Question.

Explain the evolution of Iqta system from thirteenth to the fifteenth century
in the Delhi Sultanate.

Answer. The term Iqtadari system was coined by Nizamul Mulk to maintain
smooth administration of the Abbassid Empire. The institution of iqta was the
most talked about institution in the Delhi sultanate. Moreland argues that when the
Ghurid invasions took place in North India, the word iqta was applied to any revenue
charge. The sultans of Delhi Sultanate like Balban, Itutmish, Allauddin Khilji
etc effectively used the lqtadari system for their centralization of power. The
iqta' was a territorial assignment and its holder was designated muqti. The muqti only
had the responsibility of collecting the tax from the peasant and he wasn't allowed to
charge anything else from the peasants, otherwise the sultan would take away his
powers. The Sultan have right to increase or decrease a size of lqta. But the Mukti
also had to fulfil certain obligations, the major one being the maintenance of troops
and to present it before the sultan whenever he needed it. The revenues he
appropriated from the iqta were thus mcant to provide him with resources wherewith
to fulfil his obligation. So the Muqti in a way was both a tax collector and army
paymaster (commander). The whole area was divided into lqtas (under Muqti) and
Khalisa (directly under control of sultan).

lqta was basically a mechanism by which land revenue was re-distributed. Iqta could turn
into an administrative charge under the wishes of sultan. The system of iqta remained an
institution created and sustained by the state. The sultan could at any time enfranchise the
lqtadar. According to Moreland, argued that iqta according to texts like Tariq-i-Shahi means a
particular area assigned to the noble. In such cases the person wasn't called an iqtadar but a
muqti. These people could be constantly transferred. The muqtis were basically governors
enjoying administrative powers by the grace of sultan. Muqti was scen as the ideal revenue
collector and if he was the governor of a particular area, it meant that he had to maintain a
large number of officers to guard over the local iqtas. He could pay them in cash or sub
delegate his own iqta. Even the muqti could assign iqta but this was different from the iqta
assigned by the sultan. Another historian Andre Wink takes a closer look at the institution of
iqta. His basic interest in iqta lies in the fact that it was able to integrate the political and
fiscal space between the frontier mode of organization and the sedentary mode of
organization.

The iqta system have been divided into basically three phases by the historians- changes that
came with Ghori's, changes that came with Muhammad Tughlaq and last one changes
under Firoz shah Tughlaq. Muhammad Ghori was the first to introduce lqta system in
India. When the Ghorians conquered northern India, the conquests were initially divided up
among commanders who maintained themselves and their troops by plunder and collection of
tribute. The practice of iqta assignments was so familiar to the conquerors that the
commanders were designated muqti's, and their territorial jurisdictions were called iqta's.
After, being introduced by Muhammad Ghori, the lqta system was reorganized properly by
Sultan IItutmish for the first time. He defined the duties & responsibilities of lqtadar
claborately and gave it an institutional form. Under this re-organized system the lqtadar were
responsible for, maintaining fixed numbers of troops, looking after the administration of the
area under control, collecting revenue, and depositing Fawazal in the central treasury.
According to Juzani's Tabagat, IItutmish had at one time held the iqta of the town of Baran
with its dependencies and Baran was frequently granted
out as during hisinreign and those
igecoribed different
of his Shamsi successors. Tabaqat also gives us evidence of grants
language at two different points, especially in the case of Kabir Khan who is said to have
been granted the city and fortress of Multan, its townships and its districts ncar and far and
appointed to the governorship, clsewhere he is duly termed wali of Multan. Iqtas were
sometimes called Wilayats or walis. The mugti also seems to have been free to sub-assign
small iqta's to anyone he chose, from within his own larger iqta, he also probably normally
paid his troops by this means. A later tradition related that Itutmish paid cavalry soldiers of
his own 'central' army (qalb). 2,000 or 3,000 in number. by assigning them villages, which
came to be called
greater central control The praetee continued under Balban (1266 86), who imposed
over .He appointed an accountant Khwaja with every lqtadar
to check the authentication of records maintaincd by them. He appointed khwaja (accountant)
along with the muqti which suggests that his government was now trying to discover what
was actually collected and spent within the iqta.

Under Khaljis and Tughlaqs it became simpler. Second phase started with Allaudin khalji
who led to the consolidation of iqta's, Major changes occurred during the reign of 'Allaudin
Khalji (1296-1316). Under him, there was a great expansion in the limits of the empire and an
attempt at imposing the full land tax on peasantry of the older territories. This enlargement
was accompanicd by number of important measures that affect organisation of lqta. As more
areas became part of the empire and were assigned in iqta and arcas near the capital were
under khalisa. The system of paying the sultan's own cavalry troops (hashm) by assignment
of villages as iqta's was abolished. The revenue of the khalisa was brought into the treasury,
and the soldiers were paid in cash. This system continued without change until the end of the
reign of Muhammad Tughluq.
Ghivasuddin Tughlug had no radical changes to introduce in this System,ep to propound
moderation. The Finance Department was not to increase the estimate by over one
tenth or one cleventh annually, since the burden of any such enhancement could be passed on
from muqti to the peasantry. No muqti allowed to take anything from the portion of the iqta
which was reserved for the payment of the troops and they were also warned not to ill-treat
any of their officials for small amounts (0.5 or I per cent of the receipts), taken over and
above their salaries. Under Muhammad Tughluq (1325-51), there was an extension of the
control of the sultan's government. The two functions of collecting taxes(income) and
maintaining the troops(expenditure) now began to be separated. This separation arose
primarily out of a desire to obtain larger income. He separated Itthe income & expenditure of
. There was close monitoring of iqta's, finance department (Diwan-i-wizrat) came up
to increase the cstimate. Out of the total income, some part was paid to troops, some set apart
for finance department and rest hold by muqti as salary. Salary was fixed and so was revenue
of aparticular district. Muqti's embossed the record books, and keepa check on corruption.
Muqti had certain subordinates, bigger muqti's interfering in lives and managing small.
According to Barani, Nizam who was a "man of low birth" took the iqta of Kara on contract
at some lakhs of tankas and Nusrat who was a merchant and took contract for lqta of Bidar
and other surrounding territories, upon a promise to pay one crore of tankas.

Firoz Tughluq's accession (151) took place amidst a severe political crisis and he began his
reign by promising concessions to the nobility. During his reign, there was a third phase in
which, Iqta the system was declared hereditary. After the death of lqtadar, his son/son-in
law/slave/widow was allowed to succecd. According to Firoz, there should be a new estimate
of the revenues (mahsul) of the sultanate and within next four years this was prepared, the
total amounting to 67,5 00,000 or 68,5 00,000 tankas. The figure was designated Jama' (a
term used for the first time) and no change was made in it for the remainder of the reign of
the sultan. Fixity of the Jama' meant that the muqti's would not be troubled on account of
enhancements in the payments due from them to the treasury. The auditing of their accounts
at the court now became a comfortable and even pleasant business for the mugti's. Firoz also
incrcased the personal pay of his great nobles, whereas the highest personal pay of nobles
under Muhammad Tughluq was 200,000 tankas. Firoz gave the pay of 400,000, 600,000 or
800,000 tankas to his khans and maliks and to his vizier 1,300,000 tankas. In lieu of this they
obtained separate lqta's and pargana but in the absence of any mechanism of control the
separation seems to have become increasingly nominal. In general, F Firoz Tughluq's policy
was to assign away lands in iqta', he distributed the revenues (mahsul) of the cmpire among
the people and all the parganas and iqta's were distributed. One should infer from this that
the khalisa was greatly reduced. He re-established the system of paying soldiers by assigning
them the revenues of villages as wajh, a new term in lieu of their salaries. Soldiers who were
not assigned wajh, were paid their salaries in cash from the treasury, or by way of drafts on
the iqta's of the nobles, to be adjusted against the payments of 'excess' due from them to the
treasury.

During the Lodhi period, the concept of Fawazal was abolished. The lqtadar allowed
retaining the revenue collected from lqta. This was an expansion ofAfghan kingship in
Lodhi, in which the Sultan was ordered as first among the cquals. Name Iqta got changed
into Pargana & Sarkar. Smaller Iqta came to know as Pargana & bigger is Sarkar. Under the
Lodhi (14S1 -1526), the system remaincd essentially similar, but a reorganization occurred.
The term iqta now disappears and replaced simply by Sarkars and parganas. These were
territorial divisions, cach Sarkars comprising a number of parganas. The term Sarkar seems to
have originated from its use to represent a noble's 'establishment'. A group of parganas placed
under the Sarkar ofa noble. Each Sarkar was assigned a Jama, whose purpose could only be
to lay down, to some extent, the military and other obligations of the noble holding the Sarkar
assignment. Sikandar Lodi (1489-1517) was reputed to have refused to claim the balance if
an assignee's income increascd beyond the officialy sanctioned figure.

The evolution of lqta system started with the conquest of Mohammad Ghori and
establishment of the Sultanate brought major changes in the land revenue system in India.
The Governments in those times made all attempts to increase the revenue by collecting taxes
as per those in Islamic nations. The new taxes were imposed upon people and government's
share in produce increased. The iqta's were the main instrument for transferring agrarian
surplus to the ruling class and its soldiery. This system provided an agrarian system to the
country while the members of the ruling class attaincd income without any permanent
attachment to any territory. The lqta system was provided institutional status by lItutmish and
later this system was reformed. In all, lqta system became the mainstay of the sultanate
administration and it played a very important role.