Page 31 - SST Class 07

Ala-ud-Din constructed a new garrison town India, which covers a period from the reign of
named Siri for his soldiers. Ghiyas-ud-Din Balban to first six years of the

Land Revenue Administration reign of Firoz Shah Tughlaq.
Apart from the control of the market, Ala-ud-din Barni never held any post, but was a companion
took important steps in the field of land revenue of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq for seventeen years.
administration. He decided that land revenue He wrote the Tarikh-i-Firoz Shahi. He claims that
would be assessed on the basis of measuring the whatever he has written is true and his account is
land under cultivation. This meant that the rich considered trustworthy by the modern scholars.
and powerful in the villages who had more land He gives a sketchy account of Ala-ud-Din Khilji’s
could not pass on their burden to the poor. The wars in Chittor, Ranthambhor, Malwa and
Sultan also kept a strict watch on the local Deccan compaigns of Malik Kafur.
officers responsible for revenue collection. Their Barni describes the reign of Muhammad Bin
accounts were strictly checked so that they Tughlaq. The ruler had shifted the capital from
cannot cheat the state. Delhi to Devagiri and renamed it as Daulatabad.
Another source of revenue in Ala-ud-Din’s reign The shifting of the capital brought ruins to the
was the taxes on cultivation, on cattle and on the empire. Delhi occupied a central position and it
houses people owned. Ala-ud-Din Khilji revived Cairo and Baghdad in prosperity and
appointed military commanders as governers of splendour. He ordered that troops with their
territories. These military commanders were families and dependants, wives and children who
called Iqtadars and the land that they controlled were forced to move, so complete was the ruin
were called Iqtas. The Iqtadars collected revenue that many died on the way.
from their estates or Iqtas and this became their Barni also writes about the introduction of token
salary. They also had to maintain law and order currency was made of cheap metals, not gold
in their Iqtas. The Iqtadars were regularly trans- and silver. The people paid all their taxes in
ferred from one Iqta to another and the sultan token money, made of copper. The cheap cur-
kept a strict check on them. The Iqtadars also rency could also be counterfeited easily. It caused
had to maintain a small contingent of troops and great hardships to traders and people. After three
assist the king in military campaigns. Thus, Ala- years, the sultan with-
ud-Din Khilji imposed heavy responsibility on his drew the coins and
military commanders and kept them strictly promised to exchange
under control. copper coins for silver
The administrative policies of Ala-ud-Din Khiliji coins. So, many copper
show that apart from being a brilliant military coins were brought that
general, he was an administrator of great effi- mountains of these coins
ciency. could be seen all over
Zia-ud-Din Barni Tughalaqabad. The royal
treasury was depleted.
Barni (1285-1357) was a Muslim historian and
political thinker who lived in India during the Ibn Buttuta
reign of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq and Firoz Shah He was a foreign travel- Muhammad Bin Tughlaq
Tughlaq. He is best known for composing an ler, who lived at the
account, a major historical work on medieval court of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq for eight years.

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