Chapter III. 
The Sayyid and Afghan Dynasties. 
1. FROM FIRUZ TO BABUR (1388-1526) 
DURING the first half of the fifteenth century Delhi was 
ruled for a time by the line of Firtiz, and then by a short- 
lived dynasty of Sayyids. The only contemporary authority 
I have found for this period is the Tarikh-i Mubarakshahi,! 
which was written about the middle of the century. judg- 
ing by its contents, the author was not interested in agrarian 
topics, and he tells us very little about them; but it may 
well be that there was very little to be told. The kingdom 
was now small, and, within its reduced limits, the royal 
authority was weak; the Hindu Chiefs tended to become 
independent, while the Moslem Governors were apt to be 
insubordinate. Much of the narrative relates to the King’s 
annual expeditions undertaken with the object of collecting 
the revenue, and punishing rebels or defaulters; and it is a 
striking fact that in these expeditions Governors and Chiefs 
were treated very much on the same footing. The King 
marches towards Gwalior; the Chiefs pay the customary 
revenue, or do not pay it, as the case may be. He marches 
towards Badiin, and the Governor either comes to meet 
him and settle his accounts, or else shuts himself up in the 
fort, and is treated as a rebel. The position for the time 
being resembled that which we shall meet in the eighteenth 
century, when all titles and jurisdictions became confounded 
in the Zalug or “dependency,” that is to say, the area over 
which an individual, whether Governor or Assignee, whether 
Farmer or Chief, exercised de facto authority. 
1 Much of this chronicle is translated in Elliot, iv. 6 ft. I have used 
Elliot’s MS., which now forms part of Or. 1673. checking it by Or. 5318, 
which is attributed to the seventeenth—eighteenth century. The blanks 
in Elliot’s MS., noticed by Dowson, occur also in this earlier copy, and the 
two must be regarded as constituting a single authority. So far as I have 
seen, the only differences between them are the clerical mistakes made by 
Elliot's copyist: as Dowson remarks, his MS. “is in a fair handwriting, 
but it is full of errors.”