Delhi Sultanate

Alauddin Khilji was the second ruler and probably the most powerful monarch of the Khilji Dynasty.

 After conquering the throne by killing his uncle and predecessor, Jalaluddin Firuz Khilji, he continued his legacy of invading states and territories to increase his empire over the Indian subcontinent.

 He was the first Muslim ruler to successfully defeat and conquer southern parts of India. His passion for conquest helped him achieve success at wars, thereby expanding his influence to South India as well.

 In this endeavor of expansion, he was well supported by his loyal generals, especially Malik Kafur and Khusraw Khan.

 He ensured that he completely ousted the reigning kings and administered absolute power while invading the northern states.

 In south India, he used to loot the states and also extracted payment of annual taxes from the overthrown rulers.

 Besides his expeditions of raiding and conquering, he was engaged in defending the Delhi Sultanate from continuous Mongol invasions.

 He also acquired the Koh-i-noor, one of the largest known diamonds in human history, while invading the Kakatiya rulers of Warangal.

 He also introduced some agrarian as well as market reforms which produced mixed results.

The consolidation of a kingdom as vast as the Delhi Sultanate needed reliable governors and administrators.

 Rather than appointing aristocrats and landed chieftains as governors, the early Delhi Sultans, especially Iltutmish, favoured their special slaves purchased for military service, called bandagan in Persian.

 They were carefully trained to man some of the most important political offices in the kingdom.

 Since they were totally dependent upon their master, the Sultan could trust and rely upon them.

The nobles occupied a position next only to the king in status and rank.

 Enjoying high social status and commanding vast resources they at times became strong enough to challenge the king.

 In the Delhi Sultanate, nobles were drawn from different tribes and nationalities like the Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Egyptian and Indian Muslims.

 Iltutmish organized a Corps of Forty, all drawn from Turkish nobility and selected persons from this Forty for appointments in military and civil administration.

 The nobles were organized into several factions and were constantly engaged in conspiracies.

 Balban therefore abolished the Corps of Forty and thereby put an end to the domination of “Turkish nobles”.

 Alauddin Khalji also took stern measures against the “Turkish nobles” by employing spies to report to him directly on their clandestine and perfidious activities

Jizya is a tax levied and collected per head (not on agriculture land) by Islamic states on non-Muslim subjects living in their land.

 In India, Qutb-ud-din Aibak imposed jizya on non-Muslims for the first time.

 Jizya was abolished by the Mughal ruler Akbar in 16th century but was re-introduced by Aurangzeb in the 17th century.

The inability of the Sultanate to effectively harness the agrarian resources of its North Indian territories to sustain its political ambitions was evident in its relentless military campaigns in search of loot and plunder.
Ala-ud-din’s campaigns into Devagiri (1296, 1307, 1314), Gujarat (1299–1300), Ranthambhor (1301), Chittor (1303) and Malwa (1305) were meant to proclaim his political and military power as well as to collect loot from the defeated kingdoms. It was with the same plan that he unleashed his forces into the Deccan.
The first target in the peninsula was Devagiri in the western Deccan. Ala-ud-din sent a large army commanded by Malik Kafur in 1307 to capture Devagiri fort.
Following Devagiri, Prataparudradeva, the Kakatiya ruler of Warangal in the Telengana region, was defeated in 1309. In 1310 the Hoysala ruler Vira Ballala III surrendered all his treasures to the Delhi forces.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 169.

Qutb-ud-din Aibak was enslaved as a boy and sold to Sultan Muhammad Ghori at Ghazni. Impressed with his ability and loyalty the Sultan elevated him to the rank of viceroy of the conquered provinces in India.
Muhammad Bin Bhakthiyar Khalji, a Turkish general from Afghanistan assisted him in conquering Bihar and Bengal.
Qutb-ud-din Aibak reigned for four years (1206 to 1210 CE) and died in 1210 in Lahore in an accident while playing chaugan.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 165.

In the Delhi Sultanate, nobles were drawn from different tribes and nationalities like the Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Egyptian and Indian Muslims.
Iltutmish organized a Corps of Forty, all drawn from Turkish nobility and selected persons from this Forty for appointments in military and civil administration. The Corps of Forty became so powerful to the extent of disregarding the wishes of Iltutmish, and after his death, to place Rukn-ud-Din Firoz on the throne.
Razziya sought to counter the influence of Turkish nobles and defend her interest by organizing a group of non-Turkish and Indian Muslim nobles under the leadership of Yakut, the Abyssinian slave. This was naturally resented by the Turkish nobles, who got both of them murdered.
Thus in the absence of rule of primogeniture, the nobles sided with any claimants to the throne and either helped in the choice of the Sultan or contributed to the de-stabilization of the regime. The nobles were organized into several factions and were constantly engaged in conspiracies.
Balban therefore abolished the Corps of Forty and thereby put an end to the domination of “Turkish nobles”. Alauddin Khalji also took stern measures against the “Turkish nobles” by employing spies to report to him directly on their clandestine and perfidious activities.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 170.

Ala-ud-din was the first Sultan to pay his soldiers in cash rather than give them a share of booty. As the soldiers were paid less, the prices had to be monitored and controlled. Moreover, Ala-ud-din had to maintain a huge standing army.
In order to restrict prices of essential commodities, Ala-ud-din set up an elaborate intelligence network to collect information on black-marketing and hoarding. The transactions in the bazaars, the buying and selling and the bargains made were all reported to the Sultan by his spies.
Market superintendents, reporters and spies had to send daily reports on the prices of essential commodities. Violators of the price regulations were severely punished. If any deficiency in weight was found, an equal weight of flesh was cut from the seller’s body and thrown down before his eyes!
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 170.

Equally innovative was Muhammad Tughlaq’s scheme to expand cultivation. But it also failed miserably. It coincided with a prolonged and severe famine in the Doab. The peasants who rebelled were harshly dealt with.
The famine was linked to the oppressive and arbitrary collection of land revenue. The Sultan established a separate department (Diwan-i-Amir Kohi) to take care of agriculture. Loans were advanced to farmers for purchase of cattle, seeds and digging of wells but to no avail.
Officers appointed to monitor the crops were not efficient; the nobility and important officials were of diverse background. Besides, the Sultan’s temperament had also earned him a lot of enemies.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 172.

Timur appointed Khizr Khan as his deputy to oversee Timurid interests in the Punjab marches. Khizr Khan (1414-21) went on to seize Delhi and establish the Sayyid dynasty (1414–51).
The Sayyid dynasty established by Khizr Khan had four sultans ruling up to 1451. The early Sayyid Sultans ruled paying tribute to Timur’s son. Their rule is marked for the composing of Tarikh-i- Mubarak Shahi by Yahiya bin Ahmad Sirhindi. By the end of their rule the empire was largely confined to the city of Delhi.
In the entire history of the Delhi Sultanate there was only one Sultan who voluntarily abdicated his throne and moved to a small town away from Delhi, where he lived for three full decades in contentment and peace. He was Alam Shah of the Sayyid dynasty.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 174.

The Delhi Sultanate deserves to be considered an all-India empire. Virtually all of India, except Kashmir and Kerala at the far ends of the subcontinent, and a few small tracts in between them had come under the direct rule of Delhi towards the close of Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s rule.
There were no well-defined and accepted rules of royal succession and therefore contested succession became the norm during the Sultanate. The Sultans required the holders of iqta’s (called muqtis or walis) to maintain troops for royal service out of the taxes collected by them. Certain areas were retained by the Sultans under their direct control (khalisa). It was out of the revenue collected from such areas that they paid the officers and soldiers of the sultan’s own troops (hashm-i qalb).
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 175.

The Lodi Dynasty was established by Bahlol Lodi (1451–1489) whose reign witnessed the conquest of Sharqi Kingdom (Bengal). It was his son Sikander Lodi (1489–1517) who shifted the capital from Delhi to Agra in 1504. The last Lodi ruler Ibrahim Lodi was defeated by Babur in the First Battle of Panipat, which resulted in the establishment of Mughal Dynasty.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 174.

The last Tughlaq ruler was Nasir-ud-din Muhammad Shah (1394–1412), whose reign witnessed the invasion of Timur from Central Asia. Turkish Timur, who could claim a blood relationship with the 12thcentury great Mongol Chengiz Khan, ransacked Delhi virtually without any opposition.
On hearing the news of arrival of Timur, Sultan Nasir-ud-din fled Delhi. Timur also took Indian artisans such as masons, stone cutters, carpenters whom he engaged for raising buildings in his capital Samarkhand.
Nasir-ud-din managed to rule up to 1412. Then the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties ruled the declining empire from Delhi till 1526.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 174.

Jizya is a tax levied and collected per head by Islamic states on non-Muslim subjects living in their land. In India, Qutb-ud-din Aibak imposed jizya on non-Muslims for the first time. Jizya was abolished by the Mughal ruler Akbar in 16th century but was re-introduced by Aurangzeb in the 17th century.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 174.

The Delhi Sultanate was divided into smaller provinces for it was convenient

for the ministers to help them in the administration. They were called IQTAS.

• The Iqtadari was a unique type of land distribution and administrative system

evolved during the sultanate of Iltutmish.

• Under this system, the entire empire was very evenly divided into several large

and small tracts of land, called the Iqtas.

• These plots of land were assigned to the various nobles, officers and soldiers for the

purpose of easy and flawless administration and revenue collection.

• The Iqtas were transferable, i.e., the holders of Iqtas-Iqtadars-were transferred

from one region to other every three to four years.

• The holders of small Iqtas were individual troopers. They had no administrative

Responsibilities

Although the Sultan (Alauddin Khalji) was illiterate, he patronised poets like

Amir Khusrau and Mir Hasan Dehlvi. He also built a famous gateway known as Alai

Darwaza, Hauz Khas, Mahal Hazaar Satoon, Jamait Khana Mosque, Alai Minar, and

constructed a new capital at Siri.

The early Sayyid Sultans ruled paying tribute to Timur’s son. Their rule is marked for the composing of Tarikh-i- Mubarak Shahi by Yahiya bin Ahmad Sirhindi. By the end of their rule the empire was largely confined to the city of Delhi.
Amir Khusrau emerged as a major figure of Persian prose and poetry. Amir Khusrau felt elated to call himself an Indian in his Nu Siphr (‘Nine Skies’). In this work, he praises India’s climate, its languages – notably Sanskrit – its arts, its music, its people, even its animals. The Islamic Sufi saints made a deep literary impact.
The Fawai’d-ul-Fawad, a work containing the conversations of Sufi Saint Nizam-ud-din Auliya was compiled by Amir Hassan.
Abdul Malik Isami, in his poetic composition of Futuh-us-Salatin, records the history of Muslim rule from Ghaznavid period to Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s reign.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 174 and 180.

Delhi Sultanate did not hamper the progress of Sanskrit Literature. Sanskrit continued to be the language of high intellectual thought. The Sanskrit schools and academies established in different parts of the empire continued to flourish.
The classical Sanskrit inscription (Pala Baoli) of 1276 in Delhi claims that due to the benign rule of Sultan Balban god Vishnu sleeps in peace in the ocean of milk without any worries. The influence of Arabic and Persian on Sanskrit literature was felt in the form of translations.
Shrivara in his Sanskrit work Kathakautuka included the story of Yusuf and Zulaika as a Sanskrit love lyric.
Bhattavatara took Firdausi’s Shah Namah as a model for composing Zainavilas, a history of the rulers of Kashmir.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 180.

Music was an area where the syncretic tendencies were clearly visible. Muslims brought their musical instruments like Rabab and Sarangi. Amir Khusrau proclaimed that Indian music had a pre-eminence over all the other music of the world.
The Sufi practice of Sama, recitation of love poetry to the accompaniment of music, was instrumental in promotion of music. Pir Bhodan, a Sufi saint, was considered a great musician of the age.
Royal patronage for the growth of music was also forthcoming. Firuz Tughlaq evinced interest in music leading to synchronisation by translating an Indian Sanskrit musical work Rag Darpan into Persian.
Dancing also received an impetus in the official court. Zia-ud-din Barani lists the names of Nusrat Khatun and Mihr Afroz as musician and dancer respectively in the court of Jalaluddin Khalji.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 179.

Orthodox Islamic theology considered decorating the buildings with animal and human figures as un-Islamic. Hence the plastic exuberance of well-carved images found in the pre-Islamic buildings was replaced by floral and geometrical designs.
Arabesque, the art of decorating the building with Quranic verses inscribed with calligraphy, emerged to provide splendor to the building.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 179.

The Sultans did not alter many of the social institutions inherited from ‘Indian Feudalism’.
Slavery, though it had already existed in India, grew substantially in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Both in war and in the event of default in payment of taxes, people could be enslaved. They were put to work as domestic servants as well as in crafts.
The village community and the caste system remained largely unaltered. Gender inequalities remained practically untouched. In upper class Muslim society, women had to observe purdah and were secluded in the zenana (the female quarters) without any contact with any men other than their immediate family. Affluent women travelled in closed litters.
Muslim women, despite purdah, enjoyed, in certain respects, higher status and greater freedom in society than most Hindu women. They could inherit property from their parents and obtain divorce, privileges that Hindu women did not have.
In several Hindu communities, such as among the Rajputs, the birth of a girl child was considered a misfortune. Islam was not against women being taught to read and write. But it tolerated polygamy.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 178.

Paper-making technology evolved by the Chinese and learnt by the Arabs was introduced in India during the rule of the Delhi Sultans.
The spinning wheel invented by the Chinese came to India through Iran in the fourteenth century and enabled the spinner to increase her output some sixfold and enlarged yarn production greatly. The subsequent introduction of treadles in the loom similarly helped speed-up weaving.
Sericulture was established in Bengal by the fifteenth century. Building activity attained a new scale by the large use of brick and mortar, and by the adoption of the vaulting techniques.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 177.

An important aspect of Islam in India was its early acceptance of a long-term coexistence with Hinduism, despite all the violence that occurred in military campaigns, conquests and depredations.
The conqueror Mu’izzuddin of Ghor had, on some of his gold coins, stamped the image of the goddess Lakshmi.
Muhammad Tughlaq in 1325 issued a farman enjoining that protection be extended by all officers to Jain priests; he himself played holi and consorted with yogis.
Source: Tamil Nadu state board class 11, page 176.

Al-Biruni was born in 973, in Khwarizm in presentday Uzbekistan. Khwarizm was an important centre of learning, and Al-Biruni received the best education available at the time. He was well versed in several languages: Syriac, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Sanskrit. Although he did not know Greek, he was familiar with the works of Plato and other Greek philosophers, having read them in Arabic translations.
In 1017, when Sultan Mahmud invaded Khwarizm, he took several scholars and poets back to his capital, Ghazni; Al-Biruni was one of them. He arrived in Ghazni as a hostage, but gradually developed a liking for the city, where he spent the rest of his life until his death at the age of 70.
Al-Biruni’s expertise in several languages allowed him to compare languages and translate texts. He translated several Sanskrit works, including Patanjali’s work on grammar, into Arabic. For his Brahmana friends, he translated the works of Euclid (a Greek mathematician) into Sanskrit.
Source: NCERT Themes in Indian History Part 2, page 116.

Institutionally, the sufis began to organise communities around the hospice or khanqah (Persian) controlled by a teaching master known as shaikh (in Arabic), pir or murshid (in Persian). He enrolled disciples (murids) and appointed a successor (khalifa). He established rules for spiritual conduct and interaction between inmates as well as between laypersons and the master.
When the shaikh died, his tomb-shrine (dargah, a Persian term meaning court) became the centre of devotion for his followers. This encouraged the practice of pilgrimage or ziyarat to his grave, particularly on his death anniversary or urs (or marriage, signifying the union of his soul with God). This was because people believed that in death saints were united with God, and were thus closer to Him than when living.
People sought their blessings to attain material and spiritual benefits. Thus evolved the cult of the sheikh revered as wali.
Source: NCERT Themes in Indian History Part 2, page 153.

It was not just in sama‘ that the Chishtis adopted local languages. In Delhi, those associated with the Chishti silsila conversed in Hindavi, the language of the people.
Other sufis such as Baba Farid composed verses in the local language, which were incorporated in the Guru Granth Sahib.
Yet others composed long poems or masnavis to express ideas of divine love using human love as an allegory. For example, the prem-akhyan (love story) Padmavat composed by Malik Muhammad Jayasi revolved around the romance of Padmini and Ratansen, the king of Chittor.
Their trials were symbolic of the soul’s journey to the divine. Such poetic compositions were often recited in hospices, usually during sama‘.
Source: NCERT Themes in Indian History Part 2, page 158.