DELHI SULTANATE

The Sultanate of Delhi had five ruling dynasties –
1. The Ilbari — 1206-1290 AD.
2. The Khalji — 1290-1320 AD.
3. The Tughluq— 1320-1413 AD.
4. The Saiyid — 1414 – 1451 AD.
5. The Lodhis — 1451 – 1526 AD.

QUTUBUDDIN AIBAK (1206-1210)

➮ He was a Turk of the Aibak tribe.
➮ He was crowned at Lahore later the death of Muhammad Ghori.
➮ He did not make any fresh conquests and ruled from Lahore.
➮ He died in 1210 while playing chaugan (horse polo)
➮ He was famous for his generosity and earned sobriquet of Lak- Baksha (giver of Lakhs)
➮ He got his daughter married to Iltutmish.
➮ He laid the foundation of Qutab Minar in Delhi after the name of the famous sufi saint Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki which was completed by Iltutmish.
➮ He was succeeded by his inexperiened and incapable son Aram Shah who ruled at Lahore for about eight months before being defeated and deposed by his son-in-law-Iltutmish.
➮ The Turks only introduced polo in India.
➮ Aibak constructed the first mosque in India named Quwwatul- Islam in Delhi and Adhye Din ka Jhopara in Ajmer, Rajasthan.

ILTUTMISH

➮ At the time of Qutubuddin’s death, he was the governor of Badaun.
➮ He made Delhi the capital of his empire.
➮ He was the real founder of Delhi Sultanate.
➮ He was the slave of Qutubuddin Aibak.
➮ He first defeated rivals Particularly Tajuddin Yalduz and Nasiruddin Qubacha who were two surviving officers of Mohd. Ghori.
➮ Due to his deplomatic skill, he prevented Mongol attack.
➮ He formed ‘Turkan-i-Chahalgani or chalisa.
➮ Chalisa was a group of 40 powerful Turkish nobles to suppress rebels.
➮ He divided his empire into ‘Iqtas’. It is an assignment of land in lieu of salary, which he distributed to his officers.
➮ He introduced the silver ‘Tanka’ and two copper ‘Jital’-basi coins of the sultanate.
➮ He introduced ‘Arabian coin’ first time.
➮ He transfered his capital to Delhi from Lahore.
➮ In 1229, he received a deed of investiture from the Abassid caliph of Baghdad. It was a formal recognition of his independent position as a sultan of the sultanate of Delhi and as a member of the world fraternity of Islamic states.
➮ He completed the construction of Qutub Minar which was started by Aibak.

RUKNUDDIN FIROZ

➮ After the death of Iltutmish, the Turkish nobles raised his son Ruknuddin Firoz to the throne.
➮ But Razia took help of some powerful disgruntled nobles and won over the throne of Delhi and deposed Firoz.

RAZIA : (1236-40)

➮ She was the first and last muslim woman ruler of Delhi Sultanate.
➮ She appointed an Abysinian Slave, Jamaluddin Yakut as the ‘Amir-e-Akhur’ (Superintendent of horses)
➮ Altunia, the governor of Sirhind revolted. She won over Altunia and married him however both of them were killed by bandits when they were enroute to Delhi to defeat the revolt there.

MUIZUDDIN BAHRAMSHAH (1240-42) & MASUD SHALI (1242-46)

➮ The successors of Razia were Muzuddin Bahramshah and Alauddin Masud Shah
➮ Both fell to prey to the power struggle between powerful nobles.

NASIRUDDIN MAHMUD (1246-65)

➮ In 1246, Nasiruddin Mahmud ascended the throne but the real power was in the hands of Balban.
➮ Nasiruddin handed over all the powers to Balban.
➮ He awarded tittle ‘Ulugh Khan’ (Great Khan) to Balban.
➮ He married with Balban’s daughter.
➮ Minhaj -us-Siraj dedicated his book, ‘Tabaqati-Nasiri’ to him.
➮ He was a calligraphist.

BALBAN (1265-1287)

➮ He himself was a member of Chalisa.
➮ His objective was to restore the prestige of crown.
➮ For this he started the Iranian Practise (method) of ‘Sajda’ and ‘Paibos’ to the Sultan.
➮ He destroyed the chahalganis power.
➮ He introduced the persian Festival ‘Nauroz’ to impress nobles and people.
➮ He called himself the ‘Nasiramir-ul-momim or caliph’s right hand man.
➮ He was the first sultanate to propound the theory of kingship. According to it king is the shadow of God.
➮ To Guard himself, he got every member of Iltutmish family killed and gave a death blow to the turkish nobility (Chalisa).
➮ He employed an efficient spy system.
➮ He followed a policy of ‘blood and Iron’.
➮ To control the onslaught of the Mongols, he founded the ‘Diwan- I-Ariz’ or the military department.
➮ He was a liberal patron of persian literature and showed special favour to the Port, Amir Khusro.

KAIQUBAD (1287-1290)

➮ After Balban’s death, Kaiqubad and Kaymurs became sultans.
➮ After 3 months Kaymurs the last Ilbari was killed and Jalaluddin ascended the throne.