The Delhi Sultanate

Flagship overview

The Delhi Sultanate (1206 to 1526) was the line of Turkish and Afghan dynasties that ruled north India from Delhi for more than three centuries, until the Mughal conquest. Five dynasties succeeded one another: the Slave (Mamluk) dynasty, the Khalji, the Tughlaq, the Sayyid, and the Lodi. The Sultanate established a Persianised, centralised state in India, brought the iqta system of revenue assignment, a money economy with the silver tanka and copper jital, the Persian language at court, and the Indo-Islamic ("Indo-Saracenic") style of architecture, fusing the true arch and dome with Indian craftsmanship. The main sources are Persian court chronicles (Minhaj-us-Siraj's Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, Ziauddin Barani's Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi, Amir Khusrau's works), inscriptions, coins, and the travel account of the Moroccan Ibn Battuta (Rihla).

For CAPF, the Sultanate is a high-yield medieval topic. The examiner tests the dynasty order and founders, king-to-reform matching (especially Alauddin Khalji's market control and Muhammad bin Tughlaq's two great experiments), the monuments, the iqta system, who built the Qutb Minar, which traveller visited whom, and the battles that opened and closed the Sultanate.

Core narrative

The Sultanate was founded in 1206 by Qutb-ud-din Aibak, a Turkish slave-general of Muhammad Ghori (Shihabuddin Muhammad of Ghor), after Ghori's death. The way had been cleared by the two Battles of Tarain: in the First Battle of Tarain (1191), Prithviraj Chauhan (Prithviraj III of the Chauhan dynasty of Ajmer and Delhi) defeated Ghori; in the Second Battle of Tarain (1192), Ghori defeated and captured Prithviraj, breaking Rajput resistance and opening the Ganga plain to Turkish rule.

Slave (Mamluk) dynasty (1206 to 1290)

• Qutb-ud-din Aibak (1206 to 1210): the founder, ruling from Lahore. He began the Qutb Minar at Delhi (in honour of the Sufi saint Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki) and built the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque (the first mosque in Delhi) and the Adhai Din ka Jhonpra at Ajmer. He was famous for his generosity (called Lakh-baksh, "giver of lakhs") and died in a polo (chaugan) accident at Lahore.
• Iltutmish (1211 to 1236): the real consolidator of the Sultanate. He made Delhi the capital, secured recognition from the Abbasid Caliph (legitimising his rule), saved the state from the Mongol threat of Chinggis (Genghis) Khan by tact, introduced the silver tanka and the copper jital (the two basic coins of the Sultanate), organised the corps of forty leading nobles (the Turkan-i-Chihalgani, or "the Forty"), and completed the Qutb Minar.
• Razia Sultan (1236 to 1240): nominated by Iltutmish over his sons, she was the first and only woman to rule the Delhi Sultanate. She was opposed by the Turkish nobility and was overthrown and killed.
• Ghiyasuddin Balban (1266 to 1287): the strong ruler who broke the power of the Forty, exalted the crown with the Persian theory of kingship as the "shadow of God" (zill-i-ilahi), introduced the court ceremonies of sijda (prostration) and paibos (kissing the sovereign's feet), and adopted the policy of "blood and iron" against rebels and the Mongols. He kept the nobles in awe and emphasised the divine and despotic character of kingship.

Khalji dynasty (1290 to 1320)

• Jalaluddin Firuz Khalji founded the dynasty, ending the Turkish monopoly on power (the Khaljis were of mixed Turko-Afghan stock).
• Alauddin Khalji (1296 to 1316) is the great Khalji ruler. He repelled repeated Mongol invasions, and conquered Gujarat, Ranthambore, Chittor (1303), Malwa, and the Deccan, where his general Malik Kafur raided as far south as the Pandyas (Madurai). His reforms were far-reaching: he asserted the separation of religion from politics (the state above the ulema), raised the land revenue to half the produce (kharaj at fifty per cent), measured the land, and famously imposed strict market (price) control regulations in Delhi, fixing the prices of grain, cloth, horses, and slaves and setting up control offices (the shahna-i-mandi) and a network of informers. To pay a large standing army in cash at controlled prices, he introduced the dagh (the branding of horses to prevent fraud) and the chehra (a descriptive muster-roll of each soldier). He built the Alai Darwaza and the Siri fort and planned the (unfinished) Alai Minar.

Tughlaq dynasty (1320 to 1414)

• Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq founded the dynasty and built the Tughlaqabad fort.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1325 to 1351) was learned and ambitious but is remembered for grand schemes that failed: shifting the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad (Devagiri) in the Deccan and back again (causing great hardship), and issuing token currency (bronze and copper coins meant to pass at the value of silver), which was forged on a vast scale and had to be withdrawn. He also raised taxation in the Doab at a time of famine. The Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta visited his court and was appointed qazi of Delhi.
• Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1351 to 1388) was a builder and a cautious administrator. He founded the towns of Firozabad (Delhi), Hisar, Jaunpur, Fatehabad, and Firozpur, dug irrigation canals (including from the Yamuna and the Sutlej), set up the diwan-i-khairat (a charity department) and the diwan-i-bandagan (a department for slaves), repaired old monuments and erected two Ashokan pillars at Delhi, but re-imposed the jizya even on Brahmanas and made iqtas more hereditary. After his death the dynasty declined, and Timur (Tamerlane) invaded and sacked Delhi in 1398, shattering Tughlaq power.

Sayyid dynasty (1414 to 1451)

Founded by Khizr Khan, a deputy left behind by Timur, the Sayyids were a weak line whose authority was largely confined to Delhi and its neighbourhood. Their rule is sometimes summed up in the saying that the Sultan's writ ran "from Delhi to Palam".

Lodi dynasty (1451 to 1526)

The first purely Afghan dynasty. Bahlul Lodi founded it. Sikandar Lodi (the ablest) founded the city of Agra in 1504 and shifted the capital there, and introduced the gaz-i-Sikandari (a standard yard for measuring land). Ibrahim Lodi, the last Sultan, alienated the Afghan nobles by his autocratic conduct; he was defeated and killed by Babur at the First Battle of Panipat (1526), which ended the Sultanate and began the Mughal Empire.

Administration

The Sultan was the head of state, the supreme political, military, and judicial authority, in theory subordinate to the Caliph (whose name appeared on the coins). The chief central departments (diwans) were:

The empire was divided into provinces (iqtas), held by iqtadars or muqtis who collected revenue and maintained troops from it, and below them into shiqs and parganas; the village was the lowest unit. Land revenue (kharaj) was the chief source of income, taken in cash or kind; other levies were jizya (a tax on non-Muslims), zakat (a religious tax on Muslims), khams (one-fifth of war booty or mines), and the kharaj on agriculture. The ulema (religious scholars) and the nobility (the umara) were the two influential pillars; the iqta system bound the nobles' income to service. The army was organised under the ariz, and Alauddin Khalji first established a large, centrally paid standing army with the dagh and chehra.

Economy

The Sultanate sustained a money economy with the silver tanka, the copper jital, and a brisk trade in textiles, the introduction of the spinning wheel (charkha) and the Persian wheel (saqiya) for irrigation, and growing towns. Agriculture, craft production (especially textiles), and both inland and overseas trade (with West Asia and Southeast Asia) flourished. The state's heavy revenue demand and the iqta system shaped the rural economy.

Society

Sultanate society was sharply stratified. At the top stood the Sultan and the nobility (the umara, drawn from Turks, Afghans, Persians, and Indian Muslims), and the ulema; below them were the merchants and the urban professionals, then the artisans, peasants, and at the base the bonded and slave population. Slavery was widespread; Firuz Shah Tughlaq is said to have maintained around 180,000 slaves and set up a separate department (diwan-i-bandagan) for them. The bulk of the population remained Hindu, governed in their own communities by their own customs, while paying the jizya. Women of the elite observed purdah, which spread in this period. The Sultanate also saw the gradual growth of a composite urban culture and the spread of Persian learning, alongside the bhakti and sufi devotional currents that softened communal lines.

Regional kingdoms of the Sultanate age

As central authority weakened, especially after Timur's invasion, several independent regional kingdoms arose, a favourite matching set:

Architecture and culture

Indo-Islamic architecture combined the arch (the true arch, with a keystone) and the dome with Indian materials, motifs, and craftsmanship, generally avoiding figural sculpture. Landmarks by dynasty:

Amir Khusrau, the great poet and musician (a disciple of the Sufi Nizamuddin Auliya), served several sultans, wrote in Persian and the early Hindavi, and is credited with developing the qawwali and influencing Hindustani music (and traditionally the sitar and tabla). The Persian language flourished at court. The Bhakti and Sufi movements spread widely in this period, softening communal boundaries.

Static facts to memorise

Dynasties, founders, and key rulers

Battles that bracket the Sultanate

Security and governance angle

The iqta system was the Sultanate's backbone for both revenue and the maintenance of armed force: the muqti or iqtadar collected revenue from his assigned territory and from it paid and maintained a contingent of troops for the Sultan, an early model of decentralised military-fiscal administration. Alauddin Khalji's measures, a centrally paid standing army funded by a heavy land tax and disciplined by the dagh (branding) and chehra (descriptive roll), are among the earliest examples of systematic military and price control by an Indian state, designed in part to keep the army strong against the Mongol threat on the north-west frontier. The repeated Mongol invasions and the management of the frontier are a recurring internal-security theme of the period.

How CAPF asks it

Formats: dynasty order and founders; king-to-reform matching (Alauddin, market control; Muhammad bin Tughlaq, token currency); who built or completed the Qutb Minar; which traveller visited whom (Ibn Battuta under Muhammad bin Tughlaq); the battle that ended the Sultanate.

Authored practice (with answers):

Common confusion

• Aibak began the Qutb Minar; Iltutmish completed it. Iltutmish, not Aibak, was the real consolidator.
• Zill-i-ilahi, sijda, and paibos belong to Balban; the Forty (Chihalgani) was organised by Iltutmish and broken by Balban.
• Alauddin Khalji (market control, dagh and chehra, half-share revenue, Malik Kafur) versus Muhammad bin Tughlaq (capital shift to Daulatabad, token currency). Two different sets of "famous reforms"; do not merge them.
• Ibn Battuta visited under Muhammad bin Tughlaq (14th century); contrast with the Mughal-era travellers (Sir Thomas Roe, Bernier).
• Iqta is the Sultanate revenue assignment; the Mughal jagir is the later equivalent. Different periods.
• Founders: Slave (Aibak), Khalji (Jalaluddin), Tughlaq (Ghiyasuddin), Sayyid (Khizr Khan), Lodi (Bahlul). Do not confuse the founders with the famous rulers (Alauddin, Muhammad bin Tughlaq).

Memory hook

• Dynasty order: "Slave Kings Take Steady Land" (Slave, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, Lodi).
• "1206 opens, 1526 closes" the Sultanate (Aibak to Panipat).
• Alauddin's army discipline: "dagh brands the horse, chehra describes the man."
• Four central diwans: "Wizarat money, Arz army, Insha letters, Risalat religion."

Night before

• Delhi Sultanate 1206 to 1526; five dynasties: Slave, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, Lodi.
• Founder Qutb-ud-din Aibak (1206); began the Qutb Minar; "Lakh-baksh"; died in a polo accident.
• Iltutmish was the real consolidator: capital at Delhi, silver tanka and copper jital, the Forty (Chihalgani).
• Razia Sultan was the only woman ruler; Balban introduced zill-i-ilahi, sijda, and paibos, and "blood and iron".
• Alauddin Khalji: market price controls, revenue at half the produce, dagh (branding) and chehra; general Malik Kafur in the Deccan.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq: capital shift to Daulatabad and token currency, both failures; Ibn Battuta visited.
• Firuz Shah Tughlaq founded Firozabad, Hisar, Jaunpur, dug canals, set up the diwan-i-khairat, re-imposed jizya.
• Timur sacked Delhi in 1398; the Sayyids (Khizr Khan) followed; the Lodis were the first Afghan dynasty.
• Sikandar Lodi founded Agra (1504); Ibrahim Lodi fell to Babur at the First Battle of Panipat (1526).
• Iqta was the land-revenue assignment; key diwans were wizarat, arz, insha, risalat.
• Amir Khusrau, poet-musician, served several sultans; Indo-Islamic architecture combined the arch and dome.

Glossary

• Mamluk: a slave-soldier; the Slave dynasty was so called because several founders were former slaves.
• Iqta: a territorial assignment of revenue granted in return for service and the maintenance of troops.
• Muqti / iqtadar: the holder of an iqta, who collected revenue and supplied soldiers.
• Tanka and jital: the silver and copper coins introduced by Iltutmish.
• Turkan-i-Chihalgani (the Forty): the corps of forty leading Turkish nobles organised by Iltutmish.
• Zill-i-ilahi: "the shadow of God", Balban's theory of divine kingship.
• Sijda and paibos: the court ceremonies of prostration and kissing the sovereign's feet.
• Dagh and chehra: the branding of horses and the descriptive muster-roll of soldiers under Alauddin Khalji.
• Shahna-i-mandi: the market control officer under Alauddin Khalji.
• Kharaj: the land tax, the chief source of state revenue.
• Jizya: a tax levied on non-Muslims; zakat: a religious tax on Muslims.
• Diwan: a department of the central administration (wizarat, arz, insha, risalat).
• Ulema: the body of Islamic religious scholars influential at court.
• Qawwali: the devotional Sufi song form developed by Amir Khusrau.
• Indo-Islamic architecture: the fusion of the true arch and dome with Indian craft and materials.

Related notes

• post mauryan and gupta age
• mughal empire
• bhakti and sufi movements
• south india and sangam age
• Index
• syllabus index