sultan of Delhi and

1 declared his independence. Alauddin sent Malik Kafur to suppress the rebellion and instructed him to take temporary charge of the province. But Malik Kafur was soon

I called back and asked to handover charge of the province of Ainul Mulk. In January 1316, after Alauddin's death, even Ainul Mulk was called back to Delhi, leaving the

I affairs of Devagiri unsettled. Thus, Mubarak Khalji, the successor of Alauddin, wanted to march to Devagiri soon after his accession, but was advised by his nobles

I to take some more time so as to consolidate his position in Delhi. In the second year of his reign in April 1317, Mubarak started for the campaign. The march was

, uneventful.'Devagiri offered no resistance, and the Maratha chiefs submitted before

I the Sultan. l'he provinq was annexed to the Sultanate.

1 Check Your Progress 1

I 1) From the places given below, identify the first one conquered by Alauddin Khalji as Sultan of Delhi:

a) Devagiri b) Malwa c) Gujarat I

d) Ma'bar

2) Which of the following places were annexed to the Delhi Sultanate by Alauddin Khalji:

a) Warangal b) Siwana C) Devagiri d) Jalor '

3) Explain Alauddin's policy with regard to the kingdoms in the Deccan and rar south.

4) Who from among the names listed below was appointed the first governor of Devagiri after its annexation by the Sultanate:

I . a) Rai Ram Chandra Dev b) Malik Kafur c) Mubarak Khalji

, d) Khusrau Khan

15.3 EXPANSION UNDER TEk 1'iJGHLUQS

; ~erritoriai Expansion

The Tughluqs came to power in Delhi When Ghiyasuddin Tughluq ascended the throne in 1320. The Sultanate was suffering from unsettled political conditions and demanded immediate attention of the new ruler. The outlying provinces had proclaimed independence as the effective control of the Sultanate had shrunk only to the heartland. The administrative machinery was completely out of gear and the treasury had been completely depleted. Ghiyasuddin naturally addressed himself k t

&(.~~shwnc ef Dclhi to the task of restoring the exchequer and the admhhhtion. But soon after that Sultrnate came the question of*testoring prestige and authority in the outlying parts of the

empire. 1

15.3.1 The South

The polttical ccmdition in the Deccan was not assuring in any way. The aaxptance of Abuddin's sueminty 8nd the promise of loyalty by the rule19 of the South was only nondaeL Fresh milimy e o n s were cettainiy needed for. the reinforcement of 'hpdd authority in qcvagrri and Telbgana. Dewgbi, as you bave~already read, had been annexed to the SGltanate by Mubarak Khplji. But the southern states beyond Devagiri had cqnpletely overthrown whatever little sembbce d imperial authacity remained there. The Telingana, therefore, chimed Ghiyasuddin's immediate: attention.

In 1321, Ulugh Khan (later Muhammad Tughluq) started for the swth with a large army. Without much resistance in the way he r e a d d WarPnepl. After two sieges, each lasting four or five months, the ruler Rai Rudra Dev finally decided to surrender. But this time there was no forgiving the recalcitrant: the fort was occupied, plundered and some demolitions effected. The Rai was made a prisoner and escorted to Delhi. Warangal was annexed to the Sultanate under dirad imperial administration.

In continuation of the same policy Ulugh Khan also brought Ma'bar to submission and set up direct imperial adminimation there. The region of T e h p n a was thus made a part of the Dew Sultanate and divided into several adminkative units. The

, local talent was abundantly employed in the administration and acts of v e n d a h against the vanquished were forbidden.

15.3.2 East India

The expedition in the eastern parts of India came as a consequence of the wars in the South. Bhanudeva 11, the ruler of Jajnagar in .@ksa, had giveh support to Rai Rudra Dev of Warangal at the time of imperial offensive against the latter. Ulugh Khan, therefore, after laving Warangal sometime in the middle of 1324, marched against Jajnagar. A fierce battle 'todr p h in .which victoiy sided with Ulugh Khan. He plundered the enemy camp and collected large booty. Jajnagar was annexed and made a part ofthe Sulmate.

Bengal was another kinedm in the east which had always been a hotbed of sedition. Its governors would not miss any m t y of assexbg independen&. In 1323-24 a fratricidal quarrel b r a e out in Lakhnauti after the death of Feroz Shah, the ruler of this independent princqdty. Some nobles from Lakhnauti came to Ghiyasuddin for help who responded and decided to march to Bengal in person. After reaching Tihut the Sultan himself made a halt and deputed Babrarn Khan with a host of other officers to march to Lakhnauti. The rival forces confronted each other near L.akhnauti. In the battle that ensued the forces of Delhi easily pushed back Bengal army and pursued them for some distance. One of the warring groups led by Nasiruddin was conferreid a tributary status at Lakhnauti.

15.3.3 North-West Pml North . ,. >

Sin& Alauddin's expedition to Multan thi-n-6-western &onti& of the S u l t ~ a t e had remained 6 x 4 . Subsequent Sultans were mostly occupied with the affairs of the South and Gujarat. It w& after Muhammad Tughluq acceded to the throne that attention was paid to th+ north-west frontier. Soon after his a d o n , Muhammad Tughluq led campaigns to Kalanaur and Peshawar. Probably it was a sequel to the invasion of the Mongols under Tarmashirin Khan in 1326-27 and was aimed at securing north-western frontier of the Sultanate against future Mongd attacks. On his way to Kalanaur, the Sultan stayed at Lahore but ordered his army to march and conquer Kalanaur and Pcshawar. The task seems to.have been accomplished without much difiiculty. The Sultan settled the administrative arrangement d the newly conquered regions and rbarched back to Delhi.

I

DELHI SULTANATE c.1335

. Approximate Boundaries , , , , , ,

,

BAY OF BENGAL

CEYLON I

Establishment of Delhi Sultanate

S6metime in 1332, Sultan Muhammad Tughluq planned the conquest of the Qarachil region identified as the modem Kulu in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. It formed part of the plan to fortify north and north-west frontier. For this purpose, he enlisted a large army under the command of Khusrau Malik. The army succeeded in occupying Jidya, an important place in Qarachil region, and was then instructed to return. But in his enthusiasm, Khusrau Malik exceeded the instruction and marched ahead towards Tibet. Soon the rains set in and the army was overtaken by disease and panic. The disaster was such that only three soldiers returned to tell the tale of the catastrophe. Qarachil expedition led to tremendous waste of resources and an '

erosion in the authority of Muhammad Tughluq.

A little before ~arachi l expedition, Muhammad Tughluq had launched an ambitious project of bringing Khurasan under submission. A large army of soldiers numbering +

about 370,000 was rdcruited for this purpose and the soldiers were paid a year's s a l e in advance. Lakge sum was also invested in the purchase of costly equipments for the army. Ultimately when the project was abandoned as an unrealistic scheme and the army disbanded, it led to a tremendous financial loss. The authority of the Sultan also suffered ;I serious setback and a series of rebellions followed that hollowed the most efiensive of the empire of Delhi Sultanate.

/

Check Your P r o p s 2 1) When were southern kingdoms annexed to the Delhi Sultanate:

a) Under Alauddin Khalji b) Under Mubarak Khalji c) Under Ghiyasuddin Tughluq d) Under Muhammad Tughluq

2) Which of the following military expeditions was.abandoned:

a) Warangal b) Qarachil . c) Jajnagar d) Khurasan

3) Why was Qarachil expedition a disaster?

..............................................................................................................................................

i 4) Which of the following formed the eastem limit of the Sultanate in 1335?

a) Jajnagar b) Peshawar c) Kalanaur d) Malwa

&

15.4 LET US SUM UP

You have read in Unit 14 how after 'the death of lltutmish in 1235 the process of expansion of the boupdaries of Delhi Sultanate came to a halt. Following this for nearly a half century all efforts of the Sultans of Delhi were geared towards consolidating early territorial gains by strengthening the fiscal and administrative base. of the Sultanate. The next phase of territorial expansion, therefore, began with the opening of the fo~rtwnth century under the Khaljis. Alauddin's administrative and economic measures had helped consolidation as well . as . widen the base of the

r ., . . .

Even then we find Alauddin moving in tbis direction with a reasonable distame from the central seat of thHultanate for implementing an effective control of the Sultan over directly annexed territories and made them the provinces of the Sultanate. But more distant regions were conquered for two main reasons-the acquisition of wealth

- and according the status of a protectorate rather than making them a part of the Sultanate. This was particularly true of kingdoms\,conquered in the Deccan and in far south.

.This policy was changed, in the case of Devagiri, by Mubarak Khalji. It w b followed by Ghiyasuddin Tughluq in the distant kingdoms in far south like Warangal and Ma'bar. The question of effective administrative control was addressed by Muhammad Tughluq by making Devagiri the second administrative seat of the Sultanate. But that experiment was shortlived and failed* due partially due to the unwillingness of the ruling and other classes of the Sultanate. Nonetheless, under Muhammad Tughlaq's reign the boundaries of the Sultanate were at their apex touching Peshawar in the north-west and Ma'bar in the South, and Gujarat in the West and Jajnagar in Orissa in the East. It was, however, an irony of fate that in the

' closing years of the reign of the same Sultan, the boundaries of the Sultanate shrank nearly the A.D. 1296 status. The reasons for this decline have been discussed in Unit 18 of Block 5.

15.5 KEY WORDS

Avarice: Greed for wealth ,

Booty: Things captured from an enemy in war

kabru: The practice of committing mass self-immolation.by women in case of imminent defeat at the hand of enemy followed in some Indian kingdom

Vand.Lism: Destruction of public and private property

/

15.6 ANSWERS TO CHECK YO- PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Yoar Progress 2 '

1) (a) (b)J ( 4 x (d) x 2) (a) (b) x (c) x (dW 3) See Sub-seaion 15.3.3 4) (a)J (b) x ( 4 x (dl x

Appe- CHRONOLOGY OF THE DELHI SULTANS (A.D. 1206-1526)

Qutbuddin Aibak Arem Shah ntutmish -ya Behram Shah M d Shah Nashddin Ghiyasutkh Balban Kaiqubad

KHIUIS 1) Jalaluddin Khalji 2) Aladdb Khalji 3) Outbuddin Mubarsk NGHLUQS 1) Ghiyasuddin Tu@q 2) MuhammadTughluq 3) FeruzTughluq 4) TTughluq Shah-I1 ' 5) Nasiruddin Muhauhmad Shah 6) Mahmud Shah Tuauq

SAYYIDS 1) Khizr Khan 2) Mubarak Shah 3) Muhammad Shah 4) Alauddin Alam Shah

Period between 1412-1414 was a period of internal conflict

SOME USEFUL BOOKS FOR THIS BLOCK

K.S. Lal, History of the AD. 1290-1320, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Fvt. Ltd., New Delhi, 1980 (Revised Edition).

(Agha) Mahdi Husain, lbgblq Dynmay.

Mohammad Habib & K.A. Nizami (ed.), Compdedve H h a q of Ldb, Val. V: Dclhi Sultanate.

Awdh Behari Pandey, Erty McQkvd Id&, Central ~ o o k ' ~ e p o t , AUahabad. - -

UNIT 16. ADMINISTRATION OF THE ' SULTANATE

Structure

16.0 Objectives 16.1 Introduction 16.2 The Caliphate and the Delhi Sultanate 16.3 The Nature of the Delhi Sultanate 16.4 Central Administration

16.4.1 The Sultan 16.4.2 The Wizarar 16.4.3 Diwan-i arz

I 16.4.4 Oths Departments 16.4.5 Slaves and Karkhanns

16.5 Revenue Adfninistration I 16.6 Iqta System and Provincial Administration

i 16.6.1 lqra System 16.6.2 Provincial and Local Administration

I '16.7 Let Us Sum Up 16.8 Key Words 16.9 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

I

I

16.0 OBJECTIVES 1

In the last Block (4) you have studied the territorial expansion and the process of the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. In this Unit, the focus of our study will be on the administrative set up of the Delhi Sultanate. We will take note of the following aspects :

the contacts that were maintained with the Caliphate,

the nature of the state,

the different departments at the central and provincial level,

the main officials who werk involved in the administration, and

the manner in which the control was exercised.

i - , I 16.1 INTRODUCTION

You have already studied in Block 4 how in 1206 Qutbuddin Aibak laid the foundation of an independent Sultanate at Delhi and a beginning was made in severing links with Central Asia. We have also dealt with the territorial expansion under the Sultans. In this Unit, our focus would be on the consolidation of the Sultanate. This Unit introduces you to the central and provincial administrative system,.the revenue administration and the nature of the Delhi Sultanate.

1 16.2 THE CALIPHATE AND THE DELHI SULTANATE

The institution of the Caliphate came into existerne after'the death of Prophet . Muhammad when Abu Bakr became the new head (Khalifa) of the Muslim community (Umma or Ummat). Originally, there existed some elements of elective principle in the matter of succession, a practice not much different from the previous tribal traditions.

I In the Islamic world, the Caliph was regarded as the guardian of religion and the . I ..-L-1.4~- LC--1:r:--1 --A-- U- -.-- r ~ - I-->-- -CAL- A r r r . .

period of the first four "pious Caliphs" (Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman and Afij dynastic rule ' became the norm when the Umayyads took over the Caliphate in 661 A.D. from their base at Damascus in Syria. After the fall of the Umayyad Caliphate the Abbasids came to power in the mid-eighth century as Caliphs at Baghdad. However, with the decline of central authority, the centralised institution of Caliphate (Khifajat) broke into thrw centres of power based in Spain (under the rule of a branch of the Umayyad Caliphs), Egypt (under the Fatimids) an'd the older one at Baghdad - each claiming theexclusive loyalty of the Muslims. Nearer home, towards the north-west, many minor dynashes carved out small states, one of which was based at Ghazna (Ghazni). The significant pqint to remember .is that, theoretically, no Muslim could have set up an "independent" state, big or small, without procuring tpe permission from the Caliph, else its legitimacy could become suspect amongst the Muslims. And, yet, all this 'was nothing more than a Gmality which could be dispensed with impunity.

The recognition of a Caliph by the Delhi Sultans seen in the granting of robes of honour, letter of investiture, bestowing of titles, having the name .of theelCali inscribed on coins and reading of khutba in Friday prayer in his name symbolized an acceptance and a link with the Islamic world, though in reality it only-mdant an acceptance of a situation whereby a ruler. had already plaad himself in power. The Sultans of Delhi maintained the fiction of the acceptance of the position of the Caliph. Under the Saiyyids (1414-1451) and the Lodis (1451-1526 A:DX the legends on the coins continued in the sense of a &$ition being maintained but it was purely a nominal allegiance. In actual effect, the Caliphate, weakened and far removed as it was, had little direct role to play in the Delhi Sultanate.

Check Your Progress 1 1) What was the position of the Caliph?

- - ..........................................................................................

2) Who,were the four "pious Caliphs'?

I ,

......................................................................................... . . ' Z

3) Name the three centres of the Caliphate.

4) What were the symbols of allegiance maintained by the Delhi Sultans with '?

respect to the Caliphate?

16.3 THE NqTURE OF THE DELHI SULTANATE

The early Mulism Turkish State established itself in north India by virtue of conquests. sin& the Turks were far fewer in number than the indigenous population over whom they sought to govern and since they also lacked resources, they, of necessity, had to control the resources of the country. This had an important bearing

a nn the nature of the Turkish State.

In a theoretical and formal sense, the Delhi Sultans recognized the supremacy pf the Adminbtntion of the Sultanate Islamic law (sharibh) and tried to prevent its open violation. But they had to supplement it by framing secular regulations (zawabit), too. A point of view is that

i the Turkish State was a theocracy; in practice, however, it was the p;oduct of

I expediency and necessity wherein the needs of the young state assumed paramount importance. The contemporary historian Ziauddin Barani distinguished.betwen j a w ("sgsular") a d ~ ~ c m s " ) and accepted the inevitability of some secular features, because of the contingent situations coming up. Thus, the needs of the emergent State shaped many policies and practices not always consistent with

I rslamic fundamentalism. For example, during the reign of Sultan lltutmisli (121 1- 1236), a s h u i a n group (shajai) of Muslim divines approached the Sultan and asked him to enforce the Islamic law strictly, that is, giving the Hindus the option of Islam g h t h . On behalf of the Sultan, the wuzir; 'Junaidi, replied that this could not be done for the moment as the Muslims were like salt in a'dish of food. Barani records a conversation that Sultan Alauddin Khalji had with one of his leading theologians, Qazi Mughisuddin, over the question of appropriation of booty. While the Qazi pointed out the legalistic position which prevented the Sultan from taking the major

- share of the booty, the Sultan is said to have emphasized that he acted according to the needs of the State w.hich were paramount. These instances show that, in practice, the Turkish State was not theocratic but evolved according to its special needs and circumstances despite the fac! t h t the main ruling class professed Islam;

16.4 CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION

The central administrative machinery of the Sultanate consisted of the nobles 1

controlling various offices with the Sultan at the helm of affairs.

16.4.1 The Sultan 7

In the early Islamic world, there was no sanction for the position of the Sultan. With the disintegration of the Caliphate, the Sultan began to appear in the sense of a powerful ruler-an independent sovereign of a certain territory.

The Delhi Sultans could make civil and political regulations for public welfare. Khutba and sikka were recognised as important attributes of sovereignty. The , khutba was the formal sermon following the congregational prayer on Fndays wherein the name of the Sultan was mentioned as the head of the community. Coinage was the ruler's prerogative : his name was inscribed on the coins (sikka).

The ~ u l t k a t e witnessed a rapid rise and fall of dynasties. The Sultan, or a contender to the t'lrone, could only keep himself in power with the support of the nobles who were themselves divided into numerous groups. Barani says that Balban stressed the special position of the Sultan as 'shadow of God' (zill a1 Allah) on earth. Balban emphasized courtly splendour decorum and etiquette. He also believed in severe exemplary punishments even to the nobles. All this bore relevance to a situation where the throne was never safe from the ambitions of the nobles, many of whom felt that they had an equal right to rule.

There were many officials to look after the royal household. The wakil-i-dar looked after the entire household and disbursed salaries to the Sultan's personal staff. The amir-i-hajib functioned as the master of ceremonies at the court. All petitions to the Sultan were submitted through the latter. There were other minor officials also.

16.4.2 The Wizarat (Finance) The wmir, as the head of the diwan-i wizarar, was the most important figure in the central administration. Though he was one of the four important departmental . heads, he exercised a general supervisory authority over others. The wizarar organised the collection of revenue, exercised control over expenditure, kept accounts, disbursed salaries and allotted revenue assignments (iqra) at Sultan's order.

There were several officials who helped the wizaraf such as the mushif-i mumalik or the accountant-general and the mustaufi-i mumalik or the auditor-general. During

Indian Polity : The Sultanate the reign of Alauddin Khalji, the diwan-i mustakhraj was made responsible for the collection of arrears of revenue.

16.4.3 The Diwum-i Arz The diwan-i arz or military department was headed by the ariz-i mumalik. He was responsible for the administration of military affairs. He inspected the troops maintained by the iqta-holders. He also supervised the commissariat duties (supply and transport) of the Sultan's army. During the reign of Alauddin Khalji, some measures were introduced to maintain a check on recruitment and quality. He ordered a descriptive roll (huliya) of every soldier to be kept and also ordered the branding (dagh) of horses to be done so that horses of poor quality were not brought by the amirs or iqta-holders to the muster. It seems that the branding qf horses was strictly maintained till the reign of Muhammad Tughluq.

The army consisted of troops maintained by nobles as well as the standing army (hashm-Cqalb) of the Sultan. In the thirteenth century, the royal cavalry, in lieu of cash salary, was assigned the revenue of small villages in the vicinity of Delhi which Moreland calls "smdll iqta". Under Iltutmish, the number of such cavalry was about three thousand. Balban tried to do away with these assignments which led to much dissatisfaction. Alauddin Khalji was successful in doing so, and he started paying his soldiers in cash-a trooper was paid 238 tanka while one who brought an additional horse used to get 78 tanka' more.

Feroz Tughluq gave up the practice of paying his royal soldiers in cash: instead, he. gave them a paper called itlaq - a sort of draft on whose strength they could claim their salary from the Sultan's revenue officers of the khalisa ("Crown" or "reserve" land).

16.4.4 Other Departments The diwan-i insha' looked after State correspondence. It was headed by dahir-i mumalik. This department dealt with all correspondence between the Sultan and other rulers, and between the Sultan and provinc~al governments. It issued jarmans and received letters from subordinate officials.

The barid-i mumalik was the head of the State news-agency. He had to keep information of all that was happening in the Sultanate. The administrative sub- divisions had local barids who sent regular news --letters to the central office. The barids reported matters of state - wars, rebellions. local affairs, finances, the state of agriculture etc. Apart from the barids, another set of reporters existed who were known as munhiyan.

The diwan-i rhalat was heided by the sadr-us sudur. He was the highest religious officer. He took care of the ecclesiastical affairs and appointed qazk. He approved various grants like waqj for religious and educational institutions, wazfi and idrar to the learned and the poor.

The Sultan headed the judiciary and was the final court of appeal in both civil and criminal matters. Next to him was the qazi-ul mumalik (or qazi-ul quzzat), the chief judge of the Sultanate. Often, the offices of the sadr-us sudur and qazi-ul mumalik were held by the same person. The chief qazi headed the legal system and heard . appeals from the lower courts.

-4 - The muhatsibs (public censors) assisted the judicial department. Their task was to set that there was no public infringement of the tenets of Islam.

\

16.4.5 Slaves and Karkhanas Slaves were an important feature of the royal household. Alauddin Khalji owned 50,000 slaves, while Feroz Tughluq is reputed to have had 1.80.000 slaves. During his reign, a separate department of slaves (diwan-i bandagan) was set up. The slaves were used for personal service and acted as body-guards (the latter numbering' 40,000). Afif also records that a large number of Feroz's slaves (12,000) worked as artisans (kasibs). Baradi describes a large slave market at Delhi, but by the first quarter of the 16th century there is no mention of slave markets.

The needs of the royal household were met through karkhanas which were broadly

I (kitabikhana) was considered as karkhana. Under Feror Tughluq. k m e - 3 6 \

I Admhlrtntlon of the Suknmte

karkhanas. Each karkhana was supervised by a noble who had the rank of a malik or khan, and a mutasarri/ who was responsible for the accounts and acted as the immediate supervisor. A separate diwan or accounts office existed for the karkhanas.

The karkhanas manufactured articles for Imperial household as well as for military r: purposes. It is said that Muhammad Tughluq had employed about five hundred 1 workers in gold brocade and four thousand weavers to manufacture cloth required

by the court and for making robes of honour to be given in gift to the favoured

I ones. It must be remembered, however, that articles produced in the royal karkhanas were not commodities, i.e. not for sale in the market. Nobles, too, maintained their own karkhanas (for further details see Block 6). -

f Check Your Progress 2 1). Examine the nature of Turkish state under Delhi Sultans.

.........................................................................................

.........................................................................................

I , 2) Outline the main [unctions of the diwan-i wizarat.

.........................................................

3) writ; a note. on karkhanas.

1 4) Mark ( ) the right answer : Khutba was:

a) the right to coin m&ey b) a robe of honour C) the recital of sermon after the congregational Friday prayer.

5 ) Who were the following :

................................................. l a) mushrij-i ntumalik

I ............... ..................................... b) ariz-i mumalik ;

................................................... ... d) qari-ul mumalik \ -

16.5 REVENUE ADMINISTRATION

What was the revenue system during the 13th century'! We do not get a clear picture; even the exact magnitude of the revenue-demand under the llbarite rule is-uncertain. Perhaps the old agrarian system continued to function with the difference that the coyposition of the suprerile appropriators of the surplus produce at the centre had ehanged, that is. the Turkish ruling gro;p had replaced q e prekious receivers of the land revenue. However. some reconstruction can be made by projecting back the account .of Barani about the situation prevailing in this respect under Sultan Alauddin Khalji's early rule. Briefly, we are told of three groups of rural istocracy- khot. muqaddam, and chaudhuri-who collected land revenue (kharaj) from the peasants on behalf of the state. and deposited the same with the officials of the diwan-i nizarat. For this service,.theFwere allowed perquisites (haqq-i khoti) as remuneration by the state which consisted of being exempted from the revenue of a portion of land held by them. Also. they took something from the peasants as their share of the produce which Harani calls qismat-i khoti. Besides land revenue (kharaj), every cultivator had to pay house ?ax (ghari) and cattle or grazing tax 1,-hnrnih I n r i A ~ n t a l l v t h ~ /*hntlrlht~ri mioht nrlt hawe hppn Aitprt lv invnlverl in tho

I d a n Pdity : Tbe sultanate ' collection of the revenue because, according to Ibn Battuta, he was the head of "hundred villages" (paygana): this inference is reinforced. by the fact that Barani always employs terms 'like haqq-i khoti or niuqaddar~ii, but never haqq-i chaudhrai. W.H. Moreland, howdver, uses the term intermediaries for all the three groups; and we shall be doing the Same henceforth.

What motivated Alauddin Khalji in introducing stern measures is explained by Barani in detail (see Block 6 Unit 20). In short, the intermediaries had become intractable-always in readiness for rebellion. The Sultan levelled the following main charges against them:

a) They did not pay the revenue themselves on that portion of their land which was not exempted from assessment; rather they shifted their 'burden' onto the peasantry, that is, they realised additional levy from the peasants besides the fixed demand of the state in order to pay their own dues.

b ) They did not pay the grazing tax. c) The ill-gotten 'exass of wealth' had made then4 so arrogant that they flouted the

orders of the revenue officials by not going to the revenue office even when summoned to iender accounts. -

As a result, the Sultan had to strike at their resources for economic and political reasons. The measures taken by him were as follows:

i) The magnitudi of the state demand was set at half the produce of the land. The land was'to be measured (masahat), and the land revenue fixed on the ~ i e l d of each unit of the area. The term used was la fa-i biswa (rvafa = yield; hisrc.a = 1120th of a bigha). Most probably, it was levied separately on the holding of each individual cultivator.

ii) The intermediaries and the peasants alike were to pay the same standard of the demand (50%) without any distinction, be they intermediaries or 'ordinary peasant' (balahar).

iii) The perquisites of intermediaries were disallowed. iv) The grazing and the house tax were to be taken from the intermediaries'also.

a

It can be seen, then, that one objective was to free the peasants from the illegal exactions of the intermediaries. That is exactly what Barani means when he says that the sultan.'^ policy was'that the 'burden' (bar) of the 'strong' (aqwi,*a) should not fall on the 'weak' (zuaja). We know that this 50% demand was the highest in the agrarian history of India. On the other hand, though the peasanis were protected now from the economic oppression of the intermediaries, the former had to pay a higher rate of taxation than they did earlier. Since the rate was uniform in a sense it was a regressive taxation. Thus the state gained at the cost of the intermediaries, leaving the peasants in the lurch.

Such peasants as were weak and without resources were completely made prostrate, and the rich peasants who had resources and means, turned rebels. Whole regions were devastated. Cultivation was total& abandoned. The peasants of distant . regions, hearing of the ruin and destruction of the peasantry of the D,oab, fearful that the same orders might be issued for them as for the latter, turned away from obedience and fled to the j u d e s . The two years that the Sultan was in Delhi (c. 1332-4), the country of the ~o&;%win~ to the rigours of revenue-demand and the multiplicity of abwab,(additional cesses), was devastated. ~ & 6 Hindus set fire to the grain heaps and burnt . a ~ d drove away cattle from/their homes. The Sultan ordereq the shiqqdar$ (revenue collectors and commanders) to lay waste and plunder the country. They killed many khots and muqaddams, a n d p n y they blinded. Those who escaped gathered bands and fled into jungles; and the country became ruined. The Sultan in those times went to the district of Baran -

. (modern Bulandshahr), on a hunting expedition; he ordered that the entire district of Baran be plundered and Ia5d waste. The Sultan himself plundered and laid waste from ~ a n a u j ~ t o Dalmau. Whoever was captured was killed. Most (peasants) ran away and fled into the jungles. They (the Sultan's troops) surrounded the jungles and killed every one whom they found within the jungles. ,

I . Ziauddin Barani's account of the oppression of the peasantry during Alauddin Khaljl's reign. English translation is from, The Cdmbryge Economic History oilndia, Vol. I . ed. Tapan pay Chaudhun and Ir&n Habib, London, 1982, p. M.

I t is 'true that the intermediaries were eliminated from-direct revenue collection. but Administration of the Sukuuri

fhey'were still expected to maintain law and order in the countryside and help the revenue officials without any remuneration or perquisites. The state's direct ;elations with the peasants resulted in an expansion of revtnue officials called variously 'ummal, mutasarrij, mushrij, muhassilan, navisindagan, etc. Soon, large scale corruption and embezzlements surfaced among the revenue officials for which they were ruthlessly punished by the naib wazir, Sharaf Qaini: about 8 to 10 thousind officials were imprisoned. The process for discovering the deceit was simple: the bahi or the ledger of the village [mtwari was meticulously scrutinised by the auditors. The 'bahi contained every payment, legal or illegal, made to the revenue collectors, and these payinents were then compared with the receipts. Corruption occurred in spite of the fact that Alauddin Khalji had raised the salary of the revenue collectors.

Barani gives an indication of the extent of the area where these measures were operative: it was quite a large area, covering the heart of his empire. But Bihar, Awadh, Gujarat and parts of Malwa and Rajputana are not mentioned. At any rate, it must be borne in mind that these measures were largely meant for the khalisa ("crown" or "reserve" land). (Also see MAP at the end of the Block.)

As for the mode of payment. Moreland thinks that ordinarily payment in cash was the gendral practice during the 13th century, and it had become quite widely prevalent by the 14th century. However, Alauddin himself preferred collection in grain. He decreed that the whole revenue due from the khalisa in the Doab should be realized in kind, and only half the revenue due from Delhi (and its suburbs) in cash. The reason for his preference for collection in grain was not only to have a large reserve of grain stofed at Delhi and other areas for contingencies (such as scarcity owing to drought or other factors), but also to utilize the storage as a lever for his price-fixation measures in the grain market.

Two important changes were introduced by Ghiyasuddin Tughluq:

a) The intermediaries got back their haqq-i khoti (but not qismat-i khoti). They were also exempted from the house and cattle tax.

b) the procedure of measurement (masahat) was to continue along with observation or "actual yield" (bar hukm.hasi1).

... 2

As for Muhammad Tughluq, there is a confusion that he enhanced the rate of land tax beyond 50%. It is also thought that after the death of Alauddin Khalji, the rate was reduced by the Khalji rulers which was later raised to the previous level by Muhammad Tughluq. Both these views are incorrect: the rate fixed by Alauddin was never sought to be tampered. What Muhammad Tughluq actually did was to im;ose new cesses (abwab) as well as revive the older ones (for example, charai and ghari on the intermediaries). Apart from this, it seems that measurement alone was retained for assessment purpose. The matter aggravated when assessment in kind (grain) was carried out not on the principle of the "actual yield" but on the officially decreed yields (wafa-ifarmani) for each unit of the measured area. Again, for payment in cash, commutation was not done according to the market prices but on the basis of the rates as "ordered by the Sultan" (nirkh-i jarmani). And, then, as Barani says, all these taxes and cesses were t o be realized rigorouslv. The area covered under these regulations was the khalisa land in the Doab. The result was obvious: an unprecedented rebellion of the peasants, led by the intermediaries, occurred which led to bloody confrontations. Feroz Shah claims to have abolished twenty three cesses including charai and ghari.

Another development that took place, especially under the Tughluqs, was the- practice of revenue-farming, that is, the task of collecting the revenue of some areas was sometimes given to contractors who perhaps gave a lump sum in advance for the right of revenue collection for a certain period. Under Feroz Shah, 'water tax' (haqq- i sharb) was taken from those cultivators who irrigated their land from the water supplied from the canals constructed by the state. It must be pointed out that in case of bad harvest, the state tried to adjust the land tax, and also gave agricultural loans to the peasants called sondhar in Muhammad Tughluq's reign.

What was the total estimated revenue during any period of the Delhi Sultanate? No such attempt seems to have been made before the reign of Sultan Feroz Shah Tughluq. 'Afif tells us that a t t & w r c k d ~ g l t a n , Khwaja Hisamuddin Junaid

Indm PoUty : tbe Sultmate determined the jama (estimated revenue) of the kingdom according to the "rule of inspection" (bar hukm mushahada). It took six years to do this job, and the figure arrived at wac six krar and seventy-five lakhs tanka.t (a silver coin: see Block 6 ) which continued to bf valid for the entire reign of the Sultan. For further details 04

Revenue Administration during the fourteenth century see Moreland's Appendix 'C': "Some Forteenth Cenrury Passages" in BlocK 6. - Check Your 'Progress 3 I ) What measures did Alauddin Khalji take to eliminate the intermediaries?

2) Define the following :

L d) Sondhar ............................................... :. ........................ 1.. - 16.6 IQTA SYSTEM AND PROVINCIAL

ADMINIBTRATION

The territorial expansion and cdnsolidation of the Sultanate was a process which continued throughout the 13th and 14th centuries. I t involved varying kinds of control in terms ~f~territories: those brought under direct administration and those which paid tribute and remained semi-autonomous. The expansion of the Sultanate and'& difficulties involved in administering areas that were far away from the

I

centre shaped different kind$ of control.

16.6.1 Iqta System The initial Turkish conquests in the early 13th century d.isplaced many local chiefs (whom the contemporary sources refer to as rai and rana). In order to conso~idat~, the Turkish rulers made revenue assignments (iqta), in lieu of cash,'to their nobles (umma). The assignees (known as rnhqti and wcrli) collected revenue from these areas, defrayed their own expenses, paid the troops maintained by them and sent tbe surplus uawozil) to the centre. lqta is an Arabic word and the institution had been in force in the early lslamic world as a form of reward for services to the Sthte. It was used in the Caliphate iqdministration as a way of financing operations and paying civil and military officers. The grant of iqta did not imply a right t.0 the land nor was it hereditary though the holders of jqta tended to'-acquire hereditary rights in Feroz Tughluq's reign. These revenue assignments were transferable, the iqta-holder being transferred from one region to another every three or four years. Therefore, iqta should not be equated with the fief of medieval feudal Europe, which were hereditary and non-transferable. The assignments could be large (a whole province or a part). Assignments even to nobles carried administrative, military and revenue collecting

. responsibilities. Thus, provincial administration was headed by the muqti or wuli. He had to maintain an army composed of horsemen and foot soldiers.

"They.(the muqtis) should know that their right over the subjects is only totake the rightful amount of maney or perquisite (mal-ihqq) in a peaceful manner... the life, property and the family of-the subject should be immune from any harm, tbe muqtfs have no right over them, if the subject desires to make a direct appeal to the Sultan, the m h t i should not prevent him. Every mu# who violatea there laws should be dismissed and punis W... the muqtir and wulfs are so many supyintendents over them aa the king is sup!erintenbent over other muqt id... After three or four years, the umih and the muqtis should be transferred so that thw may not be too strong"

, 2. A pwrO from N i m u l ! Mulk Tusi'r slycwrnama on the rights of nnrq~lr. Endub (nnurtmn from

12 A.B.M. HabibuU.b, The Fowdcrrkm 01 Murlbn Rukln Inr#o'AILb.bd,~ 1976pp. rn10 .

16.6.2 provincial and Local Administration I , As the State became more settled and efforts were made fbr greater centralization,

provincial administration also underwent a change. A separation between fiscal and i fiilitary responsibilities started evolving. During the reign of Muhammad Tughluq, 1 fiscal responsibilities were partially withdrawn from the muqris or walis and placed b under central officers. According to Ibn Battuta, the iqra of Amroha was placed I I , . under two officers, one called aniir (possibly in charge of the army and

i , administration) and the other as ruli-ul kharai (in charge of revenue collection). I Muhammad Tughluq also brdered that the salary of the soldiers maintained by iqfa- 1 holders be paid by the diwan-i wizarar to prevent fraud by the officers. l 1

J Greater control also came to be exercised over fiscal matters. The diwanS office, at I the centre, received and examined detailed statements regarding income and

expenditure in the provinces. It supervised the work of the revenue officials in the

I provinces. The provinces had a sahib-i din+an, whose office kept books of account and submitted information to thecentre. It was assisted by officials like murasarrijs. The entire lower revenue staff was called karkun.

Admhirtrrtion of the Sultanate

By the end of the thirteenth century. conternporary sources refer to an administrative division, known as shiqq. We do not have adequate information about the exact nature of shiqq. However. by the time of Sher Shah ( 1 540-1 545 A.D.) shiqq had emerged as a well-defined administrative unit, known as sarkar. Administrative officials, mentigned with respect to shiqq, were shiqqdar and faujdar. The demarcationlof,tp\ir duties is not very clear.

According to Ibn Battuta, chaudhuri was the head of hundred villages. This was the .nucleus of the administrative unit later called pargana. The village was the smallest

, unit of administration. The functioning and administratih'of the village remained basically the same as it had existed in pre-Turkish times. The main village functionaries were khor, muqaddam (headman) and parnVari (see Unit 16.5). The judicial administration of the sub-division was patterned on that of the centre. Courts of the qazi and sadr functioned in the provinces. The korwal maintained law and order. At the village level, the panchaj*ar heard civil cases.

'

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Check Your Progress 4

I) Write a note on iqra.

..........................................................................................

......................................................................................... i , .

2) What were the functions of the wali or muqri? .

.........................................................................................

3) What steps were takcn to curb the powers of thc rr~iryri in the 14th century?

I I 4) Define the following:

".......... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 a) shiyy ""

b) korn,cll ........ ' ."" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I

Indian Polity : The Sultanate I. *A 16.7 LET US SUM UP

We pave seen how the Delhi Sultanate was shaped by its historical experience of being a part of the wider Islamic world and how it changed and evolved as a result of its needs and circumstances during the 13th century. We have studied the administrative framework of the Sultanate at the cerltral and local levels. The need of maintaining a large army (for defence and expansion) and maintaining an administrative apparakus shaped many of its institutions, such as the iqra. Greater centralization brought about changes 1n the nature of administrative control.

16.8 KEY WORDS ,

Abwab : Cesses

Amir : Officer

Bahi t Ledger/ accounts books

Balahsr : Village menials/ ordinary peasants

Biswa r 11 20th part of a bigha

Charai

C haudhuri

~ a g h

Diwm-i Wizarat

Fawazil

Ghari

Hashm-i qalb

Hasil

ldrar

Idaq

Jama

KhaUPa

Khot

Khutba

Muqaddam

Muqti or Wali

Navhindagan

Nirkh-i farmani

Patwari

Qbmat-i khoti and Hnqq-i khoti

. Rais and Rams

Shariat

Tanka

Ummal

Grazing-tax

Head of Hundred villages or pargana

Branding (of Horses)

Finance Department

Surplus amount

House-tax

Central/ royal cavalry

Actual reveAie,,,

Revehue-free land grant

Draft, assignment order

Estimated Revenue *

YCrownn ("resthe") land whose revenue was reserved for the Sultan's treasury'

\. Village officia1,lrevenue collector

A sermon recited in mosques on Fridays wherein the name of the ruler was included

Measurement

Revenw collectors

Village headman

Iqta-holder/ governor

Revenue officer

Auditor

Clerk

0fficially.decreed prices

Village-accountant

Perquisites

Chiefs

Islamic law . 4

Silver coin

Pfural of amil (revenue officer)

Wafa-i farmani : Officially decreed yields 4- \

W aqf : Grants assigned for the r n a i n t i d d e of retigious institutions

Wazifa : Stipend

Zawabit

16.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS ' EXERCISES~

I

Check Your Progress 1 1 ) See Sec. 16.2 2) See Sec. 16.2 3) See Sec. 16.2 4) See Sec. 16.2

Check Your Progress 2 1) See Sec. 16.3 2) See Sub-sec. 16.4.2 3) See Sub-sec. 16.4.5 4) a) x b) X c) w 5) See Sub-sec. 16.4.2, 16.4.3, 16.4.4

Check Your Progress 3 1) See-Sec. 16.5 2) See Sec. 16.5 I

Check Your Progress 4 I) See Sub-sec. 16.6.1 2) See Sub-sec. 16.6.1 3) See Sub-sec. 16.6.1 4) See Sub-sec. 16.6.2

UNIT W--FORMATION OF- THE SULTANATE RULING CLASS

Structure

17.0 Objectives 17.1 Introduction ,

17.2 The Ruling Class at the Time of the Ghorian Invasion . 17.3 Composition of the Ruling Class

17.3.1 The llbaritcs 17.3.2 The KUjh 17.3.2 'Ibe Tughluqr

17.4 Iqta and the Dispersal of Resources Among the Ruling Class 17.5 Ulema 17.6 Let Us Sum Up. - -. 17.7 Key Words 17.8 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

In Unit 16, y e have discussed the administrative structure of the Delhi Sultanate. In this Unit we will analyse the nature of the Sultanate ruling class taking into consideration the following :

its role as an appqopiiator of surplus,

the composition of the ruling class,

changes in the ruling class, and

the interests that bound it together.

17.1 INTRODUCTION

The most important ptoblem of the Sultanate in its early stages, and even later, was to consolidate the conquered territories. To this end, the ruling class served as an important pivot who shared the resources of the country. The Turks brought with them the institution of the iqtas (see Sec. 16.6), which helped in the centralization of authority to a great extent. As greater.ceotralization was sought to be effected, changes could be seen in the institution of the 'iqta'as well as in the composition of the ruling class.

17.2 THE RULING CLASS AT THE TIME OF THE GHORIAN INVASION ,

I

At the time of the Ghorian invasions, north India was divided into a number of I

principalities r u l d by rais and ranas (local chiefs). At the village level, khots and muqaddams (village hadman) stood on the borderline of the rural aristocracy. In between, the chaudhursi can spotted as the head of hundred villages.

. \

Atany rate, we can accept a broad definition of the position of the pre-Ghorian ruling class as one which appropriated the surplus produce of the peasants, by exercising superior rights over land. In analyzing the formation of the ruling class in the Sultanate, some pertinent questions arise : How did the new ruling class supplant this older ruling class? What measures did it adqpt for appropriating the surplus revenue? How was it different from the class that it supplanted?

'. i

/

17.3 COMPOSITION OF THE RULING CLASS ~ o r k t b n of the Sultuute R u h g Clan

Throughout the thirteenth century, the Turkish armies furthered the political and military control over North India. By the mid-fourteenth century, it spread to the Deccan. A large alien territofy had to be pacified and governed and the ruling class had to be maintained and sustained. The early Turkish ruling class was very much in the'nature of a co-sharer of political and financial powers with the Sultans. In the beginning, the nobles (amirah) were practically independent in distant areas of the conquered territories where they were sent by the Centre as governors. The latter were designated muqti or wqli agd their territories were known as iqtas. Gradually, the practice began of transfekring muqtis from one iqta to another (a detailed discussion on iqta system is given in Unit 16). The pre-Ghoriar! political structure seems to have continued, wiyh tribute being realised from the rais and ranas, who were expected to collect taxis as they had done before.

From our contemporary historians, like Minhaj Siraj and Barani, we learn that the most important nobles, and kven the Sultans, in the early stages of the foundation of the Sultanate, were from the families of the Turkish slave-officers. Many of the early Turkish nobles and Sultans (such as Aibak and Iltutmish) had started their early career as slaves but they reckived letters of manumission (khat-i azadi) before becoming Sultans. One such was Qutbuddin Aibak. On his death in A.D. 1210, Ilturmish, one of his favoured slaves, seized Delhi and set himself up as Sultan. He created his own corps of Turkish slaves-the Shamsi maliks, called by Barani turkan-i chihilgani ("The FO;~~"). Iltutmish's nobility also included a number of Tajik or free-born officers. That this element of free-born immigrants continued to form a part of the ruling class is noted by Minhaj at the time of Nasiruddin Mahmud's accession (1246 A.D.). The problem of succession after the death of lltutmish brought into light the division within the nobles.

In spite of the internal quarrels within the ruling class, there was a basic solidarity which manifested itself in it$ hostility to outsiders. For example, Raziya's (1236-4240 A.D.) elevation of an Abyssinian, Jamaluddin Yaqut, to the post of amir-i akhur ("master of the royal horses'? caused great resentment. Similar was the case of Raihan, a Hindu covert to Islam. Thus, the nobility was seen as the preserver of the certain groups, sometimes under the principle of 'high birth', as reflected in the policies ascribed to Balban by Barani.

Now you can understand how an identity of interests bound the dominant groups. Race and perhaps religion, too, played important role in the formation of ruling groups. Actually, the ruling class was not a monolithic organization. There were numerous factions and cliques, each trying to guard their exclusive positions jealously. The Turkish military leaders who accompanied and participated in the Ghdrian invasion formed t i e core of the early Turkish ruling class: they acquired most of the key-posts at the centre and provinces.

I I

17.3.1 The Ilbarites Qutbuddin Aibak who sucdeeded to the Indian territories of Muhammad Ghori, had no greater right than the other nobles like Yalduz and Qubacha who asserted their independenqe and autonomy at Ghazna and Sind respectively. This was to be a feature of the early history pf the Sultanate. The Sultans needed the support of the nobility to establish and maintain themselves in power. For instance, lltutmish came to the throne with the support of the nobles of Delhi. The Turkish nobles played an important part in elevating Sultans to the throne and supporting contenders to the throne. According to Baradi, the older Turkish nobility used to tell each other : "What are thou that I am not, and what will thou be, that I shall not be."

I The early Turkish nobility kought to emphasize their exclusiveness and their monopoly to rule. Efforts by other social groups to challenge their monopoly were resented and resisted. The hobles of Iltutmish called turkan-i-chihilgani ("The Forty") wielded considerable power-after his death. They were an important group, and efforts by the Sultans to incorporate other groups were met with much resistance. As already mentioned,. Raziya Sultan had to face stiff opposition from the

Indian Polity : nc Suitmmte Turkish amirs, when she elevated an Abyssinian, Jamaluddin Yaqut, to the office of - amir-i akhur. Efforts of Nasiruddin Mahmud (1246-1266 A.D.) to break the vested power of this group by dismissing Balban (who was one of the 'Forty') from the court and replacing him by an Indian cbnvert, Im'aduddin Raihan, did not meet with much success. Minhaj ioiced the anger of the " ~ u r k s of pure lineage" who "could not tolerate lmaduddin Raihan of the tribes of Hind to rule over them." The opposition of the Turkish ruling class forced the Sultan to remove Raihan and reinstate Balban.

On his accession to ths throne, Balban (1266-1286 A.D.) took measures to break the power of the turkon-i ~hihilgoni by various measures. He himself was the creation of a group of nobles loyal to him. Barani states that Balban had several of the older !

Turkish nobles killed. This was an effort to intimidate the nobility, who could and did pose, a challenge to the Crown. Balban himself, according to Barani, kept Sultan Nasiruddin as a "puppet" (nomuno); therefore, he was vary of the leading old nobles.

17.3.2 The Khaljb In A.D. 1290, the llbari dynasty was overthrown by the Khaljis. The coming to power of the Khaljis is seen as something new by contemporary historians. Barani mentions that the Khaljis were a different "race" from the Turks. Modern scholars like C.E. Bosworth speak of them as Turks, but.in the thirteenth century no one considered them as Turks, and thus it seems that the accession to po\ker was regarded as sdmething novel because earlier they did not form a significant part of the ~u l ing class. Alauddin Khalji further eroded the power of the older Turkish \

nobility by bringing in new groups such as the Mongols (the 'New Muslims?, Indians and Abyssinians (for th t latter, the example of Malik Kafur is well-known). This trend towards a broadehing of the composition 'of the ruling class continued during the rule of the Tughluqs.

It may be incidentally mentioned here that there was a very small group called kotwolion (pl. of kotwol) at Delhi during the reign of Balban and Alauddin Khalji. Infact, this was a family group, headed by Fakhruddin who was the kotwol of Delhi. This group appears to have played some political role during and aftQr Balban's death.

, I

17.3.3 The Tughlu~s Under Muhammad Tughluq, apart from the Indians and the Afghans, the ruling class, became unprecedemtally more heterogenous with the entry of larger numbers of foreign elemen,ts, especially the Khurusoni, whom the Sultan called oizzo (dear ones). Many of them were appointed as omir sadoh ("commander of hundred'?. Concerning the non-Muslim as well ps the converted Indians, Barani laments that the Sultan raised the "low-born" (jawohir-i lutroh) to high status. He mentions musicians, barbers, cooks, etc. why got high positions. He gives the example of Peera Mali (gardener) who was given the diwon-i wimrot. Converts like Aziz-ud Din khommor (distiller) and Qawamul Mulk Maqbul, Afghans like Malik Makh and Malik Shahu Lodi Afghan, Hindus lihe Sai Raj Dhara and Bhiran Rai were given iqto and positions.

The reign of Feroz Tughluq does not give us any clear pattern about the social otigins of the nobles. T k situation was fluid with a false veneer of peace between the Sultan and the ornird. Certain designations were used with reference to the nobles - khan, molik and omir. Khan was often used with reference to Afghan nobles, omir came to mean a commander, molik-a chief, ruler, or king. Along with their titles of honour, the nobles were given some symbols of dignity designated as morotib which signified privileges-khilot (robe of honour), sword and dagger presented by the Sultan, horses and e!ephants that they were entitled to use in their processions, canopy of State and the grant of parasol (chhotri) and insignia and kettledrums.

It is significant to note that every Sultan sought to form and organize a group of nobles which would be personally loyal to him. This obviated the necessity of depending upon previou groups whose loyalty was suspect. That's why we find the ? contemporary historians employing terms like Qntbi (ref. Qutbuddin Aibak), Shamsi

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i (ref. Shamsuddin Iltutmish). Balbani and Alai amirs. But one thing was quite certain: Fornrtba of the S u b a t e

every group tried to capture the kkention of the Sultan-whether weak or strong- Rmlbg Clnr

I because all privileges andpower issued forth from the sovereign. This, in turn, went to a great extent in strengthening gradually the position of the Sultan himself if he was a man of strong will.

I The Afghans were frequently recruited into the feudal bureaucracy of the Delhi Sultanate. With the coming of the Lodis (145 1-1 526), the Afghan predominance got enlarged.

I Check Your Propess 1 ' 1) ~xamine the composition of the ruling class under the Ilbarites.

2) What changes were brought about in the composition of the nobility under the Khaljis and the Tughluqs? Write in about five lines.

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3) Mark ri,oht (v.) or wrong (X ) against the following statements :

a) In the thirteenth century the Turkish nobles were paid in cash. b) Muhammad Tughluq incorporated different social groups into his nobility.

- c) Barani regards the Khaljis as Turks.

17.4 ZQTA AND THE DISPERSAL OF RESOURCES AMONG THE RULING CLASS

We have studied the institution of iqra, its early history in the Islamic world, apd its application in India in Udit 16. The income of the Sultanate was primarily and largely derived from the land revenue. Khalisa was the term for the land whose revenue was exclusively meant for the Sultan himself, while the revenue from the land, called iqra, was assigned by the state to the nobles. The muqris or iqra-holders were required to furnish military assistance to the Sultan in times of need, apart from maintaining law and order in and collecting the revenue from their iqra.

I These revenue assignments were generally non-hereditary and transferable. In fact, it was through the institution of iqra that the Sultan was able to contrbl the nobles.

I The muqri collected land revenue from the peasants of his territory and defrayed I therefrom his own salary as well as that of his soldiers. The demand to send the

excess amounts Cfawazil) to the diwan-i wizarar was symbolic of the trend towards centralization. The muqri had to submit accounts of their realisation and expenditure to the treasury. Auditing was severe to prevent fraud.

1

Indian POMY : The ~ ~ l b m a t c Alauddin KhaIii also took other measures for controlling his nobility. Regular reports from the barids (intelligence officers) kept him'posted with the actions of the nobles. A check was kept on their socialisihg, and marriages between them could not take place without thk permission of the Sultan. These measures have to be seen against the background of recurrent incidents of rebellions in which the muqris utiliqeQ and appropriated the resources of their areas, to rebel or to rhake a bid for the throne. This explains the principle of transfer also. Under Muhammad Tughluq ' (1325-1351 A.D.), the nobles were given iqra in lieu of cash salary but their troops were paid in cash by the treasury in contrast to the earlier period. These new fiscal arrangements and the,greater control over assignments possibly contributed to the conflict between the Siultan and the nobles since they were deprived of the gains of the iqta management. However, during the reign of Feroz Tughluq there was a general retreat from the practice of increased central authority over iqra. In practice, Feroz started granting iqra to the sons and heirs of iqta-holders. The long reign of Feroz Tughluq comparatively witnessed few rebellions but it also saw the beginning of the disintegration and decentralisation. By the time of the Lodis (1451- 1526 A.D.), the iqradars (now called wajhdars) do not seem to have been subject to constant transfers.

17.5 ULEMA

The u l m the theologtcal class; had an important position in the Sultanate. It was from them that important legal and judicial appointments were' made-the sadr-us sudur, shaikh-ul Islam, qrui, mujti, muhrasib, imam and khorib. The ulema can be seen as an adjunct of the ruling class, maintained by revenue grants from the Sultan, and often by members of the ruling class. The ideological significance of the ulema was great as they provided legitimacy to the ruling class. They exercised an influence which was not only reli&ious but sometimes political, too.

a- - 1 - -

CbtcL Your Prograr 2 1) Write two main characteristic features of the iqra system.

2) What measures were undertaken by Alauddin Khalji to control his nobility?

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3) ark right (4) or wrong (X) against the following statements : a) i) lqras were hereditary assignments.

ii) lqras were the personal property of the nobles. iii) Generally iqras we're transferable revenue assignments.

;r h

b) i) Muqris were personal body-guards of the Sultan. ii) Muqris were religious teachers.

' iii) Muqris were governors to whom the revenue from the iqras were 1 assigned.

FolroHoa of the Sultanate R u b 8 C h r a

C) Fawazil was : i) Extra payment met to the nobles. ii) Excess amount paid to the exchequer by rhe iqredars. iii) Revenue assigned in lieu of salary.

17.6 LET US SUM UP

With the establishment of the Sultanate a new ruling class emerged which was entirely different in its nature and composition to its predecessars. In the beginning, primarily, it maintained its alien (Turkish) character, but, later, as the process of amalgamation deepened, the Sultans started recruiting nobles fr0.m other social groups as well. Thus, the nature and the character of the nobility widened greatly

I

and not only the Turks, but Indian Muslims, non-Muslims and even foreigners (Abyssinians, etc.) were incorporated into its fold. The ulema can also be seen as an adjunct of the ruling class who were primarily maintained by revenue-free land grants or wazifa (cash).

17.7 KEY WORDS

Ami-i akhur : Master of royal stable/ horses

Amir-i sadah : "Centuriansw, "Commander of hundred" Khat-i azadi : Letter of manumission

T@jfi : a racel'free-born nobles"

Turhn-i chihilpni : "The Fortyw (corporate body of Turkish nobles of Iltutmish)

Ulema : Theologians

Wajhdar : Salaried persons / iqra-holders

17.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Cheek Your Progress 1 1 ) See Sub-sec. 17.3.1 2) See Sub-sec. 17.3.2, 17.3.3 3) a) x b) v c) x

Check Your Progress 2 I 1) See Sec. 17.4

2) See Sec. 17.4 3) a) (i) (ii) X (iii) ,/

b) (i) X (ii) V (iii) x c) (i) x (ii) (iii) x

UNIT 18 PROBLEM, CRISIS AND ,

DECLINE

Structure

Objectives Introduction Nature of Kingship Conflict between the Nobility and the Sultans C r i e fn Revenue Administrption Rise of Regiond States The Mongols Let Us Sum Up) Key Words Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

18.0 OBJECTIVES

The Sultans of Delhi faced many political and administrative problems. With the passage of time, these problems became so critical that they generated political crgis and eventually led to the decline of the ruling dynasties. This Unit attempts to , consider the following aspects :

Nature of kingship,

Conflict between the Sultan and the nobles,

Crisis in the Revenue Administration;

Rise of Regional Stbtes, and.

The Mongols.

18.1 INTRODUCTION

During the Sultanate period (1206-4526'A.D.), five dynasties ruled India. Since the Turks came from Central Asia, they,b&cinitial stage, were unaware of the Indian political and economic systtnf:To maintain their rule, the Turks introduced many administrative practice which, by and large, continued for a long time with some changes. A study of the political history indicates that the rulers had to cope with internal strife and external dangers, especially the running struggle between the nobility ancfthe Sultans which contributed towards the gradual decline of the Delhi Sultanate.

18.2 NATURE OF KINGSHIP

No clear and well-defined law of succession developed in the Sultanate. Hereditary principle was accepted 'but not adhered to invariably. There was no rule that only the eldest son would succeed (primogeniture). In one case, even a daughter was nominated (for exempl, Raziya Sultan). At any rate, a slave, unless he was manumitted, that is, freed, could not claim sovereignty. In fact, as it operated in the Sultanate, 'the longest the sword, the greater the claim'.

Thus, in the absence off any succession rule in the very beginning intrigues surfaced to usurp power: After Aibak's death, it was not his son Aram Shah but his slave and son-in-hw Iltutmish who captured the throne. Iltutmish's death (1236 AID.) was '

followed by a long period of struggle and strife when finally Balban, Iltutmish's slave

of the "Forty" fame, assumed power in 1266 A.D. You have already seen how Balban attempted to give a new shape to the concept of kingship to salvage the prestige of the office of the Sultan, but the struggle for power that started soon after Balban's death confirms again that the 'sword' remained the main deciding factor. .

Kaiqubad was installed at the throne agaipst the claims of Balban's nominee, . Kaikhusrau. Later, even he was slain by the Khalji Maliks (1290 A.D.) who laid the

foundation of the Khalji rule. In 1296 A.D. Alauddin Khalji, killed his uncle, Jalaluddin Khalji and occupied the throne. Alauddin Khalji's death signalled civil war and scramble for power. Muhammad Tughluq's reign weakened due,to the rebellions of amirs. Rivalries that followed after Feroz Tughluq ultimately led to the .rise of the Saiyyids (1414-51 A.D.).

With the accession of the Lodis (1451-1526 A.D.) a new element-the Afghans was added. The Afghans had a certain peculiar concept of sdvereignty. They were prepared to accept the position of a Sultan over them, but they sought to partition the empire among their clans (Farmulis, Sarwanis, Niyazh, etc.). After the death of Sultan Sikandar Lodi (1517 A.D.), the empire was divided between Ibrahim and Jalal. Even the royal privileges and prerogatives were equally shared by the clan members. For example, keeping of elephants was the royal privilege but Azam Humayun Sarwani is reported to have possessed seven hundred elephants. ~esides, the Afghans entertained the concept of maintaining tiibal militia which in the long run greatly hampered the military efficiency of the Central Government. It is true that Sikandar Lodi tried to keep the ambitious Afghan nobles in check, but it seems that the concept ?f Afghan polity was more tilted towards decentralization that created fissures in the end.

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18.3 CONFLICT BETWEEN THE NOBILITY AND THE SULTANS

~ h c ~ o l i t i c a l histoe of the Sultanate period testifies that consolidation and decline of the Sultanate were largely the result of constructive and destructive activities of the nobles (umara). The nobles always tried to maximise their demands in terms of the economic and political gains.

Under the Ilbarite rule (1206-90 A.D.), the conflicts usually revolved around three issues: succession, organization of the nobility and division of economic and political power between them and the Sultans. When Qutbuddin Aibak bacame the Sultan, his authority was hot accepted by the influential nobles such as Qubacha (governor of Multan and Uchh), Yilduz (governor of Ghazni), and Ali' Mardan (governor of Bengal). This particular problem was inherited by Iltutmish who finally overcame it through diplomacy as well as by force. Later, Iltutmish organised the nobles in a

' corporate body, known as rurkan-i chihilgani ("The Forty'? which was personally loyal to him. Naturally, other groups of nobles (see Unit 17) envied the status and

'

-privi!eges of the members of the "Forty", but this does not mean that' the latter were . free from their internal hickerings. At the most they united in one principle: to plug the entry of non-Turkish persons in the charmed circle as far as possible. On the other hand, the "Forty" tried to retainits political influence over the Sultan who wouldnot like to%alienate this group, but at the same time would not surrender his royal privilege of appointing persons of other groups as officers. Thus, a delicate balance was achieved by Iltutmish which broke down after his death. For example, Iltutmish had declared his daughter, Raziya, as his successor during his life, but some nobles did not approve her svccession after his death, because she tried to 'organize non-Turkish groups (Abyssinians and Indians) as counterweight to the "Forty". That was one main reason why a number of nobles of this grouprsupported her brother, Ruknuddin whom they thought to be incompetent and weak, thereby giving them an opportunity to maintain their position. This spectacle continued during the reign of Nasiruddin Mahmud (1246-66 A.D.) also, as exemplified by the )rise and fall of Immaduddin Raihan, an Indian convert. This episode coincided with ,the banishment of Balban who was the naib (deputy) of Sultan Mahmud (and also belonged to the "Forty'? and his subsequent recall.

Prdan. Crbb and Dcdhe

lodm P a r : me Sub- During Balban's reigtll(1266-87 A.D.), the influence of the turkan-i chihilgani was minimised. Since he hhmself was a member of the "Fortyn before his accession, he was fully aware of the! nobles' rebellious activities. Therefore, he eased out the "tallest poppiesw amongst them through assassin's dagger or poisoning, even including his cousin. On the other hand, he formed a group of loyal and trusted nobles called "Balbanl". The removal of many members of the "Fortyn deprived the state of the services od veterans and the void could not be fulfilled by the new and not so experienced 'Bhlbani" nobles. This situation inevitably led to the fall of the llbarite rule, paving the way for the Khaljis. .

b

The reign of Alauddin Khalji (1296-1316 A.D.) saw a broadening in the composition of nobles. He did not admit of monopolisation of the state by any one single group of nobles. State office$ were open to talent and loyalty, to the exclusion of race and creed. Besides, he controlled them through various measures (see Unit 17). Moreover, the enhancement of land revenue up to 50 per cent of the surplus produce (see unit 16) must have pacified the nobles because an increase in the revenue of their respective iqta wbuld have raised their salarjf, too. Territorial expansion also provided enough resources towards recruiting persons with talent. The case of MaIik Kafur, an Abyssinian slave, is well-known. But this situation was shortlived: the death of Alauddin Khalji brought out once again the dissensions and conspiracies of the nobles, leading to the elimination of the Khaljis as rulers.

As for the Tughluqs, you know (see Unit 17) how Muhammad Tughluq made attempts to organize nobles again and again, with turns and twists. But all his efforts failed to put them under check. Even the Khurasanis, whom he used rn call "Aizzah" (the dear ones), betrayed him. The problems created by the nobles can be gauged

I from the fact that twenty-two rebellions took place during his reign with the loss of a t least one territory, later known as Bahmani kingdom.

The crisis set in motion after Muhammad Tughluq's death seems to have gone out of hands. Under these circumstances, Feroz Tughluq could not be expected to be stern with the nobles. They were given many concessions. They succeeded in.making their iqtas hereditary. The appeasement policy of f ultan pleased the nobles, but in the long run, it proved disastrous. The army became inefficient because the practice of branding (dagh) of the horses introduced By Alauddin Khalji was almost given up. It was not possible, henceforth, for his descendants or later rulers to'roll back the tide of decline of the Delhi Sultanate.

Under the Sayyids (1414-51 A.D.) and the Lodis (1451-1526 A.D.), the situation did, not appear to be comfortable: the former were not at all fit for the role of saviours. Sikandar Lodi made the last attempt to prevent the looming catastrophe. But dissensions among the Afghans and their unlimited individual ambitions hastened the final demise, actually its murder, with Babur as the executioner.

Check Your Progressit,

I) Critically examinethe role of nobility in the disintegration of the Sultanate.

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2) How far did'the absence of law of primogeniture contribute to the decline of the , Sultanate?

3) Discuss the chief characteristic features of the Afghan theory of kingship.

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-. 18.4 CRISIS IN REVENUE ADMINISTRATION

lltutmish had introduced a sound system of revenue assignments (iqta) through which the vast bureaucracy was maintained. Feroz .Tughluq's reign, however, saw deterioration in its working. During his reign, revenue assignments tended to be hereditary and permanent. This applied even to the (royal ?) soldiers (yaran-i hashm). "If a person died," says Afif, "his office would go permanently to his son; if he had no son, then to his son-in-law; if he had no son-in-law, then io his slave; if he ,had no slave then to his women." Sikandar Lodi (1489-1517 A.D.) stopped to

/ dclaim the balance Cfawazil). The tendency of the principal assignees to sub-assign their territories also increased greatly during his reign.

All this had deep implications. It meant not only loss of vast revenue resources to -the state exchequer but by making the assignments permanent the Sultan allowed the {assignees to develop strong local roots which led to wide-scale corruption and turbulence.

18.5 RISE OF REGIONAL STATES

You have already studied that the clashes between the nobles and the Delhi Sultans marred the Sultanate from the beginning of its foundation. But, so long as the centre was powerful to retaliate. the rebellions were succesrfully crushed. S~gns of physical disintegration were witnessed for the first time during Muhammad Tughluq's reign in 1347 A.D. with the establishment of the Bahamani kingdom. But the Sultanate remained intact at least nearly for fifty years when finally the Timurid invasion (1398 A.D.) exposed ~ t s weakness. It provided ample opportunity for the nobles to establish their own areas of influence, independent of the Sultan. Governors like Khwaja Jahan (Jaunpur) in 1394 Khwaja in 1394, Dilawar Khan (Malwa) in 1401, Zafar Khan (Gujarat) in 1407, and some regions in Rajasthan also declared their independence during the 15th century. Bengal was already .a semi-independent kingdom since the days of Bughra Khan (for details see Block 8). The Sultanate practically shrank to the radius of 200 miles around Delhi. It had deep implications. Loss of the fertile provinces of Bengal, Malwa, Jaunpur and Gujarat curtailed greatly the vast revenue resources of the state. That, in turn disabled the centre to wage long wars and organise campaigns against the refractory elements. The situation became so critical under the Sayyaids and the Lodis that even for regular revenue exactions the Sultans had to send yearly campaigns. For example, forces were sent repeatedly to suppress the Katehr and Mewati chiefs with frequent intervals from 1414 to 1432 A.D. Similarly, the chiefs of Bayana and Gwalior also showed their reluctance to pay revenue and, as a result, repeated campaigns~followed from 1416 to 1506 A.D. All this shows that the control of the Sultans during the 15th century remained nominal and only minimum efforts would have sufficed t o . overihrow the Sultanate.

18.6 THE MONGOLS

Problem, Crisis and Dedinc

To what extent the Mongol invasions could be heldresponsible for the decline of the Delhi Sultanate? As you have read Block 4, the Mongol danger first appeared

. . . . . . - . - . . .

Indim PoMy : Tbe S u l t . ~ t e overcome it through diplomacy. Their invasions continued up to the period of Muhammad Tughluq with intervals. Balban, Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad Tughluq were very much conscious of the Mongol assaults and resisted them , successfully. True, much money and time had to be spent and thousands of soldiers were sacrificed, but it does not seem that these invasions enfeebled the Sultanate in any substantial manner. Occasional shocks were awesome but without any visible damage to the economy.or the state apparatus.

I) Discuss the implications of Feroz Tughluq's policy of making the assignments \

(iqta) permanent and hereditary?

2) To what extent risp of the regional states led to the decline of the Delhi Sultanate?

LET US $UM UP

One political reason fot the decline of the Sultanate was the absence of any well- established and universally accepted law of succession. This was in line with the entire history of the Ishmic polity. As long as a Sultan was strong and was able to gain the suppo~t of some groups of'nobles, he could continue with some superficial semblance of dynastic stability. Dissensions and conflicts amongst the ruling groups might remain apparently dormant in such circumstances; but at the slightest opportunity their internal struggle would come to the force often in a viblent fashion. Initially, the iqta system served the central authority: its elements of transfer and non-permanence elsured the Sultan's power. On the other hand, the gradual disappearance of these principles, especially during Feroz Tughluq's rule, paved the way for the steady dissipation of the state's authority. The Lpshot was the emergence of autonomous and, then, independent political centres in different regions. The Mongols might have hammered the Sultanate off and on but, on the whole, their forays did not affect the Sultanate's political and economic fortune.

KEY WORDS

Aiz2.k : "Dear Ones" (Khurasani nobles under Muhammad Tughluq).

Umara : Nobles (plural of amir)

yuan-i hashm : Soldiers

.

Problan, Crisb and Dedine

18.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your p r o p & 1 I) See Sec. 18.2 2) See Sec. 18.2 3) . See Sec. 18.3

Check Your P r o b e s 2 1) See Sec. 18.4 2) See Sec. 18.5

I SOME USEFUL BOOKS FOR THIS BLOCK

b A.B.M. Habibullah, The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India.

W.H. Moreland,. The Agrarian System of Moslem India. (Chapters I1 & 111; Appendices A, B and C).

R.P. Tripathi, Some Aspects of Muslim Administration.

K.S. Lal, History of the Khafiis (Chapter XI) .

klohammhd Habib & K.A. Nizami, A Comprehensive History of India, Vol V.

Tapan Ray Chaudhuri & lrfan Habib, The Cambridge Economic History oj India, Vol, I , pp. 45-82.)

- -. . APPENDIX

A REPRODUCTION FROM W.H. MORELAND, AGRARIAN SYSTEM OF MOSLEM INDIA Provincial Governors in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries The words "Province; and "Governor" are used in Chapter 11 to represent two groups of terms, which 1 take to be either precisely synonymous, or else distinguished only by minor differences, of no practical importance for'our present purpose. The first group is wilayat, wali. The word wilayat is used in the chronicles in various senses, which can almost always be recognised with certainty from the context: it may mean (1)a definite portion of the kingdom, that is, a province; (2)an indefinite portion of the kingdom, that is, a tract or region; (3) the kingdom aS a whole, (4) a foreign country; (5) the home-country of a foreigner .(in which last sense a derived form has recently become naturalised in English as "Blighty"). Wali occasionally means the ruler of a foreign country, but the ordinary sense is Governor of a*province of the kingdom, that is to say, a localised officer serving directly under the orders of the Kin8 or his Ministers.

So far as 1 know, it has never been suggested that the Wali held anything but a bureaucratic position a t this period, and the word Governor represents it precisely, as is the case throughout the history of Western Asia. The position is different in regard to the second g o u p of terms iqta, muqti (more precisely, iqta, muqti). Various translators in the nineteenth century rendered these terms by phrases appropriated from the feudal system of Europe; their practice has been followed by some recent writers, i& whose pages we meet "fiefs", "feudal chiefs", and such entities; and the ordinary reader is forced to conclude that the organisation of the. kingdom of Delhi was heterogeneous, with some provinces ruled by bureaucratic

' Governors (Wali), but most of the country held in portions (iqta) by persons (Muqti), whose position resembled that of the barons of contemporary Europe. It is necessary, therefore to examine the question whether these expressions represent the facts, or, in other words, whether the kingdom contained any element to which the . nomenclature of the feudal system can properly be applied. The question is one of fact. The nature of the European feudal system is tolerably well known to students: the position of the Muqt~s in the Delhi kingdom can be ascertained from the chronicles; and comparison will show whether the use of these archaic terms brings light or confusion into the agrarian history of Northern India.

The ordinary meaning of Jqta in Indo-Persian literature is an Assignment of revenue conditional on future service. The word appears in this sense frequently in the Moghul period as a synonym (along with tuyuf) of the more familiar jagir; and that it might carry the same sense in the thirteenth century is established, amqng several passages, by the story told by Barani (60, 61) of the 2000 troopers who held Assignments, but evaded the services on which the Assignments were conditional. The villages held by these men are described as their iqtas, and the men themselves as iqtadars. At this period, however, the word iqta was used commonly in a more restricted sense, as in the phrase "the twenty iqtas", used by Barani (50) to denote the bulk of the

I kingdom. It is obvious that "the twenty iqtas" points to something of a different order from the 2000 iqras in the passage just quoted; and all through the chronicles, we find particular iqtas referred to as administrative charges, and not mere Assignments. The distinction between the two senses is marked most clearly by the use of the derivative nouns of possession; at this period, iqtadar always means an assignee in the ordinary sense, but Muqti always means the holder of one of these charges. The question the^ is, was the Muqti's position feudal or bureaucratic?

To begin with, we may consider the origin of the nobility from whom the Muqtis were chosen. The earliest chronicler gives, us the biographies' of all the chief nobles

1-T. Nasiri, book xxii, p. 229 ff. 1 follow the Cambridgc History in usingthe form lltutmish for the name usuallj written Altamash.

of his time, and we find from them that in the middle of the thirteenth century practicafly every man who is recorded as having held the position of began his career as a royal slave. Shamsuddin lltutmish, the second effective king of Delhi, who had himself been the property of the first king, bought foreign slaves in great numbers, employed them in his household, and promoted them, according to his judgement of their capacities, to the highest positions in his kingdom. The following are a few sample biographies condensed from this chronicle.

Taghan Khan (p. 242) was purchased by Shamsuddin, and employed in succession as page, keeper of the pen-case,' food-taster, master of the stable, Muqti of Badaun, and Muqti of Lakhqauti, where the insignia of royalty were eventually conferred on him.

Saifuddin Aibak (p. 259) was purchased by the king, and employed successively as keeper of the wardrobe, sword-bearer, Muqri of Samana, Muqri of Baran, and finally Vakil-i dar, apparently, at this period, the highest ceremonial post at Court.?

Tughril Khan (p. 261) also a slave, was successively depuQ-taster, court-usher, master of the elephants, master of the stable, Muqti of Sirhind, and later of Lahore, Kanauj, and Awadh in succession; finally he received Lakhnauti, where he assumed the title of king.

Ulugh Khan (p. 281), afterwards King Balban, is said to have belonged to a noble family in Turkistan,3 but was enslaved in circumstances which are not recorded. He was taken for sale to Baghdad, and thence to Gujarat, from where a dealer brought him to Delhi, and sold him to the King. He was employed first as personal attendant, then as master of sport, then mkter of the stable, then Muqti of Hansi, then Lord Chamberlain, and subsequently became, first, deputy-King of Delhi, and then King in his own right.

It seems to me to be qliite impossible to think of such a nobility in terms of a feudal system with a king merely first among his territorial vassals: what we see is a royal household full of slaves, who could rise, by merit or favour, from servile duties to the charge of a province, or even of a kingdom-essentially a bureaucracy of the normal Asiatic type. The same conclusion follows from an examination of the Muqti's actual position: it is nowhere, so far as I know, described in set terms, but the incidents recorded in the chronicles justify the following summary.

1. A Muqti had no territorial postion of his own, and no claim to any particular region: he was appointed by the King, who could remove him, or transfer him to another charge, at any time. The passages proving this statement are too numerous to quote: one cannot usually read ten pages or so without finding instances of this exercise of the royal authority. The biographies already summarised suffice to show that in the thirteenth century a Muqti had no necessary conhection with any particular locality; he might be posted anywhere from Lahore to Lakhnauti at the King's discretion. Similarly, to take one example Erom the next century, Barni (427 ff.) tells how Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, on his accession, allotted the iqtas among his relatives and adherents, men who had no previous territorial connection with the places where they were posted, but who were apparently chosen for their administrative capacity. Such arrangements are the antithesis of anything which can properly be described as a feudal system.

I Da~sat-dar. The dictionary-meaning of "Secretary of State" does not seem to be appropriate here, for we are told that on one occasion Taghan Khan was sharply punished for losing the king'sjewelled pen-case, and 1 take the phrase to d'enote the official responsible for the care ofthe king's writingmaterials. In later times the Chief Dawatdar was a high officer.

2 Th'eexaa status of the vakil-idar at this period isa rather complex question, but its discussion is not necessary for the present purpose.

I 3 The chronicler is so fullsome in his praise of Balban, under whom he was writing, that this statement may b. '

i merely a piece of flattery, but there is nothing intrinsically improbable in it, having regard to the circumstances of the time. Writing in the next century, Ibn Batuta recorded (iii 171)a much less complimentary tradition; it is unnecessary for me to enquire which account is true, because both are in agreement on the essential point, that Balban-was brought to India as a slave.

I I I I

ProvhcLI Govemon in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

- Indim Polity : The - -- S u h n a t ~ --.

- - - - > - 2. The Muqti was essentially administrator of the charge to whichqhe was posted. This fact will be obvious to any careful reader of the chronicles, and many examples could be given, but the two following are perhaps sufficient. Barni (p. 96) tells at some length how Balban placed his son Bughra Khan on the throne 'df Bengal, and records the advice which he gave on the occasion. Knowing his son to be slack and lazy, he insisted specially on the need for active vigilance if a king was to keep his throne, and in this connection he drew a distinction between the position of King (iqlimdari) and that of Govefnor (wilayatdari) a King's mistakes were, he argued; apt , to be irretrievable,.and fatal to his family, while a Muqti who was negligent or inefficient ip his governorship (wilayatdari), though he was liable to fine or dismissal, need not fear for his life or his family, and could still hope to return to favour. The

'

essential function of a Muqti was thus governorship, and he was liable to fine or dismissal if he failed in his duties.

As an instance from the next century, we may take the story told by Afif (414), how a noble named Ainulmulk, who was employed in the Revenue Ministry, quarrelled with the Minister, add was in consequence dismissed. The King then offered him the post of Muqti of Multan, saying, "Go to that province (iqta), arld occupy yourself in the duties (Karha wa kardarha) of that place." Ainulmulk replied: "When I undertake the administration (amal) in the iqta, and perform the duties of that place, it will be impossible for me to submit the accounts to the Revenue Ministry; I will submit them to the Throne." On this, the King excluded the affairs of Multan from the Revenue Ministry, and Ainulmulk duly took up the appointment. The language of the passage shows the position of a Muqti as purely administrative.

3. It was the Muqti's duty to maintain a body of troops available at any time for the King's service. The status of these troops can best be seen from the orders which Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq issued! to the nobles "to whom he gave iqtas and wilayats." "DO not," he said, "covet the smallest fraction of the pay of the tropps. Whether you give or d o not give them a little of your own rests with you to decide; but if you expect a small portion of what is deducted in the name of the troops, then the title of noble ought not to be applied to you; and the noble who consumes Any portion of the pay of servants had better consume dust."This passage makes it clear that the strength and pay of the Muqti's troops were fixed by the King, who provided the cost; the Muqti could, i j he chose, increase their pay out of his own pocket, but that was the limit of his discretionary power in regard to them.

4. The Muqti had to collect the revenue due from his charge, .and? after defraying sanctioned expenditure, such as the pay of the troops, to remit the surplus to. the King's treasury at the capital. To take one instance (Barni, 220 ff.), when Alaud$in Khalji (before his accession) was Muqti of Karra and Awadh and was planning his incursion into the Deccan, he applied for a postponement of the demand for the surplus-revenue of his provinqs, so that he could employ the money in raising additional troops; afid promised that, when he returned, he would pay the postponed surplus-revenue, alohg with the booty, into the King's treasury.

5. The Muqti's financial transactions in regard to both receipts and expenditure were audited by the officials of the Revenue Ministry, and any balance found to be due from him was recovered by processes which, under some kings, were remarkably severe. The orders of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, quoted above, indicate that under his predecessors holders of iqtas and wilayats had been greatly harassed in the course of these processes, and he directed that they were not to be treated like minor officials in this matter. Severity seems to hpve been reestablished in the reign of his son ' Muhammad, for Batni insists (pp. 556, 574) on the contrast furnished by the wise and lenient administtation of Firuz, under whom "no Wali or Muqti" came to ruin from this cause. The processes of audit and recovery thus varied in point of severity, but they were throughout a normal feature of the administration.

This statement of the Muqti's position indicates on the face of it a purely bureaucratic organisation. We have officers posted to their charges by the King, and transferred, removed, or punished, at his pleasure, administering their charges under his orders, and subjcicted to the strict financial control of the Revenue Ministry.

I Barni. 431.

None of these features has any counterpart in the feudal system of Europe; and, as a student of European history to whom 1 showed the foregoing summary observed, the analogy is not with the feudal organisation, but with the bureaucracies which rulers like Henry I1 of England attempted to set up as an alternative to feudalism. The use of feudal terminology was presumably inspired by the fact that some of the nobles of the 'Delhi kingdom occasionally behaved like feudal barons, that is to say, they rebelled, or took sides in disputed successions to the throne; but, in Asia at least, bureaucrats can rebel as well as barons, and the analogy is much too slight and superficial to justify the importation of feudal terms and all $he misleading ideas which they connote. The kingdom was not a mixture of bureaucracy with feudalism its administration was bureaucratic throughout.

The question remains whether there were differences in status or functions between the Wali and the Muqri. The chronicles mention a Wali so rarely that it is impossible to prepare from them a statement similar to what has been offered for the Muqri. The constantly recnrring double phases, walis and Muqris, or iqras and wilayats, show that the two institutions were, at any rate, of the same general nature, but they cannot be pressed so far as to exclude the possibility of differences-in detail. A recent writer has stated that the difference was one of distance from the capital,' the nearer provinces being iqras and the remote ones wilayats; but this view is not borne out by detailed analysis of the language of the chronicles. Looking at the words themselves, it is clear that Wax is thecorrect lslamic term for a bureaucratic Governor; it was used in this sense by Abu Yusuf (e.g. pp. 161, 163) in Baghdad, in the eighth century, and it isstill familiar in the same sense in Turkey at the present day. I have not traced the terms Iqra or.Muqri in the early Islamic literature-to which I have access through translations, but taking the sense of Assignment in which the former persisted in India, we may fairly infer that the application of iqra to a province meant originally that the province was assigned, that is to say, that the Governor was under obligation to maintain a body of troops for the king's service. It is possible then that, at some period, the distinction between Wali and Muqri may have lain in the fact that the former had not to maintain troops, while the latter had; but, if this was the original difference, it had become obsolete, at any rate, by the time of

I Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, whose orders regarding the troops equally to both classes, to I "the nobles to whom he gave iqras and wilayats."' .. .

, The chronicles indicate no other possible distinction between Wali and Muqri, and I the fact that we occasionally read2 of the Muqri of a Wilayat suggests that the.terms

were, at least practically, synonymous. The possibility is not excluded that there were 1 minor differences in position, for instance, in regard to the accounts procedure of the

Revenue Minktry, but these would not be significant from the point of view of

I agrarian administration. In my opinion, then, we are justified in rejecting absolutely

I the view that the kingdom of Delhi contained any element to ivhich the terminology of the feudal system can properly be applied. Apart from the regions directly under the Revenue Ministry, the entire kingdom was divided into provinces administered

f by bureaucratic Governors; possibly there may have been differences in the relations between these Governors and the Ministry, but, so far as concerns the agrarian administration of a province, it is safe to treat Wali and Muqri as practically, if not absolutely, synonymous.

I Qanungo's Sher Sh& p. 349, 350. Baini, however, applies the term wilayat to provinces near Delhi such as Baran (p. 58), Amroha (p. 58). or Samana (p. 483); while Multan (p. 584) and Marhat, or the Mafathacountry

(p. 390) are described as iqra. Some of the distant provinces had apparently a diffaent status in parts of the fourteenth antury, beingunda a minster (Vazir) instead of theGovcrnor (Barani, 379,397,454. & C.), but they cannot be distinguished .either as wlhjwts or as iqrm.

2 For instance, T. Nasiri; Mugti of the Wila yat of Awadh (246,247); Muqriof the Wilayat of Sarsuti (p. 256): As has been said above, Barani (96) describes the duties of a Muqri by the term Wilayatdari.

' - .

Provinci. nl Governors inathe T hirfemih and Fourtetrih pnturirs

!dim PoWy : The Sukanrte It may be added that the latter term did not survive for long. In the Tarikh-i Mubarakshahi, written about the middle of the fifteenth century, the title is preserved in summaries of earlier chronicles, but in dealing with his own times the . writer consistently uses the term Amir. This term had already been used by Ibn Batuta a century earlier; he speaks of Indian Governors sometimes as Wali, sometimes as Amir, bCt never, so far as I can find, as Muqti; and possibly Amir was '

already coming into popular use in his time. Nizamuddin Ahmad, writing under Akbar, usually substituted Hakim, as is apparent from a comparison of his language with that of Barni, whom he summarised; Firishta occasionally reproduced the word Muqti, but more commonly used Hakim, Sipahsalar, or some other modern equivalent; and Muqti was clearly an archaism in the time of Akbar.

STATE AND ECONOMY

Structure 19.0 Objectives 19.1 Introduction 19.2 Distribution of Revenue Resources

19.2.1 Iqta and lrhPtlsl ' 19.2.2 The iqta System in Operation 19.2.2 Land Grants

19.3 Land Revenue and its Extraction 19.3.1 Agrarian Measures of Alauddin Khalii 19.3.2 Agrarian Measures of Muhammad Tughluq

19.4 Alauddin Khalji's Market Control 19.5 Currency System 19.6 Slavery and Slave Trade 19.7 Let Us Sum Up 19.8 Key Words 19.9 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

This Unit discusses how the Ghorian conquest and the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate affected the Indian ecoriomy. It also attempts to highlight the changes that occurred during the course of the Sultanate.

After-going through this Unit you will be able to learn about:

the nature of land revenue system and its extraction, the mechanism of distribution of revenue resources, price control measures of Alauddin Khalji, the use of slaves in urban economy and sources of enslavement, and

- thk increasing use of money in economy and the currency system.

19.1 INTRODUCTION

The conquest of,Northern India by the Ghorids and the establishment of the Delhi ' -

Sultanate not only changed tfre existing political structure but also brought, economic change?. The conquerors came with fairly well-defined concepts and piactices , , . - regarding tax collection and distribution, ahd system of coinage, etc. But the existing systems could'not be changed altogether immediately: in the beginning, these were superimposed on the older systems, and modifications and changes were introduced by different Sultans uptb the close of the 15th century.

The new rulers wanted luxuries and comforts according to their taste and habits. The slave labour was thus a great help to provide these.

In the opinion of Muhammad Habib, the economic changes that occurred as a consequence of the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate created an organisation considerably superior to the one that had existed before. He felt that the changes were drastic enough to deserve the designation of 'Urban Revolution' and 'Rural Revolution'. D.D. Kdsarnbi recognised that 'hidebound customs in the adoptation and transmission of new techniques' were broken down by the 'Islamic raiders', but he regarded the changes no more than intensifying elements already present in Indian

. - 'feudalism'.

In this Unit we will study the economic institutions and changes that the Delhi Sultanate introduced.

19.2 DISTRIBUTION OF REVENUE RESOURCES

During the 13th century, large territories rapidly passed into the hands of the Sultans.

Economy of Delh. . . . -

...,-_L,d rhi-c.c.ve$ And their troops by plundering or by~xtracting tribute from the defeated and subjdgated rural aristocracies. Unlike the previous rulers, the soldiers were paid their salaries in cash.

The regions that refused to pay land-tax or kharaj were known as mawas and were plundered or forced to pay through military raids. Gradually a mechanism of simultaneous revenue rcollection and distribution had tohe introduced.

19.2.1 Iqta and Kbalisa The new rulers brought with them the iqta system that combined the two functions of revenue collection and distribution without immediately endangering the unity of political structure. The iqta was a territorial assignment and its holder was called the muqti or the wali. The classical definition of the iqta system has been given by Nizam-ul Mulk Tusi, a Seljuq statesinan of the 11th century (see Block 5). ~ c c o r & g to Tusi's definition, the iqta was a revenue assignment that the muqti held a t the pleasure of Sultan. m e muqti was entitled to collect in proper manner t& land tax and other taxes due to the Sultan, he had no further claims on the person, women and children, land or other possessions of the cultivators. The muqti had certain obligations to the Sultan the chief being the maintenance of troops and furnishing them at call to the Sultan. The iqta was a transferable charge and the transfers of iqta s were frequent.

Khalisa: The territory whose revenues were directly collected for the Sultan's own treasury was designat d khaIiba. Its size seems to have expanded quite considerably under,Alauddin Khal". But the k h d h did not appear to consist of shifting territories 4 scattered throughout he country. In all probability, Delhi along with its surrounding district, including parts of Doab remained in khalisa. In Iltutmish's time, Tabarhinda (Bhatinda) too was in khalisa. Under Alauddin Khalji, the. khelisP.cdvered the whole of middle Doab and parts of Rohilkhand. But during the days of Feroz Tughluq, the khalisa perhaps had reduced considerably in size.

Iltutmish (1210-36) is reported to have assigned in lieu of salaries "small iqtas" in the Doab to the soldiers bf the Sultan's army (hashm qalb). palban (1266-86) made a half-hearted attempt tit' their resumption without success. It was Alauddin Khalji (1296-1316) who established firmly the practice of payment of salaries in cash to the soldiers. A practice that was again altered by Feroz Tughluq who began to assign villages to soldiers in lieu of their salaries. These assignments were called wqjh and the holders wajhdars, These assignments tended to be not only permanent but hereditary.

L _ & & _ - -.=* >. . 19.2.2 The Iqta Spstem in Operation - You have already read about the Iqta system in Block 5. Here, we are adding a few more aspects. In the tarly years of the foundation of the Sultanate, neither the revenue income of these assignments was known nor the size of the contingent of the assignee was fixed. However, certain modifications and mild attempts at introducing central control to some-extent were made by Balban (1266-86) when he appointed a khwaja (accountant) with each muqti: this may imply that the Sultanate now was trying to find out the actual income of the iqta and muqti s expenditure.

'I'he real interventiorl in the iqta administration came under Alauddin Khalji. The central finace department (diwan-i wizarat) perhaps prepared some sort of an estimated revenue inicome from each iqta. The audit was stringent, punishments severe, transfers frequent and enhancements (taufir) were often made in the estimated revenue i w m e of theiqta on various pretexts.

Ghiyasuddin ~ughluq (1320-25) introduced some moderation. The enhancements in the estimated revenup income by the central finance ministry wds not to be more than 1/10 or 1111th annually. The muqtis v:ere allowed to keep 1110th to 1120th in excess of their sanctioned salqies.

The auempt at centre1 intervention reached its climax during the timi of Muhwmad Tughluq (1325-51). h several cases. a walk and an Pmir was appointed to the same temtory. The wali wbs to collect revenue and, after deducting his pay, to send the rest to the treasury. or commander had nothing to do with revenue realization

anrl thn ealnmr nf h i e t r n n n e in ,-sch nrmcmnmghlv Fmm th..

reign the troops of the iqta holders were paid in cash by the state's treasury. This possibility infuriated the commanders and created political problems for Muhammad Tughluq. Feroz Tughluq, therefore, decided to make concessions. He enhanced the cash salahes of the nobles and got new estimates of revenue (mahsul) prepared which was designated jama. ,

I

There was no attempt to restore central control by the successors of Feroz. Under the Lodis (1451-1526),'the administrative charges and revenue assignments were combined together and these were no more called iqta but were simply called sarkars and parganas. A system of sub-assignments came in vogue particularly under Sikandar Lodi (1489-1517). The main assignees used to sub-assign portions of their assignment to their subordinates who in turn made sub-assignments to their soldiers.

19.2.3 Land Grants As you know already, the religious persons and institutions such as dargahs, mosques, madraw and other dependents of the ruling class were maintained by making grants of revenue income. These revenue grants were called milk, idrar, and in am. These grants were not generally resumed or transferred. But the Sultan had the right to cancel them. Alauddin Khalji is reputed to have cancelled almost all grants. Ghiyasuddin Tughluq too cancelled large number of grants. However, Feroz Tughluq made a departure and not only returned all the previously resumed grants but also made new grants as well. In spite of this generosity of the Sultan, according to the figures recorded by Afif, the total grants by the Sultan accounted only for about one-twentieth of the total jama (estimated revenue income). Nobles, too, made revenue grants out of their own iqtas. Noticeably, the Sultans made grants not only in the khalisa but also in the iqtcrs. These grants covered cultivated as well as cultivable areas not yet brought under plough.

Check Your Progress 1 1) How will you define iqta?

t . ,

..........................................................................................................

......................................................................................................... 4 .

......................................................................................................... , . ...........................................................................................................

2) p a t changes were introduced in the iqta system by Muhammad Tughluq? . ,

3 Mark (d) against the correct and (x) against the wrong statements given below:

(a) Alauddin Khalji allowed the muqtis to keep the excess income from their .iqtas. . .

(b) Ghiyasuddin Tughluq handed over iqtas to revenue-farmers.

(c) The jama under Feroz Tughluq meant the estimated revenue income.

3

19-3 LAND REVENUE AND ITS EXTRACTION

f i e Islamic land tax with which the new rulers of India were familiar was kharaj. The , kharaj was essentially a share in the produce of the land and not a rent on the land?

During the 13th century, the kharaj took by and large the form of tribute. As mentioned earlier, this tribute was paid, in lump sum, either by the potentates

State and E a m m v .

Economy of ~elbi Sultanate some arrangement. Alternatively, from the recalc~trant areas (mawas) where such arrangements were hot possible, the tribute was extorted through plundering raids. It was thus probably mostly in the form of cattle and slaves.

,

The sources of ~ e l d i Sultanate do not suggest that before the reign of Alauddin Khalji (12961316) any serious attempt was made to systematise the.assessment and ' realization of kharaj.

19.3.1 Agrarian Measures of Alauddin Khalji You have already rehd (Block 5) .in some detail about the agra;ian measures of Alauddin Khalji. ~ i i attempt wa%to increase the revenue collection by enhancing the demand, introducing direct collection and cutting down the leakages to the '

intermediaries.

As you know, the demand was thus fixed in kind but realization appears to be mostly in cash. Barani informs us that the revenue collectors 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. At another place, Barani says that Alauddin Khalji brought the q o a b into khalisa apd the tax (mahsul) from there was spent on paying the cash salaqies to the soldiers.

Yet there is a rathericontradictory statement by the same author that the Sultan ordered that the peakant should pay tax in kind and not in cash. According to Itfan Habib, it seems to hdve reference to only some parts of the khalisa in the Doab. From there the Sultan wanted to obtain supplies for his granaries. Otherwise the realization was normally in cash'.

Yet these new measures affected the rural intermediaries which we will discuss in Unit 20. .. The system of taxation introduced by Alauddin seems to have lasted for long though - Gh~yasuddin Tughluq (1320-25) modified it to.some extent and exempted the khots aod muqaddamsfrom paying tax on their cultivation and cattle. But he did not permit them to impose any cesces on the peasants.

19.3.2 Agrarian Measures of Muhammad Tughluq

~ u h a m m i d Tughluq, first extended Alauddin Khalji's system of revenue collection based on measurement to Gujarat. Malwa, Deccan, South India and Bengal. At a later,stage, the scale of agrarian taxation wgs enhanced considerably. Barani's statement that the increase amounted to 20 or 10 times is undoubtedly a rhetoric but it certainly gives the impression of an enormous increase. Barani suggests that additional new imposts (abwab) were levied. Of the other taxes. kharaj, chard and ghari were more rigorously collected. According to Yahya, cattle were branded and cottages counted to avoid any concealments. B U ~ more important than these measures was the fact that for assessment of kharaj, wafa-i-farmani (officially decreed yields) and drkh-i-farmani (officially decreed prices) were used. The statement very clearly implies that the yields and prices used for'calculating revenue were not actual.

One could very well expeCt that the decreed yields and prices were certainly inflated. Use of inflated yields instead of actual and prices much-higher than what were prevailing, had the obvious result of overstating the value of produce and thus the share of the state. This tremendous increase in revenue demaqdresulted in contraction of area under plough, flight of peasantry, and, as wswill see in Unit 20 in a b ~ g peaqant revolt in the Doab and around Delhi. This caused failure of grain supplies to Delhi and a famine that lasted for about seven years, from 1334-5 to 1342.

Faced with these problems, Muhammad Tughluq became the first Sultan to attempt to formulate an agrichltural policy for promoting agriculture. He introduced the ' practice of giving agrkultural loans named sondliar for increasing the area under plough and foidigging wells f o ~ irrigation. Barani says that 70 lakhs tenkas (according to Afif 2 krors t a n k 4 were given till 1346-7 in sondhar but perhaps hardly any

A new ministry designated diwan-i amir-i kohi was established to promote agriculture. Its two main functions we-re to extend the area under cultivation and to reclaim the land that went out of cultivation and improving the cropping pattern. It was recommended that wheat should.be replaced by sugarcane and sugarcane by grapes and dates.

The Sultan was so determined to introduce his project of agricultural improvement that when a theologian said that giving loan in cash and receiving the interest in grain was sin, he executed him.

Barani, however, says that alr these measures were almost a complete failure. Feroz Tughluq (1351-88) abandoned these projects but abolished agrarian cesses, forbade levying of ghari and chard. But he is reported to have imposed a separate tax - jiziya -distinct from kharaj (land-tax) on the peasants. He also introduced an irrigation tax in Haryana where he d u g canals.

There is little information forthcoming for the intervening period but in all probability the land tax continued to be collected in cash by whomsoever be the rulers, till the time of Ibrahim Lodi (1517-26). Owing to the scarcity of currency and cheapening of the grains, he is reported to have ordered collection of land revenue in kind or in grain.

Check Your Progress 2 1) Discuss the land revenue system introduced by Alauddin Khalji.

2) Indicate the correct and wrong statements given below hy marking (d) or (x).

(a) The areas which did not pay kharaj without the use of force were called mawas.

(b) Ghiyasuddin Tughluq imposed tax on the cultivation and cattle of khots and muqaddams.

(c) Ibrahim Lodi ordered for the collection of revenue in cash.

19.4, ALAWDDIN KHALJI'S MARKET CONTROL

Alauddin Khalji's measures did not remain confined to rural economy but extended to urban market as well. He is credited for issuing a set of seven regulations which came to be known as market-control measures. Barani,who is our main source on this aspectis the only authority who gives these regulations in detail.

The Sultan fixed the prices of all commodities from grain to cloth, slaves, cattle, etc. (Regulation 1). These prices were really to be enforced since the Sultan carefully made all arrangements for making the measure a success. A controller of market (shahna-i mandl), barids (intelligence officers) and munhiyan (secret spies) were appointed (Reg. 2). The grain merchants were placed under the shahna-i mandi and sureties were taken from them (Reg. 4). The Sultan himself was to receive dailjl reports separately from these three sources (Reg. 7). Regrating (ihtikar) was prohibited (Reg. 5). While ensuring strict control in the market, the Sultan did not overlook the more essential requirement, namely the regular supply of grains and

. . . a . . .

Economy of Delbi Sultanate

1. Rlees of some commod~ties as mentioned in contemporary .rrounts of the sultanate period.

Table of prices is reprodpced from K.M. Ashraf, Life Pod Conditioll oft& people of-, Delhi. 1970, p. 160. The table copplied from dierent sources shows that the prices of these commodities went up'under Muhammakl Tughluq but dropped under Feroz Tughluq to the price level of Alauddin Khalji's relgn.1

Obviously, the grain merchants could bring supplies to the market only if they could get the grains and that, too, at sufficiently low prices. It was apparently for this reason that the Sultan decreed such a rigour in realization of land revenue in the Doab that the peasants should be forced to sell the grain to the h a n i a n (the grain merchants) at the side of the field (Reg. 6).

A

The Sultan established granaries in Delhi and in Chhain in Rajasthan. The land tax from the khalisa in the Doah was realised in kind. The grain went to the state granaries (Reg. 3). The Multanis who were cloth merchants were given 20 lakhs of tankas as advance loan to purchase and bring cloth to the market.

r

-

</ $, 3

The Sultan succeedekl in maintaining low prices and ample supplies in the market as reported by all our authorities. But there are varying reascns mentioned for why the Sultan introduced tHe market control and in what region it was enforced. The poet courtier Amir Khusrau considers the measure to be of immense generosity taken for the welfare and comfort of all, the elite as well as the public at large. The Chishti di- vine Nasiruddin Mapmud (Chiragh Delhi) attributes it to the Sultan's effort to do good to all the people. But the historian ~ a i a n i ' s view was totally different. He did not credit it to Sultan's btnevolent intentions but gives a hard financial reason. The Sultan was anxious to have1 a large army and to take other precautions such as building of forts at strategic plaues, fortification wall around Delhi, etc. against the Mongol inva- sions. If numerous additional cavalrymen and troops were to be employed ar&e pre- vailing salaries, the drain from the state treasury was to exhaust it totally. The salaries could be reduced only if the prices were kept at a sufficiently low level.

4 1

Barani's reasoning abpears of course, more valid. Since the main lmhkargak (army . encampment) was id Delhi and most bf theroyal troops were to be stationed in or

\ around Delhi, the mpin area of price control was Delhi itself. However, since the sl~pplies of cheap grain were to be made available to the grain merchants in the surroundirlg districm of the oo?h, the low prices ought to be prevalent there as well.: The market control did not sbrvive its enforcer and we do not hear about it after Alauddin Khalji's tiMe. A very efficient and alert administration was imperative for the success of price control. Therefore, one possible reason for its not surviving could be the lack of sufficiantly competent administration. Irfan Habib, however, offers a different reason for t@ abandonment of price control by the successors of Alauddin Khalji. Since the prevalence of low prices implies lower revenues from the low-price zone, the price contr?l was viable as long as the zone of low prices was restricted and most of the expenditqre was concentrated there. With the Mongols no more

, remaining a threat, the army and the expenditure was tobe dispersed Fore widely and not to be concentrated at and around Delhi alone. The interest of h state f r = a s ~ m nnw in AirrnantIinn thn --;- ---+--I

1

No. Commodities Alauddin Muhammad ~ e r o z I

, Khalji Tugluq Tughluq

(Prices in Jitals per maund) . 1. W h a t 7'h 12 8 2. Barely 4 8 4

5 14 3. Paddy . . 4. Pulses 5 . . 4 5. Lentils 3 4 4 6. Sugar (white) 100 80 .- 7. Sugur (soft) 60 64 120,140 8. Sheep (mutto*) 10-12 64 . . 9. Ghi (clarified butter) 16 . . 100

I

Check Your Progress 3 1) Discuss the measures taken by Alauddin Khalji to introduce 'price control'.

State and Economy

......................................................................................................... 2 ) Explain briefly the reasons for:

.(a) Introduction of price control according to Barani. .................................................................................................... .................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................

- .

(b) Dismantling of price control under the successors of Alauddin Khalji.

19.. CURRENCY SYSTEM

The establishment of the Delhi Sultanate was marked by a considerable growth of money economy which accelerated particularly in the first half of the 14th cen tu j . Since the growth of money economy in simple words means larger use of currency in transactions (monetisation is another term for this pbnomenon), a large scale minting of gold, silver and copper coins that followed'the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate was an attendant process of the monetization of Indian economy.

The period prior to the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate was marked by the scarcity of coinage particularly of pure silver. The early Ghorid conquerors found mints uttering coins of copper with very small silver contents. Except an increase in the number of coins stamped, no changes were introduced in'the beginning. The coins continued to bear the image of goddess Lakshmi or bull-and-horseman, etc. Only the name of the new ruler in a corrupt form got inscribed over it in Nagri script. These coins were called Dehliwal.

lltutmish (1210-36) is credited for standardizing the coinage of the Delhi Sultanate. The currency system established by him in its essentials survived the Delhi Sultanate He introduced gold and silver tankas and a copper jital that was reckoned at 1/48th of a tanka in North India and 1150th in the Deccan after the conquest of Devagiri.

'A firm ratio of 1:10 between gold and silver appears to have been established.

For studying the currency system we not only have the testimonybf the chronicles but also the physical evidence available in the form of suniving coins (this is called numismatic evidence).

The Sultanate mints generally uttered coins in three metals: gold, silver and billon (copper mixed with very small quantity of silver). The main coins were tanka and jital but some smaller currencies were also in circulation. Barani mentions dangs and dirams in use at the capital Delhi. The equation between these currencies in the north has been worked out as: 1 silver tanka = 48 jital = 192 dangs = 480 dirams

The gold and silver remitted from Bengal was the main source of coinage during the 13th century. The seizure of treasure hoards in northern India and later in t b Deccan was the other major source of silver and gold for coinage.

The Sultanate mints should not only have coined government money but also stamned hlillion and fore i~n coins hrow~ht hv the nrivate merchant<

The silver currency remained dominant till the reign of Alauddin Khalji. From Ghiyasuddin TughluQ's reign, a decline in silver coinage in relation t ~ ' ~ o l d and billon

. set in. Under Muhammad Tughluq gold coinage overshadowed the silver, and silver coinage practically disappeared under Feroz Tughluq. In the 15th cenfury, billon winage dominated (the Lodis (1451-1526) uttered no other coins).

Token Currency of Muhammad Tughluq

The only major innovation in the currency system established by Iltutmish was made by Muhammad Tughluq. The Sultan introduced a coin of copper and brass alloy and reckoned it at the value of a silver tanka. This win for the first time camed an inscription in Persian. This new currency who~e face value was much higher than its intrinsic value (that is, value of the metal it was made of) is termed as token currency. The introduction of tdken currency was already attempted in sister Asian empires. In China, Qublai Khan (1260-94) had introduced a token currency of paper and the experiment was successful. In Persia, Kaikhatu Khan (!293), too, tried to introduce a token currency but thre attempt failed.

Muhammad Tughluq's experiment, too, met total failure perhaps owing to the fact that the new currency could easily be forged. Barani says rhetorically that every 'Hindu' household became a mint. However, the Sultan accepted the failure with grace and exchanged all the token currency brought to the treasury with pure currency. --

Check Your Progress 4 1) Discuss the introduction of 'token currency'.

.........................................................................................................

......................................................................................................... 2) Mark ( y ) against the statement if it is true and (X) if false.

(a) Alauddin Khalji established the currency system of the Sultanate.

(b) One silver tanha was equal to 48 jitals in North India.

(c) The main sourae of silver for coinage in the Deccan were the treasure hoards 9

of the local rulers. - (d) Silver coins in Feroz Tughluq's reigh outnumbered gold coins. '"t

19.6 SLAVERY AND SLAVE TRADE -

The Ghorians found slavery in existence in India where it had an ancient history. They certainly had no ethical qualms about it. Slavery was permitted in Islam and it was prevalent in the Islamic world. According to Irfan Habib, the Ghaznavid and the Ghorid invasions of Ndrthern India, like Julius Caeser's invasions of Britain, were partly for acquiring slaves. The success of a campaign was to be measured by the number of captives acquired along with gold, silver, cattle and horses. Qutbuddin Aibak captured 20 thousand slaves in his Gujarat campaign of 1195 and 50 th9,usand slaves in raid on Kalinjar in 1202. Even after the establishment of the Sultanat, the enslavement continued through campaigns in yet to be wnquerred areas. One of the main objects of Balbanls raid of Ranthambor and Malik Kafur's campaigns in the Deccan was to get slaves.

Another source of getting captives was the plunder raids of rebellious villages (mawas) in the Sultanate that refused to pay the k h a M or tribute. The number of slaves received from these sources was tnormous. There were 50,000 slaves in Alauddin Khalji's (12991316) establishment. The number increased to 1,80,000 under Feroz Tughluq (135.1-88). Besides the Sultans, nobles had their private large retinues of slaves induding large number of concubines. Even the respectabls poor kept slaves,

!

i: The slwes were of meai use to the new ruling class that needed things fashioned to

their taste. At the beginning, it pight have been somewhat difficult for the traditional . Indian craftsmen and artisans to adjust themselves to the demands of the new aristocracy and to new production technology such as spinning wheel, carding bow, etc. The previously unskilled slpves could be trained in any craft. Feroz Tughlua's slaves included 12,000 artisaas.

There was a large slave market. The prices of slaves of the twc sexes arid ci srious ages fixed under Alauiidin Khalji are recorded by Barani. The abundance or slaves encouraged continuous export of slaves from India to the Islamic World. But Feroz Tughluq prohibited the export of slaves.

I ' Check Your Progress 5 1) Indicate the correct statement by marking (d) and wrong by (X).

(a) Slaves were maintained only by the Sultan and his nobles.

(b) Ghorid campaigns were partly invasions of slave raiders.

(c) Feroz Tughluq had a large number of slaveaartisans.

(d) Alauddin Khalji prohibited export of slaves from India.

2) What were the main sources of supply of slaves in the Delhi Sultanate?

19.7 LET US SUM UP

In this Unit, you have studied the impact of the Delhi sultanate on Indian economy w e have traced how gradually the previously existing systems of revenue collection

-and distribution changed, cash nexus grew, and pure silver currency was introduced.

19.8 KEY .WORDS

A coper coin; 48 jitd = 1 tanka

Grain Merchants

Land revenue

Estimated revenue

Rebellious aredvillage where land revenue was extracted by the , use of force

A Muslim educational institution

Revenue free grants

See Block 5

Iqta-holder/provincial governor

" 19.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS I EXERCISES

1 - Check Your Progress 1 I I 1) See Sub -sec. 19.2.'1

-. - - . - - -

Econom) of Delhi Sultanate I

Check Your ~ro~ress i2 . . .

1) See Sub - r e c 19.p. I

2) (a) d (b) x (c) T

Check Your Progress 3

1) See Sec. 19.4 -. 2) See Sec. 19.4

Check Your Progress 14

1) See Sec. 19.5

2) (a) x (b) d (c)

Check Your Progress 5

1) (a) x (b) d (c) v (dl x.

2. See Sec. 19.6 ,

UNIT 20 AGRARIAN STRUCTURE

Structure 0 . 0 Ol>jcctivcs

2 . I I~~lrc)t luc-l io~~ . 0 . Agricultu~.;~l I'rotluclio~~

2 . 2 . I (".OIPS;IIII~ 0thr.r Agrict~ltur;tl I'rt~~lttcs

211.2.2 .(*;tt1;11 lrrig:t~ta~t~ ; t t r ~ l 11s IIII~P~IC~

2 0 . 3 Agr;lri;ln l<cl ;~ l io~~s 3 . 3 I 1'r~~ls:lll~s

20.3.2 l<t~r;~l Itt~~~rtrt~11i;tri~~s

. 4 I .ct 1 IS SLIIII \11> I . Key Wortls

0 . AIISW~~S ( t i ('kc.ck'Yotrr I'rogrcss Iini-c~-i'isc.s

-- -

20.0 OBJECTIVFS

III t l~ is \ ! ~ ~ i t . wc will iliscuss tllc. ;I~~;II:~;III c c o ~ ~ t ~ ~ ~ ~ y tl11ri11g I l l~ 13111- 14111 cc .~~ l~~r ics . We- will ;IIW tly t~ g;lugc ill wllilt W;IYS tllc CSI~ I~~~S~I I I I~ . I~~ of t l l ~ I )~ l l~ i SUII;III:IIC ,:~l'l'cc.tetl 1l1c. :~gr ic~~ l~ur ; r I ~> roc luc~ io~~ ;111tl ;rgr;rri;~l~ rc.l;rlio~ls. Al'lcr going tllrough this \ Init. yo11

~ l \ i ~ t l I t l ; l l>lc~ to Ic;1r11 ;1I>ot11:

tllc cxlc-111 ol' c.ulliv:~lic~~~, lllc crops grown by Illc. IX:IS;III~, ~;III;I~ ir~igilti011 ;III~ ils

~IIII>;ICI, :IIICI

I 1 will of c.oursc. I>c. IIIII'~.;IS~II;I~>~C l o c*xpcc.l'~l~il tllc cst;~l>lisll~~lcnl of III~. I)c.llli SII~I:III;IIC wo11ltl Il;lvc. cl'li.c~ctl ri~tIic;~l c11:111gc~s in the SYS~CIII of ; ~ g r i c ~ ~ l t u r i ~ l l x o ( l ~ ~ c . ~ i o ~ ~ . I llcnlph the COIII~II~ ol' cc.rt;lil~ I I ~ W ~c.c'l~~~ologic.s scc.111 to II;IVC Ilcll>c-tl

icrig;~tio~l ;IIICI 111c.r~ was sprc;1il ol' SOIII~* 111i1rket crtq9s SIICII ;IS i ~~ t l i g t ) ;III~I gr;~l>c.s. I lowc.vc.r. i t was tllc. ;~gr;lri;l~l rcI:11io11s tl1;11 IIIICI~~W~III 3 signiCi~i1111 c.Ii;~k~gc-. ACcorclillg f t ) I). 0. KOS~IIII~I~. IIICSC C~I;III~C'S tlitl IIO IIIO~C' III;III i111c11sit'y t11~ ~-ITIII~*III~ :III.~:I(IY I ) ~ - c ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ ill l l l t l i ;~ 'I'II~~;I~~sI~I'. WII~I~ MII~;IIIIIII;I~~ t !:lhiI> ~.cg;~rtIs IIIC'SC fo I lc- 1101

ollly r;~tiic.al ~III so (>rog~.cssivc- 111 Ilaturc ~II;II lo II~III Ihcsc iIcsc*~-vctI IIIC i I e ' ~ i ~ ~ l ; ~ l i o ~ l o f 'rur;11 rc.vcdt~rio~l'.

The control over bits o land was, therefore, not as important as on.persons cultivating them We 4 11 discuss the implications of this for agrarian relations at the prop.tr place. Hc 'ever) the land-man ratio is also cmcial for understanding the nat of agricul rre. 4 favourable ratio of land to man naturally implies agriculture to t ,: extensive. .n simple terms, extensive agriculture is that where the increase in production is attempted by bringing more area under crop. On the other hand, ;~g~iculture is called intdnsive if the production is sought to be increased on the same tract by using higher agt.icultural inputs: for example, more labour, better ploughiag 'ind irrigation. Owing to abundance of cultivable land in the Delhi Sultanate, agriculture was extensive in nature. The large area of cultivable waste and fallows n,i:,-rally provided good pasturage facility for cattle. The author of the M d i k d Ah-.ar records that in Iqdia cattle were innumerable and their prices were low. Afif I <,ports that no village in Doab was without a cattle-pen which were called kharaks. t;,lllocks were so plentiful that the pack-animals and not the bullock-carts were the >,sin means of carryingigrains and other goods.

20.2.1 Crops and oiher Agricultural Produce One of the most remarGable feature of the agriculture of the time was the large number of crops grown by the peasants of the Delhi Sultanate. This has perhaps no parallel in other parts of the wo_rld except perhaps in South China. Ibn Battuta was struck by the multiplicity of crops grown and described in sufficient detail the various crops grown in the two cfropping seasons. He also suggests that in the region around Delhi double cropping was also practised, that is, on the same soil both the kharif and the rabi crops were raiqd. Thakkur Pheru, the mint-master at Delhi under Alauddin Khalji, writing in c. 12% lists some twenty-five crops grown under two harvests and ; gives also their yields. While the yields cannot be comprehended owing to the uncertainty of the units used, one gets a fairly good idea of the crops raised. Among food crops, he mentions, wheat, barley, paddy, millets - juar, moth etc. arid pulses (mash, mung lentils, etc,). For cash crops, sugarcane, cotton, oil-seeds, sesamurn, linseed, etc. are referred to.

One may perhaps legitirbately assume that improved facilities of higation w o J d have hetpcd extend the area under rabi (winter) crops suck as Wheat, sugarcane etc. With the 'Islamic raiderd' making of wine from sugarcane became widespread and a new rural industry emer&ed,at least around Delhi and in the Doab by the 14th century as is evident from Baraqi's account. Thakkur Pheru surprisingly omits the dye-crop (indigo) though its prodvction is testified to by the fact that indigo was already an important item of export to Persia. It is recorded thar the I1 Khanids tried to encourage indigo plantation in Persia to avoid dependence upon India for its supply. The probable use of lime-mortar in the indigo-vats by providing apknproved surface should have helped the qnanufacture of dye.

From Ibn Battuta's accohnt, we get information on fruit growing in thk Delhi Sultanate. It appears thar technique of 'grafting' was not known by peasants. Earlier grapes were grown only Cn the few places besides Delhi but Muhammad Tughluq's urging to peasants to improve cropping by shifting from wheat to sugarcane to grapes and Feroz Tughluq's laying down of 1200 orchards in the vicinity of Delhi to grow seven varieties of grapes seems to have made them so abundant that, according to Afif, the prices of grapes fell.

However, the Indian peqsants did not practise sericulture (rearing of silk-worm) at that time and no true silq was produced. Only wild and semi-wild silks,namely, tasar, eri and m u p were knoNn. Ma Huan, the Chinese navigator in 1432, makes the first reference to sericulture ib Bengal.

20.2.2 Canal irrigation and Its Impact Agriculture was general]$ dependent upon natural irrigation, that is, rains and floods. Since cultivation was largely based o,n natural irrigation, the tendency was to grow mostly single, rain-waterpd kharif (autumn) crop and coarse grains more. /

Canal irrigation is described in our sources. The Delhi Sultans themselves got the canals cut for irrigation. /Ghiyasuddin Tughluq (1320-25) is reported to be the f i~s t Sultan to dig canals. But he cutting of canals in a much bigger way was undertaken by f Feroz Tughluq (1351-88),. Feroz Tughluq cut two canals from the river Yamuna

carrying them to Hissar. one from the Kali river in the Doab joining the Yamuna near Delhi; one each from the Sutlej {nd the Ghaggar. Certainly, it was the biggest canal network in India till the 19th century.

Canal irrigation helped greatly in the extension of cultivation in the eastern Punjab. Now there was an emphasis on the cultivation of cash crops like sugarcane, etc. that required more water than other crops. Afif says that a long stretch of land of about 80 krohs (200 miles) vast irrigated by the canal Rajabwah and Ulughkhani. According to Afif, as a result of abundance water available, peasants in the eastern Punjab raised two harvests (kharif and rabi) where only one was possible earlier. This led to new agticultural settlements along the banks of the canals. In the areas irrigated by the canals 52 such colonies sprang up. Afif comments enthusiastically, "neither one village remained desolate nor one cubit of land uncultivated."

Cheek Your Rogress 1 1) What were the implications of the prevailing favourable land to man ratio during

the Delhi Sultanate?

.......................................................................................................... 2) Write a note on canal irrigation.

.......................................................................................................... .-

3) Which of the following statements are correct or wrong? (Mark or X)

i) Muhammad Tughluq built a number of canals for irrigation. ii) Double cropping was practised during the Sultanate period in the Doab. iii) ~ericulture was practised by Indian pEasants during the 13th-14th centuries.

20.3 AGRARIAN RELATIONS

Crucial to any discussion of agrarian economy is, indeed, the nature and extent of change that resulted in the agrarian relations since the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. This involves. first of all, an assessment of the pre-1200 agrarian structhre. Without entering into the debate whether the prevailing socio-economic order deserves the appellation 'feudal' or not, we can perhaps say with some certainty, that on the eve of the Ghorid conquest, the ruling class.was heavily ruralized like contemporary feudal aristocracy of Western Europe.

Minhaj Siraj designates the chiefs opposing the Ghorians and the early Delhi Sultans . as rai and rana and their cavalry commanders as rawaeFrom the epi'graphic evidence from different parts of Northern India, the earlier feudal hierarchy of raja (rai), ranaka (rana) and rauta (rawat) is fairly well established.

In the early phase. the Sultans tended to enter into settlement with this defeated and subjugated rural aristocracy. As discussed earlier, kharaj was largely the tribute imposed upon them. It seems that e v e ~ a f t e r the replacement of this tribute by vigorously assessed tax imposed on the peasants under Alauddin Khalji, the older rural aristocracy had some role to play in revenue collection. This can be inferred from an incident of Alauddin Khalji's reign. Ghazi Malik, the governor of Dipalpur '

when wanted to pressurise Rana Mal Bhatti. according to Afif, one of the rais (rajas)

Agrarian Structure

lic;~dmcn) and chaudhudis. The incidcnt suggests that though the members of auhjug;~ted i~risloeracv. rherever present, werc at leilst t i l l the earlv years of the 14th ccntul.y, held responsit~lc for collcctinp;~~id paying the land revcnuc. The administration, too . exercised the right to collcct it directly through village headmen and cbaudhuris.

20.3.1 Peasants !

1!1 Cultiv;~tion was hascd o individu;~l pc;~s;~t~t. farming. Hut this pc;t.s;lnt economy was not at ;III cg~l i t i~r i ;~n . 1' c sizc of land cultiv;~tcd by 1hc.111 prci111y varied in sizc. From

' .

. , Barani's i~ccount it i ~ p p ars t l i :~l a1 one cstrcmc werc the khots anti muqaddams . , 1 having large holdings ;II cl enjoyilig superior rights on ordinary pasants; and at tlic

.

oihcr was the habhar, t c vill;lgc nicnial holding i1 petty plot of land. Hclow tlic Ixasilnt. thcrc must h;l\.iF hCc~i a tn;iss of landlcss labourers hut their presence col~ltl only he disccrncil from Ihc Ixtcr sources. since wc did 1101 find any mention in contcmpcjrar~ accourltxj

! In spite o f tlic ahundan+c 01' ct~l~iv;~lrle Ii~ntl. there was no proprietary right o f the peasant over the I;lnd Ilk tillccl. 0 1 1 the contrary. .cven on his producc there wmc claims of the supcrior c[;~sses. 71'lic peasant. though recognised n 'free horn' at times was deprived of the frrcedom t o Ic;~ve thc I;~lid at will or t o change the domicile.

. ,

According to Afif. ;I vill;~gc Ii;~tl 2lY) to 3(H1 nialt' nic~nhcrs and Rariini says that each villagc hid a patwari tti keep accounts. I-lishnhi (;~ccount register) was scrutinized to discover every p;~vnicnti. Icg;~l or illegal. made hy the peasants t o the revenue officials. Thc patwari was not n hovcrnment officiill hut a vill;lgc official. fle was certainly not a creation o f thc I)clhi bult;ln;~tc. .l'lic prcscnce of ;I village clerk for.njaintaining accounts may sbppcst thi~t tlic vill;~gc was an administrative unit outside the adniinistr;~tivo S!lstc~i~ ({l' the Sult ;~~i;~tc. I t seems th;~l tlic villase was collectively a tax paying unit othcrwiac $h!. ;I clerk to keep villugc j~ccounts was needed. The presence . of patwnri ; I I I ~ the 11:1tu c o f his duties thus indicate cxistcncc of village community. It sccms that in spite of A 1 itudclin ~1ialji's.cf'orts'to asstsss the tax on individual peasant, in pri~cticc the villi~gc c+ntinuccl to rcliiai~i the unit of land rhenue payment: Barani's complaints qhout the 'ldurdcn of tlic rich fallins on the poor' further indicates that the uilliigc commu~iit!. w;~slnot a n ide;ll i~istitutic~n hut itself a machinery of exploitation.

20.3.2 Rural lnterbediaries You have ;~lrc;ldy rcsdlin Block 5 aljout tlic rural aristocracy called khaQ, muqaddrrms and ch.aut(huris. 7'hey helongui to thc highest stratum of the peasantry. From Harani's i~ccou~il/ it ;~ppc;~rs that hcforc Alauddin Khalji's agrarian measures : they held rcvcnuc frcc lands. A> a el;~ss, the village headmen were prosperous. Barani with malacious plc;lsuri. records thilt Ali~udttin Khalji imposed fuU land revenue upon tlicm and witlidrcw 1114 cuc~ii j~t io~i froni house and grazing tax. He prohibited them fro111 lekyi~lg an\ ~.c.sscb of their ow11 ;11ic1 thus he kvelled them to the ordinary

I

~Ic;ls;lnts. I

llo~vcvcr. \111cc thcac Iural internirdi:~rtcs were necessary for the system of land revenue rca l~~at ion . t esc stern measures against them were not to last longer. Ghiyasuddin l'ughluq ~ntroduccd moderation. The exemption from grazing as well as tax on thcir onn c u l t ~ ~ i ~ t ~ o n was grantcd again. But they were not allowed to impme ;my cc\\ upln the peasantry. They received further concessions under Feroz Tughluq and,intc~cstlngly cnoygh,thcse concessions and a resulting affluence are very approvingly dcacr~hedi hy Harnn~. \

'1

Aniong these rural In er~iiediaric~, the chaudhuri seems to have emerged during the 14th century. Hc is no mcntioncd hy Minhaj br any other source of the 13th century. It is during the middl c ~ f the 14th century that he makes hls appearance in Barani's account. Ibn Battuta 1 efines him as the 'chief of a group of l(H! villages' he c a f l s w . ) However. the usual tdrm from the middle of the 14th century for a group of villagesis par gana. lrfan Habi suggests thar the chaudhuri was in fact a successor. though much reduced in aut $ ority, of the head of the c h r u r d (group of eighty four villages) of Gujara-Pratiharas bnd Chalukyas.

From the time of Ferbz Tughluq. all thcse intermediaries werc given a blanket

Check Your Progress 2 1) Write 50 words o n each of the following:

(a) Village Community

(b) Chaudhuri /

.................................................................................................... (c) Patwari

2) Put (d) against correct and (x) against incorrect statement given below:

(a) During the Delhi Sultanate peasant had proprietory rights over their holding.

(b) The patwari was a village official who maintained an accounts book.

(c) During the Sultanate period cultivable land on laGe scale

was yet to be brought under cultivation.

20.4 LET US SUM UP

To sum up. in the present Unit we have focussed on the agrarian structure - agricultural production, means of irrigation, peasants and the rural intermediaries -of the Delhi Sultanate. During this period large scale cultivable land was yet to be brought under cultivation. Double cropping was prevalent in the Doab. Canals were the major source of artificial irrigation. At village level differentiation (hierarchy) existed between the superior right holders (khots, muqaddams and chaudhuris) and the ordinary peasants (raiyat).

Cash-crops : Crops produced for markets

Distillation : Lit. substance was turned to vapour by heating. then the condensed yapour was collected

KrohrKuroh : Used for measuring distance. 1 Kuroh = 2.5 miles

Kharif : Autumncrop

Kharaks : Cattle-pens

Rabi : . Winter crop - - ..

Agrarian Structure

Economy of Delhl Sultanate 20.6 ANSWER8 TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

EXERCISBS

Check Your Rognsp 1 1) See Sec. 20.2 2) See Sub-sec. 20.2.2 3) (i) X (ii) V (iii) x

Check Your Prognrs 2 1) See Sub-sec. 20.3.1+20.3.2 2) (4 x (b)V (c) V

UNIT 21 RISE OF URBAN ECONOMY TRADE & COMMERCE

Structure 21.0 Objectives 21.1 introduction 21.2 Growth of Towns 21.3 Urban ~anufac tu re s 21.4 Trade and Commerce

21.4.1 Inland Trade 21.4.2 Foreign Trade: Seaborne and Overland 21.4.3 Commercial Classes 21.4.4 Transport

21.5 Let Us Sum Up 21.6 Key Words 21.7 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

21.0 OBJECTIVES

In this Unit, you will study the development of urban economy and expansion of trade during the 13th-14th centuries. After reading this Unit, you should be able to learn that in the Delhi Sultanate three interrelated developments occurred :

a considerable increase in the size and possibly in the number of towns, a marked rise in craft production, and a corresponding expansion in commerce.

21.1 INTRODUCTION

The available evidence suggest that the urban economy on the eve of the Ghorid conquest waq on a low ebb. The towns were fewer in number and smaller in size in the centuries preceding the establish'ment of the Delhi Sultanate. D.D.Kosambi shows that even the capital was a camp city on the move. The higher ruling class wandered from place to place along with the army while the lower ruling class was almost completely ruralized. This view of urban decline has been supported by R.S. Sharma who has cqnvincingly reasserted his theory of urban decay with the help of enormous archaeological data painstakingly collected.

This theory of decay of towns is further corroborated by the evidence of sluggish trade: The near complete disappearance of gold and silver currencies and the almost total absence of foreign coins in the Indian coin-hoards of the period are indicators that the foreign trade was at a very low scale. Moreover, the fact that not even the coins of various regional dynasties are found in the coin-hoards of other regions ,suggests that inland commerce was not widespread. All this scenario changed almost immediately with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. The archaeological and numismatic evidence corroborate the literary evidence of growth of towns and

- increase in commerce. This led Muhammad Habib to postulate a theory of 'Urban Revolution' as mentioned earlier in Unit 19.

21.2 GROWTH OF TOWNS

Before discussing the evidence of increase in number and size of towns, we must first understand what we mean by town. There are two simple definitions of a town : (a) the usual modern definition of a settlement of 5 0 0 or above, and (b) a settlement where an overwhelming majority of population (say above 70%) is engaged in occupations other than agriculture. The two definitions are not mutually exclusive but

Economy of Delhi Sultanate While the archaeological evidence available for earlier period is not forthcoming from the 13th-14th centuries owing to the much less attention paid to medieval archaeology, the literary dvidences testify growth of urbari centres. Some major towns ment i~ned~in the contemporary sources are Delhi (the capital), Multan, Anhilwara (Patan), Cambay, Kara, Lakhnauti and DaOlatabad (Deogiri). Lahore was a big town but decayed after the Motlgol invasion in the 13th century. However, in the 14th .

century it flourished again. While not even a guesstimate of the population of any town is available in our sOurces there are reliable indications to assume that at least some of these were cities big enough by contemporary standards. Ibn Battuta, who visited Delhi in 1330,.deseribes it as of enormous extent and population, the largest city in the Islamic East in spite of the fact that Muhammad Tughluq had shifted much of its population to Daulatabad. H e describes the latter too, as large enough to rival Delhi in size. Some new tDwns were established during the period, such as Jhain (Chhain) in Eastern Rajasthan that was named 'Shahr Nau' during Alauddin Khalji's reign (1296-1316).

Factors for Urban Expansion

f i e strength of the invader, of course, lay in combination and not in dispersal in an unfamiliar land and, thus, in initial stages, it was but natural for the members of the ruling class to prefer to stay at their iqta headquarters along with their cavalry. These iqta headquarters having the concentration of cavalry, its hangers - on and the retinue and household of the rnuqti thus emerged in the early phase as camp cities. Most of the 13th century towns are infact defined as iqta headquarters in our sources; for example, Hansi, Kara, Anhilwara, etc. These towns were to be fed and provided for. In the beginning, theltroops had to go for realising khar&j/mal by plundering the surrounding villages; but gradually by the 14th century, as pointed out by Moreland, cash nexus developed. The revenue was realised in cash from the peasants who were thus forced to sell their ptoduce at the side of the field. The merchants catered to the needs of towns giving risk to what we will discuss below as-'induced trade'.

The ruling class coming from a different cultural milieu had needs of leisure and comforts of a different type; they wanted songs in Persian'and dances of a different style, books, silk to wear and arcuate light architecture (not !he stone edifices). Out of the resources that were indeed enormous by contemporary standards at its command, the new rulers naturally.wanted to get luxuries and comforts of their taste which encouraged immigration from Islamic culture area. These immigrants were not only soldiers, but craftsman, artisans, singers, musicians, dancers, poets, physicians, astrologers and servicemen as described by Isami. The immigrant master-craftsman most probably introduced new techniques and articles of technology (you will read the details in Unit 22). In due course, Indian artisans must have learnt the new crafts. * Check Your Pfogress 1 I ) Enumerate the factors responsible for rise of towns during the 13th-14th centuries.

2) Mark the following stdements true (d) or false (X): a) The pre-1200 coin-hoards do not usually contain foreign coins. b) Lahore remained a big town during the Delhi Sultanate.

I

I 21.3 URBAN MANUFACTURES

' It seems that the urban craft droduction received a twofold impetus with the I establishment of the Delhi sultanate. First, the Sultanate ruling class remained I town-centered and spent the enormous resources it appropriated in the form of land

revenue mainly in towns, either on buying services or procuring manufacturers. Even the money spent on the service sector partly went to help the urban craft sector through multiplier effect. While the nobility created demand for high-priced skill-intensive luxury items, its hangers-on in all likelihood created a mass market for

I

I ordinary artisanal product.

The second factor that contributed to urban manufacturers was the introduction of a number of technological devices that reached India with the invaders. (You will learn

, about them in detail in the next Unit). In the luxury sector, silk weaving expanded and carpet-weaving came from Persia. The other notable urban manufacture was

I papermaking. Perhaps a major sector of urban employment was building industry. Barani says that Alauddin Khalji employed 7b,000 craftsmen for his buildings.

t One may well be justified in saying that there was considerably more masonary per acre of occupied space in the towns of 1400 than in those of 1200.

Organization of Production

It is indeed important to know how production was organized. Whether the town artisans carried out production under the 'domestic system', that is, they owned their tools, raw material and the end product and also sold their product themselves; in other words, whether they were self employed or while tools were their own and they worked at their homes, raw material was provided to them by the merchants, that is whether they worked under the 'putting-out system'. The contemporary iources shed little light on these aspects. One can, however, legitimately assume that since the tools of production even after the introduction of new devices were still simple and mainly of wood and little of iron should have remained cheap. The artisan wis thus master of his own tools, though varied forms of labour organization seem to be prevalent. Certain artisans hawked or hired out their services such as cotton-card& who with a bow- string on his shoulder, went door to door selling his services as is evident from the account given in Khair-ul Majalis. Spinning was done usually by women staying at their homes. The weavers too usually worked at their own looms at home weaving'cloth for sale, out of the yam bought or spun by theplselves. They also worked on wages to weave yarn supplied to them by customers. But if the raw material was expensive such as silk or gold of silver thread, etc. and the products were luxury items, the craftsmen were to work in karkhanas under supervision. We have definite iniormation about the Sultans and high nobles maintaining these karkhanas where the production.was to cater to their own needs and contrary to D.D.Kosambi's assumption was not for market. Shahabuddin al Umari records in his Masalik-ul Absar that in Muhammad Tughluq's karkhanas at Delhi, four thousand silk workers worked as embroiderers. According to Afif, Feroz Tughluq's karkhanas produced cloth and carpets in a big way. While there is no suggestion in our sources, we may only conjecture that perhaps merchants also maintained karkhanas where production was for salc.

I \ ';.

Check Your prog;-ess 2 1 ) Discuss the factors that contributed to the expansion of urban manufactures

during the 13th-14th centuries.

................................................................. t . . . . . ....................................

.......................................................................................................... 2) Briefly d k u s s thelvarious forms of labour organisation in uiban centres. '.

21.4 TRADE AND COMMERCE

We have seen that thkre emerged some considerably big flourishing towns as well as numerous townships during the 13-14th centuries. These towns naturally needed to be fed and supplied raw material for craft production. At the same tinye, there was . growing practice of l a d revenue realization in cash. By the time of Alauddin Khalji, the cash-nexus came to be well developed and the-ruling class tended to claim almost the entire peasant suhlus by attempting to reduce the share of rural intermediaries, as we have seen in the previous Unit. .

Both these factors wehe conducive to the development of inland trade. T o pay the land revenue in cash, the peasantry was forced to sell its surplus produce while merchants had a marldet in newly emerged towns for agricultural products. This trade resulting from the compulsions of land revenue system is termed as 'induced trade'

21.4.1 Inland Trade ... The inland trade devdloped at two levels : (a) the short distance village-town trade in commodities of bulk,'and (b) long distance inter-town trade in high value goods. The village-town trade, as hlready explained, was a natural consequence of the emergence of towns and realizatibn of land revenue in cash. The urban centres were dependent for supply of food grdns and raw material for manufactures from the surrounding villages whereas the villages had to sell the agricultural prodpcts to receive cash for meeting the land revepue demand. The peculiar nature of this trade was the one-way flow of commodities. While the towns received grains and raw material from the villages in the vicinity! they had no need to send their products in'exchange to the villages which were by and large self-sufficient. This one-way trade was owing to the land revenue demand imposed upon villages which naturally led to a continuous drain on rural sector and mbde the towns dependent on villages. The turnover of this trade was high in terms of volume but was low in terms of value. The commodities were . food grains, that is wheat, rice. gram, sugarcane, etc. and raw material like c%{on for - urban manufactures. I

The inter-town trade was mainly in luxury articles and was thus high value trade. The manufactures of One town were taken to another : for example Barani reports . that Delhi, the capita] itself, received distilled wines from Kol (Aligarh) and Meerut. muslin (fine cloth) frdm Devagiri and striped cloth from Lakhnauti (Bengal) while, according to Ibn Battota, ordinary cloth came from Awadh and betel-leaf from Malwa (twenty-four d!ays journey from Delhi). Candy sugar was supplied to Multan from Delhi and Laholie and ghi from Sirsa (in Haryana). ,

The long distance inter-town trade also carried goods coming from other countries

exit-points. Multan was perhaps the great entrepot for overland fore~gn trade and served as a centre of re-export, while Gujarat port t o h s such as Broach and Cambay were exchange centres for overseas trade

21.4.2 Foreign Trade : Seaborne and Overland During the Sultanate period, overland and overseas trade were in a flourishing state.

Seaborne Trade

The Khalji annexation of Gujarat must have enlarged trade relat~ons between the Delhi Sultanate and the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea Gujarat was connected with the Persian Gulf as well as the Red Sea. Hormuz and Basra were the chief ports for the ships passing through the Persian Gulf, while the ports of Aden, Mocha andJedda along the Red Sea were important for Gujarat. Through these ports, commodities . moved on to Damascus and Aleppo, on the one hand, and Alexandria on the other. Aleppo and Alexandria opened upto the Mediterranean Sea with linkages to Europe. Merchandise of Gujarat were also carried towards the East - the port of Malacca situated at the Malacca straits and Bantam and Achin in the Indonesian archipelago.

A European traveller Tome Pires, who came to India in the first decade of the 16th century,comments on the trade of Cambay as follows :

"Cambay chiefly stretches out two arms : with her right arm she reaches out towards Aden,with the other towards Malacca.. . ."

Pires further says : "Malacca cannot live without Cambay, nor Cambay without Malacca, if they are to be very rich and very prosperous. If Cambay were cut-off from trading with Malacca, it could not live, for it would have no outlet for its merchandise."

The main export from Gujarat to Malacca was the coloured cloths manufactured in Cambay and other Gujarat towns. These cloths were in demand in these places. In exchange, the Gujarati merchants came back withspices grown there. This pattern of "spices for coloured cloths" continued even after the Portuguese advent in the Asian waters.

Varthema, an Italian traveller, who came to India during the firkt decade of the 16th century.says that about 300 ships (annually?) of different countries come and go from Cambay. He adds that about 400 "Turkish" merchants resided at Diu.

The I1 Khanid court historian Wassaf reports that 10,000 horses were annually exported to ~ a ' b a r and Cambay from Persia. The Broach coin-hoards (see Unit 19) containing the coins of the Delhi Sultans along with the gold and silver coins of Egypt, Syria, Yeman, Persia, Genoa, Armenia and Venice further testifies to largerscale overseas trade.

The ports of Bengal had trading relations with China, Malacca and Far East. ~extiles, 1 sugar and silk fabrics were the most important commodities exported from Bengal.

, Varthema noted that about fifty ships carried these commodities annually to many I places, including Persia. Bengal imported salt from Hormuz and sea-shells from the

Maldive islands. The latter were used as coins in Bengal, Orissa and Bihar.

Sindh was yet another region from where seaborne trade was carried on. Its most well-known port was Daibul. This region had developed close commercial relations with the Persion Gulf ports more than the Red Sea zone. Sindh exported special cloths and dairy products. Smoked-fish, too, was its speciality.

I Coastal Trade , . I .

It was natural for the coastal trade to flourish right from Sindh to Bengal, touching 1 Gujarat, Malabar and Commandel coasts in between. .Thi; provided an opportunity I for exchange of regional products along the'coastal line distinct from inland I inter-regional trade. -

Overland Trade

Multan was the ,major trading 'centre for overland trade. India was connected to th Central Asia, Afghanistan and Persia through the Multan-Quetta route. But, on ,.---.--& -----*-.-I X#----l +..---:I i- Pa-+--I A -:- - -A De--:- +hic ..,-.- 1-00

Rise of Urban Econc~:. and Trade and Comn.. .

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Imports and Exports Ri of Urban Economy and Trade and Commerce

The two principal items of import were : (a) horses - that were always in demand for cavalry since superior horses were not bredi? I@ia and Indian climate was not well- suited to Arabian and Central Asian horses. They were primarily imported from Zofar (Yemen), Kis, Hormuz, Aden and Persia; (b) precious metals viz. gold and. silver, especially silver that was not at all mined in India but for which there was a high demand not only for metallic currency but also for fashioning luxury items. Brocade and silk stuffs were imported from Alexandria, Iraq and China. Gujarat was the major centre from where the luxury articles from Europe used to enter.

The Sultanate India mainly exported grain and textiles. Some of the Persian Gulf regions totally depended on India for their food supply. Besides, slaves were exported to Central Asia and indigo to Persia along with numerous other commodities. Precious stones like agates were exported from Cambay.

The Portuguese Advent

In spite of brisk trading activities, Indian merchants' share in the overseas trade was negligible. Only a small section of Gujarati Banias, Chettis of the South and domicile Indian Muslims used to take part in this large trading activity. Trade was mainly in the hands of the Arab Merchants. With the landing of the Portuguese at Calicut in A.D. 1498 after the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope, a new dimension was added to the Indian seaborne trade, that is, the 'element of force'. On account of better ships armed with cannons, the Portuguese soon imposed their commercial hegemony over the trading world of Asia, includiq the Indian seas, especially in Western part. This curtailed the Arabs' share of the Indian trade, though they survived in the Eastern part, especially at Malacca along with the Indian merchaffts.

The Portuguese took Goa in 1510 which became their headquarters, Malacca fell in them hands in 1511. Hormuz in 1515; and Bassem and Diu In 1534 and 1537 respectively. Goa, under their patronage, soon developed as a major centre for import and export. The Portuguese well understood the strategic importance of Goa, which in their opinion, was essential to the maintenance of their position in India.. But the Portuguese possession of Goa was unfavourable to other Western Indian ports. Tome P~res had rightly observed that the Muslim rulers of the Deccan and Gujarat had "a bad neighbour in Goa". Many ports on the west coast fell into decay during the hundred years of the Portuguese domination In the Indian waters. This happened as a result of the aggressive policies of the Portuguese : i) they controlled the sea-routes,

ii) controlled the type and volume of cargo carried by other merchants, and

iii) they introduced the system of issuing cartaz (from Persian qirta = paper sheet) which was a kind of permit to ply ships in the Asian waters without which the . ships were liable to be confiscated and the cargo plundered. A fee was charged for issuing a cartaz. No wonder, then, all these policies adversely affected the seaborne carrying trade of the Indians as well as of the Arabs.

21.4.3 Commercial Classes Two types of merchants are mentioned in the sources of the Delhi Sultanate : the karwanis or nayaks and Multanis. The merchants specialising in carrying grains were designated by Barani as karwanis (a Persian word meaning those who moved together in large numbers). The contemporary mystic, Nasiruddin (Chiragh Delhi) calls them nayaks and describes them as those "who bring food grains from different parts to the city (Delhi) - some with ten thousand laden bullocks, some with twenty thousand" It can be said with a degree of certainty that these karwanis were the banjaras of succeeding centuries. As is clear from the Mughal sources, these were organised in groups and their headman called nayak.

The other important group of merchants mentioned in our sources was that of the Multanis. Barani says that the long distance trade was in the hands of these merchants. They were engr)ged in usury and commerce (sud o sauda). It appears that the sahas and Multanis were rich enough to give ioans even to nobles, who, according to Barani, were generally in need of cash. The sahas and Multanis were generally Hindu, but at least some Muslims also were among the Multani merchants:

merchant). Besides these well defined merchant groups, others who had p chosen could take to trade : thus a s*fi (mystic) from Bihar became a slave-merchant trading between Delhi and Ghazni, and a number of pious men from Central Asia came to Delhi and became merchant$.

Another important commerc{al class that emerged during the Sultanate period was that of the dallals (brokers). h e y worked as a )ink between the buyer and the seller and took commission from bdth the parties. Barani says that they were the 'masters of market' (hakimnn bsenr) : they were instrumental in raising prices in ihe market. Alauddin Khalji used to condult them about the cost of production of every article in the market in order to fix priaes. The reference to 'Chief brokers4 mihtrm-i d d b h ) by Barani also suggests a somewhat well established guild of brokers, though the details are lacking. ~ o w e v e r l during Alauddin Khalji's reign these 'Chief brokers were severely dealt with. But by Feroz Tughluq's reign, they seem to have regained their position. Feroz Tughlu had abolished rlslnlrt-i bezPrh. (a tax on broker's licence; a cess on brokers). 1 esides, even if a deal between the buyer and t'he seller failed to materialize, the bro ers were not supposed to retwn the commission money. This also shows that during t e Tughluqs 'brokerage' became a fairly well-cstablished institution.

4 i

S a d s were yet another mebn t i l e group whose economic role was no less important than the brokers. b s money changers, they were most sought after by the merchants, especially the foreign ones who came to India with their native coins. The sarrPfs tested the metallic pabty of the coins (indigenous and foreign) and established the exchange-ratio. They alsq issued bills of exchange (Hindi: huadi: Persian: sldbj.) or letters of credit, thereby qcting as "bankers". The introduction of paper by the Turks into India accelerated the institution of bill of exchange. For all these troubles, the sarraf naturally charged his commission.

Thus, both the brokers and the sarrafs occupied pivotal position in the commercial world of their period; they were the custodians of several basic economic institutions. Indeed, no merchant could have dispensed with their services.

21.4.4 Transport It appears that the goods weae transported both by pack animals and on bullock-carts. Perhaps the share of the pack animals was more than the latter. Ibn Battuta mentions 30,000 mans of grains being transported on the backs of 3,000 bullocks from Amroha to Delhi. Bullock-carts were also used, according to Afif, for carrying passengers on payment. The pack-oxen were of course a cheap mode of transport travelling slowly, grazing as they went and mdving in large herds, thus reducing the cost of transport specially along the desert routes. Ibn Battuta describes that highways ran through the empire marked by minarets spaced at set distances. On the testimony of Shahabuddin a1 Umari, the author of the kasalik ul Abser, we may infer that efforts were made to create conditions conducive ko trade. Inns were built at each stage (mruudl). In Bengal, Iwaz Khalji built long embankments to safeguard from floods. Boats were employed for riverine routes to carry bulk goods, while large ships used for seabrone trade.

Check Y w r Progress 3 1) Write notes on:

a) Banjaras

. . ..........................................................................................................

b) Multank ,

...................................................................................................... c) Goods of import and export

........................................................................................................

........................................................................................................... d) 'Induced Trade'

.......................................................................................................... e) Brokers and sarrafs

. ........................................................................................................... 2) DiscuSs the factors responsible for the expansion of trade.

.......................................................................................................... 3) Describe the means of transport. . .

.......................................................................................................... 4) List major inland and overseas trade'-routes of the 13th-14th centuries.

..........................................................................................................

21.5 LET US SUM UP

Rise of U r b m Ecoaomy and Trade and Commerce

In this Unit you have studied that with the coming of the Turks trade and commerce increased. We see increase in the number of coin-hoards after A.D. 1200, and the emergence of large number of new towns. You have also read how manufacturing activities were organised at urban level, the main trading routes - born overland and . -. .* . - - - - - , z

Economy of Delhi Sultanate < -

and functions of the existing commercial classes - the karwanians, Multanis, brokers and sarrafs. You have also read, in spite of the brisk trading activitiesIndian merchants' participation was negligible and the overseas trade was almost monopoli d by the Arab merchants. During the closing years of our period of study,a new factor the 'Portuguese was also introduced with the discovery of new route via Cape of Good Hope that gradually transformed India's trading relations with the world in the coming year.

21.6 KEY WORDS

Domestic Production : Production in which tools as well as raw materials were owned by the artisans

Entrepot : Trading centrelport for import and exports

Mal : Land revenue

Putting-out system : Production in which the tools were owned by the artisans but ,. c<?\h \\.a\ \upplicd I,, ,hct Incrctl.int. - .

-

21.7 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCfSES

Check Your Progress . I 1 ) See Sub-sec. 21.2. I 2) (a) d (b) x (c)

Check Your Progress 2 1 ) See Sec. 21.3 2) See Sub-sec. 21.3.2

Check Your Progress 3 1 ) See Sec. 21.4 7) See Sub-see. 2 1.3.1 3) See Sub-sec. 21.4.4. 4) See Sub-sec. 21.4.1, 21.4.2.

UNIT TECHNOLOGY AND CRAFTS

\

. Structure 22.0 'Objectives ,

22.1 Introduction 22.2 Agricultural Technology

22.2.1 Plough 22.2.2 Sowing 22.2.3 Harvesting, Threshing and Winnowing 22.2.4 Irrigationat devices

'22.3 Textile Technology 22.3.1 Ginning, Carding and Spinning 22.3.2 Weaving

I 22.3.3 Dyeing and Printing

22.4 Building Construction 22.4.1 Lime Mortar

I 22.4.2 Arch and DomeNautted Roofing

22.5 Papermaking and Bookbinding 22.6 Military Technology

22.6.1 Stirrup 22.6.2 Horseshoe 22.6.3 Gunpowder and Fire-arms

22.7 Tincoating 22.8 Glass Manufacture ' 22.9 Shipbuilding 22.10 Distillation 22.11 Let Us Sum U p 22.12 Key Words 22.13 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

This unit introduces you to major crafts and technology that existed during the Delhi Sultanate. Afterxeading this Unit, you would learn about the following:

Agricultural technolbgy, Textile technology, Building Construction, Papermaking and Bookbinding.

. Military technology, Tincoating, Gl;l\\ manufacture,

r \ l~ \ l~ l~ t~ i ld ing . and *- '

l l l l i 0 1 1 i

There has never been any human settlement which did not use some kind of technique - or craft for its survival. In fact, the history of technology is no less important than

political o r economic studies. Technology is an inseparable part of the material culture of a society.

In this Unit, we are offering you a few glimpses of the state of Technology in India during the Delhi Sultanate.

The most remarkable aspect is the introduction of new articles of technology and new ,-.-nKte h., t h o ;--in---+ h , f ~ , c l ~ - ~ - t h ~ t ~ Q A o i t h ~ - r 4 ~ ~ , o l c . ~ ~ A A- oxrnl . ,oA tho I c l * m ; ~

Economy of Delhi Sultanate Therefore, our methodology is t o juxtapose the indigenous crafts and techndogy along with the new importations.

One thing that will strike p u is that by and large the tools, devices and implements were made of wood and earth, while iron was employed only when most necessary. Ropes, leather and bamboo, too, were used when the need arose. That is why they were inexpensive.

We have not gone into the'details of tools and implements used by different craftsmen. For example: hhmmer, saws, basola (adze), randa (plane), awl, axe, barma (bow-drill), pick-axt, shovel, chisel (tesha) and anvil, etc.

I

We have also left out mining and metallurgy. For the latter, it may be pointed out that - smelting of ore was carried out by using wood and charcoal. There was no "blast" furnace, but bellows served this need. Salt and diamond mining were very important ' industries. Salt was also procured by the natural evaporation of the saline sea-water collected systematically. I

22.2 AGRICULTURAL TECHNOLOGY

In this section we \kill discuss the main technological devices related to agriculture. .

22.2.1 Plough The use of hoe or hoeing was replaced by plough centuries back. Archaeological evidence from Kalibangan (Rajasthan) - an Indus valley culture site -for the use of 'ironless' plough is well-known, although the doubt remains whether it drawn by. '

men or oxen. Plough-cultivation employing oxen during the Vedic Age is, however, an established fact. The Iron Age, identified with the Aryan settlement in the Gangetic plain, contributed to the development of the plough in the sense that while the entire frame earlier wa6 of timber, the ploughshare/courter now was of iron. This metallic piece immensely k l p e d in the tillage of comparatively hatder soil. An illustration in the M i M - u l Fuzala - a Persian lexicon compiled in about A.D. 1460 in Malwa - clearly shows the plough with an ironshare drawn by two yoked oxen. Unlike Europe, India could not develop horse-drawn wheeled-plough for the reason that our plough was light in weight suited for the soft soil.

22.2.2 Sowing Technology end Crafts

For sowing, the method of broadcasting was known. The practice was to scatter seeds manually by taking them out from a cloth-bag slung over shoulders. The time-scale of seed-drill in India is controversial : some would trace it back to the Vedic Age. At any rate, the only positive evidence for its use along the western coast of India comes from one Portuguese - Barbosa (c. 1510) - in connection with the wet-cultivation of rice.

22.2.3 Harvesting, Threshing and Winnowing Harvesting was performed with a sickle, and threshing by using oxen who walked round and round over the ears put on the threshing floor. "Wind power" was exploited in winnowing in order to separate the chaff from the grain.

22.2.4 Irrigational Devices There were many sources of water for the purpose of imgating fields. Rain water was the natural source. Ponds and tanks received this water which was used for irrigation. Water channels formed by inundation, too, served the same purpose. But the most important controlled source was the water of the wells, especially in North India. Almost all the imgational devices were oriented towards drawing water from wells. The latter were more often than not masonry ones with raised walls and enclosures1 platfroms. Kuchcha wells also existed, but these could not have been durable or strong enough for extensive water-lifting.

Broadly, there were five devices or techniques to raise water from wells:

i) The most simple technique was to draw water with rope and bucket by using hands without any mechanical aid. Obviously, then, the bucket was small in size and, thus, this operation would not have adequately served to water large fields. But we cannot deny the use of rope-bucket technique for irrigating small fields for crops, most probably vegetables that did not require much water.

ii) The second method was the employment of pulleys (charkhi) combined to the rope-bucket contraption which was, once again, activated manually. Undoubtedly, the pulleys needed lesser amount of human energy and, therefore, comparatively larger bags or buckets could have been attached to the rope. It was also used for domestic purpose, especially by women.

Economy of Delhi Sultanate iii) An improved method of the rope-bucket-pulley contraption was the employment - of a pair of oxen to replace human-power. At this stage, it had become a

specialized device for drawing water intended specifically for irrigation. In some areas of North India it 'is still in operation known as charasa. The latter is a huge bag that gives an idea of the immense quantity of water raised from the well in one eingle haul-up. Moreover, the bullock track was like a ramp or sloping path- the length of the path corresponding to the depth of the well. The water of the *

well (mounted with this device) could not have been used for drinking, cleansing utensils or for washing cloths. Of all the five methods, charasa was not a multi-purpose one, it was solely de,vised for irrigation - a fact which has not been realized till now.

.--..- 5. Dhenkli

iv) 1 The fourth technique was what is considered to be semi-mechanical as it worked on the First Class Lever .principle. A long rope is lashed to the fork of an upright beam or trunk of a tree (especially meant for this purpose) to put it in a swinging position. The bucket is fastened to a rope whose other end is tied to thepne of-the the swinging pole hovering over the well. The pole's other end carries a 'counterweight', a little heavier than the bucket when filled with water. Thus, the fulcrum forms at the centre of the pole, with weight and 'counteryeight' (Effort) at its two ends. This contraption requires only a little effort on the part of the person operating it. The device is known as shaduf in Egypt. It is called tula * (balance) in Sanskrit, but in Bihar and Bengal it's known as dhenkli or lathatha.

The fifth water-lifting method is called saqiya or 'Persian Wheel'. None of the fou; mechanism described above required wheels as their basic component. This - water-wheel could well claim to be called a water machine because of the employment of the g a r system. With gears we enter upon a very advanced stage in the technological $ense: it has been surpassed only now by electric tube-wells.

Much controversy has ctopped up about the origins of saqiya: did it exist in India prior to the advent of the Muslims, or was it a foreign importation through the agency of the Turks? In India, Its earliest form was one wheel with pitchers or pots of clay attached around the rim of the wheel It wnc r n l l e d slrnohatta nr nrnhntts in CancGAt

'Technology and Crans

6. (a) First stage of noria (b) Second stage of noria: an

imagery model (c). Saqya: third stage of noria. !ke

thrcc wheels with gear mechanism;

w Economy of Ddhl Wtolutt by human power only. Its form itseif forced,tt to bk set up over shallow water or open

surfaces-stream, reservoir 9r even rivers where water wbuld level up to its banks. Thus, its use over wells was absolutely out of question.

The second stage wad to exploit it over wells. This was done by releasing the earthen pots fitted around the rim of the wheel and, in its place, a chain or garland (Hindi: mala) of pots1 was provided which was long enough to reach the water level of the well. The mala or chain was made of double ropes without open ends between which the pots were secured with timber strips. It is important to note that there is no separate term for thi$ contrivance in Arabic or Persian. In Sanskrit, however, it was called ghatiyantra (pot-machine), although the words ar&ghstta and rwluttr continued to be used for both the types of noria. This, too, was operated by human-power.

At the third and final stage, we find three deve~o~mentsto have taken place: a) addition of two mbre wheels; b) gear mechanism; and c) the use of animal power.

The lantern-wheel provided with vertical pegs at regular intervals, was set trp on an upright axle to be moved by animal power round and round horizontally. The pin-wheel was arrane~ed vertically with a shaft or axle cmnected to the third wheel over the well that cartied the pot-garland. This was, then, the gear system in order to exploit animal power. Essentially, the point was to convert the originai horizontal inotion of the lantern-wheel into a vertical one for the wheel set up over the well.

The confusion of sortie modern scholars in this controversy is to identify the two first stages of noria with sbqiya. But now you know that the latter was radically different not only in its conception but also in its components. A semantic blunder was committed when the same terms-araghatta and arahatta (modern r-)-were used for the saqiya when the Muslims brought it in early medieval period. In fact, there is no evidence of water,wheels being operated by animals in Ancient India.

The five devices to rdise water from wells described above can be put into two broad categories: a) Intermittent or Dikcontinuous water-supply device, 'and b) Continuous suppl system. 7

In Lfthor, DibBlpGr and those parts, people water by means of a wheel. They make two circles of ropes long enough t o suit the depth of the well, fix strips of wood between - them. and on thesefasten pitchers. The ropes with the wood and attached pitchers are put over the well-wheel. At one end of the wheel-axle a sacond wheel is fixed, and close ( q b h ) to it anothev on an upright axle. This last wheel the bullock turns; its teeth catch

I in the teeth of the skcond. and thus the wheel with the pitchers is turned. A trough is set. wherc thc water empties from the pitchers and from this the water is conveyed evfrywhcrc.

. The greater par tdf the Hindustan country,ls situated on level land. Many though its towns and cultivate lands are, it nowhere has running waters. Rivers and, in some 1 . places, standing-wu er are ~ t s "running-waters" (dqar-sillat). Even where, as for some towns. it is practica le to convey water by digging channels (driq). this is not done. For not doing it there m 1 y be several reasons, one being that water is not at all a necessit* cultivating crops an@ orchards. Autumn crops grow by the downpour of the rains themselves; and strbnge it is that spring crops grow even when no rain falls. T o young trees water is made to flow by means of buckets o r a wheel. They are given water constantly during two or three years; after which they need no more. Some vegetables are watered constahtly.

.

In Agra. Chandwiit. Bilna and those parts, again, people water with a bucket; this is a laborious and filthy way. At the. well-edge they set up a fork of wood. having a roller adjusted between tfie forks, tie a rope to a large bucket, put the rope over the roller, and tle its other end to the bullock. One person must drive the bullock, another empty tlie bucket. Every timelthe bullock turns after having drawn the bucket out of the well, that rope lies on the bulllock-track, in pollution of urine and dung, before it descends again into the well. T o same crops needing water. men and women carry it by repeated cfforts in pitchers.

The first fou;belong to the former and the fifth to the latter category. Again, depending the nature of the operative source, that is, human power and animal

.

power, the. first and the fourth fall in the human power category and the others were driven by animal power. Since the water had to be lifted from wells, all the devices except the fifth, shared two things amongst them: rope and buckethags, the latter varying in size commensurate to the 'power' used.

[There were many implements like shovel, pick-axe and scraper (khurpi), etc. that were used not only in agricultural processes but in gardening, too.

Check Your Progress 1 1) Mention various techniques used during the 13th-15th centuries to lift the water

from wells.

2) Discuss the technique used in 'saqiya' to lift water from the wells. ' ,. ..........................................................................................................

Technology and Crrns

3) Mark (d) against the right and ( x ) against the wrong statements given below:

i) Kuchcha wells were durable for extensive water-lifting. ii) Dhenkti worked oq th'e First Class Lever principle. iii) In saqiya gear rnecbanism and animal power was used. iv) Charasa was mainit used for domestic purposes. ,

I \

22.3 TEXTILE TECHNOLOGY

During the sultanate various ncu techn~ques were introduced by the turks rn the field of textile.

i

22.3.1 Ginning, Callcling and Spinning Cotton cultivation belongs to agricultural technology. After picking up cotton balls. there were three basic sthges before cotton could be used for weaving: i) ginning or seed extraption: ii) carding or fibre loosqning; and iii) spinning or making yarn.

The first was done in twd ways: a) roller and board methbd. and b) worm-press or worm-rk~ller (charkhi).

Cotton thus separated frdm seeds was "beaten" with sticks or carded with bow-string in order to separate and lbosen the fibers (naddafi in Persian; dhunna in Hindi). Spinning was traditionally done with the spindle (duk in Persian; takla in Hindi) to which il whorl (phirki in uindi) was attached to stabilize it.

1 The most important techrwlopical revolution in the textile sector was the introduction of the spinning-wheel (chbrkha) through the agency of the Muslims during the 13th-14th centuries. Charkha did not exist in Ancient India. The first literarv reference to charkha conits from Isilmi'sFutuh-us Salatin (A.D. 1350). This new contribution. however. did not displace the spindle: it only accelerated the latter's rotation. The spindle was,attiiched to the wooden frame of the charkha at its one end to be set in motion'by the "belt" which wils wrapped over the wheel at the other end of the frame. connecting iti to the spindle. Thus. the charkha combined within itself the element of power-tranbrnission (through belt-drive) and the principle of flywheel resulting in differentla1 spqeds of rotation. There is a controversy about the date as to when a handle or crank-hdndle \vas attached to the device. But this controversy can he llow settled with the hqlp of a pictorial evidence (c. A.D. 1530) in the Mittah-ul Fuzala where il spinning-\\heel has heen shown being operated wi.th a handle attached to the frame.

According to one estimate. a spinning-wheel could produce yarn six-fold more than the spindle during the sam4 unit of time. This must have resulted in greater output of yarn and. constantly. morq cloths. It must be pointed out that the yarn from spindle was of il very fine quality whereas the charkha produced coarse yarn for coarse cloths.

I

22.3.2 Weaving Horizontal loon1 of thron-shuttle type was used for simple or tabby weave. It is difficnlt to determine uhether the pit-loom (treadle loom) was in use In Ancient Indin.'but \\e get the first egidcnce of this loom in the Miftah-ul Fuzala (c. A.D. 1469) illustrated in c, 1530. This Ihom allowed the weaver to employ his hitherto idle feet to lift and depress the sets of +arp threads. while his hands worked mainly upon the shuttle iind the shed. This speeded up the pace of weaving. For.patterned weave (of different colours ~imultane~usly) . one scholar suggests that draw-loom for this ,

purpose r~light have ex~stedi in South India around A D. 1001. But this view has been questioned by arguing that Ferhaps it \vas brought to Indla by the Muslims late in the 17.1. . ... r.....

' I ' C C ~ M I O ~ ~ slid ('rafts

........................................................................................................... 2) Write a note on spinning-wheel.

9. dt-loom, a 16th century Mughal painting (Kablr)

22.3.3 Dyeing and Printing

Various colours derived from vegetable and mineral sources were used for dyeing. Indigo, madder and lakli, etc. were widely employed. Indigo was used for both bleaching and dyeing. F O ~ fast colours, many articles like alum were added. The Indian dyer (rangrez) employed many techniques like immersion, tie-and-dye ibandhana), etc. But blotk-printing (chhapa) was perhaps unknown in Ancienf India. cm- , scholars credit theiMuslims with its diffusion in India.

, Check Your Progress 2 1) State the methods usdd for ginning during the 13th-15th centuries.

.......................................................................................................... 3) Discuss the techniques used by the weavers during the 13th- 15th centuries.

22.4 BUILDING CONSTRUCTION /aw

In this section our focus would be on major building construction devices introduced by the Turks in India.

22.4.1 bime Mortar T h e traditional basic units of construction in Ancient India consisted of clay, stones,

I wood and occasionally bricks. The simplest cementing material o r mortar was plain earth mixed with water. An improved kind was straw (bhus) added t o a mixture of clay and water which was used for plastering also. But lime mortar was definitely

I brought by the immigrant Muslims during the Delhi Sultanate.

The basic ingredients in lime-mortar were lime (chuna) and surkhi (pounded bricks). .

Lime was of various kinds, according t o the material from which it was extracted. The two major sources of lime were gypsum and gravel (kankar). The latLer were first burnt in kilns yielding quicklime. This quicklime was then treated with water to turn it into slake lime. Surkhi was added to this mix. Afterwards, a number of gelatinous. glutinous and resinous cementing agents like gum, pulses. jaggery, etc. were added to make the q o r t a r more sticky.

22.4.2 Arch and DomeIVaulted roofing O n e result of lime mortar was the extensive use of bricks as ~t made the brick buildings more durable. Another important consequence was that lime mortar paved the way for the construction of true arch (mihrab). Actually,, the very arrangement of bricks o r stones in making a true arch demands a strong cementing material t o hold the voussairs together. Lime mortar fulfilled this need. This t xplains the almost total absence of true arch in lndian buildings prior to the Turkish advent. The only

:. exception, however, was the Kus'hana period: excavations at Kausambi (near Allahabad) have revcalcd the exis~cnce at 'some arches - over sn~a l l windows (not gates). As you know, the Kushanas had come from Central Asia and, therefore they knew arch making. Afterwards, there is nut a single evidence of truesarches in,India till the coming of the Muslims. Another form of arch was the corbelled one ; in fact, it was a variant of trabeate construction, that is thc pillar-and-beam technique which ,-

was the most distinguishing feature of prc-Muslim Indian architecture. . ,

. .

From mihrab to gumbad (vaulted roofing or dome) was a natural development s i d e vaulting o r dome was not possible without a k n o w l e d ~ e of how to make a true arch. That is why it is observed that a dome is a true arch turned 360 degrees. In other words, a dome was constructed o n the principle of intersecting true arches ( A note o f

A. > ..-- -L- 1 2 - - I L - - - - r - - A ... : r L r L - D.. I . I L . . + ..Am.--. \

Technology and Crafts

Corbelling n - ' - *

Linttl (beam) (9

Arch and its parts

A : v~ussai rs vorsseirs C : spinging lines

B : kdystone D : abutment E : crown

I 10. (a) IDilIar-and-Iwam (1)) ( 'orMkul (c) Arch a ~ n l i l s ~wr( \ (a) V t n n d r c (h) h r y \hm.

- - - -- - - - -- -- - - - - - -- - --

22.5 PAPERMAKING AND BOOKBINDING

Now yoa k ~ r ) w l l ob tllc inlrnipr;~nt Musl in~s ilrtccl ;a ;~gc~l ts (;I di t ' las io~~ L)r I lamcaws tcch~iiclucs i ~ ~ l c l ilr./iclcs 01 tccllnology th;~t hircl clcvcl(~pccl 01. cvolvcd in the lslrlnlic culture ;Irc;l. l?lldrIn;lking w;~s yet i~no l l l c r c o l l l r i h ~ t i ~ ~ .

j

'I'hc writ ing ~n i~ tc r t i i~ l s in A ~ l c i c ~ l t I n d i i ~ wcrc Inirny: stones. coppcr p l i ~ t ~ s . silk iulcl cotton c l o l h ~ , ancl spccii~l ly prepared p i l lm - l c i ~vc~ (talptrtl) and birch-bi~rk '

(burjapatrtl). 'l'hd latter two were cmployccl li)r writ ing htn,ks.

Paper was f i n t n i~~nu l i~c tu rcc l i n ('liina arouncl lhc first ccntury A.1). I t was minlc from bamboo pulp. 'l'hc Muslim A r i ~ b s learnt p l pc rm i~k i ng from somc C'hincsc who wc.rc tirkcn pri.u)~lcrs in i r I ~ i l l l l c i n A.1). 751. Vcry won the Arabs ck.vclcwd this craft by r n i ~ k ~ n g flapcr f rom rags i lnd o ld lincn.

The Indiilns pcrhi;tps knew ahout papcr i n rhc 7th century A.D.. but thcy Rcvcr w c d i t as writ ing matqriill. Whcn thc Chincsc trirvellcr LC'lultt: visited Indi:t, Iw co t~ l d 1101 find papcr to ccqy thc Silnskrit manuscripts I'or king taken t o Chimir. Since he had exhausted his o d n st txk, he sent a rncssigc to his f r i c d s in ('hinit to send P p c r to I.;-

During the Delhi Sultanate, paper was used for many purposes, especially for books. farmans and numerous commercial and administrative documents. Paper was available on a large scale so much so that sweetmeat-sellers of Delhi delivered sweets to the buyers in paper packets called pry. which is still the practice in India. But it seems that papermaking centres were few and far between. We know from the 14th century Chinese navigator, Ma Huan, that Bengal produced paper. However, the bulk of paper needed was imported from Islamic countries. specially Samarqand and Syria.

The practice of writing b o o b on paper was accompanied by the craft of bookbinding which was an innovation in India, because the technique was different from that followed in India, for putting sheets of writing material together (palm-leaves and birch-bark).

Check Your Progress 3 . .

1) Discuss thc contrihut.ion ol' thc Turks in the field ol' building consrructio~i technology.

3 ) Writc fivc lines on papermaking in India.

22.6 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY

In this section, we will deal with three things only: i) stirrup, ii) horseshoe, and iii) gunpowder.*

22.6.1 Stirrup

\

Technology and Crafts

It is now'an established fact that iron-stirrup (rikab) was unknown in India. For that matter, there is no Sanskrit word for stirrup. Perhaps surcingle, 'big toe stirrup' and 'suspension hooks' were used in India, but stirrup proper was the contribution of the Muslims. This stirrup was first used in China around 6th century A.D., and later it diffused into Persia and other Islamic countries during the next century. A Persian

............ r--- :1 -A J..2-- .La --:-- - C 11. ..*-l..L ---I -... .L- r - - - 2,--L

Fxonomy of Delhi Sultanate (For the military advantages of stirrup, see the passage in the box)

Thc history of thc usc d thc horse in battle is divided into three periods: first, that of the chariotcer; second. that of the mounted warrior who clings to his steed by pressure of the knces: and third, that ~f the rider equipped with stirrups. The horse has always given its master an advantage over the footman in battle, and each improvement in its military use has been rclatcd to fartrcaching social and cultural changes.

Before the introductioo of the stirrup, the seat of the rider was precarious. Bit and spur might help him to control his mount; the simple saddle might confirm his seat: ncvcrthclcss. hc was still much restricted in his methods oifighting. He was primarily a rapidly mobile bowmad and hurler of javelins. Swordplay was limited becauserwithout stirrups your slashing hbrseman, taking a good broadhandedswipe at his foe, had only to miss to find himself on the ground'. As for the spear, before the invention of the stirrup it was wielded at the end of the arm and the blow was delivered with the strength of shoulder and biceps. The stirrup made possible - although it did not demand - a vastly more effective mode of attack: now the rider could lay his lance at rest. held between the upper arm and the body, and make at his foe, delivering the blow hot with his muscles but with the combined weight of himself and his charging stallion.

The stirrup, by giving lateral support in addition to the front and back support offered by pommel and cantle, effectively welded horse and rider into a single fighting unit capable of a violence without precedent. The fighter's hand no longer delivered the blow: it merely guided it. The stirrup thus replaced human energy with animal power, and irnmensely increased the warrior's ability to damage his enemy. Immediately, without preparatory steps, it made possible mounted shock combat, a revolutionary new way of doing battlc.

22.6.2 Horseshoe While.some scholars 04 Medieval India look at the stirrup as a contributory factor to the series of hilitary successes that the Turks achieved in India--at least in the initial stage# of their invasions-horseshoe (d) has been treated as its poor cousin.

Domestication of h o r s ~ was not enough. With the view of controlling the horse for riding, some equipments were called-forth: viz., simple'bridle, bitted bridle, saddle with pommel and cantle and, of course, the stirrup.

Nailed horseshoe was a late come;. It is interesting o note that horseshoe is the only equestrian accoutrement which does not have k irect bearing on controlling the animal like other autfits. If so, then, why shoeing was needed? The answer lies in the hoof, the mhst vulnerable part of the equine anatomy: The horse's hoof is a constantly grdwing horny structure like the human nails, susceptible to breaking, splitting and shelling. In their original natural habitat horses keep their feet worn down And, hence, trimming is unnecessary. But tamed and domesticated horses when in use, require shoeing, specially in moist latitudes. A horse with footsore will limp and, hence, of little use to the rider. Shoeing offeq two advantages: first, it gives a better grip on soft ground; and secondly, the hooves get protection on rough ground. It is in this context that we can appreciate the worldwide axiom of horsemen: "No foot, no horse". A lame cavalry horse may oftkn be worse than no horse at all.

Horseshoes have not been reported from any archaeological site excavated in India. It is now an incontroertible fact that horseshoes were foreign importations, brought by the Turks when they came to India. The ArabicJPersian word for the shoe is na'l (the farrier or s h o e s ~ t h is na'lband and shoeing is nn'lbandi). Sanskrit literature on horses (Mihotra) do not mention shoeing(a case similar to stirrup and spinning-wheel). It is po accident, then, that shoeing in the past was largely monopolized by MusHm artisans. At any rate, our sourds yield imformation for cold-shoeing only - not hot-shoeing as it was practised in Europe.

22.6.3 Gunpowder and Fire-Arms Many decades ago, some scholars, both European and Indian, were keen to prove that gunpowder and fire-arms were used in Ancient India. Among the Sanskrit sources; the Sukraniti became the focal point from which support was drawn. However, sobriety and maturity prevailed when other scholars dismissed their inferences, especially after careful examination of the Sukraniti. Again, untenable ' attempts were also made to show that the Muskims who came to India following the invasions of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna used fire-arms.

, *

Gunpowder consists of saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal, and it was first invented in China. Later, it spread to the Islamic society. The immigrant T,urks brought gunpowder to India perhaps in late 13th or early 14th century. But it must be pointed out that even by the reign of Sultan Feroz Shah Tughluq its only use was for pyrotechny or fireworks (atashbazi), not for fire-arms or for propelling cannon-balls. Fire-arms were used for the first time during the second half of the 15th century in some regions of India like Gujarat, Malwa and the Deccan. At any rate, the use of

fire-arms on a regular basis was introduced by the Portuguese when they came to Calicut in A.D. 1498, and by Babur in North India in the early 16th century.

22.7 TINCOATING

Domestic utensils of copper (and brass) are prone to acid poisoning from sour food k e p t h them. A coating of tin is given to them frequently, specially inside, to protect thent-from the chemical action of acid food. This craft came to India along with the Turks. ~ h e r e ' i s no reference to this technique in Ancient India. Apart from literaiy sources, the archaeological evidence comes from an excavation site in the South (near Kolhapur) where a copper container with tincoating both on its interior and exterior was discovered. Since, this vessel was found in association with the coins of the Bahmani dynasty (A.D. 1347-1538), it must belong to that period.

The craftsman who does tincoating is called @a6igar (qalai=tin). Tin (ranga) is a highly malleable and ductile metal, and its coating over metallic vessels protects the latter from corrosion and chemical poisoning. The craftsman first cleanse? the utensils to remove dirt, etc. After-this, the vessels are mildly heated over a small furnace with charcoal. Small bellows are used to maintain the required degree of heat. The next process is to apply a mixture of pure tin and salammoniac (nosadar) with a cotton pad. The salammoniac vapourizes leaving a metallically clean surface. Meanwhile the tin melts and by constant rubbing of the pad it is evenly distributed over the whole vessel - outside and inside.

Abul Fazl refers to tincoating in the Ain-i Akbari. He says that copper utensils of the royal kitchen are tinned twice a month, but those of the princes, etc. once.

22.8 GLASS MANUFACTURE

The earliest use of glass in India has been set somewhere during the first millennium B.C. But the presence of an object in a society may reveal its possible use but does not necessarily imply a knowledge of technology also. However, glass was not scarce in India: perhaps long familiarity with imported glassware must have led to indigenous manufacture. But Indian glass objects "did not range or go beyond the manufacture of tit-bits like beads and bangles". With the Muslim advent, pharmaceutical phials, jars and vessels started coming to India from the Islamic countries. It is not possible to determine whether the above glassware actually fabricated during the Delhi Sultanate In imitation of these importations. However, during the period of study, we draw blank when we look for the manufacture of articles of glass like glass lenses for Spectacles or lookingglasses (mirrors were made of copper or bronze with polished u t ~ r f a r e )

Technology and Crafts

Eronomy of Dclhi GeltPnate - - 22.9 SHIPBUILDING

The entire frame of b ~ a t s and ships were#made of timber like everywhere in the world. The planks wefie first joined by the rabbeting or tongue-and-groove method. Then they were sewn ith ropes made from the coconut husk. Sometimes wooden nails were also used. d ut iron nails and clamps to jo in~he planks was a later development under th4 influence of European shipbuilding after A.D. 1498. Anchors were made of stones: k e r , Europeans introduced iron anchors.

12. Rabetting and the use of iron;%ails to join the planks

For navigation, magnetit compass was a great contribution which the Muslims diffused in India.

22.10 DISTILLATION

There has never been any society that did not produce intoxicating drinking i

substances. Soma in the )/edit Age was one such intoxicants. There are two ways to get wine: fermentation and distillation. The first was widely known in the world. Wine was procured by fehnenting rice, sugarcane juice, mahuwa flowers, etc.

Distillation was a late comer. Some think that it was first discovered in Italy in the 12th century A.D. For India, there is an opinion that distillation was a contribution of the Turks.

This view is not acce'ptable. Excavations at Sirkap (Taxila) and Shaikhan Dheri, now in Pakistan, have yieldedldistillation apparaius like t&e condensers and parts of still, many of which are nbw lodged in the Taxila Museum. This apparatus belong to the period from 2nd century B.C. to 2nd century A.D., much before the Turks came to India. However, we may give credit to the Turks for its eastward diffusion.

Technology and Crqh

- IT. Reconstruction of distilling apparstus(aRer Marshall, 1953)

Check Your Progress 4

I 1) Define the following: Stirrup

I

Horseshoe I I

..........................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................... 2) Fill in the blanks:

a) Gunpowder was invented in .......... b) Fire-arms were first used in India during the .......... c) Technique of tincoating in India was introduced by the ..........

.......... d) To join the planks method was used. I

I e) Distillation technique was known in India during

I

22.11 LET US SUM UP

You must have learnt from this Unit something about the techniques or methods by which the people during the Delhi Sultanate fabricated or produced articles of daily use. Concerning agriculture now you know about ploughs with iron share, methods of sowing, irrigational devices, harvesting, threshing and winnowing. In the section on textile crafts, you have read about ginning, carding, spinning, weaving, dyeing and printing. As regards building construction, lime mortar, true arches and doheslvaulted roofings are most important. Papermaking and bookbinding were new crafts. Similar is the case of military technology with reference to stirrup, horseshoe and Tincoating, too, was a new technique. Glass te 'chno~og~ was on a low level in this period. Now you know that iron was not used in shipbuilding prior to the - .-. . . . . . . . . - . .

Economy of k l h i Sul(ainate At the end, let us sum up the new techniques or crafts brought by the Muslims to India: saqiya, spinning-wheel, pit-loom, lime mortar, true arches, dome, paper and bookbinding, stirrup, hdrseshoe, gunpowder, tincoating and mariner's colnposs. The Indians accepted all these without hesitation or opposition.

22.12 KEY *WORDS ,

Accoutrement : Soldier's equipment othcr than weapons and clothes ,

Alum : W h i s mineral salt usedin dyeing . .

Arch : curved Structure

Axiom : Statemeni that is accepted without argument

Bridle : Part of a horse's harness

Contraption : Devicelapparatus

Equine : Like a horse

Farman : Order of the Sultan - . Gear : Set elf toothed wheels which fit into another .. - set . to transmit power

Immersion : Put under the surface of a liquid

Loom : Instrument for weaving cloth

Gelatinous : Like jelly

Glutinous : Sticky protein substance

Pit-loom : Loom worked by the foot (treadle loom)

Pommel : Rounded part of a saddle

Planks ,: Long flat piece of sawn timber

Pyrotechny : Fire Works

Pulley : Wheel with grooves for ropes

Ramp : Slope I

Reslnous : Sticky substance specially from fir and pine tree

Slake-lime : Calcium Hydroxide (C,, (OH),: Its formed by the action of water on Calcium Oxide

Tabby : Cat with grey or brownish fur and dark stripes

Quick - I' me : Calcium Oxide (C,,O) made by heating Calcium Carbonade (limestone)

Shovel . Tool like a spade with curved edges

Vaulted roof : Archled roof - b

Voussairs : Stones used in making an arch (other than the key stone) ' !

22.m &lWWEWS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS f L ~ ~ R ~ H S ~ ~

- - , .. . ----. - --t-- -- -

/ ('heck \'isst:. I 1 1) Set S,,;;->..c.. 2.2.2 4

'

2) See Sub-sec 71.2.3 ,

, , 3) (I) X (11) V (iii) \'' (iv) x

Check Y w r Progress 2 1) See Sub-sec. 22.3.1 2) See Sub-sec. 22.3.1 1\ C,.- Q..L .--- ?? 1 1

Check Your Progress 3 1) See Sub-sec. 22.4.1, 22.4.2 2) See Sec. 22.5

t Check Your Progress 4 1) See Sub-sec. 22.6.1, 22.6.2 2) (a) China (b) Second half of the 15th Century (c) Turks (d) rabbeting (e) 2nd century B.C. to 2nd century A.D.

Economy of DeUli Sultanate APPENDIX*

SOME FOURTEENTH-CENTWRY PASSAGES Some of the most important passages bearing o n the agrarian system of the fourteenth century are difficult to follow, and extant translations. where any exist, a re not always exact. T h e renderings of these passages offered below a re meant to be strictly literal, any departure from the driginal being indicated by brackets; the technical expressions are discussed in the not& which follow the translations. The clauses are set out , '

punctuated, and numbered for convenience of reference; the texts are continuous, and as a rule are not punctuated.

1. ALAUDDIN'S REVENUE DECREE

(Text, Barni, 287, Tranglations, Elliot, iii. 182, and J.A.S.B. vol. xxxix. p. 382, the last with Blochmann!~ notes).

1 . Sultan Alauddin deinanded from learned men rules and regulations, so that the Hindu(1) should beground down,

2. and property and p~ssess ions , which are the cause of disaffection and rebellion, should not remain in his house;

3. and in the payment of the Demand one rule should be made for all alike from Chief to sweeper(2);

4. and the Demand on the strong should not fall on the weak; 5. and s o much should not remain to the Hindu(1) that thby should ride on

horseback, and carry weapons, and wear fine cloths, and enjoy themselves; 6. and tp make two regulations(3) in pursuance of the aforesaid object, which is the

chief of all objects of government. 7. The first [regulation],-that thbse who cultivate whether small o r great , shall ,

cultivate according to the rule of measurement and the biswa-yield(4), 8. and shall pay half without any deduction; 9. and in this paying tbere should be no distinction between Chiefs and sweepers(2);

.J 10. and not a jot should be left to the Chiefs by way of chiefs' perquisites(5). (The text goes on to the second regulation, imposing a tax on grazing.)

APPENDIX NOTES . \ .

1) "Hindu." Barni uses this word in a narrow sense, to denote the-classes above the ordinary peasants, so that in fact it is almost a synonym for Chiefs and headmen in this context.

2) "From Chief to sweeper." Az khuta wa balahar. Balahar is not a Persian word, and it is quite safe rh$)~!ow Blochmann In identifying it with the common Hindi name for a low-caste men&& employed in the village as a general drudge. In the Upper Doab, which was Barni's '*&try, the balahar is almost always a sweeper by caste, and, since the word is obviously used to deqote the lowest rank of the rural population, the rendering :'sweeperv piobably gives what *as in the writer's mind; there is no actual English equivalent.

The word transliterated provisidna~~y as khuta has not been found elsewhere in the literature, and has to be ~nterpreted from the parallel passages, which are fairly numerous in Barni. It appears indifferently as khut and khuta, and these cannot be distinguished. The antithesis to balahar ihdicates that the khut must be looked for among the rural aristocracy, and all the passages wnfirm this. Khut is commonly coupled with the headman or muqaddam (e.g. 288,291,324,430,479,554), while in two passages (288) he is linked with the chaudhari, or parlgana headman, as well as with the muqaddam; and his perquisites were on the same fdt ing (430) as those of the muqaddam.

Barni does not use thp. word zamindar for a Chief (subject to the King) until nearly the end. of his book (539, 5890, and it never appears in his discussions of agrarlan policy; we find khut wherever we should expect to find zamindar, and the only reasonable interpretation is: that the latter word was coming into use during his lifetime, and gradually superseding khut, so that the twa are in fact synonymous. If we read zamindar in every passage where khut pccurs, we get perfectly good sense; if they are not synonyms, then we must hold that , the important class af khuts as known to Barni, had become absolutely extinct when the next chronicler wrotq, and that the equally important class of zamindars had mysteriously come into existence, a hypothesis as unreasonable as unnecessary. !

The identity of the dord khut is doubtful. Blochmann took it as the rare Arabic word, . ' rendered by Steingas as "a limber twig; a corpulent man, yet handsome and active," but

did not indicats . .such a word could come to denote a Chief. The MSS. I have seen d~ '

not show th, ,uzls, and it is possible that the pronunciation was different, and that we are -

dealing with a word formed indepenhently in India; but, whatever be the origin of the word, its meaning in Barni is clearly that of Chief. Blochmann arrived by analysis a t the correct result, that the phrase indicates the extremes of rural society, but the rendering "landowners and tenants" which he endorsed involves both a logical non-sequitur and an historical anachronism. .

The suggestion has been made that the word under discussion is really Indian in origin, being identical with the Marathi word khot, which is familiar in the Konkan; but the fact L that Barni wrote the word with two Arabic letters (u and t) makes its derivation from any sanskritic language highly improbable. The word khot has not been traced further back than the sixteenth century kingdom of Bijapur, and a possible explanation of it is that the

, Arabic khM passed into the Deccan at the time of Alauddin's conquest, and became naturalised there as khot. That there were khots in Gujarat also, before the Mogul conquest, appears from a document published by Professor Hodivala (Studies in Parsi History, p. 204), but their position is not explained; it is possible that the Arabic word, which quickly became obsolete in the North, survived in Gujarat, as in the Konkan, in an Indianised form, but more documentary evidence is necessary on this point.

3) This clause is ungrammatical as it stands. It would easy t o read awardand for awardan, putting a fun stop at the end of clause 5. The translation would then be: "And two regulations were made in pursuance of the aforesaid object," which makes grammar and

, sense. Barni's grammar, however, is not immaculate, and the text may show what he actually wrote.

4) "The rule of Measurement and the biswa-yield," hukm-i madhat wa wafa-i biswa. Barni mentions two "hukms" o r rules for assessment, Masahat and HBsil, i.e. "measurement" and "produce"; he does not describe the methods, but the passage which follows will make it clear that Masahat involved allowances for crop-fa~lure, which were, . . not required in Hasil Unless we take these two terms to denote methods which have become entirely forgotten, we must identify them with the two which I have called Measurement and Sharing, which, as we have seen, were equally familiar to Hindus and Moslems at this period, which reappear, though with different names, in the sixteenth century, and which persisted into the nineteenth. The word Masahat gives place t o jam% or paimaish in the official records of the Mogul period, but it seems t o have survived in local use, for as late as 1832 the "native measuring s t a f f was known as the "masahut .

establishment" (Rev. Sel., ii 378). Hasil can be read quite naturally as denoting the process of sharing the produce,_and, so far as I can see, it can carry no other suggestion. The phrase "wafa-i biswa" does not occur except in Barni, and can be read here merely as a repetition or duplication of what precedes it, "reliance on the unit of area," "biswa" denoting the smaller unit, 1120th of the bigha. Passages in the next two chronicles, however, indicate that the word wafa had acquired the technical meaning of "yield of crops," and this is probably the meanlng here; "biswa-yield" would then indicate the standard outtuin per unit of area, which was a necessary datum .for the method of Measurement. The decisive passage is in T. Mubarak- shahi (Or. 5318, f. 34r.), where, In a description of the oppression in the River Country under Muhammad Tughlaq, we read kisht-hi mi-paimudand wa waffi-hfi farmsni mi-bastand; "they used to measure the fields and fix the yields by ordinance." Here it does not seem possible t o take wafaha in any other sense. The same sense is required in Afif, 180, where the word occurs twice; and taking these examples into account, it is permissible to infer that Barni also was familiar with this technical use of the word. I have not found this use in the Mogul period, and presumably it became obsolete.

5) "Chiefs' perquisites"; huqiiq-i khiitrln. Ir can be inferred from the passage which follows that these perquisites consisted of exemption from revenue of a proportion of land, allowed to the Chiefs in return for the services they rendered; Ghiyasuddin considered that they should be satisfied with this allowance, so its amount must have been substantial, but there is no record of the extent of land allowed. The same passage shows that the Chiefs w'ere suspected of levying revenue for themselves from the peasants: th!s is probably the implication of Clause 4, that the peasants were in fact paying revenue which ought to fall on the Chiefs or headmen.

G H I Y A S U D D I N ' S A G R A R I A N POLICY

, a t , Barn i , 429, checked by Or. 2039. Translat ion, J .A.S.B. , vol. XI. p. 229. T h e vanslation i n Ell iot , iii. 230, is very incomplete.) . applied t o Mr . R. Page t Dewhurs t f o r he lp with this exceedingly c r abbed passage,

a n d h e generously furnished m e with t h e following translation. T h e notes ma rked [Dl are also his; t he o thers are mine. 1. He fixed t h e r evenueo f t h e territories of t h e k ingdom e q u ~ t a b l y according t o t he

"rule of t h e produce"(l) , 2. a n d relieved t h e ~ e a s a n t s o f t he territbries a n d t h e kingdom f rdm innovations

Appendix

Economy of Delhi sdtanato 3. and with regard to the provinces and country of the kingdom he did not listen to the tales of spies and the speeches of enhancement-mongers(3) and the bids (literally, acceptdnces) of revenue-farmers.

4. He also ordered that spies and enhancement-mongers and revenue-farmers and land-wreckers should not be allowed to hang (literally, wander) round theoffice of the Ministry,

5. and he instructed~the office of the Ministry not to make an increase of more than one-tenth or oneteleventh on the provinces and country on surmise and guess-work or on the reports of spies and the representations of enhancement-mohgers,

6. and that efforts should be made that cultivation should increase every year and the revenue be enhanced very gradually,

7. and not in such a way that the country should be ruined all at once by heavy pressure and the bath of increase closed.

8. Sultan Tughlaq Shah frequently remarked that the revenue should be taken from the country,in such a way that the peasants of the country should extend cultivation,

9. and the established cultivation become settled, and every year a small increase should take place.

10. He used to say that you ought not to take all at once so much that neither the established cultivation should be maintained nor any extension be made in the future.

11. When kingdoms bre obviously ruined (literally, are ruined and show themselves ruined) it is due m the oppressiveness of the revenue and the exces'sive royal demand,

12. and ruin proceeds from destructive Muqtis and officials. 13. Also with regard to the exaction of revenue from the peasants Sultan Tughlaq

Shah used to give instructions to all the Muqtis and governors of the territories of the kingdom,

14. that the Hindu should be kept in such a condition that he should not become blinded and rebellious and refractory from excessive affluence,

15. and that he should not be compelled by poverty and destitution.to abandon cultivation and tillage.

+ 16. The observing of the standards and principles mentioned in collecting the revenue can be carried out by typically eminent statesmen and.experts,

17. and the essence af the art of statesmanship in regard to Hindus(4) is the fulfilment of the aforesaid instruction.

18. Further in regard to the collection of revenue it is related of Sultan Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq Shah, who was a very experienced, far-sighted, and prudent sovereign,

19, that he urged on the Muqtis and governors investigation and consistency in the collection of revemue,

20. so that Chiefs and headmen should not impose a separate assessment on the peasants apart fr4m the king's revenue;

21. and if their own cultivation and pasturage be not brought under assessment, perhaps their er uisites as Chiefs and headmen, on the supposition that they P pay nothing on this, may suffice them and they may make no additional demand.

22. It cannot be denied that abundant responsibilities rest on the neck of Chiefs and headmen, so that,if they too contribute a share in the same way as the peasants, the advantage of being Chief or headman would disappear.

23. And as for those among the amirs and maliks (5) whom Sultan Ghiyasuddin advanced, and to whom he gave iqtas and provinces,

24. he used not to hald it permissible that they should be brought before the Ministry just like (ordinary) officials(6)and that the revenue should be demanded from them as from officials with rudeness and sevetity,

25. but he used to give instructions to them saying, 26. "If you wish to be exempt from the burden of being summoned before the office

of the Ministry aod that you should not be exposed to pressure and discourtsey, 27.1 and that your c r d i t as an nmir or malik should not be changed to humiliation

f! and discredit, 28. make slender demands on your iqtas, 29. and reserve out df that slender demand something for your own agents, 30. and do not covet the smallest fraction of the pay of the troops. '21 \ l R a t L n - .,,-... &.,a ,-.- A,-. -,t .r: .ra'n I : t t I , ,-.E ..,-...- ,-...,- +,-. + L a +-,-.,re wart- . . A r k ..,..

32. But if you expect a small portion of what is deducted in the name of the troops,

then the name of amir and malik ought not to be employed by the tongue in respect of you, and the amir who devours a portion of the pay of servants had better consume dust. But if maliks and amirs expect from their own country and provinces a half-tenth or half-eleventh and the one-tenth or one-fifteenth of the revenue, and take the perquisites of iqta-holding and governors, no occasion has arisen to forbid this to them, and to demand it back and to exact It by pressure on the amirs would be altogether deplorable. Similarly if the agents and deputies(7) of the country and provinces should appropriate a half or one per cent, in addition to their salary, they ought not to be disgraced for this amount, and it ought not to be recovered from them by beating and torture and imprisonment and fetters. But if they appropriate considerable sums(8) and write off deductions from the revenue demand, and carry off large sums by way of mutual sharing from the provinces and country, such treacherous persons and thieves should be given disgrace and humiliation with beating and torture and imprisonment and fetters, and what they have abstracted should be taken from them together with their family stock."

TEXT-NOTES

CI 3. "Bids." Paz raftanihi in text is clearly a blunder for paziruftanihs [Dl. 4. "Land-wreckers." reading mufiarribin for muhazzibsn. Or. 2039 can be so read. 7. "not in such a way." reading na for tB, as Or. 2039.

26. "If you wish." reading ewihed for bwihad, as Or. 2039. "not to be exposed," reading nayuftad for biyuftad, as Or. 2039.

38. "should appropriate," reading isiibat for isayat, as Or. 2039.

NOTES

1) "Rule of the produce," hukm-i hhil. See note 3 to the preceding passage. 2) "Crop-failure." bud wa nabud-hl. The technical force of this phrase, literally "existence

and non-existences," is fixed by Akbar's assessment rules (Ain, i . 288), in which the clerk 1s d~rected to deduct the nabud and record the bud, that is, to exclude from the measured area the area on which the crop had failed. Presumably the word apportionments, qismlt, refers to the process of classifying the area of failure. The word "nabood" surv~ved into the nineteenth century in the wider sense of a deduction from the gross assessment (Rev. Sel., i. 305).

3) "Enhaocement-mongers." muwaffiriin. This word, which is not in the dictionaries, may ' safely be referred to the technical sense of taufir as any secret profit derived from land. In a later passage (574). Barn1 uses the equivalent taufir- ntimiyln, i.e. discloser of secret profit. It is clearly a bit of office jargon, and Mr. Dewhurst adopted the expression "enhancement-monger." which I coined as a rough equivalent,

4) "Hindu" in this passage has obviously the same restricted meaning as in that which precedes it.

5 ) "Amirs and maliks." At this time there were three recognised titles of nobility, Khan, Amir. and Malik; here the words are best read loosely as denoting "nobles."

6 ) "Officials," %milin, 'umm81. The word '%mil had not yet been specialised to denote a definite post, but meant any executive official.

7) "Agents and deputies." krirkunin wa mutasarrifsn. Karkun is etymologically an agent. I am not clear whether by this time it had become spec~alised as "clerk," the meaning it usually bcars in the sixteenth century; some passages can be read in this way, but others are doubtful, and perhapsspecialisation was in progress, but was not complete. I have found no passage to indicate whether or not mutasarrif denoted a particular post; the word occurs in connection with the local bureaucracy. and may mean either subordinates in general, or a particular class of subordinates.

8 ) "Considerable sums." mu'tadd-ha. I take this to mean "a considerable sum." literally "a thing counted," and henceUa thing worth counting." [Dl

The words iqta and Muqti, which are prcscrvcd in the translatipn: h ~ c been discussed in Appcndix B. Thcir preservation is intcndcd to bring out thc fbr'k; of thc rccuraingduplications.

l i . I I I. 1.1 KUZ S I l A t i ' S SLC'OND KEGULA'I ' ION

(Text, Barni. 574; no published translation has come ttr my notice. The chapter containing this Rqulation. along with several others, is highly fulogistic and rllctorical, ,and too great weight must not be given to all:thc i\sk&rtic>ns which it (*ontainc hilt there ic nn rpncnn tn r i i r t r . n n c t tha . I n r f i . . n r .h 1h- ..--..-..I ,-I:-.. . .A--.-A

I ) Second regulation. It was ordered that the revenue-Demand and the poll-tax(1) shall be collected a+cording t o the "rule of the produce";

2) and "apportionmedts." and "increase of demands,"and "crop-failures," and "large demands b a v d on surmise," were entirely removed from among the peasants(2); I

3) and revenue-farmets and land-wreckers and enhancement-mongers(3) were not allowed t o infest thk provinces and the kingdom.

4) And a reduction wds made in the d u l - i mubmahti(4), so that the peasants may pay willingly withoht difficulty o r severity;

5 ) and n o roughness g r violence was used towards the cultivators, who are the keepers of the trea$ury(5) of Moslems.

I NOTES

1) Thc rcfcrence to the 4011-tax. jiziya, is puzzling. According to Afif (383), this tax in Delhi was a fixed sum per hflad payable in cash. It is possible that, in the case of peasants, it may havc been assessed aldng with the revenue, and varied with it; but it is equally possible that

, the phrase is loosc."r~vcnue and poll-tax" being used to describe the liabilities of non-Moslem subjects in general terms.

2) This clquse must be wad as enumerating the familiar exactions on the peasants. Apportionments. qisqmat, and crop-failures, nabfidk, occur in the preceding passage. Mu6tndd& is there taken as exactions of considerable amount, and the addition here of tasawwuri must mean1 that these exactions were arbitrary,"based on surmise."

3) This clause also is an echo of part of the previous passage, referring to the various pests that appeared naturally in connection with the revenue-assessment.

4) Mahsul-i mu'amalati. 11 havc not found any parallel passage to indicate the meaning of this phrase. From the cont/cxt. it appears to denote some impost on the peasants, different from thc kharaj or revenue, but its nature is a matter for conjecture.

5) .Treasury. bait I This 1s a precise phrase of Islamic law, den~t ing the wceptacle for kharaj and other -" "4 sou es of income which were in theory for the benefit of Moslems in general. though by th/s time in India they were in fact part of the revenue of the State.

IV. F~RUZ SHAH'S ~SSESSMENT

(Text. Afif, 94. 1 have k u n d n o translation; only one sentence is given in Elliot, ui, 288.) . 1. T h e king. .. settled the Demand(1) of the kingdom afresh. And for the settlement

of that Demand KNwaja qisamuddin Junid was appointed. 2. The excellent Khw ja. having spent six years in the kingdom. 3'. (and] having settle 4 the Demand according t o the "rule of inspection,"(2) 4. determined the "a4gregatew(3) of the kingdom a t 675 lakhs of tankas in o accordance with the principle of sovereignty. n

5 . During forty years fluring the reign of Firuz Shah the "aggregate" of Delhi was the same.

I NOTES

I) "Demand," mehsul. Afifoccasiona~~~ uses this word in the sense of revenue Demand, that is. as a synonym for k e a j , never. so far as I can find. in the other sense of "produce of the soil." which occurs inlsome later writers.

2) "Rule of inspection."l hukm-i mushahada, occurs. so far as I know. nowhere else in the literature. Barni tells Cs in the preceding passage that Firuz. at his accession, adopted the "rule of the produce." Afif s account refers to the same period. for this appointment was made very soon after the King's first arrival at Delhi; either then one of the writersmade a mistake, or the two ekpressions mean the same thing. A mistake is improbable. for old bureaucrats like the Writers do not misuse technical terms: on the other hand. Afif's

. vocabulary differs froh that of Barni in several cases. such as "khut" or "pargana." so that verbal divergence neqd not suggest error. The general idea conveyed by mushahsdp 15

"witnessing," "observing"; and in order to reconcile the two statements, all that is necessary is to take this word as denoting Sharlng-by- estimation, the reference being to the persons who obsefve or inspect the condition of the growing crop in order to estima~e the yield. We may sayithen that. while Barni telts us that Sharing wasprescribed, Afif tells us that it was Sharing by Estimation. not actual Division. On :.)is interprctittion thc disappearance of the I erm mushahada can be rcadlly undcrstood. because the official literature of the MoNI period employs the Hind1 name kankiit I*) denote thc proccss in question.,

The rcvcnue-~cmand undcr this systcm v;iric?fr(&n season to season with thc itre:; sown, and the produce reapkd, so that the phrase "to settle." bastan, must not bc rcad in thc scnsc of fixing beforehand the number of tankas to I,c pitid; I take the mcanirlp to hc ,II;II the ;Irr:lnormPntr for hrrpcrmcnt U)..~.-S r0 , \r , . . ,~ ;~ ,~ ,4 ..$I;.- 1h.. ...,nC....;..- ... I-:..%. I .... I

Tapan Rnychaudhri : The Cambridge Economic History of India, Vol. I . and lrfan Habib Prof. Muhammild Habib : An lntroduction to Elliot and Dowson's History of

India as Told by Its O w Historians, Vol. I I . A.J .Qaisur : Indian Response To European Technology and Culture.

Appendix

.UNIT 23 CENTRAL AND EASTERN INDIA

Objectives Introduction Malwa Jaunpur Bengal Assam 23.5.1 Kamata-Kamrup 23.5.2 The Ahoms

Orissa Let Us sum UP Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

4

23.0 OBJECTIVES

In the present Unit, we will study about regional states in Central and Eastern India during the 13-15th centuries. After reading this Unit, you would learn about:

the emergence of regional states in Central and Eastern India,

territorial expansion of these regional kingdoms,

their relations with their neighbours and other regional states, and

1 their relations with the Delhi Sultanate.

23.4 INTRODUCTION

You have already read (in Block 5, Unit 18) that regional kingdoms posed severe threat to the already weakened Delhi Sultanate and with their emergence began the process of the physical disintegration of the Sultanate. In this Unit, our focus would be on the emergence of regional states in Central and Eastern India viz., Malwa, Jaunpur, Bengal, Assam and Orissa. We will study the polity-establishment, expansion and disintegration-of the above kingdoms. You would know how they emerged and succeeded in establishing their hegemony. During the 13th-15th centuries in Central and Eastern India, there emerged two types of kingdoms: a) those whose rise and development was independent of the Sultanate (for example : the kingdoms of Assam and Orissa) and b) Bengal, Malwa and Jaunpur who owed tHeir existencr ru the Sultanate. All these kingdoms were constantlyat war with each other. The nobles, ci,' ;s or rajas and local aristocracy played crucial roles in these confrontations.

23.2 MALWA

The decline of the Sultanate paved the way for the emergence bf the independent kingdom of Malwa. Dilawar Khan Ghori, (d. A.D. 1406), the Tughluq governor of Malwa, assumed independence in the year A.D. 1401-2 and declared himself the king of Malwa. He extended the boundaries of his kingdom by occupying Nimar, Sauyar, Damoh and Chanderi. Dilawar Khan married his daughter to Ali Sher Khalji, the son.of Malik Raja Faruqi of Khandesh, and took his (Faruqi ruler's) daughter for his son Alp Khan. These matrimonial alliances helped him in safeguarding his south- eastern frontier. B$ maintaining friendly relations with M.uzaffar Spah of Gujarat, he

The R e g l d P o w a : successfully saved Malwa from attacks, But soon after his death in A.D. 1407, 13tbl5th Cedury m l w a fell a prey to the imperialistic designs of Muzaffar Gujarati. But in 1408,

\ Hoshang Shah (1406-35) succeeded in regaining control over the Malwa throne (for further details see Unit 24). Very soon he occupied Kherla, and Gagraun. He also had his eyes over kwalior, but realizing the might of Mubarak Shah, he finally withdrew in 1423 after causing some damage in the countryside. Hoshang Shah had entered into matrimonial alliance with the Muslim ruler of Kalpi to use the latter as buffer between Jaunpur-Malwa and Delhi-Malwa.

Hoshang Shah's successor Muhammad Shah proved incompetent. During his brief reign bf one year, the court of MalCa became a hotbed of ifitrigues leading to disastrous results. The chaos,culminated in his murder (1436) by his nobleSMahmud Khalji. Thus camel the end of the Ghorid rule itself.

At the outset, the position of Mahmud Khalji was threatened by the old Ghorid nobility. In the beginning, Mahmud followed the policy of appeasement and

1 , distributed iqta and high posts to them but he failed to elicit their support. He had to face a series of revolts of high' ranking nobles. Ultimately, Mahmud Khalji succeeded in tackling the recalcitrant nobles. After consolidating his internal position, Mahmud Khalji now had the time to look for further extension.

Mewar was the foremost state to attract his attention. You would read in Unit 24 that Mewar unde6 Rana Kumbha followed an aggressive policy in subduing and

assimilating the bordering Rajput chiefs into Mewar. This posed a direct threat to the kingdom of Malwa. Mahmud Khalji had to face the mighty Rana as early as 1437. Rana Kumbha promised Umar Khan, son of Hoshang Shah, to install him in place of Mahmud Khalji. In the baitle of Sarangpur (1437), Mahmud Khalji was defeated ajnd taken prisoner. Later, Mahmud Khalji took advantage of the confusion that emerged in Mewar after Ranmal's death : he attacked Mewar in 1442. He destroyed the temple of Banmata, but he had to retreat without much gains. Since then, Mihmud Khalji undertook almost yearly campaigns against Rana Kurnbha. Though Mahmud had occupied Gagraun (1444) and Mandalgarh (1457), Rana Kumbha was able to keep his territory intact and well-defended. This rivalry continued unabated. Kalpi was the bone of contention between Malwa and Jaunpur. Hoshang Shah earlier had helped his nephew Jalal Khan in installing him on the throne of Kalpi. But after Jalal Khan's death (1442), Nasir Khan Jahan succeeded in getting hold over Kalpi. However, he was soon expelled by Mahrnud Sharqi. This increased the hold of Jaunpur over Kalpi which was not to the liking of Mahmud Khalji. It resulted in a clash between the two (1444). Finally, a treaty was signed. Mahmud Sharqi agreed to hand over Kalpi to Khan Jahan which resulted in cordial relationship between the two.

Another important power which Ma!wa rulers had to tackle with was Gujarat. You will read in Unit 24 that Muzaffar Gujarati once succeeded in imprisoning Hoshang Shah.

After Ahmad Shah's death (1442), Mahmud Khalji got an opportunity to occupy Sultanpur and Nandurbar (1451) on account of the weak position of Muhammad Shah Gujarati. While Mahmud Khalji was still campaigning against Muhammad Gujarati, the latter died. His successor Sultan Qutbuddin entered into an alliance with Mahmud Khalji. Both parties agreed to respect each other's territorial boundaries. An understanding was also reached between the two to have a free hand in Mewar. However, similar understanding could not be maintained for other areas. Mahmud Khalji's intervention in Bahmani politics was always severely dealt with by Mahmud Begarha (for further details see Unit 28).

Ghiyas Shah (1469-1500), the son and successor of ahm mud ~ h a l j i , paid more attention to consolidation rather than.conquest. As a result, with the exception of a brief tussle with the Rana of Mewar (1473), the period was of a long peace.

23.3 JAUNPUR

'Afif informs us that the city of Jaunpur on the banks of ri<er Gomti' was founded by Feroz Shah Tughluq during his second Bengal campaign (1359-60). 1 his city became a strong power-base, and it soon evolved as a rival to Delhi for some time.

Malik Sarwar, a noble of Feroz Shah Tughluq, took full advantage of the succession tussle among the sons of Feroz and rose to the high position of wazir under Sultan ' Muhammad Shah (1390-94). Malik Sarwar got the charge of the eastern districts along with the title of Sultan-us Sharq. The invasion of Timur, which virtually' shattered the kingdom of Delhi, gave Malik Sarwar a n opportunity to declare his independence in Jaunpur. He extended his hold over Kol (Aligarh), Sarnbhal and Rapri (in Mainpuri district). Malik Sarwar's ambitions led to furious armed clashes

, with Delhi, Bengal, Orissa and Malwa. Though he did not succeed against them, he brought the rulers of Jajnagar and Gwalior under his sway. Mubarak Shah Sharqi (1399-1401), his son and successor, could hardly get time to consolidate the gains. However, his younger brother and successor, Ibrahim Shah Sharqi (1401-a), efficiently expanded the territories of the kingdom. He took Kanauj in 1406 (which was under Sultan Mahrnud Shah Tughluq). This enhanced his prestige greatly and paved the way for further achievements. In 1407, Ibrahim aspired to occupy Delhi, but in spite of initial success, the attempt finally failed. TAough he was able to lay his hands on Kalpi (1414), its ruler Qadir Khan continued to create problems for

I him. Ibrahim also subdued Ganesh, the ruler of Bengal, in 1414. During the closing years of his reign (1437), he again turned his attention towards Delhi and captured some of its neighbouring parganas. The Delhi Sultan Muhammad Shah, ultimately

had to sue for: peace, ;ie agreed to marry his daughter, Bibi Haji, to Ibrahim's son Mahmud Khan. ibrdhim's energetic zeal and his successes increased the prestige of the king1 om of Jaunpur. The latter earned the title Shiroz-i Hind.

During his successorb' reigns, Mahmud Sharqi (1 140-54), Muhammad Sharqi (1457 58) and Husain shGqi (1458-1505), clash: with the Delhi Sultans were frequent. Finally, Bahlol Lodi,annexed Jaunpur in 1483-84 and placed it under the charge of

. Mubarak Nohani. Husain Shah did attempt desperately to recover Jaunpur but failed. Bahlol finally placed his son Barbak Shah on the throne of Jaunpur, thus ending the era of the Sharqi rulers.

Check Your Progress 1

1) List the achieverhents of Hoshang Shah.

2) LSid the Lodi-SMrqi struggle finally seal the fate of the Sharqi'kingdom? Examine' in about five lines the decline of the Sharqis in the light of the above statement. '

3) Which of the following statements are right.Tick off ( d ) the correct answers. i) Dilawar Khan was the Tughluq governor. ii) Gagraun seflved as buffer state between Malwa and Sharqi rulers. iii) Rana Kumbha sided with Umar Khan in his clash with Mahmud Khalji. iv) Ibrahim sharqi earned the title of Shiraz-i Hind.

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23.4 BENGAL

The geopolitical condiltions of Bengal, especially the long distance from Delhi, met constraints on its cony01 by the Sultans of Delhi. The governors took fuli advantage of distance. As the cetltral power weakened or rulers got involved ewhere, the nobles used to act aldost de facto rulers in the region. Earlier, Iltu mish had to march in person to asdert his authority (1225) and it too, almost t !I ree years for Balban in crushing tM rebellion of Tughril Beg, the govt rnor of Bengal. To assert Delhi's hold over Bensal, Balban appointed his son Pughra Khan as governor (1281). But after Balban's death, Bughra Khan decided to sf y in Bengal rather than'contest' the Delhi throne (1287). Later, we see Ghiyasuddin Tughluq marching towards Lakhnauti. However, it was during Muhammad Tughluq's reign that more effective policy was adopted. be latter appointed his trusted nobles,at Lakhnauti, Sonargaon and Satgaon to establjsh a balance among various powerful factions. It greatly helped in reducing the power of the local magnates and increased the hold of De1,M. However, Delhi was challenged at various intervals.

, Ilyas Shah (1342-57), k h o emerged as a powerful ruler in Bengal, occupied Lakhnauti, and Sonargaon, and marched as far as Baliaras. Sultan Feroz Tughluq

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Again in 1359, Feroz Tughluq marched against Sikandar Shah (1357-89) to break his C m .ad E n t m India

power. After Feroz Toghluq's death (1388). the Sultanate became too weak to subdue the recalcitrant rulers of Bengal.

Sikandar'Shah's son Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah (1389-1409) was a popular ruler. He faced the combined attack of the Rajas of Kamata and Ahom and had to surrender the territory beyond Karatoya river. He established diplomatic ties with the Chinese rulers when one of their envoys came in 1406.

' HUSAIN SHAH1 7 BENGAL

MAP 2

After Ghiyasuddin's rllurder (1409), Bengal had to pass t h r o ~ ~ n two critical phases of internal chaos and conflicts (1409-1418; 143542). But the matters were set right with the accession Mas i rudd in Abul Muzaffar Mahmud, a descendant of Ilyas Shah. His son Ruknuddin Barbek (1459-74) embarked upon an expansionist policy. As a result, his frontier extended to Barner, north of the Ganges and Jessore-Khulna in the south. The militia of the'Abyssinian slaves played a ucial role in the expansion, but Barbek's policy of patronising them later on 7 proved fatal. In 1487, the Abyssinian commander Saifuddin Feroz succeeded in occupying the Bengal thione. But he failed to consolidate his position and, in 1493, Alauddin Hussain Shah (1493-1519) got power: He not only succeeded in subduing Abyssinian slaves but also adopted a rigorouk expansionist policy. Under him, the Bengal frontiers reached to Saran and Bihar in the north-west, Sylhet and Chittagong in the south- east, Htjo on the northcast and Mandaran on the sobth-west. In 1495, Hussain Shah had to face SultanSikandar Lodi's wrath as he'had given shelter to the.Sultan

Tbe Redlmd Pmrr : 13tblstb C a l m

of Jaunpur, Hussain Shah, Later,. a n o n - a m s i o n treaty +was signed and Hussain Shah promised not to give shelter to such fu@tives.

v Check Your Pro q s 2 I) How far did 'i he geopolitical conditions of Bengal help in maintaining its

, independent chqrctctef?

2) What was the rale of Abyssinian nobles in the politics of late 15th century Bengal?

3) Match the dates1 and names by drawing arrows : a) Bakhtiyar Khalji 1281

, b) Bughra K b n 1459-74 c) Ilyas Shah 1357-89 d) Ruknuddin Barbek I205 e) Sikandar Shah 1342 .

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23.5 ASSAM

GeogrKphically, medieval Assam covers the entire Brahmaputra valley as far as river . Karatoya in the west, while Mishmi Hills and Patkai Bum formed the northeastern boundary. The bouMary of the state of Burma parallel to its east. During the 13th-15th centuries ih Assam, a number of tribal polities-the Chutiya, the Tai- Ahoms (or Ahoms),lthe Koch. the Dimasa, the Tripuri, the Manipuri, the Khasi and the Jaintia--existed. Finally, the Chutiya add the Ahom emerged most powerful.' Besides, there also existed the kingdom of ~ a m a t d ( ~ a m r u p ) .

\

The medieval Kamata kingdom included Brahmaputra valley (excluding Rangpur), Bhutan, Cooch Bihat, Mymensingh, and the Garo hills. Kamrup (Modern North Guwahati) was the capital of the Kamata kingdom prior to Rai Sandhya's reign (1250-70). But ~ a c h d r i expansion forced Rai Sandhya to shift from Kamrup to Kamatappr (in moddrn Cooch Bihar district): hence the kingdom is called K a m m p Kamata. -

'.

We have already r e d how in 1206 Bakhtiyar Khalj~, one of the commanders of Muhammad Ghori, invaded Kamrup. But the campaign proved disastrous as his army was totally destroyed: Syltan Ghiyasuddin Iwaz also attempted to occupy . Kamrup (1227) but rhet the same fate at the hands of Rai Prithu. Later, however, kiiutmish'S son NasitOddin Mahmud suckeeded in crushing Rai Prithu's power. In 1255, Malik Y uzbek' ttacked Kamrup and succeeded in occupying Kamrup, but later he had to face t "h e same fate as that of Bakhtiyar Khalji. Soon his forces were overpowered; Malik kuzbek received a severe wound and died soon after (1257). However, during Sinkhdhvaj's reign (1300-1305), Sultan Shamauddin Feror Shah (1 301 -22), the Sultan lof Bengal, occupied Mymensingh a d Sylhet across .. . . ----

The Kamrup kingdom always fell a prey to Ahom imperialistic designs The Burmji literature records the success of the Ahom King Sukapha (1228-1268) against ,

Kamata ruler Sindhu Rai (1260-1285). The latter is reported to have accepted the suzerainty of Sukapha, but his successor Pratapdhvaj(1300-1305) ceased to pay tribute to the Ahom kings: as a result Sukhangpha (1293-1332) again invaded the Kamata kingdom. After a longdrawn battle and heavy loss, Pratapdhvaj sued for peace and gave his daughter Rajani in marriage to Sukhangpha.

An important feature of the 14th century Kamata kingdom was the great uprising of the Bhuyan chiefs who took advantage of the unstable conditions. A war of succession followed between the twa cousins-Dharma Narain and Durlabh Narain. In the beginning, Bhuyan chiefs failed in their designs as Durlabh Narain (1330-50) and Arimatta (1365-85) were more than a match to their power. However, after Arimatta's death (1385), his successors were too weak to face the Bhuyah onslaught and around mid-15th century Rai Prithu's line was supplanted by a new Bhuyan dynasty (Khyan) with Niladhvaj (1440-1460) as ks founder. Nilambar (1480-1498) was the most powerful king o i the Khyan dynasty who succeeded in extending his frontier from Karatoya t~ Barnadi. He also took advantage 'of the political turmoil created in Bengal (Gaur) by the Abyssinians and succeeded in occupying north- eastern part of Bengal. However, later, Alauddin Hussain Shah (1493-1519) was able to crush the power of Nilambar. With this came the end of the Khyan dynasty.

23.5.2 The Ahoms The Ahoms belonged to the Mao-Shan sub-tribe of the Tais of Southeast Asia. In - A.D. 1228, they migrated from Mogaung, a principality in upper Burma and Yunan to upper Assam where they finally settled in A.D. 1253 in the Dikhou valley (the modern Sibsagar division) with its capital at Charaideo (it was later changed to Chargua in 1397). Sukapha of Mao-Shan tribe was the first ~ h o m King (1228-68) who subjugated the Chutias. Morans, Borahis, Nagas, Kacharis and the Kamata kingdom (Kamrup). His son Suteupha (1268-1281) further extended his domain towards the southern banks of Brahmaputra up to Kalang (modern horth-Cachar sub-division) by defeating the Kacharis. Under Sukhangpha (1293-1332), the Ahoms became a paramount power in the whole of the Brahmaputra Valley. However, Sukhangpha's death created a void that resulted in the establishment of three interregnums-1364-69, 1376-80 _and 1389-97. At any rate, at Sudangpha's accession (1397-1407). the situation stabilized. The latter clashed with the Nara and the Kamata rulers. As a result, the Ahom frontiers reached to Patkai in the north and river Karatoya in the north-east. The boundary extended during Sudangpha's reign continued to form the line of control throughout the 15th century. Later, Suhenpha (1488-93) faced the rebellion of the Nagas and the Kacharis. But the revolts were suppressed. By the close of the 15th century, Supimpha's (1493-97) nobles like Buragohain Khenpung rebelled. Though the rebellion was crushed, it reflected the internal feuds among the nobles that had started since the close of the 15th century.

23.6 ORISSA I

On the eve of the Turkish invasion, Orissa was under the cotitrol of the Eastern Ciangas. The Tabaqat-i Nasiri records that Bakhtiyar Khalji had sent two brothers, Muhammad and Ahmad, to invade Jajnagar (modern Orissa) immediately before his death (1205). At that time, Rajaraja 111 ( 1197-121 1 ) was the ruler. The next invasion took place under Ghiyasuddin lwaz soan after Anangbhima Ill's accession (1211-38). Though the ~ a b a ~ a t - i Nasiri'applauds the success of Iwaz, the Chatesviri . inscription, however. mentions the success of Anangbhima 111 in the clash. 1't appears that perhaps Iwaz's invasion was repulsed.

Narasimha 1 (173-64) also had to face lkhtiyaruddin Yuzbek who got success in his J

first two attacks. but his later attacks were foiled by Narasimha I. The latter also succeeded in extending his frontier to Midnapur, Howrah and Hooghly. However, by the close of the 13th century (1296). :atgaon fell into the hands o f the Delhi Sultans. You have already read in Block 4 how during Ghiyasuddin Tughluq's reign (1320-25). Ulugh Khan (later Muhammad Tughluq) captured Jajnagar and made its ruler their tributary.

The Rcgbnrl Powm : From Bhanudeva IlI'q (1352-78 A.D.) reign onwards, the power of the Ganga kings " 13th-15th Ccatw started declining. Taking advantage of thie situation, the neighbouring states invaded

Orissa.

In 1353, Shamsuddin Slyas Shah of Bengal succeeded in penetrating as far as Chilka lake and took away Huge booty, including elephants. Later, the rulers of Delhi, Vijaynagar, Jaunpur and also the Bahmani rulers occasionaliy plundered Ori~ss.

Under such disorder qnd confusion, Kapilendra, the minister of Bhanudeva IV (1414- 1435), usurped the thdone in 1435 and laid the foundation of the Gajapati rule in Orissa. By 1464-65, the extent of his domain reached the south-Arcot district and eastern part of the Daccan plateau. Kapilendra also inflicted humiliating defeat upon Humayun Shah Bahmani when the former attacked Devarkonda and Kapilendra came to the rescue of Devarkonda chief (1459). After that, the Bahmani rulers never thought o! attacking Telingana so long as Kapilendra remained alive. In 1450, Kapilendra also succeeded in defeating Nasiruddin of Bengal (144259) and assumed the title of Gaudesvarb. In 1453, Rajahmundry also became part of his empire. Thus, by 1462, his frontier extended from Hooghly to Kaveri in the south. However, during the closing years of his reign, the Vijaynagar ruler Saluva Narasimha expelled the Oriyas from the Kaveti basin. Soon after Purushottama's accession (1467 A.DJ, the latter tried to rep tin the Tamil territory but his exploits remained confined to Kanchi only. Purushottama had to surrender Kondavidu (Kondnir) and Rajahmundry to the Bahmani ruler Muha*mad Shah 311 (1463-1482). Saluva Narasimha (later the Vijavnagar ruler) took advantage of the situation and occupied Udayagiri (1476). So long ,is Muhammad Shah Ill was alive, Purushottama did not attempt to reoccupy these territories. But soon after his death (1482 A.D.), Purushottama took Rajahmundry, K ~ n d d r by 1484, and Udayagiri from Saluva Narasimha (sometime between 1486-91). Thus, he succeeded in extending the frontiers of his empire from Bhagirathi in the north to river Pennar in the south. His son Pratapa Rudra (1497- 1540 A.D.), too, like his father, smbarked upon an expansionist policy. Most of his military exploits are af early 16th century which fall outside the scope of our stuPyS - Moreover, during his reign, he had to face continuous clashes with the Vijaynaqr

I ruler Krishnadeva Raya and the Bengal ruler Hussain Shah. After his death (1540), his successors could hardly hold the empire intact, and the end of Suryavamsi \

(Gajapati) dynasty came soon after (1542). . -- Check Your Progress 3

1) Examine the relations of Bengal rulers with the kingdom of i(amrup.

2) Who were Tai-Ahoms? Lht the achievements of Sukhangpha.

3) Discuss Kapilendta's relations with-the rulers of Vijaynagar, Bahmani and Bengal.

I ................................................................................................................................ , Central and Eastern India \,

................................................................................................................................

4) Fill in the blanks : ................. a) Kamata was the capital of

b) Rai Prithui defeated the forces of ............... and ................... ................. c) Assamese literature is called

d) Foundation of Khyan dynasty was laid down by .................... tribe.. e) The Ahoms belonged to ................... tribe.

......................... f) Purushottama surrendered Kondavidu and Rajahmundry to

23.7 LET US S U M U P L

In this Unit, you have studied the emergence of independent kingdoms of Malwa,. Jaunpur and Bengal. These kingdoms emerged as a result of the decline of the Delhi Sultanate. We have also studied the territorial expansion of each state and their relations with the Sultanate and the neighbouring state. Apart from these kingdoms, we have also d.iscussed the kingdoms of Assam and Orissa. Their development was independent of the Sultanate. In Assam there existed two kingdoms, the Kamatit-Kamrup and the Ahoms. The latter was still in the process of state formation and was mainly based on tribal organisation.

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23.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

I EXERCISES

1 , . Check Your Progress 1 I ) See Sec. 23.2 2) See Sec. 23.3 3 ) .See Sec. 23.2; 23.3

Check Your Progress 2 I ) See Sec. 23.4 2) See Sec. 23.4 3) a) 1205 b) 1281 c) 1342 d) 1459-74 e) 1357-89

Check Your prbgress 3 1 ) See Sub-sec. 23.5.1 - 2) See Sub-sec. 23.5.2 3) See Sec. 23,6 4) To answer thcse questions (a-f) read Sub-sec. 23.5.1 and Sec. 23.6

UNIT 24 NORTHERN AND WESTERN

Structure 24.0 Objectives 24.1 Introduction 24.2 Kashmir 24.3 North-West Rai~utana

24.3.1 The O u i b and the S i i 24.3 2 The Gubilols of Vagad 24.3.3 The Rarhors of Marwar 24.3.4 M ~ n o r itajput Principalities

24.4 Gujarat 24.4.1 Relatioqs with Malwa 24.4.2 Relations with Rajputana 24.4.3 Relatl* wlth Bahmeni end Khandah

24.5 Sind - . , 24.6 Let Us Sum1 Up 24.7 Key Words I 24.8 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

In the preceding Unit (23) you have seen how regional powers emerged in Central and Eastern India. In this Unit, our focus would be on the emergence of regional powers in Northern and Western India. We will discuss in this Unit the territorial expansion of the qgional kingdoms of Kashmir. ' ~ a j ~ u t a n a . Sind and Gujarat.

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24.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this bnit you will know about :

the regional powers that emerged in Northern and Western India.

the territorial eNpansion of these kingdoms,

. their reiationship.with neighbours and other regional powers, and

iheir relations with the Delhi Sultanate.

24.1 . INTRODUCTION

Some of these regi~nal powers were the result of the decline of the Delhi Sultanate while others' devebpment was independent. Kashmir developed independently of the Sultanate while Gqarat was the outcome of its decline. Sind and Rajputana, though all the time were fallling prey. to the Sultanate and at times even formed part of it, succeeded in retaining their regional features.

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24.2 KASHMIR

Geographically, Kaphmir valley is surounded by Pir Panjal ranges in the south and south-west, KiShtwbr valley in ihe south-eask'and the wrth, and north-ast and

. north-west region i$ covered by the mighty central and north-westem Himalaian ranges. The Kashmir valley mainly consists of, on the one hand, alluvial plaiqs of Jhelum and its tributaries and, on the other, of plaieaus. While the alluvial plains arc

fertile and extensively cultivated, elevated plateaus arc less fertile and either laid Northern and Western lndia

waste, or if cultivated yield poor crop. Since the Kashmir valley is surrounded by . mountain terrain, passes (Zojila, Banihal, Budil, Pir Panjal and Toshamaidan) occupy great importance and they had great impact on the development of political and socio-economic processes. However, the southern passes remain inaccessible till .

the time of the Lodis; the northern ?nd western passes (Baramulla, Pakhli and Swat) were always accessible.

I The 13th-century Kashmir saw a n independent but weak Hindu kingdom of Jagadeva (I 198-12 12). During his reign, the Damras, a turbulent feudal community, rebelled but were successfully suppressed. But his successors ~ a j a d e v a (1212-35), Samgramdeva (1235-52) and Ramdeva (1252-56) could not assert their power. After

b the latter's death, the Damra lord, Simhadeva (1286-1301), got the opportunity to usurp the throne. But his dynasty, too, could not continue for long. Interestingly, in spite of the Muslim inroads in India, Kashmir remained for long outside the Muslim

• sway for about two centuries. Mahmud Ghaznavi 'made two attempts in 1015 and 1021, but the mlghty Himalaya and Hindukush wasted his designs. The myth of the invincibility of Kashmir could only be shattered in 1320 when the commander Dulacha succeeded in ransacking Kashmir and amassed huge booty. But a severe snow storm dug his grave a t Banihal pass itself.

The invasion had its long lasting impact. I t paved the way for the establishment of Muslim rule in Kashmir. The way Raja Sahadeva tackled the Mongol problem, and the large-scale destruction and devastation struck by the Mongols, created great dissatisfaction ainong his subjects. This was exploited well by Rinchan, a Bhautta Prince of Laddakh, to usurp the throne in 1320. Soon after he accepted Islam and assumed the title of Sultan Sadruddin. His subsequent murder was followed by a long period of internal strifes. Later, Shahabuddin (1356-74) tried to put the state on strong footing. When Timur (Timurlane) invaded lndia in 1398, he sent his envoy Faulad Bahadur and Zainuddin to Sultan Sikandar of Kashmir and asked for a huge sum. This resulted in large-scale anarchy till Zainul Abedin ascended the throne in 1420. He ruled the country with utmost vigour for 50 years (d. 1470). He extended his frontiers up to Western Tibet and occupied Ladakh and Shel. But his deeds were soon undone by his successors. His death created internal feuds. Finally, the Saiyyids -. succeeded in assuming power in the beginning of the 16th century.

No clashes seem to have occurred between the Delhi Sultans and Kashmir rulers till the Saiyyid rule. But strained relations between the two appeared during the reign of Bahlol Lodi. The Tabaqat-i Akbari reports that during the war of succession that

' followed after Haider Shah's death (1470-72). Tatar Khan, the governor of Punjab, a t the instruction of Bahlol Lodi, sided with Bahram Khan, the uncle of Sultan Hasan. Sultan Hasan succeeded in killing Bahram. Tatar Khan's act to help Bahram antagonised Sultan Hasan. He sent Malik Tazi Bhatt to invade Punjab. Tazi Bhatt not only succeeded in defeating Tatar Khan, but he also occupied Sialkot. Following Sultan Hasan's death (1484) at the call of Saiyyid Muhammad, the son of Saiyyid Hasan, Tatar Khan again mobili~ed forces against Kashmir. This time again Tatar Khan had to face defeat a t the hands of the united force of the rulers of Jammu and Kashmir.

I - Check Your Progress 1 1 ) Analyse the role of geography in the emergence of Kashmir as a n independent

t Kingdom.

.................................................................................................................................

I 2) Who was Zainul Abedin?

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....... 1 .......................................................................................................................

24.3 NORTH-WEST : RAJPUTANA

The present ~ o r t h k e s t region of India comprises Rajasthan and a p r t of Gujarat and Punjab. From+he geographical point of view, this region consists of a vast Thar desert in which Bibner, Jaisalmer and Barmer lie. In the South-wet region are the Kutch plains in wtd<h Nagar Parkar state flourished. The states of Mewar, Dungarpur, Banswara, Chittor and Ranthambhor flourished at the foot-hills of the Aravalli ranges.

Before the rise of tribal monarchies of the Rajputs, there were local tpbes, namely, Bhils, ~ e e n a s , Mers and Jats. These tribes spread over different regions. For instance, the Bhils were dominant in Mewar, Dungarpur and Banswara states while Meenas, Mers and Jats were dominant in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bikaner respectively. These'local tribes, however, could not succeed in establishing monarchies as subsequently foundkd by other Rajput tribes who came from the north-west part of India.

The ~ h a i i s of ~aisalmkr came from the vicinity of the Sutlej river in Punjab and the Sisodias from the Marmada in South India. The Kachhawahas moved from Central' India (Narwar), a d the Rathors of Jodhpur and Bikaner had their links with Kannauj region. he immigration of the Rajputs indicates some interesting points. Initially, they settled around the banks of rivers where they had access to water and rich soil for agricultural purposes. When the population grew and disputes over succession or on other matters took place, the weaker section moved to the regions which were spar_sely populated and had no political authority to resist the settlement of newcomers in .thdir regions. The newcomers were advanced in warfare technology and political organisation compared to the aboriginal tribes. Since the newcomers were few in numbers, they adopted two-pronged measures to control the local tribe! one was the use of force, and the other was socio-religious measures.

In the coercive method, first they strengthened their position by erecting forts to - show their military prowess. The second one is significant from socio-religious poin of view. The migradt clans established a practice of putting tika on the forehead of every succeeding chief by a local tribal. For instance, the Bhils of Mewar,.the Godara Jats of Bihner and the Meenas of Jaipur used to put tika on the forehead of the succeeding chiefs of these regions. Without performing this ritual, the succeeding chief was not considered as legal head of the region and its people. Even after the acceptance of the Mughal suzerainty by the Rajput clans in the 16th-17th century, this social function of marking tika by a local tribal continued. However, at the political level, the Mughal emperoi exercised this privilege of bestowing succession rights on one of the family members of the ruling clan. But at the local level, the social rituil of putting tika by a local tribal was carried out. It was symbolic in the sense that while the real power rested with the aboriginal tribe, they had delegated this power to a chief whose duty was to protect the region and its people from external aggression and also to look after the welfare of the people. In the beginning, this sbcial custom was followed to assuage the feelings of the local tribes, but with the passage of time it simply became a ritual. Gradually, the Rajputs became defacto and dc jure chiefs of the regions and the local tribes simply became peasants. Further, the chiefs in order to maintain'soldiers and also themselves extracted surplus frbm the peasants. A religious colour was given to this act: the surplus was taken a$ bhog. The word bhog signified religious sanctity: the offering rnade to a deity was also called 'bhog'. Moreover, the king was considered a representative of God. Therefore, it-was the religious duty of the peasants to make offerings (bhog) to the chief and his officials. It further strengthened the authority of the chit,& and the chances of revolt of the local people were minimised. It became obligatory for a chid to protect his political authority from outside aggression. Thus,

the suzerain power enjoyed chief within a certain territory gave birth to the ' tribal-cum-territorial

24.3.1 The Cuhilas and the Sisodias The most powerful state which emerged in the north-west &as the state of Mewar. During the 13th century, Jaitra Singh (1213-61) consolidated the Guhila power but failed to face the Turkish menace. Alauddin Khalji succeeded in defeating Rana Ratan Singh and occupied Mewar in A.D. 1303. During the 14th century. internal feuds flared up in Mewar that resulted in the victory of Raja Hamir of Sisodia clan. Thus was laid the foundation of the ~i$odia rule in Mewar. Hamir's successors extended the domain which included Ajmer, Jahazpur, Mandalgarh, Chhapen, Bundi, Nagor, Jalor and Sambhar. But it was under Rana Kumbha (1433-68) that the Sisodia power reached its peak. An interesting development during the early years of Rana Kumbha's reign was the increasing influence of the Rathor clan over the Sisodias. At any rate, the Rana was able to smother the Rathor's hold.

/

Rana Kumbha expanded his territories far and wide. Almost the whole of ~ikjasthan was brought under his sway. He occupied Kota, Bundi, Amber, Narwar, Durgapur, Sambhar, Nagor, Ranthambhor, and Ajmer. Many times he repulsed the invasions of the Sultans of Malwa and Gujarat (the details of these clashes would be dealt with in separate sections on Malwa and Gujarat). Rana Kumbha was assassinated by his son Uda who occupied the throne in 1468. During the reign of Uda (1468-73) and his successor Raimal (1473-1508). struggle for power continued unabated till Rana Sanga ascended the throne in 1508.

24.3.2 The Guhilots of Vagad The Guhilots of Mewar did not confine themselves to ~ e d a r only. During the first half of the 12th century, Samant Singh of Mewar went to Vagad (modern Dungarpur and Banswara) to establish his own principality. But he could not control the region for a long time because of the intervention of Gujarat. When Gujarat's control over Vagad weakened, Jagat Singh, a descendant of Samant, re-established his suzerainty in the region in the beginning of the 13th century. The Guhila hold was consolidated in Vagad during 14th-15th century. They used to have frequent - clashes with the Sultans of Gujarat. The rulers of Malwa were also t ~e i r traditional enemies.

Another branch of the Guhilots led by Rana Mokal's second son, Khem Singh, and his descendant Suraj Ma1 (1473-1528). shifted to Pratapgarh where an independant state arose towards the end of the 15th century.

24.33 The Rathors of Marwar The Rathors of Marwar migrated from the region of Kannauj to Pali during the , inid-thirteenth century. Siha, the Rathor chief, helped the Brahmans of Pali in

freeing the region from the incursions of the Mers and tbe Meenas. ~ h u s , he established his suzerainty over that region around 1243. Asthan and the subsequent Rathor chiefs succeeded in extending their sway over ldar. Mallani, Mandsor, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Umarkot and Bhinmal. But the Rathor power reached its climax during the reign of Rao Chunda (1384-1423) and Rao Jodha (1438-89).

Rao Chunda received Mandor (Mandsor) in dowry$1395). Later, he extended his sway over Khatu, Didwana, Sambhar, Nagaur and Ajmer which were under Delhi Sultan's hegemony. To challenge the rising power of Chunda, a coalition was formed by the Bhatis, the Sankhalas and the governor of Multan. They invaded Nagaur and succeeded in killing Chunda in 1423. Under Rao Jodha, the Rathors emerged as a formidable power. He further extended his domain by occupying Merta, Phalodi, Pokharan, Bhadrajun, Sojat, Jaitaran, Siwana, parts of Godwad and Nagaur. Later, during Rao Suja's reign (1492-15 1 3 , the Rathot power started showing signs of disintegration. Biran Deo was the first to declare independence. Soon after, the chiefs of Pokarana and Bahadmer also severed their ties with the Rathors.

The Rathor power did not remain confined to the Marwar region only: it extended further towards Jangla (modern Bikaner) under the leadership of Bika, the son of Rao Jodha (1438-89). Bika migrated to Jangla sometime around 1465. He strengthened his position by establishing matrimonial tie with Rao Shekha of Pungal -

- -

N o r t h and Watcm I n d d

ÿ he, ~e~ io 'n .1 Powers : 13th-15th Century

who gave him his dau hter in marriage. The Jats of that region also surrendered to him. In 1488, he foun j ed the city of Bikaner which, since then, became a centre of power. Bika, after his father's death, strived unsuccessfully to occupy the ancestral ~ a d d i of Jodhpur, although he was able to conquer a part of Punjab. At the time of his death in 1504, a latge territory was under his control.

24.3.4 Minor Rajflut Principalities 1

Besides the above mekioned Rajput principalities, there arose a number of small 'chiefdoms' in R a j p u t h a during the 13-15th century. Foremost were the Bhatis of Jaisalmer who migrate/d from Punjab to the Thar desert in the beginning of the 1 Ith century. Throughout tbe 14-15th century, Jaisalmer rulers had frequent clashes with the rulers of Mewar, Multan, Umarkot and Bikaner.

Next came the Kachhwahas who migrated t o Dhundhar from central India. They were the feudatories o t the Gurjara-Pratihara rulers. During the-1 l t h century, the Kachhwaha chief ~ u l $ h Rai migrated from ~ a r w a r t o Eastern Rajasthan where he subdued the ~ a r ~ u j a r s l a n d laid the foundation of the ~ h u n d h a r state (Amber, modern Jaipur). The gachhwahas controlled Amber, Med, Bairat and Shaikhawati region during the 15th century. However, they rose to prominence during the Mughal period.

I

We have already seen in Unit 9 that the Chauhans were the main power to reckon with when the Turks tbme to India. But after Prithviraj's defeat a t the hands of the Turks (1 192: second bbttle of Tarain) the Chauhan power declined. There emerged a number of petty powed-centres a t Jalor, Ranthambhor, Nadol, Sirohi and Haroti which a t one point of time formed part of the Sultanate (see Unit 14) or were too weak to face the onslabght of Mewar and Marwar.

Sometime around mid 13th century, the Hadas succeeded in establishing a principality in the Buntii-Kota region. They were the feudatories of the Rana of Mewar. Samar Singh had defended his territory from the incursion of Balban in 1253-54, but he could hot face the might of Alauddin Khalji. He died fighting. His son, Napuj, also faced the same fate at the hands of Alauddin in 1304, A.D. During the 15th century, the Hadas kere frequently confronted by Mewar, Gujarat and Malwa. In fact, during 13-15th century the Bundi state existed in name only.

The Yadavas of Karavqi and Sodhas of Umarkot add Barmer also rose to prominence during the 13-15th century. However, they could not play a prominent role in the 13-15th century regional power formations. .

\

- Check Your Progress 2 'I

1 ) How did the Rajput tribes succeed in establishing their monkrchies in north-west India?

2) Who were the Rathors?

.................................................................................................................................. . ,

3 ) Discuss briefly the emergence of Rana Kumbha's power.

, 24.4 GUJARAT

1 You have already read (in lock 3, Unit 9) about the emergence of the Chalukya state in Gujarat during 8-12th century. The Chalukya hold continued over Gujarat

P throughout the 13th century in spite of the establishment of the Sultanate. You have also seen (Block 4, Unit 15) how in 1299 Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan, laudd din Khalji's generals, succeeded in overthrowing Raja Karna Baghella, the Chalukya

b ruler and thus laid the foundation of the Sultanate rule in Gujarat. The Delhi Sultans enjoyed subremacy over Gujarat throughout the 14th century. However, symptoms of decline became evident from Feroz Shah's reign onwards who entrusted the governorship of Gujarat to Shamsuddin Damghani. Timur's invasion (1398) provided the much sought for opportunity to the governors to break away with the centre. Soon after, in 1407, Zafar khan (who later assumed the title of Muzaffar Shah), the then Governor of Gujarat, established an independent kingdom in Gujarat.

The Kingdom of Gujarat since its incep~ion had been constantly clashing with its neighbouring territories-Malwa, Rajputana, Khandesh and the Bahmarii kingdoms.

I 24.4.1 Relations with ~ a l w a ' The Malwa rulers were their traditional enemies. In 1408, Muzaffar Shah attacked Malwa and made its ruler Hoshang Shah captive. Though Hoshang Shah had to accept the suzerainty of Muzaffar Shah, he was jealous of the rising power of Gujarat. To undermine its power, the rulers of Malwa used to join hands with the enemies of Gujarat. But Ahmad Shah of Gujarat sdcceeded in crushing Hoshang Shah's power. Later during Qutbuddin Ahmad Shah 11's reigh (1451-59), ~ a h k u d Khalji of Malwa attacked Qujarat but he was repulsed. Later, Mahmud Khalji allied with Qutbuddin Ahmad Shah I1 to confront Rana Kumbha of Mewar. But this move was purely a diplomatic one as Mahmud Khalji never left any opportunity to undermine the prestige of the rulers of Gujarat.

i 24.4.21 Relations with Rajputana I

Another formidable power with which the rulers of Gujarat had been constantly at I war was Rajputana. The first Rajput kingdom to form part of Gujarat was Idar L (1426). Soon, Ahmad Shah overran Dungarpur (1433).'Later, Qutbuddin (1451-59)

ahd Mahmud Begarha (1459-151 1) had to face Rana Kumbha, the ruler of Mewar. Rana Kumbha, as we have already seen, had occupied Siroti, Abu and Nagaur, the

I latter being ruled by Ahmad Shah's uncle, fieroz Khan. As a result, Rana Kumbha '

had to cope with the combined attack of Gujarat, Sirohi and ~ a g a u r . The final I outcome was that the Rana had to sue for peace by paying huge indemnity. But .

Rana Kumbha retained his capital, Kumbhalgarh ih spite of its being besieged two times.

The Rajput state of Champaner also constantly clashed with Gujarat. But finally it was annexed to the Gujarat kingdom by Mahmud Begarha in 1483-84 who reriamed

r i t Muhammadabad and made it his second capital. By Mahmud Begarha's reign other small Rajput kingdoms of Junagarh, Sorath, Kutch and Dwarka were also .

subjugated and the boundary of the Muzaffar Shahi domain reached the remotest corners of the Kathiawar peninsula.

1 24.4.3 Relations with Bahmani and Khandesh

lern and Western India

I The Bahmani ruler Feroz Shah maintained cordial relations with the Gujarati rulers. .

But after his death (1397-1422), radical change came about with the accession of Ahmad Bahmani (1422-1436) who formed matrimonial alliance with the ruler of Khandesh. When-Rai Kanha of Jhalawar fled (1429), Khandesh and Bahmani rulers

Mahmud Begarha also had close ties with the Jam Nizamuddin of Sind. Since he was Mahmud's maternal grandfather, Begarha rushed to support him when the tribal

of Sind rebelled aminst the Jam. I

Mahmud Begarha also slzicceeded ir! suppming the rising Portuguese Mwcn in Indian waiers. He receivad help from the rulers of Egypt and the Ottoman who sent their generals Amir ~ u s $ i n irnd Sulaiman Rais. The combined force at fmt sucaeded in defeating thq Portuguese flotilla at 'Chaul in 1508 but, lateh-c509, Albuquerque cornpletdy.bushed them. As a result, in 1510 Mahmud Begarb ... - --. _

gave asylum to him. Thia infuriated Ahmad Shah Gujarati and he had to use force against them. He subjected them to a crushing defeat and occupied Mahim. However, during Mahmd B&uha*s reign cordialitia revived. When Mahmud

k

Khalji of Malwa'attacked the Bahmani kingdom, Mahmud Begarha came twice to ita rescue.

Mahmud Begarha also mbihtained friendly relatiodwith the Khandesh rulers, bUt Adil Khan I1 ceased to pay tribute and joined hands with Ahmadqgar and Berar. As a result, Mahmud Begarhp a t F W Khandesh and.finally Adil Khan was compelled to a m p t suzerainty of MBhmud Begarha. But the latter did not annex either Kiunde~h~or Daubtabad; instead, he confirmed their rulers on payment of tribute.

entered into an alliance with the' Pony'guese and extracted assurance for the safety of u o r t b a a d Watcra

the Gujarati ships in the Arabian sea.

In 1508, the Delhi Sultan Sikandar Lodi sent an embassy to Gujarat. The embassies of Sikandar Lodi and that of Ismail Safavi of Iran greatly increased the pre&ige of the Gujarati ruler. It also suggests the important place Mahmud ~ e ~ a r h a occupied in the contemporary national and international scene.

24.5 SIND

Sind was another independent state on the western border of India. The history of. the foundation of Muslim powe-r in Sind goes back to A.D. 71.2, when ~ u h a m m a d bin Qasim attacked Sind. The Sumirahs seem to have established their power sometime in the 10th century in Sind. We do not have 'much information regarding their rule and their relation with the neighbouring states. But stray references suggest that their influence extended as far a's bebal and Makran Coast. They also had parts of Kutch under their control. Acpording to the Tarikh-i Jahangusha, the Khwarizmian ruler Jalauddin Mangbarni defeated Chanesar, the Sumirah prince, in 1224 and occupied Debal and Damrilah. During Iltutmish's region, Nizam-ul Mulk, Jlinaidi, the wazir of Iltutmish, occupied it in 1228 and its ruler Chanesar was sent to the court of Iltutmish. Later, Muhammad Tughluq attacked Thatta in 1350-51 in pursuit of Taghi, the rebel noble.

I MAP 4

e . .

anal Powers : .h Century

Later, the Sammahs succeeded in overthrowing the Sumirah in 1351. They ruled for 175 years. The Chachnama mentions Sammahs as residents of Sind even before the conquest of Muhammad bin Qasim. They originally belonged to the Yadava branch of Rajputs and were later converted to Islam. They were mainly agriculturists and held land under the Siumirahs. When Feroz Shah Tughluq in 136061, and again in 1362, attacked Jam Jauna and Banbaniya of Thatta, the Jam had to sbrrender. But soon. after the death of Feroz Shah Tughluq (1388), the Sammahs threw off the Sultanate yoke and became independent under Jam Tughluq. The Jam rulers of Sind maintained cordial relations with the rulers of Gujarat. Jam Nizamuddin had married his two daughters to-the Gujarat ruler, and Mahmud Begarha was the son of his second daughter, Bibi Mughli. We have already seen how Mahmud Begarha came all out in 1472, to the help of Jam Nizamuddin when the tribal pirates threatened the latter's authority. Jqm Nizamuddin (1460-1508), the greatest of the Jams of Sind. also had close ties with Sultan Husain of Multan. During the closing years of his reign (1493), the Arghuns who were the descendants of the Khans of Persia. threatened Jam's pqwer. But s I long as Jam Nizamuddin was alive, the Arghuns' attacks were not successful. After his death (1508), the Arghuns succeeded in t +ablishing their Mwer in Sind in the 16th century.

&

i Your ~ r o ~ r c b s 3 1) ~liiically examine relations of Gujarat with Malwa rulers.

2) Who were the ~ammahk?

24.6 LET US SUM UP

In this Unit, we have discussed the emergence of regional powers in Northern and Western India &ring 13-15th century. We have seen that Kashmir as an independent state develop-d outside the Sultanate. The relations of Kashmir Sultans with thC Delhi Sultanate thrcoughout the 13-15th century remained cordial except during Bahlol Lodi's re@. In Rajputana, there e m e ~ e d a dumber of small principalities based on clan-organisation, of which the Guhilas, Sisodias and Rathors were more prominent. Gujarat became independent as a result of Sultanate's decline. By early 15th century, it attained a complete independent status. Gujarat was constantly at war with its neighbours-Malwa, Rajputana and Bahmanis. During this period, in the extreme ,west, Sind under the Sumirah and Sammah rulers was trying to throw off the Sultanate yoke. It could succeed in its designs only after Feroz Tughluq's death.

24.7 KEY WORDS ,

Bhog : land revenue; offering to a deity.

Gaddi : throne

Jam : title assumed by the Sammah rulers of Sind.

Arghun : descendabts of the Y :.-ins of Persia.

24.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK l ' O ~ _ ' R PROGRESS EXERCISES

- - - - - -- - - . - -- --

Check Your Progress 1 I ) See Sec. 24.2 2) See Scc. 24.2

Chpck Your Progress 2 I ) .See Sec. 24.3 2) See Sub-sec. 24.3.1, 24.3:2 3) Sce Sub-sec. 24.3.3

Check Y :)ur Progress 3 I ) See Sub-sec. 23.4.1 2) See Scc. 24.5

UNIT 25 STATE, ADMINISTRATION AND ElCONOMY IN NORTH INDIA

Structure 25.0 Objectives 25.1 Introduction 25.2 Characteristic Features of the Regional States in North In& 25.3 North Indian Kingdoms as Successof States 25.4 Succession Issue 25.5 Legitimization 25.6 Administratiw Structure 25.7 Revenue Administration. 25.8 Nobles and Landed Aristdcracy 25.9 Economy: Gaeral Remarks 25.10 Let Us Sum Up 25.1 1 Key Words 25.12 ~nswers to Check Your Progress Exercises

25.0 OBJECTIVES

In this Unit, we will discuss the state, administration, and economy in the Northern States. After reading this Unit, you should be able to learn:

the characteristic features of the regional states,

how the succession issue was decided,

the ways in which the regional kings legitimized their powers,

about the adkinistrative machinery, and

what role did the nobles and landed aristocracy in the regional polity play in the revenue and economic set-up.

25.1 ' INTRODUCTION

In the present Unit, khe term North India is used to denote the entire region north of the Vindhyan ranges, i.e. Kashmir in the north; coming down to North-West-the Rnjputana, Sind, Multan and Gujarat; the aminland-Malwa and Jaunpur; further in the East-Orissa, Bengal, K a a t a and Ahom regions of Assarn. Since our focal point is to discuss regional powers, Delhi and its environs, which geographically form very much a part of North India, fall outside the purview, of our discussion. In this Unit, an attemgt is made to analyse the characteristic features of the regional kingdoms, their adniinistrative structure and the role of nobility in the regional politics.

25.2 CHARYCTERISTIC FEATURES 'OF THE REGIONAL STATES IN NORTH INDIA

It is generally held t b t the 'antipathy' that existed during the Sultanate .period , between the ,Hindu and the Muslim states heightened the conflicts and c l a s h durinp

. ,

the 13-15th century. But, as Schwartzberg has rightly p'ointcd out. wt find more frequent and fierce stnrggk between the Muslim-Muslim and Hindu-Hindu rulers rather than between Hindu-Muslim rulers. For example,?Gujarat*s traditional enemies were Muslim rulers of Malwa and J a u n p u ~ there was continuous warfare between Kamata and Ahom rulers; Orissa rulers contin~ously faced the might of the Vijaynagr rulers and in Rajputana quarrels took inter-clan character. They never showed unity even in dire needs. In fact. in framing political alliances, the need of the time and circumstances played more crucial role rather than religion. Mahmud Khalji I of Mrlwa sided with Ganga Das, the ruler of Champann, against Mahmud Shah Gujarati in 1450-51; later. Mahmud Khalji joined hands with the Gujarati ruler Qutbuddin-against Rana Kumbha of Mewar realizing the latter's strength.

The foremost feature of the 1515th century polity. was 'vertical' penetration rather than the 'horizontal' one, i.e. horizontally the area under their control was smaller compared to the Sultanite but within iheir area of influence they 'vertically* ' penetrated deep into the rural areas (for further detaiis see Units 23 and 24).

I Under regional rulers, the maximum area lay outside their effective control; even where they exercised a good measure of control, there, too; they often faced some difficulty. On this basis, we can divide their domain into three kinds:

i) Where land revenue was extracted from the peasants directly through revenue officials, the state's influence and control.was of a high order.

ti) Aeas where revenue was collected through lbcal chiefs, the state's control was still good enough.

iii) T& states that were satisfied with the tribute only. the degm of control was minimal. This relationship had direct bearing on regional rulers' relations with the nobles, tributary chiefs or rajas and local aristocracy (the so-called umindirs. muqaddams, etc.). We would take up this aspect in greater detail while dealing with the nature of the ruling.class under various regional kingdoms.

25.3 NORTH INDIAN KINGDOMS AS SUCCESSOR STATES

Generally, the regional kingdoms are considered as 'successor' states of the Sultanate. An argument has been presented that the founders of the regional kingdoms at one point of time were either governors of t k Sultanate or had served under them in 'some* capacity. You would'read in the next units that this wasXrue in some cases but cannot be applied invariably. For example, Zal'ar Khan, Dilawar Khan and Malik Sarwar, the founders of the regional kingdoms ofH&jarat, Malwa and Jaunpur respectively, served as governors under theTughluq Sultans. Besides, kngal mlers also had direct and continous links with the Sultanate. But the Rajputana

.- states, though always a prey to the Sultanate onslaught. never accefited the complete hegemony of the Sultans. As and w-kn the opportunity arose. they threw off the 9ultanate yoke and succeeded in maintaining heir clannish character. Similar was 'the cast with Sind. Under the Sultanate pressure, the Sir&?-ulcn accepted the suzerainty of Iltutmish; Muhammad Tughluq and Fcro~ Tughluq, but Tor all practical purposes Sumirah and Sammah rulers ruled independently. As concerned.' their development was entirely independent of the Sultanate (Tor further details see Units 23 and 24).

Since some regional powers emerged on the ruins of the Sultanate, it is generally thought, that structurally their polity bore striking resemblance to th'r Sultanate. Let us find out to what extent this view is correct.

25.4 SUCCESSON ISSUE

You have already read in Unit 16 about the.nature of the Sultana* socio-political ,.ession. As a sytern. We have seen thqt Islam has not providgd any rules for suc-

The Regional Powem : result, principles of election, nomination and hereditary succession coex~steu. ln 13th-15th Century fact, 'force' was the main arbiter. Thus, ample opportunity for manoeuvring was

available.

Like the Sultanate, in, the regional states as \-fell, whether ruled by a Hindu or a Muslim, there were no set rules of succession. Hence, there were always conspiracies and intrigues among various groups in which sometimes women also played a significant role. In Malwa, the principle of nomination took precedence over law of ,

primogeniture. In Jaunpur, 'force' was the deciding factor. Husain Shah Sharqi usurped the throne iq 1458 after killing his elder brother Muhammad Shah Sharqi. Similarly, in Gujarat,. accession of Ahmad Shah was contested by his uncle Maudud ,

Sultan (Feroz Khan). In Bengal, the role of nobles was more important and they .

acted as kingmakers. $hamsuddin'~hmad Shah was killed by his slaves Shadi Khan and Nasir Khan (1435). They, in turn, were killed by their rivals (1442). By 1487, the power of Abyssinian pbles reached its peak when, Malik Andil, an Abyssinian noble killed Jalaluddin Fath Shah, and usurped the throne.

In Rajputana, too, the law of primogeniture was not strictly adhered to. In the case of the Guhilas and Sisodias, we find that after Rana Lakha's death, instead of Chunda (the eldest son of the Rana), the throne passed into the hands of his minor son Rana Mokal. Similarly, Uda usurped the throne by killing his father Rana Kumbha. Paimal's accession was also nor smooth. He was challenged by Uda's sons Sahasmal and Surajwl.

In Kashmir, too, no succession rules could develop. As early as 1323, Shah Mir, usurped power following his master's death. His eldest son Jamshed's accession (1342), too, was followed by a long-drawn war of succession. Zainul Abedin himself, assumed power after killing his elder brother Ali Shah in 1420.

In Ahom, the 'council df great nobles- Bar Gohaih and Burah Gohain played an important role in appointing and nominating kings. In fact, no one could becbme th king without their appoval. It was only'in the kingdom of Orissa where succession rules were respected uqder the Ganga rulers. But, later, when the power was transferred from the Gdnga rulers to the Gajapati rulers, there seems to have emerged some lapses: we find that after Kapilendra's death, his younger son Purushottama usurped the throne by setting aside the claims of his elder brother Hamir.

The King was at the helm of affairs, and he was the final authority in all matters. But, as you have already read, in the Islamic world there was no legal sanction for the Sultan's authority and it was-the Caliph who was the political head of the Muslims. The Delhi Sultans used to recite khutba in Caliph's name and inscribe his name on their coins to get legal sanction for their authority. For the regional states, the need for legitimization, not only in the eyes of the masses but also their competitors, became more important, for every accession was usually preceded by clashes and wars. For those regional states which were situated too far away to get the legal sanction from the Caliph at Baghdad, the ulema and the sufis were more potential legitimizers.

To pacify the orthodox Muslim opinion, the rulers of Malwa, Gujarat, Bengal and Jaunpur always showed their eagerness to get the support of the ulema and SUE, by offering them lucrative ~ff ices and revenue-free land grants (madad-i-maash). T4.- also used to pay frequent visits to the hhanqahs of the Muslim saints. The legal authority of the C a N h pas explicitly recognized by the Bengal rulers Iwaz Khalji, Mughisuddin, Ruknbddln Kaikaus, Shamsuddin Feroz, etc. who all engraved the Abbasid Caliph's name On their coins. Under Ibrahim Sharqi's patronage flourished famous Muslim mystics Makhdum Asaduddin Aftab-i Hind, Makhudum Sadruddin Chirgh-i Hind, Saiyyid Alaul Haqq of Pandua, etc. The Malwa ruler Hoshang Shah made special efforts to encourage the ulema and mashaikhs to come and settle in Malwa. Hoshang Shah had profound respect for .Makhdum Qazi Burhanuddin and , , \ * '

,e became his disciple (murid). Mahmud Khalji received khilat from the Abbasid Caliph at Egypt. It helped greatly in enhancing the prestige of the Malwa ruler. The famous sufi Saiyyid Usman, the disciple of Burhanuddin, was greatly respected by the Gujarati ruler Mahmud Begarha. He built a mosque and rauza (tomb) in his memory at Ahmedabad immediately after his death in 1459. Burhanuddin's son Shah Alam also enjoyed great prestige and patronage of the Gujarati rulers, Qutbuddin . And Mahmud Begarha. In Kashmir, too, the sufis enjoyed great honour and favour of the Kashmiri rulers. In Rajputana, the rulers lavishly distributed revenue-free land to the Brahmans to win their favour to justify their various political acts. You have already read in Unit 9 that this was the prevalent trend during the 8th-12th century. The same trend continued during 13-15th century as well.

I In Orissa, Lord Jagannath was believed to be the real ruler. Therefore, the Brahmans gained great political influence: They legitimized the usurpation of the Ganga throne by Kapilendra Deva (1435 A.D.), and the accession of Purusottama Deva to the exclusion of Harnir.

I -Check Your Progress 1 I) What do you understand by 'horizontal' and 'vertical' penetration under the

regional states?

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............. ) ...................................................................................................................

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.................................................................................................................................. 2) Can the regional states may truly be called the successor states of the Sultanate?

Comment.

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25.6 ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE

State, Adminbtrrtlon and Economy In North India

Since most of the regional statek emerged as a result of the disintegrqtion of the Delhi Sultanate, they copied the administrative model of their parent state. Though the states of Kashrnir developed independently, there, too, the working was by and large along the Sultanate administrative set-up. In Rajputarla and Orissa, however, we find certain changes in nomenclature. The Ahorn kingdom also went through an

t entirely dffferent set-up, primarily because of its tribal nature. . . In Malwa, Gujarat, Bengal, Jaunpur and Kashmir, the central machinery was headed by wazir followed by ariz-i mumalik, shaikh-ul Islam and qazi. Besides, there were hajib, dabir (department of correspondence), amir-i dar (master of ceremonies), amir- i-akhur (chief of royal stable; in Kashmii he was known as mahasvasala), etc. For the maintenance of royal household (haram), there was a separate administrative

' machinery. Kingdoms were divided into a number of provinces. In Bengal, provinces ' were called iqlim, arsa and diyar. The provincial governors were called sar-i lashka; wa wazir (i.e. in them combined the military and financial powers); while in Kashmir and other regiqnal states-they were known as hakim: In Kashmir, these hlkims were ,

generally recruited from the royal family.

1 Provinces were further subdivided into shiqs (in Bengal), and paraganas with villages forming t h ~ smallest unit. Like the centre, in the prpvinces also qazis dispensed justice, muhtasibs looked after morals, kotwal was for the maintenance of law and

he Regional Powers : order in the towns. while shiqdar was the overall incharge of the prmincc. At the 13th-15th Century , village level, there 4 r e village headmen (muqaddams) and accountant (patwari).

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As for their army oq nisation, the rulers maintained standing army but they largely depended for the su f' ply of armed personnel on their provincial governors and 'chiefs'. Infantry an4,cavalry was the main fighting force, but elephants. too, had their own role. Them were constant efforts on the part of the rulers of Malwa and Jaunpur to maintain;regula~ supply of elephants. In Bengal 'and Gujarat, navy also formed an important wing of the army.

In Orissa. at the centlre there were rajaguru (royal priest). mahapradhani (prime minister), mahasandt/ivigrahi (secretary for peace and war), mahasenapati (commander-in-chief](. mulabhandaramuna mudrahasta (chancellor of the privy purse), mahadandadsi (inspector-general of police), mahnmandalika (governor- general) and mahapabra, etc. The kirigdom was divided into mahamandahs, which were sub-divided into mandalas and mandalas into nadus or visayas or bhogas. The lowest unit was the dillage. These divisions were headed by maharanaka, mnaka, visayapati and gramika respectively. To assist the gramika. there were karana (accountant), purohqa, dandapasi (policeman), uritavali (village watchman) and gramabhata (village ~ervant). Towns were headed by puravari. He was assisted by dandanayaka (magisrlrate) and dandapasi (police inspector). T o administer the affairs of the capital, there +as a separate official called kalinganagaraadhyaksha.

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As for the Oriya milikary organisation, the members of all castes and communities were asked to render military service a t the time of emergency, though the Brahmans seem to have been e~empted from compulsory military service. But there were some exceptions, too. The Chatesvara inscription mentions Vishnu, the Brahman minister of Anangabhima 111 (121 1-38), who led an expedition against the Kalachuris. The majority of the soldiers were cultivators who used to cultivate their land during

3 .

peace time.

The Ahom polity wab quasi-feudal with a tribal base. The king was the tribal chief who shared powet with his two-member council (patra-mantri). Both were supposed , t o keep check over each other. The counsellors elected the king and, he, in turn, used , to nominate the courisellors. Generally, hereditaty rule prevailed in civil appointments, though other persons of knowledge and repute could-also be appointed. The male adults of each family had to perform periodic service to the king (state). Howeveq, it was difficult for the king to exploit his subjecis.

The Ahoms had devaloped a unique system of militia brganisation. The militia was known as paiks. Tholentire male population between the 1540 age group was organised in gots (umlts). Each got consisted of four adult males. The members of

*each got used to repdrt on duty by rotation. They were supposed to perform at least one man-year of service. An important aspect'worth mentioning here is that their. services were not coNfined to military only. For example, ohe of their important

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functions was to build and maintain the infrastructure for the wet rice economy. Besides, they also helped in reclaiming cultivable lands from forests and swamps.

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25.7 REVENUE ADMINISTRATION

Land-revenue was the major source of income of the state. In Kashmir, Malwa, Gujarat, Jaunpur a d Bengal, land-tax was known as kharaj. We dg not know the exact magnitude of ifate demand under the regional kingdams. During contingency, relaxation in taxatiarp was granted.. When during Zainul Abedin's reign, famine

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struck the kingdom,djhe revenue demand was reduced to I /4th,.and*in some cases to I I 7th. The fixation Qlf tevenue demand was done taking into consideration the quality of the soil. 14 Kashmir, collection was in kind: the grain was.first stored in , the state granaries arid then sold at fixed prices. This helped greatly in reducing the prices of grain. Besides, in times of scarcity regular supply could also bc ensured.'

'Ibu Battuta (14th c.) informs us that land-tax in Bengal was 112 of the produce. But the Chinese travellerlWang-ta Yum, writing about the same time. mentions that the

I

state demand was 115th. Generally, in Bengal, crop-estimation was followed and measurement was not insisted upon. Peasants used to pay directly to the state in (instalments) eight months. In Bengal, there was also a class of majmuadars (revenue-farmers) who used to pay fixed amount of land-revenue to the state after collecting it from the peasants. Tributary chiefs used to pay lump sum to the state. They appointed their own machinery to extract the land-revenue. All the religiou~ endowments were free from the payment of land,-revenue and other taxes.

In Orissa, the revenue-demand was 116th of the produce.-The entire territory was divided into numerous circles known as bisi and khanda. Each division was placed ,under bisi and khanda-adhipati. The latter, besides revenue collection and keeping

1 fhe accounts, also possessed police powers. They were assisted by khandait and boimul, the latter being the accountant. Besides. these officers, the~e were high-

i ranking military officers (mahanayak, bhupati, bhuyan, etc.) who were hereditary chiefs. There were also civil qnd religious officers like purohit, rajaguru,-etc. who were granted extensive unassesed lands as their emoluments. An interesting feature in Orissa and Gujarat was the hereditary religious grants known as bhurni~hhidra~idhanyaya. The whole'village along with craftsmen, workers, etc. were given to the donees. Thus, the artisans and peasants had become semi-serfs. The purohit class generally enjoyed privileges of free lands; only in contingency a tax (tanki) used to be imposed on them. In Orissa, the ownership of land vested in the ' . state.: Besides land-tax there were other tar *s as well.

The ownershipof land, under the'Ahoms, vested with the statelclan. The land used to be: divided into plots (based on the size of the family) and were distributed amongst individual householders (paiks) in lieu of their services. It was subject'to redistribution after their death.

' C k k Your Progress 2 I) Do you think that theadministrativestructure of regional states wassimilarto that of

the Delhi aultanate? Write.in 60 words.

............................................................................................................................... .................................................................................................................................

( 2) Write five lines on Ahom militia organization.

......................................... >...... ................................................................................

.................................................................................................................................

................................................................................................................................. ..... ..................... ......................................................................................... : .....: ', ....:

....................................................... ...................a 2 ................................................... : 3) Define the follow~ng :

................................................. Majmuadar ............... ; ................................................ : :.

................. .............................................................. ...................................... Kharaj : :. :.

Bisi ............................................................................................ i ................................. . .

.............................................................................................. Bhumichhidrapidhanyaya

25.8 NOBLES AND LANDED ARISTOCRACY

Nobles The nobels played a very crucial role in the 13-15th century regional politics. They hailed from heterogeneous elements, including both the Hindus as well as the Muslims. he^ used to receive high sounding titles like khan-i-rrum, . khan-i- - . . -

State, A Ecoamry b N d hh

r ~ h c Redonrl Powem : form of iqta (revenue assignment in lieu of salary); in turn, they maintained law and 13tbl?th Century , order,. helped in revdnue extraction and in times of need 'supplied armed personnel to

the king. Theoreticdlly, their position was not hereditary and they owed their power and position to the king's favour, but gradually their assignments assumed hereditary. character. HoweverjIRajputana was an exception where they owed their position primarily to their being the member of the clan: the king's favour was only secondary. You h a d already seen that these nobles had the'tendency to rebel and they used to side wNh one group or other during the war of succession. On account

j of their military strebgth, the king had to depend on them. The power of some of the nobles was such tha! they became kingmakers, and the kings beeme tools in their hands (for further &tails see supra).

Landed Aristocracy ,

You have already studied in Block 6 about the role played by the landed aristocracy in revenue collectiola' and maintenance of law and order under the Sultanate. In regional kingdoms also there existed such a class. Geopolitically, 'we ca'n divide them into two categories: [i) landed aristocracy located in the peripheral (frontier) area. In this<ategory come the 'chiefs' or 'rajas'-the so-called intermediary zamindars; (ii) landed class who' lived within the mainland-the soal led primary zamindara.

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The.first category W s composed of the most refractory elements. They kept on switching over their.,Bllegiance from one state to another.

Landed aristocracy that lived in the mainland was generally under greaer pressure and more closer scrqtiny. The bharacteristic feature of the regional state was that mostly the rulers weie considered as aliens; they did not have local base. Their prime need was to create diloyal class of rural aristocracy to counterbalance the existing class. Their success ih this task would have been the real achievement of the regional powers. Muslim invasions and clan rivalries within the Rajputana kingdoms resulted in l a r g e - w t i p n of the Rajputs towards Malwa and Gujarat. By 13th.century, we find that mostbf-tblanded magnates in these states were Rajputs, The rulers of Malwa and Gujarat thus had to face stiff resistance in this process. In Gujarat, drastic changes werg/brought about by Sultan Ahmad Shah 1 by introducing the wanta system.

In Bengal, Bakhtiyab Khalji at the outset had distributed all the land among his military commanders and made them muqti. The suils and ulema were aIso encouraged to settle down in rural areas to establish muslim hold for which lavish grants (madad-i-marsh) were made to them.

- 25.9 ECONOMY : GENERAL REMARKS

Agriculture was the backbone of the regional states. Bengal, Assam, Kashmir and Orissa were predominantly rice producing areas while wheat formed the staple crop it . Rajputana, Malwa, Gujarat anU Jaunpur. Malwa, with rich and fertile soil, produced good quality wheat, paddy, gram, peas, pulses, cotton, excellent betal-leaves, mangoes, etc. These products were supplied to the Delhi Sultanate.

In the medieval economy of Kashmir, Bengal, Assam, Gujarat and Orissa,.t+de played a very crucial role. The Kashmiri merchants maintained their trade relations with Patna, Banara$ Lhasa, Kathmandu and Peking. Kashmir's trade with Punjab was through the Pir Panjal ranges. Kashn~ir was connected with Leh thiough Zoji-la pass. Salt (from ~ur?jab) and shawl (from Ladakh and ~ a r ~ a i d ) were the major imports. Kashmir exported shawls, musk, crystals, silks, saffrbn and dry fruits. Zainul Abedin took ~pecial efforts to encourage silk industry in Kashmir by introducing better techniques and designs. Silk-worms were reared on mlberry .

. leaves. The credii fd introducing paper industry in Kashmir'also goes to Zainul , Abedin. Trade in Behgal was conducted through, both the land and the sea- routes, the latter more significant. There were two important sea-routes: south- easterly route connedting East Indies and China, and south-westerly mute connecting Orissa, oro om an deli ; 3nd ~ i l a b a r to Arabia and Abyssinia. Textiles, rice, wheat,

30 silk, sugar, etc. wereithe chief items of export. Ibn Battuta mentions that eunuch and

slave trade was also conducted in 14th century Bengal. During the Sena rule, trade was in a state of decline. Minhaj Siraj noticed the cirdulation of sea-sffells (kauri) and the absence of metallic currency in the 13th antury kngal. With the establ~shmcnt of the Sultanate rule. important ports like Satgaon. Sonargaon and Chittagong began to come into existence. Rcsidcs, there emerged a number of mint towns like Lakhnauti, Sonargaon, Fathabad, Muhammadabad etc. Thus the Muslim rule crkated conditions of urbanization in Bengal. The Arab and Persian merchants

, had complete control over the eastern seas. anbthe Bengali merchants played a , secondary role. mostly ,as middle~men. Gujarat with a fine sea-coast enjoyed

flourishing trade with the Arabian and Persian countries via Red Sea and Persian Gulf. Cambay (Khambayat). Patan. Somnath and Broach were the most important ports. We hear of as much as 84 ports along the Gujarat Coast in the contemporary

, accounts. Barbosa gives the names of 12 important sea-ports of Gujarat. Varthema, who visited Gujarat in 1506, tells us that about 300 ships of various nations used to come annually to Bengal and supplied Persia, Turkey, Syria and Barbary with silk and cotton stuffs. In Gujarat, both the Hindu and Muslim merchants played important role. Trade formed the chief source of revenue in Gujarat economy. Barter was the main form of exchange in the Ahom economy. Even the bureaucracy received land with a quota of paiks to serve. The villages were self-sufficient but they had to depend for certain items on other regions, e.g. salt. Rice was the staple crop. The Tai-Ahoms had developed excellent technique of wet-rice cultivation which made them distinctly superior to their local counterparts:'

Check Your Progress 3 I ) . Writea note on the natureand structureofthe ruling classes under the regional states.

2) Name the major trade-routes in North India in the 13-15th century.

25.10 LET U S S U M UP

In this Unit, we have discussed the characteristic features of north lndian regional rtates. They penetrated 'vertically' deep into the rural areas, though 'horizontally' the area under their control was not very large as compared to the Sultanate. Regional states are represented as 'successor states' of the Sultanate. But it is not true in its strict sense. In their administrative structure, most of the Sultanate features continued to work in the regional kingdoms with some adjustments according to . their own needs and circumstances. Local variations and the influence of local culture is evident. Regional States economically and culturally do not present a dismal picture as it is generally projected. We would deal with the cultural devel~pment of these kingdoms in Block 8.

25.11 KEY W O R D S

Arm : province Bar Cohain and Burah Cohain : originally it was the name of two great officers

'I State, A-ba M d Economy Jn Nutb Jdb

The R e g b d Powm : 13tblStb Century

appointed by Sukaphi, who exercised powen second only to t h o s e 4 the king himself. Gradually thqjr office assumed hereditary character and the council came to be known after them. Diyu : as m a Gots : a uni4'of four adult males Hakim : provincial gqernors iqlim : as arsa I

Paib : ahom militia1 Hbuseholdes~ Paba-mantri : councilj bomprises Bar and Burah G o h i m Rauza : tomb ,

Tanki : nominal tax eqracted from the purohits in contingency.

25.12 ANSWEQS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS E X E R C I ~ E S

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Check Your Progress 1 I 1) See Sec. 25.2

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2 ) See Sec. 25.3

Check Your Progress 4 I ) See Sec. 25.6 2) See Sec. 25.6 3) See Sec. 25.7 I

Check Your Progress 3 1) See Sec. 25.8 2 ) See Sec. 25.9

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UNIT 26 REGIONAL POWERS IN SOUTH INDIA AND DECCAN

Structure

0 bjectives Introduction Tbe Four Kingdoms 26.2.1 The Yadavas and the Kakatiyas 26.2.2 The Pandyas and the Hoysalas 26.2.3 Conflict between the Four Kingdoms Southern ~ i n ~ d o m s and Delhi Sultanate . 26.3.1 First Phase: Alauddin Khalji's Ingasion of South 26.3.2 Second Phase Administration and Economy 26.4.1 Administration 26.4.2 Economy Rise of Independent Kingdoms Let Us Sum Up Key Words Answers t o Check Your Progress Exercises

26.0 OBJECTIVES . -

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This unit deals with the polity of South lndia from the 13th century to mid-14th century. After reading this unit you would learn about:

the political set-up in Scuth India, the,conflicts among the Sauthern kingdoms, the relations of the Southern kingdoms with the Delhi Sultanate, their administration and economy, and the emergence of new independent kingdoms in the South.

26.1 INTRODUCTION

In Block 3, we have already discussed the polity. society and economy of the Indian subcontinent till the beginning of thirteenth century. Now we would discuss the history of the region in the subsequent period. For our purpose, South India includes the region to the south of the Vindhyas which includes the Deccan and peninsular south. In Units 1.l and 12, we have already discussed the physical geography of the region in general.

The h~srory of South India from the 13th to the 15th centuries presents two distinct phases : i) The beginning of the 13th century is marked by the disintegration of the'chola

and the Chalukya empires. On their ruins emerged four independent kingdoms in this region. There were the Pandyas and the Hoysalas in the south, the Kakatiyas and the Yadavas in the north of this region. These kingdoms lasted for more than a century.

ii) ' In the >econd phase, beginning f rom the 2nd quarter of the 14th century, there emerged two powerful states: the Bahmani and the Vijaynagar. These two controlled almost the whole of South lndia for about two hundred years.

Our discussions for the first phase will centre on the history of the four kingdoms; tt.eir relationship with each other; their polity, society and economy. In the 2nd pilase, we will discuss their relations with the Delhi Sultanate.

T h e R e g l d P o w c r r : . 13tblSth C- 26;2 THE FOUR KINGDOMS

The decline of the Chola and the Chalukya empires gave rise to a number of smaller kingdoms and princi~lities in the South. The f+r important ones were: i) the Yadavas ii) the Kakatiyas 1 .. iii) ' the Pandyas

I, iv) the Hoysalas ,

26.2.1 ' he Y adavas and the Kakatiyas During the 14th centuty, the Yadavas and the Kakatiyas succeeded in establishing their hegemony over ah area almost equal to the modern kndhra Pradesh and the Deccan.

The Yadavas The history of the Yabva dynasty may be traced to the 9th century.. For around 300 years, they ruled as t w feudatories of the Rashtrakutas and the Chalukyas. With the decline of the latter, t k y emerged as independent rulers with a big territory under their control.

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BhilIama V, the feudatbry of the Chalukya ruler, Somesvara IV, acquired independent status in A.D. 1187 and laid the foundation of the Yadava rule. During Simhana's reign (121046), the Yadava boundaries extended to southern Gujarat; Western Madhva Pradesh and Berar; parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, the Western half of Hydera, d State and the northern districts of Mysore. Krishna (1246dOA.D.) and Ram Chandra (1271-131 1 A.D.) were other important d e r s of the Yadava dynasty. With the latter's death came the end of the ~ a d a v a power itself (131 1-12 A.D.).

The Kakatiyrs . Q e Kakatiyas were the feudatories of the Chalukyas of Kalyani. Kakati Rudradew (Prataprudra I), the founder of the Kakatiya state, succeeded in overpowering the Chalukya ruler, Tailapa: 111, during the w n d half of the 12th century (c. 1162 AD.). He also succeeded in capturing Kurnool district from the Velananti chiefs sometime around 1 185. Ganapatl (I 199-1262), Rudrambe (1 26296) end Prataprudra I1 (1295- 1326) were other impottant rulers of the dynasty. Their rule extended over most of the Andhra region up to Godavari, Kanchi, Kurnool and Cudappah districts. Uugh Khan (later Muhammad Tughluq) overran the whole of Telingana in 1322 and thus sealed the fate of the Nakatiya rule.

26.2.2 The Pandyw and the Hoysalas

These two kingdoms cbntrolled the region beyond the Deccan arid almost the whole of Southern peninsula.

The Hoysab The Hoysalas ruled over parts of the present Karnataka arld most of the Tamil region. The first independent ruler of the kingdom was Ballala 11 (A.D. 1173-1220). The kingdom achieved independent statui by-the close of the 12th century but its end came at the beginning of the 14th century. The Hoysala rulers Narasimha 11, (1234-63), Narasimha fII (1263-91) and Ballala 111 (1291-1342), had to defend themselves against the aggressive designs of Pandya and Yadava rulers.

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The Pandyas I ,

The Pandya kingdom bcluded parts of modern Tamil Nadu and almost the whole of the present Kerala. Th$ kingdom enjoyed the independent status around the,fiAt quarter of the 13th cedkury and came to an end by the first quarter of the (4th

. century. The first independent king was Maravaraman Sundara Pandya (1216-1238). Other important rulers of the dynasty were Maravaraman Sundara Pandya I1 (1238- 51), Jatavprarnan Sunhra Pandya 1 (1251-68), Maravaraman Kulsekhara Pandya

3 i (1268-131fJ) and jtavribm Sundara Pandya 11 and Jatavaraman Vir Rndya 11. .

f 26.2.3 Conflicts between the Four Kingdoms During this period, all the four kingdoms were at war with one or the other. We will not go into the details of these conflicts. Here we would mention in brief the nature of these struggles. .e The main conflict was between the ~ a k a t i ~ a s , Hoysalas and the Pandyas for

supremacy over the Chola territories. The Yadavas were constantly a t war with the ~ a k a t i ~ a ' s . In these struggles none

1 could completely overwhelm the other. Similar was the case with the Yadavas and the Hoysalas, and also with the Kakatiyas and the Pandyas. Apart from the conflicts between these kingdoms, there were other wars also. The most prominent expeditions across the south were undertaken by the Yadavas and

I the Pandyas. The founder of the Yadava dynasty, Bhillama V, led expeditions to Malwa and Gujarat. The Yadava king'simhana and Ram Chandra also waged wars against Malwa (R.D. 1215). and Gujarat without any decisive victories. The Pandya king Maravaraman Kulasekhara sent expeditions to Ceylon (1283- 1302). King Parakramabaha I11 (A.D. 1302-1310) of Ceylon submitted to the

Pandya king and the relations between the two remained peaceful thereafter.

26.3 SOUTHERN KINGDOMS AND DELHI SULTANATE

After consolidating their hold over North 1nd ia .b~ the end of the thirteenth centtlry, the Delhi Sultans turned their attention towards the South from the first half of the 14th century.

You have already read in detail in Unit 15 about the Sultanate's expansion under the Khaljis and the Tughluqs in the Deccan and the deep south. Here our emphasis will be on the main features of the expansionist policy of the E l h i Sultans and its impact on the Deccan pnlit. . d e will discuss the relations of southern kingdoms with the Sultanate in two phases:

i) During Alauddin Khalji's reign, and ii) After Alauddin's death to the end of Muhammad Tughluq's reign.

26.3.1 First Phase: Alauddin Khalji's Invasion of South

During the reign of Jalaluddin Khalji (1290-96). his nephew Alauddin undertook the first Muslim expedition to Deogir (Devagiri) the capital of the Yadava kingdom. The Yadava ruler was defeated and large booty was collected by Alauddin. The Yadava king, Ram Chandra, promised to pay an annual tribute also. Thereafter, for almost a decade, no invasion took plaee. After the accession of Alauddin. Khalji, a definite policy to subjugate South was planned. From 1306 to 1312, in a series of campaigns, all fhe four kingdoms of south were subjugated.

'i) Devagiri

Alauddin depllted his trusted commander Malik Kafur to invade South in 1306-07' since the Yadava king had ceased to pay tribute. Malik Kafllr defeated Raja Ram Chandra. After collecting a large booty, he returned to Delhi with the Raja as captive. The Raja was later reinstated as king on the promise of paying regular tribute to the Sultan.

ii) Warangal ,In 1309, Malik Kafur. invaded the Kakatiya kingdom. The purpose of the campaign was just to subjugate the king as is clear from Alauddin's instructions to Kafur as described by Barani :

''You are going to a far off land; do not remain there long. You must put in all our efforts to capture Warangal and overthrow Rai Rudradeva. If the Rai giver$ his treasures, elephants and horses, and promises a tribute for the future, accept this

. arrangement." ' . .

The ruler sent his trpasures to'the Delhi and promised a reglilar tribute. 7

Regiaaal Pmar b South Indh and.-

iii) Dwarsamudra

The next target of attaqk was Dwanfamudra, the Hoysala kingdom (1310-1 1). The ruler Ballala Deva submitted without much resistance and arrangement was made on the lines of the two o t k r southern kingdoms.

iv) Madura I

A conflict between two1 brothers---Vir Pandya and Sundar Pandya-who were . claimants to the Pandyg kingdom provided an opportunity to Malik Kafur to invade ,' it. Vir Pandya after caB@uring the throne had expelled Sunder Pandya. The latter sought the help of Ala ddin Khalji. After devastating the Hoysala kingdom, Malik Kafur marched to Ma&a and inflicted a defeat on Vir Pandya and collected-heavy - booty. ' I

In 1312, Malik Kafur dttacked the Yadava kingdom. Once again, since Ram Deva's death, his son Sankar Deva ceased to pay tribute. Sankar Deva was defeated and almost the whole of the1 territory between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra was captured by Kafur. When Alauddin called Kafur hack tn Delhi, he handed over the charge to Ainu1 Mulk.

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Let us look at the chamcteristic features of Alauddin's Deccan policy :

*. Almost the whole of south was conquered without much resistance.

Alauddin was not in kavour of annexing the Southern kingdoms because it was difficult to administer it from distant Delhi. After their defeat, the Southern kingdoms were asked to accept the suzerainty of the Delhi Sultan and to pay regular tribute. The thling dynasties were not daplaced.

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Financially, the Delhi Sultanate gained inlmensely from the southern campaigns. .,

26.3.2 Second ~ h & e

After the death of p lad din Khalji, the southern kingdoms rehsed to accept the subordinate position a# stopped paying tribute. This gave rise to fresh attacks from Delhi Sultanate and a definite shift in policy towards the South emerged.

Alauddin during his last years had given the charge of the Dc can kingdoms to Malik Kafur. Alauddinb successor Mubarak Shah Khalji (1316-20) took an expedition to Devagiri annexed major portions. The Sultan appointed his officers there and gave territories (iqta) to them. These officers were called sadah amirs or ' c o m m a ~ e r s of 100'. These amirs were asked to collect land revenue and maintain law and d d e r in their territories. Besides, he also ordered them to invade Warangal. ~ f t e r '{he defeat of the.Raja Prataprudrai Deva, some portions of his kingdom were annexed.

After the death of Mubarak Khalji, the tribute from Warangal was again stopped. Sultan Ghiyasuddin ~ u g h l u ~ sent a large army under the command of his son Ulugh Khan (Muhammad Tughluq) to conquer the region of Telingana. After some setbacks, Ulugh Khan dqfeated the king of Warangal, Prataprudra Deva. Now the whole of Telingana was Annexed to the Delhi .Sultanate. Ulugh Khan divided the region into several administrative units and placed them under Sadah amirs who were under the direct coatrol or the Sultanate. Ma'bar was also conquered i? 1323, and Sharif Jalaluddin ~BCsan was appointed its governor with Madura as the headquarters. When Mqammad Tughluq became Sultan, he realised that the soufhern portions of his kingdom were not being managed efficiently. He, therefore, decided to develop Deyqgiri as second administrative centre of ihe Sultanate on the lines of Delhi (1327-28). bevagiri was named Daulatabad and large number of nobles, merchants, learn& men and other sections of the popularinn were encouraged to settle the . T The Deccan policy of M hammad Tughluq was distinct from Alauddin Khalji. He annexed large portions the Deccan and set-up the Sultanate land revenue and administrative system.

Check Your Progress 1

I ) Name the kingdoms and their regions that emerged on the debris of the Chola and the Chalukya empires.

............................................................................................................................... I ,

2) Mark right (d ) or wrong (X) against the following : i) The Yadavas were the feudatories of the Pandyas. ii) Prataprudra I was the founder of the Kakatiya kingdom. iii) The Pandya kingdom comprised modem Andhra Pradesh.

I ' 3) What was the major shift brought about by the Tughluqs in Alauddin Khalji's

Deccan policy? Discuss in five lines.

26.4 ADMINISTRATION AND ECONOMY

We have already discussed the administrative set-up and the economic structure of the region till the 13th century in Units I I and 12 of Block 3. Most of the administrative institutions and economic activities of the earlier period continued. Major changes developed after the establishment of the Bahmani and the Vijaynagar empire. We will study about these in Units 27 and 28. Here, we will very briefly discuss ,he minor changes introduced during the period of the four kingdoms.

26.4.1 Administration Monarchy was the usual politicaI institution of these kingdoms. Along with this, the practice of feudatories, too,'was a common feature.*In the Deccan region (the Yadavas and the Kakatiyas), the provincial heads were selected from the successful mhitary chiefs called nayakas. They generally controlled the feudal chiefs bf lower status, collected iand revenue and maintained iaw and order. According to one source, the king assigned only small villages to the samantas or the nnyakas. The big ones were kept aside to maintain the army. The Kakatiyas were always apprehensive about the growing powers of the nayakas. They, therefore, did not allow the'nayakas t o remain at one place for long and strike local roots. It seems that the nayankara system, which became very prominent under Vijaynagar, had come into existence during this time.

There were a number of ministers to look after the various departments of the kingdom. The smallest unit of administration was viliage which was run by the village panchayat under a headman. Groups of villages were at -0 7rganised into administrative divisions (called sthala under the Kakatiya, and groups of sthala were called nadu). All these administrative units and administrative heads were. called by different name: in different kingdoms. The brahmadeya system still continued and the temples also played some role in administration and economy.

26.4.2 Economy The tax on agricultural produce continued to be the main source of state income. Efforts were made by the state to bring more land ? ~ ~ c i k r cultivation. Tanks (called

samudrams in the Kalqatiya kingdom) and dams were constructed for irrigation. There is no definite information available on the magnitude of land revenue demand. with the establishmend of the Sultanate's control over Daulatabad, a number ofcnew practices were i n f r o d u d in the l a ~ d revenue system (for details see Unit 28). The state also claimed ownership of pastures, forests and mines and taxes were collected. from them. Customs and taxes on merchandise were other sources of state income (called sunkams under the Kakatiyas). Under the Kakatiyas, taxes were imposed on possession of certain goods such as carriages (bandi), slaves (bani-) and horses. The Pandya kingdom"was famous for its pearl-fisheries which is testified by Marco Polo. Pearl divers had to p4 10 per cent of the finds as royalty to the king. With the coming of the Arab merchants and later the Europeans, trading activity in many parts of south lndia was accelerated. The income from these trading activities contributed to the richhess of the southern kingdoms in a big way. The merchant guilds played an impomant role: they helped the state in deciding the policies on taxation and related nihtters. The Chettis were the most important group of merchants in the whole of southern region.

26.5 RISE OF INDEPENDENT KINGDOMS

As referred'earlier, during the second quarter of the 14th century three independent kingdoms were established in the South: I

i) The Ma'bar ii) The Bahrnani i i i ) '~he Vijaynagar

These kingdoms emeraad after a long period of instability and conflicts. The contact of the Delhi Sultanate With the south played a significant role in their rise. In this section, we will discuss'the process of the emergence of the kingdom of Ma'bar while the emergence of the ~bhm2r.i and the Vijaynagar kingdoms would be discussed in the subsequent Unit? 21 and 28.

3 Ma'bar As you know, Ma'bar +as conquered in 1323 and was placed under Sharif Jalaluddin Ahsan as Gbvernor. For some years, Jalaluddin remained loyal to the Delhi Sultans. Taking advantage of the distance and poor communication network, he declared himself indipendentby 1333-34 and assumed the title of Jalaluddin Ahsan Shah. Because of the f ughluq Sultans' problems with othqr parts of kingdon no serious effort was made by the Tughluq Sultans to recapture it. The indephdent kingdom survived for dore than four decades and was finally conquered by Vijaynagar in 1378.

Check Your Progress 2 , 1) Discuss the role of lthe nayakas in the southern kingdoms.

2) What were the ma* characteristic'features of the economy of the southern kingdoms?

- -

-26.6 LET US SUM U P

In this unit, we have discussed the political set-up.that emerged in South lndia and the Deccan aftcr the fall of the ~ h o i a and the Chalukya empires. The region witnessed the emergence of four independent kingdoms. vir. the Yadavas, the Kakatiyas, the Pandyas and the Haysalas. After enjoying independent status for about hundred years. these kingdoms were subjugated by the Delhi Sultanate. 'The main architect of Sultanate's victory was Alauddin Khalji's commander Malik Kafur. But, during this period. these kingdoms continued to enjoy autonomy.

During Muhammad 'Tughluq's reign, almost the whole Deccan and solnr: portions of the peninsular south wsre annexed to lhe Dellti Sttktrmte. The important town of Devagiri was made the second capital city. This situation did not last lone. During Muhammad Tughluq's rule, new political forces surfaced giving rise to threc new independent kingdoms. viz. the Ma'bar, the Bahmani and the Vijaynapr. The last two lasting bng and became the main arena of political activity in this part of the subcontinent.

26.7 KEY WORDS

Bnbmdtyr: Religious grants to thc Brahmms (see also Block I)

Chetti: A merchant community in South India.

26.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

~ b c c t ~ q h o q ; r 1 I) Subrec. 26.2.1, 26.2.2 2) (i)- x (ii) J (iii) x 3) Set S u W . 26.3. I , 26.3.2

UNIT 27 THE VIJAYNAGAR EMPIRE $ I

I

Structure !

27.0 Objectives 27.1 Introduction 27.2 Establishment &d Consolidation

27.2.1 Early Phase, 1336-1509 27.2.2 Krishnadcva eaya, 1509-29 27.2.3 Period of InatBbility, 152942 27.2.4 The PortuguMe 27.2.5 Vijaynapr's elations with the Deep South 27.2.6 The Dcccan 3 ushm States

27.3 Religion and Pqlitics 27.3.1 Ritual KingsS/p 27.3.2 Political Rolt of the Brahmans 27.3.3 Relationship between Kings, Sects and Templea

27.4 Local Administation 27.4.1 The Nay- System .

-27.4.2 The A p g u 27.5 Economy

27.5.1 Land and lno$ne Rights 27.5.2 Economic R0)b of Templea 27.5.3 Foreign Triad61 27.5.4 Internal Tradtl and Urban Life

27.6 Society f i . 7 Let Us Sum Up 27.8 Key Words 27.9 Answers to Cheqk Your Progress Exercises

4

I

27.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unit, you will know about: the emergence of the Vijaynagar kingdom, the expansion of Vijbnagar power during 14-16th century, Vijaynagar's relatiods with the Bahmani rulers and deep south, . ,

thk process of consalidation and decline, and the administrative set-up, economy and society'with special reference to naflnknra and ayagnr system.

27.1 INTRODUCTION -

In the present Unit, we bill discuss the process of the emergence, expansion and consolidation of the Vijbynagar power over the South lndian macro-region as well as its disintegration. In thk previous Untt, you have read about the process of the emergence of four kingdoms in the South Indian macro-region on the ruins of the Chalukya Hnd Chola empires. In the South the Pandya and the Hoysala whereas in the north the Kakatiya and the Yadava kingdoms rose to prominence. The invasion of the Deccan and Soutb India by the Delhi Sultans weakened the power of these kingdoms and made th tp subservient to the Delhi Sultanate. yhis was followed by the emergence and expshsion of the Bahrnani and the Vijaynagar kingdoms in the second quarter of the fdbrteenth century. Harihara and Bukka, the sons of Sangama (the last Yadava king), bad been in the service of the Kakatiyas of Warangal. After the fall of Warangal at the hands of the Delhi Sultans, they shifted to Kampili. Aftel the'conquest of Kampilj, the two brothers were taken to Delhi where they embraced Islam and became favoukites of the Sultan. Soon the Hoysalas attacked Kampili with the support of the locrl,people and defeated the governor of Delhi. The Sultan at .

I 'this pdint sent Harihara and Bukka to govern that region. They started t& restoiatioq of Sultan's power but came in contact with Vidyaranya who converted them back to the Hindu fold. They declared their independence and founded the state of Vijaynagar with Harihara as its king in 1336. Soon this state developed into a powerful Vijaynagar empire.

1 27.2 ESTABLISHMENT AND CONSOLIDATION

Yop have already readoin sub-section 8.2.4 of Unit 8 that geographical configurations played an important role in determining the course of political events in south India. The focus of struggle among the local powers was the Krishna Godavari delta, Kaveri basin, the Tungabhadra doab and the Konkan region, the latter known for its fertility and access to high sdas. During the 8-13th century, the stniggle was between the Rashtrakutas and the Pallavas while the following centuries saw Vijaynagar and Bahmani kingdoms locking horns. The Bahmanis compelled the Vijaynagar rulers to expand laterally westward and eastward across the peninsula from the main centre of their power on the Tungabhadra. The Vijaynagar rulers also found it difficult to crush the Bahmani power in Raichur and Tungabhadra doab because of latter's alliance with the Velamas of Rajakonda in Warangal. These circumstances prevented Vijaynagar from advancing towards the north and forced it to expand laterally eastward and westward across the peninsula and southwards into the Tamil country. Later however this alliance broke up which enabled Vijaynagar to expand at the cost of Bahmanis.;.

1 27.2-.# Early Phase, 1336-1509

I .Rivalries in this period ensued among Vijaynagar, Bahmanis, the Reddis of Kondavidu (in the reaches of upper Krishna-Godavari delta), the Velamas of Rajakonda (in the lower reaches of Krishna-Godavari delta), the Telugu-Chodas (between Krishna-Godavari region) and the Gajapatis of 0nssa over the control of the Krishna-Godavari delta, Tungabhadra doab and Marathwada (specially

i Konkan).

I On account of constant clashes, the Vija;nagar boaqdaries kept on changing. Between 1336-1422, major conflicts took place between Vijaynagar and the Bahmanis with Telugu-Choda chiefs siding with the latter while the Velamas of Rajakonda and the Reddis of Rajahmugdry joined hands with Vijaynagar. This tilted the balance largely in favour of the latter.

During 1422-46, clash uver the annexation of Raichur doab started between the Vijaynagar and the Bahmani rulers which resulted in Vijaynagar defeat. This greatly exposed the weaknesses of the Vijayimgar arms. It forced its rulers to reorganise the army by enlisting Muslim archers and engaging better quality horses. The muslim archers were given revenue assignments. During this period the entire Kondavidu region was annexed to the Vijaynagar empire. ,

Between 1465-1509 again, the Raichur doab became the cockpit of clashes. In the beginning, Vijaynagar had to surrender the western ports, i.e. Goa, Chaul and Dabhol to the Bahmanis. But, around 1490, internal disintegration'of the Bahmani kingdom began with the establishment of Bijapur under Yusuf Adil Khan. Taking advantage of the situation, Vijaynagar succeeded in occupying Tungabhadra region (Adoni and Kurnool). Earlier, the loss of western ports had completely dislocated horse trade with the Arabs on which Vijaynagar army depended for its cavalry. However, occupation of Honavar, Bhatkal, Bakanur and Mangalore ports led to the

'

revival of horse trade. This ensured the regular supply which sustained the efficiency of the Vijaynagar army.

The Gajapatis of Orissa were an important power in-the eastern region. They had in their possession areas like K~ndavidu, Udayagiri and Masulipatam. The Vijaynagar rulers succeeded in expelling the Gajapatis as far as Godavari and occupied Kondavidu, Udayagiri and Masulipatam. But soon'r in 1481, Masulipatam was lost to the Bahmanis. Vijaynagar had a!so to contend Lwith the constant rebellions of the chieftains of Udsvaairi. Ummatur (near Mvsore) and Scrimamtam.

7

Tbe V b y n a p r Em+

27.2.2 Krishnaderra Raya, 1509-29

This phase is markedlby the achievements of VijaynaGrls greatest ruler Krishrladeva Raya (1 509-29). Duribg this period; the power of the Bahmanis declined, leading to the emergence of five kingdoms: the Nizam-Shahis of Ahmadnagar; tbe Adil Shahis of Bijapur; the Imad, Shahis of Berar, the Qutb Shahis of Golconda and the Barid Shahis of Bidar on thle ruins of the Bahmani empire. This helped Krishnadeva Raya greatly in capturing Kovilkonda and Raichw from the Adil Shahis of Bijapur and Gulbarga and Bidar ftom the Bahrnanis. Krishnadeva Raya also recovered Udayagiri, Kondavidu (south of fiver Krishna), Nalgonda (in Andhra Pradesh) Telingana and Warangal were taken ,from the Gajapatis.

By 1510, the Portugdse also emerged as a strong power to reckon with in lndian waters. Occupation of Goa and sack of Danda Rajouri and Dabhol provided them monopoly in horse trdde since Goa had been the entrepot of the Deccan states for horse trade. Krishnadeva Rayanmaintained friendly relations with the Portuguese. On Albuquerque's requeai, Krishnadeva Raya permitted the construction of a fort at Bhatkal. Similarly, tHk Portuguese soldiers played a reasonable role in Krishnadeva Raya's success again& lsmail Adil Khan of Bijapur.

MAP 5

27.2.3 Period of Instability : 1529-42

Krishnadeva Raya's death generated internal strifes and attracted external invasions. Taking advantage of the internal situation, lsmail Adil Khan of Bijapur seired Raichur and Mudgal. The Gajapati and Golconda kings also, though unsuccessfully. attempted to occupy Kondavidu. During this turbulence, Krishnadeva Raya's brother Achyut Raya (152942) succeeded in usurping the Vijaynagar throne. But the latter's death once again led to the war of succession between Achyut Raya's son and Sadasiva, the nephew of Achyut Raya. Finally, Sadasiva ascended the throne (1542),.but the real power remained in the hands of Rama Raya, the son-~n-law of Krishnadeva Raya.

He followed the policy of admitting Muslims in 'the army and conferred important' offices on them which greatly enhanced the efficiency of the army.

27.2.4 The Portuguese Rama Raya's relations with the Portuguese were not very cordial. Martin Alfonso de Souza, who became the governor of Goa in. 1542 plundered Bhatkal. Later, Rama Raya succeeded in concluding a treaty with Alfonso de Souza's successor, Joao de Castro, in 1547, by which Rama Raya secured a monopoly of the horse trade. Rama Raya tried to curb Portuguese influence in San Thome on the Coromandel.

27.2.5 Vijaynagar's Relations with the Deep South By 15 12, Vijaynagar rulers succeeded in bringing almost the whole southern peninsula under their control. The small Hindu chiefdop of Rajagambirarajyan (Tondai ~ a n d a l a ) ; the Zamorin of Calicut and the ruler of Quilon (Kerala) accepted suzerainty of Vijaynagar. By 1496, almost the whole deep south up to the Cape Carnorin including local Chola and Chera rulers, Tanjore and Pudukottai and Manabhusha of Madura were subjugated. However, the Pandya ruler (chief of Tuticorin and Kayattar) was allowed to rule as a tributary.

An interesting feature of the occupation of the Tamil country was that after the conquests the Telugu soldiers settled down permanently in remote and sparsely populated areas. These migrants exploited the black soil which later led to the emergence of the Reddis as an important cultivating group. Besides, the efnergence of the nayakas as intermediaries in the Tamil country was also the result of expansion into that region.

The Vijaynagar state was a massive political system which included within its domain diverse people, i.e. the Tamils, Kannadas and the Telugu-speaking cominunity.

The Vijaynagar rulers exercised direct territorial sovereignty over the Tungabhadra region. In other parts, the Vijaynagar rulers exercised ritual sovereignty (overlordsip) through the Telugu warriors (nayakas) and the local chiefs who had metamorphosed into nayakas and also through the sectarian groups, i.e. the Va~shnavas (You will read about their political role in the next section).

27.2.6 The Deccan Muslim States I

I You have already read that by 1538 the Bahmani kingdom split up into five states- I Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar and Berar. Bijapur and Ahmadnagar came

to a mutual understanding in 1542-43 which gave Bijapur a free hand against ,

Vijaynagar, whereas Ahmadnagar was to expand at the cost of Bidar. With this understanding, Ibrahim Adil Shah attacked Vijaynagar which was repulsed. But the understanding did not remain for long. Ahmadnagar received Rama Raya's help to capture the fort of Kalyani from Bidar. Rama Kaya's relations with the Deccan states were quite complex: he helped Ahmadnagar against Bidar but, when Ahmadnagar attacked Gulbarga (Bijapuri territory), Rama Raya came to the help of

1 the Bijapur ruler. Moreover, Rama Raya succeeded in bridging about a collective security plan between the Vijaynagar and the Deccani Muslim states. It was agreed that aggression by any one of them would bring forth armed intervention by the '

rest of the parties against the aggressor. !

In utter violation of the agreement, Ahmadnagar invaded Bijapur in 1560. Rama Raya secured Golconda's help against Ahmadnagar but this alliance, too, proved

The Vijaympr Em*

6

TLc R- ?sum shortlived. Ahmaanabr was defeated a~ru ralyani had to bc surrendered to Bijapur 13tbIstb Cmmy Aroung this time, h m a Raya also violated the security agreement by attacking .

Bidar. The ruler ofod30kgnda joined hands with A h r n a d ~ m r and attacked Kalyani. '

Rama R ~ y a sent hls forces against Golconda for recapturing the fortress of Kalyani: On the other hand. Vijaynagar and Bijapur joined hands (which was again e transitory alliance) &gainst the aggksion of Ahmadnagar.and Golconda. Finally, Ahmadnagar had t61 surrender the forts of Kovilkonda. Ganpura and Pangal. During this phase, R a m Riya's policy was of playing off one Muslim state against the other to secure a balance of power in favour of vijaynag&. Later, Golconda, Ahmadhagar. Bidar and Bijapur rallied together against Vijaynagar. The final showdown was at Talikota (1565). a town located near Krishna river. It spelt utter doom for Vijaynagar which was sacked. Rama Raya was killed. Though the Vijaynagar kingdom continued to exist for almost hundred more years. its size decreased andihe Rayas no longer remained important in the politics of South India. v >

Check Your Progrtss 1 I) Discuss the cohflict bciween the Vijaynagar and Bahmani kingdoms for the

control over K'rishna-Godavari delta, Tungabbdra doab and Konkan.

................................................................................................................................ 2) Write in 50 words relations of the Portuguese with the Vijnynagar .rukrs;

.................................................................................................................................

3) The struggle with the Deccan Muslim states finally scaled the fate of thc Vijaynagar ruk. Comment.

2 7 3 RELIGION AND POLITICS ' -.

Religion and religious classes played an important role in the political, social md economic life of the Viiaynagar empire.

27.3.1 Ritual Kingship

It is generally emphasised that the principle of strict adherence ta d h a m w,as the chief constituent and :disiinguishing feature of the Vijaynagar state. But very often it were the Hindu rdlers agalnst whom the Vijaynagar rulers had to fight, e.g. the '

Gajapatis of Orissa. The most strategically placed contingents of the Vijaynagar army were under the /charge of Muslim commanders. The Muslim archers were

employed by King Deva Raya 11. These Muslim contingents played an important role in the victory of Vijaynagar against its Hindu riyals.

The successful military deeds of the Vijaynagar rulers led them to assume the title of digvijayans. Vijaynagar kingship was symbolic in the sense that the Vijaynagar rulers exercised their control through their overlords over a region beyond the prime centre of their authority. This symbolism was manifested through the instrument of religion which was used to ensure loyalty fromthe people. For example, ritual kingship is best exemplified in the mahanavami festival. This was an annual toyal ceremony lasting for nine days between 15 September and 15 October. It culminated in the dusserah festival on the tenth day. Important personages (e.g., military commanders) from the peripheral parts participated in the festival. Through this festival, recognition of the sovereignty of Vijaynagar rulers by peripheral parts of the empire was strengthened. Though the Brahmans participated in the festival, their role was not predominant/ The ritual rites of the festival were largely performed by the king himself.

27.3.2 Political Role of the Brahmans A distinct feature of the Vijaynagar state was the importance of the Brahmans as politipil and secular personnel rather than ritual leaders. Most of the durga dannaiks (incgarge of forts) were Brahmans. Literary sources substantiate the theory that fortresses were significant during this pe r id and were placed under the control of the Brahmans, especially of Telugu origins.

During this period, the majority of educated Brahmans desired to become government servants as administrators and accountants which offered them good career prospects. The Imperial Secretariat was totally manned by the Brahmans. These Brahmans were different from the other Brahmans: they belonged to a subcaste called the Telugu niyogis. They were not very orthodox in performing religious rites. They also worked as potential legitimizers. The Brahman Vidyaranya and his kinsmen were the ministers of the Sangarna brothers : they provided legitimacy to their rule by accepting them back into the Hindu fold.

The Brahmans also played an importaht role as military commanders in the Vijaynagar army. For example, under Krishnadeva Raya Brahman Tircma received economic support as he was an integral part of the political system. ~ h u s Brahmans constructed and commanded fortresses in different parts of the empire for which they were assig.ied revenue of some crown villages, bhandaravada. Differentiation was . made between crown villages and anuuam villages (whose income was under the

'charge of the local mwtary chiefs).

27.3.3 Relationship between Kings, Sects and Temples To establish effective control over the distant Tamil region, the Vijaynagar filer . ' sought the help of the Vaishnava sectarian leaders who hailed from the Tamil country. For legitimising their power in this region, it was necessary for the rulers, who were aliens in the Tamil region, to establish contacts with the basic Tamil religious organisation-the temples.

The relationship between kings, sects and temples can be explained in terms of four assertions :

' I ) Temples were basic for sustaining kingship. 2) Sectarian leaders were the connecting links between kings and temples. 1 3) Though the routine supervision of the temples was done by local sectarian

groups, the task of solving disputes concerning temples was in the hands of the king.

4) he intervention of the king in the above matter was administrative, not legislative.

During 1350-1650, numerous temples sprang up in south India. Through grants or gifts to the temples in the .form of material resources (a part of the agricultural produce of specified villages), a particular type of agrarian economy evolved under the Vijaynagar rule. (This will be discussed in the section on Economy.)

I -

Tbe Vljayruyr L18p.e

The Region8l Powur : 13thlSth Century

The rulers of the early Sangama dynasty were Saivas who made additions to the Sri Virupaksha ( P a m p a ~ a ~ i ) temple of Vijaynagar. The Saluvas were basically Vaishnavas who gave patronage to both the Siva and Vishnu temples. Krishnadeva Raya (the Tuluva'ruler) constructed the Krishnaswami temple (Vaishnava shrine) and also gave grants to Siva temples. The ~ r a v i d u kings also gave gifts to Vaishnava temples.

27.4 LOCAL ADMINISTRATION

You have alreddy read, in Block 3 about the locai institutions of the earlier period (e.g., sabha, nadu and lur). The powers of the territorial assembly (nadu) as well as the village assemblies $abha and ur) were weakened during the time of the later Cholas. During the Vijaynagar period, these institutions did not completely disappear when the nagaka and ayagar systems came into prominence.

27.4.1 The Nayankara System The nayankara system was an important characteristic of the Vijaynagar political organisation. The military chiefs or warriors held the title of nayaka or amaranayaka. It is diffCcult to classify these wamors on the basis of definite office, ethnic identity, set of duties or rights.and privileges.

The institution of nayaka was studied in detail by two Portuguese-Fernao Nuniz and Domingo Paes, who.visited India during the reigns of Krishnadeva Raya and Achyut Raya of Tuluva dynasty during the sixteenth century. Thev regard the nayakas simply as ageats of Rayas (central government). The evidence of Nuniz for the payments made bylthe nayakns to the Rayas brings up the question of feudal obligations. The Vijaydagar inscriptions and the later Mackenzie manuscripts refer to the nayakas as territoriQ1 magnates with political aspirations which at times conflicted with the a i m of the rulers. N.K. Sastri (in 1946) drew a distinction between the nayakas &fore 1565 and those after 1565. The former were totally dependent upon the rulers while the latter were semi-independent. However, later he modified his views by pointing out that the nayakas before 1565 were military leaden holding military fiefs. I n ' a m r e recent work (Source!@ of Indian History), he views the Vijaynagar empire as a military confederacy of many chieftains co- operating under the leadership of the biggest among them. He emphasized that the growing threat from Islam led the Vijaynagar rulers to adopt a military and religious stance. Krishnaswami bonsiders the naya'a system as feudal.' But Venkataramanayya feels that important feqtures of European feudalism such as fealty. homage and sub- ,

infeudation were absent in the nayaka system. D.C. Sircar similar!.^ refutes the feudal theory; instead he explains it as a kind of landlordism, a - .riant of feudalism in which land was allmed to the amaranayrrkas for military st=-- ces rendered by them to the king.

Thus, D.C. Sircar, and T.V. Mahalingam consider the nayakas of Vijaynagar as wamors holding an office (kara) bestowed on them by the central government on condition of rendering bilitary service. Amarenayankan was a designation. conferred on a military officer or chief (nayakal who had under his control a specified number of troops. These n a y a m possessed revenue rights over land or territory called amaram (amaramakara or amaramahali). In the Tamil country and also in the Vijaynagar empire, the area of land thus alienated under this tenure was about 314th. The obligations 8nd activities of the nayakas were among others, giving gifts to temples, repair and building of tanks, reclamation of wasteland and collection of dues from temples The Tamil inscription*, however, do not refer to dues given to the king or his officials by the nayakas. . Krishnaswami, on the bksis of Mackenzie manuscripts, bpines that the comriianders of Vijaynagar army (formerly under Krishnadeva Raya). later established independent nayaka kingdoms. To gpard against such dangers, the Vijaynagar kings tried to establish greater control over coastal markets dealing in horse trade. They attempted to monopolise the purchase of horses of good quality by paying a high price for them. They also built strong garrisons fortified with trustworthy soldiers. Thus, on

1 the one halid, the Telugu nayaks were a source of strength for the Vijaynagar empire and, on the other, they became jts rivals.

27.4.2 The Ayagar System

It has already been pointed out that during the Vijaynagar period, autonomous local institutions, especially in the Tamil country, suffered a set-back. In pre-Vijaynagar days in Karnataka and Andhra local institutions possessed lesser autonomy as compared to Tamil country. During Vijaynagar period in Karnataka too local territorial divisions underwent a change but the ayagar system continued and became widely prevalent throughout the macro-region. It spread in the Tamil country during 15-16th century as a result of the declining power of nadu and nattar. The ayagars were village servants or functionaries and constituted of groups of families. These were headmen (reddi or gauda, maniyam), accountant (karnam senabhova) and watchmen (talaiyari). They were given a portion of or plot in a village. Sometimes they had to pay a fixed rent, but generally these plots were manya or tax-free as no regular customary tax was imposed on their agricultural income. In exceptional cases, direct payments in kind were made for services performed by village functionaries. Other village servants who performed essential services and skills for the village community were also paid by assigning plots of land (like washerman and priest). The village servants who provided ordinary goods and services were leather workers whose products included leather bag used in lift-irrigation devices (kiapila or mohte), potter, blacksmith, carpenter,. waterman (niranikkar: who looked after the maintenance of irrigation channels and supervised bankers and money-lenders). The distinguishing feature of the ayagar system is that special allocation of income from land and specific cash payments were for the first time provided to village servants holding a particular office.

- 3 ) Check your Progress 2

1) Write in about ten lines the role and functions of Brahmans in the Vijaynagar empire.

I ...................................................................w...............,...........................................

) Define the following.

Amaram .................................................................................................... .

....................................... ........................................................... Bhandaravada !. ....................................................................................................

Durga Dannaiks .................................................................................................... ................... ................................................................................ J

Ayagan .................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................

I 3) ~ i s c u s i the .nayankara system in ten lines.

................................................................................................................................

The Vijaynagar Emplre

Tbe RigbMl Fmar : 13tblStb C- .

ECONOMY

In this section, we will discuss the various land and income rights and the economic role of temples. We *ill also take into account aspects related to foreign and internal trade a'nd urban life.

27.5.1 Land and Income Rights Rice was the staple mop. Both black and white'variety of rice was produced from Coromandel to Puliyt. Besides, cereals like gram and .pulses were also cultivated. Spices (specially black pepper) coconut and betel-nuts were other important items of -

production. Land-reuenue was the major source of state's income. Rate of revenue demand varied in difierent parts of the empire and in the same locality itself according to the fertility and regional location of the land. It was generally 116th of the produce, but in some cases it was even more ranging up to 114th. But on Brahmans and temples it was 1 / 20th to 1/ 30th respectively. It was payable both in cash and kind. We find references to three major categories of land tenure: amara, bhandaravada and nianya. These indicate the way in which the village income was distributed. The bhmndarvada was a crown village comp1;ising the smallest category. 4 part of its income was utilised to maintain the Vijaynagar.forts. Income from the manya (tax-free) villages was used to maintain the Brahmans, temples, and mathas. The largest category was of the amara villages given by the Vijaynagar rulers to the amaranayakas. Their holders did not possess proprietary rights in land but enjoyed

-privileges ever its i ~ b m e only. The amara tenure was primarily residual in the sense that its income was distributed after deductions had been made for support of the Brahmans and forts. Threequarters of all the villages came under this category. The term amaramakni is iconsidered by most historians as refemng to an 'estate' or a 'fief,.but it literally means one-sixteenth share (makani). Thus, it points to the fact that the amaranayabs could claim only a'limited share of village income. The mpnya rights underwent a transformation during this period. Land tenures continued

" . t6'be given by the state to individual (ekabhogan) Brahmans and groups ~f - Brahmans as well as to mathrs including the non- Brahman Saiva Slddhantfand '

Vaishnava gurus. Bllt theie was a great increase in devadana grants (conferred o n . " temples) made by the state as compared to other grants.

Besides land-tax, many phfessional taxes a h were imposed. These were on shopkeepers, farm-qrvants, shepherds, washermen, potters, shoemakers, musicians etc. There was also tlax on property. Grazing and house taxes were also imposed. Villageis .were also sbpposed to pay for the mainteynce of the village officers. Besides, sthala dayaln, marpdayam and manula dayam were three major transit dues.

Another citegory of eland right through which income was derived was a result of investment in irrigation. ft was called dasavanda in Tamil, country; and Kathr- Kodage in Andhra aind Karnataka. This kind of agrarian activity concerning irrigation was undertaken in semi-dry areas where hydrographic and topographic features Cere condubive for canying out developmental projects. The dasrvanda or Kattu-Kodage was a share in the increased productivity of the land earned by the person who undertabk such developmental work (e.g. construction of a tank or channel). This right Lo income was person%l and transferable..A portion of income

accruing from the increased productivity also went to the cultiv~tors of the villa; where the developmentail work'was undertaken.

27.5.2 Economic Role.of Temples &ring the Vijaynagar period, temples emerged as important landholders. Hu 7. *ds of villages were granted to the deities which were worshipped in the large temple-. T h p l e officers managed the devadana villages to ensure that the grant was utilised properly. The income from devadana villages provided sustenance to the ritual

* functionaries, It was alsorutilised to provide food offerings or to purchase goods (mostly aromatic substances 'and cloth) essential for carrying out the ritual rites. Cash,endowments were also made by the state to the temples for providing ritual service.

Temples took up irrigational work also. Large temples holding devadana lands had under them irrigation department for prdperly channelising money grants made to the temples. Those who gave cash grants to temples also received a share of the food offering (prasadam) derived from (he increased productivity.

I In fact, temples in Sputh India were important centres of economic activity. They I were not only great landholders'but they also carried on banking activyes. They

employed a number of persons. Mahalingam refers to an inscription which mentions a temple which employed 37yrvants . Temples purchased local goods for performance of ritual services. They gave loans to individuals and village assemblies for economic purposes. The loam were given against lands whose income went to the temples. Cash endowments made by the state to the Tirupati temple were ploughed back in irrigation. The income thus attained was used to carry out ahd maintain ritual services. At Srirangam Temple, cash grants were used to advance commercial loans to business firms in Trichnopoly. Temples had their trusts which utilised its funds for various purposes. Thus, the temples functioned almost as an independent economic system encompassing persons and institutions that were bound together by economic links.

27.5.3 Foreign Trade

i We get information abbut foreign trade from the Amuktamalyada of Krishnadeva Raya, Domingo Paes and Nuniz. They'give vivid description of hone trade. The role of the Indians in the overseas. carrying trade was minimal. Barboaa mentions that Indian overseas trade was cqmpletely controlled by Muslim merchants. They used to get special treatment from the rulers. He says that on returning from the Red Sea the king assigned them a nnyrr bodyguard, a Cheffl accountant and a broker for

i help in local transactions. Such was their status that, at Kayal, even royal monopoly of pearl-fisheries was given to a Muslim merchant. The Arabsband later the

I Portuguese cpntrolled horse trade. Horses were Brought from Arabia, Syria and Turkey to the west-coast ports. Goa supplied horses to Vijaynagar as well as the Deccani Sultanates. Importation of horses was of great military importance' for the southern states as good horses were not bred in India. Besides, Vijaynagar's conflict with the northern Deccan Muslim states restricted the supply of horses from north India that were imported from .Central Asia. Besides horses, ivory, pearls, spices, precious stones, coconuts, palm-sugar, salt, etc. weSe alsq imported. Pearls were brbught from the Persian Gulf and Ceylon and precious stones from Pegu. velvet was imported from Mecca and satin, silk, damask and brocade from China. White rice, Sugarcane (other than palm-sugarcane) and iron were the major exports. Diamonds were exported from Vijaynagar. Nuniz states that ks diamond mines were the richest in the world. The principal mines were on t h e H o f the Krishna river aqd in Kurnool and Anantapur. This led to the development of a great industry for cutting and polishing precious stones like diamonds, sapphires and rubies in ~ i j a ~ n a g a r and Malabar.

27.5.4 Internal Trade and Urban Life \

The contemporary foreign accounis show that local and long distance trade increased

t under the Vijaynagar rulers. Roads and roadside-facilities for travellers between iowns were excellent. Carts were used for the transport of grains over short distancd. Riverine shipping especially the backwater-system on the west-coast has also been referred to. Pack-animals were used for long distance transport. In some

?he ~tglond Powar : places armed guards for long distance transport were employed. Local magnates 13th15th Century realised the importance of trade and gave encouragement to town based trade and

auxiliary trade in regular and periodic fairs. Regular and periodic fairs took place along the main roads leading to big temples during festival times. These fairs were conducted by trade associations of a nearby town and under the-supervision of the leader of trade assoQiation called pattamswami. Fairs which gavr impetus to urban trade were also held at the orders of the local magnates, e.g. gaud. or chief of a nadu. The literary afid inscriptional evidences of the 14th to 16ttrcenturies reveal the existence of 80 majar trade centres. Some towns were religious; others were commercial and adntinistrative centres. Inside these towns were many bazars where business was carried on by merchants. They paid rents to the towns. There were separate markets for particular commodities. Markets for agricultural and non- agricultural products were separate in accordance with the left and right hand caste affiliations. Trade in consecrated food for pilgrims and the sale of the right of ritual functions and officd were important aspects of temple-related urban commerce.

The merchants and artisan organisations in Andhra got identitled with &rtain cities, e,g. the Te1.ugu oil-pressers and merchants were associated with the city of Berwada (in Krishna district). In these towns, the transit duties, shop and house-rents provided income to.the towns. The temple-records refer to the prosperity and prestige of merchant^ and artisans. The Vijaynagar state possessed an urban quality which is not witnessed in any other South Indian state of the time. The capital city integrated within its precincts markets, palaces, temples, mosques, etc. This urban quality was, however, completely destroyed by the middle-16th century.

,

27.6 SOCIETY

The social structure of the South Indian macro-region (Vijaynagar empire) is a unique variant of the Indian society. The uniqueness of the social structure was . three-fold :

secular functions of the South Indian Brahmans dual division of iower social groups territorial segmentation of the society.

The Brahmans livei in localities where they controlled land, and their prestige and power was also derived from their control over those dependent on land. They also , enjoyed prestige due to their sacral functions as a priestly class. The emergence of a large number of Vedic temples endowed with villages (devadanas) gave the Brahmans as temple functionaries the power to exercise ritual control over all other castes and religious institutions. As managers of these religious centres, the Brahmans enjoyed great secular authority.

Territorial segmentation of society ipplies that social groups in the Tamil country. were divided on the basis of natural sub-region and occupational patterns associated with them. Social groups in South India had less interaction with groups a t some distance from their locality. They gave preference to cross-cousin and maternal uncle-niece marriages.

Another characteristic of the social structure was the dual division of lower castes referred to by the ri&ht and left-hand designations (Vaishnavas corresponding to t hb right hand division and the Saivites corresponding to the left hand castes). In most cases, the right-hand'castes were involved primarily in Agricultural production and local trade in agricultural commodities whereas left-hand castes were engaged in mobile artisan production and extensive trade in non-agricultural products.

During the V i j a y n a ~ r period, the peasant was the basis of the social order,on whom all other sections of the society depended. The satkams, the Tamil poetic genre, regard the leading .pcpeasantry as pure sat-sudras. They claimed ritual purity and respectable secular raink for them.

Temples played an important role in delineati.ng or determining spcial space of groupings who were the participants in the worship of a paiticular deity. An

important characteristic of lineage in the South Indian kingship is marked by the common devotion to the lineage tutelary. The non-Brahman priests of the peasants' tutelary shrines (e.g. amman) also participated in the management of great shrines'of Siva and Yishnu where the Brahman priests predominated. The matha the seat of sectarian organisation located at great shrines, consisted of persons of both the Brahman and non-Brahman orders. Thus, the social organisation of this period comprised of the Brahmans, the left and right-hand castes which included respectable agricultural castes, namely vellals and lower castes like the weavers.

Check Your Progress 3 1 ) Write a note on the nature of land tenures in Vijaynagar empire.

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2) Describe the development of trade and commerce under the Vijaynaga! rulers with special reference to foreign trade.

3) Define the left-hand and the right-hand castes.

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27.7 LET US SUM UP

The Vi]aynagar,Emplre

The present study of Vijaynagar state shows: the major conflict was between the Vijaynagar and the Bahmanis,

r in the ensuing strukgle cockpit being the Krishna-Godavari delta, Kaveri basin, the Tungabhadra doab and the Konkan regions, Vijaynagar kingship in peripheral parts was a symbolic one; the rulers exercised control through their overlords, Brahmans were more of a political and secular personnel rather than ritual leaders, the two major political institutions the nayankara and ayagar system were the backbone of the Vijaynagar power, temples were not 'only the religious centres but also important centres of economic activity: they pgrformed banking activities and used to undertake irrigational works etc., trade and commerce was in a flourishing state. But, the role of the Indian merchants in the overseas trade was minimal instead Muslim mefchants enjoyed the 'monopoly.

27.8 KEY WORDS , '\

Amaram: villages;gssigned tu the local military chiefs

Bhmndamvada: crown village

Devadanas: villages assigned to the temples

Dasavanda and KYttu-Wodage: income from irrigational investments

Manya: ex-free land given to the village functionaries, Brahmans, temples and mathas

Nadu: see Block 3

Sabha : see Block 3

Ur: see Block 3

27.9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS . EXERCISES

I Check Your Progress 1 I) See Sub-see. 27.2.1 2). See sub-seh. 27.2.2, 27.2.4 3) See Sub-sec. 27.2.6

Cheek Yolir Promess 2 I ) See Sub-sec. 27.3.2 2) See Sub-sec. 27.3.2, 27.4.2 3) See Sub-sec. 27.4.1

Check Your Progress 3 I) See Sub-sec. 27.5J 2) See Sub-sec. 27.5.3. 27.5.4 3) See sec. 27.6

UNIT 28 : THE BAHMANIS

Structure 28.0 Objectives 28.1 Introduction

-28.2 Rise" of the Bahmani Power 28.3 Conquests and Consolidation

28.3.1 First Phase, 1347-1422 28.3.2 Second Phase, 1422-1538

28.4 Conflict between the Afaqis and the Dakhnis and their Relations with the King

28.5 Central and Provincial Administration 28.6 Army Organization 28.7 Economy 28.8 Society and Culture 28.9 Let Us Sum Up 28.10 Key Words 18.11 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

28.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unit, you will learn about : the emergence of the Bahmani kingdom, . the conflict between the old Dakhni nobility and the newcomers (the Afaqis) and how it ultimately led to the decline of the Bahmani Sultanate, and the administrative structure, society, economy and other cultural aspects.

28.1 INTRODUCTION

You have seen that the Delhi Sultanate first intruded into the South during the time of Alauddin Khalji. I t was during Muhammad Tughluq's reign that significant conquest of the South was effected. In this Unit, we will trace the story of the end of the Tughluq rule in the Deccan and its replacement by the Bahmani Sultanate. It will also take into account the conquests, consolidation, administrative system and. the culture of the period.

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28.2 RISE OF THE BAHMANI POWER

Let us review the political situation in the Deccan immediately prior to the establishment of the Bahmani kingdpm. Most parts of the Deccan were conquered and annexed to the Delhi Sultanate during Muhcmmad Tughluq's reign. He made

- elaborate administrative arrangements for the Deccaqregion. Ulugh Khan was appointed as the superior governor or "viceroy" of the region. The whole region was

' divided into 23 iqlims or provinces. The most important of these were Jajnagar (Orissa), Marhat (Maharashtra). Telingana, Bidar, Kampili and Dwarsamudra. Subsequently, Malwa was also placed under the governor of the Deccan. Each iqlim was divided 'into a number of rural districts (shiq). E a c ~ shiq was divided into hazaris (one thousand) and sadis (one hundred) for collection of revenue. The main officers were shiqdars, wali,.amiran-i hazarah and amiran-i sadah. The revenue

'officials were called mutsnrrifs, karkuns, chaudhrls, etc.

The Re&~nd Powers : 13th-15th Century

In this set-up, the most powerful person-was the 'viceroy' of the Deccan who was virtually the master of it large region with as many as 23 provinces. Another important functionary++vith wide powers was amiran-i sadah 1.e. the chief of 100 villages.

In spite of this elaborate administrative set-up, the real control of 'the Sultan was weak mainly because of:

the distance from a t lh i difficult geographical terrain wide powers enjoyed1 by the 'viceroy' and other officers.

In this situation, any dissatisfaction of the officers (posted in the Deccan) with the centre could lead to tha snapping of ties with Delhi.

Beginning of Trouble

The role of the amirami sadah in making the Deccan independent of the Tughluq rule is relevant. These officers of noble lineage performed the twin functions as military officers and revenue collectors. They had direct connection with the people of their territory. When a series of rebellions broke out in the South, Muhammad

! I

Tughluq attributed thedn to the massive power exercised by these amirs; as a result, he embarked upon a pr)licy of suppressing them which in turn sounded the death- knell of the Tughluq rdle in the Deccan. We will briefly take note of the various rebellions which broke out during this period and how they contributed to the rise of a new kingdom and a flew dynasfy.

The earliest ~eccan'rebellion against the centre took place in 1227 at Sagar in Gulbarga. It was headed by Bahauddin Gurshasp and supported by local chiefs and amirs. The revolt was crushed but it paved the way for the need to establish the capital at a place more centrally located than Delhi from where the southern provinces could also be kept in check. Muhammad Tughluq, thus, made Deogir the second capital of the empire in 1328. But the scheme failed as the very nobles who were sent to stabilise tht Tughluq rule in the Deccan weakened the control of Delhi.

The first major successhl rebellion occurred in Ma'bar. The governor of Ma'bar : alliance with certain ndbles of Daulatabad raised the banner of revolt..In 1336-37, the governor of Bidar 3 s o rebelled but was suppressed.

Muhammad Tughluq fdlt that the danger to the Tughluq rule in the Deccan was from the scions of the old nobility whom he had sent to the South from Delhi. He, therefore, adopted the I)olicy of replacing them with a new breed of nobles who would be loyal to him. but this was not of much help due to the recalcitrant behaviour of the amirM-i sadah who ultimately carved out an independent kingdom in the Deccan.

Around 1344, the amount of revenue due from the Deccan had fallen sharply. Muhammad Tughluq divided the Deccan into 4 shiqs and placed them under the charge of neo-Muslims whom Barani calls 'upstarts'. This was not liked by the -

amiran-i sadah. In 1345, the nobles posted in Gujarat conspired and rebelled against Delhi. Muhammad TugJ~luq suspected the cpmpilcity of the amiran-i sadah in the Gujarat insurrection. Q e viceroy of the Deccan was ordered by Muhammad Tughluq to summon t& amirs of Raichur. Gulbarga, Bijapur, etc. to Broach. The amiran-i sadah, fearing drastic punishment at the hands of Muhammad Tughluq, decided to strike a blow at the Tughluq rule in the Deccan and declared themselves independent at Daulatabad by'electing Nasiruddin Ismail Shah, the senior amir of Deogir: as their SultanclGulbarga was the first region to be taken after the establishinent of their file in Daulatabad. Those opposing the Delhi Sultanate consisted of the R a j p u ~ , Deccanis, Mongols, Gujarati amirs and the troops sent by the +ja of Tanjore. They emerged victorious in the end. But Ismail Shah abdicated in favour of Hasan Ka u Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah) and, thus, was laid the

i ! v .(

foundation of the Bahqanl kingdom in the Deccan in 1347. The new kingdom , I comprised the entire redion of the Deccan. For the next 150 years, this kingdom dominated the political! pctivities in the South.

28.3 CONQUEISTS AND CONSOLIDATION

1 / The political developm$pts of the Bahmani kingdom can be divided into two phases: In the first phase (1347-1422), the centre of activities was Gulbarga while in the

second phase (1422-1538) the capital shifted to Bidar which was more centrally located and fertile. During this phase, we find conflicts between the Afaqis and the Dakhnis touching its peak.

28.3.1 First Phase, 1347-1422

In the period between 1347-1422, major conquests were effected. Kotgir in Andhra Pradesh, Qandahar in Maharashtra, Kalyani in Karnataka, Bhongir in Telingana, Sagar, Khembhavi, Malkher and Seram in Gulbarga (Karnataka),

, Manram, Akkalkot and Mahendri in Maharashtra and Mandu in Malwa (Madhya Pradesh) were subjugated. The Bahmani rule covered Mandu in the north to Raichur in the south and from Bhongir in the east to Dabhol and Goa in the west.

* The Raya of Telingana and Raya of Vijaynagar were the main rivals of the

i Bahmanis in this period. In one engagement with the Raya of Telingana Golconda was handed over to the Bahmanis. However, war with Vijaynagar did not prove to be decisive and the Tungabhadra Doab continued to be shared between the two powers.

Very soon the Bahmanis lost Goa to Vijaynagar in the late 14th century. In one campaign launched by the Bahmanis against the Raja of Kherla ( ~ a h a r a s h t i a ) , who. was being encouraged by the rulers of Vijaynagar, Malwa and Khandesh to rebel against ah man is, he was forced to submit. In Telingana, two rivals-Vema (of Rajahmundry) and Velama (of Telingana) (Andhra factions) -were supported by Vijaynagar and Bahmanis respectively. The Bahmanis tried to intrude into Telingana but were repulsed by the Vemas. The Bahmanis continued to side with one Andhra faction against the other for territorial gains. An important factdr for the Bahmani lpsses in the campaign against Vijaynagar in the early 15th century was the fact that the Velamas who had earlier supported the Bahmanis had shifted their allegiance to

\' Vijay nagar.

28.3.2 Second Phase, 1422-1538

The period between 1422-1538 was marked by the shift of capital from Gulbarga to Bidar. It was centrally and strategically located. The three linguistic areas (Marathi, Kannad and Telugu) converged on this point. The struggle for supremacy between the Vijaynagar and the Bahmanis continued in this period as well. Warangal was annexed .to the Bahmani kingdom in this period. The independent kingdoms of Malwa and Gujarat (see Units 23, 24) also had to bear the brunt of the Bahmani power. While Malwa proved to be weak, the Sultanate of Gujarat, in spite of two major.campaigns, did not give way to the Bahmanis. An important consequence of the latter confrontation was the formation of alliance between the Sultanate of Khandesh and Bahmanis to counter the threat from Gujarat.

Between 1436-1444, two clashes occurred between the Vijaynagar and the Bahmanis. In the first one, the Bahmanis had to face defeat. However, the second one, according to Ferishta, ultimately proved to be advantageous for the Bahmanis. The Rajas of Sangameshwar and Khandesh were subjugated. In the Gujarat campaign, : the major cause of the defeat of the Bahrnanis was the internal strife betwken the two factions of the nobles, the Deccanis and the Afaqis (you will read about this in the subsequent section). The Deccanis had betrayed the Bahmani cause. Therefore, in the campaign against Khandesh, the Deccanis were excluded which brought serious repercussions. In 1446, to suppress the Raja of Kherla and Sangameshwar (Konkan), the Deccanis and the Afaqis were sent. The exped~tion ended in disaster forsthe Bahmanis. The Deccanis blamed the Afaqis who were consequently punished. bm the Afaqis pleaded their case and regained ascendancy In the court. These strifes proved harmful for the empire. This was the period when Mahmud Gawan came into prominence as the Bahmani minister. The ruler of Orissa in alliance with the

.king of Telingana attacked the Bahmanis but they were repulsed by Mahmud Gawan. The ruler of Malwa also made a bid to conquer the Bahmani territories (e.g., Bidar). However, he had to retreat when Gujarat came to the rescue of the Bahmanis. Another attempt of Malwa also failed. Mahmud Gawan conquered Hubli, Belgaum and Bagalkot. The Bombay-Kafnatak zone came under the Bahmani sway. Under Gawa's able guidance, the empire extended from 0rEsa to Goa (Konkan).

'

Finally, Mahmud Gawan, an Afaqi, became a victim of group rivalry and was

The ~ a h h a n l s

The Regional Powm : 13th-15th.Centwy

BAHMANI KINGDOM

Approximate boundary- --.- - -

murdered a t the hands of the Deccani party. After this, the kingdom rolled down the path of disintegrat~on. Wars undertaken against Vijaynagar ended in disaster and ultimately,by 1538 the oahmani dynasty came to an end and the kingdom broke up into 5 states-Berar, Bidar, Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golconda. ..- . Check Your Progress I ) is cuss the role of the amiran-i sadah in making the Deccan independent of the

Tughluq rule. Answer in about eight lines.

2) Fill in the blanks: i) Amiran-i sidah were the ................................................

.............................. ii) rebellion took place in 1327 at Ciulbarga.

................ ............. iii) was the cockpit betweedthe bahmani and the Vijaynagar rulers.

............................. iv) The Vembd were the rulers of

3) The history of tw Deccan during the 14-15th century was one of struggle for supremacy betwqqn the Bahmani and the Vijaynagar rulers. Comment in 80 words.

.................................................................................................................................. Tbe BA

................................................................................................................................ : ,- . ..... =. ................................................................................................................. .:A .<

28.4 CONFLICT BETWEEN. THE'AFAQIS AND THE DAKHNIS AND THEIR RELATIONS WITH THE KING

We have seen in Block 5 that nobles played a crucial role not only a; consotidators but also as kingmakers in the Sultanate. Every Sultan's interest was to win the loyalty of his nobles. The same tradition continued in the Bahmani kingdom as well. . i s early as Alauddin Bahman Shah's reign we see as many as three factions: one which helped Alauddin Bahman Shah in establishing an independent kingdom in the Deccan; the other was the Tughluq faction and the third faction comprised of local chiefs and vassals who had personal interests.

From Alauddin Mujahid's reign (1375-78) onwards, a new factor was introduced in the composition of the nobility, i.e. the Afaqis. This word means 'universal'-persons who were uprooted and hence did not belong to any region. They were also called gharibud diyar, that is, 'strangers'. These Afaqis had migrated from Iran, Ttansoxiana and Iraq. But it was during Ghiyasuddin Tahamtan's reign, in 1397, that the real clash between the Dakhnis and the Afaqis h e ~ a n when the Sultan appointed many Afaqis to higher posts: for example, Salabat Khan was appointed the governor of Berar, Muhammad Khan sar-i naubat and Ahmad Beg Qazwini as peshwa. Appointment of the Afaqis to such high posts which were earlier held by the Dakhnis greatly raised dissatisfaction among the old nobility and the Turkish faction under the leadership of Taghalchin. ~ a ~ h a l c h i h succeeded in reducing their influence as early as 1397 wRen he successfully conspired the murder of Ghiyasuddin and placed Shamsuddin Dawud ll (1397) as a.puppet king and assured for himself the ,

post of Malik Naib and Mir Jumla. It was Ahmad 1 (1422-36) who for the first time appointed Khalaf Hasan Basri, an Afaqi (with whose help he got the throne), to the highest office of wakil-i Sultanat and conferred on him the highest title of malik-ut tujjar (prince of merchants). This phenomenal rise was the result of the continuous expression of loyalty shown by the Afaqis compared to the Dakhnis. It was the Afaqi Syed Hussain Badakhohi and others who helped Ahmad 1 in his escape during his Vijaynagar campaign in the early years of his reign. As a result, Ahmad 1 recruited a special force of the Afaqi archers. Similar other favours were also showered on them. This policy created great resentment among the Dakhnis. Clashes between these two groups can be seen during Ahmad's Gujarat campaign when, on account of the n~n-cooperation of the Dakhnis, the Bahmani arms had to face defeat urider the leadership of Malik-ut.tu&r. This gulf'widened further during Ahmad 11's reign. At the time of the attacks of Khandesh army on account of the non- cooperatiod of the Dakhnis, only the Afaqir could be despatched under Khalaf Hasan Basri. Humayun Shah (1458-1461) t r .4 to maintain equilibrium between the two factions. During Ahmad Ill's reign (1461-b5 A.D.), the Dakhnis felt that much power was concentrated into the hands of the Afaqis with Khwaja-i Jahan Turk, Malik-ut tujjar and Mahmud Gawan at the helm of affairs. On the other hand, the Afaqis were dissatisfied because the power which they enjoyed under Ahmad 11's reign was greatly reduced under the latter's successor. Mahmud Gawan, the chief minister of Muhammad I11 (1463-1482), also tried to maintain the equilibrium between the two. As a result, he appointed Malik Hasan as sar-i lashkar of Telingana and Fathullah as sar-i lashkar of Berar. But Mahmud Gawan himself fell prey to the conspiracy of Zarif-ul Mulk Dakhni and Miftah Habshi. Once the equilibrium was disturbed, the successive weak kings became puppets in the hands of nnp ornlln nr the nther

The Regional Powem : 13th-15th century

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During Shihabuddin Mahmud's reign (1482-Ma), the clash reached its climax. While the king showed his distinct inclination for the-@aqis, the Dakhrlis joined hands with the Ha~bh i (Abyssinian) faction. The latter, in 1487, in a-desperate bid attempted to kill the king but failed. It resulted in a large-scale massacre of the Dakhnis which continued for three days. All these factional fights weakened the* centre. Shihabuddin" reign itself was marred by continuous rebellions and intrigues of Qasim Barid, Malik Ahmad Nizamul Mulk, Bahadur Gilani, etc. Shihabuddin's death (1518) providhd these nobles almost a free hand in their provinces. in ally, lbrahim Adil Shah df Bijapur was thefirst to claim his independence in 1537. Thus began the'physical d~isintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate.

.28.5 CENTRAL AND PROVINCIAL ADMINISTRATION

The Bahmanis seem t o have copied the administrative structure of the Delhi Sultans. The king was at the \helm of affairs, followed by wakil, wazir, bakhshi and qazi. Besides, there were pabir (secretary), mufti (interpreter of law), kotwal, muhtasib (censor of public mgrals). Munihians (spy) were appointed not only in every corner of their kingdom, bqt we are told that during Muhammad's reign, munihians were posted at Delhi, too,

During Mutiammad 1's reign, the Bahmani kingdom was divided into four atraf or provinces, i.e. Daulgltabad, Berar, Bidar and Gulbarga each ruled by a tarafdar. Since Gulbarga was the most important province, only the most trusted nobles were appointed who werd,called mir naib (viceroy)-distinct from the governois Yar ) of other provinces. hater on, as the boundaries of the kingdom expanded, M hmud Gawan divided the empire into eight provinces. Certain parts of the empire were - put under the direct control of the Sultan (khassrr-i Sultani). -

The amir-ul umara yas the commander of the army. The army mainly consisted of , soldieis and cavalry. Elephants were also employed. The rulers maintained a large

number of bodyguaaqls known a s khassakhel. Muhammad I is stated to have had four thousand bodyguardq. Besides, there were silahdars who were incharge of the 'personal armoury of the king. In times of need, barbardan were asked to mobilize troops. Another characteristic feature of the Bahmani army was the use of gunpowder that gave them military advantage.

Niccolo Conti, an ltdian traveller, who visited lndia in the 15th century, writes that their army used javelins, swords, arm-pieces, round-shields, bows and arrows. He adds that they used 'Iballistae and bombarding machines as well as siege-pieces'. Duarte Barbosa wha'visited lndia during 1500-17 also made similar remarks that they used maces, badle-axes, bows and arrows. He adds: "they [Mgorish] ride on high-pommelled saddle.. .. fight tied to their saddles ..... The gentios .... the larger part of them fight on foot, but some on horseback ..." Mahmud Gawan streamlined the military administration as well. Earlier,'the tarafdars had absolute authority to appoint the qiladars bf the forts. Gawan placed one fort under one tarafdar's jurisdiction, the rest f the forts within a province were placed under the central ,

command. To check 1 i orruptio?, he made a rule that every officer should be paid a t , a fixed rate for ever41500 troopers maintained by him. When he was given revenue assignments in lieu OK cash, the amount incurred by the officer in the collection of revenue was to be PT;h to him separately. If he failed to maintain the stipulated soldiers, he had to rdund the proportionate amount to the exchequer. P - Check Your ProgresJ 2 I) How can we say (that conflict between the Afaqis and the Dakhnis ultimately

sealed the fate ofl Ithe Bahmani kingdom? Write in ten lines. I

.................................... ............................................................................................

2) ~ e f i n e the following:

................................................................. ............................................ a) Afaqi

.........................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................... c) Malik-ut tujjar .................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................... d) Munihians ................................................ ......................................................

.3) What were the major changes brought about by Mahmud Gawan in i , administration and army organization? Write in 60 words.

.................................................................................................................................

28.7 ECONOMY

Mahmud Gawan ordered for systematic measurement of land fixing the boundaries of the villages and towns. Thus, in this regard he was the forerunner of Raja Todar Mal. All this greatly helped the exchequer. First, the income of the empire was ensured and became known in advance; secondly, it also curbed the corruption of the nobles to the minimum, thereby increasing the state*$ income.

1n"the Bahmani kingdom, trade and commerce was in a flourishing state. Nikitin, a Russian traveller, who was in the Deccan during 1469-74, provides ample information regarding the commercial activities of Bidar. He says that horses, cloth, silk, and pepper were the chief merchandise. He adds that at Shikhbaludin Peratyr and a t kladinand bazar people assembled in large numbers where trade continued for ienldays. & also'iii^entions the Bahmani seaport Mustafabad-Dabul as a centre of:commercial activity. Dabul was wellconnected not only with the Indian but also with the African ports. Horses were imported from Arabia,,Khurasan and Turkestan. Trade and commerce was mostly in the hands of the Hindu merchants. Musk and fur'were imported from China. ,~''-+.--.,,

28.8 SOCIETY AND CULTURE

The social structure df the Bahmanis was cosmopolitan in character. There were M uslifns, Hindus, 1 anians, Transoxonians, l raqis and Abyssinians (Habshis). The Portuguese came during the early 16th century. This heterogeneous character becomes more prominent if we'look at its linguistic pattern: Persian, Marathi, Dakhni (proto-UrdlES;, Kannada and Telugu languages were widely spoken in various parts of the kingdom.

Broadly, two classes existed in the society. According to Nikitin, there were poor, and <he nobles who were "extremely opulentn. He says that "the nobles were carried on their Silver beds, preceded by twenty horses caparisoned in gold and followed by three hundred mkn ah horseback and five hundred on foot along with ten torchbearers." Nikitin also gives a graphic account of the grandeur of the Bahmani wazir, ~ a h m & j Gawan. He mentions that everyday along with him 500 men used to dine. For the ,safetk of his house alone, everyday 100 armed personnel kept vigilance. In contrast, the general population was poor. Though Nikitin mentions only two classes, the% was yet another class-the merchants (the so-called middk class).

The sufis were great& venerated by the Bahmani rulers. Initially, they migrated to the Deccan as religiaus auxiliaries of the Khaljis and the Tughluqs. The infant Bahmani kingdom rqiluired the support of the sufm for popular legitimization of their authority. The sufis who migrated to the Bahmani kingdom were chiefly of the Chishti, Qadiri and Shattari orders. Bidar emerged as one of the most important centres of the Qadiri order. Shaikh Sirajuddin Junaidi was the first smfi to receive the royal favour. The Chishti saints enjoyed the greatest honour. Syed Muhammad Gesu Daraz, the famous Chishti saint of Delhi, migrated to Gulbarga in 1402-3. Sultan Feroz granteq la number of villages as innm for the upkeep of his khmqab. But during the later pieriod of his reign dissensions between the two developed on account of the sufi's.slpport for the Sultan's brother Ahmad as his successor. It finally led to the expulsion of Gesu Daraz from Gulbarp.

With the large influxabf the Afaqis in the Bahmani kingdom, the Shias also found their place under Fadullah's influence. Ahmad 1's act of sending 30,000 silver tankas for distribution among the Saiyyids of Karbala in Iraq shows his inclination for the Shia doctrine. The mbst influential wazir of Ahmad 111 was also a Shia.

Hindu traditions and p l ture also influenced the Bahmani court. Sultan Feroz's (1397-1422) marriage with a daughter of the royal family of Vijaynagar helped greatly in the Hindu-Muslims cultural harmony. There is a. legend that Feroz even once went to Vijaynagar in the guise of a Hindu faqir. Even in the most important ceremony like the celebration of urs, Hindu influences are to be seen. During the urs celebrations, the Janprn (the head of the Lingayats of Madhyal in Gulbarga

district) would perfom the ceremony in typical Hindu fashion-conch-blowing, flower offerings, etc. What is interesting is that the Jangarn wore Muslim apparel with the usual cap th&t the Muslim danvesh (hermit) used.

You will read about Other cultural aspects like architecture, education etc. in Block 8.

Cheek Your Progress: $

1) Write a note on Made and commerce under the Bahmani rule.

........................... !: ................................................................................................... *

...........................f,....,.........,.... ................................................................................

............................................................................................................................... I I i I

2) Mark right ( ) or wrong (X) against the following statements : i) Nikitin was an Italian traveller who visited India during the 15th century. ii) Under Mahmud Gawan, systematic measurement of the land was done. iii) Gesu Daraz was a famous Suhrawardi saint.

3) Discuss Nikitin's observation on the Bahmani sokiety.

28.9 LET US SUM UP

To sum up we saw how the amiran-i sndah gradually succeeded in carving out an independent Bahmani kingdom. In their formative phase, they were constantly at war with the Vijaynagar; Malwa and Telingana rulers. We have also seen how the clashes between the Afaqis and the Dakhnis ultimately led to the decline of the Bahmani Sultanate. As for the administrative structute, we do not find it much different from that of the Delhi Sultanate with the exception of designations and nomenclatures and Mahmud Gawan's reforms concerning the measurement of land.

28.10 KEY WORDS

Afaqi: (literally 'Universal'; from afaq); Newcomers (from Iran, Iraq and Transoxiana)

Amiran Hamrah: nobles of one thousand

Chaudhri: see Block 5

Dakhni: old Deccani nobility

Darwesh: muslim hermit; saint

Iqllm : provinces

Inam: revenue free grants

Jangam: head of the Lingayat sect

Karkun: see Block 5

Khanqah: Muslim m o n a s t h

Khassakhel: bodyguards of the Sultan

Mank-ut tujislr : prince of merchants

Mir naib: viceroy

Moorish : Muslim

Mutasnrrif: see block 5

Shiq: administrative unit similar to that of a district

S hlqdar : holder of shiq

Silahdar: incharge of the armour

rarafdar: provincial governors,

' Wakil : see block 5 I

Wali : provincial governor; Iqta hdder

28411 ANSWPRS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES /

Check Your PI'Ogre$S 1 1) See Sec. 28.2

ti

2) (i) revenue coll&ors and military cornitlanders (ii) Bahauddin Gurshasp (iii) Tungabhad* Doab (iv) Rajahmundry

3) See Sub-sec. 283.1, 28.3.2

Check Your Progress 2 1) See Sec. 28.4 2) See Sec. 28.4, 28.5 3) See Sec. 28.5, 281.6

Check Your Progres$,a 1) See Sec. 28.7 2) (i) J,X,: (ii) d (hi) 'X 3) See Sec. 28.8

!( ( EMERGENCE OF REGIONAL POWERS: THEORIES 1 Social scientists differ greatly over the reasons for the emergence of regional-powers. Joseph E. Schwartzberg highlighted certain geopolitical and ecological factors behind the instability that marred the Sultanate period.

According to Schwartzberg : . . : . . . . "The key to this progressive decline'in the average size and duration of major powers appears to lie in the secularly increasing degree of d o l l s competition which major powers had to face from other major of comparable strength. , Hence there was a long range tendency towards a rise in the Bequeney and intensity of n u s between or-among major powers throughout the Sultanate

I per~od. This would have resulted in increasing instability within the power system as a whole and seriously inhibited the growth potential of all states within the ,

system." /

By medieval period, in fact, settlement over the best av&lableagricultural land seems to have almost been completed; this led t o intensive agriculture; that in turn gave way to greater intensity of settlement vis-a-vis population growth and population pressure. The lat ta two factors helped greatly in increasing the strengh of thearmy in both ways-the fighting power as well as resistance power. Thus, according to Schwartzberg, geographical features made the conflicts inevitable and contributed to the emergence of regional states.

Richard G. Fox, Bernard Cohn and K.N. Singh have interpreted the emergence of regional powers in socio-political-anthropological model where kinship, clan and

'lineages were the main organising factors. For Richard Fox, such groups, though served as guarantor or the preserver of the political authority, were also prone to frequen~ rebellions which led to fragmentation and weakening of the central authority specially when the central control seems to be in doldrums. The Rajput clan-organisation is a glaring example. In Rajputana, these chiefs or njrs, o r p i s e d on the basis of clan, used to wntrol small principalities of the same lineages. You have already read in Unit 9 how closely the Rajput social organisation was knitted through clan, caste and lineages. Their area of influence wuld be through matrimony and migration of disgruntled sub- lineages. These 'unilineal kin-organisations' performed many political and military functions relating to revenudpllection and maintenance of law and order. They used to get 'legitimization' by the state. The 'mandate' of the state was the 'mandate' of the kin allegiance. On account of this 'internalcohesion' and 'external recognition', their position became so stfong at the local level that neither the state nor the clan members could throw them off.

After Timur's invasion, the political vacuum created at the centre provided these chiefs or njm opportunity to strike deep r o o F the local level. Thus started internecine warfare throughout the 1345th century between power centres trying to exploit the situation to their respective interests.

Nature of the Vijaynagar State We'have already discussed in Block 3 Section 8.3 various aoproaches-feudal, segmentq and integrative-with respect to the lndian pol~ty dunng 8~13th c6ntury. Let us analyse the nature of the Vijaynagar polity within this model.

1 I Segmentary State Burton Stein regards the Vijaynagar state as a stzmentary state (for its characteristic features see Sub-sec. 8.3.2). For him, in the Vijaynagar state, absolute political sovereignty rested with the centre, but in the periphery 'ritual sovereignty' (symbolic control) was in the hands of the nayakas and the Brahman commanders. The relationship of these subordinate units-segments-in relation to the central authority was pyramidally arranged. The more far removed a segment was from the centre, the

1 greater its capacity to change loyalty from one power pyramid to another.

1 . ) Feudal Model .

I I Some scholars try to explain the character of the Vijaynagar state in the backdrop of feudal structure. They argue that the practice of giving fresh land grants to Brahmans

was an Importarw racror which led, t o the rise of feudal segments. The frequency of such land grants enhaaced the position of the Brahmans. As a result, they enjoyed a large measure of autowmy, possessed administrative powers and controlled revenue resources within their settlments. Scholars filrther argue that since the rulers of Vijaynagar

I pfoposed to ~ r & c t Hindu dharma, it led to the emergence of new Brahman settl~ments. I Further, the mill ry need to expand into l'amil region created feudal territories under the control of A1 g aranayakas (warriors) and other high officials. Amaranayakas were hereditary hold?$s of land. They paid tribute and rendered military service to the king (like the samangls of north India).

The vassals in t#n started giving land grants to their slbordinates, thus giving way to sub-infeudation, The large extent of the empire and the absence of adequate means of 1 I transport and cbknmunication made it necessary for ihe rulers to entrust power to these feudal segmentslbr the governance of the empire. In the process of conquest and 1 I consolidation, rb lc i t ran t chieftains were subdued and their territory distributed among new chiefs. Nevertheless, some old chiefs were also permitted to continue in the new I scheme. k I

I

ther 1nterl)retations N.K. Shastri s& the Vijaynagar state in the light of essentially a Hindu kingdom performing the ideological (religiopolitical) role of the defender of Hindu culture against the Muslims of be Bahmani kingdom and its successor states. From this stems the theory of the m $taristic character of the Vijaynagu state. For him, the Vijaynagar state i was a war state.,

1

Why these kingHoms remained confined to 'secondary' status and could not assume the 'Imperial' one?.'bn Schwartzberg's terms, why they remained 'Supra-regional powers' a n d could not &ch to the status of 'Pan-Indian powers? There were certain geopolitical, stdctural and circumstantial factors behind this. Foremost is their Iperipheral locadbn, States of Kashmir, Gujarat, Rajpytana, Sind, Orissa, Assam and Bengal do not lie in the heartland of the empire to aksume the central status. Mountaneous tkrrain also obstructed their smooth expansion. Kashmir's expansion was mainly obstructwd by the inaccessible mountains. Similarly, the iocreasing aridity of the great Indian destrt in the north-west obsthcted the growth of Sind and Rajputana kingdomq. ThoMh Malwa and Jaunpur were situated in the core and the most fertile plain$. they had~'anw-frontie~-klrrollnded by hostile states. Each state attempted to get control ovetl their rich resources, so constant waifare was the main feature of the regional syndrd$e which hampered expansion.

Another problap was the paucity of revenue-resources which prevented them to maintain large grmies to extend and consolidate their gain&. They had very small area undyr their direct control whose revenue came directly to the starc. They had to depend largely on 'intermediaries' or 'chiefs' for their income and supply of armed retainers. T o add to this, the revenue collectors (intermediaries) had the tendency to evade taxatipe. 'Tributary chiefb also exploited every opportunity to rebel. You have already seen that the tributary chiefs residing on the peripheral area between Malwa and Gujarat

frequently chaqeed sides-sometimes with Malwa, and sometimes with Gujarat as the opportunity arbse. Increasing feuds of the Rajputs among their clan members was the main reason why the Rajput state could not assume the 'Pan-India' status. T o add t o this, unlike Gujarat and Bengal, other regions being land-locked (specially Jaunpur and Malwa), did ndt have opportunity to develop Jverseas trade and commerce which further curtail& their income and provided little ,cope for 'extra' resources required for expansiori ,

The B.hm.nk SOME USEFUL BOOKS FOR THIS BLOCK

Muhammad Habib and K.A. ~ i z a m i : Delhi Sultanate.

A.B. Pandey: Early Medieval India and Later Medieval India.

Ishwari Prasad : Medieval India.

T.V. Mahalingam: Administration and Society under Viiqvnagar.

Nilakanta Sastri : A History of South India.

UNIT 29 SOCIO-RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT: BHAKTI MOVEMENT

Structure 29.0 Objectives 29.1 Introduction 29.2 Background : Bhakti Movement in South India 29.3 Bhakti Movement in North India 29.4 Emergence of Bhakti' Movement

29.4.1 Political Factors for the Rise ofthe Bhaktt Movement 29.4.2 Socio-Economic Factors

29.5 Main Popular Movements and their Characteristics 29.5.1 Monotheistic Movements of North lndia 29.5.2 Common Characteristic Features 29.5.3 Vnbhmva BhakU Movement 'in North lndia 29.5.4 Vaishmva BhakU Movement in Bengal 29.5.5 BhakU Movement in Maharashtra 29.5.6 BhakU Movement in Other Regions

29.6 Influence of Other Traditions and Movemerits 29.6.1 Popular Monotheistic Saints and Mmananda 29.6.2 Influence of the N.tbpntM Movement on Monotheistic Saints 29.6.3 Influence of Islamic Ideas and the Role of Sufism 29.6.4 'Ibeory of Islamic Challenge to Hinduism

29.7 Let Us Sum Up 29.8 Key Words 29.9 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises.

29.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unit, you would be able to : understand the background of thebhakti movement,

identify the main political and socio-economic factors for the rise of bhakti . . .movement in North India,

list the main popular branches and the saints of this movement,

know the main characteristic features of the bhrrkti movement, and

learn about the influence of other traditions and Islam on this'movement.

Bhakti as a religious concept means devotional surrenaer to a personally conceived Supreme God for attaining salvation. The origin of this dogrine has been traced to both the Brahmanical and Buddhist traditions of ancient India and to variolis scriptures such as the Gita. But it was for the first time in South India between the seventh and tenth century that bbakti grew from a mere religious doctrine into a popular movement based on religious equality and broad-based social participation. The movement which was led by popular saint-poets reached its climax in the tenth century after which it began to decline. But it was revived as a philosophical and ideological movement by a series of wandering scholars or acharyas, beginning with Ramanuja in the eleventh century. The establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in early thirteenth century witnessed great outburst of inany diverse and widespread socio-religious movements in various parts of the country drawing upon fhe'concepts of bhaktiieThese movements have been seen as continuation or revival of the oiber South Indian bhakti movement. But each one o i the later movements which grew in the Sultanate period had a.historica1 context of its own and its own peculiarities. Moreover, one of them, namely, the non-conformist monotheistic movement which is associated with Kabir and other "low-caste" saints bears onlv suverficial

- . reSemblance to the variants of the movement. Its social roots, its ideology, social composition of its legdership and even its concept of bhakti and God set it fundamentally apart, from the older bhakti movement of South India as well as from the rest of the later dhakti movements. In view of these wide and a t lmes even basic [ * differences among various bhakti movements, they must be discussed individually inl order to clearly bring out the characteristics of each one of them and also to discover elements of unity and diversity among them. I

29.2 BACKOWUND : BHAKTI MOVEMENT IN / . SOUTH INDIA

The sai- Nayanar saints and vaishnava .Alvar saints of South India spread the doctrine of bhakti among different sections of the society irrespestive of caste and '

sex during the period between the syventh and the tenth century. Some of these saints came from the "lower" castes and some were women. The saint-poets preached bhakti. 'in an intense emotional manner and promoted religious egalitarianism. They dispensed with rituals and traversed the region several times singing, dan~ing and advocating bhakti. The Alvar and Nayanar saints used the Tamil language and not Sanskrit for preaching and composing devotional songs. All these features gave the movement a popular character. For the first time bhakti acquired a popular base. The South Indian bhaktil saints were critical of Buddhists and Jains who enjoyed a privileged status at the courts of South Indian kings at that time. They won over many adherents of Buddhism and Jainism both of which by now had become Ejgid and formal religions. At the same time, however, these poet-saints resisted the authority of the orthodox Brahmans by making bbaktl accessible to all without any caste and sex discrimination. But the South Indian bhakti movement had its limitations as well. It never consciously opposed Brahmanismor the varna'and caste systems at the social level. It was integrated with the caste system an8 the "lower" castes continued to suffer from various soeial disabilities. There Was no elimination of Brahmanical rituals such as worship of idols, recitation of the Vedic mantras and pilgrimages to sacred placesin spite of the ovemding emphasis on bhakti as the superior mode of worship. The Bbddhists and Jains were its main targets, not the Brahmans. This perhaps was also the reason why the Brahman dominated temples played an important role in the growth of South Indian bhakti movement. Since the ideological and social foundations of caste system were not qllrbstioned by the South Indian saint-poets, the bhakti :movement of the South in the long run strengthened it rather than weakening it. Ultimately, after the movemeno reached its climax in the tenth century, it was gradually assimilated into the conventional Brahmanical religion. But despite these limitations, the Sodth Indian bhakti movement in its heyday succeeded in championing the cause of religious equality and, consequently, the Brahmans had to accept the right of the "low-caste" to preach, to have access to bhakti as a mode of worship and io have access even to the Vedas

Bhakti and the Sorlth Indian Acharyas

When the populari,rjv of the bhakti movement in South India was on the wane, the doctrine of bhakti tyas defcnded at the philosophical level by a series of brilliant vaishnava Brahamap scholars (acharyas). Ramanuja (1 lth century) was first among them. He gave phibsophical justification for bhakti. He tried to establish a careful balance between orthodox Brahmanism and popular bhakti which was open to all. Though he did not qupport the idea of the "lower" castes having access to the Vedas, he advocated bhakti as a mode of worship accessible to all including the Sudras and even thq outcastes. While propagating bhakti, he did not observe caste distinctions and evep tried to eradicate untouchability. Nimbarka, a Telugu Brahman, is believsd to havc hoen a younger contemporarv of Ramanuja. He spent most of his time in Vrindavan near Mathura in North India He believed In total devotlon to Krishnq and Raana. Another South lndlan val\h~lav~te bhaktl philosopher was Madhava who belonged to the th~rtccnth century. Like Ramanuja. he did not dispute orthodox Brahmanical restnctlon of the Vedic study by the SudraS He belle\rd thz? hhakti provided alterna:e avenile bf worship to the Sudras. HIS ph~losophical system Has based on the Bhagvar Furana. He is also believed to havc toured NorthlIndla. The last two prominent vaishnava acharyas w: :c

-

Ramananda (late 14thpnd early 15th century) and Vallabha (late 15tb and early 16th century). Since both of them lived mostly in North India during.the Sultanate period and gave new orientation to the vaishnava bhakti, they will be discussed in the section dealirig with North India.

29.3 BHAKTI MOVEMENT IN NORTH INDIA .

There arose during he Sultanate period (13th-15th century) many popular socio-religious movements in North and East India, and Maharashtra. Emphasis on bhakti and religious equality were two common features of these movements: As has been pointed oat, these two were also the features of the South Indian bhaliti movements. Almost all the bhakti movements of the Sultarlate period have been related to one South Indian vaishnava acharya or the other. For these reasons, many scholars believe that the bhakti movements of the Sultanate period were a continuation or-resurgence of thealder bhakti rhovement. They argue that there existed philosophical and ideological links between the two either due to contact or diffusion. Thus, Kabir and other leaders of non-conformist monotheistic movements in North India are believed to have been the disciples of Ramananda who, in turn, is believed to have been connected with Ramanuja's philosophical order. Similar claims have been made that Chaitanya, the most significant figure of the vaishnava movement in Bengal, belonged to the philosophical school of Madhava. This movement is also believed to have been connected with Nimbarka's school because of its emphasis on 'Krishna' bhakti.

There are undoubtedly striking similarities between the older bhakti tradition of South India and various bhakti-movements that flcprished in the Sultanate and Mughal periods. If we exclude the popular monotheistic movements of Kabir, Nanak and other4'low" caste saints, the two sets of movements can be shown to have possessed many more common features. For example, like the South Indian bhakti movement, the vaishnava bhakti movements of North and Eastern India and Maharashtra, though egalitarian in the religious sphere, never denounced the caste system, the authority of Brahmanical scriptures and the Brahmanical privileges as such.

Consequently, like the South Indian bhakti, most of the vaishnava movements of the later period were ultimately assimilated into the Brahmanical religion, though in the process of interaction, the latter itself underwent many changes. However, the similarities endhere. Bhakti movement was never a single qovement except in the broad doctrinal sense of a movement which laid emphasis on bhakti and.religjous equality. The bhakti movements of medieval India differed in many significant respects not only from the older South Indian bhakti tradition hut also among themselves. Each one of them had its own regional identity ahd socio-historical drfd cultural contexts. Thus, the non-confq.rmist movements based on popular monotheistic bhakti cdntained features that were essentially different from various vaishnava bhakti movements, Kabir's notion of bhakti was not the same as that of the medieval vaishnavm saints such as Chaitanya or Mirabai. Within the v-va movement, the historical context of Maharashtra bhakti was different from that of the Bengal vaishnavism or North Indian bhakh movement of Ramanand, vallabna. Surdas and Tulsidas. During the later period, when tfie vaishnava bbakti movement crystallised into sects, there arose frequent disputes between them which sometimes even turned violent. Among all the bhakti movements of the period between the . 14th and 17th century, the popular monotheistic movements of Kabir, Nanak, Raidas and other "lower" caste saints stand out fundamentally different.

,Popular Monotheistic Movement and Vaishnava Bhakti Mov~ment both these movements arose in Northern India at the same time, that is, in the centuries following the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate and advent of Islam in that part of the country. For:this reason, the rise of both the movements is quite often attributed to certain common causes such as the influence of Islam on Hinduism. However, the causes and sources of the two movements and the factors exerting influence on them were quite diverse. It will behme clear from the following discussion that a cause which explains one mdxement may not do so in the case of the other. This is so because the popular monotheistic movements arose and

reached their peak ih the Sultanate period, while the valshnava. movements began in the Sultanate period but reached their climax during the Mughal period.

Check Your Progress 1 1) ' Give the salierlt features of the bhaktl movement.

2) Write two lines on each of the following :

Ramanuja ......... ,;. ............................................................................... ........................ r ................................................................................

Nimbarka ........................................................................................... .........................................................................................................

Vallabha ........... , ...............................................................................

: I .......... ................................................................................ Chaitanya ,

......................................................................................................... b

Madhava .......... .1 ... .; ............ ... ................................................... .... . . . ..........................................................................................................

29.4 EMERGENCE OF THE BHAKTI MOWMENT

The bhakti movemMt which influenced large number of people during 14th-17th centuries in North h d i a emerged due to a number of political, socio-economic and ; religious factors. Wkt will discuss all these in this section.

29.4.1 Political Factors for the Rise of the Bhakti Movement It has been pointed out that as the popular bhakti movementcould not take root in Northern India befote the Turkish conquest because the socio-religious milieu.was dominated by the RBjput-Brahman alliance which was hostile to any heterodox movement. The Tutkisli conquests brought the supremacy of this alliance to an end. The advent of Islam with the Turkish conquest also caused a setback to the power and prestige commilhded by the Brahmans: Thus, the way was paved for the growth of non-conformist movements, with anti-caste and anti-Brahmanical ideology. The Brahmans had always made the people believe that the images and idols in the temples were not jutit the symbols of God but were gods themselves who possessed divine power and who could be influenced by them (i.e. the Brahmans). The Turks deprived the Brahnlans of their temple wealth and state patronage. Thus the Brahmans suffered Both materially and ideologically. The non-conformist sect of the nathpanthis was pethaps the first to gain from the declining power of the Rajput-Brahman alliance. This sect seems to have reached its peak in the beginning of the Sultanate period. The loss of power and influence by theBrahmans and the new political situation ultimately created conditions for the rise of the popular monotheistic moveMents and other bhakti movements in Northern India.

29.4.2 Socio-Economic Factors It has been argued that the bhak3 movements of medieval India represented

8 sentiments of the cchmon people against febdal oppression. According to this

viewpoint, elements of revolutionary opposition to feudalism can be found in the poetry of the bhakti saints ranglng from Kabir and Nanak to Chaitanya and Tulsidas. It is in this serise that sometimes the medieval bhakti.movements are a n as Indian counterpart of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. However, there is nothing in the poetry of the bhakti,saints to suggest that they represented the class interestsof the peasantry against the surplus-extracting feudal state. The vaishnava bbakti saints broke away from orthodox Brahmanical order only to the extent tbat they believed in bhakti and religious equality. Normally, they continued to subscribe to many basic principles of orthodox Brahmanism. The more radical monatheistic saints rejected orthodox Brahmanical religion altogether but even they didaot call for the overthrow of the state and the ruling class: For this reason, the bhakti movements cannot be regarded as Indian variant of European Protestant Reformation which was a far greater social upheaval linked to the decline of feudalism and the rise of capitalism.

This, however, does not mean that the bhakti saints were indifferent to the living canditions of the people. They used images of daily life and always tried to identify themselves in one way or another with the sufferings of the common people.

Economic and Social Changes The widespread popularity of the monotheistic movement of Kabir, Nanak, ; Dhanna, Pipa etc. can be explained fully only in the c0ntex.t of certain significant socio-economic changes in the period following the Turkish conquest of Ndrthern India. The Turkish ruling class, unlike the Rajputs, lived in towns. The extraction of large agricultural surplus led to enormous concentration of resources in the hands of the ruling class. The demands of this resource-wielding class for manufactured goods, luxuries and other necessaries led to the introduction of many new techniques and crafts on a large scale. This, in turn, led to the expansion of the class of urban artisans in the 0 t h and 14th centuries.

The growing classes of urban artisans were attracted towards the monotheistic movement because of its egalitarian ideas as they were now not satisfied with the low status accorded to them in traditional Btahmanical hierarchy. It fias been pointed out that some groups of traders like the Khatris in the Punjab, who benefited directly from the growth of towns, urban crafts protluction and expansion of markets, were also drawn into the movement for the same reason. The popularity of the monotheistic movement was the result of the support it obtained from one or mpre of these different classes of the society. It is one or more of these sections

I which constituted the social base of the movement in different parts of Northern India. In Punjab, the popularity of the movement did not remain confined to urban classes: it acquired a broader base by the incorporation of the Jat peasants in its ranks. The support extended by the Jats of the Punjab to Guru Nanak's movement ultimately contributed to the development of Sikhism as a mass religion. '

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29.5 MAIN POPULAR MOVEMENTS AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS

In this section, we will discuss some of the main monotheistic and vaishnava , movements in North India, including Maharashtra and Bengal quring the period

under review.

29.5.1 Monotheistic Movements of North India

Kabir (c.. 1440-1518) was the earliest and undoubtedly the most powerful f ib re of the monotheistic movements that began in the fifteenth century. He belonged to a family .of weavers (Julaha who were indigenous converts to 1slam:~e spent greater part of his life in Banaras (Kashi). The monotheistic saints who succeeded him either claimed to be his disciples or respectfully mention him. His verses were included in the Sikh scripture, the Adi Granth in large numbers than those of other monotheists. All this indicate his pre-eminent position among the monotheists. Raidas (or Ravidas) most probably belonged to the generation next to Kabir's. He was a tanner by caste. He also lived in Banaras and was influenced by Kabir's ideas. Dhanna was a fifteenth century Jat peasant from Rajasthan. Uther prominent salnts of the same peViod were Sen (a barber) and Pipa.

a o t y and culture : IW to 15tb Guru Nanak (1469-1539) preached his ideas much in the same way as Kabir and Century other monotheists, but due to various developments later his teachings led to the

e-ence of a mads religion, Sikhism. The basic similarity of his teachings with those of Kabir and kbther saints and the basic ideological agreement between them makes him an integlqal part of the monotheistic movement. He belonged to a caste of traders called KhaM and was born in a village in punjab' now known as Nankana Sahib. In his later life he-travelled widely to preach his ideas. Eventually he settled in a place in Punjab now known as Dera Baba Nanak. There he attracted large number.of discipleg. The hymns composed by him were incorporated in the Adl Granth .by the fifth Sikh Guru Arjan in 1604.

29.5.2 Common ; Characteristic Features The teachings of all;the saints who are associated with the monotheistic movement have certain'commqp features which give the movement its basic unity :

1) Most of the mdnotheists belonged to the "low" castes and were aware that . there existed ailrnity of ideas among themselves. Most of them were aware of each other's teachings and influences. In their verses they mention each other and their predecessors in such a way as to suggest a harmonious ideological affinity among: them. Thus, Kabir speaks of Raidas as "saint among saints". Raidas, in his ium, respectfully mentjons the names of Kabir, Namdev, Trilochan, ~ h k h n a , Sen and Pipa. 6hanna takes pride in speaking of the fame and popularity'bf Ngmdev, Kabir, Raidas and Sen and admits that he devoted himself to bhaktiafter hearing their fime. Kabir's influence on Nanak also is beyond dispute. It is, therefore, not surprising that the later traditions link Kabir, aida as,: Dhanna, Pipa, Sen, etc. together as disciples of Ramananda. The ideologicab affinity among the monotheists is also clear from the inciusion of the hymns d Kabir, Raidas. et'c. along with those of Nanak by,the fifth Sikh Guru Arjan in4he Adi Granth.

ii) All the monotpleists were influenced in one way or another and in varying degrees by the~lraishnava concept of bhakti, the nathpantRi movement and the Sufism. The mdnotheistic movement represents the synthesis of elements from these three traflitions. But more often than riot they did not accept the element of these traditibns in their original form and made many innovations and a4aptations which gave new meanings to old concepts.

iii) For the monotheists, there was only one way of establishing communion with God : it was tty way of personally experienced bhrdrti. This was aiso the way of the vaishnava hhakti saints, but there was one fundamental difference of perceptions : f i e y all have been called monotheists because they uncompromisi~gly believed in only on6 God. Then, God of ~ a i a k , was non-incarnate hnd formless (nirankar), eternal (akal) and ineffable (alnkh). The monotheistic bhakti, therefore, was nirguna bhakti and not saguna -which was the case with the vaishnavites who believed in various human incarnations of God. 'The monotheists adopted the notion of bhakti from the vaishnava

- bhakti tradition but gave it a nirguna orientation. Quite often Kabir-called God ' by the name, Ram. For this reason he has been called Ram-bhakta.'But Kabir himself made ik clear in his utterances that the Ram he was devoted to was not the one who whs born as an incarnation in the house of king Dashratha of Ayodhya or who had killed Ravana, but a formless, non-incarnate God. In addition to thd loneness of God and nirguna bhakti, the monotheists also emphasised the crucial importance of repetition of divine name, spiritual guru, - community sidging of devotional songs (kirtan) and companionship of saints (mt-g).

iv) The monothei~ts followed a path which was independent of both dominant religions of the time-Hinduism and Islam. They denied their allegiance to either of themland criticised the superstitions and orthodox elements of both the religions. wy launched a vigorous ideological assault bn caste system and idolatry. They rejected the authority of the Brahmans and their religious scriptures. Kabr, in his harsh and abrasive stylq uses ridicule as a powerful method for debouncing orthodox Brahmanism.

v) The mvnvthcists composed their poems in popular la&uages. Some of them used a langua t Ghich was a mixture of different dialects spoken in various 4 parts of North India. The monotheistic saints preferred this common language

to their own native dialects because they considered it fit for the propagation of their non-conformist ideas among the masses in various regions. The use common language is a striking feature of the movement considering that t IP e saints belonged to different parts of North India and spoke different dialects. The monotheists also made use of popular symbols and images to propagate their teachings. Their utterances are expressed in short verses which could be e a d y remembered. Thus, for instance, Kabir's poetry is unpolished and has a rustic, colloquial quality but it is essentially a poetry of the people.

vi) Most of the monotheistic saints were not ascetics. They led worldly life and were married. They lived and preached among the people. They had aversion to and disdain for professional ascetics.-They frequently refer to professional caste groups in their verses which would suggest that they continued to pursue their family professions. They were also not like the medieval European Christian saints who were recognised as "holy" by the Church. The expression which has been used for them and by which they themselves referred to each other is sant or bhagat. In the adi Granth, ~abi; , Raidas, Dhanna, Pipa, Namdev, etc. have been listed as bhagat.

vii) m e monotheistic saints travelled widely to propagate their beliefs. Namdev, a 14th-century saint from Maharashtra travelled as far as Punjab where his teachings became so popular that they were later absorbed in the Adi-Granth. Kabir, Raidas and other saints are also believed to have travelled widely.

viii) The ideas of Kabir and other monotheists spread to Larious regions and became popular among the "lower" classes. The popularity of the monotheists broke territorial barriers. This is clear from the high position accorded to Kabir in the Sikh tradition and in the Dadu panthi tradition of Rajasthan. Their continuing popularity even almost twohundred years after their time and in a distant region is clear from the way a mid-17th century Maharashtrian saint Tukaram looks upon himself as an admirer and follower of Kabir, Raidas, Sen, Gora, etc. A 17th century Persian work on comparative religion Dabiitan-i Mazahib testifies to the continuing popularity of Kabir among the people of North India.

ix) Despite the widespread popularity that the teachings of monotheists enjoyed among the masses, the followers of each one of the major figures in the monotheistic movement like Kabir, Raidas and Nanak gradually organized themselves into exclusive sectarian orders called panths such as Kabir panth, Raidasi panth, Nanak panth, etc. Of all these panths, the Nanak panth alone eventually crystallised into a mass religion while most of the others continue to survive till today but with a vastly reduced following and a narrow sectarian base.

Check Your Progress 2 1) Discuss the factors that led to the rise of the bhakti movement.

2) Writethree li&s on each of the following :

Kabir ....................................................................... : ........................

..................................................................... r . . . . . . ........................

................................................................................................... Guru Nanak . .:. ............................................................................... ................................................................................................... ...................................................................................................

~ ~ d c t y .ad culture : ~jtb to 15th ' 3) What are the characteristic features of monotheistic bhakti move~~lent? - thenames af three saints belonging to this'movement.

........................................................................... i . .?.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

29.5.3 Vaishnava Bhakti Movement in North India Ramananda was the most prominent scholar saint of the vaishnava bhakti in Northern India during this period. Some of his ideas have already been mentioned in Section 29.3. He belonged to the late 14th and early 15th c'entury. He lived in South India in the early parrt of his life but later settled in Banaras. He is considered to be the link between thesouth Indian bhakti tradition and North Indian vaishnhva bhakti. However, hq deviated from the ideology and practice of.the earlier South Indian atharyas in thtee important respects :

i) he looks upon Ram and not Vishnu as object of bhakti. To him, Ram was the. supremk God who is to be adored with Sita. In this sense he came to be regarded as the 'Pounder of the Ram cult in North Ind~a within the framework of vaishnava bhakti'tradition.

ii) he preached in etle language of the common people. and not in Sanskrit, to propagate the Ram cult.

iii) the most significtint contribution to vaishnava bhakti, was that he made bhakti accessible to all irrespective of caste. He greatly relaxed the caste rules in respect of religibus and social matters. Though himself a Brahman, he took food with his "Cow" caste vaishnava follow:rs.

It is perhaps for the last mentioned point that some later vaishnava traditions link Kabir and some other monotheists to him as his disciples. The innovations were probably due to the influence of Islamic ideas. It has also been suggested that he made these innovations in order to counter the growing popularity of the heterodox nathpanthl, the "lower" classes of the society. His followers are called Ramanandis. A hymn attributed t& him was incorporated in the Adi Cranth.

Another prominent ~aishnava preacher in t h i Sultanate period was Vallabhacharya, a Telugu brahman of the late 15th and early 16th century. He, too, was born in Banaras. He was the founder of Pushtimarga (way of grace). It also came to be known as Vallabha sempradaya (Vallabha Sect). He advocated Krishna bhakti. Famous Krishna bhaetti saint-poet, Surdas (1483-1 563) and seven other Krishna bhakti poets belongihg to the ashtachhap were believed to have been the disciples of Vallabha. The sect later became popular in Gujarat.

In North India, howqver, the vaishnava bhakti ,cult acquired a more pophlarpase. only in the Mughal p r iod . Tulsidas (1532-1623) championed the cause of Rama b h k t i while Surdas (1483-1563), Mira Bai (1503-73) and many others popularised . ~rishna'bhakti.

?

29.5.4 Vaishnava Bhakti Movement in Bengal In many significant ways the vaishnava bhakti in Bengal was different from its North Indian and the oldet South Indian bhakti. The sources which influenced it can be traced to two different traditions-the vaishnava bhakti tradition of the Bhagavata Purana, with its glodtication of Krishnalila on the one hand, and Sahajiya Buddhist and nathpanthi traditions on the other. Thc vaishnava influence was transmitted by various bhakti poet4 beginning with~ayadeva in the 12th century. Jayadeva's Cita Govinda was compased in Sanskrit. He also wrote songs in Maithili dialect which were later absorbed in the ~ e n ~ a l i i a i s h n a v a bhakti tradition. He highlighted the erotic-mystical dimetision of the love with reference to Krishna and Radha. Various non-vaishdava cults kuch as those of Sahajiya Buddhists and nathpanthis that rtmrvi~ed in Renoal ahd Hihar infl~lenred t h ~ orrlwth nf hhakti m n v ~ m ~ n i in R ~ n o a l

These cults preached an easy and natural religion focussing on esoteric and emotional elements. Vaishnava bhakti poets such as Chandidas (14th century) and Vidyapati (14th to 15th centuries) came under the influence of these non-vaishnava cults, though tlie Bhagavata tradition was always the major source of influence. The songs of Chandidas who was the first Bengali bhakti poet and those of Vidyapati who wrote in Maithili, highlighted the Krishna-Radha relationship. These songs ' became part of the growing vaishnava movement in Bengal. Chaitanya himself did not come under the direct influence of Sahajiya doctrine. It is, however, possible that elements of esoteric cults entered into his mqvement through the influence of Chandidas and Vidyapati. But the most important source of inspiration was the Bhagavata Purana.

Chaitanya (1486-1533) was the most prominent vaishnava saint of Bengal. He popularized Krishna-bhakti in many parts of Eastern India. His popularity as a rel~gious personality was so great that he was looked upon as an avatara (incarnation) of Krishna even in his life. The advent of Chaitanya marks the shiftlng of tbe focus of the Bengal vaishnava bhakti from devotional literary compositions to' a fpll-fledged reform movement with a broad social base.

I

Chaitanya disregarded all distinctions of caste, creed arld scx to give a popular bdse to Krishna-bhakti. His followers belonged to all castes and communities. One of his most favourite disciples was Haridas who was a Muslim. He popularized the practice of sankirtan or group devotional singing accompanied by ecstatic dancing.

However, chaitanyi did not givk up traditional Brahamanical values altogether. He did not question the authority of the Brahmans and scripturcs. He upheld the caste prejudices of his Brahman disciples against the "lower" caste disciples. Six Sanskrit-knowing Brahman Goswamins who were sent by him to Vrindavan near Mathura established a religious order which recognized caste restrictions in its

I devotional practices and rituals. These Goswamins gradually distanced themselves from Chaitanya's teachings and from the popular movement that had grown around him in Bengal.

I

I But Chaitanya's movement had a great impact on Bengali society. His disregard for

I -caste distinctions in the sphere of devotional singing promoted a sense of equality in Bengali life. In Bengal and in Puri in Orissa, his movement remained popular. In these places, his followers were not always scholarly Brahmans but included,

I common people. They wrote in Bengali, propagated his bhakti and looked upon

1 Chaitanya as the living Krishna or as Radha and Krishna in one body.

29.5.5 Bhakti Movement in Maharashtra

I Like other vaishnara bhakti movements, the Maharashtra bhakti tradition drew its t basic inspiration &om that of the Bhagavata Purana. In addition, however, it w& i also influenced by the saiva nat,hpanthi who were quite popular in the "lower" I classes of the Maharashtrian society during the I Ith and 12th centuries and who I composed their verses in Marathi. Jnaneswar (1275-1296) was the pioneer bhakti

saint of Maharashtra. He wrote an extensive commentary on the Bhagavad Gita popularly called Jnanesvari. This was one of the earliest works of Marathi literature and served as the foundation of bhakti,fdeology in Maharashtra. He was the author . of many hymns called abhangs. He taught that the onl) way to attain God was bhakti a n d in bhakti there was ho place for caste disttnctions.

Namdev (1270-1350) helong~d to tailor caste. He is considered to be the link between the Maharashtrian bhakti movement and North Indian monotheistic movement. He lived in Pandharpur but travelled to North India including the Punjab. His bhakti songs have also been included in the Adi Granth. In Maharashtra. Namdev is considered to be a part of the varkari tradition (vaishnava dcvotional tradition), but in the North Indian monotheistic tradition he is remembered as a nirgunasaint, Other prominent bhakti saints of Maharashtra were Eknath (1533-99) and Tukaram (1598- 1650).

29.5.6 Bhakti Movements in Other Regions Saiva bhakti flourished in Kashrnir in the 14th century. Most prominent of the saiva bhakti saints was a woman, La1 Ded. In Gujarat, bhakti was preached by the

Sdo-Religious Movement : Bhakll Movement

vallabha sect of Vallabhacharya and another important saint, Narsimha hiehta (14141481, o r 15001t580). He knew of Jayadeva and Kabir and was followed by a number of poet-sairJlls. The frallabha sect became popular among mefchants and landowners of Gujamt. In Karnataka, the saiva bbPktf cult of the Kannad spaking virasaivas developed during the 12th and 13th centuries. They preached a strongly radical and heterodqbr concept of bhakti by incorporating social criticism in their religious outlook. \

In Assam, sankaradtva (1449-1568) introduced hbPkt5 both in the Brahmputra valley as well as in Gwh-Behar. He was born in the family of non-Brahman Bhuyan chiefs. He @&came an ascetic during the later part of his life and is believed to have visited many places of pilgrimage in North and South India. H e preached absolnle devotion to Vishnu or his incarnation, Krishna. He had to face persecution at the I ands of orthodox Brahmanical priesthood of the Ahom kingdom and took shelter in the territocies of the neighbouring Cooch-Behar where its king gave him the freedom to preqch bhakd. Monotheistic ideas influenced his concept of b U t i which came to be known as the eka-sarana-dharma ('religion of seeking refuge in one'). He denounced the caste system and preached his ideas to the people in their language (an ~ s s a m b s e form of Brajaboli). He made some significant innovations in the ilevotional practike such as inclusion of dance-drama-music form in the preaching of bhakti. He also founded the institution of satra which means a sitting during which people of all classes assembled for religious as well as social purposes. Later the satras grew into full-fledged monasteries. His sect is called mahakrashiya dharma.

Check Your Progres8 3 1). Writea note on: ~aishnavite bhakti movement.

.............. " .....................................................................................

2) Write five lines dn each of the following :

, a) Bhakti movement in Bengal

b) Bl.akti movdtnent in Maharashtra

29.6 INFLUEACE OF OTHER TRADITIONS AND

It is clear that the b u t i movement of the Sultanate period cannot be linked in any way with the older sdbth Indian bhakti. But they were influen'ced in one way or

another by certain existing traditions and movements whose history goes back to the 'pre-Sukanate peripd. These i,ncluded the bhakti tradition of the Bhagavat Purana, religious ideas and activities of scholar-saints such as Ramananda, andsuch heterodox movements as that of the nathpanthis.

' h e doctrine/ of bhakti is fully developed in the most famous of the PurPhas--the dhaga~at Purana, a Vaishnavite work composed around the 9th century. Its most

"k;lportant feature is its emphasis on the bhakti of Vishnu in his various incarnations, especially in the form of Krishna. The Bhagavata accepts the orthodox Brahmanical theory of the origin of the v m a system but does not accept the superiority of the Brahmans simply on the basis of their status or birth. For it, bhakti 4s. the main .c;riteria. I t has been pointed out that Bhagavata Purana is the link between various, vaishnava bhakti movements of the medieval period. However, the influence of thk Bhagavata tradition on monotheistic saints such as Kabir and Nanak was not exerted in a direct manner. Most of these saints were illiterate and did not have any direct . access to the Bhagavata and other scriptures. Kabir's concept of bhakti is characteristically different from thatzof the Bbagavata. Kabir and other non-conformist saints did not believe in incarnations either and rejected the Brahmanical and scriptural authority altogether.

I

29.6.1 Popular Monotheistic Saints and Ramananda Ramadandays teachings are considered to be the source of popular mbnotheistic movement of Kabir, Raidas and others. As we shall discuss later, Ramanauda was .strongly opp6sed to caste restrictions and opened the path of bhakti to ah. He also preached his ideas in popular dia!ect. But, on the whole, his ideas and his cqncept of bhakti were essentially a part of jhevaishnava bhallti. On the other hand, Kabir and other monotheists went many stkps further than even the most liberal vaishnava bhaktas like Ramanand and denounced the Brahmanical religion in its entirety. In fwt, none of the monotheists, who are claimed to have been Ramanand's disciples, make any mentionof him or any other human puru in their utterances. .

29.6.2 Influence of'the Nathpanthi Movement on' Monotheistic Saints h !&me of the ideas of Kabir and other monotheists can be traced to the influence of heterodox movements likathat of the nathpanthi. A large number of nathpanthi \

preachers called siddhas belonged.to the "lower" cas tesdoma, chamara, (tanners), washerman, oilman, tailor, fisherman, w o d t u t t e r , cobbler etc. y i t h the establishment of Turkish rule in northern India: the popularity of the nathpanthi movement reached its peak during the 13th and 14th centuries. Anybody could be

' [qitiated into the sect of the nathpanthi yogis irrespective of caste. I

I Nathpanthi influence on Kabir is clearly seen in his non-conformist attitudes, in his independent thinking, in the harsh style of his utteran&*s;in his "upside-down" language (called ulatbasi containing,paradoxes and enigmas) and partly in his mystical symbolism, However, Kabir and other monotheists, in their

, characteristically critical and innovative manner adopted the ndpanthi ideas on a selective basis only and everl when they did so, they adapted these i'yleas to their own purpose. Kabir rejected their asceticism and esoteric practices and also their physical methods such as breath control. Thus, the influence of the nathpanthis on the monotheistic saints of medieval period can be seen more in their heterodox'

P attitudes towards the established Brahmanical religion than in their pactices.

29.6.3 Influence of Islamic 1de& A d the Role of sufksrn Many scholars have argued that all the variants of the bhakti movement and the doctrine of bhakti itself came into being as a result of Islamic influence bothbefore" and after the 12th century. This claim has been made on the basis of many

%similarities between Islam and the bhakti cults,. On the other hand, it is pointed out that bhakti and bhakti movements had indigenous orighs. It has been noted above that bhakti as a religious cohcept had .developed in the religious ttaditvns of ancient . . India. The older South Indian bhakti movemmt also c k n o t be explained in terms

in South 1ndia~&cmceptus?ly, a movement based on thg idea of devotio,~ or grace is not peculiar to any $articular religion but could grow independently in different religions at differen1 rimes depending on the concrete historical conditions. It would be more appropriate to understand the bbakti movements of medieval India in their immediate historical Icontext rather than searching fox far-fetched sources of inspiration in any pa icular religion. However, Islam did influence the bhakti cults and, in particular, t It popular monotheistic movements in other ways. Non-conformist saibs such as Kabir and Nanak picked up some of their ideas from Islam. These includM their noncompromising faith in one God, thkir rejection of incarnation, their cdhception of nirguna bhakti and their attack on idolatry and the caste system. But ky did not uncritically borrow from Islam and rejected many elements of orthod 1 k Islam. The vaishnava bhakti movements, on the other hand, cannot be interpret& in terms of ouch an influence of Islam as they neither denounced idolatryilnd the caste system nor the theory of incarnation. They believed in saguna 4hakti. The relationship between monotheistic bhakti movement and Islam seems to have been one of mutual influence and sufism p~ovided the common meeting gtbund. Sufi concepts of pir and mystic uniop with the "beloved" (God) coincided in hany respects with the non-conformist saints' con'cepts of guru *

and devcltional sudnder to God. Kabir is even believed to have had affiliations .

with Chiihti sufi saipts, though concrete historical evidence is lacking. Guru Nanak's encounters with sufis are described in the janam-sakhis. Though the sufism and the monotheistic moveteenf were historically independent of ea& other, t h ~ r e was remarkable simila* in many of their basic ideas, including their common rejection of Hindu and Musllin orthodoxies. The interactiori between them, however indirect, must have given impetus to both of them.

29.6.4 Theory & Islamic Challenge to Hinduism One modem view@int, associated with communal interpretation of Indian history, tends to attribute t*/e rise of the medieval bhakti movements to alleged persecution . of the Hindus undd 'Muslim' rule and to the challenge that Islam is suppbsed to . have posed to Hindpism through its doctrines of "Unity of God", equality and brotherhood. ~ d d i n ~ ' t o this theory, the bhakti movements were a two-pronged defensive mechanisp to save the Hindu religion by purging it of such evils as caste system and idolatry and at the same time defending its basic tenets by popularising it. The former task is believed to have been undertaken by Kabir, Nanak, etc., and the latter project was accomplished by Tulsidas in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Such a &tion of the medieval bhakti movement is not borne out by

'

evidence.

i) This theory oftimagined Islamic threat to Hinduism is in essence a projection of- modern comrdunal prejudices into the past. By the time lslam rehched India; the Islamic dactrine of "brotherhood" had lost much of its appeal and social, economic and racial inequalities had crept into the Muslim society. The Turkish mlin@ class possessed a strong sense of racial superiority and looked upon "lowcaqle" Indian converts to Islam as low-born and not fit for high offices. I

' ii) The Hindu pkpulation continued to observe their religious practices and to celebrate theji religious festivals. In fact, the overwhelming majority of population rdbrained Hindu even in the vicinity of Delhi, the capital of the Sultanate.

iii) - The monothdbtic saints denounced the aspects of both orthodox ~rahmaniim - and orthodox lslam and their ritualistic practices.

iv) To assume thlt all mondtheistic and vaishnava bhnkti saints were reacting on behalf of the Hindus to Islamic threat is not convincing because kabir and +

other "low cdte" saints hardly saw any unity of purpose with the saints belonging to !be vsishnava bhakti cults.

and the teachings of the vaishnava'bhakti-dant;or dl the- not concerned with Islamic influence or at b4st show regard. In fact, it has been pointed out that Hindus and

Muslims both stoo&ide by side among Chaitanya's disciples, as they had done ~ ~ n d ~ r ~ i r n a ~ n c l KahirfNanal nr narlll n a v n l

Check Your Progress 4

1) In what way the bhakti saints were influenced by the oathpanthi doctrine?

2) Do you agree that the bhnkti movement'was the result of Islamic influence? Comment.

29.7 LET US SUM UP

The bhakti movement of the Sultanate period represented themost widespread constellation - both interwoven and variegated - of socio-religious movements in Indian history after the rise of heterodox movements of the 6th century B.C. They

I influenced the whole country at different times by propounding new socio-religious -

ideas and practices. Many of the current practices of popular Hinduism such as repetition of divine names, emphasis on the company of saints and community devotional singing can be traced to medieval bhakti movements. They also

I . contributed to the growth of modem vernacular languages, emergence of organized religious communities like the Sikhs and evolution of various sects or panths.

3

. In this Unit, we have.studied the : background of bhakti movement in South India which emerged in Tdifferent form in North India, . main political and socio-economic factors for the rise of bhakti movement,

two main streams of bhakti movement-the monotheistic and the v~ishkva , . . main popular movements and saints of two streams of North India including Maharashtra and Bengal,

influekes of various sects and beliefs on North Indian bhakti movement, and

influence of Islam on bhakti movement.

29.8 KEY WORDS Acharya :

-,. Bhagat :

:Julaha :

Kirtan kmga Mukti

Nam Nirsnksr -

scholar-saint who propounded new religious and philosophical ideas

the most important sacred scripture of the Sikhs compiled by the' fifth Sikh Guru Arjan in 1604. Later came to be called Gum Gmnth Sahib

colloquial expression for bhakta, a devotee

member of a Muslim weaver caste

community singing of hymns . *

path; a devotional order such as Rama m r g or Krishna mkg

salvation

the divine name without form

.-$

soa*dC.lbr;:")~wl* a Nirguna : ' without attributes, unqualified CcotPrg , ,;. ,I'Y

1 ;' Panth : path, seq; th,e community of the followers of a mopotheistik saint e.$. , Kabirpanth, Nanakpanth, Dadupanth , etc.

Parampara : lineage, tradition,

~abada : the divipe word, the divine self-communication ' - - Saguna : having qualities or atfpbutes

Samprrulaya: tradition, school of religious thought and practice

Vaishnava . : worshipper of Vhhnu Varlfari : vaishnava devotional tradition

I

29.9 ANSWEIRi's TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS . EXERCI$ES

r Cheek Your Progress $

1) :See~ed.29.1,28.2 2) See Sec. 29.2

Check Your Progress 3 1) See Sec. 29.4 2) See Subsec. 29.9.1 3) See Sub-sec. 29i5.1.29.5.2

.chi& your m e s s 3 . 1 ~ = e Slib-sec. 293.3

2) See Sub-sec. 29,5.4, 29.5.5

Cheek' Your Progress 4 1) See Sub-sec. 2916.2 2) See Sub-sec. 29,6.3

Y MOVEMENT : SUFI 4 "

Structure ? . "0.0 Objedtives

30.1 Introduction

r 30.2 Salient Features of Sufism 30.3 Growth of Sufi Movement in Islamic World

30.3.1 The Formative Stage (Upto 10th Century) 30.3.2 Growth of Organised Sun Movement (10th-12th Century)

L, 30.3.3 Formation of Sufi Orders or Sibilah (late 12th and 13th Centuries) - 30.4 Growth of Sufism in India

I 30.5 Sufi orders in 1ndia During the Sultanate Period ' 30.5.1 The Subrnwardi ~~ 30.5.2 The Chisbtl SUsikb 30.5.3 Other Sull Orders

30.6 The Causes of Chishti Popularity 30.7 Social Role of The Sufis

30.7.1 The.Sulls and the State + 30.7.2 The S w ~ and the Ulema :; 30.7.3 The Sufla and Conversions

s . - 30.7.4 Material Life in Su6 ~b.aq.hs' 30.8 The Impact of Contemporary MysSicIdeas of Islamic Countries on

Indian Sufism 30.9 The Sufi and the Bhakti Movements and Cultural 'Svnthesis 30.10 Let Us Sum Up 30.1 1 Key Words 30.12 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

30.0 O~JECTIVES I

In this Unit, we will discuss sufi movement and ideas in medieval India. After going through this unit, you would be' able to learn about :

' the salient features of Sufism, e

-3 the growth of Sufism in the Islamic World,

0,. its development in India during the period of Delhi Sultanate : the main sub sllsilahs that flourished in India during the period,

m ,

the reasons for the popularity of Chish dlsilah in India, and , ',

the impact of Sufism on the contemporary Indian d t y . - ' > , ' , i -*,

.t 30.1 INTRODUCTION . q,\ ,

1

Sufism or tasawwuf 'is the name f~i~var ious mystical tendencies &d movements in Islam. It aims at establishing direct communion between God and man through perSUhal expe{ence of mystery which lies within Islam. Every religion gives rise to mystical tendencies in its fold at a particular stage of its evoluiion. In this sense,' sufism was a natural development within Islam based on the spirit of Q~Prurie~picty. The sufis while accepting the Shariat did not confine tfieir,religious pra&& to formal adherence and stressed cultivation of religious experierice aimed at direct perception of cod.

In this Unit, we will discuss the main features of sufism, its growth in Islamic world a@ its spread i? India. You will study wut:arious , popular sufl sects in India. Wq -. -. . ,-

30.2 SALIENT' FEATURES OF SUFISM

There developed a nudnber of sufi orders Or sildah in and outside India. All these orders had their speci$k characteristics. Howeuer, therc were a number of features

d

which are common to &I1 sun orders Here we will discuss such features.

i) Sufism as it devebped in the Islamic world came to stress the importance of traversing the su& path (tariqa) as a method of establishing direct communion with divine reality (haqiqat).

ii) According to tbessuR beliefs, the novice has to pass tnrough a succession of "stations" or "stages"(maqamat) and changing psychological conditions or "states" (hal) to axperience God.

iii) The sufi path codd be traversed only under the strict supervision of a spiritual director (shaikl;, {pir or murshid) who had himself successfully traversed it and consequently established direct communion with God.

iv) The disciple (mutld) progressed through the "stages" and "states" by practising such spiritual exercises as self mortification, recollection of God's name to attain concentration (zikr) and contemplation. :

v) The d i s organhied impassioned musical iecital ( m a ) . The practice of m a ' was intended to induce a mystical state of ecstasy. However, some sufi orders did not approve of cdi-tain forms of sama' and the &ma were particularly hostile to thSs prahice.

vi) Yet another featme of sufism is the organisation of the sufb into various orders (silsilrrh). Each of these silsilah e.g. suhrawardi, Qadiri, Chishti, etc. were founded by a leading figure who lent his name to it. A silsilah consisted of persons who had become disciples of a particular sufi.

vii) The hospice (khanqah) was the centre of the activities of a sufi order. It was the place where the imparted spiritual training to his disciples. The popularity of the khanqc~h atld its capacity to attract disciples depended on the reputation of the pir. The lQlanqahs were supported by endowment and charity.

30.3 GROWTH OF SUFI MOVEMENT IN ISLAMIC WORLD

By the time the variols sufl orders began their activities in India from the beginning of the 13th century, sQtfism had already grown into a full-fledged movement in different parts of the Islamic world. Sufism acquired distinct characteristic. in the Indian environment Mt its growth in India, particularly in the initial phase, was linked in many ways with the developments that occurred in wfi beliefs and practice I

in the Islamic World @ring the period between 7th and 13th centuries. The growth of sufism in the central lands of Islam during this period can be divided into three broad phases.

30.3.1 The Formiitive Stage (Upto 10th Century) Early Sufi applied ali'esoteric meaning to verses in the Qurian which stressed on such virtues as repentpnce (tauba), abstinence, renunciation, poverty, trust in God Gmwakkd) etc. Mecca, Medina, Basra and Kufa were the earliest centres of sufism. 'l'he su&, .most of wbbm belonged to the 8th century, have been called 'Quietists' because t h y were mdre concerned with experiencing than with popularizing their ideas through mass cohtact. They believed more in guiding than in teaching. Sufism at Basra reached its height during the time of the woman mystic Rabia (d. 801).

Other regions of the Islamic world where sufism spread early were Iran, Khurasan, Transoxiana, Egypt, 8yria and Baghdad. As Sufism spread to Iranian regions, it tended to express gr4ter individualism, divergent tendencies, and heterodox dootrines and practidb under Persian influence. The most famous of the early sufis * in the Iranian regions/Was Bayazid Bistami (d. 874) from Khurasan. He gave a new turn to sufism by intrtiducing in it the element<of ecstasy and mystic doctrine of "all is in God". He was a l b the first sufi.to employ the concept of "fana" (annihilation of the self) which exepised influence on later sufls.

In Baghdad, the capiihl of the Abbasid caliphate, Al Junaid was the most well

- --- orthodoxy and represented controlled and disciplined side of Sufism and, therefore, those sufis who followed his line are regarded as sober. Both Junaid and Bistami exercised profound Influence on their contemporary and later sufis. Two contrasting tendencies initiated by them came to be distinguished as Junaidi and Bistami, or Iraqi and Khurasani.

Another prominent early sufi from Baghdad was Mansur al-Hallaj (d. 922) who started his career as a pupil qf A1 Junaid but later developed the method of Bayazid Bistami. His mystical formula "1 am God" played an important role in the evolution of sufi ideas in Iran and then in India. The Ulema considered him a blasphemer and denounced him for claiming mystical union with God. He-was condemned, imprisoned and finally hanged. His ideas provided the basis for the development of the doctrine of 'insan-i-kamil' (the perfect Man).

F Early sufi groups were loose and mobile assoc~ations, quite unlike the later sufi orders. Members of a group travelled widely in search of master. In Arab regions, the wandering sufis were attached to.frontier-posts or hosteis called ribat while in - the Iranian regions they were associated with'hospices (khanqah). There were separate convents for women sufis. .

30.3.2 Growth of Organized Sufi Movement (10th-12th Century)

Sufism began to acquire the form of an organized movement with the establishment of the Turkish rule under the Ghaznawis and then under the Seljuqs in variohs parts

k of Central Asia and Iran in the later 10th and 1 lth centuries. The period marks the 1 development of two parallel institutions in the Islamic world - (a) the madrasa system

f (seminary, higher religious school) in its new form as an officiai institution of orthodox 1slam0ic learning and (b) the khanqah system as an-organized, endowed

i and permanent centre of sufi activities.

i Khanqah was no longer a loose organization of individual.sufis but a more effective and institutionalized centre of sufi teaching. However, the bond between the master and his disciples was still purely personal and had not yet acquired a ritualistic and esoteric character. Moreover, sufi orders had not yet begun ta take concrete form. 1 But khanqi~hs had now developed from mere hostels for s u f i into popular and well-established centres of organized sufi teaching and practice with their own spiritual masters and circles of disciples.

The ulema continued to show their suspicion of sufism in general and were particularly hostile to such non-conformist practices as sama'to.inducegcstasy. However, certain sufis, with their background of orthodox Islamic learning, tried to effect a compromise between the ulema land the sufls. Most prominent of such sufi scholars was Abu amid al-Ghazzali (A.D. 1058-1111). He was an Alim (theologian) but later led the life of a sufi. He stressed on the observance of extemal and formal aspects of Islamic law in sufi practice. However, orthodox and'sufi tendencies in Islam continued to follow separate and divergent paths.

This stage is also characterized by the appearance of sun literary texts which argued and codified the sufi ideas and doctrines. Al-Ghazzali was the most outstanding sufi . author. One of the most authentic and celebrated manual of sufism was Kashful Mahjub written by al-Hujwiri (d. c. 1088).

I Another salient feature of sufism during this period was the emergence of sufi poetry in Persian. While Arabic literature on mysticism is in prose, Persian

. literature is in poetry. Sufi poetry in Persian in the form of narra'tive poems (masnavis) reached its peak during the 12th and 13th centuries. Two of its greatest exponents were Fariduddin-Attar (d. 1220) and Jalaluddin Rumi (d. 1273).

I 30.3.3 Formation of Sufi Orders or Silsilah (Late 12th and 13th Centuries)

I i) A few decades before sufism began to exercise influence on Indian society and religious life, organized sufi movement reached its peak in the Islamic world in the form of various tariqa (paths) or sufi orders. These orders began to

i crystallize when from the end of the 12th century each one of the sufi centres

ii)

iii)

began to perpqtuate the name of one particular master end his spiritual j. amxstq and facussed on its own tariga consisting of-gieculiar practice~~and '. rituals. A sdi+order (sllsilah) developed as a lineage system or continuo& chain through which suciessive miritual. heirs (Kbafila! traced their spiritual inheritance to 4he found& of the order.

The relationsw between the spiritual head of a sllsilah and his hisciples ,

because the disciplef were now linked to.the initiatory rituals and vow of allegiance. Each one of institutional rules to regulate the day-to-day life of the The spiritual director (murshkl) now came to be ,

regarded as prQtege of God (wali). The murid (disciple) was obliged to surrender himlklf completely to the murshid. The mumhid, in turn, bestowed 'the tariqa, its Secret wird (a phrase of patterned devotion), formulae, and symbols on hisirnurid. I

The founders df various silsllabs accepted the Islamic law and iitual practices of Islam. The Ppk &tween orthodox Islam and siisilah founders is also clear from the fact t b t many of the latter were professional jurists. However, they gave an esoteria ~rientation~to orthodox Islamic rituals and introduced many innovations, pqticularly in their religious practices, which were not always in consonance with the orthodox outlook. Though the silsilah founders laid emphasis on sMct adherence to'Jslamic law, many silsilahs later did develop many heteroddx beliefs and prackices.

The sllsilahs which became popular in Iran, Central Asia and Baghdad ana played signifidnt role in'the growth of sufism in various parts of the Islamic wor& included! the Suhrawardi founded by Shaikh Shahabuddin Suhrawardi (d. 1234); the oM&i formed by Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (d. 1166); the' Chbhti of Muimddin Chishti (d. 1236) and the Naqshbandi first known as Khawajagan, but later came to be associated with the name of Bahauddin Naqshbandi (d, 13981. The sutls who had teceived their training in these silsilabs began to establish their branches in their countries or in new countries such as India. Gradually these branches became independent sufi schools wilh their own characteristics and tendencies.

As sufism grew'through these three broad stages in different parts of the Islamic world, Iran, Khurasan, Transoxiana and India, etc. it came under the influence of vakus mystic tendencies in other religions and philosophies slich as Christianity,,Neoplatonism, Buddhism and Hinduism. These influences were assimilated within the Islamic framework of the movement.

Check Your Progress 1

.1) What do you understand by sufi siisilah?

................................................................................. ................... \ '

...................................................................................................... . t 2) W h s the c o t of p ind prid:.in sufi terminology? a ' , . , <:, ' . .

-., - . ................................... r............................................................ '.. \ r . J

%

................................................................................................... 3) W r i t e w lines on each of.the following;--

i) - Khanqah ' I ....... ....... ,.... ..................... ....................................................... ' .: : i: ;

\ i

\,\ ......... < ...........'ic.............................................................. ?..........?.. , .

4.) Write three lines on each of She following early suile.

- : i) Al-Junaid

......................................................................... ........................... i 'X

/

. .

ii) Mansur ~al-Hallaj ................................................................................................... .......................................... a..........................................................

....................................................................................................

30.4 GROWTH OF SUFISM IN INDIA

A1 Hujwiri d.c. A.D. 1088) was the earliest st15 of eminence to have settled in India. His tomb is in Lahore. As we have already mentioned above, he was the author of

1 Kashf-ul Mawub, a famous Qersianpeatise on Sufism. However, various sutl orders , were introduced in India onty after theestablishment of the Delhi Sultanate in @e 1 beginning of the 13th century. India not only provided a dew pasture ground for the

propagation of sufi ideas but also became the new home of the sdb who along with *

1 mani othkr refugees fled from those parts of the.dslamic world ,which had been 1 conquered by the-Mongols in the thirteenth century. During the 13th and 14th 1 centuries, khaaqahs sprang up in various parts of India. The suile introduced various j 'orcJers in India from the Islamic world, built up their own organizations and 1: .@a%lished themselves in their respective areaspf influence. By the middle of the 1 'l* century, the entire country from Multan to Bengal and from Punjab to Deogiri ; had come under the sphere of their activity. According to the observation of an early

14th century traveller, there were two thousand sufi hospices and khurgrrhs in Delhi and its neighbourhood.

l a

Sufism in India originally stemmed from the sufl thought and practice as it developed in various parts of the Islamic world, especially in Iran and Central Asia. 1 However, its subsequent developynent was influenced more by Indian environment than by non-Indian variants of sufism. Once the sue orders took rbot in different parts of India, they followed their own phases of growth, stagnation and revival. These were determined largely by indigenous circumstances, though the influence of developments in sufism outside lndia cannot altogether be discounted.

1

30.5 SUFI OBDERS IN INDIA DURING THE SULTANATE PERIOD

A number of sufl silsiiah became popular in lndia during the ~ultanate.period. Here we will discuss the important ones. - 30.5.1 The Suhrawardi Sllsilah The Suhrawardi silsilah was a major order of the Sultanate period. Its founder in . lndia wa_s Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya (1182-1262). He was a Khurasami and was a disciple of Sha~ !$hahabuddin Suhrawardi who had initiated the silsilah in ? Baghdad and was directed by the latter to proceed to lndia. He made Multan and Sind the centres of his activity. Thus, one af the oldest khanqahs in India was . e.2 15lisbed by him at Multan. Iltutmish was the Sultan of Delhi at that time, but

iltan was'under the control of his rival. Qubacha. Shaikh Bahauddin Zakariya as critical of Qubacha's administration and openly sided with Ilt~nmish in his . . -

3 \

s-dm :lrntom oonflict against the Mwtan ruler's overthrow. Bahauddin Zakariya received from Cabrl lltutmish the title of Sbaikh-ul Islam (Leader of Islam) and endowment. Contrary to

the chishti0si+nts of time, he followed a worldly policy and built up a large fortune, He accepted-State patronage and maintained links with the ruling cl~sses. However, during the later period many independent sutt lines stemmed from him and some of them came to be known as 'beshara' (illegitimate orders).

In addition to Shaikh Bahuddin-Zdcariya, many other Khalifas were designated by Shaikh Shahabuddin quhrawardi to spread the Sulirawakdi sllsilab in India. One of them was Shaikh Jalalpddin Tabrizi. After his initial stay in Delhi, where he failed to establish his suprtmaey, he went to Bengal. He established his khaqah there and made many disciples. tqe attached a langar (centre for the distribution of free meals) to his khanqah. He is said to .have played an important role in the process of Islamization in Bengd.

During the Sultanate period, Punjab, Sind and Bengal became three important centres of the Suhrawiqrdi activity. Scholars are generally of the opinion that the Suhrawardi sut5s converted Hindus to Islam and in this task they were helped by their affluence and connections with the ruling class. In this connection, a sharp contrast is drawn between their attitude and that of the Chishti sufls whose teachings did not aim at conversbn.

30.5.2 The Chishti;Silsilah ' b

The growth of the Chi&ti order in India during the Sultanate period took place in two phases. The first phase ended with the death of Shaikh Nasiruddin (Chiragh-i- Delhi) in 1356. The seldond phase is marked by its initial decline during the later part of the 14th century foljbwed by revival and expansion in various pans of the'country during the 15th and ldth centuries.

First Phase

The Chishti order whiuh later became the most influential and popular sufi order in India, originated in Hkat and was introduced in India by Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti (d. 1236) who Was born in Sijisian in c. 1141. He came to India at the time of the Ghori conquest. finally settled in Ajmer about 1206 and won the respect of both Muslims and non~usl ims. No authentic record of his activities is available. . During the later period, qany legends projected him as an ardent evangelist. However, he was not actively involved in conversions and his attitude towards non-Muslims was one af tolerance. His tomb in Ajmer became a famous centre of pilgrimage in later centpries.

The successor of Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti in Delhi was Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki (d. 1235). Shaikh Hamidduddin Nagauri (d. 1274), another Khalifa of Shaikh Muinuddin (Chishti, made Nagaur in Rajasthan centre of his activity. Shaikh' Hamiduddin NtJgauri established the silsilah in Nagau! where he lived like an ordinary Rajasthani peasant and dissociated himself from those in authoriv. He was a strict vegetarian. He and his successors trans!ated many Persian sufi verses in the local language called Hindavi : these are earliest examples of translations of this. kind. I I

Khwaja Qutbuddin Balchtiyar Kaki was succeeded in Delhi by his Khalifa, Khwaja Fariduddin Masud (1 175-1265) known as Ganjshakar and more popularly as Baba Farid. Baba Farid left Oelhi 'for Ajodhan in Punjab and lived in his khanqah'there. He despised associatiom with the ruling class and rich persons. Nathpanthi yogis also visited his khanqah and discussed with him the nature of mysticism. His popularity in Punjab is clear fromsghe fact that more than three hundred years after his death, verses ascribed to him Were included in the Adi Granth compiled by the fifth Sikh Guru, Arjun, in 1604. Yis tomb at Pakpatan soon developed into a centre of pilgrimage.

The most celebrated ditciple of Baba Farid and the greatest sufi saint of the 14th century was Shaikh Ni&muddin Auliya (1236-1325). He made Delhi the most famous centre of the C#shti order. Two historians Ziauddin Barani and Amir Khusrau, who were hisltontemporaries, testify to his eminent position in the social and religious life of ~o t t he rn India during the late 13th and early 14th centuries. Later. his successors spkad the Chishti order in various parts of the country. His

teachings and conversations (malfuzat) are recorded in Fawaid-ul Fuwad written by Amir Hasan Sijzi. This work serves more as a guide to practical aspects of Sufism than as a treatise on its metaphysical and theosophical aspects.

Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya saw the reigns of seven successive Sultans of Delhi. But he always avoided the company of the kings and nobles and never visited the court. The langar (an alms-house for the distribution of free food) of his khanqah was open to Hindus and Muslims alike. In his khanqah, he had many conversations with the Nathpanthi yogi visitors. He adopted many yoga. breathing exercises and was called a sidh (perfect) by the yogis. Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) was a aevoted disciple of Shaikh Mizamuddin Auliya.

Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya had many spiritual successors or Khdifas. One of them was Shaikh Burhanuddin Gharib (d. 1340) who was one of those sutis who were forced by Sultan ~ u h a m m e d ~ u ~ h l u q to migrate to the Deccan. He made Daulatabad centre of his activities and introduced the Chishti order there.

The most famous of Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya's Khalifas and his successor in Delhi was Shaikh Nasiruddin Mahmud (d. 1356) who came to be ki~own as Chiragh-i Delhi (Lamp of Delhi). He andsome pf his disciples discontinued some of those practices of early Chishtis which could clash with Islamic orthodoxy and, in turn; persuaded the ulema to soften their attitude towards the Chishti. practice of sama.

Decline of the Chishti Order in Delhi During the Later Tughluq and Saiyyid Periods Some scholars hold the view that the decline of Delhi as a centre of the Chishti order was due to the attitudes and policies of Sultan Muhammad Tughluq. However, it must be pointed out that the Sultan was not opposed to the sufis per se. Some sufio, including Shaikh Nasiruddin Chirag-i Delhi, remained in Delhi though the'y were compelled by the Sultan to accept state service. Moreover, sufi activities in many khanqahs were restored after the death of Muhammad Tughluq when his successor Feroz Shah Tughluq showered gifts on them. However, Delhi was left with no commanding Cbishti figure after the death of Shaikh Nasiruddin in 1356. He died without appointing a sp~ritual successor. One of his chief.disciples, Gesudaraz left Delhi for a safer place in the Deccan at the time of Timur's invasion (A.D. 1398). As -

the Delhi Sultanate began to decline and disintegrate, the sufis dispersed to the more stable provincial kingdoms and established their khanqahs there. This dispersal of the Chishti order in different parts of the country during the later 14th and 15th centuries was accompanied by significant changes in the attitudes and practices of the Chishti sufis.

Second Phase The second phase in the history of theChishti dsilah during the Sultanate period began with its decline in Delhi following thk death of Shaikh Nasiruddin and its subsequent dispersal in various regional kingdoms. Though the sufis had begun to arrive in the Deccan from the late 13th century, it was Shaikh Burhanuddin Gharib who introduced the Chishti order there during the reign of Muhammad Tughluq. Later, several Chishti sufs migrated to Gulbarga, the capital of the Bahmani kingdom (1347-1538). In Gulbarga, these sufs developed close relations with the court and accepted state patronage, thus causing a change in the attitude of the Chishti order towards the state. The Bahmani kings, on their part, purchased the political loyalty of these sufw and gave land grants to them. The most prominent of these Chishtis was Muhammad Banda Nawaz, Gesudaraz (c. 1321-1422). He left for the Deccan and received land grant of four villages from Bahmani Sultan, Feroz Shah Bahmani (1397-1422). He was an orthodox sufi and declared the supremacy of lslamic law (Sbariat) over all sufi stages. Gisudaraz discontinued many practices of early Chishtis which clashed with the attitudes of orthodox ulema. Unlike the early Chishti masters, he was a voluminous writer on tasawwuf. After his death, the Bahmani Sultans continued the land grants in favour of his fanlily descendants. His tomb or dargahin Gulbarga later developed into a popular place of pilgrimage in the Deccan. But the transformation of his descendants into a landed elite and their indifference towards Chishti teachings led to the decline of living Chishti tradition in Gulbarga. The change of Bahmani capital from Gulbarga to Bidar in 1422 also contributed to the decline of the Chishti order in Gulbarga. It has been pointed out that the Bahamani Court at Bidar, owing to its pro-foreigner and anti-Deccani bias, encouraged the immigration of foreign sufis' and did not patronise the Chishtis who

. -7- SaWACdd' were considered "iqo Indian". However. the Chishti tradition begw to thrive again - in the Deccan from4 the end of the 15th century and it continued to grow during thk

16th and 17th centuries. Its new centre was a place popularly known as Shahpur Hillock, just outsidel the city of Bijapur-the capital city of the Adil Shahi Sultans. The Chishti traditibp of Shahpur Hillock was different from most of the later CMehtl traditions such as thht of Gulbarga in that it maintained distance from the court and the ulema and dred its inspiration from local influences. The Ch&ti~aints df Shahpur Hillock wdte thus much closer 3x1 their attitudes to the early Chlshtl sufb of Delhi, though it mdst be pointed out that the Shahpur Hillock Chishti tradition developed indepen&nt of both the Delhi and Gulbarga traditions.

I

In Northern India, lhe resurgence of the Chiahti order took place during the later 15th and early 16th Identury. The ,~ lh th i s* be'longed to three different branches of the Chishtl order4- Nagaurlya (after the name of Shaikh Hamiduddin Nagauri), Sabiriya (after the b&me of Shaikh Alauddin Kaliyari).and N i d y a Yafter the rl- of Shaikh ~ i zammddin Auliya). Another important Chishti centre in Northern India during the iaJ r half of the 15th century and in the beginning of the 16th century was ~ a u n ~ u d . the capital of the Sharqi Sultans. From the beginning of the 15th century, a C I centre flourished in Rudauli near Lucknow. Later, Bahraich (in modem Uttar 3 desh) emerged as another centre during the Lodi period. Gangoh in Saharanpbr district of Uttar Pradesh became an important centre of the s W i under ~haikbl Abdul Quddus Gangohi (1456-1537). He wrote many books on; sufi thought and prqpice and also on metaphysical subjects. He also translated Chandayrth, a romahtic poem in Hindawi written by Maulana Daud in Persian. During the second base, the Chishti centre@ also flolirished in Malwa and Bcngal. Many ~hisht i saints laf the second phase wrote commentaries on Arabic and Persian classics ahd also tran$lated Sanskrit works on mysticism into Persian. Like the early

\ sadis of Delhi, the laifler Chlshti s& made followers fro? all classes of society but, unlike heir 'spirituai~redecessors, most of them accepted state patronage.

i 30.5.3 Other Sud Orders In addition to the Chishti and the Suhrawardi.orders, there were others such as the Firdausi, 'the Qadiri, , the Shattari, Qalandari etc. which were introduced in India during this period. f i e Firdausi order was a bianch of the 8obnwudi which established itself at Rpjgir in Bihar towards the end of the 14th centuryyThe most, prominent suff beloqng to this sUsilaN in India ms Shaikh ~har fuc)d~n*~nhb Maneri (d. 1380).

The Qadidwas' the iqportant suff order in the Central Islamic cowtries and was fdundd i n ~ a ~ h d a d by Abdul ~ a d i r Jilani (d. 1166). It was introduced in India in . the late 14th century a/nd established itself in the Punjab, Sind and the Decian. The Qadiri had an ortho*x orientation and its doctrinal positions were similar to those of the orthodox ulemq. f i e Qadiri sutis had close relations &th the ruling classes of varipus provincial ~dtanates, and accepted state charity. The order was urban-based and attehpted to reform the religious life of Indian Muslims of what it

/ I considkred yn-Islami$ influences.

The Shattnri drder wkch was introdu?d in India in the 15th century,by Shaikh - Abdull* Shattari, w#b also an orthodox order. The Shattari centres here \ -

established in Bengal, Jaunpur and the Deccan. Like the Qadiris, the Thattari adtp hwai'close tieswith thd court and accepted state patronage. 2 - . h e ~aiandari ordericovered a wide range of wandering dervishes who violated

P normal social behavi r. They were considered reprehensible a@ above the law. 'They had no rec nized spiritual master and organization. Many frequ-y visited& &(i khanqahs andbecame absorbed into the -7 qdbdars had .cp with the Nathpahhi yogis,and adopted cu tomyand practices ch as earpiercing.

' I The RIshi order-if suf/$m flourished in Kashmir during \he 15th and 16th centurieti. ~ e f o r e the emergend bf this order; a religioui preacher from Hamadan, Mir

I I Saiyyid Ali Hamadanif[1314-1385) had entered Kashmir with a groupof followep tc spread Islam. The mis$ionary zeal of Hamadani, his sons and disciples made little

\

impact on the people 4f Kashmir. The RisN order, on the other yd, was an !

1 indigenous one eszblished by Shaikh Nuruddin Wali (d. 1430). It prospered in the ~ ~ M 0 r C y . t :

L rural environment of Kashmir and influenced the religious life of the people during , SdM.nrclll

the 15th and 16th centuries. The popularity of the ~ i s h i order was due to the tact and it drew inspirafion from the popular Shaivite bhakti tradition of Kashmir and was rooted in tkq wcio-cultural milieu of the region.

t

, i Check Your Progrerrs 2 I

b 1) List the main characteristics of Suhrawardi silsilah.

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2) *(a) List the names of five sufis of Chishti silsilah.

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(b) Name five sufis orders that flourished in India

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3) Write five lines on Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya.

................................................................................................... 1 , 4) Write a brief note on the Chishti saints who settled outside Delhi.

30.6 THE CAUSES OF CHISHTI POPULARITY

All the sufi orders of the Sultanate period believed in achieving the basic sufi goal of .establishing direct communion with God by traversing the sufi' path under the . supervision of a spiritual guide. However, different suti' orders observed distinct rituals and customs of their own and differed in their attitudes to state and society. Of all the orders of this period, the Chishti,emerged as the most popular, and it was also widespread. ~ $ e Chishti rituals, attitudes and practices made it an essentially Indian silsilah.The -causes of its popularity are as follows : i) Many practices of early Chlshtis bore close resemblance to the attributes of

.. some of the alreadv existine non-conformist relinious orders in India such as

SobbdCmho: U(L(.ISIL asceticism, Wwing before the master, shaving the head of a new entrant into Crbl the order and prganizipg spiritual musical recital. In this sense, the Chishtis

came to be replarded as patieof an established tradition in India.

ii) The Chishtis #opted an attitude of religious tolerance towards the non-Muslim population od lndia and adjusted themselves to the needs of a predominantly non-Muslim dhvironment. They made use of popular imagery and popular idiom to conuey their ideas LO their Indian followers and adopted many of their customs and tituals. Many of the Chishti saints made Hindawi the vehicle tor spreading their teachings.

iii) The egalitarign atmosphere of the Chishti kbpnqabs attracted large number of people from lbwer sections of Indian society. The Chishti attitude towards religion was dharacterised by sympathy towards the deprived sections of the society. Caste distinctions of the Brahmanical socia order were meaningless in the Chishti khanqabs.. Merchants, artisans, peasants and even sweepers became the fdllowers of the Chishti order. Nor did they accept, the two-fold racial division of the people by the Turkish ruling class into noble-Bofn and low-born.

iv) The inspired pleadership of the early Chishti masters, their aloofness from the court and their unwillingness to accept state patronage, their rejection of the orthodoxy aqd externalist attitudes of the ulema,.and, finally, the combining of the simple Hecepts of Islam with the sufl teachings contributed to the popularity od the Chishti order.

v) The popularity of the early Chishtis rose after their life time as the cult of saints- k g a n to dedelop in the later centuries around their shrines (dargahs). Later, legend-makars and writers of hagiographic literature sometimes attributed the popularity of the early Chishti sufls to their ability to perform miracles. In the subsequent aenturies, traditions were invented to repre'sent the early Chi&& as being actiMely involved in the conversion of the non-Muslims who were believed to have been drawn to them due to their alleged miracle-performing powers. However, the early Chishti sufb disapproved of the dispiay of , , miraculous pbwers, though they did tielieve in the possibility of miracles. They did not consider the miracles of primary importance in sufl teaching and practice. Nevertheless, the miracle stories about the early ChbPhtis played an important rale in enhancing the popularity of the Chishti shrines and the posthumous~popularity of the sufis themselves.

30.7 SOCIm ROLE OF THE SUFIS

Sufis played an ir&ortant role in society and at times in polity. Here we will discuss their role in djffetedt spheres.

30.7.1 The Suftis and the S-tate It has already bedn mentioned above that with the exception of the early Chishti sulis and the Chisstis of the Shahpur Hillockin the Bijapur Kingdom, the sufis , be onging to most,of the other silsilah, including the later Chislytis, were involved in $he affairs of the &ate and accepted state endowments. There are instances of expression of disagreement by Clishti sufOs over the policies pursued by individual Sultans as during the reign of Muhammad ~ u g h l u ~ . While the suns belonging to otheqsufl groups'$erved the state machinery by becoming an integral part of it, the early Chiihtis'heQed the state by creating a milieu in which people belonging to different ciasses ahd religious communities could live in harmony.

The sufls, includ/bg the great Chishti masters of the early period, never queshoned the existing politj$al system and the class structure. At the moSi, they advised the state officials to bow leniency in collecting land revenue from the peasants. O n the 1 other hand, they did not forbid their ordinary followers from seeking state favours and involvementlin the affairs of the court. It was perhaps due to these limitations of the otherwise raqpal sufi order that the later transition within the Chishti silsilah to the acceptance of,state patronage and involvement in courb politics was a smooth

30.7.2 Sufis and the Ulema We have already noted that the ulema continued to show t h e ~ r disapproval of the sufls.despite various attempts made by al-Ghazzali to effect a reconciliation between the two. The attitude of mutual distrust between the two continued during the Sultanate period, though orthodox sufi orders such as the Subrawardi, the Qadiri, etc. pandered to the ulema. The ulema were in particular hostile to the early Chishti s u b and their practices. he^ pronounced against the Chiihti practice of -a and objected to the Chlshti quest for religious synthesis. However, Chiihti sufissuch as Shaikh Nasiruddin (Chiragh-i Delhi) and Gesudaraz gave an orthodox

,

orientation to the Chishti order to mitigate the hostility of the ulema towards the Chishti practices. It appears that as the Chishtis began to involve themselves in court politics and accept state endowments, they adopted doctrinal attitudes similar to those of the ulema.

30.7.3 Sufs and Conversions The sufis of the Sultanate period have been generally considered as propagators of Islam in India. Several traditions and legends of the later medieval period also represented the sufis as active missionaries. The later h'dgiographic accounts of the life of Shaikh Muinuddin Chishti showed him as being actively involved in the conversion of non-Muslims to Islam. Similarly, the first sufis who entered the Deccan in the late 13th century and early 14th century have been portrayed in the later legends as militant champions of Islam who waged a jihad (war against non-Muslims). There were certain active evangelists among the Suhrawardi'sufb. Mir Saiyyid Ali Hamadani and his followers who entered Kashmir in the 14th century were also imbued with proselytizing zeal though they did not achieve mu'ch success in their mission. However, it must be pointed out that conversion of non-Muslims to Islam was not a part of the activities of all the sulk. Shaikh Muinuddin Chishti was not an evangelist and was not actively involved in conversions. His attitude and that of his spiritual successors towards non-Muslims was one of tolerance. Shaikh Nizamuddin Aulia on one occasion observed that many Hindus considered Islam a true religion but did not accept it. He was also of the view that every religious community had its own path and faith and its own way of worship. Also, there is little historical evidence to show that the early su f s in the Deccan were warriors fighting for the expansion of Islam.

Howqver, large number of non-Muslims, especially from the low castes, were attracted to the sufis and later to their dargahs where they belonged to the wider circle of devotees. There they gradually came under the influence of Islamic pre'cepts which eventually led to their Islamization. Later, the descendants of many groups which were Islamized claimed that their ancestors were converted to Islam by one or another medieval sufi. Such a claim seems to have been motivated by their desire to establish their long association with the dargah of thesufi and their long standing in Islam.

30.7.4 Material Life in Sufi Khanqahs We have seen above that there are instances of prosperous khanqahs supported by ,staie endowments, of sufis forging links with the state and finally of the transformation of some sufis into landed elites. Ideally, however, the sufis such as the early Chishtis .lived in khanqahs which remained in physical separation frofn !he court and social hierarchy, and where life was based on egaliiarian principles. We have pointed out that the early Chishtis'accepted the logic of the existing class structure a t the broader social and political level and did riot see any alternative to it. . Nevertheless, life in their own khanqahs was characterized by a lack of hierarchy and structure. The khanqah was a place where both its inhabitants and the pilgrims experienced equa1ity:For their necessarv expensds such khanqahs depended not on state patronage but on futuh (unsolicited charity).

The Chishti khanqahs were open to all sections of the society and to all communities. The qalandars and jogis made' frequent visits to the khanqahe where they were provided accommodation. The khanqahs also contributed to economic life in various ways. Some of them undertook the cultivation of waste lands. O t h e ~ s were involved in the construction of buildings both of religious character and public

- utility and planted gatdens. The institution of the &an@ played gn important role in the process of !wanization. The annual urs (the fedval commemorating the death of a spiritual mg(ster) gave impetus to trade, commetce'and production of local handicrafts.

30.8 THE IM1E)IACT OF CONTEMPORARY MYSTIC IDEAS O@ ISLAMIC COUNTRIES ON INDIAN SUFISM

- - -

Although the growth ~ n d expansion of the sufl movement in India was primarily determined by the Indian environment, it continued to be influenced by various a ', developments in sufistn in the Islamic world. The d thought of great masters sudh ' as al-Ghazzali continued .to influence successive generations of Indian suils k* belonging to various dldahs.The ideas and poetic imagery of the Persian mhs like Faiduddin. Attar (d. Q20) and Jalaluddin Rumi (d. 1273) also inspired Indian suUa of the Sultanateperiq. The Chishtb of this period are'generally believed to have been influenced by t k work of the Spanish-born mystic,.ibribArabi (d. 1240) who propounded the docttCne of wPbdatsl wujud (unity of the phenomenal and noumenal world) whiflh w q opposed by the uiema andorthodox sufts. However, it should be noted that Most of the sufls, including the ~bishtiji, did not consider doctrines such as w-t-a1 wUjud of primary importance in the sufi way of life. For them, sufism was not so much a doctrine but a practical activie of traversing the ad path.

The ideas of Alauddaihla Simnani (1261-1336), an Iranian who opposed Ibn Arabi's doctrine; also influenced some Indian mfEs.Gesudaraz came under the influence of Simnani's orthodox ideas and denounced the views of Ibn Arabi and Jalaluddin Runii.

..

30.9 THE SWI AND THE BHAKTI MOVEMENTS AND/ CULTUWL SYNTHESIS

i

The impact of Islam and sufism on the monotheistic bhakti movement has been discussed in Unit 29. The interaction between the two is clear from the remarkable similarities between the two. These similarities included emphasis on monotheism, on the role of the spiltiitual guide (pir or guru), and on mystical uniop with God. Moreover, both the makti saints and many ad orders were critical of the orthodox elements in Hind~ism~and Islam respectively. one prominent example of the influence of the bhaktt movement on sufism is offered by'the Rlehi .order of the wltls in Kashmir. Here, the non-conformist ideas of the famous 14th century women , bhakti-preacher, La1 Ped, exercised profound influence on the founder of the order Shaikh Nuruddin Wdi.

The interaction between the Chishti sufls and the nathpanthi y@ during the Sultanate period is a .*ell established fact. The movement of the nab jk th i s had attained considerable' popularity in Northern India, in particular among the hwer sections of the society, during the 13th and 14th centuries. The nathpanthi y q h frequently visited theikhaoqahs of the leading C e S h a i b and had discussions with them on the nature of mysticism. The translation af the Y - ~ treatise Amrit-kund into Perjian from Sanskrit even before the advent 01 sufism in India led to the adoption df m a y meditativepractices by the sulls.'3"he 6kly Chishtis' approved some of thd ethical values of the nathpanthi yogis and their'corpratpway, of life. Like the Chishtis, the nathpanthis had opened their doors to all sections of '

society, ir;respZctive df caste distinctions. The common outlook of the two popular moyeqeim provided*a basis for mutual understanding bemeen Muslims and noiiMuslims. . I

Tbe adaptability of tde Caishtis in the non-I&uslirn environment of India released syncretic forces and ldd to cultural synthesis. Many early CW&He spoke i i Hindawi and composed versed in it. Many khnnQilbs inspired the composition of mystical wetrv in renionat lantua~es. Some earlv Hindi works such as Chrmd.yyan by Mulla

Daud (second half of the 14th century) combined mysticism with Hihdu mythology and philosophy. The sufi folk literature of the later times was a mix of the simplest precepts of Islam and sun terminology and the existing popular imagery and idiom and, thus, contributed to the growth of eclectic religious life, particularly in the rural areas. The Chkhti practice of sama provided the basis for a syncretic musical tradition such as the repertoire of religious songs called qawwali which is said to have begun with Amir Khusrau. I

Check Ywr Progress 3

1) What were the factors for the popularity of the CBishd order in India? Write five lines.

2) What role did the dis. play in the state affairs?

3) What do you understand by wahadat-a1 wujud?

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4) Write a note on the interaction between sufism and the bhakti movement.

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.... #....................................................................,.....*,..................

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30.10 LET US SVM'UP

Early sufi saints came to India even before the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. The basic features of sufisin in India continued to be the same as they were in the Islamic~World. In the Islamic world it developed into.an organised movement during 10th-12th ceMuries. During 12th and 13th centuries there developed a number of sufi orders or silsilahs. Like in the Islamic w m . a number of s d orders became popular in India during ihe Sultanate period. Of t h e s d d d a v b a i and Chishii orders were more prominent. In India, the Chishti order became most popularamong the masses.

4

~ J ~ C E M U ~ ~ : ljtbtolstb Sufis played a very important role in the social life of the period. In general they did c--Y not get involved with the affairs of the state but we come across a number of cases

where sufis accepted state patronage and got involved with the affairs of the state. Throughout this periqd we witness an attitudeof distrust between sufis and ulema. /

The latt'kr disapprovqd of a number of practices popular with sufis.

The khanqahs were the centre of activity of sufls and their disciples. Sufis in India contiriued to be affect&d by the developments of mystic ideas in the contemporary Islamic world. In India there was a regular interaction between sufi and bhakti movement. This interaction had positive effect on the social and cultural l i b during the Sultanate period, This interaction also resulted in a cultural synthesis in the areas of art, music and1 literature.

Beshara : be=without, shara=Shariat i.e. those who do not strictly adhere to the Shariat (Itdamic law)

Dargah : sufi shrindtomb Futuh : income received gratuitously

Khanqah : place whae sufi saints lived Mdiiwt : sufl literature

Qalandar : Muslim mpndicant who abandon everything and takes to a wandering life Ribat : frontier pbsts

Sama : a sufi gathering where music is played and songs are recited. -

30.12 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1

1) SUsila means sufi.order. See Sec. 30.2 and Sub-sec. 30.3.3. 2) Piris a teacher add murid a disciple. See Sec. 30.2. 3) i) SeeSec. 30.2dnd Sub-sec. 30.3.2.

ii) See Sec. 30.2. 4) See Sub-sec. 30.3.1.

Chedt Your Progress 2 - J

1) See Sub-sec. 30.5.1. 2) a) See Sub-sec. @.5.2.

b) See Sub-sec. N.5.3.

3) Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya was one of the most prominent SSI saints . of Cbishti order. Qee Sub-sec. 30.5.2.

4) Shaikh Burhanuddin Sharif in Gulbarga, Shaikh Hamiduddin Nagauri in Nagaur etc. See Sub-sec. 30.5.2.

Check Your Progress 3 1) See Sec. 30.6 2) See Sub-sec. 30.7.1 3) See Sec. 30.8 4) SeeSec. 30.9

1 I UNIT 31 ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF DELHI SULTANATE

i 31.0 Objectives 31.1 Introduction 31.2 Architecture

31.2.1 New Struaural Forms 31.2.2 StyliQc Evolution 31.2.3 Public Buildings and Public Works

i 31.3 Painting 31.3.1 Literary Evidence for Murals 31.3.2 The Qumaic Calligraphy 31.3.3 Manuscript Illustration

31.4 Music 31.5 Let Us Sum Up 31.6 Key Words 31.7 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

In Unit 14, you read about the establishment and consolidation of the ruledf the ~urkish Sultans in India. The new rulers established a regime thatwas in some' profound respects different from the old. India now witnessed the emergence of a culture which combined elements of both indigenous and Islamic traditions. The most effedve and distinct manifestation of this synthetic culture is to be seen in the art and architecture of this period.

After going through this Unit, you should be able to : distinguish between the pre-Islamic and Indo-Islamic styles of building,

identify major architectural styles of the period, Rriw the traditions of painting prevalent in the Delhi Sultanate, and

learn the major developments in qusic during this period.

31.1 INTRODUCTION

Art and architecture are true manifestations of the culture of a period as they reflect the mind and approach of that society. It is here that the ideas aql techniques of a society find visual expression. The adient of the Turkish rule in India is significant in more than one respect;xWhile it gave rise to a new socio-political system which you read about in Units 29 and 30, it also marked the beginning of a new expression in art. The style of architecture that evolved during this time is called Indo-Islamic.

Unlike architecture, the art of painting as practised in the Delhi Sultanate is not properly documented. We know that calligraphy and book-illumination in the Islamic world had achieved supreme heights by the close of the 12th century; there also existed a developed tradition of figural murals in the Ghaznavi kingdom. Possibly the same tradition was camed to Delhi by the early Turkish Sultans where it flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries.

31.2 ARCHITECTURE

The most important source 'for the study of architecture is the surviving remains of buildings themselves. Thdugh these enable us to grasp architectural techniques and

styles peculiar to our period, it offers little help in understanding other related aspects of architecture such as the role of the architects and the drawings and estimates and accomts ~f the buildings.

31.2.1 New StruOYural Forms

i ) Arch and Dome :Do a careful reading of the reports prepared by General llexander Cunningbam of archaeological sites and remains (Reports of the \rchaeological Survey-of India, vols. I-XXIII, Simla, Calcutta, 1865-77) in Northern

I ndip, we observe that the incidence of masonry building-including civilian housing in towns-increases significantly after the 13th century. This was primarily possible due to the use of lime-mortar as the basic cementing material about which you have already read in Unit 22. The building of true arch required stones or bricks to be laid as voussoir$ in the shape of a curve and bound .ogether firmly by a good binding material. TW binding material was lime-mortar. (figure 1 gives the diagram of an arch .)

The result of the intioduction of the new technique was that the pre-Turkish forms;' lintel and beam and norbelling, were replaced by true arches and vaults and the spired roofs (shikhad) by domes. Arches are made in a variety of shapes, but in India the pointed form of the Islamic world was directly inherited. And sometime in second quarter of the 14th century, another variant of the pointed form, the four-centred arch, was introduced by the Tughluqs in their buildings.'lt remained in vogue till the end of Ihe Sultanate. (These forms have been illustrated in figure 2.)

+

The pointed arch was adopted in the Islamic world quite early due to its durability ~ s d ~ m w e d u m a f Delhi Sultanate

and ease of construction. The usual method of raising apointed arch was to erect a light centering and place one layer of bricks over it. This layer supported another thin layer of flat bricks over wtiich radiating voussoirs of the arch were fixed in mortar. These two bottom layers of brick-work would, if needed, act as permanent shuttering for the arch (as shown in Figure 3). It may be noted here that the employment of bricks instead of an all-wood centring was a feature typical of regions deficient in reserves of wood such as West Asia and even India.

But the construction of dome demanded especial techniques. The problem was to find a suitable method for converting the square or rectangular top of the walls of the room into a circular base for raising a spherical dome. The best way to overcome this problem was to convert the square plan into a polygon by the use of squinches across the corners (shown in figure 3). Later, in the fifteenth century, stalactite pendentives came to be used for the same purpose. (Shown in photo 1 : Bara Fig. 3 Gumbad Mosque, New Delhi.)

Photo 1

Fig. 5

ii) Building Material : It is a curious fact that there are very few instances of early Turkish buildings in India where newly quarried material has been employed by the architects. The fashion was to use richly carved capitals, columns, shafts and lintels from pre,-Turkish buildings. In India, towards the beginning of the 14th century when the supply of such matetial had exhausted, buildings were raised by using

1 originally quanied or manufactured material.

t In the masonry work, stone has been used abundantly. The foundations are-mostly of rough and small rubble or, wherever it is available, of river boulders, while the superstructure is of dressed stone or roughly shaped coarsed stonework. However, .in either case, the buildings were plastered all over. Percy Brown (Indian Architecture : Islamic Period,Bombay, 1968) has noted that in the buildings of the Khalji period a new method of stone masonry was used. This consisted of laying stones in two different courses, that is headers and stretchers. This system was retained in subsequent buildings and became a characteristic of the building technique of the Mughals.

The material commonly used for plastering buildings was gypsum. Apparently lime-plaster was reserved for places that needed to be secured against the leakage of - water, such as roofs, indigo-vats, canals, drains, etc. In the later period, i.e. around 15th century, when highly finished stucco work became common, gypsum mortar was preferred for plaster work on the walls and the ceiling (as shown in photo 2 below).

uildings served the purpose of revealing it. Since the depiction

of living beings was b;bnerally frowned upon, the elements of decoration were, in most cases, limited t ~ :

a) calligraphy, b) B e b e t r y , and c) foliation.

It was by their manid lation that a rich and sumptuous effect was obtained in the Sultanate buildings. Ik ut characteristically enough no one type of decoration was '

reserved for a particalar type of building; on the contrary, these pan-Islamic decorative principle8 were used for all kinds of buildings in the Delhi Sultanate.

Calligraphy is an imI)ortant element of the decorative art in the buildings of this period. The Qurania sayings are inscribed on buildings in an angular, sober and monumental script, Yeown as kufi.They may be found in any part gf the building-frames of the doors, ceilings, wall panels, niches etc., and invariety of materials-tone, stdcco and painting (See the photos 3 & 4 for suetifftens of stone and stucco calligraptjf respectively).

I

Geometric shapes in abrstract form are used in these buildings in a bewildering variety of combinations. The motifs indicate incorporation of visual principles : repetition, symmetry, and generation of continuous patterns. It has been suggested 5y Dalu Jones (Architecture of the Islamic World,ed. George Michell, London, 1978) that the generating source of these geometric designs is the circle, which could be developed into a square, a triangle or a polygon. These forms are then elaborated by multiplication and subdivision, by rotation and by symmetrical arrangements (see, for example, photo 2 supra).

Of the foliations, the dominant form of decoration employed in Sultanate buildings, is the arabesque. It is characterised by a continuous stem which splits regularly, producing a series of leafy secondary stems which can in turn split again or reintegrate into the main stem. The repetition of this pattern produces a beautifully halanced design with a three dimensional effect (see figure 4 and photo 5).

Art and Architecture of Dclhi Sultanale

. . Pig. 6

Check Your Progress 1

1) What was the main reason for a significant increase in masonry buildings after the 13th Century?

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.................................................................................................... Identify the problem to make a dome.

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3) What were the *in elements of decoration in the Sultanate architecture? \

31.2.2 Stylistic Evolution The purpose of the dikussion here is to provide you with a general outline of the evolution of the Indojlslamic architectural style under the Sultans of Delhi and to highlight the features that characterise its more prominent phases.

The history of Indo-I larnic architecture proper commences with the occupation of Delhi by the Turks in A D . 1192. The Tomar citadel of Lal Kot with its Chauhan extension, cailed Qil pai Pithora, was captured by Qutbuddin Aibak. Here he began the constructio of a Jami Masjid which was completed in 1198. According to an inscription on the osque it was known as Quwwatul Islam and was built from the wreckage Of twen -seven Hindu and Jain temples demolished by the 1 conquerors, Again, iq 1199, an expansive screen with lofty arches was raised across the entire front of thel$anctuaxy of the.mosque. In both these constructions, the hand of the local architect is quite evident. The lintels, carved-columns and slabs, have been used liberally by only turning their carved sides inwards or using them upside down. The arches of the screen have been built by employing the method of corbelling. And the obamentation of the screen, is emphatically Hindu in conception (see photd 16 below).

However, the borroW4$d elements of Hindu architecture were soon discarded and relatively little was retained by the maturing Indo-Islamic style. In later buildings of this phase, such as Qgtab Minar (built 1199-1235), Arhai Din Ka Jhoupra (built c. 1200) and Iltutmish's tomb (completed 1233-4), though corbelling'could not be replaced as the princi#al structural technique, decoration became almost fully Islamic in detail. In this connection, the principles employed in the constructioq of the domical roof of I1 tmish's tomb (built 1233-4, not extant now) are also of great interest. Though the ? ,bme was raised with the help of corbelled courses it was supported on squinch&$ bullt at the corners of the square chamber (sbown in phbto 7 ) U P T P n ~ r h a n c is th# pnrlipct attpmnt CRVC P ~ r r v Rrnwn n f crllvino t h ~ n r n h l ~ m nf

Photo 7

The culmination of the architectural style designated by us as the Early Form was the mausoleum of Balban built around 1287-88. It is in ruins now but occupies an important place in the development of Indo-Islamic architecture, as it is here that we notice the earliest true arch. (Eastern arch shown in Photo 8).

ii) The Khaljis

With their architecture, as revealed in Alai Darwaza (built 1305) at the Qutub complex, and the Jamat Khana Masjid (built 1325) at Nizamuddin, a marked change ig style appears. In the evolution of Indo-Islamic architecture, this phase occupies a . , key position as it exhibits a distinct influence of the Seljuq architectural traditions (a Turkish tribe ruling over Central Asia and Asia Minor in 11-13 centurv) as also - . , certain salient features of composition which were adopted in the succeeding styles. photo 8

The characteristic features of'this phase may be listed below :

1 a) Employment of true arch, pointed horse-shoe in shape (photo 9). b) Emergence of true dome with recessed arche? under the squinch (photo 10).

I

I Photo 9 Photo 10

Sofk(~ ud Cdhve : 13th B 15th c) Use of red sandstohe and.decorative marble reliefs as new building materials Qnlurg (photo 11).

d) Appearance of '104~s-bud' fringe on the underside of the arch - a Seljuq feature

e) Emergence of new fnasoq-faclng, consisting of a narrow course of headers - alternating with a qluch wider course of stretchers (see 31.2.1Fagain a Seljuq feature.

In addition, the decoradke features characterised by calligraphy, geometryand arabesque now became @uch bolder and profuse.

7

iii) The Tughluqs

A new architectural stylb came into vogue in the buildings of this period. Judging from the remains, only q e first three rulers of this house appear to have been interested in the art ofbpilding. However, the architecture of this period can be divided into two main gtbups. To the first group belong the constructionq of Ghiyasuddin and Muhahimad Tughluq, and the other to those of Feroz Taghluq.

The general features of the Tughluq style of architecture are listed~below: I

a) Stone rubble is the /principal building material and the walls are in most cases plastered.

b) The walls and bastens are invariably battered, the effect being most marked at the comers (see pqfto 13). -

c) A hesitant and possibly experimental use of a new shape of arch- the four centered arch-necessitating its reinforcement with a supporting beam. (see photo 14). This arch-beam combination is a hall-mark of the Tughluq style.

'

The pointed horse-shoe arch of the preceding style was abandoned because of its narrow compass and therefore the inability to span wider spaces.

Photo 14 . -

' d) Emergence of a pointed dome with clearly visible neck in co~tras t with rather stifled dome of the preceding style. (see photo 13 suhra).

e) Introduction of epcaustic tlles as an element of decoration in the panels of the buildings.

f) Emergence, in the tombs of this period, an octagonal plan which came to be copied and perfected by the Mughals in the 16th-17th century.

- An aaditiona~ reature was the element of reduced ornament, confined mostly to inscribed borders and medallions in spandrels executed in plaster or stucco.

iv) The Final phase

Within a decade of the death of Feroz Shah Tughluq (1388), the Sultanate became politically unstable, and in 1398 was sacked and plundered by Timur. However, some .semblance of central authority remained with the two succeeding dynasties of the Saiyyids and ~ o d i s ; although they ruled over a greatly Shrunken Sultanate of Delhi between 1414 and 1526. A large number of tombs were built in and around Delhi so mdch so that over a period of time the area around Delhi looked like a sprawling qabristan (graveyard). \

Yet some of these structures are important from architectural point of view and can be considered as heralding a distinct style. The more important of these tomb-buildings took two separate forms, the distinguishing features of which are given below :

a) Mausoleums designed on an octagonal plan incorporating the following . elements :

-main tomb-chamber surrounded by an arched verandah. . --one storey high.

-verandah with projecting eaves supported on brackets

b) The other type was built on square.plan. These were characterised by the following elements :

-absence of verandah around the main tomb-chamber. -exterior comprised ot two, and sometimes three storeys. -absence of eaves and supporting brackets

rhere is an original treatment of wloured tile decoration in these buildings. It is set sparin& in friezes. In addition, there are intricately incised surfaces of plaster.

Fig. 8

mdkare ' u* llr The end of the DelM Sultanate came in 1526 with the d&at of last of th= Lodi -, Sultans at the hands of {be Mughal invader, Babur. ~his'also siballed an end of the

Sultanate style of archiecture, which had begun showing signs f stagnation in the 15th century.

j ,

31.2.3 Public Buildbgs and Public Work You must have noticed fiat in our discussion of the development of the Sultanate architecture in the pre ding two Sub-sections, 31.2.1 dfid 31.2.2, we made references mostly to ro bl structures like palace-citadels, tombs or mosques. This, f hoyever, is not to suggqst that other kinds of buildings were non-existent or thai they were insignificant. j '

Contrary to the populad &nion that the number of structures other than royal buildings was abysmal, we in fact notice that such structures far outnumber royal buildings. The majorityibf these buildings comprised sarai, bridges, irrigation-tanks, wells and baoli, dams, lfschehri (atlministrative buildings), prison-houses, k d w d (police-stations), dak-c$buki (post-stations), hammam (public baths), and katra (market places), etc. Silyce almost all these types were intended for public and civic purposes, we group them collectively under public buildings and public works. They were available to the g&eral public regardless of their religious affiliations.

1 S d is perhaps the mojt conspicuous of these public buildings. It was introduced in India by the Turks in thH 13th century. The earliest mentipn of the existence of sarai is from Balban's time ($66). Among late rulers both ~ n h a m m a d Tughluq and . Feroz Tughluq are known to have built a large number ocsarais in Delhi as dso along the major land-routes of the Sultanate. The main features of these sarais may be listedrhus :

Square or rectangulat disposition, enclosed on all four sides by masonry walls, with entry through one of sometimes two gateways.

Series of rooms f ronth by small vaulted spaces along all the four sides inside the enclosure. Wareho.u*s in the corners of the enclosure.

Existence of a small &osque and one or more wells in the open courtyard within the enclosure. (These; features may be seen ih figure 5 and in the plan of a sard of Sher Shah's time),

Fig. 9

I

B3dges were anotherimkrtant category of public buildings. However, only small and medium sized rivers were provided with masonry bridges. Major rivers such as the Ganga and the Yamjna were provided with bridges mada of boats. We are fortunate in having at leagt two masonrv bridees made of boats. We are fortunate in

having at least two masonry bridges of this period surviving even today. One is ~ u d ~ m u e ~ t r e d

located at Chittorgarh over the Gambheri river (shown in photo 15 below). The mh~ mblb.rc

other was built over Sahibi, a tributary of Yamuna, at Wazirabad Delhi (shown in photo 16).

.- Pbooo 16

Sarais and bridges are only the two most cotnmon specimens from a rather rich and ,miscellaneous order of public buildings of the Sultanate period. Weirs and step-wells, too, are a part of the Delhi Sultanate architectwe. For example, gandhak ki baoli built by Iltutmish at Mehrauli (DeJhi) is one of the step-wells.

Check Your Progress 2 1) Mark (d) or (x) :

i) The arches in the screen of Quwwatul Islam Masjid are corbelled.

ii) Dome in Iltutmish's tkmb was raised by placing crossbeams at the comers of the tomb-chamber.

iii) Openings in Balban's tomb are corbelled.

2)- List three main features of the Khalji architecture.

3) Answer each of the following in one line.

i) Why was pointed hotse-shoe arch abandoned in the Tughluq period?

ii) How are the walls and bastions of Tughluq period different from the preceding structure's?

iii) What difference do you notice in the building material of the Tughluq buildings?

\

4) Write a note on the lqlistinctive features of the Saiyyid and Lodi. mausoleums. I ,

........................i;.................................'.........................................

.......................................................................... ........................ 1 L

j 5) Define a public bui{bing and list some of the important public buildings

of the Delhi Sultan$te. I :

.......................................................................... " ......................... . . I ' ........................ L ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 :

The history of paintinglin the Sultanate period is obscure compared with its architecture. This is d u ~ primarily to the non-availability of any surviving specimens for at least the first huddlred years of the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate.

Equally surprising is thk! absence of illuminated books, an art carried to supreme height in the Islamic world by 1200. However, the researches during the last 20-25 years have unearthed rlew and some crucial evidence, forcing the scholars to change their opinion radically. We now know that not only book illumination but murals too were executed durifig the Sultanate period. The art of painting may thus be divided into the following three categories each of which will be discussed separately.

I

31.3.1 Literary EvEdence 'for Murals The closest view tKat one may have of the murals as a flourishing art formduring the rule of the Delhi Sultarl6 is through a large number of literary references occurring in tbe chronides of this Wiod . These have been compiled and analysed by Simon Digby ('The Literary Elvidence for Painting in the Delhi Sultanate', Bulletin of the American Academy of @enam, Vol. I; 1967,47-58).

The-earliest reference id, murals-in the Sultanate period is in a qasida ( T w a t - i Nasiri) in praise of Iltuttnish, on the occasion of the gift of Khila't from the Caliph in 1228. The verses in thi$ composition make it clear that human or animal figures were depicted upon the spanalrels of the main arch raised to welcome the envoy of the Caliph. i

'The most important sidgle reference to painting in the Delhi Sultanate occurs in the context of un-Islamic o servances of earlier rulers inviting a ban by Feroz Tughluq (Tarikh-i Ferozshrhi b I Afif). It indicates the existence of a continuous tradition of P figural painting on the Falls of the palaces of Delhi, which was sought to be banned by Feroz Tughluq. 1 . _ -

This tradition of painting was not confined to the murals alone. In a reference relating to the entertainment parties thrown by Qutbuddirl Mubarak Khalji

hull SPltrutc

(1316-20), mentio; is made of a profusely painted open-sided tent: The decorations .

would therefore appear to be on painted cloth (Nuh Siphr by Amir Khusrau).

In contrast, there did survive a tradition of wall painting in the houses of the common people, especially the non-muslims. It is testified by :

a stanza from a 14th century Hindi poem Chandayan written by Maulana Daud in 1379-80, which describes the painted decoration of the upper rooms ,of the house were Chanda, the leading lady of this poem, sleeps with her female companions.

an actual painting from one of the illustrated manuscripts of this poem belonging to tbe 15th century and showing the bedchamber of Chanda, on the walls of which are painted scenes from the Ramayana (see photo 17).

. .

31.3.2 The ~ u r a i c Calligraphy Calligraphy was the most revered art in the Islamic world,and was used as a 'decorative feature both on stone and on paper. In the hierarchy of craftsmen, a calligrapher was placed above the illuminator and painter. However, the calligraphy of the Quran became one of the foremost forms of book art, where copies of Quran. were produced on a majestic and expansive scale.

'I%& earliest known copy of the Quran is dated 1399. It was calligraphed at Gwalior, and has a variety of ornamental motifs,'derived both from Iranian and Indian sources. (Two pages of this manuscript are shown in photo 18). The geometrical frontispiece of this manuscript seems to be in the Sultanate style and suggests the folloving as prominent features of the Delhi ateliers in the 14th century :

The work produced here isin line with the i rani an tradition.

The script used in the headings and inscriptional panels of the Quran is inva'riably, kuti.

The illumination of geometrical frontispieces was the speciality of this school.

Photo 18 I

The state of book-art in the 15th century, under the Saiyyid and Lodi dynasties, remained a sad shadow of its former self as it became incapable of supporting artistic endeavour on a large scale. The initiative seems to have been wrested by provincial dynasties.

!

31.3.3 ~anuscri& Illustration . Manuscript illustration in the Sultanate peridd is a hotly debated and disputed subject. There is very little concurrence among scholars on terminology and provenance. Thus, deciding the traits of Sultanate manuscript illustrations is a cumbersome job. On the contrary, though a good number af illustrated manuscripts in Persian and Awadhi from the period between 1400 and the advent of the Mugt als. are now known, some of these manuscripts appear to have been produced at - provincial courts. However, there is a distinct, althopgh small, group of manuscripts which was probably not connected with any court. They seem to have been produced for patrons, presumably independent but located somewhere in the Sultanate. They have sometimes been termed as representing a 'bourgeois' group and are attributable to the period 1450-4500. Given below are brief notes on two of these manuscripts forming t t e 'bourgeois' group.

Hamzanama (Berlin)

This manuscript is dafed to about 1450'and depicts the legendry exploits of Amir Hamza, one of the cothpanions of the prophet (one leaf shown in phato 19).

Chandayan (Berlin)

I t is datable to 1450-70 and illustrates the romance of two lovers Laur and Chanda. It was composed in the Awadhi dialect of Hindi by Maulana Daud of Dalmau near Rai Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh in'1389 (one leaf shown in photo 20).

Photo 20 -

31.4 MUSIC

The development of music as an art form in Delhi Sultanate took a back seat compared with the growth of architecture and painting. Moreover. the history of music during this period suffers from a serious handicap- the lack of documentation. Historical references are scattered and scanty and most of the modern day writings are speculative rather than historically substantive. They are replete with fables and legends about music in the Sultanate period.

The 14th century is perhapsthe most important period in the histoy of the Delhi Sultanate from the point of view of music, That music in some form was practised in the courts of the early Sultans is, however, not improbable. Kaiqubad had built for himself a magnificent palace at Kilugarhi. The courtly 'revels included dancing and singing of Persian and Hindi songs by beautiful girls. But it was Amir Khusrau who has left an enduring mark on the music not only of the Sultanqte but of India as a whole. Amir Khusrau was the disciple of the great sun saint Shaikh Nizamuddin Aulia of Delhi. He was also the court poet of Alauddin Khalji who was himself very fond of music. The genius of Amir Khusrau in the sphere of music was mainly utilised in innovating new compositions as well as in assimilating different forms of music prevalent in his time. He is credited with having introduced :

the qawwali mode of singing into the countryside for the first time.

several of our modem rags like Zilaph, Sazgiri and Sarparda, etc., produced by combining Persian and Indian tunes.

Khayal form of singing by abandoning the traditional dhrupad.

a new musical instrument called sitar by combining the old Indian vina and the Iranian tambura.

modifications in the onventional percussion instrument mridang to bifurcate it 7 into two and call t h e p tabla. 1 I

The changes introduceiby Amir Khusrau had far-reaching social consequences in br~nging together peoplti of two divergent creeds.

4

Check Your Progress 3 '

1) ~ e s c n b e the source!for the tradition of wall-painting in the Delhi Sultanate.

7 " ........................................................................ .........................

2) When and where wab the earliesiknown copy of Quran made?

3) Define 'bourgeois' g q u p of paintings.

......................................... .................... C . . . . . ) . . . . . . -. .........................

4) Give a list of some of Amir.Khusrau's major musical achievements.

.......................... ! ....................................................................... i '

On the basis of the feature ' discussed above, it is evident that the development of art and architecture in the De &li Sultanate followed an uneven pattern. While growth of

architecture occupied t#fe paramount position, other art forms like painting and music did not get equal attention. Individual initiative, a full-blooded support for their growth is found missing. Much of the artistic impulse came to be expressed in architecture enriching it both structurally and stylistically. It also gave rise to a rich heritage of civic buildings-the public buildings and public works. Informed interest in these constructions is relatively recent, but they must claim a place in any comprehensive survey of Indo-Islamic architecture.

Much of this architecture appears within the urban setting, the main building types being mosques (masjid), tombs (maqbara), palace-citadels as well as structures of public utility, such as sarais, bridges, step-wells, and water reservoirs.

There are no specific architectural forms for specific functions. Most can be adopted for a variety of purposes. As an illustration of this feature one could think of the four-cloistered courtyard structure which served equally well as palace, mosque, sarai and madrasa. An important element of this architecture is the emphasis on the enclosed space generally defined by walls, arcades and vault.

The decoration in-the architecture is mostly of a kind which suggests spaces existing beyond the decorative frames-atectonic in nature. Its chief elements are arabesque, geometry and foliation, the depiction of animate forms was popularly thought of having been prescribed under Islam. But there is nothing in the Quran to support this popular view.

A lively tradition of wall-painting deriving inspiration from the Ghazanavid kingdom survived in Delhi Sultanate upto at least 1350. It had a wide repertory, the subjects depicted ranging from the themes of the Mahabhara and Ramayana down to popula? folkltales. Another important tiadsion that grew during thispec0.d was of illuminated manuscripts. But it was independent of court patronage and for that reason the manuscripts have been termed as 'bourgeois'. Manuscript illustration and the art of writing the Quran flourished only till Timur's invasion. The influence of Iranian School was quite prominent. This tradition died soon after 1398-the year of the sack of Delhi. But it sprouted and flourished in the provincial courts.

A tradition of figural painting in the form of murals and painted cloth during the 13th and 14th centuries derived mainly from the Ghaznavi kingdom.

A sidiultaneous tradition of the Quranic calligraphy in Kufi script which lasted upto 13-till Timur's sack of Delhi. This kind of painting developed with the introduction of paper in India.

Another t~adition was that of'illustrated Persian and Awadhi manuscripts originating probably ai the beginning of the 15th century and growing independently of the imperial court.

The history of music in the Delhi Sultanate suffers from lack of reliable evidence. The only definite information relates to the musical genius of Amir Khusrau and a list of some prominent musical instruments given by Ibn Battuta.

31.6 KEY WORDS

Arcade : arange of arches carrying a roof or other superstructure

Ashlar ' : masonry walling formed of dressed stones

Batter : a slight inward inclination of a wall from its base upwards

Buttress : a vertical mass of masonry projecting at intervals from the external face of wall

Centering : a temporary support facilitating the construction of an arch

Eaves : the lower edge of a sloping roof, overhanging the face of the wall . Mural : painting on a well

Parapet : a low wall around the roof

Art ud Arcbltecturc d Ddhl Sultanate

Spandrel : space b m e e n two adjacent arches Stucco : designinb in plaster.

31.7 ANSWEeS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Cbeck Y olir Progress 1 1) Introduction of abuate technique and lime-mortar. See Sub-sec. 31.2.1

' : 2) SeeSub-sec. 31.2.1

i) Cross-beams kt the corners ? 1 ii) Squinches 1

iii) Pendentives ' 1

3) Arabesque, geoqetrical designs, and foliation. See Sub-sec. 31.2.1

Check Your Progress 2 1) i) V

ii) x iii) x

2) See Sub-sec. 31.4.2 ii

3) i) Because of it$ inability to cover wide areas. ii) They are battered. iii) They use stoqe-rubble and plaster to cover the surfaces.

4) See Sub-sec. 31.2i2 iv

5) See Sub-sec. 31.2!3

Check Your Progress L) 1) See Sub-sec. 31.3il 2) In 1399 at Gwaliqt 3) See Sub-sec. 31.3.3 4) See Sec. 31.4

Art and Archltectwe d Delhl Sdtnnate

4. Gandhak-ki ~ a o l i , Illtutmish's reign (1210-36), New Delhi

2. Qutub Minar, A.D.'1199, New Delhi .

5. Balban's Tomb, C. 1280 A.D., New Delhi

3. Illtutmish's Tomb, c. 1235 A.D.. New Delhi !

51

I . - 6. W h a r m , A.D. 1305, New Delhl

1 7. Sdpdm, Mphmmsd Tnghluq'r reign (A.D. 1325-51), New DrBi

9. Khirki Masjid, c. 1375 A.D., New Delhi. I

I 11. Moth Ki Masjid, A.D., 1505, New Dtlhi. . , I

UNIT 32 ART AND ARCHITECTURE OF REGIONAL STATES

Structure 32.0 Objectives 32.1 Introduction 32.2 Architecture

32.2.1 Eastern India 32.2.2 Western lndia 32.2.3 Central India 32.2.4' Deccan 32.2.5 Vijaynagar

I 32.3 Painting 32.3.1 Western Indian Style 3z.3.2 Caurnpaneaaika Style 32.3.3 Provincial Developments 32.3.4 The Deccani Painting

32.4 Music 32.5 Let Us Sum Up 32.6 Key Words

I 32.7 Answers to Check your Progress Exercises

32.0 OBJECTIVES

The present Unit oversteps the political boundaries of the Delhi Sultanate and attempts a study of the development in art and architecture in regions outside the Sultanate. Its purpose is to :

emphasize the character and development of architectural styles in the buildings in the regional states,

highlight the traditions and forms of painting, mainly of manuscript illumination, outside of the realm of the Delhi Sultanate, and

account for some of the major developments in the musical forms in North and South-Indian styles.

32.1 INTRODUCTION .

The development of art and architecture in the regional states follows diverse course. While architectuie adheres mainly to the technological principles evolved under the Indo-Islamic style, painting, particularly manuscript illumination, scales new heights due mainly to the substitution of paper for palm-leaf as the writing material. Music adopts a syncretic'approach. It must be understood that this multiplicity of form does not conforni to any set geographical pattern, but sometimes, as in the case of painting, takes cross-regional course.

The different sections of this Unit take into account the developments in architecture, painting and music in Eastern, Western and Central India, the Deccan and the Vijaynagar kingdom.

52.2 ARCHITECTURE

'The regional styles of architecture came into vogue usually after these states had thrown off the allegiance to Delhi and proceeded to develop a form suiting their individual requirements. They were distinct from the Indo-Islamic style practiced at Delhi and often displayed definitely original qualities. In the areas which had a . stron$ indigenous tradition of workmanship in masonry, regional styles of Islamic architecture produced the most elegant structures. On the other hand where these traditions were not so pronounced, the buildings constructed for the regional states were less distinctive. In some cases totally novel tendencies, independent of both the indigenous and the imperial Sultanae traditions. are also visible.

~ a c ~ ~ ~ : ~jtbtotsth 32.2.1 Eastern Indb c--J ' I

, It is interesting that theideve~o~ment offhe earliest regional stvle in architecture should have taken plactl at the other end of the subcontinent, in eastern ~ndia . In fact there did emerge two major strands of architectural style in this region viz., in Bengal and in Jaunpur, both of which witnessed the rise of regional states.

a) Bengal : The establishment of an independent Muslim power in Bengal rook place within a gap of five yeaT since the capture of Delhi by the Turks. But an independent building style, distinct from the one prevalent at Delhi, developed at the beginning of the forneenth century and lasted for a period of nearly 250 years.

Bengal style spread in all parts of the region, but most of the prominent buildings were located within therboundary of the Malda district which had been the strategic centre of the region due, to the confluence of the two rivers, the Ganga and the Mahananda. Here lie the remains of the two principal cities - Gaur and Pandua - which, in turn, enjoyed nhe status of the capital seat of the regional ruling power. In our effort to understand the distinctive features of the architectural style of this region we have to depelbd mostly on the buildings extant in these two cities and a few important examples elstwhere.

The building art of Benbal is generally divided into the following three phases of which the first two are donsidered preliminary stages and the third its ultimate develbpment into a specific style.

The first phase is fratn A.D. 1200-1340 (During most of this time Gaur was the capital seat. Only in later years it was shifted to Pandua).

The second extendeh from A.D. 1340 to 1430, and

The .third phase f r o 7 A.D. 1442 to 1576 when the Mughals captured the province. During this phase t+ capital was shifted back to Gaur.

The data in the form ofkxtant buildings forthe first phase is scanty. Even where tSJo or three structures survive they are in a badly ruined state. It is, nonetheless, evident that the buildings raised during this period were wholesale conversions of the existing Hindu structures.

Similarly, the second pHase is also deficient in data as it is represented by a solitary example. But this b u i l b g - Adina Masjid .at Pandua (built 1364) - surpasses all . other Islamic structures) in Bengal in size. It introduces two new features in the architectural style : .

the "drop" arch, haying ;span greater than its radii, and centres at the import level, and

' the method of raisini the roof in a system of arched-bays whQe small domes supported by bri~k-~&ndentives in over-sailing courses were raised over each bay. The bricks in these pqndentives were set diagonally in each alternate course in such a manner that their homers project and help in the transition from a square to a circular base (figured 1 & 2 show Adina Masjid).

54 Fig. 1 I Fig. 2

I The third phase is the most remarkable as it depicts the emergence of a semi-indigenous style in tune with the peculiar environment and local condition in

. Bengal. The result was to translate the native bamboo'structures into brick. In the course of time this special form of curved roof became a fixed convention (see figures 3). In most of these buildings, moreover, an indigenous form of decoration. i.e. terracotta tiles, was adopted.

Fig. 3

. _It thus becomes ckar that nowhere in lndia did climate and local conditions as well as indigenous building styles affect the development of architecture as profoundly as in Bengal. Its merit lies in its dynamic ability to transform itself by adoption and adaptation.

b) Jaunpur : The Sharqi kingdom of Jaunpur was founded by Malik Sarwar, a noble of Feroz ShahtTughluq, in 1394. In the wake of Timur's invasion and sack of Delhi, Jaunpur took over from the capital as a centre for scholars and writers. The surviving architecture of Jaunpur consists exclusively of mosques. Moreover, all the surviving buildings produced under the Sharqis are located in the capital city J a u n ~ u r .

I I The Sharqi architecture of Jaunpur carries a distinct impact of the Tughluq style, the

battering effect of its bastions and minarets and the use of arch-and-beam I combination in the openings being the two most prominent features. However, the r

1 most striking feature of the Jaunpur style is the design of the facade of the mosques. It is composed of lofty propylons with sloping sides raised in the centre of the sanctuary screen. The propylons consist of a huge recessed arch framed by tapering

I square minars, of exceptional bulk and solidity, divided into registers (see figure 4) The best examples can be seen in the Atala Masjid (buit in 1408) and the Jami Masjid.

Fig. 4

Evidently, the propylon was the keynote of ~ a u ~ ~ u r style and occurs in no other ' manifestation of lndo-lslamic architecture.

32.2.2 Western India

The regional style of architecture that came into being in Western lndia towards the beginning of the 14th century is almost exclusively confinedto Gujarat.

A r t M d ~ w e d R e -

-&-: rJcLm'Sch Gujarat : This regiondl style flourished for a period of some two hundred and fifty - years beginning early ll.1 the 14th century. The founders of Gujarat style of Indo-Islamic architectbre were in fact the governors of the Khalji Sultans of Delhi.

There were three diffatent phases of the G u j a r ~ t style : The first phase lasting for the first half of the 14th'century marked by the demolition of the Hindu temples and their reconversion into ~ u s l i m buildings.

The second phase ptevailing mostly during the first half of the 15th century and showing signs of heirlitant maturity of a distinctive style.

Finally, the pha* *ginning in the latter half of the 15th centurywhen Gujarat style emerges in itsiown magnificent form. Most of the typical examples relate to this period'of ~ u j a i ~ t style. '

Here it is important tolremember that the Gujarat style of architecture is the most indigkous in charactet. In some of the finer examples of this style considerable portions of the buildinbs are in fact adaptations from either Hindu or Jain temples. The essence of Gujarat style will be easily understood if you envisage a scheme of construction where thd btructure of a temple is fitted into the sanctuary of the mosque in the form of $ central compartment. Almost all the mosques from the second and third phase are composed in this manner (see figures 5 and 6.)

m3. 5 Fig. 6

. 32.2.3 Central India In Central India, the development of Indo-Islamic architecture remained confined within the Malwa regiop which became an independent kingdom at the turn of the 15th century. But, unlikk other regions, the Muslim rulers of Malwa did not inherit any strong tradition of $sual art. The result was that, to carry out their building projects skilled and exprerienced artisans were summorfed from as distant a place as Delhi who incorporated various styles prevalent at Delhi. It was only in the later period that original elements of architecture were developed and decorative motifs of their own were adopted in the buildings of the Malwa rulers which gave them a distinctive appearance.

Malwrr-Dhar and an& : The regional manifestations of Indo-Islamic architecture in Malwa are located eskntially within the confines of two cities, Dhar and Mandu, though some buildings may also be seen at Chanderi. The Sultans o f ' ~ h a r and Mandu have left a rich iirchitectural legacy, the main buildings.being mosques, . tombs and palaces.

The buildings at Dhar and Mandu derive many features from the Tughluq architecture such as the battered walls, fringed arch and the arch-beam combination. But soon *e also notice the emergence of distinctive features which .

give Malwa style of arcwecture a character of its own. Somelof the mQre prominent features are described bblow :

Perhaps the most imhr t an t is an innovative technique by which the two separate structural systems ofi the arch and the lintel have been combined in Malwa

architecture. (see figure 7). In no other early type of architecture has this problem of using arch and beam as structural elements been more artistically solved.

Another notable feature of the Malwa buildings is the construction of stately flights of steps of considerable length leading to their entrances. This became necessary due to the use of unusually high plinths on which most of the important buildings are raised. (see figure 8)

Fig. 8 I

1 The most striking impressions conveyed by Malwa style are not structural but t$e result of decorative properties. In these buildings, the element of colour assumes a significant role. We noti,= the use of two separate methods for obtaining this colour effect. The first is the use of various.coloured stones and marble, and the second is by means of encaustic tiles.

This architectural impulse died in 1531 with the defeat of the last Malwa ruler Mahmud I1 at the hands of Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. Malwa was temporarily brought under the Mughals by Humayun in 1535 and was finally conquered by Akbar in 1564.

32.2.4 Deccan The Indo-Islamic architecture that developed in the Deccan from 14th century onwards under the Bahmanis acquired a definitely regional character quite early in its growth. But this architecture followed a different pattern in evolution than other regional styles. As opposed to the growth of regional styles in Northern India, architecture in the Deccan seems to have ignored to a very large extent the pre-Islamic art traditibns of the region.

In practice, the Deccan style of architecture consisted basically of the fusion of :

a) the architectural system in vogue at Delhi under the Sultans, particularly the Tughluq form, and

b) an entirely eqtraneous source that is, the architecture of Persia.

The architectural developments in the Deccan may be divided broadly into three phases corresponding on each occasion to a change in the seat of the government. The first phase begins in 1347 at the capital city of Gulbarga. Second phase begins in 1425 when the seat of power is transferred to the city of Bidar. And finally, with the change of capital again in 1512 to the city of Golconda, begins the third phase lasting till 1687, the year of Mughal conquest.

a) Gulbarga : Gulbarga became the seat of an independent kingdom in 1347 under Alauddin Bahman. With this began the first phase of architectural development in the Deccan. The early structures, however, did not as yet represent a distinctive style of the Deccan Islamic architecture. For the most part they followed the

I contemporary Tughluq architecture of the North. The Jami Masjid (1367) inside the I Gulbarga fort was, howeyer, different and unique. This structure was conceived and

designed by an ingenious 14th century architect named Rafi. He was a ~ a t i v e of I Qazvin in Northern Persia and had taken to service under the Bahmani ruler of

I Gulbarga. The central designing idea lay in reversing all the architectural principles of mosques with a courtyard. Thus, in the Jami Masjid of Gulbarga the conventional clesign of the courtyard was filled with small cupolas supported by arches placed

I

Art .ad mhitectore d RenioDsl States

Socie(~.adc.lluc: rmtots(b close together (see figure 9 & 10). But this design was never repeated. Possibly the Century

I unorthoctox plan of this mosque did not find favour with the traditionalists.

Fig. 9 Fig. 10

b) Bidar : The ~ a h m a n l capital was transferred to Bidar, a fortress town, in 1425 by ruler Ahmad Shah (142;d-36). Soon the new capital saw a flurry of building activity as within its walls spranfl up palaces with large audience halls and hammams, mosques, a madrasa, abd royal tombs. Moreover, this change of capital largely

' eliminated the architecbral influence of Delhi. The new buildings show a strong contemporary Iranian influence. The substantive style of architecture was now composed of forms very'largely borrowed from Iran, but modified and adopted to suit local conditions. TYey did not, of course, abandon the Indo-Islamic traditions altogether. Some impoRant features of Bidar style may thus be listed below :

Since colour was the kharacteristic feature of Iranian architecture, palaces at Bidar show a brilliant schebe of the use of coloured.tiles and the mural painting. The glazed tiles which ccfmed the exteriors were imported by sea from Iran.

There is a distinctive /change in the shape of some of the domes in the buildings at Bidar. They are constricted in the lower contour and thus become the fore-runners of bulbous domes of the Mughals. The drums of these

project the domes in full view.

The fall of the Bahmani Sultanate towards the beginning of the 16th century brought the first phase of the D 1 can style to a close. Soon, however, under the Adil Shahi kingdom of Bijapur, a d w phase of architectural activity was to take over from where the Bahmanis hadl left. But this style developed contemporaneously with the Mughal style and thus forms the subject of study in a separate course.

Vijaynagar has an extraoidinary history. It was born out of the incursions into the Deccan and even furthef south of the Delhi Sultanate. The capital., the famous Vijaynagar, was founded in about 1336 on the banks of the river Tungabhadra.

i

Vijaynagar, now desert*, is one of the most important historical and architectural sites as it is the only Hingu city from the pre-modern period of which extensive remains still exist above~$round. The Vijaynagar style of architecture was distributed throughout iouth India, but the finest and most characteristic group of buildings is to be seen in the city of Vijaynagar itself. This city, in fact, had a great advantage as a site for lwge scale building activity in that it.abounds in granite and a dark green chlorite stony, both used extensively as building material. The use of monolithic multiple pierb~ in the temple at Vijaynagar testify this fact.

The expanse of the city ~f Vijaynagar at the height of its glory meayured some 26 sq. km., and it was enclosediwith a stone wall. Besides palaces and temples, the city had extensive waterworks andl many secular buildings such as elephaht stables and the Lotus Mahal. The basic dements of Vijaynagar style are listed thus :

The use of pillars for larchitectural as well as decorative purpose is on an unprecedented scale.

Numerous cornpositi&s are used in raising the pillars, but the most striking and also the most frequent is one in which the shaft becomes a central core with which

is attached an unpraised animal of a supernatural kind resembling a horse or a ~ u d ~ r a e c h e d

hippogryph (see figure 11). w-

Another distinguishing feature is the use of huge reverse-curve eaves at the cornice. This feature has been borrowed into the style from the Deccan and gives the pavillions a dignified appearance. (see figure 12).

As noted above, pillars form an integral part of Vijaynagar architecture, almost all of which have ornamental brackets as their capitals. Usually this bracket is a pendant known as bodegai in local parlance. This pendant, in Vijaynagar style, is elaborated into the volute teminating in an inverted lotus band. The occurrence of this pendant is a index reliable of the building in the Vijaynagar group. (see Figure 13).

! Fig. 11

-

Fig. 12 Pi. 13

The glory of the Vijaynagar empire ended in A.D. 1565 at the battle of Talikota when the combined army of the Sultans of the Deccan inflicted a crushing defeat on the Vijaynagar ruler Ram Raya.

Check Your Progress 1

1) How many major architectural styles developed after the decline of the Delhi Sultanate?

I 2) What is the connection between the development of a regional style of architecture and the existence of a masonry tradition in that region?

! ................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................

I 3) In which region foreign architectural influence is evident on the bnildings,

I and what was this influence?

The age-old traditionbf painting in India continued in the regional states in the medieval period despite having suffered a setback in its growth in the Delhi Sultanate. Larger do4mentary material in the form of paintings survives for the regional states. HoweMer, these paintings defy geographical classification; they are best understood in te+s of the stylistic evolution they follow. The following Sub-sections are therefore arranged according to various styles of painting that came in vogue in different +gions.

32.3.1 Western Inhian Style a) Jain Painting : The kestem Indian style is generally considered to have originated in the 12th dentury since the earliest surviving illustrated manukripts in this style date from the1 parly period of this century. They were discovered in Jain bhandars (libraries) p&cipally in Gujarat and Rajasthan. It is, however, important to note that by no peans ill the tern are Jain, or even religiau in nature, nor is this style isolated and regional in character. It has come to be designated Western Indian style as most of the maduscripts are discovered in Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan and Malwa. The Jains, however, were not confined to Western India; we also get some splendid illustrateb manuscripts from as far a place as Jaunpur and Idar. I The early specimens of the Western Indian style are palm-leaf manuscripts. They follow the pothi format with two or three columns df text depending on the wfdth of the leaf and the numberibf necessary stringholes to hold the leaves together. In the 13th century, the materib1 was gradually changed from palm-leaf to paper. This opened up great possibilFties of illumination in the margins. The format of the new paper manuscripts was at'first kept to the proportions of the palm-leaf, before gradually increasing the height of the folio. No attempt was made, however, to abandon the pothi format.

The Western Indian style was fully formed by the end of the 14th century. Paper manuscripts begin to appear regularly from the middle of the 14th centdry, though palm-leaf as writing matqal was not abandoned altogether. Some commonly identifiable traits of this style are given below i

Painting in these manacripts is in a single plane, contained within a sometimes brilliant but always brittle line. The figures have been drawn on a red or ultramarine background.

Paper is seen as a surfad to be decorated with colours in patterns, yielding in the best examples a brilliarlt jewel-like surface. The number of pigments used has increased- costly pigmnts such as ultramarine, crimson, iold and silver are used in increasing quantities.

Architectural elements b e reduced to essentials. The hieratic litrle figures, and sometimes animals as wqll as household furniture, are little more than pictograms occupyinmg boxes b a leometrical composition.

Mannerisms include the'extension of the further eye, the swelling torso, and a particularly tortuous arrangement of legs in seated figures. Men and women are often practically indistinguishable (see figure 14).

A careful study of the illustrated manuscripts in the Western Indian style makes it Art nnd ArnhltecNre of Regional Sfates

evident that they were apparently mass produced at thk great Jain centres of Pattan and Ahmadabad and are only superficially rich. Much Mrer and far more beautiful are maiiuscripts individually created by professional artists fer discerning patrons (se& figure 15).

There are very few of these manuscripts which give us information about their artists. In most cases, there are indications that the scribe and the artists were .

distinct identities. There are notes by the scribes in the manuscripts to instruct the illustrator about the subject to be painted in the blank space.

b) Hindu Painting :The style of a typically Jain manuscript with its projecting . bodily distortions, and flat colour planes is also that used for certain Hindu manuscri~ts dating from the 15th century, and also in two instances for Buddhist - manuscripts. Clearly, then, this sectarian nomenclature is inaccurate. In the Fig. 15 absence, however, of an alternative we retain this erroneous name;keeping in mind that Jain painting was quite frequently the work of the Hindus.

We do not find any illustrated Hindu manuscripts on palm-leaf from the early centuries of Muslim rule over Northern India. But the existence of such manuscripts in Nepal argues that they must have been produced in India also.

32.3.2 Caurapancasika Style

The Caurapancasika is a manuscript written by a Kashmiri poet Bilhana who, awaiting execution for having been the lover of the king's daughter, sings of his uhrepentant passion in lyrical stanzas. Paintings designated as Caurapancasika are only occasionally directly related to the text.

The emergence of Caurapancasika style is not quite certain though it is considered to have emerged in a group of 15th and 16th century paintings in a less purely decorative and anecdotic vein. The manuscripts illustrated in this style are nqt usually Jain, and where and when they were painted is a matter of debate. It seems Caurapancasika group of manuscripts can only have developed stylistically after it had been found pbssible to turn the human head around into strict profile and drop the further projecting eye.

The distinctive features of Caurapancasika style may be described as below : Almost all the paintings in this style are in an oblong format with the text written on the reverse. They are, in fact, successors to the pothi format of the Western

- Indian style.

The protruding further eye of the Western Indian style gives way to an uncompromising side view and a single very large eyk. (see figure 16).

The paintings are still in a single plane, with backgrounds in brilliant primary colours.

The Caurapancasika style is known for its beauty of expressions and its dramatic use of colour and the richness of the painters' fancy. On occasion a human being is caught in action (see figure 17), an achievement rare in Indian paintings. Few Indian paintings can rival the vitality of the best of them.

Fig. 16 Fig. 17

: IMtLtoa 32.3.3 Provincial Development C d W

a) C~igraphy , , i) Jaunpur : The Jaqfipur School of Calligraphy flourished in the latter part of the 15th and first part of the 16rh century. The manuscripts of the Quran calligraphed under this school use :

a script knowri as dlhari,

crimson colour in the frames for the text rather heavily.

much bolder desig* of arabesque and creeper, with more inventive medallions in their illuminative cbntent.

ii) Ahmedabad : Tbeikhmedabad School owes its origin to Sultan Mahmad Begarha of Gujarat; it lasted fot about half a century (c: 1425-75). The scnpt used for writing the Quran in this school is known as suluth. It was a serpentine, static script, used mostly in the Middle %st for writing chapter-headings and inscriptions. When it came to be adopted in India in the early 15th century, it assumed the form of tall slanting uprights and qnward-sweeping sub-linear curves and flourishes.

b) Manuscript IUumik?ation : The illumination of manuscripts practiced as an art of painting flourished in lkan in the 13th-i5th centuries under royal patronage.

The most important gtoup of these manuscripts of suggested Indian provenance with Irani influence am dated during the period 1420-50. The most likely place of their origin seems to be Bengal since Delhi may be ruled out as a provenance and there is no evidence of the provincial Sultans patronizing artists until later in the century. The picture, bwever , becomes much clearer by 1500. A group of ~nanuscripts dated c. 1490-1510 is known from Mandu in which the direct influence of the Irani' style is visible. (see figure 18 a, b, c.) The Khalji Sultans of Malwa would seem to have imported artists ind pokibly manuscripts from Iran, and had the style copied by their.own ahsts .

I

6 - 18b ' i

The basic features of! j

Fig. I8c

~inatsd manuscripts with'miniatures suggest :

a horizontal forma! across the page, or sometimes squares in shape,

text columns on ei&er side, towards the bottom of the page, and

a lifting of the norphal viewpoint, thus affording tosthe painter a new world 01

landscape and of spatial relationships between figurts.

32.3.4 The ~ e c c a & Painting A distinct style of paiding in the Deccan emerges in the kingdoms of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur and Golcondq in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. It certainly predated the Mughal painting and is, in fact, known to have influenced its beginnings. The use of daring colours--puple and yellow, pink and green, brown and blue - the sophistication and artqtry of their compositions, and the traditional Deccani costume argue by themselves a pre-existence for the style.

- -

The Deccani style drew on many sources including the Irani tradition. This is clearly ' reflected when we identify their distiriguishing features :

The faces in thisstyle are.comrnonfy painted in three-quarters.

6 The grounds are shown as sprigged, i.e. sprayed with flowers or similar motifs. Another Deccani feature is the reduction of buildings to totally flat screen-like panels. (see figure 19 a, b.)

A typically Irani influence in some paintings is the golden sky.

And suggestive of the Chinese influence in some paintings are pink and green flowering plants, lotus and chrysanthemum.

.-

Check Your Progreao 2

1) Where are the repositories of the Western Indian style of painting .. located?

2) What is the major difference between the Western 1ndian style and Caurapaxcasika style?

3) Indicate two important foreign elements in the paintings of Cauradancasika style.

4) Describe the three most important features of manuscript illumination as practiced under the provincial dynasties.

5) Justify a pre-Islamic tradition of painting in the Deccan from the surviving paintings.

\ Fig. 1%

ÿ red^: ljtLtOlMJ --

C&=Y * 32.4 MUSIC j ! I

Music is the least dodumented of all the fine arts of medieval India. Whatever little information we get about the music and its development jn the Delhi Sultanate is from the works of ~ & i r Khusru. There is not much change in this situation in respect of provincial p g d o m s . Historical information is scanty and at times it becomes difficult to $kt history from legend. We shall, however, prepare a narratk L

account on the basis &piecemeal records handed down to us by history. I (

The earliest known tdjetise on music in the n~edieval period is Sangeet Ratnakar. The text has not beenilost and is referred to by the practitioners of music even today. It was composed by Qharangdev sometime between 1210-47 at the court of the Yadav ruler of.Devagiti. Besides being a treatise on tqusic - vocal as well as instrument - Sang@ Ratnakar also delves into the details of the contemporary dance forms. It describes as many as 264 ragas classified into major and minor categories, though thd basic of this classification remains obscure. The chief merit of this text lies in its bein# the first systematic exposition of the various elements of music From the courq iof Vijaynagar, we get a Sanskrit commentary on Sharangdev's Sangeet Ratnakar written by Kallinath, a courtier under king Mallikarjun (1446-65), There are two other Sanskrit commentaries of the same kind, by Keshav and & Singhbhoopal, but it is not known as to when and where they were written.

In the 15th century wd (come across two interesting musical treatises from ~ u j a r a t . . The first one is called @ngeet Sudhakar, and is attributed to HaripalDev, the ruler of Saurashtra. It is herb for the first time that the Indian musical form is divided into the Hindustani and th 'Karnatak styles. The other text is a Persian work kalled Ghunyat-ul Munya, rn k ning literally 'pleasure of desire'. Unfortunately, the manuscript copy of thib text is incomplete with its first folio and the last four

'

Sub-sectlons missing. a u s the name o i the author, if atall was given in the missing portions, is lost foreveq. We, however, know that the text was compiled at the instance of Malik Shamsuddin Abu Raja, the governor of the province of Gujarat under Feroz Tughluq. Ohunyat, as its author claims, aimed at being a compendium on the art of sangeet inJndia, for the avowed purpose of educating the taste of the elite of the time and al& tocater to the demands of the Mu'tabiran (the authorities) and Na'rif (the adept).i (Ghunyat-ul Munya : The earliest known Persian work on Indian Music, ed. ShabCb Sarmadee, Asia Publishing House, New elh hi, 1978.)

This text has been of g q a t value in several respects. It is the earliest treatise and commentary in Persian ,on music and some of the Sanskrit texts on music respectively. Besides tMt, Ghunyat extensively uses some such Sanskrit works on music which have become extinct now.

In the 15th century, weicome across a text called Raag Tarangini ascribed popuk ly to Lochan Kavi. It contains illustrations from both Jaidev (of Geet Govind) and Vidyapati, and may thdq be safely placed in the 15th c e n t q . R a w Tarangini is important for having iniiiated an alternative system of the division of ras-the that -system. All the variobs forms of music described here are practiced today.

Music got an impetus under the Sharqi rulers of Jaunpur in the second half of the 15tWentury. A connoiaeur and an expert in his own right, Sultan Hussain Sharqi + (1458-99) promoted v o q l music by introducing a variant form of rendering khayal th Kalawanti khayal. Ik is also credited with some new rag, such as Jaunpuri T bd i, Sindhu Bhairavi, ~$indura and Rasuli Todi,

I

We have noted earlier thht the court at Vijaynagar had become a centre of music under its more promine& rulers. The most significant treatise on the South Indian style is the Swarmel ~a ldhidhi , written by Ramamatya, the foremost of the exponents of the South Ihdian style. It is considered as the most authentic treatise of its kind and is frequently keferred to by the music lovers today.

It iS evident from the dejpription given above that music in the 13th-15th centuries had grown even if its devplopment seemed located in specific places and Jtas not indicative o f any coordin)lted attempt to bring all the various forms at one place. The development of mus{$ had attained the take-off stage when Mughals intervened and gave it greaterrheights.

' I

Check Your h g r e k 3- .

1) Where was the Karnatak style identified as a distinct branch of music for the first time?

2) Who invented rag Sindura and Sindhu Bhairavi?

......................................... ...................... ....................................

...........................................$.........................................................

....................................................................................................

3) Why is Ghunyat-ul Munya known to music lovers as an important text on contemporary music?.

32.5 LET US SUM UP

A notable fact about the regional architectural style is that their most interesting structures are to be found in areas previously known for a thriving building activity, and where indigenous masonry traditions were strongest. Although buildings in the regional states were subsidiary to the main Indo-Islamic style, very few of them imitated the forms in use at Delhi. Quite often they possessed original qualities and showed remarkable beauty in compositions. Some of the important factors characterising regional styles are listed below :

In the provinces associated for a long duration with the Delhi Sultanate, the effect of the Sultanate style is more pronounced. Lesser the association, less noticeable this influence.

Different kinds of building material generalli introduced technical differences in arqhitectural styles in different regions.

The unusual climatic conditions in certain parts of the country necessitated special treatment for the corresponding regional styles. 0 Influence of Irani elements on the architecture was pronounced in the Deccas. But

, other regional varieties adopted local forms and material rather succinctly.

Unlike Delhi Sultanate, painting did not take a back seat. Architecture and painting developed at alomost the same pace. In the realm of painting, a notable event is the '

development of paper manuscripts in the Western India and the development of illumination and made possible by the use of new material. Jain tradition of book writing and library keeping gave a tremendous impetus to a very pronounced form of painting known as Western Indian Style. Another distinct group of paintings like Caurapancasika developed across regional boundaries. Moreover, we also observe the growth of calligraphic art in the form of the Quranic illustration and in a few cases the emergence of manuscript illumination in provincial kingdoms.

mW-: m, in our study of thq art and architecture in the regional states, the following - aspects deserve consided~tion :

Structural variants ariOl the development of regional styles,

New forms of manus@ipt illumination, and Growth of North and South Indian styles.

In the field of music, t hee are two remarkable contributions, by the work d Sharangdev in North Indian style and by Rarnamatya in South rndian style. Besides, the Sharqi rulers of JaurQur also contributed richly to the growth of music.

32.6 KEY WORPS .

The key words for this Uhit will remain the same as for Unit No. 31.

32.7 ANSWERS $0 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

Check Your Progress 1 1) SeeSub-see.32.2.1,32.2.2,32.2.3,32.2.4,32.2.5

2) In the regions which have a strong tradition of masonry development of regional Indo-Islamic form has been easy. See Sec. 32.2

3) See Sub-sec. 32.2.4.-

Check Your Progress 2 *

1) In the Jain bhandars in Gujarat and in Pajasthan pirimarily. 2) See Sub-sec. 32.3.2 3) Sprigged gtound, lous and chrysanthemum flowers. 4) See Sub-sec. 32.3.3.b 5) See Sub-sec. 32.3.4

a Check Your Progress 3 1) In Sangeet Sudhakar 2) Sultan Hussain Sharqi 3) See Sec. 32.4

-- -

. UNIT 33 . LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

' 33.0 Objectives 33.1 Introduction 33.2 Sanskrit Literature 33.3 . Arabic Literature 33.4 Persian Literature

33.4.1 Early Phase 33.4.2 Contribution of Amir Khusrau 33.4.3 Other Persian Po& 33.4.4 Historical Worh in Persian 33.4.5 Slln Literature in Persian 33.4.6 Sanskrit Translatiom in Persian

33.5 Literature in Rzgional Languages 33.6 Social Background of the Detelopment of Regional Languages 33.7 *Literature in the Regional &anguages of North India

33.7.1 The Development of Hindi Literature 33.7.2 The Origin and Growth of Urdu Language 33.7.3 Punjabi Literature 33.7.4 Bengali Literature 33.7.5 Assamese Lite~ture 33.7.6 Oriya Literature 33.7.7 Marathi Literature 33.7.8 Gujarati Literature

33.8 Literature in the Languages of South India 33.8.1 Tamil Literature

- 33.8.2 Telegu Literature 33.8.3 Kannada Literature 33.8.4 Malaydam Literature

33.9 Let Us Sum Up 33.10 Key Words 33.11 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

33.0 OBJECTIVES

After reading this Unit you should be able to know: .'that decadence had crept into the quality of Sanskrit works produced during the

period under review, ?bout the introduction and growth of Persian language and literature in India,

0 , about theorigin and growth of Urdu language,

thesfactors responsible for the growth of regional languages and literature, and

about the nature of cultural and literary synthesis achieved in this period.

r 33.1 INTRODUCTION

The Sultanate witnessed the flowering of a rich corpus of literature, This was a period when new languages were introduced with a remarkable growth in the sphere of culture and literature. This cultural and literary synthesis is manifested in the origin and growth of a synthetic language like Urdu and in the interchange between' Persian and Sanskrit. The regional languages and literature which were considerably influertced by Sanskrit and Persian mirrored the religious, social and popular '

, attitudes of the period under study. The Hindi works of M u s h writers like Amir Khusrau and Jayasi as well as the Bengali Vaishnavite poems composed by Bengali

: lk#uslims also highlight the process of cultural synthesis operative during this period. - P

' 33.2. SANSKRT LITERATURE

Itsis generally believed that the loss of official patronage caused the decline of Sanskrit literature during the Sultanate period. While it is true that Persian replaced

I I

Sanskrit as the official lwguage, there was no quantitative decline in the production of Sanskrit literary workb as such. The period is remarkable for the immense production of literary wprks in different branches of Sanskrit hterature - bvya (poetical narrative), redgion and photosophy, giammar, drama, stories, medicine, astronomy, commentaries and digests on the Law Rooks (Dharamasbastras) and other classical Sanskrit Forks. Nor was the loss of official patronage to Sanskrit absent for there were sf111 many kings who patronized Sanskrit poets--especially in South India and RajastqBn. ~utwhi le ~anskdt works continued to be produced in large number, there see@s to be a marked decline in the quality of these works. This decline had set in befor# the establishment of the Sultanate and became more pronounced during the flultanate period. There was not much originality in most of the Sanskrit works that bppeared during this period. Much of the Sanskrit writing was wearisomely repetitive, artificial and forced. Sanskrit works on religious themes were often characterisefl by metaphysical speculations. Biographical works were mainly in the form of heroic ballads which contained hagiographical details and stories of romance. Stinkkrit lost the patronage of the new Persian speaking ruling - class but the Sultanate 4 d not interfere with the independent production of Sanskrit literary works. In fact, the introduction of paper during the Sultanate period gave an impetus to the literary qctivity of reproduction and dissemination of already existing Sanskrit texts such as tlje Ramayana and the Mahabbarata.

South India, Bengal, W l a and Western India played the leading role in the production of Sanskrit 'literary works. The Vijaynagar kings patronised Sanskrit poets. The Jain scholar$ in Western India also contributed to the growth of Sanskrit literatwe. The most famous Jain scholars of Sanskrit literature in Western India was Hemachandra Suri whd belonged to the 12th century. Mithila in northern Bihar developed into yet ano&er centre of Sanskrit. Later, towards the end of the Sultanate period and d~ t ing the Mughal period, the Chaitanya movement in Bengal and Orissa contributed b the production of Sanskrit works in several fields - drama, champu (a mixed form of verse and prose), grammar, etc.

Many Rajput rulers pawonised Sanskrit poets. These poets wrote the family histories of their patrons in the classical form of a Sanskrit eulogy. The writings of these family histories fallowed a set formtila and became an established trend during '

this period. Some of thbe Sanskrit works such as Brithvirqjavijaya and Hammirmahakavya are well known. A number of historical poems are on Muslim rulers, e.g., Rajavlnoda I-- a biography of Sultan Mahmud Begarha of Gujarat written by his court p d t , Udayaraja. Kalhan's Rajatarangini (12th century), which presents the history of Kashrnir kings, was followed in the Sultanate period by a second Rajatwanghi b Jonaraja who wrote the history of Kashmir kings from Jayasimha to2Sultan Z p; 'nu1 Abedin (1420- 1470). A third Rqiatarangini was written by Srivara who pok the history of Kashmir down to A.D. 1486. All these works present eologistil: accounts of their patrons but they contain useful historical material, too. In additjon to these historical kavyas, a large number of semi-historical texts w d prabandhas were also written. 'Ihe prabandhas are replete with legendary d hagiogaphi~al material but, some of them, such as Merutunga's Oraban + ha Chintamani and Rajashekhar's htbadmkosba contain material of his rical significance. On the whole, however, i t must be pointed out that despite voluminous production, the Sanskrit literature of the Sultanate period had lqst much of its original vitality and creativity, and the bulk of this literature remained unaffected by the intellectual developments of the age.

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33.3 ARABIC &ITERATURE

Arabic was the dominkt language of the Islamic World in the first few centuries after the rise of Islam. !It was the language of the Prophet as well as that of the Islamic religion and thwlogy. Although attention was paid to the cultivation of the Arabic language in India after the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate, the Turkish rulers were more influhced by the Persian language which had developed as the dominant language in the Islamic kingdoms of Central Asia from the 10th century onwards. As a consequence, the production of literary works in Arabic was restricted to a small citcle of Islamic scholars and philosophers. During the reign of Iltutmish several scholars sought reGge at Delhi after the sack of Bukhara by

Changez Khan. Sultan Feroz Shah Tughluq (1351-1388) patronised many Arabic scholars and it was under his patronage that the great Arabic dictionary - the Qamus - by Majduddin Ferozabadi was produced. After the disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate, the rulers of many provincial kingdoms also patronised Arabic learning and many places came into prominence as centres of Arabic learning &ring this period.

33.4 PERSIAN LITERATURE

Here we will discuss the early phase of the development of Persian language and literature as well as the contribution of Amir Khusrau and o t h e r s p t s in the field of Persian literature. The historical and suli works written in Persian as well as the Persian translations of Sanskrit works have also been discussed in this section.

33.4.1 Early Phase A new language - Persian -was introduced in India during the period of Ghaznavi rule in the Punjab. There was remarkable growth in Persian literature in Iran and Central'Asia from the tenth century onwards. Some of the~great poets of Persian language such as Firdausi and S'adi, composed their works during this phase bf-growth of Persian literature in Iran and Central Asia. Lahore -which was the centre of Turkish political authority in India before the beginning of the 13th century - attracted many Persian poets from the Islamic countries of Iran and Central Asia. The works of only a few of the early writers of Persian literature in India have survived. One of them was a poet Masud Sad Salman d. c. A.D. 1x31) whose compositions reflect a sense of attachment for Lahore. However,hy and large, the Persian literature written in India before the establishment of the Delhi sultanate was derivative in character and adopted literary forms and imagery which were prevalent in Iran.

It was after the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate that Indian influence began to '

exert itself on Persian works written in India as is evident from the literary compositions of Amir Khusrau.

33.4.2 Contribution of Amir Khusrau

The reign of the Khaljis was a glorious period from the viewpoint of growth of Persian literature in India. According to Ziauddin Barani, the famous contemporary historian, "there lived at Delhi scholars of such eminence and calibre as were not to be found in Bukhara, Samarqand, Tabriz and Isfahan, and in their intellectual accomplishments they equalled Razi and Ghazali. Under every stone lay hidden a precious gem of literary excellence". The most outstanding af the Persian scholars and poets of the period was Abul Hasan, usually known by this pseudonym of Amir Khusrau. Later, in the Mughal period, the historian Badauni, and contempoqary of Akbar praised Amir Khusrau's contribution to Persian literature. He wrote "after the appearance of-the cavalcade of the king of poets, the poetry of his predecessors became bedimmed like stars at the rise of the sun". Amir Khusrau (1253-1325) was one of those few Indian writers of Persian poetry whose works have been read and admired beyond their own country. His works represent the beginning of a new trend in Indian-based Persian literature - the trend of the growing familiarity with

1 Indian literature and influence of Indian literature on Persian writings in India. I

Amir Khusrau was the Indian born son of a Turkish immigrant. He began his career as a courtier and poet during the reign of Sultan Balban. He became a disciple of

! Shaikh Nizamuddin Auliya, the famous sufi saint of the Chisti order. He was the court-poet during the reigns of Jalaluddin Khalji and Alauddin Khalji. Later, Sultan 1 Ghiyasuddin Tughluq also patronised him. He lived through the reigns of six Sultans r of Delhi and was connected with their courts.

Arnir Khusrau was a prolific and versatile writer and is said to have composed.half a million verses and ninety-nine works on different themes. His poetry consisted of a great variety of forms - lyric, ode, epic, and elegy. His poetry was essentially Indian in sentiment though he followed Persian models in technique. Thus he created a new . style of Persian which came to be known as sabaq-i Hindi or the Indian style. Someof

4- .

the works composediby Amir Khusrau have been lost. Five literary masterpieces composed by him are kutla-ul Anwar, Shirin Khusrau, Laila Majnun, Ayina-i Sikmdari and Hasht /Bihhpbt. He dkdicated all of them to Alauddin.Khalji. His five .r diwans (collection od compositions called ghazals) include Tuhfat-us Sighar, ~ a s t - u l i '

Hayat, Ghurrat-ul K p a l , Baqiya Naqiya and Nihayat-ul Kamal. These compositions show the great lyrical talent of his poetry. Amir Khusrau also wrote historical masnavls ( m a t i v e poems) which have.great literary and historical value. He was not a historidm in the actual sense of the term-but since he enjoyed the patronage of successfire Sultans of Delhi and since he selected historical themes for his mamavis, the hisiwical content of his writings is of great interest to the students of the history of his'tfmes. In Qiran-us Sa'dain, Amir Khusrau describes the quarrel and reconciliation W e e n Sultan Kaiqubad and his father Bughra Khan. Miftah-PI Futob deals with thei military successes of Sultan Jalauddin Khalji. 'Ashiqa' is the story of romantic lovb between Khizr Khan, the eldest son of sultan Alauddin Khalji and Deval Rani, dau#hter of Rai Karan, the Raja of Gujarat. In Nab Siplv (Tbe Nine Skies) he gives il poetical description of Sultan Qutbuddin Mubarak Khalji's reign. This work alsa contains references to contemporary social and religious ' conditions. The Tugqluq Nama describes Ghiyasuddin Tughluq's rise to power. ! Anothsr historical w rk written by Amir Khusrau is K h d - u l Futuh in which he : gives an account of 1 lauddin Khalji's conquests in the South. However, it must & noted that Amir KhqLrau, being a court-poet, looked at events largely through official eyes. , ' One remarkable asp& of Amir Khusrau's Persian poetry was his love for his country. He says, "I have praised India for twolreasons. First, .because India is the land of my birth and Qlur country. Love of the country is an important obligation. ............. ,... .......... .Hindustan is like heaven. Its climate is better than that of Khurasan.. ... ,. ....................... it is green and full of flowers all the year round .......................... The Brahmans here are as learned as Aristotle and there are many scholars in barious fields. ............................. ..!' Amir Khusrau composed verses in blndavi (a form of Hindi or Urdu) also and showed the way for the future develophdht of the Urdu language.

,

. \ 33.4.3 Other Per$lan Poets ShaikMajmuddin a s a n (d. A.D. 1327), popularly known as Hasan Dehlawi was . another famous Persitin poet during the Sultanate period. He was a friend of Amir Khusrau. He was ond d the court pbets of Sultan Alauddin Khalji. The quality of . his ghazals earned him the title of S'adi of Hindustan. Poetical writings in Persian continued during the [reigns of the' Tughluq and h d i Sultans. The expansion of the Delhi Sultanate led t61 the extension of.the Persian literature to various parts of

4 India. The emergenct of provincid kingdoms following the disintegration of the , Delhi Sultanate also mntributed to this process. Withrhe foundation of the Bahmani kingdom inifhe Deccan, many Persian poets and scholars migrated to , , . I Gulbarga where they were patronised by the Bahmani Sultans.

t

33.4.4 Histcrrical Works in Persian One of the important~contributions of Persian literatur%uring the Sultanate period (and later during the Mughal period) was in the sphere of history writing. Many historians wrote the *tory of the period in Persian language. For the history of the - . Sultanate, we have to depend largely on the accounts provided by the court L . I > chroniclers of this pe$od. There are many methodological and chronological flaws , in the historical writhgs of these chroniclers and most of them are not free fmm a 'i personal and ideolog3lal prejudibs. Nevertheless, they ard of indispensable valus 4 , for the study of the hiktory of the Sultanate period. The most important of these . historians were Mindrus Siraj (author of the Tabsqat-i Nasiri), Isami (author of thk ! Futuh-us Salatin), Shams Siraj Afif (author of the Tarikb-i Feroz Shah). Among . the Sultans. Feroz S y h Tughluq wrote the Futuhat-i Ferozshahi. But the greatest historian of this pe r id was Ziauddin Barani. His Tarikhdi Ferozshahi is the most ' valuable work of histery written during-thegeriod. Parani completed this work in 1357 when he was s ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ o l d . n e book:is named after Feroz Shah ~u~hluqr~;lri i i i ;-dedh to write this work at m age when his mernorl hag starter '

C

fading and consequently he mgde many chronological errors. Moreover, his personal, ideological, social and sectarian prejudices ohen colour his interpretation.

I gf various historical events. These shortcomings of his-work notwithstanding, Barani's contribution to the writing of history was unparakled during the period. He broke new grounds in history writing and did not confine himself to rulers, courts

J and campaigns.. He described and analysed administrative matters and economic phenomena. He provides an analytical study of co&cts between various social ,groups during his period. Barani wrote dnother book, Fatwa-i Jahandari which .deals with political theory. i

c33.4.5 Sufi Literature in Pewian During the period under review, large amount of religious and philosophical . literature was produced in Persian. The sufi literature written in Persian is of great value both from religious anmd literary points of view. A distinctive genre of Persian literature emerged in the form of malfuzat (conversations or discourses of the leading sufi masters of the period). The malfuzat also iontained didactic poetry and anecdotes. Amir Hasan Sijzi wrote the malfuzat'of the famous Chishti sufi master, haikh Nizamuddin Auliya. The work is known as Fawaid-ul Fu'ad. Several abricated malfuzat were also produced as a result of the increasing popular demand f or the details regarding the life, teachings and miracles of the various sufii. Mir 4 hwurd's Siyaru-ul Auliya is the earliest known biographical dictionary of sufis

written in India. m e Khair-uLMiajah's is the malfuzat of Shaikh Nasiruddin Mahmud (Chiragh Delhi). These works often reflect social and economic realities of

.& the times, apart from spiritual matters.

2 33.4.6 Sanskrit Translations in Persian - The pioneering experiments of Amir Khusrau laid the foundation of literary and cultural synthesis in the contemporary Indian society. There was a growing interchange bet;ween Persian and Sanskrit. Many Sanskrit works began to be translated into Arabic and Persian. The first scholar to translate Sanskrit stories into Persian was Zia Nakhshabid (d. 1350). His Tuti Nama is based on a Sanskrit work. Many Sanskrit works were translated into Persian during the reigns of Feroz Shah Tughluq and Sikandar Lodi, Zain-ul Abedin, the famous ruler of Kashmir during the 15th century, got the Mahabharata and Kalahan's Rgjatarangini translated into Persian from Sanskrit. Thus it appears that by the end of the Sultanate period such literary exercises must have given rise to a set of people who were familiar with both -,.", Sanskrit and Persian and who had the knowledge of the religious ideas of Hinduism I., ahd Islam. However, little attempt was made by the Sanskrit kn,~wing non-Muslim scholar to translate works of Persian and Arabic fiterature into2anskrit. Such an absenc 1 of reciprocity on the part of the Brahmanical elitd indicated its insular ,

outlook which was earlier highlighted by Alberuni in the 11th century. The lack of receptivity t o ideas from other cultures and languiges may partly explain the decadence of the Sanskrit literature during this period.

It is thus clear that Persian occupied an important place among the languages of the period. It became the official language and the language of the'sultanate ruling . elite. .It brought with it many new and refreshing social and religious ideas. Its introduction in India led to the widening of the intellectual horizon of the Indian poets, thinkers and social reformers. Above all, it introduced newditerary forms and styles.

B

Check Your Progress 1

1) Discuss the contribution of Amir Khusrau to the growth of Persian literature in India.

SOQL).~-: I~~LCIS(L 2) Mark or x against the statements given below: =?'-

a) The great ~ r i b i c dictionary, the Qamus was produced by Sultan Feroz Tughlq.

b) Kalhan's Raj&ranglni gives an accoupt of the history of Kashmir kings.

c) Barani's Fad&-i- Jahandari is an autobiographical account. . d) Zih NakhshaUl was the first scholar to translate Sanskrit stories into Persian.

33.5 LITERAIURE IN REGIONAL LANGUAGES

One of the important features of the literary history of this period is the development of IiteratMre in regional languages in various parts of India. Regional languages which grew papidly during this period in northern India included Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Assamese, Oriya, Marathi and Gujarati.

Each one of these lan&ages originated from a corresponding Indo-Aryan Prakrit in its apabhramsa stage. @his origin can be traced back tothe seventh-eighth centuries. The three Sbuth Indian languages -Tamil, ~ a n n a d a and Telugu -have a longer literary histoq than that of the North Indian regional languages. The literary history of the Tamil language goes back to the beginning of the Christian era. Kannada and Tel* also have older literary traditions than the North 1ndiad regional languages. MMayalam is the youngest among the South Indian languages and it was not before the fourteenth century that it developed as an indqpendent literary form.

33.6 SOCIAL #BACKGROUND OF THE .DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL LANGUAGES

Important factors whidh contributed to the development of the literature in the regional languages du*g our period are as follows :

i) During the post-diupta period, the growth of 'feudal' society, economy and polity led to the $mergence of regional entities and cultures roughly from the seventh-eighth cehturies. One consequence of the growth of regionalism was the emergence ofl the earliest forms of the regional languages from the Apabhramsa.

ii) As has been mentioned above, the decline in the quality of Sanskrit literature had set in much qkfore the establishment of the Delhi sultanate. Much of the Sanskrit literaturb which appeared from the 10th-11th centuries lacked spontaneity and did not appeal to the masses. Its appeal was confined to a very

' small Brahmanic circle. T'he replacement of Sanskrit by Persian as the official language during # e Sultanate period further intensified the process of the decline of the ~aqbkrit literature. Once it lost the official patronage it had enjoyed at the cetltre, many kingdoms during the Sultanate period promoted the use of regiondl languages since Persian was an unfamiliar language in many parts of the wuniry. ~egion'al languages were used, in addition to Sanskrit, for administrative punrpose in many kingdoms even during the pre-Turkish period. Jn the territories under the rule of the Sultans of Delhi, there are references to Hindtlrmwing r&enue officials at the local level.

iii) ThcTnrrkish con4pest of Northern India during the 13th century led to the end of the Rajput-BrBihman alliance and consequently the influence of the Brahmans dimini*ed in the society. Once the upper caste domination diminished, the firimacy of Sanskrit received a setback, and regional languages which Were spoken at the popular level, came to the fore.

iv) The growth of n L-Brahmanical and non-conformist oathpanthi movement and later that of vari i h s bhakti movements - both conformist and radical monotheistic - dlayed an important role in the rapid growth of regional

literature. We have already discussed the historical background of these movements in the chapter on the bhakti movement. Before the rise of the nathpanthi, much of the literature of their predecessors - the Buddhist siddhas - was written in regional languages including Hindi. The nathpanthi movement, which was the first beneficiary of the diminished influence of Brahmanism and which reached its culmination during the 13th and 14th centuries, promoted the cause of regional popular languages. The growth of the bhakti movements in Noflh India from 15th century onwards played the

, most crucial role in the development of the regional languages and contributed

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to the rapid development of a great corpus of literature in these lan@ages. The bhakti saints composed their verses in the languages understood by the people who were attracted towards them. They made use of popular idioms, popular legends and folk tales. The bhakti movements contributed to the growth of popular regional languages in yet another way. Thk bhakti saints, in particular those who belonged to the conventional stream of the bhakti movement. translated or adapted epics, Puranas and the Bhagavad Gita from Sanskrit into regional languages in order to make their contents accessible to the people. In this way, the bhakti poets popularized bhakti episodes drawn from various Sanskrit texts. The contents of these texts were not only translated in the languages in which people could understand them but they were also presented in simple terms before the people.

33.7 LITERATURE IN THE REGIONAL LANGUAGES OF NORTH INDIA

In this section we will deal with the literary works produced in the iegional languages of North India.

33.7.1 The Development of Hindi Literature

What is today known as Hindi developed in various forms in the medieval period. The dialects of Hindi included Brajbhasha, Awadhi, Rajasthani, Maithili, Bhojpuri, Malwi, etc. In our period the literature of Hindi language developed in these dialects. In addition to these dialects, a mixed form of Hindi, known as Khari Boli (originally meaning a rough, crude and raw speech) was also developing.

First Phase Schola~ have placed the origin of the Hindi language between 7th and 10th centuries -it was in this period that Hindi was evolving out of Apabhramsa. The period between 7th-8th centuries and 14th century (before the rise of the bhakti poetry) is characterised as 'Veergatha Kala' (age of Heroic Poetry)'by scholars. Another name used for describing this period is Adi Kala (early period). Much poetry of this period was composed by bards who were patronised by various Rajput rulers. The bards glorified such virtues of their patrons as chivalry and bravery. They also highlighted the element of romance in their poetical narratives. In its essence, this literature symbolises the values and attitudes of the Rajput ruling classes. The bards who composed this literature were not concerned with the aspirations of the common people. Most of the bardic poetical narratives were composed in the Rajasthani dialect of Hindi. The most famous of them is the Prithviraja Raso which is attributed to Chand Bardai, the court ministerial of Prithviraja; the last Rajput king of Delhi. Other heroic poetical narratives includdd Visaldeva Raso, Hammir Raso, Khumana Raso, etc. The authenticity of most of these raso narratives in their existing forms is open to grave doubts and it seems that their contents were expanded during the later centuries. Thus for instance, it is only the nucleus of the Prithviraja Raso which was written during this period (12th century), and interpolations were made later in the original draft.

Not all the Hindi literature of the period between 7th-8th centuries and 14th century belonged to the genre of bardic poetry. The Buddhist siddhas and later the nathpenthi yogis composed religious poetry in an archaic form of Hindi. In Westem India, the Jain scholars also composed religious poetry in Rajasthani highlighting various aspects of religious and social life of the people. The contribution of Amir Khusrau to Persian literature has already been mentioned. But he also composed

- - - -

%-.ad a- : 13h'ta 15th poems in mixed form of Hindi which ultimately developed into Khan Boli or .. .*

. Hindustani. He callefl this language hindavi. Some of his Hindi verses are found in @

his Khaliq Bad whicai is often ascribed to him but which in all likelihood was written : q . much later.

. . ' % ~ g e of the Bhsliti Poetry

I

The second phase in b e growth of Hindi literature began in the 14th-15th centuries. ' ' Various streams of tde bhakti movement exercised profound influence on the Hindi

literature of this phas&. This phase of Hindi literature has been characterised a' : Bhakti Kala (Age of bevotion) and it continued till the Mughal period. This phase , whia began yith Kabir marked the richest flowering of Hindi literature. Thebhakti poets of the period were two-fold: the saguna poets (who believed in god with human form and attr&utes) k d nirguna poets (who believed in non-incarnate Absolllte God). Kabit was the leader of the nirguna bhakti poets most of whom belonged to lower cages of the society and were poop and illiterate. Kabir's own mother-tongue was Bhojpuri but he composed in a mixed dialect which could be understood by peoplel in various parts of North India. Kabir's language is charaderise4 by what has been termed 'rough rhetoric'. The non-conformist and unorthodox'ideas of h b i r and other nirguna saints have already been discussed in the chapter on the bhakti movement. What is important from literary point of view is Kabir's use of a laneage which combines bluntness of style with potency and

*I eloquence. He used his strong and rough verses to present a powerful denunciation of varioys rituals. Another important characteristic of pabir's short poetical J+ utterances is the use d ulatbasi or 'upside-down language' which consisted of a series of paradoxes a d enigmas. It has been pointed out that Kabir inherited the r ulatbasi tridition'fronl the nathpanthis and adapted it for an effective rhetorical and teaching deyice. Kabit and other "low-caste" monotheistic poets (Sen, Pipa, , - Dhanna, Raidas, etc.):expressed themselTes in oral style. The poetry they composed forms a part of oral literature. Their vers s were compiled much later - earliest instance of their written compositions'are & m the Adi Granth in 1604. Being illiterate, they had nqdirect access to th$~anskrii literature. They expressed . themselves in the loial languages of the people. ~hkqiterary genre in which they composed most of theif; short but effectiye utterancesvwas boha (3 short rhymed poem). In short, the *try of Kabir and other nhyjtiira saints of the 15th century played the most importtint role'in transforming the Hindi vernaculars into a 'literarj" language. a

The poets belonging to the conventional vaishnava bhakti movement in North India were mostly Brahmans and were familiar with Brahmanical scriptures and Sansk?it texts. The vaishnava p e t s believed in the concept of devotion to a personal God and, accordingly, ma to be divided as devotees of Rama and Krishna. The Rama .. . ' bhadcti poetry in Hindi flourished mainly during the Mughal period. Its greatest t,:,\i exponent and perhaps the greatest poet of Hindi literature was Tulsidas (A.D. k. :I. 1532-1623) who wrote {he famous Ram Charit Manas in the Awadhi dialect of "':

Hindi. Among the Kri*na bhakti poets, Vidyapati composed verses about the lo& of Radha and Krisha iniMaithili Hindi. The influence of his lyrical poetry was felt in ,, Bengal and some Bengsili poets imitated his songs. Vrindavan near Mathura emerged as a centre of Craishnava bhakti poe t jby the end of the Sultanate period. These poets .were devotees of Krishna and composedtheir verses in Braj bhasha. The greatest of these poets was Surdas (c. 1483-1563). Another great name in the Vaishnava bhakti poetty was that of Mira Bai (c. 1498-1543):She was a'Krishna devotee ajld composed her songstin Rajasthani but many of these songs were later incorporated in other Yindi dialects and also in Gujarati.

. .

Sufi Contribution to ~bdi Literature . . Sufi saints and other scholars of this period contributed substantially to the gmwth of Hindi literature. The Chikhti sut3s made use of Hindi devotional songs i i qma ! (ecstatic singing and da&ing) sessions. Sufi mystical and allegorical meanings were given to various Hindi tgrms such as "Gopis", "Raslila", etc. The sufi poets 4 combined Islamic mysti$ism with imaginative use of Indian love tales, popular ; legends and stories. M Q ~ I ~ Daud's Chandayan (written in c. 1379) is the ear

I

such poetical works. Kdbban's Mrigavati (w%itten in 1501) is another example $' f Of.

mystical romantic poetr composed in Hindi.-Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Padmavat : written in 1540' in Awad K i Hindi is the best,qample<of dlegoriaal narrative,The . . ,#

. ~~ -~ ~ ~~ - ~~~

literary compositions of the sufi poets also contrjl$t.ed go tht; hcorporation of many c ,r,\ , , . . ' . r \

: Arabic and ~ e r s i ~ w o ~ d s i n t o Hindi literature&i@~hud.$layed an important role in culFural and 1iterarj;-mtdesis. , " , : \ , ,

f ' t

, . ! ' , ; . ' . . < .

i 33':1,2 The Origin and Growth of Urdu ~ a h g u a ~ e * . $

Scbl&s have advanced various theories to explain the origin of the Urdu language ) inihe period following the establishment of the Dehi Syltanate. Various opinions have been expressed on the identity of the dialect of Hindi on which the Persian ' element was grafted resulting in the growth of a new language. The dialects that have been mentioned are Braj bhasha, Haryanvi"and other dialects spoken in the neighbourhood of Delhi, and the Punjabi language. All these dialects have influencedthe Urdu language in its formative stage and it is difficult to pinpoint the I exact dialect which combined with Persian to give rise to Urdu. However, it is an , established fact that by the end of the 14th century, Urdu was emerging as an independent language. Like Hindi, the basic structure of Urdu consisted of Khari Boli - a mixture of varids dialects spoken in Delhi and surrounding regions. Delhi, during this period, was ideally situated for the growth of a synthetic language since, on the one hand it was surrounded. by people speaking different dialects apd, on the other hand, it had a Persian speaking ruling elite. Thus, Urdu adopted Persian script and Persian literary tradition but by incorporating the basic structure of Hindi dialects evolved an individuality of its own.

I The wod Urdu is of Turkish origin and means an army or camp. In its initial form, Urdu appears to have been devised as an improvised speech to enable the Persian speaking Turkish ruling class and soldiers to communicate with the local people

'. including Mpslim converts. However, it had not yet acquired a literary form. This new common language tqok a century to acquire a concrete shape and came to be called "Hindavi" by Amir Khusrau. Hindavi thus forms the,basis of both Hindi and Urdu. Amir Khusrau composed verses in Hindavi (using Persian script) and thus laid the foundation of Urdu literature. However, it was in the Deccan that Urdu first acquired a standardized literary form and came to be known as Dakhini during the 15th century. It developed first under the Bahmani rule and flourished in the Bijapur and Golkunda kingdoms. Gesu Daraz's Mlraj-ul hhiqin is the earliest work in Dakhini Urdu. Till the 18th century, Urdu was called by various names such as "Hindavi" , "Dakhini" , "Hindustani" or "Rekhta" (which means mingling several things to produce something new). In its developed form, Dakhini Urdu travelled

.* back to the north and soon became popular during ihe Mughal period, It was dbring the period of the disintegration of the Mughal empire in the 18th century that the Urdu literature reached great heights.

~33.7.3 W a b i Literature 'TWO distinct trends developed in the history of the Punjabi literature during the period between the beginning of the 13th century and beginnirig of the sixteenth century. On the one hand, this period was marked by the growth of s&i and bhakti poetry and, on the other, by Heroic ballads qnd folk literature. Sufi poetical ,

compositions attributed to the famous Chisti sufi master Baba Farid (Shaikh Fariduddin Ganj Shakar (c. 1173-1265) are regarded as pioneering contribution to poetry in the Punjabi language. The hymns composed by Guru Nanak in the sixteenth century imparted a proper literary form to the language. The second Sikh Guru Angad gave the Punjabi language a distinct script called Gurumukhi. The hymns composed by Guru Nanak were later incorporated in the Adi G~anth by the fifth Sikh Guru Ajbn in 1604. His poetry is characterised by chastity of sentiment and by variety in his style and poetic diction.

33.7.4 Bengali Literature . ,

. Folk spng c a l l e d ~ h a r ~ a ~ a d ~ - cothposed between the 10th and 12th century are . , '

the earliest specimens of Bengali language'. The Turkish conquest of Bengal by the : .. ,' middle of 13th cen tu j contributed-to the decline of Sanskrit and the importanceof

-, ~-~ '

U folk themes and forms asmediaof literary expression began to increase. By the ' . .- d . -

fifteenth, century, three rnain.trends developed in the Bengali literature :. (i) ~aishnao bhakti poetry; [ii) translations and free adaptations of the epics, and

,

(iii) m ~ g a l a kavya. ~@e~&~!e-at~va$hnava bhakti poet inBengal was Chan@icim-,. . . - . , .:.

(1512-32) patronised Bengali literature.' TWO Bengali poets Kavindra and Srikaranandi translqted the Mahabharpta into Bengali verse during their reigns. In the early years of tlle fifteenth century, Kritivasa Ojha produced a Bengali poetical contemporary of Cnandidas, Vidyapathi comp~sed his devotional songs in Mithili dialect but many of his songs were later absorbed-into Bengali under the influence of the vaishnava movement. Chaitanya and his movement'gave further impetus to the growth of the v a u a v a literature in Bengali. Many vaishnava poets were inspired by Chaitanya in his time and after his death. Among the vaishnava poets, some were Muslims. The \Second major trend in the history of Bengali literature which .

began from the ear& fifteenth century drew inspiration from the epics and other 4

Sanskrit scriptures. 68ltan Husain Shah (1493-1519) and his successor Nusrat Shah (1514-32) patfinised Bengali literature. Two Bengali poets Kavindra and Srikaranandi renderbd the Mahabharata into Bengali verse during their reigns. In the early years of the fi'fteenth century, Kritivasa Ojha produced a Bengali poetical adaptation of ~alrnlki's Sanskrit R a m a y e . Maladhar Basu adapted vaibava Sanskrit work the Bliagavata Purana into Bengali during the later 15th century and it came to be known hs Srikrishnavijaya. Another, and the most popular Bengali rendering of the ~ababharata , was produced by Kasirama. These Bengali translations and ada tations played an important role in influencing the cultural and religious life of the ople in medieval Bengal. The third trend in the Bengali literature consisted 4 f the emergence of Mangala kavya. These are sectarian poktical narratives q d focus on.the conflicts and rivalries among gods and

'

goddesses. But they 'do contain humanistic elements, too, since they highlight popular aspirations and sufferings. Manika Datta and Mukundrama were two notable poets of Mqgala kavya during the later 15th and 16th centuries. '

33.7.5 Assamese [Literature 'Hema Sarasvati was ithe first poet of Assamese language. She composed Prahladacharita and1 Hara-Cauri Samvada during the later part of the 13th century. Her contemporary pdet was Harihara Vipra who chose episodes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata for his poetry. From the 14th century, Kamata and Cachar became centres for the development of Assamese literature. Madhava Kundali, who populdtized the Ramayana srory in Assam by rendering it into the language and idiom the common people, was the most important Assamese poet of the 14th century. !L 's language was less Sanskritized thah that of Hema Sarasvati and Harihara Kipra hnd was closer to the language of the common people. The. growth of vaishnava! bhakti movement under Sankaradeva in the second part of the- fifteenth century mahe considerable contribution to the Assamese literature. i Kirtana ghosa is regirded as the most important vaishnava religious text written in 'j Assamese language. I t is an anthology of devotional songs, most of which werk composed by Sankardeva but other poets also made their contributions. Sankaradeva also wrDte many dramas (Ankiya Nat)jwhich were based on the Purana episodes. He also composed a new type of devotional poetry called Bargit (Bragita). Sankaradeva's disciple Madhavadeva (A.D. 1489-1596) also composed maniliterary works and further e+iched the Bargit form of poetry.

I ,. E

33.7.6 Oriya Literature 8 . .'

It was during the 13th-14th centuries that the Oriya language assumed literary character. Saraladasl (14th century) was the first great poet of Orissa. He composed the Oriya Mahabhanlta which is regarded as a great epic by the people of Orissa. Oriya literature begah to enter into a new phase from the beginning of the 16th - century when the ~&hnava bhakti movement grew there under Chaitanya's influence. Many of C$haitanya's disciples translated or adapted Sanskrit works on bhakti into the Oriy language. One of the close associates of Chaitanya was Jagannath Das who ad ecame the greatest Oriya literary figure of his time. His Oriya translation of the Bhqgavata Purana became popular among the people.

%

33.7.7 Marathi aterature Literature in verse fdfm began to emerge in the Marathi language from the later part of the 13th cent Iy. .Early Marathi literatux was dominated by saiva nathpanthis. Two ea 4 liest Maralhi texts - Viveka darpana and the Gorakhagita - belonged to. the nalhbnthi tradition. The most important poet of this phase was

Mukundaraj who belonged to the nathpanthi tradition and who wrote his Vivek Sindhu in chaste popular language. Another dominant influence on the Marathi literature during its formative stage was exercised by the poets belonging to the

( Mahanubhava cult which emerged in the 13th century.

The Mahanubhava saint-poets were among the architects of the early Marathi devotional literature and made important contribution to Marathi lexicography,

l commentaries, rhetoric, grammar, prosody, etc.

The Varkari bhakti saint-poet; of Maharashtra further developed the bhakti literature in the Marathi language. First among them was Jnanadeva (13th century). He wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. It was named Bhavartha dipika and popularly came to be known as Jnanasvari. It is the fundamental text of the Maharashtra vaishnava bhakti saints belonging to the varkari tradition. Another saint-poet belonging to the varkari tradition was Namdev (1270-1350). He

, composed large number of Abhangas (short lyrical poems) in Marathi. H e travelled to the north and later his verses were included in the Sikh scripture, the Adi Granth.

Twd other great saint-poets of'medieval Maharashtra, Eknath (1548-1600) and Tukaram (1598-1649) belong to the Mughal period: they also made substantial contribution to the growth of the Marathi literature.

33.7.8 Gujarati Literature '. Both Rajasthani and Gujarati languages emerged from old Western Rajasthahi. The first phase in the development of the Gujarati literature lasted till the middle o'f the fifteenthxentury. During this phase, two main literary forms developed in the 'Gujarati literature - the prabhanda or the narrative poem and the muktaka Qr the short poem. The first category included heroic romances, poetic romances and rasas or long poems. The subject-matter of these poems consisted of historical themes interspersed with,fiction, popular legends and Jain mythology. The second categoq of muktaka-or short poem adopted various forms such as phagu, baramasi and the chapo. Phagu means a short lyrical poem stressing on the element of viraha or separation. The second phase in the history of the Gujarati literature began in the late fifteenth century with the spread of the Vaishnava bhakti poetry. Narasimha Mehta (1414-1480) was a great Gujarati bhakti poet. He made use of his poetry to popularize Vaishnava bhakti in Gujarat.

33.8 LITERATURE IN THE LANGUAGES OF SOUTH INDIA

This section takes into.actount the progress made in the literature written in the * South Indian languages.

33.8.1 Tamil Literature The great age of the Tamil literature came to an end with the decline of the Chola Empire. Writers and poets, however, continued to make contribution to the Tamil literature. Villiputtutar who probably lived in the thirteenth century was an important literaq figure of the period. He rendered the Tamil version of the Mahabharata which is called Bharatam and which became popular among the .Tamil-speaking people. He introduced the tradition of using ~anskri t words and literary expressions in Tamil poetry. Another great poet and a contemporary of Villiputturar was Amnaginnatha. He composed Tiruppagal - a lyrical and . devotional Gork in praise of god Murugan. The period is also known'for elaborate commentaries written by vaishnava scholars. Commentaries were also written on

1 such literary works of the Sangam age as the Tokappiyam and the Kurai. These ,commentaries are a model of medieval Tamil prose and are known for their clarity , and brevity. Another great author, Kachiappa Sivachariar composed ' Kanda-puranam in praise of god Subramanya.

I '33.8.2 Telugu Literature

1 Literature in the Telugu language made great progress from 13th century onwards. d During the 13th and 14th centuries, Telugu translations and adaptations of Sanskrit

* - -4%; Wbl? ',%- works were produced.! ?he most important Telugu poet in the first half of the 14th

' ' C d m y ,, century was Erraprag da. He popularized the Champu genre of literary writing

* ,. (mixed form of yerse i bd prose). He composed the Ramayana in this genre. He

,translated a part of thd Mahabharata and anothel Vaishnava Sanskrit Work, Harivamsa into Telu ,. Srinatha (1365-1440) was another great Telugu writer. ~e translated Sriharsha's aishadha Kavya into Telugu. He also composed verses on' the theme of historica 3 romance and this laid the foundation for the age of classical prabandbas in the T e l ~ literature. His contemporary, Potana, was a great poet :

who translated the BhSgavata P u m a into Telugu. The Telugu literature achieved ' its highest position in tile sitteenth century during the reign of the Vijaynagar king, Krishnadeva Raya, wH6 himself was a poet in both Sanskrit and Telugu and who, wrote Amukta ~ a l ~ a & in Telugu. He patronised many Telugu poets, most famous of whom was Peddanai~Peddana wrote Manu Charita in .Tklugu. One important characteristic of the Tdlugu literature of this period was the increasing influence of Sanskrit on the Telugu language.

33.8.3 Kannada Literature The early phase of the Kannada literature (upto 12th century) was dominated by Jain writers. From the middle of the 12th century, Virasaivism - a popular religious movement - began to bfluence of the people and literature of the Kannada speaking region. The religious literary work of Basava (known as Vachanas), the founder of the Vhsaiva moveme t and those of his followers constitute an important contribution to the me k Leva1 Kannada literature. A late 14th century Virasaiva poet, Bhima Kavi composed *e Basava Purana. Before him, two other Virasaiva poets of the 13th century, Haris~ara and Raghavanka, composed their works in new Kannada styles which later became popular. The later Hoysala rulers patron'ised many Kannada ppets a ~ d writers. One of them, Rudra Bhatta wrote Jagannathavijaya in chjbrpu genre. This work was an adaptation from the Sanskrit work Vishnu Purana. n e ~ r i o d between 14th and 16th centuries saw further growth of the ~ a n n a d d Pterature under the pattonage of the Vijaynagar kings and their feudatories. One c)f the greatest poets of this period was Kumara Vyasa who c m osed the ~annadatversion of Mahabbarata in the middle of the 15th century. .-, .9 I

33.8.4 Malayalam iiterature Malayalam is the yo'uh$?st of the South Indian languages&driginated as a dialect of Tamil in the Malabat region. ~ r a d u a l l ~ , it spa3ated itself from Tamil and acquired an iidependerlt status in the fburteenth centufl. Political isolation of t E ' Malabar region fr6m ~dmilnadu and the introduction of new linguistic forms by foreigners contribute$ tp the development of Malayalam as an indepeqdent' . -. \ : language. The earliest liirature was in oral form consisting of songs and ballads. '

The earliest literary codposition was the Rama Charitam, produced in the 14th ,

century. From sixteenth century onwards, Malayalam began to come under the , dominant influence of Sbnskrit and borrowed a great deal from the latter.'

z - . . = I, " &eck your Rogresp: 2 ; ,

1) Biscusi the social b4ckground of the rise of regional languages. \r

. . 6 . . ......................................................................................................

................ ; ........*............................................ .............................. . . ~f

. r ...................... +......................................................................... : . 2) ~ x ~ l a i n the orikin ahd growth of ~ i d u language.

' ,

, . ' I r , . , , I . . ........ .., ............. j; .................... .:... ...... ;. ......................... :.../...;. ..........

3) Mark or x against the statements given below:

a) The second phase of growh of Hindi Literature is characterised as Bhakti kala

b) Kabir was a saguna poet who believed in a God with human form and attributes.

c) Krishnadgvaraya wrote Amukta Malyada in Telugu.

d) The religious-literary works of Basava in Kannada are known as Vachanas.

33.9 LET US SUM UP

In this Unit we have traced the growth of language and literature during the Sultanate period. The decline in the quality of Sanskrit works produced in this period has been emphasized. The Unit takes into account the growth of Persian language and literature during the Sultanate period. The factors responsible for the growth of regional languages and literature have been stressed. The nature of Sanskrit, Persian and regional literature produced during this period has been analysed. This analysis points to the cultural synthesis which was achieved as a result of interchange between Sanskrit and Persian that was evident from the origin and growth of Urdu during this period.

33.10 KEY WORDS

Allegorical : style ot writing in which the characters and events extoll virtues such as

Hagiographic.1 : a biographical account which is full of praise for the subject with which it deals

IJ'l%er~ : use of figurative language & a literary form .

Prosody : science of verse and poetical form

33.11 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS EXERCISES

8

Check Your Progress 1 1) See Sub-sec. 33.4.2. 2) a) x ) c) x d) V Check Your Progress 2 1) See Section 33.6 2) See Sub-sec. 33.7.2 3) a) V b) x c) V d) V

UNIT CIFESTYLE AND POPULAR

Structure 34.0 Objectives '

34.1 Introduction I

34.2 Life Prior to l$OO 34.3 The New Ruling Classes

34.3.1 Ideologidrll Composition of the New Ruling Classes 34.3.2 Royal Pdtern of Consumption

34.4 The Religious Aristocracy 34.5 The Political Atistocracy 34.6 Lifestyle of the Masses 34.7 Position of Women 34.8 Slaves and Serkints 34.9 Urban Life 34.10 Rural Life 1

34.10.1 Peasants 1 I 34.10.2 The ~we(&ngs of the Peasants

34.11 Games and Arlmusements 34.12 Let Us Sum Up 34.13 Key Words 34.14 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises

After reading this Unk, you will know about the: social stratification! during the Sultanate period,

lifestyles of the rota1 household, ulema, aristocracy, merchants, landed aristocracy, peasant* and slaves, Hindu social orddr,

positibn of women!in the Hindu society,

nature and compo$ition of the slaves,

urban life, and '

pastime and entehrtainment.

The lifestyle of a people indicates their specific situation in a hierarchical society. In early medieval India, social formations were structured upon the ensuing contradictions that existed between a centralised State and its subject peasantry. In a principally agrarian economy, the social surplus produced by the peasants was extracted and distributed by a small ruling class among themselves. This led to their lavishly luxurious lifestyle that stands out in sharp contrast to that of the artisans and the urban poor.

t I

I 18

34.2 LIFE PR1IG)R TO 1200

During this period, laqdholding had become the chief basis of social and politiyl status. The agriculturd surplus taken from the peasantry w& utilised to maintain military vassals and re#gious grant holders whose terms generally survived chdnge of overlords. By the ldth century, the consolidation of the power of smaller

kingdoms and chieftains led to the intensification of the social process termed samanta system (or "Indian feudalism").

I The princes and members of the court lived in great splendour. The wealth of the great religious establishments was visible during the festivals and elaborate performance of daily rituals. Considerable amount of artisan and peasant labour was consumed in the construction and maintenance of the palaces and temples. Thus, the lifestyle of the pre-Islamic ruling classes in India differed from their

I successors only in matters of detail. The caste structure which continued to stratify , Hindasociety was protected bqthe Muslim rulers from outside. The new ruling class

(though foreigners) soon realisid that, in the dominant economic form of petty production, caste system was of great value. Moreover, the dominant ideology that maintained the caste structure heavily laid down the norm of serving the rulers whether they belonged to the caste structure or not.

I 34.3 THE NEW RULING CLASSES

I A distinct phase in India's economic evolution.began with the end of a long period of political fragmentation and the successful creation of a centralised power which was sustained by the regular extraction of resources from an extensive territory.

1 -34.3.1 Ideological Composition of the New Ruling Classes

I The head of the new ruling class was the Sultan. He was considered to be synonymous with the State. From the very.beginning of their rule in India, theTurkish Sultans considered themselves to be politically independent but culturally a part of

I the Islamic world.

1 The lifestyle of the new ruling class was comparable to the highest standard of luxurious living in the entire Islamic world. This was consciously adopted mainly to

I maintain a distance between themselves and the common people whose surplus they I

appropriated.

I 34.3.2 Royal Pattern of Consumption I The Sultans of Delhi wanted to own huge palaces. Almost every-ruler built a new I I palace for himself. Later rulers, like Feroz Shah Tughluq, were known to have

I increased the number of palaces they considered necessary. A typical description of

I the lavish display that took place in the Sultan's palace has been given by the traveller Ibn Battuta during the reign of Muhammad Tughluq. Ibn Battuta wrote that if a person wanted to visit the Sultan, he had to pass through three lofty gates

1 which were heavily guarded. He then entered the 'Court of thousand pillars' which. was a huge hall supported by polished wooden pillars and was decorated with all kinds of costly materials and furnishing. This was the place where the Sultan held his

I public court.

The royal umbrella and the sceptre known as 'chhatra' and 'danda' respectively ' were used by the Hindu rulers and were continued by the Muslims. Muhammad

Tughluq is known to have used a black umbrella following the Abbasids. No one other than the rulers were allowed to use this umbrella and the sceptre. Even if given royal permission, the umbrellas of the nobles were of different colours and its use was strictly confined to the members of the royal family. The Hindu rulers added the chowri (fly-whisk) to these symbols signifying royal authority.

During processions and other social functions, the Sultan was accompanied by a standard bearer to be followed by a band of musicians. The Hindu kings had a tradition of having instrumentalists who carried trumpet and flutes. This musical band played in the palace everyday. Except for the rulers, no one was allowed to be either accompanied by these musicians nor were they allowed to play in any other part of the city except the royal palaie.

The darbar (i.e. the court) was the actual space where the authority of the king was manifest through a number of rituals. Special assemblies were held there to receive foreign envoys, or on special occasions like corortation, victory in war and religious festivals. In royal functions like marriages of the Sultan's sons and daughters there was a ereat dis~lav of wealth. In annual celebrations of ,the coronation day, the

nobles donned new lothes and placed nazr (presents) before the Sultan and took fresh oaths of allegi

The Harem : Almost every Sultan had a 'harem', a special space where wbmen had. their quarters. The 8bltan's mother, his queens and all female servants and slaves lived here. Separate!accommodations were provided for the women according to their ranks. The hoqdehold karkhanas catered to their needs.

The huge householdi along with the general expenditure that went to maintain it was a part of the ostbntatious lifestyle of the Sultans. But this conspicuous consumption patte indirectly helped domestic manufactures and generated employment within % e country. Mmbers of the aristocracy who together with the S u l h enjoyed the qghest economic and social benefits formed the wre of the ruling class. In the ~bltanate peiiod, they were grouped in two.sectors - the secular 'omnh' and the reqgioy 'dema'.

The Sultanate admiiistration accorded a special place to the ufema. Those among them who were assdoiated with the administration of justice and religious law were known as 'dastarbahdan' sihce they were distinguished by a special cap. I

The dema helped t& rule? in theologicd matters. They had to undertake a special training and follow definite wurse of study which consisted of islamic theory, law, logic, Arabic and r f ligious texts such as tafsir, Radis, Qunr'n, etc.

These men, along with a few others, formed the intellectual elite group known as abl qalam. Their social roles were determined by the needs of the centralised state and an autocratic emperqr. These men profided moral support to the imperial rule.

34.5 THE P~LITICAL ARISTOCRACY

The highest dignity pas reserved for men who were granted the title of 'Khan7. Below them were tk-maliks and the third in rank were amirs. Since most of these titles signified a milibmy rank; the sipahsalar and sarkbel formed the lowest rank among the nobility. h e word amir meaning a noble was, however, applied to both civil and military petkons.

Apart from the o u t v r d manifestations of splendour, the Sultanate nobility emulated the lifestyle of the Soltans. Almost every nobleman had huge palaces, . harems, slaves and busehold karkhanas to cater to their needs. They also had enough money for t 1 e maintenance of their household.

' Apart from attend& the darbar and going to war, the nobles hunted, attended and hosted feasts, and a140 spent their time in being entertained by musician and dancing girls. Quite often, tppy also maintained large libraries.

The relation of the Bultanate ruling class with the Sultans depended upon their narrow perception 6f self-interest which resulted in each noble tying to reach the imperial throne. B4ban and Alauddin Khalji sternly repressed the nobles, but their splendid mode of litk revived under his successors. In the reign of Muhammad Tughluq, his wazir &joyed an income as large as that derived from the province of Iraq. The other midisters yearly received 20,000 to 40,000 tank- with the chief sadr getting the fabuloug sum of 160,000 tankas as his sole income for a year. During the Tughluq period, a umber of nobles left large fortunes for their sohs. Thus, Bqhir, who was ariz-i mun)blik under Feroz Tughluq, left 13 crores at his death, which Feroz confiscated oil the ground that Bashir was his slave. But this was an exception and mostly the nobles were allowed to leave their property bamng the iqta to their sons. I

M e of the Aristochts Nobels live in (havelis). Each haveli had several rooms, baths,

and harem. Inside was decorated with expensive were finely white-washed. Their houses and rich with silk, gold and silver. They.used silk . . . . . . . . . a - - - LA-. --As-

Check Your Progress 1 + 1) Comment on the following :

ii) Saiyyids ....................................................................................

2) Write a note on the power and position of the ulema in the Sultanate society?

............................................,................................&............................

3) Discuss the lifestyle of the Sultanate nobility.

34.6 LIFESTYLE OF THE MASSES

I .As mentioned earlier there were hardly any changes in the structure of the Hindu society during this period.

Domestic Life Family formed the 'core' of the Indian village society. The family norms in the 'Hindu' society were different from what the Muslims had brought, but still sharing some features in common. Both the societies accepted male dominance - preference of son over a daughter.

Rituals and Ceremonies In both the Hindu and the Muslim families, ceremonies started from the birth of the child itself, the more respectable the family, theomore elaborate was the ritual. Among the Hindus upanayana samskara marks the entrance of child into the fold of education. Among the Muslims after the completion of 4 years 4 months and 4 days Bismillah Khani (sending the child to the maktab) ceremony was performed. Among the Muslims circumcision ceremony (usually in the 7th year) was celebrated with great pomp and show while among the Hindus upanayana (dvua ceremony) vras held,

The next important ceremony'was marriage. Both, the Muslims as well as Hindus, preferred not only great pomp and show but observed many rituals. The girl used to bring huge dowry with hem. Among the Hindus, mamage within the sub-c. h t e - were allowed but intermarriage with other varna was forbidden. As for the Muslims, there was complete freedom in choosing wife or a husbahd. But importance was given to the 'status' (kafu) of the respective social groups.

Death ceremony was accompdnied by many superstitious rites. Among the Hindus, ceremonies continued for one year terminating finally by performing sraddha. Among the Muslims, siyum (the ceremony of the third day) was held.

Caste was still the dominant category in markirlg social differences. The smriti texts I

4 continued to emphasize that punishing the wicked and upholding the chatarmim I (four-fold caste) social order by the force of arms was the duty of the Kshatriya. In t

~ d ~ : l 3 t h t o l S t h c v

actuality, the memberb of the earlier ruling class, the sons of the ranas, ranakas, etc. now constituted the ral aristocracy and administrative wing without whose help the state could not fu li @ion. A kind of tacit sharing of power between the Hindu ' aristocracy and the citb-based administrator was thus a factor of crucial importance for the Delhi Sultanate.

The duty of the Shudrp was still one of service to the higher castes. The ban on the Sbudras reciting the w a s still held good, though they were now allowed to listen to the recitation of the Nranas. Smriti writers continued to ban the Shudras from sharing their food and!participating in the ritual feasts of the upper castes and severest restrictions were placed on mingling with the Chandalas and other outcastes.

1

The usual'religious prwtices of daily worship and ceremonies were followed. The old forms of mamage@ontinued. Inter-caste mamage among the upper castes were forbidden in the Kali dge. This made the caste division more rigid. However, as the smriti writers discuss qt length the social position of children born of inter-caste marriages such marriages must have continued. It seems that the rich and powerful could choose their wi\n&s.from all castes and sections with only some restrictions in spite of the prevailing norms of marriage within one's own caste. '

1

34.7 POSITIObi OF WOMEN

There was almost no dhange in the lifestyle of the upper caste Hindu women during this period. Women &re subordinate to men in every walk of life - as daughter, wife and even after h a husband's death (under her eldest son's care). Birth sf a daughter was looked down ubon, since they were considered as symbol of dishonour for the father. Their ntain duty was to produce progeny, especially the male child. They were strictly codned in the 'antahpura' (inner sanctum). The ancient rules enjoining early marriages for girls and the wife's duties to her husband and his kula (lineage) were contindously stressed.

Annulment of maniades took place in special circumstances such as desertion, disease or mental disddder. Even then all Hindu theologians do not agree to this. Position of Muslim wdtnen was also very much similar to their Hindu counterpart. As for female educatim, the women of poor classes did not have a chance for education, but the higher strata women seem to have received education and training. We do hear mes of Dewalrani, Rupamati, Padmavati, etc. The example of Raziya shows that c uslim aristocracy did impart education to their daughters as well. Regarding both,jpidow remamage and sati, there are a number of controversies. A number of travellers, specially Ibn Battuta, mention with horror of a woman burning herdelf on the funeral pyre of her husband..He mentions, however, that pfior pqrmission for one wanting to be a sati had to be taken from the Sultan. But with the akailable eyidence, it is unlikely that the Rajputs or even other Hindus would have cdhplied with this injunction. At any rate, the practice of sati was confined to the ul)per strata of the society. The degraded position of widow seems to be the most inportant factor that encouraged sati. Among the Rajputs, . practice of jauhar wad Blso prevalent. In the event of an imminent defeat their women were set on fih.

I

The commentators upHold the widow's right to the property of a sonless husband, provided the property was not commonly held. The widow was not merely the guardian of this popeby but had the full right to dispose it off. Though in the face of these commentaries, it seems that property rights of women improved in the Hindu society, but this couldihave hardly applied in a uniform manner all over the country.

An interesting misconception that persists today is regarding the evolution of the 'purdah system'. Custom of purdah was not the novelty of the Muslims, as it is generally considered. !he, customs prevailed even much before. However, the present 'elaborate' an institutionalized form of purdah can certainly be credited to the Muslim rule. At a I! 9 rate, purdah became a privilege of upper classes. Both Hindu and Muslim ahtocracy guarded their women by keeping them hidden within the walled space of thh antahpura and the harem while the poor (Muslim) women used burqa to h v e r their body. Malik Muhammad Jayasi and Vidyapati do refer to

purdah. But till Muhammad Tughluq's reign no attempt was made by the state to impose any restriction in this direction.

I

34.8 SCAVES AND SERVANTS !

n e master-slave relation formed a category by which the authority in the Sultanate society expressed itself. Most noblemen referred to themselves as the slave of the Sultan.

The slaves in India can be graded into two groups : i) Those who were bought in an open salve market. ii) Those who were first prisoners of war and then made slaves. The position of these different types of slaves have also been discussed in the Hindu shastras. Both the Indians and the Turks had a lorg tradition of maintaining slaves. Open slave-markets for men and women existed in West Asia as well as Irdia. Slaves were generally bought for domestic service cr for their spe:ial skills. Feroz Shah Tughluq who had a special penchant for slaves collected about 180,000 of ithem. Many of them were employed in handicrafts. The rest formed the personal bodyguards of the Sultz n A special type of male slaves who were castrated in childhood were trained to be the guards of the harem.These were known as khwajasara (eunuchs). In the 13th century, Bengal was a flourishing centre for the buying and selling of eunuchs in particular. Women slaves were. generally graded into two groups : (i) for domestic service and (ii) for entertainment and pleasure. The first were generally ordinary ' women while the second group was composed of beautiful women who could sing, dance and carry on conversation.

I I Not only nobles, but any prosperous householder found it impossible to run house

without slaves. Thus, keeping slaves became a special mark of prosperity, and nobles vied with each other over the possession of a comely boy or a girl slave.

It is now an accepted fact that slaves in the Sultanate India were treated better thcln servants :,the master by taking on the obligation of owning a slave usually looked after their material comfort.

Check Your F'rogress 2 1) Write in 60 words the changes brought in the Hindu castesystem

I

I during the Sultanate period. i

I .................................................................................................... ....................................................................................................

2) Discuss the role played by the slave household in the Sultanate socio-economic order.

....................................................................................................

............ ................................................................ ......................

...................................................................................................

...................................................................................................

................................................................................................... .

34.9 URBAN LIFE

During the 13th-14th centuries, a number of towns and ports flourished in North India. Broach, Cambap, Lakhnauti, Sonargaon and Multan flourished as trading

mhlstb centres. Ibn Battuta #ives a detailed description of ~ e l h ; . It was one of the largest CIlbn cities in the Islamic wprld with a mixed population of merchants from India as well

as Iran, ~fghanistan,lctc. It is said that overland trade with West Asia was in the hands of ~ultanis,'wpbo were mostly Hindus. The Gujarati and Marwari merchants. were extremely wealthy and some of them, particularly the Jains, spent large sums in the construction o temples. They also had large residential buildings. Their houses were surroun 1 ed by orchards and fruit gardens which had many tanks.

Cambay was a fine pdrt-city where there was an agglomeration of wealthy ,

merchants. Not only did they live in fine houses, they consumed good food and wore fine clothes. Men dreked themselves in cotton and silk garments, anointed themselves with sandblwood paste and wore rings, gold-earrings studded with precious stones and gplden girdles. women wore long flowing cloth (sari) and silken blouses. Wom,en's je$ellery were made of gold and silver metals. They wore earrings, anklets and lenty of rings on fingers and toes. !@ The Muslim mercha* who usually came from Central Asia dressed themselves in ' embroidered garment$ covered with gold and silver works. They also wore thick boots coming up to their knees.

Many of these towns *ere also centres of craft production. The.towns of Bengal and Gujarat were famousifor the production of fine clothes. Cambay was also famous for

1 gold and silver works1 There were many other luxury crafts such as leather works, metal work, carpet wpaving, etc. Many of these were exported to the Red Sea,

*

Persian Gulf and So* East Asian Countries.

As for , Ziauddin Barani mentions the Multanis and Sahas of Delhi, deal of wealth from the resources of maliks and amirs who

or draft over their iqta.'

Another mercantile s o u p was that of the brokers (dallals) who first make their appearance in the coQnmercia1 history of the Delhi Sultanate. They operated between merchants apd customers raising prices when they could. Alauddin Khalji was specially harsh 04 them but since theywere needed in any large market, they could never be dispebsed with entirety. Sarrafs or money changers constituted yet ,another mercantile g ) ~ u p who were quite prosperous.

Apart from these dis inct groups, there were a large number of smaller artisans, shopkeepers and ven 1, ors who lived in the cities. Except for the regional songs and folk tales, very little historical details can be gleaned about their daily lives.

34.10 RURAL LIFE

The towns needed tolbe fed and supplied with finished and raw materials from the countryside. The high level of taxation and the cash-nexus in combination ensured' that the peasants woqld have to sell much of their produce in order to pay land revenue. Barani infoms us how the high pitch of demand under Alauddin Khalji forced thepeasants of the Doab to sell grainby the side of the fields to the karwanis who took it to Delhi for sale.

The towns, on the 0 t h hand, had little to send back to their villages since the taxation system assuded all the time a heavy balance of payments in favour of the towns, which were thb headquarters of the Sultan and members of the ruling classes.

34.10.1 peasane A vast majority lived'in villages. Cultivation was based on individual peasant. farming and the size (xf land cultivated by them varied greatly from the large holding of the 'khots' or en to the small plots of 'balahars' or village menials. Below

have existed a group of landless menial castes but little is known a b u t them id this period.

Peasants generally ?+ed a pair of oxen and the plough. Land was abundant. Wells were probably the mqjor source of artificial irrigation. Muhammad Tughluq advanced loans to pe ants for improving agri-mlture. The peasants raised water by various means from t wells (see Unit 22). Since peasants owned implements

needed for cultivation and sold their crop for payment of revenue in cash, there Lllclt).kdPopllrC*

must have been differentiation among the peasantry. Barani designates men of the. highest stratum among the peasants as khots and muqaddams (for details, see 'Blocks 5 and 6). Before Alauddin Khalji adopted the measures, the kho& are alleged to have been exempted from three major taxes. Furthermore, they levied a cess of their. own on the villagers (qismat-i khoti). When Alauddin prohitited them from

i I

levy ng the cess, they became quite poor and their wives worked as maidservants in the houses of Muslims. The khots and muqaddams were peasants, but peasants who stood on the borderland of the rural aristocracy. When prosperous, they imitated the ways of-higher chiefs, i.e., rode horsed, wore fine clothes and chewed betel-leaves. In the reign of Feroz Shah Tughluq, a chronicler describes the general prosperity of the kh-. Everyone had large amount of gold and silver and countless goods; and none of the women of the peasantry remained without ornaments. In every peasant's house there were clean bed-sheets, excellent bed-cots and many other articles.

, 34.10.2 The Dwelling of the Peasants The ordinary peasants lived in mud huts supported by bamboos or tree trunks with thatched roof. The floor was plastered with cowdung. Only the meanest :

requirements for shelter from winter, monsoon or the heat of summer were met ih their dwellings. Very little furnjture was used : men, women and children lived in small rooms huddle together. They usually slept on the floor on mats or cottun quilts. Only the prosperous peasants used metal vessels; the ordinary people used earthern pots. There was no separate place for bathing except the wells or ponds. No sense of privacy existed.

The houses of the more prosperous peasants had more land around the main structure. They usually had more than one room with verandah, a courtyard and chabutara (platform) and even sometimes second story and the walls were plac:kr?.' with cowdung and decorated with drawings, Often there was a small vegetat-lr garden around their dwellings.

t In terms of food, the ordinary peasant ate bread made out of rice; they also use lintel, onion and chillies and as luxury they had some little ghee. They used to take meal twice a day.

I Geherally, the Hindu peasants went bareheaded and barefooted. They usually wore a single dhotitcloth. In Gujarat and Rajasthan, they wore a red handkerchief around their head. Woinen usually wore two kinds of dresses: a sheet of cloth to cover themselves and a blouse. The second dress consisted of a lehanga or long sk~rt a blouse and dupatta w a big scarf. The latter dress was more popular In i tlr. 17. $1-

I area.

- - 34.11 GAMES AND AMUSEMENTS -- - - - --

Wrestling was very popular even among villagers. Apart from these, fencing. spear throwing, horse racing were popular an4ong the aristocracy. Polo (chaugan) was an aristocratic game.

Religious festivals and fairs offered an opportunity to the ordinary people to enjoy themselves. These, along with visiting holy places for pilgrimage, were the major diversions in the otherwise drab life of the common people.

The bhakti movement and the works of popular preachers like Kabir, Dadu and others inspired popular poets and their songs acted as cementing bond between people of different religious sects. These falklores and songsalso spontaneously reflected the experience of the people whose lives have in general remained u1mt:ntioned in the official accounts and ru l in r class discc~ursc.

r * q r a : u . m r CbecicYmrRogaq, W' 1) Write a note on t w lifestyle of the merchant class during the Sultanate

period. I &

I '

...................... jl-: .......................................................................... I !

2) Write short notei/bn the following : . .......................................... ............................ a) Rural ~rist*cy ,...

I !

................................................................................. .... b) Peasants 1

c) Games and husemen t s ................................................................ ( 3

I

34.12 LET U ~ I SUM UP

We have seen how wit the coming of the Turks a new ruling class came into existine replacing the old one. his change did not bring much of a difference in their lifestyle. ! Like their predecessorSI they too led a luxurious life. The ulema were also not behind in copying their ways jn their own limited-ways. The lifestyle of the nobles was also' similar to that qf the Sultan but on a low level. They used high-sounding titles, lived in luxurious houses, or nised dinner parties, maintained large nurhber of horses and elephants as symbol of k eir prestige. The Hindu society was divided on the basis of castes. But with the coltling of the Turks, slight improvement in the positions of the shudras and outcastes as visible. The Hindu woman enjoyed some property rights, but the custom of pur was prevalent during this period. The Delhi Sultans maintained large num $- br of slaves who were employed in the royal karlrhanas and bodyguards as well. Mdrchants, too, enjoyed favourable status and lived comfortably. But the peasants' concfition was not good.

34.13 KEY WORDS Adz-i Mumalik : See I)Bock 5

Hadis : sayinbs. and actions of Prophet Muhammad

Samskara : cerevnies. There are broadly 16 such ceremonies which a Hindu is suppqsed to perform during his life time.

Upllaayana : one the Hindu samskara. In its early phase upanayaaa saqmskap the entry of a child into learning/education. But during later

was related more to the dvija (thread) ceremony

i

34.14 ANSW-S TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

I

Cheek Your h.ogress 1 [ 1 SeeSec.34.4 I

2 See Sec. 34.4 I - - . *

! Check Your Progress 2 I 1 See Sec. 34.6 .- - C

i 2 See Sec. 34.8

Check Your Progress 3 I

1 See Sec. 34.9 2 a) See Sub-sec. 34.10.1

I b) See Sub-sec. 34.10.1 c) See Sec. 34.11

SOME USEFUL BOOKS FOR THIS BLOCK

Percy Brown, Indian Architecture : Ialnmif Pew Indian pdatiqp. R. Nath, HisCory of Sultanate Archi&.

Prof. K.A. N W , ReMgbua and Polltics d m the 13tb cemtury. A.L. Basham (ed.), CnltrvPl &&age of In&.

K;M; Ashraf, Life Pnd Conditions of the People of Hladnetan. Yusuf Husain Khan, GUmpees of Medieval IadiPn Culture.

Tara Chand, Influence of Islam on Indian Culture.

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