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Ghori defeated the last Rathor ruler Jaichand. This marked the end of Rajput rule in Northern

India and beginning of the Sultanate Period in Indian history.
administRation in the kinGdoms

• Kings had the supreme power. They adopted the great titles of Maharaja adhiraj,
Tribhuvana, Chakravarti.
• Kings shared power with their Samantas as well as with associations of peasants,
traders and Brahmanas.
• High posts in the army were filled by the people from influential families and the
close relatives of the king. The positions were often hereditary.

Revenue ColleCtion
• The producers like peasants, artisans, cattle keepers had to surrender part of their
produce as a tax.
• Revenue was also collected from traders.
• Sometimes, that part of produce was claimed as rent because the land was the
property of a lord.
• There were expansion of trade across the seas and the frontiers of the kingdoms. So,
the revenue collection was broad-based.
• Generally the people from the influential families and close relatives of the king
collected revenue for the king. These positions were of ten hereditary.

uses of Revenue
In these kingdoms, resources were used for the following purposes :
• To fight wars.

• To finance the king’s establishment.
• To construct temples and forts.
Remarkably, kings expected that the wars would lead to the acquisition of wealth in the
form of gold, jewellery, land as well as trade routes.
PrashasTis

Prashastis were often written in the praise of the king. They mentioned the king as valiant,
victorious, warriors etc. They described king’s achievements. These Prashastis were
composed by learned Brahmanas.

CRitiCal WRitinGs
In contrast to the writers of Prashastis, a twelfth century author named Kalhana was often

critical about rulers and their policies. He composed a long Sanskrit poem that contains
the history of kings of Kashmir. He took the help of variety of sources such as inscriptions,
documents, earlier histories eyewitness accounts, etc. to complete his work.

land GRants
Kings often rewarded Brahmanas by grants of land. The grants were recorded on copper
plates and these recorded plates were given to those who received the land. The person
who received the land could collect taxes from it.

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