Previous Year Question
Consider the following statements:
In the revenue administration of Delhi Sultanate, the in-charge of revenue collection was known as ‘Amil’.
The Iqta system of Sultans of Delhi was an ancient indigenous institution.
The office of ‘Mir Bakshi’ came into existence during the reign of Khalji Sultans of Delhi.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Correct Answer: A
Detailed Solution
Statement 1 is correct. In the revenue administration of the Delhi Sultanate, the Amil was an official associated with revenue collection. IGNOU's material on medieval India identifies the Mutasarrif at the pargana level as the officer in charge of revenue collection and specifically notes that the contemporary historian Ziauddin Barani uses the term ‘Amil’ for this official. Thus, the association of the Amil with revenue collection is also supported by a contemporary Sultanate source.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The Iqta was not an ancient indigenous Indian institution. Iqta is an Arabic term and the institution existed in the Islamic world before the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in India. Under this arrangement, rights over revenue from an assigned territory were granted to officials in return for service to the state. The 11th-century Persian statesman Nizam-ul-Mulk Tusi discussed the Muqtis and their rights in his ‘Siyasatnama’. This itself demonstrates that the Iqta institution existed in the West and Central Asian Islamic political world before the Delhi Sultanate.
Statement 3 is incorrect. The office of Mir Bakshi was not an office of the Khalji administration; it was an important office of the Mughal central administration. Under the Khaljis and other Delhi Sultans, the military department was known as the Diwan-i-Arz. Under the Mughals, the Mir Bakshi became the principal official connected with the military establishment and the mansabdars. Akbar's court historian Abul Fazl explicitly mentions the Mir Bakshi among the important imperial officials in the ‘Ain-i-Akbari’.