School of Distance Education STATE AND SOCIETY IN MEDIEVAL INDIA (HIS2C03) STUDY MATERIAL II SEMESTER CORE COURSE MA HISTORY (2019 Admission onwards) UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION CALICUT UNIVERSITY- P.O MALAPPURAM- 673635, KERALA 190507 HIS2C03 : STATE AND SOCIETY IN MEDIEVAL INDIA School of Distance Education SCHOOL OF DISTANCE EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT STUDY MATERIAL SECOND SEMESTER MA HISTORY (2019 ADMISSION ONWARDS) CORE COURSE: HIS2C03: STATE AND SOCIETY IN MEDIEVAL INDIA Prepared by: Sri.Vivek. A. B Assistant Professor on Contract (History) School of Distance Education University of Calicut Scrutinized By: Sri.Majeed.P Guest Lecturer Department of History P S M O College, Thirurangadi Layout: ‘H’ Section, SDE © Reserved HIS2C03 : STATE AND SOCIETY IN MEDIEVAL INDIA HIS2CO3 STATE AND SOCIETY IN THE MEDIEVEL INDIA CONTENTS MODULE I Historiographical Understanding of the Medieval India…………. 4 MODULE II State and Economy in Medieval India……………………………... 46 MODULE III Religion and Social stratification in Medieval India……………… 94 MODULE IV Science Technology and Culture…………………………………. 108 3 HIS2CO3 STATE AND SOCIETY IN THE MEDIEVEL INDIA MODULE I HISTORIOGRAPHICAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE MEDIEVAL INDIA Introduction Historiography is known as Ilm-al-tarikh in Arabic. As a responsible to the society, the account of all activities of human race is called history. Historians are always active with the collection of his- torical data, compilation of books, analysis of historical events, examine authenticity of the sources of history with his wide attitude noted that he is also a member of the society. A historian cannot deny his time, place and environment, own thinking, sense of morality in his writings. In fact, history is itself changing because of having many obstacles. But men always want to know actual events related to the human life. From the ancient time, this trend of the knowledge continued and, in this way, historiography is formed as an important part of knowledge and education. The Ghurian conquest of north India towards the close of the twelfth century A.D. is an important event in Indian history. This is because an independent sultanate, founded in its wake, opened India to foreign influences on the one hand and led to the unification of the country under a strong centre on the other. It also attracted emigrants from the neighbouring countries who represented different cultural traditions. One of the traditions introduced by them was that of history writing. The historical literature produced by them in Persian language is of vast magnitude. As a matter of fact, the study of history was considered by the Muslim elite as the third important source of knowledge after the religious scripture and the jurisprudence. With the coming of the Mughals in the 16th century, the tradition of history writing achieved new heights. During the Mughal period, the state patronized writing of history and we have a large body of historical literature in Persian spread over two centu- ries. In this chapter, we will discuss only the tradition of history writing during the Sultanate period. Muslim Historiography In the early stage of Islam, in the beginning of 9th century Muslim scholars and historians considered historiography to be the third source of knowledge after the research of Quran and Sunnah. For this reason, after the collection and compilation of the Hadith of the prophet, they start writing of the history. It seems very interesting to me that the same tradition was followed to the collection, com- pilation and preservation of the Hadith of the prophet and the history of the primary age of Islam. This tradition was followed till 3rd century hijra (9th and 10th C.E). Since Arab historiography was mostly around with the description of the events and religious theme. In course of time, it was en- larged and enriched with the research of tribal, regional and national history. Also by the description of the world history, Arab historiography becomes a major part of the world historiography and it starts the glorious steps of the Muslims in the development of knowledge Standing on this, Arab historiography took its multi-formation not only discussion of the historical events but also fixed its relation to the cause and effects along with deeply analysed criticism attached with the history. In this way, the Muslim scholars developed historiography at the same time Arabic language was also developed because the state language was Arabic at that time and research work on historiography was continued naturally in Arabic. 4 HIS2CO3 STATE AND SOCIETY IN THE MEDIEVEL INDIA In 1258 A.D, after the fall of Abbassids Khilafat, Ilkhani dynasty was established. With the Ilkhani dynasty, ‘Persi’ language became the state language and it was developed during the time of Ti- murids and Safavids. In this way, ‘Persi’ entered in Indian sub-continent by the change of political power around the world. When Turkish replaced Persians, historiography was also started in Turkish language. But, the research of historiography in Turkish language has not so far enriched. Turkish sultans also patronized the Persian language later and at that time, regional and dynastic history con- tinued in Persian language. Though the Arab historiography follows the Persian trends in the research of historiography, there is something different in the Arab historiography. Main theme of the Persian historiography was the conduct occupation of the kings. In the Persian history, general people was totally absent or a little bit was seen in their historiography during Ilkhani period composed in Persian language “Jami-at-Tawarikh” by Rashid-ud-din. In this book, the author tries to follow the trends of At- Tabari’s writings but in his writings, the character of Arab historiography is totally absent in this write up. But, Rawatas- Safa composed by Mirkhand represents Arab trends and nature. During the Timurids period, the same trends ‘Tarikhi- Khani’ and ‘Jafarnama’ were composed. In these two books, Timurids dynastic history was arranged superbly. It is said that Muslim historiography was influenced later by the trends of Arab and Persian historiography. The Persian and Turkish carried on the central Asian trends of historiography towards Indian subcontinent Historiography in Sultanate period The early writings in Persian on the history of Turks who came to India are traceable to 12th Century. As far as Delhi Sultanate is concerned, we have a continuity of available texts in Persian till the end of the Sultanate (1526). Many of the authors were attached to the court as officials while a few were independent scholars not associated with any official position. In general, the available histories put forward the official version of events, rather than a critical evaluation of the policies and events. It is rare that one comes across any critical reference to the reigning Sultan. Even the style is also gener- ally eulogizing or flattering to the Sultan under whose reign it is written. In most cases, the authors borrowed freely from the earlier works to trace the earlier period. We have referred to the constraints faced by various scholars while discussing individual works. Apart from historical texts, a number of other Persian works are available for the period. Abdu’r Razzaq’s Matla’us Sa’dain (travelogue), Tutsi’s Siyasatnama (administration & polity), Fakhr-i Mudabbir’s Adabu’l-Harb wa’as- Shuja’at (warfare), are a few important ones. A few Arabic works are also available for the period. Ibn Battuta (Rihla) and Shihab-al Din al-Umari (Masalik al-absar Mamalik al-Ansar) have provided excellent travel accounts. Here we will study the historiography for the whole Sultanate period in separate subsections. The Pioneers The pioneer in history writing was Muhammad bin Mansur, also known as Fakhr-I Mudabbir. He migrated from Ghazna to Lahore during the later Ghaznavid period. In Lahore, he compiled Shajra- i-Ansab, the book of genealogies of the Prophet of Islam, his companions and the Muslim rulers, including the ancestors of Sultan Muizuddin Muhammad bin Sam (commonly known as Sultan Shihabuddin Muhammad Ghuri). The compiler wanted to present it to the sultan but the latter’s as- sassination on his way from the Punjab to Ghazna in 1206, led him to append a separate portion as Muqidimma (Introduction) to it. This introduction narrates the life and military exploits of Qutbuddin Aibak since his appointment in India as Sipahsalar of Kuhram and Sunam in 1192 upto his accession 5 HIS2CO3 STATE AND SOCIETY IN THE MEDIEVEL INDIA to the throne in Lahore in 1206. This is the first history of the Ghurian conquest and the foundation of an independent Sultanate in India. It opens with the description of the noble qualities of Sultan Muizuddin Muhammad bin Sam. But the credit of the conquest made in India is given to Qutbuddin Aibak. The Sultan is not mentioned as victor even in the details of the expeditions led by him. However, the details furnished by Fakhr- i Mudabbir about the conciliatory policy followed by Qutbuddin Aibak towards the Hindu chiefs even before his accession to the throne are interesting. Aibak set an example that inspired his suc- cessors. All the chiefs who submitted to Aibak’s authority were treated as friends. No doubt, Fakhr-i Mudabbir composed the work in the hope of getting reward by eulogizing the reigning Sultan, nonetheless, the selection of historical material by him demonstrates the historical sense he possessed. Along with administrative reforms introduced by Aibak after his accession to the throne in Lahore, he also provides details of rituals that had symbolic significance. For instance, he is the first historian who informs us about the ceremony of public allegiance paid to the new Sultan on his accession to the throne in Lahore. He states that on Qutbuddin Aibak’s arrival from Delhi to Lahore in 1206, the entire population of Lahore came out to pay allegiance to him as their new Sultan.