(a) Discuss the importance of Iqta system. How did it help in centralization of administration of the Delhi Sultanate? (15 marks)…

(a) The iqta system and centralisation

Iqta was a grant of the revenue of an area to an officer, the muqta, in lieu of salary, to be used to maintain a fixed number of troops and remit the surplus to the centre. The system was formalised under Iltutmish, who used it to settle Turkish officers in conquered regions and pay a cavalry army without a large treasury.

It helped centralisation in several ways. Iqtas were transferable, not hereditary, so muqtas could not build local bases. Central officials, such as the khwaja or accountant, checked collections and the muqta's accounts. The sultan could shift muqtas to prevent entrenchment, and soldiers were tied to the sultan through the muqta. Balban and Alauddin Khalji tightened audit, and Alauddin took much land into khalisa. Under Firoz Shah Tughlaq, iqtas tended to become hereditary, showing the system's centralising purpose weakened with royal authority.

(b) The Khalji Revolution

Barani and later historians use the term because the Khaljis ended the Turkish nobility's monopoly of power. Jalaluddin Khalji's seizure of the throne in 1290 removed the Mamluk house, and the new nobles came from varied groups, including Afghans, Indian Muslims and converts, with careers open to talent, such as Malik Kafur, a convert, who led armies to the south.

The Khaljis also changed the Sultanate's character. Alauddin ended the idea of kingship dependent on religious sanction and the ulama, began an empire stretching to the south, controlled nobles through spies and bans on feasts, raised land revenue near the khalisa, and enforced market regulation to maintain a large standing army. These changes were real, but some historians see them as a shift within continuing Sultanate institutions, not a complete revolution.

(c) Jagirdari crisis in the late seventeenth century

Satish Chandra and Athar Ali describe the crisis as the main structural problem of Aurangzeb's later reign. The number of mansabdars increased sharply, especially after Deccan conquests of Bijapur and Golconda brought in many Deccani nobles, but the number of jagirs did not keep pace, since khalisa land was large and many jagirs were not fertile. Many mansabdars waited long for jagirs (bejagiri), and paibaqi land was often reserved.

The gap between the jama, the assessed income, and the hasil, the actual collection, widened. Jagirdars, transferred frequently, rack-rented peasants in order to extract as much as possible in a short tenure, and neglected agriculture. Irfan Habib connects this with agrarian crisis, peasant flight and revolts of Jats, Satnamis and Sikhs. Years of Deccan war strained the treasury. The result was weaker administration, noble factionalism and the loss of imperial authority after 1707.