"Central administrative system" under  

DELHI SULTANATE

The Sultan:

● 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 Fridays 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 Sultan, or a contender to the throne, 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-al-Allah) on earth.

● 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.

The Wizarat (Finance):

● The wazir, as the head of the diwan-i wizarar, was the most important figure in the central administration. 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 the reign of Alauddin Khalji, the ​diwan-i mustakhraj​ was made responsible for the collection of arrears of revenue.

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.

● 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 of horses was strictly maintained till the reign of Muhammad Tughlaq.

● Feroz Tughlaq 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).

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 provincial 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 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 qazi.

● 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. The chief qazi headed the legal system and heard appeals from the lower courts.

Slaves and Karkhanas:

● Slaves were an important feature of the royal household. Alauddin Khalji owned 50,000 slaves, while Feroz Tughaq 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 (kitabikhana) was considered as karkhana. Under Feroz Tughluq there were 36 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 immediate supervisor.

● The karkhanas manufactured articles for Imperial household as well as for military purposes.