Everything about Sultan Of Delhi totally explained
The
Delhi Sultanate (
Urdu:
دلی سلطنت), or
Sultanat e Hind (
Urdu:
سلطنتِ هند) /
Sultanat e Dilli (
Urdu:
سلطنتِ دلی) refers to the many
Muslim dynasties 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.
During the last quarter of the twelfth century,
Muhammad Ghori invaded the
Indo-Gangetic plain, conquering in succession
Ghazni,
Multan,
Sindh,
Lahore, and
Delhi.
Qutb-ud-din Aibak, one of his generals, proclaimed himself
Sultan of Delhi and established the first dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, the Mamluk dynasty (
mamluk means "slave born to free parents") after Muhammad Ghori's death in
1206. By the early 13th 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, Princess
Razia Sultana (1236-1240). While her reign was unfortunately short she's 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.
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 in its
section on the Delhi Sultanate.
Sultans of Delhi
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)
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 dynasty)
Sher Shah Suri (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)Further Information
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