What was the Iqta System? (Delhi Sultanate)

• Definition: The word 'Iqta' is an Arabic word meaning a 'portion' or 'assignment of land'.
• Under this system, the Sultan divided the massive empire into smaller pieces of agricultural land. Instead of paying his military generals and nobles a monthly cash salary in gold coins, the Sultan gave them control over a specific piece of land (an Iqta).

The military officer who received the land was called an 'Iqtadar' or 'Muqti'.

• The Iqtadar was NOT the owner of the land. The land strictly belonged to the Sultan.
• The Iqtadar's job was to collect massive agricultural taxes directly from the farmers living on that land.
• With the collected tax money, the Iqtadar would keep his own salary, violently maintain a set number of strong horses and soldiers for the Sultan's army, and send any remaining extra money (called Fawazil) back to the Sultan's central treasury in Delhi.

• It solved the massive cash shortage problem.
• It ensured that law and order were strictly maintained in faraway villages because the military commander literally lived there to protect his tax collection.
• It guaranteed the Sultan a massive, ready-to-fight army instantly whenever a foreign enemy attacked.