Delineate the state of agriculture during the Sultanate period.

Answer:

Agriculture remained the foundation of the economy under the Delhi Sultanate, supporting the state, the army and the towns. The period saw a considerable extension of cultivation, some technological improvement and heavy state demand, though the peasant's own condition improved little.

Extent and crops

• Cultivation expanded as forests were cleared and new lands brought under the plough.
• Wheat, barley, rice, millets, pulses and oilseeds were the staple food crops.
• Cash crops of cotton, sugarcane and indigo supplied the growing urban and export demand.
• Ibn Battuta noted the fertility of the soil and the raising of two crops a year in parts of north India.
• Sericulture and horticulture, especially under Firoz Shah, were encouraged.

Technology and irrigation

• The Persian wheel (saqiya) spread, greatly improving lift irrigation.
• Firoz Shah Tughlaq constructed an extensive network of canals, notably from the Yamuna and Sutlej.
• Wells, tanks and bunds remained the mainstay of local irrigation.
• The plough, seed drill and iron implements were in common use.
• The technology remained essentially traditional, with modest incremental change.

The agrarian structure and state demand

• Land revenue (kharaj) was the state's principal income, rising to half the produce under Alauddin Khalji.
• Assessment was by measurement, sharing or estimate, according to reign and region.
• Village intermediaries, the khuts, muqaddams and chaudharis, collected on the state's behalf.
• The peasantry (balahars) retained little beyond subsistence, and Firoz's taccavi loans gave some relief.

Rural society and its stratification

• Village society was headed by the khuts and muqaddams, who enjoyed superior rights.
• Alauddin Khalji reduced them to the level of ordinary peasants to reach the surplus directly.
• Firoz Shah restored their privileges, easing pressure but weakening state control.
• Barani's account reflects the aristocratic hostility to any levelling of these ranks.

Sultanate agriculture was thus productive and expanding, aided by better irrigation and a widening range of crops, yet the surplus it generated was largely appropriated by the state and its intermediaries. As Irfan Habib observes, the peasant produced the wealth that sustained the Sultanate's armies and cities while remaining himself close to subsistence.