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Therefore, the Delhi Sultanate was never The paraganas was headed by Amil. The village
branched into consistent provinces with uniform headmen were called Muqaddam, accountant as
administrative system. This Sultanate was a Patwari and landowners as Khuts.
centralised monarchy. None of the Sultans of ECONOMIC TOOLS
Delhi thought of reorganising the provinces on a Ala-ud-Din Khilji fixed the prices of basic utility
uniform basis.
items in order to keep his soldiers and people
DIVISION OF EMPIRE happy. He appointed Shahnas to keep an eye
The sultanate was divided in Subas or provinces. over the malfunctioning in the trade. No one
Each province was divided into Shiqs which could charge higher price. If anyone found doing
were further divided into Paraganas and so, he was punished severely.
Paraganas into villages. The head of a Suba was
called Muqti while that of a shiq was called a
Shiqdar.
CASE STUDY make Devgiri a second capital so that he might
Tughalaq Dynasty (1320-1412) be able to control south India better. He ordered
After Ala-ud-Din’s death, once again there was many of the officers and leading men to shift.
Though, the Sultan had built a road from Delhi
chaos and confusion and a new dynasty led by
to Daulatabad and set up rest houses on the way,
Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughlaq (1320-24) came to the
Daulatabad was more than 1500 km away, many
throne. Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughlaq built a huge fort
people died due to the rigorous journey and the
in Tughalaqabad which was massive and had 13
heat, since the movement took place during the
gates. He built Tughalaqabad as the 3rd capital
summer season. Moreover, many of those who
of Delhi.
reached Daulatabad, became homesick. Thus,
Ghiyas-ud-Din was succeeded by his son
there was a great deal of discontent. After a few
Muhammad, Bin Tughlaq (1324-1351). In some
ways, he was the most remarkable ruler of his years, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq decided to
abandon Daulatabad. Apart from financial loss,
age. He successfully repulsed the attack by the
and great hardship to the people. There was
Mongols. He defeated the Mongols and under-
complete loss of prestige for the Sultan.
took a number of bold experiments but unfortu-
nately, he was hasty and impatient. Muhammad Introduction of Token Currency
Bin Tughlaq built Jahanpanah as the 4th capital Muhammad Bin Tughlaq decided to introduce
of Delhi. That is why his experiments, though bronze and copper coins which was to have the
well-intentioned, failed bringing financial loss and same value as the silver coin. To overcome the
loss of prestige for the Sultan. shortage of silver in India, he introduced bronze
and copper coins. The Sultan, however, could
Shifting of Capital
not check the large-scale forgery of the bronze
Standing army was needed to deal with the
and copper coins. The value of the new coins fell
Mongols. Soldiers had to garrisoned and Delhi
sharply and finally Sultan had to withdraw the
was emptied of its residents. For this reason,
currency. He promised to exchange silver pieces
Muhammad Bin Tughlaq decided to transfer his
for bronze and copper coins. Once again, there
capital from Delhi to Devagiri in the Deccan and
renamed it as Daulatabad. The Sultan wanted to was a loss of money and loss of the prestige of
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