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Delhi Sultanate
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The Delhi Sultanate refers to the many Muslim countries that ruled in India from 1206 to 1526. Several Turkic and Afghan dynasties ruled from Delhi: the Mamluk dynasty (1206-90), the Khilji dynasty (1290-1320), the Tughlaq dynasty (1320-1413), the Sayyid dynasty (1414-51), and the Lodhi dynasty (1451-1526). In 1526 the Delhi Sultanate was absorbed by the emerging Mughal Empire.
Mamluk
The second Turkish invader, Mohammad Ghori, had political ambitions.
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Encyclopedia
The Delhi Sultanate refers to the many Muslim countries that ruled in India from 1206 to 1526. Several Turkic and Afghan dynasties ruled from Delhi: the Mamluk dynasty (1206-90), the Khilji dynasty (1290-1320), the Tughlaq dynasty (1320-1413), the Sayyid dynasty (1414-51), and the Lodhi dynasty (1451-1526). In 1526 the Delhi Sultanate was absorbed by the emerging Mughal Empire.
Mamluk
The second Turkish invader, Mohammad Ghori, had political ambitions. He fought 2 Battles of Tarrain with Prithviraj Chauhan, and won the second battle and established control. Thus the dynasty is also known as Slave dynasty as most of the rulers started as the slaves of Mohammad Ghori. He appointed Qutub-ud-din-Aibak as his governor. He started building the Qutub Minar and it was completed by Iltutmish, his succesor. Iltutmish was followed by Balban. Razia Sultna, daughter of Balban was a gifted administrator and the first female ruler from the Muslim world. But owing to discontent of the Turkish nobility, she had to step down. Many infamous and inefficient rulers followed her.
Faced with revolts by conquered territories and rival families, the Mamluk dynasty came to an end in 1290.
Khilji
The Khilji or Khalji dynasty, who had established themselves as rulers of Bengal in the time of Muhammad Ghori, took control of the empire in a coup which eliminated the last of the Mamluks. The Khiljis conquered Gujarat and Malwa, and sent the first expeditions south of the Narmada River, as far south as Tamil Nadu. The Delhi Sultanate rule continued to extend into southern India, first by the Delhi Sultans, then by the breakaway Bahmani Sultanate of Gulbarga, and, after the breakup of the Bahmani state in 1518, by the five independent Deccan Sultanates. The kingdom of Vijayanagar united southern India and arrested the Delhi Sultanate's expansion for a time, until its eventual fall to the Deccan Sultanates in 1565.
Tuglaq
Sayyid
Lodhi
Monetary system
In the first half of the 14th century, the Sultanate introduced a monetary economy in the provinces (sarkars) and districts (parganas) that had been established and founded a network of market centers through which the traditional village economies were both exploited and stimulated and drawn into the wider culture. State revenues remained based on successful agriculture, which induced Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq (1325-51) to have village wells dug, offer seed to the peasants and to encourage cash crops like sugarcane (Braudel 1984, pp 96f, 512ff).
Female sultana
The Delhi Sultanate is the only Sultanate to stake a claim to possessing one of the few female rulers in India, Princess Razia Sultana (1236-1240). While her reign was short she is regarded well in the eyes of historians. Princess Razia Sultana was very popular and more intelligent than her brothers. She was the very first queen of the Muslim world in the early Muslim history of sub-continent. She ruled from the east Delhi to the west Peshawar and from the North Kashmir to the South Multan. The rebels of her government killed her and her husband Malik Altuniya, and buried them outside Delhi.
Mongol invasions
The Sultans of Delhi enjoyed cordial, if superficial, relations with other Muslim rulers in the Near East but owed them no allegiance. The Sultans based their laws on the Qur'an and the sharia and permitted non-Muslim subjects to practice their religion only if they paid jizya or head tax. The Sultans ruled from urban centers -- while military camps and trading posts provided the nuclei for towns that sprang up in the countryside. Perhaps the greatest contribution of the Sultanate was its temporary success in insulating the subcontinent from the potential devastation of the Mongol invasion from Central Asia in the thirteenth century.
Fall of Sultanate
The last dynasty of the Sultanate was the Lodhi dynasty. The last Lodhi ruler, Ibrahim Lodhi was greatly disliked in his court and subjects alike. He was over ambitious. Thus, governor of Punjab- Daulat Khan
and his uncle, Alam Khan sent an invitation to Zahir-ud-din Mohammed Babur, the ruler of Kabul, to conquer Delhi.
The first Battle of Panipat(April 1526) was fought between the forces of Babar and Delhi Sultanate. Ibrahim Lodhi was killed in the battleground. By way of superior generalship, vast experiance in warfare, effective strategy and appropriate use of artillery, Babar won the First battle of Panipat and occupied Agra and Delhi. He set the foundation of the Mughal dynasty which was to rule India for another 300 years.
The Sultanate ushered in a period of Indian cultural renaissance. The resulting "Indo-Muslim" fusion left lasting monuments in architecture, music, literature, and religion. The Sultanate suffered from the sacking of Delhi in 1398 by Timur (Tamerlane), and soon other independent Sultanates were established in Awadh, Bengal, Jaunpur, Gujarat and Malwa. The Delhi Sultanate revived briefly under the Lodhis before it was conquered by the Mughal emperor Babur in 1526.
Note: Islamic Empires in India (part of the History of South Asia series) has more information in its section on the Delhi Sultanate.
See also
Literature
- Fernand Braudel The Perspective of the World, vol. III of Civilization and Capitalism (Harper & Row), 1984.
- Peter Jackson The Delhi Sultanate. A Political and Military History (Cambridge) 1999
- Majumdar, R. C. (ed.), The History and Culture of the Indian People, Volume VI, The Delhi Sultanate, (Bombay) 1960; Volume VII, The Mughal Empire, (Bombay) 1973.
- Nizami, Khaliq Ahmad Some Aspects of Religion and Politics in India in the Thirteenth Century (Delhi) 1961 (Revised Edition Delhi 2002)
- Timur's memoirs on his invasion of India. Compiled in the book: "The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period", by Sir H. M. Elliot, Edited by John Dowson; London, Trubner Company; 1867–1877
- Dietmar Rothermund, Geschichte Indiens Vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart, C.H. Beck.
- Elliot, Sir H. M., Edited by Dowson, John. The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians. The Muhammadan Period; published by London Trubner Company 1867–1877. (Online Copy: - This online Copy has been posted by: )
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