RAS question
The Iqta system introduced in India by the Delhi Sultanate was a system of:
Correct answer: (C) Land revenue assignment.
The Delhi Sultanate's iqta system was a land revenue assignment system in which a territory was assigned to an iqtadar or muqti, who collected its revenue and maintained troops in return.
Explanation
Iqta was not a tax by itself or a recruitment rule; it was an administrative assignment tied to land revenue. In the Delhi Sultanate, territories of varying size were called iqtas, and their holders were called iqtadars or muqtis. The muqti led military campaigns and maintained law and order in the assigned territory. In return for this military service, he collected the revenue of the assignment as salary and paid his soldiers from the same revenue. The source also explains why the Sultanate kept control over these officers: the office was not meant to be hereditary, holders could be shifted after short periods, accountants checked revenue collection, and the muqti had to keep the required number of soldiers. Iltutmish systematised this arrangement in India.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Military service was linked to the iqta holder's duties, but the system itself assigned land revenue, not compulsory recruitment of soldiers.
- (B) Taxation on non-Muslims refers to Jizya, whereas iqta concerned revenue assignments given to officers such as iqtadars or muqtis.
- (D) Trade regulation was not the purpose of iqta; the arrangement centred on collecting assigned land revenue and maintaining troops and order.
Concept
This tests the administrative and revenue machinery of the Delhi Sultanate, especially how rulers tied military service to control over land revenue. It recurs in RAS because medieval polity questions often distinguish iqta, jizya, kharaj and other Sultanate institutions.