SECULAR STATE CRAFT 5 borrowed from the political theorists of Ancient India in preference to what has been postulated by the early Islamic authorities. This is again an indication of the extent and nature of the transformation that was taking place imperceptibly in the essential character of the medieval Indian states, bringing them in tune with the realities of the situation of a composite ruling class. In the ensuing paragraphs, we begin our investigation of the secular features of these states by exploring the writing of Barani and Abul Fazi for establishing the above two points. The Fatawa-i Jahandari of Barani enables one to understand the real character of the Delhi Sultanate. "It was", writes Muhammad Habib, "not a theocratic state in any sense of the word. Its basis was not shariat of Islam but the zawapit or State laws made by the king". Barani defines zabita as "a rule of action which a king imposes as an obligatory duty on himself for realising the welfare of the state and from which he never deviates." It is obvious that these zawabit would often tend to favour the royalty and the officers of the king. Barani also expresses a pious wish that the zawabit framed bv the sultan should not be violarive of the provisions of shariat. But at the same time he makes it very explicit that\the zawabit were not based on any religious text or texts or their interpretation by the Vlama. These were legislated by the king solely on the basis of his understanding of what was good for his kingdom. As Muhammed Habib puts it,' Barani leaves us in no doubt that in case of a conflict the state laws (i.e., zawabit) overrode the shariat". '• In practice many of the zawabit framed by Muslim rulers in India tended to dilute the impact of Islamic shariat on the state. The zabita prohibiting cow slaughter framed bv Zainul Abidin of Kashmir during the 15th century( and enforced all over the Mughal empire not only during the reign ofAkbar' but in those ofjahangir and Shahjahan as wells can be cited as an interesting example of this type of zawabit. It is worth noting that in the Mughal empire, prohibition of cow slaughter as well as killing of other animals considered sacred was not meant simply as a gesture of good-will towards the Hindu subjects but these zawabit also carried stringent punitive provisions. There are cases on record of Muslims accused of cow slaughter or of having killed a peacock being taken to task by the state authorities, which clearly amounted to going against the spirit of shariat^ Denning the functions of the state, Barani postulates, "One of the chief factors of stability in the affairs of the government is that every one confines himself to his own proper work as owing to this the administrative arrangements of the country improve". According to him, "when persons belonging to one profession take to another from profit motive, the affairs of the (state) do not remain stable." At one place in the Fatawa-i Jahandari, he suggests three fold division of the society in keeping with the professions of the people, namely those of intellectuals, warriors and artisans. At another place, he mentions six professional categories: soldiers, agriculturists, speculators, shopkeepers, merchants and officers of the king. While referring to these categories he repeatedly stresses that these need to be separated from each other for the