Delhi Sultanate – Rulers of Delhi Sultanate | History Notes Series – 1

Delhi Sultanate

Delhi Sultanate: The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526).

Five dynasties ruled over the Delhi Sultanate sequentially:

• Mamluk/Slave dynasty (1206–1290)
• Khalji dynasty (1290–1320)
• Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414)
• Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451)
• Lodi dynasty (1451–1526). 

It covered large swathes of territory in modern-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh as well as some parts of southern Nepal.

The context behind the rise of the Delhi Sultanate in India was part of a wider trend affecting much of the Asian continent, including the whole of southern and western Asia: the influx of nomadic Turkic peoples from the Central Asian steppes. This can be traced back to the 9th century when the Islamic Caliphate began fragmenting in the Middle East, where Muslim rulers in rival states began enslaving non-Muslim nomadic Turks from the Central Asian steppes and raising many of them to become loyal military slaves called Mamluks. Soon, Turks were migrating to Muslim lands and becoming Islamicized.

Many of the Turkic Mamluk slaves eventually rose up to become rulers, and conquered large parts of the Muslim world, establishing Mamluk Sultanates from Egypt to present-day Afghanistan, before turning their attention to the Indian subcontinent.

Rulers of Delhi Sultanate

Mamluk or Slave Dynasty

a) Qutubuddin Aibak (1206 – 1210)

• Qutb al-Din Aibak, a former slave of Mu’izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori (known more commonly as Muhammad of Ghor), was the first ruler of the Delhi Sultanate.
• Aibak was of Cuman-Kipchak (Turkic) origin, and due to his lineage, his dynasty is known as the Mamluk (Slave origin) dynasty (not to be confused with the Mamluk dynasty of Iraq or the Mamluk dynasty of Egypt).
• He built two mosques-Quwat-ul-Islam at Delhi and Adhai din ka Jhonpra at Ajmer.
• He started the construction of Qutub Minar which was dedicated to famous Sufi Saint Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakhityar Kaki.
• Aibak ruled as the Sultan of Delhi for four years, from 1206 to 1210.
• Aibak was known for his generosity and people called him Lakhdata.
• He died while playing Polo in the year 1210.

Note: After Aibak died, Aram Shah assumed power in 1210, but he was assassinated in 1211 by Aibak’s son-in-law, Shams ud-Din Iltutmish.

b) Shams ud-Din Iltutmish (1210 – 1236)

• Iltutmish’s power was precarious, and a number of Muslim amirs (nobles) challenged his authority as they had been supporters of Qutb al-Din Aibak.
• He divided his empire into Iqtas, known as Iqtadari system under which land were assigned to nobles and officers in lieu of salary.
• He built the Hauz-i-Shamsi reservoir in Mehrauli in 1230.
• He completed the Qutub Minar.
• He formed Turkan-i-Chahalgani or Chalisa (a group of 40 powerful Turkish nobles).
• He saved Delhi Sultanate from the wrath of Chengiz Khan, the Mongol leader.
• Iltutmish conquered Multan and Bengal from contesting Muslim rulers, as well as Ranthambore and Siwalik from the Hindu rulers.
• He also attacked, defeated, and executed Taj al-Din Yildiz, who asserted his rights as heir to Mu’izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori.

c) Razia Sultan (1236 – 1240)

• Razia was the first lady to sit on the throne of Delhi.
• Razia was the the first and the last Muslim lady who ever ruled India.
• Razia was killed along with her husband Altunia by Bahram Shah, a son of Iltutmish.

d) Balban (1266 – 1286)

• His real name was Baharuddin.
• He established the military department Diwani-i-Arz.
• He crushed the power of Turkan-i-Chahalgani or Chalisa which stabilized the Sultanate rule.

Khilji Dynasty

• The Khalji dynasty was of Turko-Afghan heritage.
• They were originally of Turkic origin.
• The name “Khalji” refers to an Afghan town known as Qalati Khalji (“Fort of Ghilji”).
• They were treated by others as Afghan due to adoption of some Afghan habits and customs.
• The first ruler of the Khalji dynasty was Jalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji.

a) Jalaluddin Khilji (1290 – 1296)

• He came to power after the Khalji revolution which marked the transfer of power from the monopoly of Turkic nobles to a heterogeneous Indo-Muslim nobility.
• The Khalji and Indo-Muslim faction had been strengthened by an ever-increasing number of converts, and took power through a series of assassinations.
• Muiz ud-Din Kaiqabad was assassinated and Jalal-ad din took power in a military coup.
• He was around 70 years old at the time of his ascension, and was known as a mild-mannered, humble and kind monarch to the general public.
• Jalal ud-Din Firuz was of Turko Afghan origin, and ruled for 6 years before he was murdered in 1296 by his nephew and son-in-law Juna Muhammad Khalji, who later came to be known as Ala ud-Din Khalji.

b) Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316)

• Ala ud-Din began his military career as governor of Kara province, from where he led two raids on Malwa (1292) and Devagiri (1294) for plunder and loot.
• He conquered Gujarat, Ranthambore, Chittor, and Malwa.
• He built Hauz Khas and Jamait Khana Mosque.
• He separated religion from politics. He proclaimed – Kingship knows no Kinship.
• He seized the famous Kohinoor diamond from the ruler of Malwa.
• Ala ud-Din Khalji continued to expand the Delhi Sultanate into southern India with the help of generals such as Malik Kafur and Khusro Khan.
• He introduced the first permanent standing army of India.
• He introduced a free market policy with effective price control system.
• Ala ud-Din Khalji changed tax policies, raising agriculture taxes from 20% to 50% (payable in grain and agricultural produce), eliminating payments and commissions on taxes collected by local chiefs, banned socialization among his officials as well as inter-marriage between noble families to help prevent any opposition forming against him, and he cut salaries of officials, poets, and scholars.
• The last Khalji ruler was Ala ud-Din Khalji’s 18-year-old son Qutb ud-Din Mubarak Shah Khalji, who ruled for four years before he was killed by Khusro Khan, another slave-general with Hindu origins, who reverted from Islam and favoured his Hindu Baradu military clan in the nobility.
• Khusro Khan’s reign lasted only a few months, when Ghazi Malik, later to be called Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq, defeated him with the help of Punjabi Khokhar tribesmen and assumed power in 1320, thus ending the Khalji dynasty and starting the Tughlaq dynasty.

Tughlaq Dynasty

a) Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (1320-1325)

• The Tughlaq dynasty lasted from 1320 to nearly the end of the 14th century.
• The first ruler Ghazi Malik renamed himself Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq and is also referred to in scholarly works as Tughlak Shah.
• He founded the city Tughlaqabad.

b) Mohammad-bin Tughlaq (1325-1351)

• Juna Khan renamed himself Muhammad bin Tughlaq and ruled for 26 years.
• During his rule, Delhi Sultanate reached its peak in terms of geographical reach, covering most of the Indian subcontinent.
• The famous Moroccon traveller Ibn Batuta visited India during his reign.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq was an intellectual, with extensive knowledge of the Quran, Fiqh, poetry and other fields.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq chose the city of Deogiri in present-day Indian state of Maharashtra (renaming it to Daulatabad), as the second administrative capital of the Dehli Sultanate.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s adventures in the Deccan region also marked campaigns of destruction and desecration of Hindu and Jain temples, for example the Swayambhu Shiva Temple and the Thousand Pillar Temple.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq died in 1351 while trying to chase and punish people in Gujarat who were rebelling against the Delhi Sultanate.
• He was succeeded by Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1351–1388)

c) Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351-1388)

• Firuz Shah ruled for 37 years.
• He was the son of a Hindu princess of Dipalpur.
• He established many cities such as Firuzabad, Fatebabad, Jaunpur and Hissar.
• The reign of Firuz Shah Tughlaq was marked by reduction in extreme forms of torture, eliminating favours to select parts of society, but also increased intolerance and persecution of targeted groups.
• The death of Firuz Shah Tughlaq created anarchy and disintegration of the kingdom.
• The last rulers of this dynasty both called themselves Sultan from 1394 to 1397: Nasir ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughlaq, the grandson of Firuz Shah Tughlaq who ruled from Delhi, and Nasir ud-Din Nusrat Shah Tughlaq, another relative of Firuz Shah Tughlaq who ruled from Firozabad, which was a few miles from Delhi.

Sayyid Dynasty

• The Sayyid dynasty ruled the Delhi Sultanate from 1415 to 1451.
• The Timurid invasion and plunder had left the Delhi Sultanate in shambles, and little is known about the rule by the Sayyid dynasty.
• First ruler of the dynasty was Khizr Khan.
• He was a lieutenant of Timur.
• Khizr Khan was a Sayyid and so his dynasty is called Sayyid Dynasty.
• His successor was Mubarak Khan, who renamed himself Mubarak Shah and unsuccessfully tried to regain lost territories in Punjab from Khokhar warlords.
• The Sayyid dynasty was displaced by the Lodi dynasty in 1451.

Lodhi Dynasty

• The Lodi dynasty belonged to the Pashtun (Afghan) Lodi tribe.

a) Bahlul Lodhi (1451-1488)

• Bahlul Khan Lodi started the Lodi dynasty and was the first Pashtun, to rule the Delhi Sultanate.
• Bahlul Lodi began his reign by attacking the Muslim Jaunpur Sultanate to expand the influence of the Delhi Sultanate, and was partially successful through a treaty.

b) Sikandar Lodhi (1489-1517)

• After Bahlul Lodi died, his son Nizam Khan assumed power, renamed himself Sikandar Lodi and ruled from 1489 to 1517.
• He also moved his capital and court from Delhi to Agra in 1504.
• He introduced the Gaz-i-Sikandari (Sikandar’s yard) of 32 digits for measuring cultivated fields.

c) Ibrahim Lodhi (1517-1526 AD)

• Ibrahim Lodhi was second son of Sikandar Lodi.
• He was the last king of Lodhi dynasty and the last Sultan of Delhi.
• Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi in the Battle of Panipat in 1526.
• The death of Ibrahim Lodi ended the Delhi Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire replaced it.

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