Get complete information on the The Army Policy of the Sultan Rulers

As the rule of the Sultans of Delhi was not based on the willing consent of the people of India, they were required to maintain a large army. Their army consisted of the regular soldiers permanently employed in the service of the Sultan, troops permanently employed in the service of the provincial governors and nobles, recruits employed in times of war and Muslim volunteers enlisted for fighting a holy war of Jihad.

The troops of the Sultan at Delhi were known as Hashm-i-Qalb. Some of these troops belonged to the Sultan and the others were in the service of the nobles at Delhi. The troops in the service of the Sultan were known as Khasah Khail and included royal slaves, guards called Jandars and Afwaj-i-Qalb or the troops directly under royal command.

Their number was small and they could not be depended upon in times of danger or war. The credit of creating a standing army goes to Ala-ud-Din Khalji who directly recruited, paid and controlled the army. Its number was 475,000 horse, in addition to a large number of footmen.

This state of affairs continued till the time of Firuz Tughluq who converted the army into a feudal organization. The army of the Lodis was organised on a clannish basis. It was weak and ill- organised. In times of war, the troops maintained by the nobles and governors were placed at the disposal of Diwan-i-Ariz. It was for the Governor concerned to look after their organization, discipline and payment.

There did not exist any uniform rules for their recruitment, training and promotion. Irregular troops were employed only in times of war and there was no fixed rule for their payment. The Maulvis and the Ulema were employed by the state for the purpose of arousing the fanaticism of the Muslim soldiers to fight against the Hindu rulers. The Muslim volunteers got a share of the booty and not any regular salary from the treasury.

The army of the Sultan of Delhi was a heterogeneous body. It consisted of Turks of various tribes, the Tajiks, the Persians, the Mongols, the Afghan, the Arabs, the Abyssinians, Indian Mussalmans and the Hindus. It was a mercenary body which worked for the sake of money. The only bond was the Sultan himself.

The army consisted of the cavalry, infantry and elephant. The cavalry formed the backbone of military establishment. It was the cavalry of Delhi which successfully kept the Mongols at bay and struck terror into their hearts. Horsemen were armed with two swords, a dagger and a Turkish bow with very good arrows.

Some horsemen carried maces also. Many of them wore coats of mail and other jackets quilted with cotton. Horses were caparisoned with steel. Great care was taken by the Sultans to see that their army did not run short of horses. There was a thriving trade in horses between India and Arabia, Turkistan and Russia. Attempts were made even to breed good horses in India. We are told that Ala-ud-Din Khalji had 70,000 horses in the city of Delhi and its neighbourhood.

The foot soldiers were called Payaks. Most of them were Hindus, slaves or other persons of humble origin who wanted employment but could not afford horses. They were useful as personal guards and door-keeper. Sometimes they took part in matters of great importance. They carried swords, daggers, bows and arrows. They were good archers and were known as Dhanuks.

The Sultan attached great importance to elephants. Their size and strength struck terror into the hearts of the foreign warriors. The view of Balban was that a single elephant was as effective in the battlefield as 500 horsemen. A big war-elephant could carry many armed soldiers. They towered above the cavalry and infantry and rained death amongst the ranks of the enemy. Some of them carried on their back small citadels full of soldiers.

Elephants were clad in plates of steel and large scythes were attached to their trunks and tusks. The Sultan had a monopoly of elephants and no person was allowed to keep an elephant without the permission of the Sultan. A large number of elephants were required as Delhi required a large establishment and the Shahna-i-Fil was an important officer of the realm.

There was nothing like modern artillery, but incendiary arrows, javelins and pots full of combustibles were used in battle. Hand grenades, fire-works, rocks and naphtha balls were used. Various mechanical devices were employed for battering the walls of fortresses, for throwing large balls for projecting naphtha and fire-works. Various kinds of engines were used by the Sultans.

The army was organised on a decimal basis. A Sar-i-Khail had 10 horsemen under him. A Sipah-Salar had 10 Sar-i-Khails under him. An Amir had 10 Sipah-Salars under him. A Malik had 10 Amirs under him. A Khan had 10 Maliks under him.

The size of the army varied from time to time. Ala-ud-Din Khalji commanded 475,000 horsemen. Muhammad Tughluq had 900,000 horsemen. Khaiqubad had 100,000 mounted soldiers at Delhi when he made preparations to march against his father. Firuz Tughluq had 90,000 soldiers excluding slaves.

The pay of a soldier must have varied at different times. During the reign of Ala-ud-Din Khalji, a fully equipped cavalryman was paid 234 Tankas per annum. However, the Sultan had to regulate the prices in order to make that salary worth while for him. Muhammad Tughluq paid about 500 Tankas in addition to food, dress and fodder. It is not clear whether the soldier was given dress and food only when he was on active service or he was given the same even in normal times.

We are told that a Khan was paid a lack of Tankas. The Malik was paid 50 to 60 thousand Tankas. An Amir was paid 30 to 40 thousand Tankas. A Sipah-Salar was paid 20,000 Tankas. Petty officials received one to ten thousand Tankas a year. Soldiers were paid directly by the state. They were usually paid in cash. By the system of assignments, the nobles were able to get more than their official salary. The assignments were for the personal salary of the officials and did not include the pay of the soldiers.

The Sultans were the masters of military strategy. They employed very commonly the art of ambushing and surprise attacks. Before the actual battle, the prospective theatre of war was thoroughly surveyed. The army was very often divided into the advance-guard, the centre, the right wing, the left wing, the rear-guard and the reserve. According to Dr. Qureshi, there were flanking parties on either flank of an army. However, the army of Ibrahim Lodi in the first battle of Panipat in 1526 had no such flanking party. Scouts rendered a very useful service.