Teaching History Emergence of New Power and Social Change

Emergence of New Power and Social Change

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Understand the establishment of Delhi Sultanate
• Be aware of Sayyid and Lodhi sultans of Delhi
• Understand the emergence of empire of The Mughal empire
• Know the time period of Akbar, Humayun, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan
• Explore the social changes that took place during the new emerged powers

INTRODUCTION

In 1192 CE, the Second Battle of Tarain was the turning point in the Indian history. India had a long history of foreign invaders; however, this time, India was invaded by new powerful rulers. Most of the invaders came India and they merged with the Indian society. Even if we try to differentiate between them, it is not possible. Muhammad Gori invaded and established his states in India. Before Gori, Delhi was under Rajputs, Tomars, and Chauhans (Chahamanas) of Ajmer. Chauhan king Prithviraj III was the last Chauhan ruler of Delhi. Delhi was located on the border line of the Sindhu and Gangetic planes. Delhi controlled the large area of the north India. Many rich Jain merchants lived in Delhi who constructed several temples. When the sultanate established, they first established their capital in Lahore and later they shifted their capital to Delhi. After becoming the capital of Sultanate, Delhi became continuous centre of power of Indian subcontinent. Let us try to understand how these new powers established in India? Which type of changes accrued in society?

ESTABLISHMENT OF DELHI SULTANATE

First, we need to understand what is the meaning of Sultanate? In Islamic world, kingdom was known as Sultanate. After winning the Second Battle of Tarain, Muhammad Gori established his rule in India. After 1192 CE, they continuously attacked north India. Muhammad Gori appointed Qutbuddin A'lbak as his representative in India. He was a Mamluk, which means slave in Arabic language. In 1206 CE, Muhammad Gori was assassinated in Ghazni. Mamluk Qutbuddin Aibak took over all the power and became the first sultan of Delhi. Aibak initiated the construction of Qutub Minar, which was dedicated to famous Sufi saint Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. He built two mosques: Adhai din ka jhonpra in Ajmer and QuwwatuI Islam Mosque in Mehrauli. The literary meaning of QuwwatuI Islam is Mighty of Islam. In 1210 CE, Aibak died and his son Aram Shah became the sultan; however, in 1211 CE, Iltutmish assassinated him and became the sultan of Delhi, Iltutmish was the son-in-law of Aibak. He finished the construction of Qutub Minar and QuwwatuI Islam mosque and built a reservoir in Mehrauli. This is known as Hauz-i-Shamsi. lltutmish divided his sultanate Iqta and official of Iqta was called Iqtadar. Iqta was the area where the collected revenue were given as a salary for Iqtadar. He issued silver coins known as Tanka and copper coins known asJital. He formed the most famous and strongest group Turkan- i-Chahalgani. This was constituted by 40 powerful Turkish nobles known as Chalisa. lltutmish was a very clever ruler, and his policies secured Delhi sultanate from Mongol leader Genghis Khan's attack, lltutmish ruled from 1211 CE to 1236 CE.

After lltutmish death, his daughter Raziya Sultana became the Sultan of Delhi. She was the first and the last Muslim lady ruler in India. She had given charge of important office to Abyssinian slave Jamaluddin Yakut. Her favour to the slave provoked other Turkish officers against him. She was killed by his brother Bahram Shah. In 1266 CE, Ghiyas ud din Balban became the sultan of Delhi. His real name was Bahruddin. He cursed the power of Turkan-i-Chahalgani. He faced continuous threat of Mongols and therefore, he established permanent military department known as Diwan-i-Arz. He defeated Mongols and adopted a title Ulugh Khan. He died in 1286 CE.

Khilji Dynasty

Balban died in 1286 CE and conflict started between their Amirs. In 1290 CE, one of the Amir of Balban, Jalal ud din Khilji became the successor of Balban. Jalal ud din Khilji was a weak ruler. Mongols were continuously creating threat for Delhi sultanate but his policy against Mongols was lenient. His nephew Ali Gurshap was not happy with his policies and in 1296 CE, he assassinated his uncle. Juna Muhammad Khilji became the sultan of Delhi. He was as good as Alauddin Khilji. He was the most powerful sultan of Delhi sultanate. He clearly separated his policies from religion. He was aware of Mongol's power, and therefore, he tried to establish permanent and strong army for Mongols. For large standing army, he made many changes like he created new department for revenue known as Diwan-i-Mustakhraj. This department was responsible for the enquiries about the revenue areas and to collect revenues from them. He established another important department. This was known as Diwan-i-Riyasat. Diwan-i-Riyasat had the responsibility to control price. Diwan-i-Riyasat worked under Sara-i-Adl. This department fixed the prices and had strict surveillance on the market and trade. They eliminated the middle man known as Do/a/. He imposed 50% agricultural production as a tax.

His standing army was one of his remarkable achievement. He reconstructed his army. His army was based on Turkish model. He made divisions in his army and the lowest division of the army was of decimal level. He was the first to recruit regular and permanent standing army in Indian history.

Figure 6.1 Alauddin Khilji?s military campaigns in south Indian

He replaced poor quality horses with good quality imported horses from Central Asia and Persia. Diwan-i-Arz was one department that maintained the soldier's records. He introduced Dagh and Chehra system. Dagh system was mainly related to horse. This was a practice of branding horses. This practice was exercised to control corruption in army. Once a horse was branded, there was no substitute for this horse and owner of the soldier was responsible for the maintenance of the horse. Another system was Chehra system. In Chehra system, every detail of recruited soldiers were recorded. These detailswere known as Huliya or Chehra. The Chehra record was maintained properly. He paid salaries to his soldiers in cash. Alauddin Khiiji expanded his sultanate. In his regime, he fought many wars. The fort of Siri was built for his army. I think garrison town is a right word for this fort. He fought four wars with Mongols and defeated them in all four wars. He won all the battles of Jalandhar (1298 CE), Kill (1299 CE), Amroha (1305CE), and Ravi (1306 CE). He extended his territories in the Indian subcontinent. He fought many wars such as Ranthambore (1296 CE), Gujarat (1299 CE), Mewar (1303 CE), Jalore, and Devagiri (1306 CE-1307 CE). It was the most remarkable military achievement of his military commander Malik Kafur. Malik Kafur fought many wars in south India. Some of them were Devagiri and Baglana (1306 CE-1307 CE), Warangal (1303), Dwarasamudra, Mabar, and Madurai. First time, the southern part of Indian Peninsula came under sultanate in the rule of Alauddin Khiiji. After Alauddin Khilji's death, Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah became the sultan of Delhi.

Tughlaq Dynasty

 Khusrau Khan was last Khilji Sultan. In 1320 CE, Ghazni Malik became the sultan of Delhi. He was the founder Tughlaq dynasty. He adopted the title Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq. He found a new city in Delhi known as Tughlaqabad. In 1325 CE, in an accident, Ghiyasuddin died. After his death, Juna khan became the sultan of Delhi. He was well-known as Mohammad-bin Tughlaq. He was a knowledgeable person of philosophy, logic, mathematics, and medicine. His regime was known for experiment. He experimented with currency. He was the first ruler of the Indian history, who introduced token. He introduced brass and copper coins as a token currency. His experiments failed because of the forgery of coins. His second experiment was transferred to the capital. He decided to transfer capital Delhi to Devagiri. He renamed Devagiri as Daulatabad. In his regime, Mongols continuously attacked on Delhi. This was one of the reason for transferring the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad. Another reason was that Daulatabad was located in the centre of sultanate. For the administrative purpose, it was a good place for sultanate. He never built new forts for army; when they vacated Delhi, he handed over it to his army. However, this decision was unfortunate for him because Daulatabad was more hot place than Delhi, and after sometime, he reverted his decision and transferred capital back to Delhi. He defeated the Mongols and was confident about his military capabilities. He made a third mistake, when he planned to attacked on Transoxiana. He increased his standing army. He failed in his plan and he faced heavy loss of military because of the cold condition. After that loss in the end of his era, his policy became his mistake. After loss of army and money, he decided to recover it by imposed tax on Doab area. Due to his other imposed taxes in Doab, this time Daub faced famine. Peasants started to revolt against these taxes, and then, he understood that his tax imposed policy was wrong. He rolled back the tax policies and provided loan to peasants for their loss. During his regime, the famous Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta visited India. His travelling account was known as Rihia. His account gives us a different view about Mohammad-bin Tughlaq.

In 1351 CE, Mohammad-bin Tughlaq died. Firuz Shah Tughlaq became the sultan of Delhi. He was religious person and became the sultan at the age of 45. When he became a sultan, he built a new city in Delhi that was Firozabad. He was the founder of some important cities of north India: Fatehabad, Hisar, Firozpur, and Jaunpur. In 1368 CE, he rebuilt the two storeys of Qutub Minar. These two storeys were damaged in lightening. This made biggest changes in Iqtadari system and it became hereditary. This was the biggest mistake of Firoz Shah Tughlaq. After this decision, Iqtadar became more powerful and Firoz Shah slowly lost his glory. He established a department for poor and needy people that is known as Diwan-i-khairat. The department's work was to help poor and needy people. Another department was established by Firoz Shah Tughlaq and he named the department of slaves as Diwan-i-Bandagan. It was an important department because he had around 1,80,000 slaves in Delhi and those slaves were doing craft related work. Diwan-i-Bandagan had the responsibility to take care of these slaves. Firoz Shah Tughlaq built canals for irrigation. He built canals from Yamuna to the city of Hisar, Sutlej to the Ghaggar, Ohaggar to Firuzabad, Mandvi and Sirmour Hills to Hansi (Haryana). These canals helped to increase agricultural production in the surroundings of Delhi. He establish hospitals in Delhi. These hospitals were known as Darul-Shifan, Bimaristan, or shifa-Khana. In the last years of his regime, he faced rebellions in Bengal, Gujarat, and Warangal. In 1388 CE, Firuz Shah Tughlaq died. Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah Tughlaq was the last ruler of Tughlaq dynasty.

Sayyid and Lodhi Sultans of Delhi

In 1398 CE, the Amir Timur of Chagtai invaded Delhi and Sultan Mahmud Shah Tughlaq fled out. In 1414 CE, Khizr Khan claimed that he was the lieutenant of Timur and he was the nominee of his territory. Khizr Khan became the sultan of Delhi. He was the founder of Sayyid dynasty. Sayyid Sultans governed in limited area of surroundings of Delhi city. Other rulers of the Sayyid dynasty were Mubarak Shah (1421 CE-1434 CE), Muhammad Shah (1434 CE-1443 CE), and Alam Shah (1443CE-1451 CE).

In 1451 CE, Afghan leader Bahlul Lodhi thrown Alam Shah and he became the sultan of Delhi. Bahlul Lodhi found the Lodhi dynasty. Most of his time, he spent in fighting with Sharqi dynasty and tried hard to re-conquer Jaunpur. In 1489, Bahlul Lodhi died and Nizam Khan became the sultan of Delhi. He was the son of Bahlul Lodhi. He adopted the title Sikandar Shah. He found the new city of Agra, and in 1504 CE, the capital of Sultanate transferred Delhi to Agra. He abolished corn duties on trade. He patronised trade and commerce. He was a reputed poet and his pen name was Gulruk. He was a patron of learning. He ordered to translate Sanskrit medicine works into Persian. He controlled Afghan noble's individualistic tendencies. He gave more emphasis on accountability, and therefore, he ordered all nobles to compel their accounts and submitted to state audit. His biggest achievement was conquest of Bihar. He introduced Gaz-i-Sikandari for measuring the cultivated fields.

He died in 1517 CE. Ibrahim Lodhi became the Sultan of Delhi. He was an excellent warrior but he was rash and impolitic in taking decisions and actions. He faced numerous rebellions from 1517 CE to 1526 CE. In 1526 CE, the first battle of Panipat was fought between Ibrahim Lodhi and Babur. He was defeated by Babur and that was the end of the Delhi Sultanate.

                   Table 6.1 Sultans of Delhi

SOURCE OF DELHI SULTANATE

The Turkish ruler came India with a new tradition of history writing. This new type of history writing was totally different from the previous history writing. Indian history writing tradition was based on notion of four Yugas and these Yugas were based on the circular rotating system. However, the Muslim tradition of history was different from the Indian tradition of history writing. Muslims used linear form of history writing. This new type of history writing was called Tarikh/Tawarikh. The Tawarikh was written by learned men such as secretaries, administrators, poets, courtiers, and independent people. These persons were mostly those people who were part of administration or related to sultans. When we used these Tawarikh accounts, we must know one thing that most of these people were settled in the cities, and they were hardly from villages; therefore, their accounts basically give the urban life insight. Most of these people were directly or indirectly related to administration, and therefore, we have to be aware that they may given us biased view. Some of those may be prejudiced. However, there is no doubt that Tawarikh was a good source to understand history of the Delhi sultans. Some of these Tawarikhs gave administrative advices for the ruler. These Tawarikhs were good source to understand about a ruler; for example, Minhaj-i-Siraj's chronicles gave full details about Raziya Sultan and he emphasised that Raziya was more capable and suitable candidate of Sultan than his brothers. Another important Tawarikh was Ziauddin Barani's Tarikh-i-FirozShahi. His Tarikh-ii-FirozShahi is a good source to understand the regime of Tughlaq sultans. These Tawarikhs were written in Persian language. Persian language was the administrative language of the Delhi sultans.

EMERGENCE OF EMPIRE: THE MUGHAL EMPIRE

The First Battle of Panipat was fought between Ibrahim Lodhi and Zahir ud din Muhammad Babur. Babur won this battle, and with this victory, he decided to settle in India. Babur and his successor were known as Mughals. Who are Mughals? Well, Mughals themselves represent progeny of Genghis Khan and Timur. Baburnama was the biography of Mughal emperor Babur. In Baburnama, Babur mentions that his mother was a descendant of Mongol leader Genghis Khan. He died in 1227 CE. His father was a descendant of progeny of Amir Timur. Mughals never identified them Mongols/Mughals because they never wanted themselves to be associated with Genghis Khan's massacre of uncountable people. They called themselves Uzbeks who were competitors of Mongols in Central Asia. The Mughals wanted to settle in India. Let us understand their journey to become the powerful rulers in the Indian subcontinent.

Babur (1526 CE-1530 CE)

Babur was the founder of Mughal empire in India. In 1504 CE, he captured Kabul and became Ameer of Kabul. Ameer means king. However, it was temporary settlement of Babur. In 1525CE, he started campaigns in India. In 1526 CE, in the First Battle of Panipat, he defeated the Lodhi sultan Ibrahim Lodhi. He became the first Mughal king of Delhi sultanate. Agra became his capital. After he captured Delhi, his problem was not solved because he faced continuous threat from Rajput ruler. In the Battle of Khanwa (1528 CE), he defeated Rana Sanga. In the Battle of Chanderi (1528 CE), he defeated Rajputs and established his strong hold on Delhi and Agra. In 1530 CE, Babur died. His son Humayun became the king after his death.

Humayun (1530 CE-1540 CE, 1555 CE-1556 CE)

In 1530 CE, Humayun became the ruler of Mughal kingdom, but he did one big mistake of his life. According to his father's will, the kingdom was equally divided among his brother. Afghans continuously created problem for Humayun in Afghanistan. His brother Mirza Kamran weakened his cause against the Afghan competitors. Sher Khan was taking advantage and rebelled against Humayun. In the Battle of Chausa in 1539 CE and Battle of Kanauj in 1540 CE, Sher Khan defeated Humayun repeatedly and he forced Humayun to leave for Iran. After 15 years of exile, he re-conquered Delhi in 1555 CE with the help of Iranian Badshah Safavid Shah. In 1556 CE, Humayun died in accident. After his death, at the age of 13, Akbar became the Mughal Badshah.

Akbar (1556 CE-1605 CE)

In 1556 CE, at the age of 13, Akbar became the Badshah of Mughal kingdom. Historian divided his regime into three parts: (i) 1156 CE-1570 CE, (ii) 1570 CE-1585 CE, and (iii) 1585 CE-1605 CE. In the first part of his regime, he was only 13 years old. Bairam Khan was his political guardian. In this period, he became independent from the influence of Bairam Khan and other family members. He started matrimonial relationships with Rajputs. In 1562 CE, he married with the daughter of Amber king. This was the start of a strong political alliance with Rajputs. Afghans created problems for him with help of Mirza Hakim and the Uzbek Amirs. He revolted against Akbar. However, Akbar suppressed his revolt. In 1562 CE, Akbar abolished pilgrim taz on Hindu Shrine.

Figure 6.2 Mughal Empire under Akbar in 1605 CE

In 1564 CE, he ordered to end the Jizya taxes on non-Muslims. In 1568 CE, he seized Chittorgarh, the capital of S/sod/yo's dynasty. In 1569 CE, he seized Ranthambore. Sisodiya and Ranthambore were powerful Rajput families. In 1571, he built a new city and this city was known as Sikri.

In 1570 CE, Akbar started discussion on religious issues with Ulamas, Brahmanas, Jesuit priests, and Zoroastriahs'iri Fatehpur Sikri. These discussions happened in Ibadat Khana. During of these discussions, Akbar had developed the idea of universal peace. This idea was known as Sulh-i-kul. During 1570 CE-1585 CE, Akbar organised successful military campaigns in Gujarat, Bihar, Bengal, and Orissa. During 1585 CE-1605 CE, Akbar extended his empire Qandahar in north-west, Bern, Khandesh, and Ahmednagar in South. In his last day of regime, he faced rebellion of Salim. Salim was known as Jahangir. In 1605 CE, Akbar died and Jahangir became the Badshah of Mughal empire.

Jahangir (1605 CE-1627 CE)

During the regime of Jahangir, the military campaigns were continuing. The Mewar accepted Mughal service. However, he was less successful against Sikhs, Ahoms, and Ahmednagar rulers. He continued his father's Sulh-i-kul policies and continued marital relationship with Rajputs. Jahangir was well-known for justice. During his era, NurJahan became powerful and she was the one of the influential person of the Mughal court. Jahangir was a great admirer of paintings. Govardhan, Ustad Mushifiq, Kamal, and FazI were known painters of Mughal court. Jahangir developed some beautiful gardens such as Nishat Bagh, Chashma Shahi, Pari Mahal, Achabal Gardens, and Verinag Bagh. In last days of his regime, his son Khurram rebelled against him. After his death, Khurram became the Badshah. He was well-known as Shah Jahan.

Shah Jahan (1627 CE-1658 CE)

Shah Jahan became the Badshah in 1627 CE. He continued his campaigns in Deccan. In his regime, regional powers started rebelling against Mughal power such as Khan Jahan Lodhi, Ahmednagar, Bundelas, and Orchha. He defeated Khan Jahan Lodhi and launched campaigns against Ahmednagar and Bundelas. He seized Orchha successfully but he lost north-west part of the Indian subcontinent. He tried to seize Baikh but Uzbek successfully defended. Safavids conquered Qandahar. He built some most beautiful buildings in his regime such as Lal Qila (Delhi), Jama Masjid (Delhi), Taj Mahal (Agra), and Tomb of Jahangir (Lahore). In 1632 CE, he finally annexed Ahmednagar. In the last days of his regime, the war of succession was stated amongst his four sons. Aurangzeb defeated his three brothers and killed them. Aurangzeb captured Shah Jahan and jailed him in the fort of Agra.

Aurangzeb (1658 CE-1707 CE)

Aurangzeb won the war of succession and became the Badshah of Mughal empire. Aurangzeb regime was full of rebellions. In north-east, Ahoms rebelled against Mughal empire. Aurangzeb successfully defeated Ahoms in 1663 CE; however, in 1680 CE, they rebelled again. In north west Yusufzai became powerful and rebelled against Mughals. In Punjab, Sikhs rebelled against Mughal Subahdar. Aurangzeb started campaign against them but he won temporarily against them. Mughals were intervened in internal politics of Rathore clan of Rajputs of Marwar. Their intervention provoked Marwar and they rebelled against Mughal empire. Shivaji, the Maratha leader, was insulted by Aurangzeb in his court. Shivaji declared himself independent. He started attacks on Mughals. Prince Akbar rebelled against Aurangzeb with the help of Deccan sultans and Marathas. Aurangzeb sent his army against Deccan sultan. In 1685 CE, he conquered Bijapur, and in 1687 CE, he conquered Golkonda. In 1698 CE, Aurangzeb personally involved in the campaign against Marathas. Once, when he was engaged in the south, rebellions started in the north. Jats, Sikhs, and Satnamis were the main rebellions in the north, and Ahoms started rebellion in north east. He was continuously struggling against the rebellion and died in 1707 CE. In his regime, first time southern part of Indian subcontinent came under Mughal empire. After his death, the war of succession started amongst of his sons.

Table 6.2 Mughal Badshahs

MUGHAL EMPIRE ADMINISTRATION: ACCORDING TO AIN-1-AKBARI

The best source of Akbar's policies was Akbar Nama. Akbar Nama was written by Abul Fazl. Akbar Nama's last volume was known as Ain-i-Akbari. In Ain-i-Akbari, Abul Fazl gives the details of Akbar policies and his administration. He explained that the empire was divided into subparts, which they called them Subah and the administrator of Subah was called Subhedar. Subhedar had political and military rights of the Subah. In every Subah, they had a finance minister known as Diwan. It was Subehdar's duty to maintain peace in province. To maintain law and order in province, some officials helped them. These official are Bakshi (military paymaster), Sadr (in charge of religious and charitable issues), Faujdar (military commanders), and Kotwal (town police commander).

Akbar had a large army. He reformed not only his administration but also his military structure. In Mughal army, different regional groups were recruited on large scale. They had no limitation on Turani nobles and included other groups such as Indian Muslims, Iranians, Afghans, Rajputs, Marathas, and other regional groups. This process not only changed the warfare tradition but also triggered social changes. They created an open market of professional warriors. Before Mughals, the professional warriors were only Kshatriyas but Mughals opened it for all others and they recruited soldiers without any discrimination.

He introduced new system in military known as Mansabdar. First, we have to understand what is Mansabdari system. Every Mansabdar hold a Mansab meaning rank or position. The Mansab includes three things: rank, salary, and military responsibility of Mansabdar. Rank and salary were represented by Zat. The Zat defined the status of Mansabdar. If someone had high Zat means, the noble had prestigious position in the court and had a large salary. In the regime of Akbar, the highest Zat was 5000 and their number was 24; however, in the regime of Aurangzeb, it was increased up to 79. The Mansabdar had military responsibility. Every Mansabdar required maintaining specific number cavalryman. These cavalrymen called Sawar. The cavalrymen were reviewed by the military officials from time to time and maintained their record. For their salary, the Mughal administration had given them the right to collect revenue on particular areas. These allotted areas are known as Jagirs. Mansabdar administered these Jagirs with the help of Muqtis. These Jagirs were not permanent and the post of Jagirdars was a transferrable post. They can be posted anywhere in the empire. In the regime of Akbar, the distribution of Jagirs was carefully done and the Jagir revenue was equal to the salary of Mansabdar. In the last years of the regime of Aurangzeb, situation changed. The actual revenue collection was less than granted sum. The number of Mansabdars was increased dramatically. This difference created economic crisis in

Mughal empire, which is well-known as Jagirdari crisis.

Revenue was the main source of income of the Mughal empire. Agricultural production was 'i main source of revenue. The Mughals collected this revenue by both ways: cash and crops. Mughals collected revenue from the rural elites. These elites were the headmen or local chieftains. Mughal chronicles used Zamindar word for those chieftains. Todar Mal was the revenue minister of Akbar. Historian gives credit to Todar Mal to organise the revenue system. He carried out surveys of cultivation. He collected the accounts of crop prices of the last 10 years. The tax was fixed for each crop and collected in cash. The revenue system was known as Zabt. In some areas, the Zamindar carried out influential political status. Basically, these Zamindars and peasants were of same caste. In seventeenth century, these same caste peasants and Zamindari were allied and rebelled against Mughal authority.

SOCIAL CHANGES DURING THE NEW EMERGED POWERS

Under the regime of Delhi sultanate and the Mughal dynasty, there occurred a social change. First, the new ruling dynasties happened and were different from the previous ruling regimes. In different times, different tribes invaded in India, and after sometime, they merged themselves with the Indian society. When the Turkish came in India, they brought their religion. They came with a special identity and established their new state. They came and destroyed power symbols of the existing political power. They did not need Brahmans favour for their state. This was the first time that no importance was given for Brahmans in the state formation. The language of ruling administration was changed. Further, Persian was the language of administration. Some section of societies learned the new language and became a part of administrative, such as Khatris and Kayastha. In the old system of governance, Brahmans were given more importance because they had power to legitimise the ruler and they had command on language. Another important change that happened in Indian society was in the military culture of Indian society. The kushti culture of Mongol gave opportunity to other section of the society to become a part of army. Mughal recruited soldiers without any discrimination; however, in old regime, only Kshatriyas had the right to become a warrior. The Delhi sultans and Mughals built strong standing army, which provide permanent employment for the peasant class. This degrade the dominance of the Kshatriya and a new class of war lords emerged in India.

Another important social change that happened because of Sufi and Bhakti movement. During the period of 1200 CE to 1500 CE, Sufi saints were spread all over India. An Abul Fazl account gives the detailed information about the Sufi saints. According to him, Sufis in India were divided into 14 different orders. Some of the important Sufis were Chishti, Naqshbandi, Qadiri, Suhrawardi, Qalandaria, and Shattari.

The Chishti order was the oldest Sufi order in India. Khwaja Abdul Chishti of Herat was the founder of Chishti order. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti was the founder of Chishti order in India. He was the most famous Sufi saint among Hindus and Muslims. Other famous Sufi saints of Chishti were Shaikh Hamiduddin, Sheikh Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, Sheikh Fariduddin Masud Ganj-i-Shakar, and Sheikh Nizamuddin Auliya. Shaikh NizamuddinAuliya principles were based on love and humanity. He denied the royal patronage. Another great Chishti Sufi was Shaikh Nasiruddin Mahmud. Nasiruddin Mahmud avoided the kings and their patronage. The Chishti Sufis lived simple life. Their simplicity attracted the mass level of non-Muslims. They mad base of coexistence of all religions. They played important role to develop communal harmony.

The movement that created big social change was bhakti movement. Well, bhakti traditior was different in different times but bhakti movement of 15th and 16th century was different fron the previous bhakti movements. This movement was known as Nirguna bhakti. The well-knowl saints of Nirguna bhakti were Kabir, Guru Nanak, Raidas, Sena, Dhanna, Sadhana, Narahari, am Dadu Dayal. These saints belong to different caste and most of them were non-Brahmans. Kabi was one of the saint who clearly denied the Brahmana rituals. He strongly criticised the caste systern. He promoted monotheistic view. Another monotheistic saint was Guru Nanak. Monotheisti saints started monotheistic movement. This movement triggered the social changes in India society, especially in north India. This movement was attracting mass population of that time. This movement was important because it was not promoting any religion but they promoted social change. They promoted equality. Guru Nanak's teaching was promoting a monotheists movement in Punjab and later it takes shape of a religion. This new religion was later known as Sikhism This movement began a social change.