Delhi Sultanate

Slave Dynasty

• Qutub-ud-din Aibak assumed the title of Sultān and was acknowledged as the ruler of the Indian territories by the Muslim officers in India.

• By extensive conquests, he brought a large part of India under the banner of Islam.

• There were no fixed rules governing the succession to the crown in the Turkish state.

• The next ruler was Iltutmish.

• He received the title of Sultān-i-Āzam (Great Sultān) by the Khalifa of Baghdad.

• This added a new element of strength to Iltutmish’s authority and gave him a status in the Muslim world.

• On his coins, he described himself as the lieutenant of the Caliph.

• It was during Iltutmish’s reign that the Mongols appeared for the first time on the banks of the Indus, under their celebrated leader Chingīz Khan (1221 CE).

• Iltutmish consolidated the conquests of Qutub-ud-din into a strong and compact monarchy.

• He completed the famous Qutub Minar at Delhi in 1231-1232 CE.

• Iltutmish nominated his daughter Raziyya as his heiress.

• Her authority was established over Punjab and the governors of the lands of Sind and Bengal acknowledged her sway.

• She conducted the affairs of the state with considerable ability in open darbārs.

• The Turkish nobles could not reconcile themselves to the rule of a woman and brought about her downfall.

• Iltutmish’s youngest son Nāsir-ud-din Mahmūd was raised to the throne by the Turkish nobles.

• He designated his minister Balban as his successor.

• Balban belonged to the famous band of Turkish slaves of Iltutmish known as “The Forty” (Chāhelgān).

• Balban set himself to the task of reorganizing the armed forces and restoring order in the Doāb and the areas close to Delhi.

• Balban tried to curb the powers of the ambitious Turkish nobles and rebel subjects. By his constant vigil against the Mongols, he saved the Sultanate from disintegration.

• He considered the sovereign to be the representative of God upon earth.

• The duties of the king, according to him, were to protect religion and fulfill the provisions of the Shariat, to check immoral actions, to appoint pious men to offices and to dispense justice with equality.

Khaljīs

• The Khaljīs took advantage of the political disorder present during the times of the last rulers of the Slave dynasty.

• Jalāl-ud-dīn Fīrūz was the first of the Khaljī rulers, who proved to be too mild to hold his power.

• His ambitious nephew Alāuddīn Khaljī was the next ruler.

• Alāuddīn’s successful campaign in the Deccan paved the way for later conquests over region.

• He adopted defensive measures to guard effectively the north west frontier from the Mongol invasions. He caused the old forts to be repaired and new ones erected on the route of the Mongols.

• He described himself as “the Second Alexander” in his coins.

• According to him, there were some defects in the existing administrative system. He attributed it to the following four causes: disregard for the affairs of the State by the Sultān, the use of wine, alliances among the nobles and abundance of money.

• He framed a code of repressive regulations.• All pensions and endowments were

appropriated by the State.• He established an efficient body of spies.• The use of spirituous liquor and drugs and

dicing were strictly prohibited.• He prohibited the social gathering of the

nobles.

• Large sections of the people had to pay to the State half of their gross produce and heavy pasturage taxes on cattle.

• The markets were controlled by special officers.• Alāuddin regulated the prices of all articles from the

absolute necessities of life to things of luxury.• These measures helped him to maintain large

standing army at a cheap cost.

• Severe punishments were provided against any violation of the king’s orders.

• The most important defect of his system was that it could not win for itself the willing support of the governed. Its continuance depended on the strong personality of the emperor.

• An eminent scholar who flourished during his reign was Amīr Khusrav.

• He wanted to construct a new Minār twice the size of the old Qutub Minār. But this structure could not be completed.

• He was succeeded by Malik Kāfūr.• Next king was Qutub-ud-dīn Mubārak.• He made a departure from the practice of the

preceding Sultāns of Delhi by shaking off the allegiance to the Khalifa and proclaiming himself “the supreme head of the religion of Islam, the Khalifa of the Lord of the Heaven and Earth”.

• The successor of Mubārak was defeated by Ghiyās-ud-dīn Tughluq.

Tughluqs

• Ghiyās-ud-dīn Tughluq:a) He restored the administrative order by ordering a strict

enquiry into all claims and jāgīrs.b) He appointed upright governors in the provinces and

lightened the burden of revenue by reducing the taxation to one-tenth of the gross produce.

c) Agriculture and irrigation received special attention.d) Reforms were introduced in military, police, postal

department.e) He devised a system of poor-relief and patronized religious

institutions and literary men.

• Muhammad bin Tughluq: Sources: texts in Persian; accounts of foreign

travellers like Ibn Batūtah, who came from Africa and was made the chief Qāzī of Delhi by the Sultān.

He was an accomplished scholar and an experienced general.

He tried an ill-advised financial experiment in the Doāb. He enhanced the rate of taxation and introduced additional cesses.

The failure of the State to relax the demands even during the times of famine forced the impoverished peasantry to shift to other places. The Sultān forcibly brought them back to their work, which produced disastrous consequences for the Tughluqs.

His decision to transfer the capital from Delhi to Devagiri, renamed Daulatābād, caused immense suffering to the people. The Sultān ordered all the people of Delhi to proceed to Daulatābād. He realized his folly, shifted back his capital and ordered a return march of the people, but very few of them survived to return.

He tried important monetary experiments. A new gold piece, called the Dinār by Ibn Batūtah, was issued by him.

He issued a token currency in copper coins. However, there was no check on the authenticity of the copper coins.

There were a number of rebellions during his reign. It was during this period that the foundation of the Deccan kingdoms of Vijayanagar and Bāhmanī was laid.

He replaced his name by that of the Khalifa in his coins in order to restore order in the kingdom,

• Firūz Shah Tughluq:a) His military enterprises were mostly unsuccessful.b) He caused 300 volumes of Sanskrit books on

various subjects to be translated into Persian.c) He was the first king to style himself as the deputy

of the Khalifa of Egypt. He associated his name with that of the Khalifa in his coins.

d) He revived the jāgīr system which had been abolished by Alāuddīn and distributed the whole kingdom among the nobles and officials.

e) The State did not suffer from financial bankruptcy during his reign.

f) He renamed a number of cities and also built a few new ones like Firuzpur and Firuzabad.

g) He removed the two inscribed monoliths of Aśoka from Meerut and Khizrabad and brought them to Delhi.

h) He started an employment bureau, a charity bureau and a charitable hospital.

i) He recognized hereditary claim in military services.

j) He tried to make the judicial system more humane than before.

• All the successors of Firūz were incompetent to save the Delhi Sultanate from destruction.

• Many provinces gained independence, like Gujarat, Malwa, Gwalior etc.

• The invasion of Tīmūr completed the dissolution of the Delhi Sultanate.

• Next dynasty: the Sayyids (1414-1451).

• The Lodīs:

a) First Afghan rulers of Delhi.

b) Important ruler: Sikander Lodi.

c) His successor took repressive measures against the nobles, which finally led to the collapse of the Delhi Sultanate.

Reasons for the collapse of the Delhi Sultanate

• The conditions for the decline began during the last days of Muhammad bin Tughluq.

• The indiscretions of the Sultān and the measures taken by his successor, such as the revival of the jāgīr system, the extension of the institution of slavery, the imposition of the jizya on the non-Muslims and the persecution of the heretical Muslim sects, led to the downfall of the Sultanate.

• The Lodis attempted to suppress the military and official nobility through repressive measures.

• The invasion of Tīmūr finally led to its disintegration.• A number of independent kingdoms arose on the ruins of the

Delhi Sultanate.

Independent kingdoms

• Vijayanagar empire and Bahmanī kingdom. • Vijayanagar Empire: a) Important ruler was Kṛṣṇadeva Rāya.b) The city of Vijayanagar was fortified and

was of enormous size. c) It was a very important commercial centre.

The most important port on the Malabar coast was Calicut.

d) Women actively took part in political, social and literary spheres. They were trained in wrestling, handling swords and shields, music and fine arts.

e) Kṛṣṇadeva Rāya wrote his magnum opus, Āmuktamālyadā in Telugu.

The Turko-Afghan State

• The Turko-Afghan state was a theocracy, the existence of which was theoretically justified by the needs of religion.

• The Sultān was an autocrat.

• The real source of his authority was military strength.

• The highest official was the Wazīr.

• The main sources of revenue of the state were:

a) Kharaj or land tax.

b) Land revenue from the Khālsā or crown lands.

c) Iqtās or land granted to officials.

d) Khams or one-fifth of the spoils of war.

e) Jizya or tax levied on non-Muslims.

Economy

• Agriculture was the chief occupation. • Some important industries were textiles, metal work,

stone and brick work and paper industry.• Bengal and Gujarat were well known for the

manufacture of textiles.• There was overseas trade with distant regions of

Europe, the Malay islands, China and other countries of the Pacific Ocean.

Social Life

• The Sultāns and their nobles maintained slaves, both male and female.

• The Purdah system became more elaborate.

• The practice of Sati was widely prevalent.

• The spirit of mutual toleration found expression in the growing veneration of the Hindus for the Muslim saints and a corresponding Muslim practice of venerating Hindu saints, which led to the common worship of Satyapīr (the True Saint).

• Some Muslims wrote on Hindu life and tradition in vernaculars and Hindu writers wrote in the Persian language on Muslim literary tradition. There were works written in Hindi as well as Urdu.

• Bhakti cult became popular which emphasized on the fundamental equality of all religions and the unity of Godhead and simple devotion as a means of salvation for everyone.

• Important Bhakti saints were Rāmānanda, Vallabhācārya, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, Nāmadeva, Kabīr and Nānak. Kabir was Rāmānanda’s disciple.