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History of India 1200-1500

Assignment

BA (Hons) History : III Semester 2018-19

Akshat Tyagi
Roll No. 1184


Discuss the various sources for the Delhi sultanate with particular reference to Mushtaqi, Mulfuzat
and Premakhyan.

Introduction

The study of Delhi Sultanate is plush with diverse sources including archaeological, numismatic
and literary. Unlike many other sultanates, the largest Sultanates of India—Delhi is fortunately
covered by a vast expanse of literary sources, not only in Persian but also other languages like
Arabic and Sanskrit. In the following assignment we will first look at the literary sources for
understanding the Delhi Sultanate, with special emphasis on Mushtaqi, Mulfazat and
Premakhyan, and then briefly look at other non-literary.

Our main literary sources for studying Delhi Sultanate are the chronicles of both state-sponsored
couturiers and independent historians of the time. Let us look at some of these books and
records-

Taj-ul Maasir by Hasan Nizami who came from Nyasapur along with the Turks to Hindustan gives
an account of the early Sultanate and a vivid account of Qutub-ud-din Aibak as a person. That
Qutub-ud-din Aibak was called a Lakhsh Baksh meaning giver of lakhs as donations, an insight
into Qutub-ud-din‘s generous personality, is known from Hasan Nizami‘s account.

The next literary source in chronology is Tabaqat-i-Nasiri by Minhaj-us-Siraj. A very important

source of history the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri gives information about Iltutmish, successor to Qutub-ud-
din and often considered as the real founder of the Delhi Sultanate, about his successors, Raziya,
Bahram Shah, Alauddin Masud Shah and Nasiruddin Mahmud, the last of the sultans in the line of
Iltutmish.

The thread of the narrative of the Sultanate is then taken up by Zia-ud-din Barani. Zia Barani is
considered as by far the best historian of the Sultanate period. He is also popularly known as the
historian of seven sultans. His narrative begins with Ghiyasuddin Balban, followed by that

of his grandson Kaiqubad, the subsequent seizing of power by Jalaluddin Khalji and the beginning
of the Khalji rule, a fact which he much lamented, thinking that the Khaljis were not proper Turks.

His account of Alauddin Khalji‘s reign is a very important source for this period. He was critical of
Alauddin‘s open disavowal of the Shariat. Yet Barani wrote in detail about Alauddin‘s revenue
reforms and more importantly about Alauddin‘s famous market regulation policy. Barani gives a
detail account of the commodities available in the Mandi and Sarai-i-Adl, the regulated markets,
set up by Alauddin and the fixed price lists alongside. One gets an idea about the economic
condition and the state of crafts and industries of the time from this narrative of Barani.

Barani stressed on the study of history or Tariq as an important branch of Islamic learning as it
was essentially based on moral teaching. Pragmatism in Barani is found when he tried to explain
the complex nature of the Sultanate and the problems facing it when he said with regard to
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Balban that as Dindari‘( theocratic government ) was not possible, in the situation like in
Hindustan, the Sultan had to pursue Duniyadari‘ (a policy akin to secularism).

The second other book of Barani is Fatwa-i-Jahandari. While discussing the socio-economic
situation of the time, he tries to express a coherent politico-religious philosophy and also analyses
the nature and powers of the Sultanate in this book. He also provides prescriptions of a stable
government.

Amir Khasru, the famous poet, also contributes a great deal to our understanding of the Delhi
Sultanate. His book Khazain-ul-Futuh is an important source about the victories of Alauddin Khalji
and most important, Malik Kafur‘s march towards the Deccan and South India. A very vivid
description of the southern kingdoms especially of Devagiri is found in this book, a fact which
inspired Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq to set up his second capital in that region.

Amir Khasru‘s Nuh Sipir throws light on the Hindu-Muslim relations existing in the 14th century
and also about the scientific activities that were jointly carried out by Hindus and Muslims during
this time. Amir Khasru‘s poetical work Ashiq centered on the true love story between Alauddin
Khalji‘s eldest son Khizir Khan and Devala Devi the Sultan‘s Hindu Begam Kamala Devi‘s
daughter by her former marriage to Karna Dev the Baghela ruler of Gujarat, who was killed in the
battle, followed by Gujarat‘s annexation to the Sultanate.

Ashiq is a document of social interactions and how the two communities were coming close
together. Amir Khasru‘s Tughlaq Nama is an important book for knowing the history of the first
two Tughlaq rulers.

Isami‘s Tariq-i-Firuz Shahi, having the same title as Barani‘s book gives important information
abour the rein of Firuz Shah Tughlaq. There are two more works on Firuz Shah‘s time. One is
supposed to be his autobiography, Futuhat-i-Firuz Shahi, the only autobiographical work of the
time. The other is the anonymous work called Sirat-ul-Firuz Shahi. In this latter book one gets an
interesting account of how Firuz Shah got an ancient minar from a village called Toprah on the
other side of the Jamuna River and brought it to Delhi and fixed it up in the new extended part of
the city called Firuz Shah Kotla.

‘Tarikh-i-Salatin-i-Afghana,’ by Ahmad Yadgar gives an account of the rise and fall of the Lodis
and Suris. The book was written during Akbar’s reign.

Apart from political chronicles which constitute the chief source of information for constructing the
political works, mystic records_ Malfuzat, Maktubat and general treatises- geographical accounts,
autobiographies, Tazkiras, manuals of book- keeping and revenue records, general works on
religion, treatises on science, translations from Sanskrit and other languages, etc. The richness of
archival material is also beyond calculation. By and large most of the mystics of the medieval
period believed in giving a wide birth to the government of the day.

Though the Khair-ul-Majalis, which is a Malfuz literature is primarily a philosophical and didactic
literature that delineates upon ethical, spiritual and mystic ideas but the narration of various
historical facts in context of their social relevance imparts historical significance to this text. Apart
from this, the book written in Persian language also carries immense literary and linguistic
importance, which is worth to be analyzed.

A distinctive genre of Persian literature emerged in the form of Malfuzat. The Malfuz literature is
basically a Sufi literature which contains conversation or discourses of the leading Sufi masters of
the period to a · select gathering of Sufi disciples and visitors, which also contained didactic
anecdotes and maxims.

The term Malfuz derived from a word "Lafz' meaning "word". Malfuz literature, the recorded
discourses of Sufi saints, not only gave an insight into the socio-economic situation of the period,
but was crucial to ensuring the continuation of Sufi influence after the 14th century. By the 12th
century A.D, Sufism had become a universal aspect of Islamic social life, whose influence had not
only spread widely among Muslims, but to a large segment of the population, regardless of
religion.

Malfuzat are important and reliable alternatives for revealing the mentality and lives of the masses
during the Sultanate era, reflecting the actions and reactions of the common man their food
habits, style of dress, money and currency, their dwellings, their festivals, places of worship, the
commodities available at the market. We can also gain insight into details such as social class,
religious rituals and practices, position of women, education, occupation, recreation, and climate.

It is not only a depiction of mystical experiences and discourses of the Sufis, but can be used to
reconstruct the social life of the ordinary person. As such, we can utilize the Malfuzat to fill the
gaps outstanding on life in the Sultanate period, questions which many other historical texts of
the period do not answer.

These comments reveal certain crucial social dilemmas, which were neglected by the ruling
classes. Many history texts of the period neglect these problems; rather they focus on socio-
political and economic events that gloss over the ground realities, employing a hyperbolic tone in
appreciating the triumphs and exploits of their kings. It is Malfuzat that we learn about social
problems, unabridged.

Accounts of Foreign Travellers

Ibn Batuta, the famous Moroccan traveller visited Hindustan during Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq‘s
time. His account Rehla gives a vivid description of the city of Delhi. According to Ibn Batuta Delhi
was the most populous and prosperous city in the world. Its fame and fortune outshone that of
even Cairo. Ibn Batuta joined the administration of Muhammad and was in service for five years.
He went down to Lukhnauti and visited the ports of Chittagong and Satgaon and described the
throbbing busy life existing in those two port towns. It was from one of those ports that he sailed
out to China.

There are two more foreign accounts belonging to the time of Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq, though it
is not known whether these two Arab scholars and the authors of these two works ever visited
Hindustan. Nevertheless they had written quite interesting accounts of Hindustan in the time of
Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq. That the city of Delhi was never abandoned for the sake of a new capital
at Daulatabad is confirmed by these two works, Masali-kul-Absar by Al Umari and Subbal-A’sha
by Al-Qal-Qashandi. Both authors refer to the two capitals of Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq existing
simultaneously at the same time. The capital cities as mentioned by these two authors were
Takht-i-Dehli and Takht-i-Daulatabad, the word Takht used, to mean seat of power. This fact
provided by the two foreign authors very significantly questions and disproves the view of and
facts supplied by both Barani and Isami that Delhi was abandoned by Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq
for Daulatabad and the entire project arose out of a whim of the Sultan. The authors of Masali-kul-
Absar and Subbal A’sha on the contrary tell us that the project was well thought out and resulted
from the need for a second capital in the South.

Other foreign travellers like Abdur Razzaq who came from Iran, visited the Sultanate in Delhi and
then went down to the newly founded kingdom of Vijayanagar. Razzaq‘s account brings forth an
interesting study. He saw similarities between the political and administrative structure of the
Sultanate with that of the newly established Hindu kingdom. This comment of Abdur Razzaq led
modern historians of Medieval History to an analytical conclusion that the Vijayanagar rulers
thought it worth to follow the pattern of the Sultanate.

This is also a commentary on the close contacts that were being happening between the two
communities around this time, towards the middle of the thirteenth century.

While there were almost inexhaustible writings serving as rich, various, veritable sources for the
history of the Sultanate, there are other sources like archaeological remains, coins and
inscriptions providing supportive information for the writing of the Sultanate history

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Archaeological Monuments

The earliest to be found in today‘s Qutub complex. The monuments like the famous Qutub Minar
and the Quawwat- ul-Masjid, tombs of Iltutmish, Balban and Alauddin Khalji as architectural
remains, give a visual depiction of a particular period in history when Central Asian culture was
fast mingling with the indigenous.

This as seen in art form is an example of the social and cultural synchronization that happened in
the 13th century. Sandstone which was found in plenty in North and western India was used as
building medium, while Indian craftsmen were employed, who left to themselves, used styles and
designs known to them for generations. This is best seen in the Qutub Minar and elsewhere as
well. Sometimes broken materials, slabs and chunks from demolished structures of earlier times
were also used containing Hindu or non-Islamic motifs and illustrations but which were not
interfered with and remained on the structures. Local styles and local materials were used in local
areas like bricks and the motif of the thatched hut roofs as found in Bengal or the serpentine
arches characteristic of indigenous buildings of Rajasthan and Gujarat used in architectural
arrangements of the Sultanate time.

In constructing and narrating the history of the Sultanate period and talking of the mixing of
cultures Turki and Indian, these architectural specimens had served as valuable sources and
specimens. In the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, the Vijayanagar Kingdom had a rich international
trade with countries outside. Depictions of ships and sail boats are found on temple walls, and
also that of bearded horse merchants in flowing robes and bringing in horses for the king‘s
appraisal sculpted in bold relief give the history scholars almost a cinematic view of the past as
found in literary and textual accounts of trade and commercial situation of the time.

Coins

Numismatics is an important source in supplementing literary history, especially in learning about

the early Sultans. Coins bearing the name of Muhammad Ghori and even that of Qutub-ud-din
Aibak or that of Iltutmish bear the images of them on one side and on the other the figure of
Prithviraj Chauhan or the other defeated Rajput rulers on the other side.

This could be an indication of the victor stamping his image on that of the defeated to vividly
impress upon the people their overriding and overpowering authority. What is more interesting is
the use of the Devnagri script and the language Sanskrit on the reverse side, perhaps to create a
familiarity with the subject people.

Inscriptions

Inscriptions play the role as coins in the same way. Sanskrit inscriptions found during the
intervening period between Ghaznavid and Ghurid invasions refer to such terms as Turushka,
Turushka danda and Hammir verifying Turkish settlements in the Indus-Gangetic valley. These
inscriptions also talk about sudden raids of the Turks in Punjab at the time. We hardly have any
literary texts for this period in Sanskrit, not even in Persian apart from Qitab-ul-Hind which again
give no account of the political situation. Inscriptions therefore are main sources in such cases in
constructing history.

Some inscriptions in Sanskrit found on temple walls give a Hindu view of the Sultanate rule. Like
the one that compared Ghiyasuddin Balban with the epic ruler Ramchandra. Extensively inscribed
accounts of Firuz Shah Tughlaq‘s reign had been found on the wall of a mosque in Firuzabad in
UP. This is said to be quoted from Firuz Shah‘s autobiography Futuhat-i-Firuz Shahi.