Ziauddin Barani

History glossary

Also called: Barani, Ziyauddin Barani · Topic: Turkic Invasions and the Delhi Sultanate · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions"

Meaning

Ziauddin Barani (c. 1285 – c. 1357) was a historian and political thinker of the Delhi Sultanate. He wrote the Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi, a history of the sultans of Delhi, and the Fatawa-i Jahandari, a book of advice on how a Muslim king should rule. He was close to the court, but he was not an official "court historian".

  • He matters because his work is our main contemporary source for the Khalji and early Tughluq sultans. That includes Alauddin Khalji's market and revenue reforms and Muhammad bin Tughluq's experiments.
  • He was also a follower of the Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya of the Chishti order. So he links the history of the Sultanate court with the history of the Sufi khanqah (a Sufi hospice, where a saint lived and taught his followers).

Explanation

Background: who he was

  • He was probably born around 1285, into a family that served the Delhi sultans. The name "Barani" comes from Baran (modern Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh). His exact dates are approximate.
  • His family held posts under the Khaljis. Because of this, he saw from close quarters how the state ran its markets, its revenue and its nobles.
  • He became a nadim (a close companion of the sultan) of Muhammad bin Tughluq. He spent about 17 years at that court.
  • After Muhammad bin Tughluq died (1351), Barani lost favour under Firuz Shah Tughlaq. He wrote his main books in these later, poorer years.

His two main works

  • Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi (completed c. 1357):
  • It is a history of the Delhi sultans from Balban up to the early years of Firuz Shah Tughlaq.
  • It picks up roughly where Minhaj-us-Siraj's Tabaqat-i Nasiri stops.

  • He named it after the ruling sultan, Firuz Shah, hoping to win his favour.

  • Fatawa-i Jahandari ("rulings on world government"):

  • It is a book on statecraft, meaning how a ruler should govern.
  • Barani argues that a sultan needs zawabit (state-made laws) along with the sharia (Islamic religious law). The sharia alone could not run a large state in India.
  • He says high posts should go to men of noble birth, not to "low-born" people.

What he tells us about the Sultanate state

  • The iqta system: he writes about the muqtis, the nobles who held an iqta (a block of land whose taxes an officer collected in place of a salary). The muqtis kept part of the tax to pay their soldiers and sent the rest to Delhi.
  • Alauddin Khalji's reforms: most of what we know about these comes from Barani:
  • Land tax fixed at half the produce on every holding, big or small [2].
  • Bigger khalisa (land whose revenue went straight to the sultan's treasury), so that more soldiers could be paid in cash [2].

  • State control of goods and prices in the markets, watched by a network of spies [2].

  • Muhammad bin Tughluq's experiments: Barani is the main source for the shift of the capital to Daulatabad and the token currency. He describes both as disasters.

Results and limits of his writing

  • He wrote with a clear moral purpose. History, for him, was a set of lessons for kings.
  • He had strong biases:
  • He liked the old Turkish nobility.
  • He disliked rulers who promoted low-born men or did not follow the ulema (Muslim religious scholars).

  • So his praise and blame must be read with care.

  • Even so, no historian of the period can avoid him. He is the base text for the 13th and 14th centuries.

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: late 13th to mid-14th century (c. 1285 – c. 1357). He lived under the Khalji and Tughluq dynasties.
  • Place: Delhi, the capital of the Sultanate. His family came from Baran (Bulandshahr) in the Doab.
  • Key people around him:
  • Alauddin Khalji (r. 1296–1316), whose reforms he describes.
  • Muhammad bin Tughluq, whose companion he was.
  • Firuz Shah Tughlaq, to whom he dedicated his history.
  • Nizamuddin Auliya, the Chishti saint whose khanqah in Delhi he visited.

  • Amir Khusrau, the poet and a fellow disciple of Nizamuddin.

  • How we know: from his own Persian texts, the Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi and the Fatawa-i Jahandari. Historians check his account against other writers of the period, such as Ibn Battuta (the Moroccan traveller at Muhammad bin Tughluq's court) and Shams-i Siraj Afif.

Don't confuse with

  • Shams-i Siraj Afif: he also wrote a book called Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi. Afif's book is a later and more admiring account of Firuz Shah's reign. Barani's book ends in Firuz Shah's early years. Same title, different authors.
  • Minhaj-us-Siraj: he wrote the Tabaqat-i Nasiri, which covers the Sultanate up to about the reign of Nasiruddin Mahmud (c. 1260). Barani's history begins roughly where Minhaj's ends, with Balban.
  • Amir Khusrau: he was also a disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya, but he was mainly a poet and musician (Khazain-ul-Futuh and other works). Barani was a historian and political thinker.
  • Ibn Battuta: he was a foreign traveller who served Muhammad bin Tughluq as a qazi (judge) and wrote the Rihla. Barani was an Indian-born insider and the sultan's companion.

Prelims Hooks

  • Tarikh-i Firuz Shahi (by Barani) covers the Delhi Sultanate from Balban to the early years of Firuz Shah Tughlaq.
  • Fatawa-i Jahandari (by Barani) is a book on statecraft. It argues for zawabit (state laws) alongside the sharia.
  • Trap: two different authors wrote a "Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi": Ziauddin Barani and Shams-i Siraj Afif.
  • Barani is the chief source for Alauddin Khalji's market control, his price-watching network of spies, and the land tax of half the produce [2].
  • Barani was a nadim (companion) of Muhammad bin Tughluq and a follower of the Chishti saint Nizamuddin Auliya.
  • Chronological order of historians: Minhaj-us-Siraj → Barani → Shams-i Siraj Afif.

Mains Points

  • A source that shapes the story: our picture of Alauddin Khalji's strong, centralised state comes mostly from Barani. That includes the expanded khalisa, the cash-paid army and the heavy farm tax [2]. So does our picture of Muhammad bin Tughluq's "failed" projects. When you use these facts in a GS-I answer, mention the source and its bias.
  • Religion and statecraft: in the Fatawa-i Jahandari, Barani says a sultan in India had to make his own laws (zawabit) alongside the sharia. This shows that even an orthodox writer accepted that the Sultanate was run on practical, worldly rules as well as religious ones. It is useful for questions on the nature of the Delhi Sultanate (theocratic or not).
  • Court and khanqah together: Barani's closeness to Nizamuddin Auliya shows that the nobles and writers of Delhi also moved in Sufi circles. It helps explain the relationship between the Chishti saints and the Sultanate state: they kept a distance from the court, but still had influence over it. This connects the Delhi Sultanate chapter to the Bhakti-Sufi traditions.

Related concepts

Read more

Sources

  1. 1Class 12, Ch 2 "Bhakti-Sufi Traditions" (primary)
  2. 2India — The Khaljis, Delhi Sultanate, Muslim Rulebritannica.com · tier 3