Government, Society and Culture under the Delhi Sultanate
ICSE Class 7 · History & Civics · Chapter 5
What this chapter covers
- Administration of the Sultanate
- Court, nobility and land control
- Society and economy
- Art and architecture
- Socio-cultural development
Key definitions
Administration is the work of running a government: making rules, collecting taxes, keeping order and giving justice.
Society is the whole body of people living together in a region, with their groups, customs and ways of life.
Purdah is the custom of keeping women apart from men outside the family, by veils or by separate quarters in the home.
Indo-Islamic architecture is the style of building that developed when Islamic features such as the arch, the dome and the minaret were joined with Indian materials, skills and decoration.
Persian was the language of the Sultan's court, its letters and its histories.
Hindavi is the name given to the everyday language of north India in the Sultanate period, from which Urdu and Hindustani later developed.
Composite culture is a culture formed when the ideas, arts and customs of different communities blend over a long time into a common way of life.
Key points
- The Sultan held all the highest powers; there was no fixed rule of succession.
- Central ministers headed departments: the wazir (finance), the Ariz-i-Mumalik (army), the Dabir-i-Mumalik (royal letters), the Sadr-us-Sudur (religion and charity), the chief qazi (justice) and the barid (news).
- The kingdom was divided into provinces, shiqs, parganas and villages; the muqaddam and patwari ran village affairs.
- The court, with ceremonies such as sijda and paibos, displayed the Sultan's power; the nobles were his helpers and his rivals.
- Iqtas paid the nobles and kept soldiers in every region; khalisa land paid the royal treasury directly.
- Income came from kharaj, jizya, zakat, khams and taxes on trade.
- Society included nobles, ulema, Hindu chiefs, traders, craftsmen, peasants and slaves; purdah limited the freedom of upper-class women.
- Agriculture was the base of the economy; the Persian wheel, the charkha and paper-making spread, and trade in cloth and horses grew.
- Indo-Islamic architecture joined the arch, dome and minaret with Indian skills; the Qutub Minar and the Alai Darwaza are its early masterpieces.
- Persian was the court language, Hindavi grew as a common language, and Amir Khusrau enriched poetry and music; maktabs and madrasas spread learning.