When Bahlol Lodi ascended the throne, a quiet revolutionary change took place in the Delhi Sultanate. For the first time, the power from the hands of the Turks went to the soldiers under him and in the later times, the generals and governors went to the hands of the Afghans. The reason for this change can be traced to the political structure of the Afghans . They have been divided into tribes from the beginning. Prominent among them were Lodi, Lohani, Yusufkhel, Sarwani, Mewati, Jilwani, Turk Bachha, Fermuli, Karmuli, Suri etc.
1.
Adapting tribal tradition to monarchical
requirements
Afghan
people due to their tribal traditions were ignorant of monarchical traditions. All
the members of the clan were equal and the one who was most qualified among
them was unanimously elected
as the chieftain. Therefore, when Bahlol Lodi rose to the helm of power, the process of transition of this tribal tradition towards the new
political environment, requirements and established traditions of
kingship began. It was, in fact, a great achievement of Bahlol, that
he was successful in directing the free,
fearless democratic ideas
and beliefs of the Afghans according to the monarchical requirements. Afghan
tribal political system, refined, intuitively
slowly monarchical started adapting to the qualifications. Yet
again and again due to his zeal to gain power and political
dominance, his idea of independence
again began to be expressed activel.
2.
Completely against the Indo-Turkish concept
According
to Dr. Abdul Halim 's
research, the Lodi government was oligarchic, in which
the political dominance of Afghan families was well established, for
example, the Lodi, Nuhani, Fermuli
and Shekhani, who indulged in self-interest. He was the
de facto ruler of the country,
the Sultan was an elected tribal chief according to their
tradition. Therefore, this concept of Afghan kingship, where the ruler was only a tribal chieftain, not the shadow of God on earth, was
a completely new situation for India . It was completely
contrary to the Indo-Turkish concept,
but closer to the early
and original Islamic concept.
3.
The
cover of 'fraternity' to kingship
Fundamental
principles of equality and fraternity of Islam gonna The democratic state
itself was more favorable and suitable,
yet the 'Jamshedi' form
of the Ummaya and Abbasi periods
paved the way for the Persian concept of kingship. Therefore , Bahlol Lodi wore
the veil of ' fraternity ' to
his kingship in the same way as
Balban had clothed the kingship
as 'divine'. It is true that kingship
of Bahlol, was inspired ,
directed and controlled
by the tribal equality and fraternity of the Afghans .
4.
Carpet in place of throne
Abdullah,
a contemporary historian of Afghan chieftains, writes in detail on Bahlol's
kingship in his treatise '
Tarikh-i - Dawdi '. On
the basis of his details, we can make a detailed and analytical study of his
kingship. According to his opinion, Bahlol
was a simple and pompous sultan. He never ascended the throne in his
court like other sultans and never allowed his nobles to stand before him.
Rather, instead of the throne, he used the carpet, in which he sat with the prominent nobles. Certainly by
not taking a seat on the throne, he seemed to reduce or eliminate the gap
between himself and his officers. It was a pleasant satisfaction for the nobles
that the Sultan was not behaving like the Ottoman
Sultan but was behaving like a tribal chieftain, which
was their custom and behavior.
5. Sultan not used Title
He
himself never used the title of
Sultan for himself, but was satisfied with the title of 'Masnad-i-Aala' .
He used to address his nobles like this '
Masnad -i-Ali ' in
his farmans .
6.
No personal bodyguard
Rizqullah Mushtaqi informs us through his
book 'Waqat-i-Mushtaki' that
Bahlol did not keep any personal bodyguards. In fact, it may be compatible with
the Afghan traditions, but it does not seem to be in sync with the established traditions
of the Delhi Sultans. Nevertheless,
it has to be recognized
that this step Bahlol 's confidence and popularity only shows. No one was
opposed to his good behavior,
firm governance and
experienced administration.
7.
Food
: Confidence Building Remedy
His
food was not prepared in his palace,
but was sent in turn by
the nobles. It had two definite objectives - one, to
develop a sense of credibility among the rich, so
that they would understand well how much the ruler trusted
them. This developed a
sense of mutual trust, which made it possible that there was not
a single organized revolt of the amirs during the reign of more than
thirty-eight years. Secondly,
by ordering food from his
rich people in such a systematic manner, he wanted to give an impression of
their indirect participation in the government. And also that he was consuming
their salt etc. Not only this,
when his food was served
at the Dastarkhan, the gatekeepers were removed from the gate so that any Amir who
came to meet the Sultan
at that time could be the Sultan 's '
nivala' .
8. Go to his house to persuade the angry Amir
When
a Amir seemed
dissatisfied or annoyed with him on some matter, he
used to try his best to pacify and persuade him. He used to go to the house of
the Amir and
surrender his sword in front of him and say in apologizing that if he did not
consider him worthy of the throne, then he would be free that he should entrust
him with any other administrative responsibility and that any person he
considers fit for the
office of Sultan should be given to him.
Behind
his such behavior, his two conditions worked. One
he was successful in demonstrating that Afghans are reducing the state work
through discharging the responsibilities of authority, but
being members of the Afghan fraternity are paying the right of fraternity or ' Haqq-e-Biradari' in
their own governance. If all the
people are performing 'Haqq-e-Birdari', then
no work or position is small or big,
important or secondary, but
every task and responsibility is equal. Thus we find that Bahlol Lodi was
successful in defining a monarchy whose ideal was 'Kingship
is fraternity and fraternity
is kingship ' .
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