Economic Policy and Administration under Khilji Dynasty

The Khalji or Khilji dynasty was a Turko-Afghan dynasty which ruled on the Delhi sultanate, covering large parts of the Indian subcontinent for nearly three decades between 1290 and 1320. Founded by Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji as the second dynasty to rule the Delhi Sultanate of India, it came to power through a revolution that marked the transfer of power from the monopoly of Turkish nobles to a heterogeneous Indo-Mussalman nobility. Its rule is known for conquests into present day South India and successfully fending off the repeated Mongol invasions of India.

🌀Jalal-ud-din Khilji: Khaljis were vassals of the Mamluk dynasty of Delhi and served the Sultan of Delhi, Ghiyas ud din Balban, as a minor part of the Muslim nobility. The last major Turkic ruler, Balban, in his struggle to maintain power over his insubordinate Turkish officers, destroyed the power of the Forty. However this indirectly damaged the Turkish integrity of the nobility, which had opposed the power of the non-Turks. This left them vulnerable to the Khalji and Indo-Muslim faction, which had been strengthening due to the ever-growing number of converts, to take power through a series of assassinations. One by one the Mamluk officers were murdered, and the last ruler of the Turkic Mamluk dynasty - the 17-year old Muiz ud din Qaiqabad - was killed in the Kailu-gheri Palace during the coup by Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji.

🌀Alauddin Khilji: Alauddin Khalji was the nephew and son-in-law of Jalal-ud-din. He raided the Deccan peninsula and Deogiri - then the capital of the state of Maharashtra, looting their treasure. He returned to Delhi in 1296, murdered Jalal-ud-din and assumed power as Sultan. He would appoint his Indo-Muslim allies such as Zafar Khan(Minister of War), Nusrat Khan (Wazir of Dehli), Ayn al Mulk Multani, Malik Karfur, Malik Tughlaq, and Malik Nayk(Master of the Horse) who were famous warriors but non-Turks, which resulted in the emergence of an Indo-Muslim state.

🌀The last Khilji Sultans: Alauddin Khalji died in December 1315. Thereafter, the sultanate witnessed chaos, coup and succession of assassinations. Malik Kafur became the sultan but lacked support from the amirs and was killed within a few months.

♦️Economic Policy♦️

Economic policy and administration under the Khilji dynasty were very strict and was all in hands of the King. The situation of peasants, businessmen, and the common man was very poor and sometimes hard to sustain. A few of these policies are listed below:

➖Alauddin Khalji changed the tax policies to strengthen his treasury to help pay the keep of his growing army and fund his wars of expansion.

➖He raised agriculture taxes from 20% to 50% – payable in grain and agricultural produce (or cash)

➖Alauddin Khalji enforced four taxes on non-Muslims in the Sultanate - jizya (poll tax), kharaj (land tax), kari (house tax), and chari (pasture tax).

➖He also decreed that his Delhi-based revenue officers assisted by local Muslim jagirdars, khuts, mukkadims, chaudharis and zamindars seize by force half of all produce any farmer generates, as a tax on standing crop, so as to fill sultanate granaries.

➖At the same time, he confiscated all landed property from his courtiers and officers.

➖His officers enforced tax payment by beating up middlemen responsible for rural tax collection.Furthermore, Alauddin Khalji demanded, state Kulke and Rothermund, from his "wise men in the court" to create "rules and regulations in order to grind down the common man, so as to reduce them to abject poverty and deprive them of wealth and any form of surplus property that could foster a rebellion

➖Revenue assignments to Muslim jagirdars were also cancelled and the revenue was collected by the central administration.

➖No one other than these merchants could buy from agriculturists or offer in urban zones.

➖Muslim merchants were granted exclusive permits and monopoly in these mandi to buy and resell at official prices.

➖There was an expansive arrangement of detectives who may screen the mandi and had the capacity to seize anyone trying to buy or offer anything out of the proposed limit.

➖The private stockpiling of sustenance was banned. The distributing system was introduced by Alauddin and there was a system of quality control.

➖These controls diminished expenses, furthermore conveyed wages down to a point where standard people were not benefited.

➖The method of quality control could not work much after the death of Alauddin Khilji.

➖The Sultan banned private storage of food by anyone. Rationing system was introduced by Alauddin as shortages multiplied; however, the nobility and his army were exempt from the per family quota-based food rationing system.