Delhi Sultanate
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The Delhi Sultanate refers to the many Muslim states that ruled in India from 1206 to 1526. Several Turkic and Pashtun (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.
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[edit] Mamluk
The second Muslim invader, Mohammad Ghori, had political ambitions. He fought two Battles of Tarain with Prithviraj Chauhan. After he won the second battle, he established control. The dynasty is also known as the Slave Dynasty as most of the rulers started as the slaves of Mohammad Ghori. He appointed Qutubuddin Aibak as his governor, and started building the Qutub Minar, which was completed by Iltutmish, his succesor. Iltutmish was followed by Balban. Razia Sultana, daughter of Iltutmish, 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.
[edit] Khalji
The Khalji or Khilji 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 Khaljis 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.
[edit] Tughlaq
The Tughlaq dynasty was established by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, also known as "Ghazi Malik" , who was a military commander under the Khaljis. The Tughlaqs were descendants of Turks from Afghanistan, but they had lived in India for long and had married with Rajputs and Jats of the Punjab. Muhammad bin Tughlaq succeeded Ghuyasuddin Tughlaq. He was an ambitious ruler who was the brain behind many development projects , most of which failed due to bad luck and poor planning. He is seen as a liberal in the religious sphere, and favoured the non-orthodox and non-Turkish factions of society. His rule saw the rise of native-born Indian Muslims to positions of power. His successor Firuz Shah reversed his policies. He was an orthodox Sunni and religious bigot, and he clamped down on the Hindus and Shias. He was also biased against the native born Muslims, and made government service hereditary, therefore ruling out the possibilty of Muslims from socially disadvantaged groups rising to positions of eminence. His mother was a Jat. The empire considerably weakened after his death.
[edit] 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).
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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. However , the invasion of Timur in 1398 broke the back of the Delhi Sultanate.
[edit] 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 overly 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 Babur and Delhi Sultanate. Ibrahim Lodhi was killed in the battleground. By way of superior generalship, vast experience in warfare, effective strategy and appropriate use of artillery, Babur 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.
[edit] See also
- 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
[edit] References
- This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain. See Country Study, Pakistan
- Braudel, Fernand, The perspective of the World, vol III of Civilization and Capitalism 1984 (original French ed. 1979)
[edit] 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)
- Memoir of the Emperor Timur (Malfuzat-i Timuri) 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: 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 - This online Copy has been posted by: The Packard Humanities Institute; Persian Texts in Translation; Also find other historical books: Author List and Title List)
