Delhi sultanate

History of Islam

Islam stands for peace; the second meaning is surrender before

Allah/God. Derived from word “slim”; peace. Complete meaning is
“peacefully surrender before Allah”.

Important points

 Founder of Islam is Prophet Mohammed was born in 570 A.D. at

Mecca. He died in 632 in Medina.
 Fundamentals of Islam According to Islam there are two important
books; Quran and Hadith.
 Quran was revealed by God to Prophet Mohammed and recorded
during his lifetime.
 Hadith records sayings, doings and approvals of Prophet
Mohammed

The first principle of Islam :

In Islam, it is believed that there were a series of Messengers

starting from the first man on earth i.e. Adam and the last
messenger was Prophet Mohammed.  It is believed in Islam that all
previous books before Quran were lost either partially completely.

Important points

 Quran is a book for all mankind irrespective of place or origin and

will last till Qayamat.  Belief in Qayamat (day of judgement) when a
person’s deeds would be judged. Similar to Moksha, Parinam
Nirvana.
 In Islam concept of rebirth is rejected, they believe in the
resurrection. It is believed that a person will be reawakened on “Day
of Judgment” as the same person to send them to Heaven or Hell
(Jannat or Jahannum).
 Followers would get Heaven (eternal life) and non-followers will get
hell.  Those who accepted the principals would be Muslims and
have to adhere to certain conditions:  He has to perform Namaz – 5
times a day. Zakat (Alms/tax) – He has to give alms of the value of
2.5% of his wealth provided his total annual income in a lunar year
is more than equivalent of 7.5% tolas of the value of gold. One tola
is 10 grams. Roza in the month of Ramzan – He has to undertake
fasting in entire 9th calendar month of the lunar calendar.
Muharram is the first month of this calendar.
 Women are exempted under some conditions. Hajj – A Muslim has
to undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca in last Islamic month Zi-ul-Hajj
(12th month) out of his legal income at least once in a lifetime
provided he has the financial ability.
 Shia and Sunni Muslims After the death of Prophet Mohammed,
issue arose for the post of next Khalifa (religious-cum political head
of the Islamic Community. There was a struggle for power between
various sects. The first three caliphs were elected/chosen.  The first
four Caliphs were Abu-Bakr, Omar, Usman, Ali. The followers of
fourth Caliph, Shian-e-Ali were known as Shias. The advent of Islam
in India. Islam didn’t come through invaders. It came through Arab
traders in south India.  The first group of Muslims who came to
India was of traders
 First recorded attacks of Arabs in India 711-712 by Muhammad Bin
Qasim, he invaded Sindh because Arabs believed that Muslim
traders were being persecuted by Indians.  The ruler at that time
was Dahir (king of Sindh) of Chacha Dynasty. Chachnama – History
of Sindh later written by Ali Kufi. Arabs established rule in Sindh
after the attacks and ruled for almost 300 yrs.  They could not
invade other parts of India mainly because of strong kings (Gurjar
Pratiharas). Turks were a group of tribes of central Asia. They were
not one homogenous group.
 The initial group of Turks who invaded India were:  Mahmood of
Ghazni, Shabuddin Mohammed Ghori
Mahmood of Ghazni
 Mahmood of Ghazni
 Mahmood of Ghazni was king of Afghanistan (998-1030 AD).
 He invaded India 17 times, the first attack was in 1000 AD.
 The most famous attack was 1025 A.D. at Somnath Temple. Purpose of
his attacks was simply to plunder wealth since temples were very rich they
wanted to exploit wealth.
 He earned the title of ‘Butt Shikan’ destroyer of idols.
 Al Beruni, a great scientist came to India along with him (11th century
A.D.) but settled in Varanasi and learnt Sanskrit. He wrote a book Tahqiq
–I – Hind or Kitab-ul-Hind. In this book, he explained about culture,
society, a prevalent system of untouchability. This book is known as
“Mirror of 11th century of India”.

TURKISH INVADERS IN INDIA 

Shahbuddin Mohammed Ghauri; also known as Muhammed bin
Sam or Muizzuddin was the ruler of Afghanistan for period 1173-
1206.

Five dynasties ruled during this period Dynasty and period Founder

1. the Ilbari 1206-90 Qutub-ud-din Aibak (Turkish descent)

2. the Khalji 1290-1320 Jalaluddin Khalji (Turkish descent)
3. the Tughlaq 1320-1413 Ghiyas-ud-din Tuglaq (Turkish descent)
4. the Saiyid 1414-51 Khizr Khan (Descent disputed)
5. the Lodis 1451-1526. Bahlul Lodi (Afghan)
Qutb al-Din Aibak – 
 Qutb al-Din Aibak
 Qutb al-Din Aibak was only King who was not from Ilbari tribe.
 He Aibak ruled only for 4 years from Lahore (1206-10).
 Expanded empire from Sindh to Bengal and Himalayas to Vindhyas.
 He gave a sound administrative setup & followed modified Turkish
administration.
 He was famous for his generosity and earned the sobriquet of lakh-Baksh
(giver of lakhs).
 One of few kings who died accidentally, fell from a horse while playing
Polo (Chaugan)
Contributions in Architecture:-
 He constructed Quwwat-ul-Islam, earliest mosque in India, at Mehrauli.
 This mosque was earlier a Vishnu temple and a Jain temple before that.
 Generally, symbols were destroyed by the new rulers to establish and
prove the superiority of culture, religion and dynasty. Adhai-din-ka-
Jhompra at Ajmer
Qutub Minar –

 Qutab Minar is the tallest minaret in India and is a UNESCO World

Heritage Site.
 It is named after Sufi Saint Qutb-ud-Din Bakhtiyar Kaki .
 It was completed by Iltutmish, who constructed 4th and 5th floor.

Iltutmish dynasty (1210-36)

Sultan Iltutmish
 Sultan Iltutmish
After Qutub-ud-Din Aibak’s death governor of Badayun, Iltutmish
annexed throne in 1210. Shamsuddin Iltutmish was the real founder
of the Delhi Sultanate. He shifted the capital from Lahore to
Mehrauli (Delhi). It was he who gave the country capital, a sovereign
state, a monarchical form of government and a governing class or
nobility, known as Turkan-i-chahalgani or Chalisa (a group of 40).
Contributions – 
 Iltutmish constructed 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor of Qutub Minar.
 Built Hauz e Shamsi water tank, Gandhak ki Baoli stepwell in Delhi.
 He issued coins; Tanka in Silver, Jital in copper 1 tanka: 48 Jital. Coins
were in Arabic script  Coins issued by Ghauri and Aibak were in
Devanagiri script. In some of the coins carried images of Ghauri along
with images of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.
 Kings from Balban onwards started claiming that they had divine powers,
also known as “Divine Theory of Kingship”  They called themselves as
Naib-e-Khudai, i.e. Deputy of God and Zille Illahi meaning Shadow of
God.
 The basic aim was to strengthen power, prestige to avoid treachery from
contemporaries as well as relatives, in fact, slaves were trusted more than
relatives.
 Iltuttmish had maintained a corpus of 40 slaves who were known Turkan-
i-Chahalgani holding important departments.
Provincial and Local Administration –
 Iltutmish brought major changes in provincial and local administration.
 He divided his empire into various Iqtas – Territories. Iqta was divided
into Shiqq, Shiqq into Pargana under which villages would lie They were
regularly transferred, removed or changed, so that could not establish local
rapport or followings. Each iqta was sub-divided into Shaq.
 At this level, there were two kind of officials having equal rank but
different job profiles. Shiqdar I Shiqdaran Incharge of law and order.
 Munsif I Munsifan Revenue and Civil Justice. Below Shaq was Pargana,
here the official were Shiqdar; Incharge of law and order. Munsif;
Incharge of revenue.
 All the Shiqdars were headed by Shiqdar-i-Shiqdaran.
ARMY ADMINISTRATION :
 Alau-ud-Din Khalji was the first to maintain a regular army. Initially, there
was no regular army; recruitment was done during the war and for the
period of war.
 Soldiers were peasants only.
 Soldiers were mainly Hindus.
 Officials were Muslims who spoke Turkish, Persian or Arabic.
 The first poet of Urdu was Amir Khusro. He created a new style of
Persian called sabaq-i-Hindi or the Indian style. His important literary
writings are mutla-ul-anwar, shirin khusrau, laila majnun, ayina-i-
sikandari and hasht-bihisht.
Ruknuddin Firoz Shah

Ruknuddin Firoz Shah

He was the son of Iltutmish and was crowned by her mother, shah
Turkan after the death of Iltutmish. He was deposed by Razia when
he was out of the capital to curb a rebellion in Avadh against him.
Raziya Sultan

Raziya Sultan
 After the death of Iltutmish in 1236, his son, Rukknuddin Feroz Shah
became the ruler with help of Umara but he was not a capable ruler So his
sister Raziya got help from people of Delhi and some of the Umara and
became the ruler.
 She became the first woman ruler of India. Contemporary writer Minhau
us Siraj wrote about Sultan in his book Tabaqat-i-Nasiri .
 He described Raziya as a beautiful, intelligent and courageous woman who
had all the qualities to become a successful ruler.
 Jamaluddin Yaqut an Abyssinian slave was given the post of Amir-i-
Akhtur by Raziya.
 Raziya actually married Altunia, who was the Governor of Bathinda.
Raziya was followed by Bahram Shah (1240 C.E. – 1242 C.E.) his rule
witnessed the first sack and plunder of Lahore by Mongols.
 He also created the post of Naib-e-Mamlakat (the regent) for the first time,
who was the de-facto ruler and sultan was the de-jure ruler.
 Later Bahram Shah was put to death by the Chalgani nobles.   Sultans who
came after Razia Sultan

Bahram Shah (1240-42) 

Bahram Shah

After Razia, Iltutmish’s third son Bahram Shah was put on the throne
by the powerful Turkish council Chalisa. Bahram Shah lost his life
after his failed attempt to assert his authority once on the throne.

Alauddin Shah (1242-46):

He was the son of Ruknuddin but was deposed after Balban and
Nasiruddin Mahamud’s mother , Malika-e-jahan, conspired against
him and established Nasiruddin Mahamud as the new sultan.

Nasiruddin Mahmud (1246-1266):

He was the son of Iltutmish and was known as the Darvesi King as
he was very pious and noble. He died in 1266.

Most important king in this period was Balban:

  Ghiyasuddin  Balban (1266-1287 A.D.) – 

Ghiyasuddin  Balban
 He was one of the greatest Sultans of Delhi. He proposed “Divine Theory
of Kingship”.
 He proclaimed himself to be; Naib-e-Khudai.
 Ghiyasuddin  Balban also claimed to be descendent of Iranian dynasty
“Afrasia”.
 He named his grandsons after Afrasia dynasty: Kaikobad, Kai Khusro, and
Keimur.
 Made strict rules and maintained a high level of discipline in court.
Everybody had to remain standing and serious conduct had to be
maintained in the court.
 He introduced “Sajda and Paibos”.
Administration :
 He ruled with “Blood and Iron Policy”.
 He mercilessly suppressed all revolts very severely so that no group
including Umra and a local ruler could dare stand against him.
 Balban was the first king in India who realized the importance of
protecting borders especially fragile areas of North-Western boundaries.
 In Balban’s period, the greatest threat was from the Mongols
(In Mughal India threat was from Afghans and Uzbeks).
 Balban was also rumoured to have killed the previous emperor.
 Another reason was that he wanted to restore the power, position and
grandeur of Iltutmish.
 For this very reason, Balban could rule without any major rebellions in his
20 years of rule.
 The second building of this style was Alai Darwaza constructed by
Alauddin Khalji.
 He was succeeded by his grandson Kaiqubad.
KAIQUBAD – 
 KAIQUBAD
A grandson of Balban was seated on the throne by Fakruddin, the
Kotwal of Delhi who assumed high political authority during the last
days of Balban. But Kaiqubad was killed by the Khiliji family, which
was the end of Slave Dynasty and beginning of Khiliji Dynasty.

KHILJI DYNASTY (1290-1320) :
JALALUDDIN KHILJI (1290-96)) – 

Jalaluddin Khilji founded the Khilji dynasty. Ilari dynasty was

overthrown by Jalaluddin Khalji, (Khalji is the name of Turkish Tribe.)
He ended Mamluk or Ilbari dynasty and the event is known as
“Khalji Revolution”.

He was the first Sultan who went beyond Vindhyas (low range hills
in M.P.) up to Devagiri in Maharashtra. Allaudin Khalji led this
campaign. He also defeated Raja Ramchandra Dev and looted the
palace. Allaudin killed Jalaluddin after he came back to the capital
and captured the power.

ALAUDDIN KHILJI – 
 ALAUDDIN KHILJI

The most famous sultan was Allauddin Khalji. He was a nephew and
sons-in-law of Jalaluddin khilji. He proclaimed “kingship knows no
kinship”.  Important areas of his era: Conquests, military reforms,
revenue reforms, market control policy, “TurnCoat-Policy”, Cultural
development in this period (art and literature, sculptures were
notably absent as sculptures are banned is Islam)

Military Reforms 

 Military conquests  Gujarat was conquered by his commanders in

1299 A.D. Local king  (Raja Karan of Bhagela dynasty) was defeated
and his wife was brought to court.
 He attacked Ranthambore in 1301 A.D. it was the strongest fort in
this period in India. Forts were conquered by the method of
Qilabandi (Seizure of fort, cutting off supplies and wait for months
for the defenders to wear out and run out of supplies).
 King of Ranthambore was Hammir Dev and his queen committed
Johar (Sati) . In 1303 A.D. he attacked Chittor  (King was Rana Ratan
Singh).
 Chittor was described by Amir Khusro as Seventh Heaven Chittor
conquest was also described in romanticized and poetic form in
“Padmavati”, a Hindi drama by Malik Muhammed Jayasi.
 His commander Malik Kafur attacked south India in 1308 A.D. The
Yadav dynasty (Devagiri), earlier defeated by Alauddin was again
defeated by Malik Kafur.
 Malik also defeated Kakatiyas of Warangal, Hoysalas of
Dwarasamudra & Pandyas of Madurai . Policy of Alauddin Khalji was
not to annex.
 He didn’t rule the kingdom but allowed the defeated rulers to rule,
but they had to pay him some compensation This was a major
difference between Tughlaq and Khalji

Revenue Administration: 

 The land was measured to ascertain ownership. Revenue

assessment was done on the basis of land which was sown. Half of
the assessed produce (not the actual product) was collected as
revenue (Kharaj). Perhaps for the first time, such high rates were
imposed. He set up a new department of Diwan-e-Mustakhraj to
collect details about the areas of revenue.
 He crushed the powers of intermediaries like Kuth, Muqaddam and
Chaudhary who were reduced to penury. There are no records for
earlier emperors for revenue collection. Hence Allauddin is credited
for changes in revenue administration.

Market Control Policy  :

This was a very unique policy which was enacted to maintain a large
army. Three markets were set up in Delhi:

 Grains
 Clothes
 Manufactured items and for sale of animals and slaves.

Amir Khusro (1251-1325 A.D.) 

Amir Khusro

Amir Khusro was a disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya. He served 5

Sultans of Delhi. He was a historian and wrote a book known as
 Tughlaq Nama (Ghiyas-ud-din-Tughlaq). Another important book
was on Indian culture “Noh-e- Sepehr”.

Important points

 He was a pioneer of Qawwali singing in India. (Qawwali is the

chorus in praise of Sufi saint in the shrines).
 Credited with the invention of Sitar (three-stringed instrument).
 He was also credited with 3 Ragas (Yaman, Sanam and Ghora).
 Khusro was believed to be the first Urdu poet.
 He was popularly known as Tootai-e-Hind (Parrot of India)
 The rulers after Allauddin Khalji were not powerful. The first Indian
origin Muslim King was Naseeruddin (1321 A.D.) who came in
power for a few months during this dynasty. He was a Hindu
Convert.

TUGHLAQ DYNASTY  (1320-1414):
Ghiyas-ud-din-Tughlaq (1320-1325 A.D.) – 

Ghiyas-ud-din-Tughlaq

Ghiyas-ud-din was founder of dynasty and his real name was Ghazi
Malik . He reversed policies of Allauddin Khalji’s policies of Kharaj.

He collected revenue which was 1/3 or ¼ of the produce on basis of

actual production. A famous fort of Tughlaqabad Fort, near Delhi is
credited to him. First marble built tomb was built by him opposite
this fort.
 According to legend, the Chishti saints disliked sultans because of
their opulent lifestyle of the elite.  Relations between Nizamuddin
Auliya and Ghiyas-ud-din were not good.

Mohd bin tughlaq (1325-1351 A.D.)–

Mohd bin tughlaq

His real name was Jauna Khan. He was most educated and also, the
most controversial Sultan of Delhi.

His court patronized scholars from different backgrounds like Jin

Prabha Suri ( a Jain Scholar) A traveller from Murakhpur, Ibn-e-
Batuta (book Kitab-ul-Rihla) was made Qazi of Delhi and was also
sent to China on behalf of the king.

He was the first Sultan who celebrated Hindu festivals. He was a

very secular person, he appointed people on the basis of merit
instead of religion or ethnicity.

Impact of transfer of capital :

 Many people of North settled in Deccan bringing about influences

of culture and language.
 Locals were called Deccani and Afaqis were people who settled
from the north.
 This linguistic group led to the creation of the Bahmani Kingdom.

Token currency :

 He introduced coins in copper, brass and bronze. Brass coins were

introduced for the first time in India. Value of brass coin was kept
 equivalent to one silver tanka, earlier it was 48 brass coins to 1 silver
coin.
 Thus he gave value for money instead of just the metallic value of
coin.
 People started minting coins locally as brass was much cheaper
than their face value.
 It resulted in large currency flow in market causing huge inflation
and hampering trade. So he had to withdraw this currency.

Expedition to Khurasan :

 He raised an army of 3 lac soldiers exclusively for this expedition but

later on abandoned the idea. This caused huge financial loss and
soldiers became unemployed.
 These soldiers were armed and trained and started indulging in
looting etc. which created problems in civil administration

Expedition to Karachi :

 There was a rebellion in Kangra, Mohd Tughlaq sent an army of

10,000 soldiers to suppress this rebellion.
 The soldiers were not trained for fighting in hilly terrain but
opposition were fighting guerrilla war.
 Cold weather and injuries along with diseases caused huge loss of
lives of soldiers which created unrest.

Taxation in Doab –         

Doab was most fertile land in Indian Sub-continent. He ordered the

collection of revenue through land assessment at 50% of produce in
this area.There was a huge unrest in Doab region due to this heavy
taxation.

 Situation was compounded by serious drought in this region; hence

people were in no position to pay taxes.
 This led to violence in region, tax officials were attacked and crops
were burnt.
 He setup a separate department of agriculture, Diwan-e-Kohi, to
rectify this situation and also provided loans named Takvi and
Saundhar to the peasants. Collected sample of the land tried to
experiment with them making the barren lands fertile, spending a
lot of finances on these experiments. He tried to change cropping
patterns and encouraged farmers to grow cash crops

Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351 a.d. – 1388 a.d.) 

Firoz Shah Tughlaq

 He is known in Medieval History as the “Welfare King” .
 He set up 3 departments for public welfare and better
administration.
o Diwan-e-Khairat
o Diwan-e-Imarat
o Diwan-e-Risalath .
 Built maximum number of irrigation canals on river Yamuna and
Sutlej (Some more than 100km Long) .
 Collected tax, Haq-e-Shirb (10%) from peasants who were using
water from irrigation canals.
 Built many hospitals .He built many orphanages and widow homes.
 He also started marriage bureaus to help poor people in marriages
and employment bureaus to help youth in employment. There was
large no. of slaves in his empire.
 He trained the slaves and helped them in providing self-
employment

Orthodox Religious Policies:

 He separated Jazia from Kharaj (Earlier it was collected along with

Kharaj, the revenue on agriculture).
 He collected Jazia even from Hindu theologists (pundits). This
created anger among hindus.He attacked Hindu temples – Jwala
Temple in H.P. and Puri in Orissa .
 He banned female entry into shrines of Sufi saints.
 He tried to ban some Muslim festivals because he declared it un-
Islamic e.g. Shab-e-barat. His most serious crime was to burning
alive a Brahmin for converting Muslims to Hinduism.

Architecture:

Firoz Shah Kotla in Delhi. He repaired Hauz-e-Allai. He repaired and

constructed one floor of Qutub Minar . Qala Masjid in old Delhi

SAYYED DYNASTY(1414-1451)
KHIZR KHAN (1414-21): Khizr Khan is the founder of sayyid
Dynasty

MUBARAK SHAH (1421-34):He succeeded Khizr at the throne

after his successful expeditions against Mewatis,Katehars and the
Gangetic Doab area.

MUHAMMAD SHAH (1434-43):

 The nobles put Muhammad Shah on the throne ,but he could not
survive the in- fighting among the nobles in the court.
 He was authorized to rule only a meager area around 30 miles , and
rest of the sultanate was ruled by nobles.

ALAM SHAH (1443-51):

 The last Sayyid king descended in favour of Bahlol Lodhi and retried
. thus began the Lodhi dynasty which was confined to Delhi and a
few surrounding area.
 LODHI DYNASTY:
Lodhis (1451-1526)  Three important kings were

 Bahlol Lodhi,
 Sikandar Lodhi
 Ibrahim Lodhi

Literary evidence of this period

 Tariqh e Firoz Shahi by Ziauddin Barni

 Tarikh e Firozshahi by Shams Siraj Afif
 Fatawa-e-Jahandari by Ziauddin Barni
 Futuhat-e-Firozshahi by Firoz Shah

BAHLOL LODHI :

 Lodhis were the first Afghan rulers in India .

 They introduced a new currency “Pehloyi”.
 Bahlol Lodhi was the first Sultan of Delhi to capture Kashmir .
 He established himself in Punjab after invasion of timur.

About SIKANDER LODHI:

 Sikander Lodhi was the son of  Bahlol Lodhi who conquered Bihar
and  Western Bengal.
 Lodhi built Agra in 1504 A.D. and shifted capital from Delhi to Agra
in 1506 A.D.
 He was a fanatical Muslim and broke the scared images of the
Jwalamuki Temple at Nagar Kot  and ordered the temple of
Mathura to be destroyed.
 He was a poet and composed poems in Persian with the pen-name
‘Gulrukhi’

IBRAHIM LODHI:
 Ibrahim Lodhi was last king . He was the son of Sikandar lodhi.
 He faced attack from Babur .Babur invaded India five times .
 First Battle of Panipat was in 1526 AD.
 In his period famous Lodhi gardens of Delhi was built .
 Another important monument is Tomb of Sikander Lodhi which has
the first evidence of Double dome in India inside Lodhi gardens in
Delhi

DECLINE OF DELHI SULTANATE  :

 Despotic and military type of government.

 Degeneration of Delhi Sultans .
 War of succession as there was no fixed law for succession.
 Defective military organization.
 Vastness of empire and poor means of communication.
 Financial instability.
 Number of slaves increased .
 Invasion of Timur.