NANAK'S DOCTRINE AND SIKH GURUDOM 17 The Punjab of Nanak's days was ruled by the Lodis, the inheritors of the Delhi Sultanate.1 What the Lodis ruled was, however, a truncated version of the Delhi Sultanate—more a provincial kingdom than the empire that was. The upper echelons of the ruling class were almost entirely composed of Afghans, while other Muslims and non-Muslims were found at the lower administrative levels. The Lodi nobility was organised on the basis of the iqta system—a legacy of the Delhi Sultanate Administrative and military obligations did not apply to all the iqtadars but mainly to the bigger iqtadars or muqtis. The iqtadars under the Lodis were left with a considerable den|?e of independence in matters of administration. This indepen-d^|K;e increased with the size of the iqta and the distance of its location fNJ^tl Delhi. One check on the power of the iqtadars was the Sultan's p^lHgative of transferring them from one iqta to another, which aimed at Itlwarting Ihe attempts of nobles at developing local roots and e^jUlteive political influence. Under the Lodis, however, these transfers app^r to have been fewer, compared with the Delhi Sultanate or Mug^al periods. Similarly, though iqtadari rights were not supposed to be hereditary, there are several instances of the hereditary principle operating. The rights of the iqtadars to collect land revenue and to keep armed retainers provided tl^e raw materials for revolt against the ruler. This problem was acute especially because the Sultans, unlike their ancient Indian counterparts, lacked religious sanction for their rule, the concept of monarchy being conspicuously absent in Islamic religious tradition. A significant feature of the iqta system under the Lodis was the practice of sub-assignment of land revenue rights by the assignees to their subordinates. In the light of heavy taxation and illegal exactions from the peasantry^ the sub-assignment system implied greater misery for the peasants. Stratification of Peasantry and Ca^te Division The writings of Guru Arjan, in the Guru Granth Sa^ib, provide interesting insights into the agrarian conditions prevailing in the 16th and l7th century Punjab, which indicate further stratification amoug the rural population.2 Passages from Guru Arjan indicate that in contemporary Punjab there existed peasants who claimed rights to particular fields, and also a class of agricultural labourers who worked in the-fietds on the peasants' orders. There appears to have been a clear division among the rural masses between the peasants and agricultural labourers. One passage describes the process whereby a devotee of (he Guru rose from the position of an ordinary peasant to that of a. village headman and, having attained this position, acquired full authority over the peasants.3 The writings of Kabir, incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib, give further evidence about how the peasants