Who was 'Khareetadar'?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — B, Despatcher of royal decrees. In medieval Indian administration the word 'khareeta' meant a formal letter or dispatch (traditionally kept in an envelope or cloth bag). The 'khareetadar' was therefore the officer in charge of handling and sending out the ruler's official correspondence and decrees. Ziauddin Barani's Tarikh-i-Firoz-Shahi records that under Muhammad bin Tughlaq a hundred or two hundred royal orders passed daily through the khareetadar's office for transmission to the provincial governors (walis and muqtas).

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Account-keeping was the work of finance/record officers (such as the mutasarrif or mustaufi), not of the khareetadar, who dealt with correspondence.  (c) Guarding and running the royal household was a separate palace office; it was not the function of the khareetadar.  (d) The pargana (a sub-district) was run by local officials such as the amil and chaudhari — not by the khareetadar, who was a court-level despatch officer.

Concept: 'Khareeta' denotes a royal letter or dispatch; the 'khareetadar' was the court functionary responsible for issuing and despatching the ruler's written orders and decrees to officials across the realm. The office reflects how the Delhi Sultanate ran a paper-based command system connecting the centre to the provinces.

State PCS 2023 Q108 — History PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2023 Q108 — History PYQ with Answer