Delhi Sultanate
The
Delhi Sultanate (
دلی سلطنت), or
Sulthanath-e-Hind (
سلطنتِ ہند) /
Sulthanath-e-Dilli (
سلطنتِ دلی) refers to the various
Muslim dynasties that ruled in
India from
1210 to
1526. Several Turkic and
Pashtun dynasties ruled from Delhi: the
Slave dynasty (1206-90), the
Khilji dynasty (1290-1320), the
Tughlaq dynasty (1320-1413), the
Sayyid dynasty (1414-51), and the
Lodi (1451-1526).
During the last quarter of the twelfth century,
Muhammad of Ghor invaded the
Indo-Gangetic plain, conquering in succession
Ghazni,
Multan,
Sindh,
Lahore, and
Delhi.
Qutb-ud-din Aybak, one of his generals, proclaimed himself
Sultan of Delhi and established the first dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, the Slave or Mamluk dynasty (
mamluk means "slave") after Muhammad's death in
1206. The territory under control of the Sultans expanded rapidly. By mid-century, northern India from the
Khyber Pass to
Bengal was under control of the Sultanate, although the northwest was contested with the
Mongols.
Iltutmish (1210-35), and
Balban (1266-87) were among the dynasty's most well-known rulers. Faced with revolts by conquered territories and rival families, the Mamluk dynasty came to an end in 1290.
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.
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
sugar cane (Braudel 1984, pp 96f, 512ff).
The Delhi Sultanate is the only Sultanate to stake a claim to possessing one of the few female rulers in India,
Razia Sultan (1236-1240). While her reign was unfortunately short she is regarded well in the eyes of historians. The Princess
Raziah Sultanah was very Popular and 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.
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.
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 at
Islamic Empires in India#Delhi Sultanate*
Qutb-ud-din Aybak (1206 - 1210)
*
Aram Shah (1210 - 1211)
*
Shams ud din Iltutmish (1211 - 1236)
*
Rukn ud din Firuz (1236)
*
Raziyyat ud din Sultana (1236 - 1240)
*
Muiz ud din Bahram (1240 - 1242)
*
Ala ud din Masud (1242 - 1246)
*
Nasir ud din Mahmud (1246 - 1266)
*
Ghiyas ud din Balban (1266 - 1286)
*
Muiz ud din Qaiqabad (1286 - 1290)
*
Kayumars (1290)
Khilji (Khalji) Dynasty (1290 - 1321)
*
Jalal ud din Firuz Khilji (1290 - 1294)
*
Ala ud din Khilji (1294 - 1316)
*
Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah (1316 - 1321)
*
Ghiyas ud din Tughluq Shah I (1321 - 1325)
*
Muhammad Shah II (1325 - 1351)
*
Mahmud Ibn Muhammad ( March 1351)
*
Firuz Shah Tughluq (1351 - 1388)
*
Ghiyas ud din Tughluq II (1388 - 1389)
*
Abu Baker (1389 - 1390)
*
Nasir ud din Muhammad Shah III (1390 - 1393)
*
Sikander Shah I ( March - April 1393)
*
Mahmud Nasir ud din (Sultan Mahmud II) at Delhi (1393 - 1394)
*
Nusrat Shah at Firuzabad (1394 - 1398)
*
Daulat Khan (1413 - 1414)
*
Khidr Khan (1414 - 1421)
*
Mubarrak Shah II (1421 - 1435)
*
Muhammad Shah IV (1435 - 1445)
*
Aladdin Alam Shah (1445 - 1451)
*
Bahlul Khan Lodi (1451-1489)
*
Sikandar Lodi (1489-1517)
*
Ibrahim II (1517-1526)
1526-1540:
Mughal rule
*
Sher Shah (1540 - 1545)
*
Islam Shah (1545 - 1553)
*
Muhammad V (1553 - 1554)
*
Firuz ( 29 April - 2 May 1554)
*
Ibrahim III (1554 - 1554/5)
*
Sikander Shah (1554/5 - 1555)
*
Islamic empires in India (part of the
History of South Asia series) has more information at
Islamic Empires in India#Delhi Sultanate*
List of Indian monarchs* -
Pakistan*
Braudel, Fernand,
The perspective of the World, vol III of
Civilization and Capitalism 1984 (original French ed. 1979)
*
Fernand Braudel The Perspective of the World, vol. III of
Civilization and Capitalism (Harper & Row), 1984.
*Elliot and Dowson:
The History of India as told by its own Historians, (New Delhi) reprint, 1990.
*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)
*
Delhi Sultanate Dynasty*
List of rulers of Delhi
