Question

Examine various approaches to the study of medieval towns in india

Answer 1

The various approaches to study medieval Indian towns are as follows:

The establishment of Sultanat of Delhi brought an urban revolution.

The factors responsible for this include centralisation, political and economic stability, ruling class and craft and trade; increasing monetisation. Some major towns during medieval pe­riod included Delhi, Multan, Patan, Kara etc.

The iqta head quarters emerged in early phase as camp sites. Most of the 13thcentury towns are infact defined as iqta head quarters in our sources for e.g. Hansi, Kara etc.

The role played by rulers in setting up new towns is also significant. Feroze Shah Tughlaq settled Ferozabad, Hissar Firoza & Jaunpur. Akbar built the town of Fatehpur Sikri while Shah Jahan settled Shahjahanabad.

Some cities gained importance because of their administrative function where other roles such as manufacturing or religion were secondary. Such cities included Delhi, Agra Lahore, Pune etc.