how was the army organised during the Sultan
Answers
The contingents stationed at Delhi was called Hasham-i-qalb and included among others
royal slaves and guards. Provincial contingents were called hasham-i-atraf. Garisons
are mentioned in the time of Qutbuddin Aibak which were placed under Kotwals. Cavalry
was composed of murattab, sawar and do-aspah (men with 2 horses, single horse and
no horses of their own respectively) (The Administration of the Sultanate of Delhi,
I.H. Qureshi, p. 250-253). Elephant establishment at Delhi was supervised by the
Shahnah-i-fil. The infantry or foot soldiers were referred to as paiks (generally Hindus,
slaves or persons of low origin). The decimal system (multiples of 10) was the basis of
army organisation under the Ghaznavids and Mongols. Sultans of Delhi followed a similar
system. Barani in his Tarikh-I-Firoz Shahi discusses the army organisation, “A sarkhail
commands 10 chosen horsemen; a sipah-salar 10 sarkhails; an amir 10 sipha-salars;
a malik 10 amirs, a khan 10 maliks, and a king should have at least 10 khans under his
command”, (Medievial India Quarterly, M. Habib, p 228.) Barani also refers to amiran-
i-sada (centurians) and amiran-i-hajara (commanders of one thousand). The hierarchy
comprised of Sarkhail at the bottom (with 10 horse men subordinate to him), a sipah-salar
(had 10 sarkhail under him), amir (10 sipah-salars below him), malik (had power over 10
amirs), Khan’s troops (were equal to troops under 10 maliks).