Society
The state was governed by the khan. His actions were based on decisions and consultations of a cabinet council, or Diwan. The nobility comprised the ranks of bäk (beg), ämir (emir), and morza. Military estates consisted of the uğlan (ulan), bahadir, içki (ichki). Muslim clergy also played a major role. They were divided into säyet (seid), şäyex (sheikh), qazí (qazi), and imams. The ulema or clergy played a judicial role, and maintained the madrassas and maktabs (schools).
The majority of the population were qara xalıq (black people): a free Muslim population, who lived on state land. The feudal lands were mostly settled by çura (serfs). Prisoners of war were usually sold to Turkey or Central Asia. Occasionally they were sold within the Khanate as slaves (qol) and sometimes were settled on feudal lands to become çura later. The non-Muslim population of the Khanate were required to pay the yasaq.
Read more about this topic: Khanate Of Kazan
Famous quotes containing the word society:
“The professional celebrity, male and female, is the crowning result of the star system of a society that makes a fetish of competition. In America, this system is carried to the point where a man who can knock a small white ball into a series of holes in the ground with more efficiency than anyone else thereby gains social access to the President of the United States.”
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“The paradox of education is precisely this—that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.”
—James Baldwin (1924–1987)