Beyond Padmavati row: 5 things Alauddin Khilji did for the economy

Delhi Sultnate ruler Alauddin Khilji has been in the news for a few days – for the wrong reasons, of course – with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Deepika Padukone-starrer Padmavati riling fringe groups like Rajasthan’s Rajput Karni Sena, which claims the movie distorts history to show Queen Padmavati in a poor light.

Padmavati, with Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor in lead roles, showcases the love story of Rajput king Ratan Singh and his wife. Fringe group Karni Sena though alleges that the film distorts Rajput history.

While widespread protests across the country, including by Karni Sena, has seen the producers of the film deferring the release date indefinitely, it might be pertinent to revisit the books of history to explore the reasons beyond cinematic portrayal for Khilji to remembered today.

The nephew and son-in-law of Jalaluddin Khilji, the founder of the Khilji dynasty, Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316) is credited with bringing several reforms and regulating markets to control the prices of essential food items. He is said to be the first ruler to address the problem of price control in a systematic manner to maintain stable prices for a decade.

Here are a few of Khilji’s economic and market reforms that not many of us know about:

1. Agri market regulation: Khilji regulated agricultural market in the area extending from Dipalpur and Lahore to Kara near modern-day Allahabad. All the land in between was brought under Khalisa and the land revenue was fixed at half the production value and measurement of the land. No extra duties were levied. Khilji’s agrarian reforms are said to have brought villages close to the government (Delhi sultanate), and created a more integrated relationship between the town and the country. In today’s modern system, the government procures food items from farmers, mainly from villages, and distributes among citizens for food security.

Padmavati row: Rajasthan can't afford to be outraged by a fictional film

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Even as I write this, actress Deepika Padukone and director Sanjay Leela Bhansali have been forced to accept police protection after a fringe group in Rajasthan threatened them with physical harm, as it claimed to be outraged by their soon-to-be-released film Padmavati. One ex-royal has said he would do to Padukone what Lakshman, from Ramayana, did to Surpanakha — that is, cut off her nose and ears. “Rajputs never raise a hand on women,” was the caveat he added, before pronouncing the threat, implying that they did when it was necessary. His organisation has also accused Bhansali’s film — based mostly on a fictional 16th century poem — of inaccuracies, and has called for it to be banned.

Outrage, of course, is the national pastime, with everyone feeling entitled to it and frequently threatening violence if they are not placated. Films are an easy target for this anger. Even as the Padmavati row continues, a group of Brahmins in Maharashtra has called for the banning of National Award winning Marathi film, Dashakriya for allegedly showing the upper caste in a bad light (Really, now?). And, four days ago, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting withdrew Malayalam film S Durga and Marathi film Nude from the 48th International Film Festival in Goa. A bewildered Ravi Jadhav, the director of the second film, was reported as asking: “What do you expect a film on a nude model to be called?”

A look at Rajasthan’s social development statistics reveals, quite starkly, how incongruous it is for Rajput men to pretend to be the defenders of the honour of the women of the state. According to the 2011 Census, the sex ratio in Rajasthan is a dismal 928 women per 1,000 men, earning it a poor 23rd rank among 35 states and Union territories. The child sex ratio is even worse at 888. The literacy rate in Rajasthan is 67.06 per cent, keeping the state among the bottom few. Kerala, which tops the list, has a 93.91 per cent literacy rate. The female literacy rate is even worse 52.66 per cent. According to a 2016 report by Al Jazeera, 674 infants, mostly female, were abandoned in the state between 2007 and 2011, “highest only after Maharashtra”, forcing the state government to create a budget in FY16 to look after these children. Wouldn’t Rajput men be better occupied improving these statistics than defending the honour of a fictional queen?
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