Social Hierarchy and Political Culture of the Delhi Sultanate: the Elite/ Ḵẖāṣṣ and Commoner/ ‘Āmma in the Persian Literature During the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries

As a new and evolving polity in South Asia during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Sultanate of Delhi experienced rapid regime changes and contested social hierarchies. Discussing social implications of political transition and disruption during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, this paper examines Persian advice literature, chronicles and inshā (letters) to analyse how social categories of ḵẖāṣṣ (elite) and ‘āmma (commoners) were constituted, contested and reconfigured. It explores how Persian literati advised new rulers on recognising the rights of subjects to maintain social order, and how this guidance contrasted with actual disruptions, when established ḵẖāṣṣ were displaced to create a new ruling elite. It is argued that literary representation of ideal social hierarchies provides critiques of the contemporary social milieu, as well as the expectations and anxieties of the authors. The paper also argues that social hierarchies under the Delhi Sultanate were neither stable nor predetermined, but historically contingent and actively negotiated. In light of this, the Persian literature of the Delhi Sultanate period becomes records of both social disruptions and social-political order, situated amid the tension between idealised norms and historical realities.