ABSTRACT
At the time the Portuguese arrived in the East, a single sultan ruling from Malé theoretically held sway over all of the Maldive Islands. However, despite Pyrard’s statement that ‘The government of the Maldive state is royal, very ancient and absolute; the king is feared and dreaded and everything depends on him’,1 royal power was neither absolute nor secure. Descendants of former sultans constantly challenged the reigning monarch. There were 15 sultans in the 57 years from 1466 to 1513, and two of them ruled for a combined 28 years, leaving an average of just over two years for the rest.2 This instability rested partly on the fact that all descendants of former sultans could compete for power. Moreover, central control over the numerous islands was weak, and the ability to seize and hold Malé, the capital, seems to have conferred a degree of legitimacy on the victor. Indeed, a great deal of the power of the ruler was symbolic. The sultan had a group of palace officials or ministers, but religious education and the administration of justice was through religious elders, who worked under the direction of the qazi of Malé.3 While the sultan appointed the qazi, once appointed, the qazi held office for life. Nor did the sultan have a standing army but merely some guards for the palace. His authority depended on the collection of revenue from the islands and from visiting ships4 and the wise use of these resources, and of marriage alliances to ensure continued control of the capital city of Malé. By the end of the fifteenth century Maldivian sultans also had to fend off foreign powers such as Cannanore.
