The establishment of the Sultanate drew the Indian subcontinent more closely into international and multicultural Islamic social and economic networks,[26] as seen concretely in the development of theHindustani language[27] andIndo-Islamic architecture.[28][29] It was also one of the few powers to repel attacks by theMongols (from theChagatai Khanate)[30] and saw the enthronement of one of the few female rulers inIslamic history,Razia Sultana, who reigned from 1236 to 1240.[31] During the sultanate's rule, there was no mass forcible conversion of Hindus, Buddhists, and otherdharmic faiths, and Hindu officials and vassals were readily accepted.[32] However, there were cases likeBakhtiyar Khalji's annexations, which involved a large-scale desecration ofHindu andBuddhist temples and the destruction of universities and libraries.[33][32][34][35][36] Mongolian raids onWest andCentral Asia set the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, intelligentsia, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from those regionsinto the subcontinent, thereby establishingIslamic culture there.[37][38]
Although conventionally named after its principal capital city,Delhi, the terminology applied to domains under Delhi Sultanate was often unspecified. It was called as "The Empire of Delhi"(Persian: Mamalik-i-Delhi) byJuzjani andBarani whileIbn Battuta called the empire underMuhammad bin Tughlaq as "Hind andSind". The Delhi Sultanate was also known as the "Empire ofHindustan"(Persian: Mamalik-i-Hindustan), a name that gained currency during the period.[39]
The rise of the Delhi Sultanate in India was part of a wider trend affecting much of theAsian continent, including the whole of southern and western Asia: the influx ofnomadicTurkic peoples from the Central Asiansteppes. This can be traced back to the 9th century when the IslamicCaliphate beganfragmenting in theMiddle East, where Muslim rulers in rival states began enslaving non-Muslim nomadic Turks from the Central Asian steppes and raising many of them to become loyal army slaves calledMamluks. Soon,Turks were migrating toMuslim lands and becomingIslamicized. Many of the Turkic Mamluk slaves eventually rose to become rulers and conquered large parts of theMuslim world, establishing Mamluk Sultanates fromEgypt to present-dayAfghanistan, before turning their attention to the Indian subcontinent.[40]
Main South Asian polities in 1175, on the eve of theGhurid Empire invasion of the subcontinent. Orange line: Ghurid territorial conquests from 1175 to 1205, which led to the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in 1206.[41][42]
It is also part of a longer trend predating thespread of Islam. Like othersettled,agrarian societies in history, those in the Indian subcontinent have been attacked by nomadic tribes throughout its long history. In evaluating the impact of Islam on the subcontinent, one must note that the northwestern subcontinent was a frequent target of tribes raiding from Central Asia in the pre-Islamic era. In that sense, the Muslim intrusions and later Muslim invasions were not dissimilar to those of the earlier invasions during the 1st millennium.[43]
By 962 AD, Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms in South Asia faced a series of raids from Muslim armies from Central Asia.[44] Among them wasMahmud of Ghazni, the son of a Turkic Mamluk military slave,[45] who raided and plundered kingdoms in northern India from east of the Indus river to west of the Yamuna river seventeen times between 997 and 1030.[46] Mahmud of Ghazni raided the treasuries but retreated each time, only extending Islamic rule into western Punjab.[47][48]
The series of raids on northern and western Indian kingdoms by Muslim warlords continued after Mahmud of Ghazni.[49] The raids did not establish or extend the permanent boundaries of the Islamic kingdoms. In contrast, theGhurid SultanMu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori (commonly known as Muhammad of Ghor) began a systematic war of expansion into northern India in 1173.[50] He sought to carve out a principality for himself and expand the Islamic world.[46][51] Muhammad of Ghor created aSunni Islamic kingdom of his own extending east of the Indus river, and he thus laid the foundation for the Muslim kingdom called the Delhi Sultanate.[46] Some historians chronicle the Delhi Sultanate from 1192 due to the presence and geographical claims of Muhammad Ghori in South Asia by that time.[52]
Muhammad Ghori was assassinated in 1206, byIsmāʿīlī Shia Muslims.[53] After the assassination, one of Ghori's slaves (or Mamluks), the Turkic Qutb al-Din Aibak, assumed power, becoming the first Sultan of Delhi.[46]
Territory of the Delhi Mamluk Dynasty circa 1250.[54]
Qutb al-Din Aibak, a former slave ofMu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori, was the first ruler of the Delhi Sultanate. Aibak was of TurkicCuman-Kipchak origin, and due to his lineage, his dynasty is known as the Mamluk dynasty.[55] Aibak reigned as the Sultan of Delhi for four years, from 1206 to 1210. Aibak was praised by the contemporary and later accounts for his generosity and due to this was called with the sobriquet ofLakhbaksh (provider of lakhs).[56]
After Aibak died,Aram Shah assumed power in 1210, but he was assassinated in 1211 by Aibak's son-in-law,Shams ud-Din Iltutmish.[57] Iltutmish's power was precarious, and several Muslim amirs (nobles) challenged his authority as they had been supporters of Qutb al-Din Aibak. After a series of conquests and brutal executions of opposition, Iltutmish consolidated his power.[58]
His rule was challenged several times, such as by Qubacha, and this led to a series of wars.[59] Iltutmish conqueredMultan andBengal from contesting Muslim rulers, as well asRanthambore andSivalik from the Hindu rulers. He also attacked, defeated, executedTaj al-Din Yildiz, who asserted his rights as heir to Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori.[60] Iltutmish's rule lasted until 1236. Following his death, the Delhi Sultanate saw a succession of weak rulers, disputing Muslim nobility, assassinations, and short-lived tenures. Power shifted fromRukn ud-Din Firuz toRazia Sultana and others, untilGhiyas ud-Din Balban came to power and ruled from 1266 to 1287.[59][60] Ghiyasuddin Balban destroyed the power of theCorps of Forty, a council of 40 Turkic slaves who had played a role as kingmakers and had been independent of the Sultan. He was succeeded by 17-year-oldMuiz ud-Din Qaiqabad, who appointedJalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji as the commander of the army. Khalji assassinated Qaiqabad and assumed power in theKhalji Revolution, thus ending the Mamluk dynasty and starting the Khalji dynasty.
Qutb al-Din Aibak initiated the construction of theQutb Minar but died before it was completed. It was later completed by his son-in-law, Iltutmish.[61] TheQuwwat-ul-Islam (Might of Islam) Mosque was built by Aibak, now a UNESCO world heritage site.[62] The Qutub Minar Complex was expanded by Iltutmish, and later by Ala ud-Din Khalji in the early 14th century.[62][note 1] During the Mamluk dynasty, many nobles from Afghanistan and Persia migrated and settled in India, as West Asia came underMongol siege.[64]
The first ruler of the Khalji dynasty wasJalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji. He was around 70 years old at the time of his ascension and was known as a mild-mannered, humble and kind monarch to the general public.[72][73] Jalal ud-Din Firuz ruled for 6 years before he was murdered in 1296 by Muhammad Salim of Samana, on the orders of his nephew and son-in-lawJuna Muhammad Khalji,[74] who later came to be known as Ala ud-Din Khalji.[75]
Ala ud-Din began his military career as governor ofKara province, from where he led two raids on the Kingdom of Malwa (1292) andDevagiri (1294) for plunder and loot. After he acceded to the throne, expansions towards these kingdoms were renewed includingGujarat which was conquered by theGrand VizierNusrat Khan Jalesari,[76][77][78] the kingdom of Malwa byAinul Mulk Multani,[79][80] as well asRajputana.[81] However, these victories were cut short because ofMongol attacks and plunder raids from the northwest. The Mongols withdrew after plundering and stopped raiding northwest parts of the Delhi Sultanate.[82]
After the Mongols withdrew, Ala ud-Din Khalji continued to expand the Delhi Sultanate into southern India with the help of Indian slave generals such asMalik Kafur andKhusro Khan. They collected much war booty (anwatan) from those they defeated.[83][84] His commanders collected war spoils and paid ghanima (Arabic: الْغَنيمَة, a tax on spoils of war), which helped strengthen the Khalji rule. Among the spoils was theWarangal loot that included the famousKoh-i-Noor diamond.[85]
The Delhi Sultanate and contemporary Asian polities circa 1320. Most of the Asian continent was occupied by theMongol Empire by that time, with Turkic polities occupying South and Western Asia, as far as Egypt where they established theMamluk Sultanate.
Ala ud-Din Khalji changed tax policies, raising agriculture taxes from 20% to 50% (payable in grain and agricultural produce), eliminating payments and commissions on taxes collected by local chiefs, banning socialization among his officials as well as inter-marriage between noble families to help prevent any opposition forming against him, and he cut salaries of officials, poets, scholars.[74] These tax policies and spending controls strengthened his treasury to pay the keep of his growing army; he also introduced price controls on all agricultural produce and goods in the kingdom, as well as controls on where, how, by whom these goods could be sold. Markets called "shahana-i-mandi" were created.[86] Muslim merchants were granted exclusive permits and monopoly in these "mandis" to buy and resell at official prices. No one other than these merchants could buy from farmers or sell in cities. Those found violating these "mandi" rules were severely punished, often by mutilation.[87][88] Taxes collected in the form of grain were stored in the kingdom's storage. During famines that followed, these granaries ensured sufficient food for the army.[74]
TheAlai Darwaza, completed in 1311 during the Khalji dynasty.
Historians note Ala ud-Din Khalji as being atyrant. Anyone Ala ud-Din suspected of being a threat to this power was killed along with the men, women, and children of that family. He grew to eventually distrust the majority of his nobles and favoured only a handful of his slaves and family. In 1298, between 15,000 and 30,000 Mongols near Delhi, who had recently converted to Islam, were slaughtered in a single day, due to a mutiny during an invasion of Gujarat.[89] He is also known for his cruelty against kingdoms he defeated in battle.
After Ala ud-Din died in 1316 by assassination through his nobles, his general Malik Kafur, who was born to a Hindu family but converted to Islam, assumed de facto power and was supported by non-Khalji nobles likeKamal al-Din Gurg. However, he lacked the support of the majority of Khalji's nobles who had him assassinated, hoping to take power for themselves.[74] However, the new ruler had the killers of Kafur executed.
The last Khalji ruler was Ala ud-Din Khalji's 18-year-old sonQutb ud-Din Mubarak Shah Khalji, who ruled for four years before he was killed by Khusro Khan, another slave-general with Hindu origins, who reverted from Islam and favoured his Hindu Baradu military clan in the nobility. Khusro Khan's reign lasted only a few months, when Ghazi Malik, later to be calledGhiyath al-Din Tughlaq, defeated and killed him and assumed power in 1320, thus ending the Khalji dynasty and starting the Tughlaq dynasty.[64][89]
Territory of the Tughlaq dynasty circa 1330–1335, corresponding to the maximum extent of the Delhi Sultanate.[90]
TheTughlaq dynasty was aTurko-Mongol[91] or Turkic[92] Muslim dynasty, which lasted from 1320 to 1413. The first ruler wasGhiyath al-Din Tughlaq. Ghiyath al-Din ruled for five years and built a town near Delhi namedTughlaqabad.[93] His son Juna Khan and general Ainul Mulk Multani conqueredWarangal in south India.[94] According to some historians such asVincent Smith,[95] he was killed by his son Juna Khan, who then assumed power in 1325.
Juna Khan renamed himself asMuhammad bin Tughlaq and ruled for 26 years.[96] During his rule, the Delhi Sultanate reached its peak in terms of geographical reach, covering most of the Indian subcontinent.[97]
Muhammad bin Tughlaq was an intellectual, with extensive knowledge of the Quran,Fiqh, poetry and other fields. He was also deeply suspicious of his kinsmen and wazirs (ministers), extremely severe with his opponents, and took decisions that caused economic upheaval. For example, he ordered the minting of coins from base metals with face value of silver coins – a decision that failed because ordinary people minted counterfeit coins from base metal they had in their houses and used them to pay taxes andjizya.[97][95]
Depiction ofGhiyath al-Din Tughluq, founder of the Tughlaq dynasty, in theBasātin al-uns byIkhtisān-i Dabir, a member of the Tughluq court and an ambassador to Iran. Ca.1410Jalayirid copy of 1326 lost original.[98]
Muhammad bin Tughlaq chose the city of Deogiri in the present-day Indian state ofMaharashtra (renaming itDaulatabad), as the second administrative capital of the Delhi Sultanate.[99] He ordered a forced migration of the Muslim population of Delhi, including his royal family, the nobles, Syeds, Sheikhs and 'Ulema to settle in Daulatabad. The purpose of transferring the entire Muslim elite to Daulatabad was to enrol them in his mission of world conquest. He saw their role as propagandists who would adapt Islamic religious symbolism to the rhetoric of empire, and that the Sufis could by persuasion bring many of the inhabitants of the Deccan to become Muslim.[100] Tughluq cruelly punished the nobles who were unwilling to move to Daulatabad seeing their non-compliance with his order as equivalent to rebellion. According to Ferishta, when the Mongols arrived in Punjab, the Sultan returned the elite to Delhi, although Daulatabad remained an administrative centre.[101] One result of the transfer of the elite to Daulatabad was the hatred of the nobility to the Sultan, which remained in their minds for a long time.[102] The other result was that he managed to create a stable Muslim elite and result in the growth of the Muslim population of Daulatabad who did not return to Delhi,[97] without which the rise of the Bahmanid kingdom to challenge the Vijayanagara kingdom would not have been possible.[103] Muhammad bin Tughlaq's adventures in the Deccan region also marked campaigns of destruction and desecration temples, for example, the Svayambhu Shiva Temple and theThousand Pillar Temple inWarangal.[34]
Revolts against Muhammad bin Tughlaq began in 1327, continued over his reign, and over time the geographical reach of the Sultanate shrunk. TheVijayanagara Empire originated in southern India as a direct response to attacks from the Delhi Sultanate,[104] and liberated south India from the Delhi Sultanate's rule.[105] In the 1330s, Muhammad bin Tughlaq ordered an invasion of China, sending part of his forces over theHimalayas. However, they were defeated by theKangra State.[106] During his reign, state revenues collapsed from his policies such as the base metal coins from 1329 to 1332. Famines, widespread poverty, and rebellion grew across the kingdom. In 1338 his nephew rebelled in Malwa, whom he attacked, caught, flayed alive, and killed ultimately.[107][108] By 1339, the eastern regions under local Muslim governors and southern parts led byHindu kings had revolted and declared independence from the Delhi Sultanate. Muhammad bin Tughlaq did not have the resources or support to respond to the shrinking kingdom.[109] The historian Walford chronicled that Delhi and most of India faced severe famines during Muhammad bin Tughlaq's rule in the years after the base metal coin experiment.[110][111] In 1335, Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, a Sayyid native ofKaithal in North India, revolted and founded theMadurai Sultanate in South India.[112][113][114] By 1347, the Bahmani Sultanate had become independent through therebellion of Ismail Mukh. It became a competing Muslim kingdom in the Deccan region of South Asia, founded byAla-ud-Din Bahman Shah.[44][115][116][117]
The Tughlaq dynasty is remembered for its architectural patronage, such as the construction ofFiroz Shah Kotla. It reused old Buddhist pillars erected byAshoka in the 3rd century BCE, such as theDelhi-Topra pillar. The Sultanate initially wanted to use the pillars asminarets. Firuz Shah Tughlaq decided otherwise and had them installed near mosques.[118] The meaning of theBrahmi script on the pillars (theEdicts of Ashoka) was unknown in Firuz Shah's time.[119][120]
Muhammad bin Tughlaq died in 1351 while trying to chase and punish people in Gujarat who were rebelling against the Delhi Sultanate.[109] He was succeeded byFiruz Shah Tughlaq (1351–1388), who tried to regain the old kingdom, boundary by waging a war with Bengal for 11 months in 1359. However, Bengal did not fall. Firuz Shah ruled for 37 years. His reign was marked with prosperity much of which was due to the wise and capable Grand Vizier, Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul, a South IndianTelugu Muslim.[121][122] His reign attempted to stabilize the food supply and reduce famines by commissioning an irrigation canal from the Yamuna river. An educated sultan, Firuz Shah left a memoir.[123] In it he wrote that he banned the practice of torture, such as amputations, tearing out of eyes, sawing people alive, crushing people's bones as punishment, pouring molten lead into throats, setting people on fire, driving nails into hands and feet, among others.[124] He also wrote that he did not tolerate attempts by RafawizShia Muslim andMahdi sects from proselytizing people into their faith, nor did he tolerate Hindus who tried to rebuild temples that his armies had destroyed.[125] Firuz Shah Tughlaq also lists his accomplishments to include converting Hindus to Sunni Islam by announcing an exemption from taxes and jizya for those who convert, and by lavishing new converts with presents and honours.[126][127][128] He also vastly expanded the number of slaves in his service and those of Muslim nobles, who were converted to Islam, taught to read and memorize the Quran, and employed in many offices especially in the military, out of which he was able to amass a large army.[129] These slaves were known as the Ghulaman-i-Firuz Shahi formed an elite guard which later became influential in the state.[130][131] The reign of Firuz Shah Tughlaq was marked by reduction in extreme forms of torture, elimination of favours to select parts of society, but also increased intolerance and persecution of targeted groups,[124] the latter of which resulting in conversion of significant parts of the population to Islam.[132]
A base metal coin of Muhammad bin Tughlaq that led to an economic collapse.
The death of Firuz Shah Tughlaq created anarchy and disintegration of the kingdom. Firuz Shah's successor, his great-grandson,Ghiyath-ud-Din Shah II was young and inexperienced and gave himself up to wine and pleasure. The nobles rose against him killed the Sultan and his vizier, and installed a grandson of Firuz,Abu Bakr Shah on the throne.[133] However, the old Ghulaman-i-Firuz Shahi turned against Abu Bakr, who fled, and on their invitationNasir-ud-Din Muhammad Shah was installed on the throne.[134] The anamalous institution of the Ghulaman-i-Firuz Shahi became a corrupting influence on the successive Sultans following Firuz Shah.[135] The last rulers of this dynasty both called themselves Sultan from 1394 to 1397:Nasir ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughlaq, the grandson of Firuz Shah Tughlaq who ruled from Delhi, andNasir ud-Din Nusrat Shah Tughlaq, brother of Tughluq Khan and another great-grandson of Firuz who ruled fromFirozabad, which was a few miles from Delhi.[136] The battle between the two relatives continued untilTimur's invasion in 1398.Timur, also known as Tamerlane in Western scholarly literature, was the Turkicized Mongol ruler of theTimurid Empire. He became aware of the weakness and quarrelling of the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate, so he marched with his army to Delhi, plundering and killing all the way.[137][138] Estimates for the massacre by Timur in Delhi range from 100,000 to 200,000 people.[139][140] Timur had no intention of staying in or ruling India. He looted the lands he crossed, then plundered and burnt Delhi. Over fifteen days, Timur and his army raged a massacre.[141][142] Then he collected wealth, captured women and men and children, and enslaved people (particularly skilled artisans), and returning with this loot to Samarkand. The people and lands within the Delhi Sultanate were left in a state of anarchy, chaos, and pestilence.[136] Nasir ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughlaq, who had fled to Gujarat during Timur's invasion, returned and nominally ruled as the last ruler of the Tughlaq dynasty, as a puppet of the various factions at the court.[143]
TheSayyid dynasty was founded byKhizr Khan and it ruled the Delhi Sultanate from 1415 to 1451.[44] Members of the dynasty derived their title,Sayyid, or the descendants of the Islamic prophet,Muhammad, based on the claim that they belonged to his lineage through his daughterFatima.[145]Abraham Eraly thinks his forebears were likely that Khizr Khan's ancestors were likely descendants of an Arab family who had long ago settled in the region of Multan during the early Tughluq period, but he doubts his Sayyid lineage.[146] A.L. Srivastava shares a similar viewpoint.[147] According toRichard M. Eaton andSimon Digby, Khizr Khan was aPunjabi chieftain fromKhokhar clan.[148][149] The Timurid invasion and plunder had left the Delhi Sultanate in shambles, and little is known about the rule by the Sayyid dynasty.Annemarie Schimmel notes the first ruler of the dynasty as Khizr Khan, who assumed power as a vassal of theTimurid Empire. His successor was Mubarak Khan, who renamed himself Mubarak Shah, discontinued his father's nominal allegiance to Timur and unsuccessfully tried to regain lost territories in Punjab from Khokhar warlords.[143][150]
With the power of the Sayyid dynasty faltering, Islam's history on the Indian subcontinent underwent a profound change, according to Schimmel.[143] The previously dominant Sunni sect of Islam became diluted, alternate Muslim sects such as Shia rose, and new competing centres of Islamic culture took roots beyond Delhi.
In the course of the late Sayyid dynasty, the Delhi Sultanate shrank until it became a minor power. By the time of the last Sayyid ruler,Alam Shah (whose name translated to "king of the world"), this resulted in a common northern Indian witticism, according to which the "kingdom of the king of the world extends from Delhi toPalam", i.e. merely 13 kilometres (8.1 mi). Historian Richard M. Eaton noted that this saying showcased how the "once-mighty empire had become a joke".[151] The Sayyid dynasty was displaced by the Lodi dynasty in 1451, however, resulting in a resurgence of the Delhi Sultanate.[151]
The Lodi dynasty was an Afghan, or Turco-Afghan dynasty,[a] related to thePashtun (Afghan)Lodi tribe.[154][155] The founder of the dynasty,Bahlul Khan Lodi, was aKhalji of the Lodi clan.[156] He started his reign by attacking the MuslimJaunpur Sultanate to expand the influence of the Delhi Sultanate and was partially successful through a treaty. Thereafter, the region from Delhi toVaranasi (then at the border of Bengal province), was back under the influence of the Delhi Sultanate.
After Bahlul Lodi died, his son Nizam Khan assumed power, renamed himselfSikandar Lodi and ruled from 1489 to 1517.[157] One of the better-known rulers of the dynasty, Sikandar Lodi expelled his brother Barbak Shah from Jaunpur, installed his son Jalal Khan as the ruler, then proceeded east to make claims onBihar. The Muslim governors of Bihar agreed to pay tribute and taxes but operated independently of the Delhi Sultanate. Sikandar Lodi led a campaign of destruction of temples, particularly aroundMathura. He also moved his capital and court from Delhi toAgra,[158] an ancient Hindu city that had been destroyed during the plunder and attacks of the early Delhi Sultanate period. Sikandar thus erected buildings with Indo-Islamic architecture in Agra during his rule, and the growth of Agra continued during the Mughal Empire, after the end of the Delhi Sultanate.[159][160]
Sikandar Lodi died a natural death in 1517, and his second sonIbrahim Lodi assumed power. Ibrahim did not enjoy the support of Afghan and Persian nobles or regional chiefs.[161] Ibrahim attacked and killed his elder brother Jalal Khan, who was installed as the governor of Jaunpur by his father and had the support of the amirs and chiefs.[159] Ibrahim Lodi was unable to consolidate his power, and after Jalal Khan's death, the governor of Punjab,Daulat Khan Lodi, reached out to the MughalBabur and invited him to attack the Delhi Sultanate.[162] Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi in theBattle of Panipat in 1526. The death of Ibrahim Lodi ended the Delhi Sultanate, and theMughal Empire replaced it.[163]
Medieval scholars such asIsami andBarani suggested that the prehistory of the Delhi Sultanate lay in theGhaznavid state and that its ruler, Mahmud Ghaznavi, provided the foundation and inspiration integral in the making of the Delhi regime. The Mongol and Hindu monarchies were the great "Others" in these narratives and the Persianate and class-conscious, aristocratic virtues of the ideal state were creatively memorialized in the Ghaznavid state, now the templates for the Delhi Sultanate. Cast within a historical narrative it allowed for a more self-reflective, linear rooting of the Sultanate in the great traditions of Muslim statecraft.[165] Over time, successive Muslim dynasties created a "centralized structure in the Persian tradition whose task was to mobilize human and material resources for the ongoing armed struggle against both Mongol andHindu monarchies".[166] The monarch was not the Sultan of the Hindus or of, say, the people of Haryana, rather in the eyes of the Sultanate's chroniclers, the Muslims constituted what in more recent times would be termed a "Staatsvolk". For many Muslim observers, the ultimate justification for any ruler within the Islamic world was the protection and advancement of the faith. For the Sultans, as for their Ghaznavid and Ghurid predecessors, this entailed the suppression of heterodox Muslims, andFiruz Shah attached some importance to the fact that he had acted against the ashab-i had-u ibadat (deviators and latitudinarians). It also involved plundering and extorting tribute from, independent Hindu principalities.[167] Firuz Shah, who believed that India was changed into a Muslim nation,[168] declared that "no zimmi living in a Musalman country might dare to act".[169]
The Hindu kingdoms who submitted to Islamic rule qualified as"protected peoples" according to the wide spectrum of the educated Muslim community within the subcontinent. The balance of the evidence is that in the latter half of the fourteenth century, if not before, the jizyah was levied as a discriminatory tax on non-Muslims, although even then it is difficult to see how such a measure could have been enforced outside the principal centres of Muslim authority.[170] The Delhi Sultanate also continued the governmental conventions of the previous Hindu polities, claimingparamountcy of some of its subjects rather than exclusive supreme control. Accordingly, it did not interfere with the autonomy and military of certain conquered Hindu rulers and freely included Hindu vassals and officials.[16]
The economic policy of the Delhi Sultanate was characterized by greater government involvement in the economy relative to the Classical Hindu dynasties, and increased penalties for private businesses that broke government regulations. Alauddin Khalji replaced the private markets with four centralized government-run markets, appointed a "market controller", and implemented strict price controls[171] on all kinds of goods, "fromcaps tosocks; fromcombs topins; fromvegetables tosoups, fromsweetmeats tochapatis" (according toZiauddin Barani [c. 1357][172]). The price controls were inflexible even during droughts.[173] Capitalist investors were completely banned from participating in the horse trade,[174] animal and slave brokers were forbidden from collecting commissions,[175] and private merchants were eliminated from all animal and slave markets.[175] Bans were instituted againsthoarding[176] andregrating,[177] granaries were nationalized[176] and limits were placed on the amount of grain that could be used by cultivators for personal use.[178]
Various licensing rules were imposed. Registration of merchants was required,[179] and expensive goods such as certain fabrics were deemed "unnecessary" for the general public and required apermit from the state to be purchased. These licenses were issued toamirs,maliks, and other important persons in government.[175] Agricultural taxes were raised to 50%.
Traders regarded the regulations as burdensome, and violations were severely punished, leading to further resentment among the traders.[172] A network of spies was instituted to ensure the implementation of the system; even after price controls were lifted after Khalji's death, Barani claims that the fear of his spies remained and that people continued to avoid trading in expensive commodities.[180]
Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq leading his troops in the capture of the city ofTirhut in 1324, fromBasātin al-uns byIkhtisān-i Dabir, a member of the Tughluq court. Ca.1410Jalayirid copy of 1326 lost original. Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Museum Library, Ms. R.1032.[181]
The sultanate enforced Islamic religious prohibitions on anthropomorphic representations in art.[182]
The army of the Delhi sultans initially consisted of nomadicTurkicMamluk military slaves belonging to Muhammad of Ghor.
The nucleus of this Southeast Asian sultanate military were the Turco-Afghani regular units namedWajih, which were composed of elite household cavalry archers who came from slave backgrounds.[183] A major military contribution of the Delhi Sultanate was their successful campaigns repelling theMongol Empire'sinvasions of India, which could have been devastating for the Indian subcontinent, like theMongol invasions ofChina,Persia andEurope. Were it not for the Delhi Sultanate, the Mongol Empire may have been successful in invading India.[40]
The strength of the armies changes according to time. Historians state the Delhi sultanate during the Khalji dynasty maintained 300,000–400,000 horse cavalry and 2500–3000war elephant as a standing army.[184][185][186][187][188][189] Its successor state, theTughlaq dynasty further expanded into 500,000 horse cavalry in their force.[186]
Some historians argue that the Delhi Sultanate was responsible for making India more multicultural and cosmopolitan. The establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in India has been compared to the expansion of theMongol Empire and called "part of a larger trend occurring throughout much of Eurasia, in which nomadic people migrated from the steppes of Inner Asia and became politically dominant".[26]
According toAngus Maddison, between the years 1000 and 1500, India'sGDP, of which the sultanates represented a significant part, grew nearly 8% to $60.5 billion in 1500. Though the overall the percentage of the GDP share reduced from 33% to 22%[190] According toMaddison's estimates, India's population grew from 85 million in 1200 to 101 million in 1500 AD in the period.[14]
The Delhi Sultanate and main other polities circa 1500
The Delhi Sultanate period coincided with more use of mechanical technology in the Indian subcontinent.[191] India previously already had highly sophisticated agriculture, food crops, textiles, medicine, minerals, and metals.[191]Water wheels also previously existed in India, as described by various Chinese monks and Arab travellers and writers in their books.[192][193][note 2] During the Delhi Sultanate, various mechanical devices were introduced from the Islamic world to India, such asgeared water-raising wheels and othermachines with gears,pulleys,cams, andcranks.[191] Later, Mughal emperor Babur provided a description on the use of water wheels in the Delhi Sultanate.[198]
According to historians Arnold Pacey andIrfan Habib, thespinning wheel was introduced to India from Iran during the Delhi Sultanate.[200] Smith and Cothren suggested that it was invented in India during the latter half of the first millennium,[201] but Pacey and Habib said these early references to cotton spinning do not identify a wheel, but more likely refer tohand spinning.[202] The earliest unambiguous reference to a spinning wheel in India is dated to 1350.[202] The worm gear rollercotton gin was invented in the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries; Habib states that the development may likely occurred in peninsular India, before becoming more widespread across India during the Mughal era.[203] The incorporation of the crank handle in the cotton gin may have appeared sometime during the late Delhi Sultanate or the early Mughal Empire.[204]
India and China have connections throughout the thousands of years of history. Paper had already reached some parts of India as early as the 6th or 7th century,[205][206][207] initially through Chinese travellers and the ancient silk road which India was very well connected with. Earlier some historians believed that paper failed to catch on as palmyra leaves and birch bark remained far more popular but this theory was discredited later on.[208][209][210][211] On the other hand, the paper may have arrived inBengal from a separate route, as 15th-century Chinese travellerMa Huan remarked that Bengali paper was white and made from "bark of a tree" similar to the Chinese method of papermaking (as opposed to the Middle-Eastern method of using rags and waste material), suggesting a direct route from China for the arrival of paper in Bengal and paper was already very well established and widespread in that part of the subcontinent.[211]
According to one set of very uncertain estimates by modern historians,the total Indian population had largely been stagnant at 75 million during theMiddle Kingdoms era from 1 AD to 1000 AD. During theMedieval Delhi Sultanate era from 1000 to 1500, India as a whole experienced lasting population growth for the first time in a thousand years, with its population increasing nearly 50% to 110 million by 1500 AD.[212][213]
While the Indian subcontinent has had invaders from Central Asia since ancient times, what made the Muslim invasions different is that unlike the preceding invaders who assimilated into the prevalent social system, the successful Muslim conquerors retained their Islamic identity and created new legal and administrative systems that challenged and usually in many cases superseded the existing systems of social conduct and ethics, even influencing the non-Muslim rivals and common masses to a large extent, though the non-Muslim population was left to their laws and customs.[214][215] They also introduced new cultural codes that in some ways were very different from the existing cultural codes. This led to the rise of a new Indian culture that was mixed in nature, different from ancient Indian culture. The overwhelming majority of Muslims in India were Indian natives converted to Islam. This factor also played an important role in the synthesis of cultures.[216]
The officers, the Sultans, Khans, Maliks and the soldiers wore the Islamic qabas dress in the style of Khwarezm, which were tucked in the middle of the body, while the turban andkullah were common headwear. The turbans were wrapped around the kullah (caps), and the feet were covered with red boots. The Wazirs and Katibs also dressed like the soldiers, except they did not use belts, and often let down a piece of cloth in front of them in the manner of the Sufis. The judges and the learned men wore ample gowns (farajiyat) and an Arabic garment (durra).[217]
The start of the Delhi Sultanate in 1206 underQutb al-Din Aibak introduced a large Islamic state to India, using Central Asian styles.[218] The types and forms of large buildings required by Muslim elites, withmosques and tombs much the most common, were very different from those previously built in India. The exteriors of both were very often topped by largedomes and made extensive use ofarches. Both of these features were hardly used inHindu temple architecture and other indigenous Indian styles. Both types of building essentially consist of a single large space under a high dome, and completely avoid the figurative sculpture so important to Hindu temple architecture.[219]
The importantQutb Minar complex in Delhi was begun underMuhammad of Ghor, by 1199, and continued under Qutb al-Din Aibak and later sultans. TheQuwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, now a ruin, was the first structure. Like other early Islamic buildings, it re-used elements such as columns from destroyedHindu andJain temples, including one on the same site whose platform was reused. The style was Iranian, but the arches were stillcorbelled in the traditional Indian way.[220]
Beside it is the extremely tallQutb Minar, aminaret or victory tower, whose original four stages reach 73 meters (with a final stage added later). Its closest comparator is the 62-metre all-brickMinaret of Jam in Afghanistan, ofc. 1190, a decade or so before the probable start of the Delhi tower.[note 3] The surfaces of both are elaborately decorated with inscriptions and geometric patterns; in Delhi the shaft isfluted with "superbstalactite bracketing under the balconies" at the top of each stage.[221] In general minarets were slow to be used in India, and are often detached from the main mosque where they exist.[222]
The Tomb ofIltutmish was added by 1236; its dome, thesquinches again corbelled, and is now missing, and the intricate carving has been described as having an "angular harshness", from carvers working in an unfamiliar tradition.[223] Other elements were added to the complex over the next two centuries.
Another very early mosque, begun in the 1190s, is theAdhai Din Ka Jhonpra inAjmer,Rajasthan, built for the same Delhi rulers, again with corbelled arches and domes. Here Hindu temple columns (and possibly some new ones) are piled up in threes to achieve extra height. Both mosques had large detached screens with pointed corbelled arches added in front of them, probably under Iltutmish a couple of decades later. In these, the central arch is taller, in imitation of aniwan. At Ajmer, the smaller screen arches are tentatively cusped, for the first time in India.[224]
By around 1300 true domes and arches withvoussoirs were being built; the ruinedTomb of Balban (d. 1287) in Delhi may be the earliest survival.[225] TheAlai Darwaza gatehouse at the Qutb complex, from 1311, still shows a cautious approach to the new technology, with very thick walls and a shallow dome, only visible from a certain distance or height. Bold contrasting colours of masonry, with redsandstone and whitemarble, introduce what was to become a common feature of Indo-Islamic architecture, substituting for the polychrome tiles used in Persia and Central Asia. The pointed arches come together slightly at their base, giving a mildhorseshoe arch effect, and their internal edges are not cusped but lined with conventionalized "spearhead" projections, possibly representinglotus buds.Jali, stoneopenwork screens, are introduced here; they already had been long used in temples.[226]
Thetomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam (built 1320 to 1324) inMultan, Pakistan is a large octagonal brick-builtmausoleum with polychrome glazed decoration that remains much closer to the styles of Iran and Afghanistan. Timber is also used internally. This was the earliest major monument of theTughlaq dynasty (1320–1413), built during the unsustainable expansion of its massive territory. It was built for aSufi saint rather than a sultan, and most of the manyTughlaq tombs are much less exuberant. The tomb of the founder of the dynasty,Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq (d. 1325) is more austere, but impressive; like a Hindu temple, it is topped with a smallamalaka and a roundfinial like akalasha. Unlike the buildings mentioned previously, it completely lacks carved texts and sits in a compound with high walls and battlements. Both these tombs have external walls sloping slightly inwards, by 25° in the Delhi tomb, like many fortifications including the ruinedTughlaqabad Fort opposite the tomb, intended as the new capital.[227]
The Tughlaqs had a corps of government architects and builders, and in this and other roles employed many Hindus. They left many buildings and a standardized dynastic style.[226] The third sultan,Firuz Shah (r. 1351–88) is said to have designed buildings himself and was the longest ruler and greatest builder of the dynasty. HisFiroz Shah Palace Complex (started 1354) atHisar,Haryana is a ruin, but parts are in fair condition.[228] Some buildings from his reign take forms that had been rare or unknown in Islamic buildings.[229] He was buried in the largeHauz Khas Complex in Delhi, with many other buildings from his period and the later Sultanate, including several small domedpavilions supported only by columns.[230]
By this time Islamic architecture in India had adopted some features of earlier Indian architecture, such as the use of a highplinth,[231] and oftenmouldings around its edges, as well as columns and brackets andhypostyle halls.[232] After the death of Firoz the Tughlaqs declined, and the following Delhi dynasties were weak. Most of the monumental buildings constructed were tombs, although the impressiveLodi Gardens in Delhi (adorned with fountains,charbagh gardens, ponds, tombs and mosques) were constructed by the late Lodi dynasty. The architecture of other regional Muslim states was often more impressive.[233]
While the sacking of cities was not uncommon in medieval warfare, the army of the Delhi Sultanate also often destroyed cities in their military expeditions. According to Jain chronicler Jinaprabha Suri,Nusrat Khan's conquests destroyed hundreds of towns includingAshapalli (modern-dayAhmedabad), Anhilvad (modern-dayPatan),Vanthali andSurat in Gujarat.[234] This account is corroborated byZiauddin Barani.[235]
Jordan Catala was a contemporary European witness of the destructions by the "Turkish Saracens" in India (extract fromMirabilia Descripta, written in 1329–1338).[241][242]
Historian Richard Eaton has tabulated a campaign of destruction of idols and temples by Delhi Sultans, intermixed with certain years where the temples were protected from desecration.[35][243][244] In his paper, he has listed 37 instances ofHindu temples being desecrated or destroyed in India during the Delhi Sultanate, from 1234 to 1518, for which reasonable evidences are available.[245][246][247] He notes that this was not unusual in medieval India, as there were numerous recorded instances of temple desecration byHindu andBuddhist kings against rival Indian kingdoms between 642 and 1520, involving conflict between devotees of different Hindu deities, as well as between Hindus, Buddhists and Jains at small scales.[248][249][250] He also noted there were also many instances of Delhi sultans, who often had Hindu ministers, ordering the protection, maintenance and repairing of temples, according to both Muslim and Hindu sources. For example, aSanskrit inscription notes that SultanMuhammad bin Tughluq repaired a Shiva and Parvati temple inBidar after hisDeccan conquest. There was often a pattern of Delhi sultans plundering or damaging temples during the conquest and then patronizing or repairing temples after the conquest. This pattern came to an end with theMughal Empire, whereAkbar's chief ministerAbu'l-Fazl criticized the excesses of earlier sultans such asMahmud of Ghazni.[245]
In the majority of cases, the demolished remains, rocks and broken statue pieces of temples destroyed by Delhi sultans were reused to build mosques and other buildings. For example, the Qutb complex in Delhi was built from stones from 27 demolished Hindu and Jain temples by some accounts.[251] Similarly, the Muslim mosque in Khanapur, Maharashtra was built from the looted parts and demolished remains of Hindu temples.[64]Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji destroyed Buddhist Religious Centres such asOdantapuri &Vikramshila in 1193 at the beginning of the Delhi Sultanate.[34][33]
The first historical record of a campaign of destruction of temples and defacement of faces or heads of Hindu idols lasted from 1193 to 1194 in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh under the command of Ghuri. Under the Mamluks and Khaljis, the campaign of temple desecration expanded to Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, and continued through the late 13th century.[35] The campaign extended to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu under Malik Kafur andUlugh Khan in the 14th century, and by the Bahmanis in the 15th century.[34][failed verification] Orissa temples were destroyed in the 14th century under the Tughlaqs.
Beyond destruction and desecration, the sultans of the Delhi Sultanate in some cases had forbidden the reconstruction or repair of damaged Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples. In certain cases, the Sultanate would grant a permit for repairs and construction of temples if the patron or religious community paidjizya (fee, tax). For example, a proposal by the Chinese to repair Himalayan Buddhist temples destroyed by the Sultanate army was refused, because such temple repairs were only allowed if the Chinese agreed to pay jizya tax to the treasury of the Sultanate.[252][253][254] According to Eva De Clercq, an expert in the study of Jainism, the Delhi Sultans did not strictly prohibit construction of new temples in the sultanate, Islamic law notwithstanding.[255] In his memoirs, Firoz Shah Tughlaq describes how he destroyed temples and built mosques instead and killed those who dared build new temples.[125] Other historical records fromwazirs,amirs and the court historians of various Sultans of the Delhi Sultanate describe the grandeur of idols and temples they witnessed in their campaigns and how these were destroyed and desecrated.[256]
Temple desecration during Delhi Sultanate period, a list prepared by Richard Eaton inTemple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States[35][257]
TheSomnath Temple in Gujarat was repeatedly destroyed by Delhi Sultanate armies and rebuilt by Chaulukya armies. It was destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate's army in 1299 and was rebuilt afterwards.[258]
^Welch and Crane note that the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque was built with the remains of demolished Hindu and Jain temples.[63]
^Pali literature dating to the 4th century BC mentions thecakkavattaka, which commentaries explain asarahatta-ghati-yanta (machine with wheel-pots attached), and according to Pacey, water-raising devices were used for irrigation in Ancient India predating their use in the Roman empire or China.[194] Greco-Roman tradition, on the other hand, asserts that the device was introduced to India from the Roman Empire.[195] Furthermore, South Indian mathematicianBhaskara II describes water-wheelsc. 1150 in his incorrect proposal for a perpetual motion machine.[196] Srivastava argues that the Sakia, oraraghatta was in fact invented in India by the 4th century.[197]
^Kadoi, Yuka (2010)."On the Timurid flag".Beiträge zur islamischen Kunst und Archäologie.2: 148.doi:10.29091/9783954909537/009.S2CID263250872....helps identify another curious flag found in northern India – a brown or originally silver flag with a vertical black line – as the flag of the Delhi Sultanate (602–962/1206–1555).
^Note: other sources describe the use of two flags: the blackAbbasid flag, and the redGhurid flag, as well as various banners with figures of the new moon, a dragon or a lion.Qurashi, Ishtiyaq Hussian (1942).The Administration of the Sultanate of Delhi. Kashmiri Bazar Lahore: SH. MUHAMMAD ASHRAF. p. 143.Large banners were carried with the army. In the beginning, the sultans had only two colours : on the right were black flags, of Abbasid colour; and on the left, they carried their colour, red, which was derived from Ghor. Qutb-ud-din Aibak's standards bore the figures of the new moon, a dragon or a lion; Firuz Shah's flags also displayed a dragon.Jha, Sadan (8 January 2016).Reverence, Resistance and Politics of Seeing the Indian National Flag. Cambridge University Press. p. 36.ISBN978-1-107-11887-4., also "On the right of the Sultan was carried the black standard of the Abbasids and on the left the red standard of Ghor." inThapliyal, Uma Prasad (1938).The Dhvaja, Standards and Flags of India: A Study. B.R. Publishing Corporation. p. 94.ISBN978-81-7018-092-0.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^Eaton, Richard Maxwell (2015).The Sufis of Bijapur, 1300–1700: Social Roles of Sufis in Medieval India. Princeton University Press. pp. 41–42.ISBN978-1-4008-6815-5.
^Alam, Muzaffar (1998). "The pursuit of Persian: Language in Mughal Politics".Modern Asian Studies.32 (2). Cambridge University Press:317–349.doi:10.1017/s0026749x98002947.S2CID146630389.Hindavi was recognized as a semi-official language by the Sor Sultans (1540–1555) and their chancellery rescripts bore transcriptions in the Devanagari script of the Persian contents. The practice is said to have been introduced by the Lodis (1451–1526).
^Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D. (December 2006). "East-West Orientation of Historical EmpiresArchived 17 May 2016 at the Portuguese Web Archive" (PDF). Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222–223.ISSN1076-156X. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
^Sugata Bose;Ayesha Jalal (2004).Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy. Psychology Press. p. 21.ISBN978-0-415-30786-4.It was a similar combination of political and economic imperatives which led Muhammad Ghuri, a Turk, to invade India a century and half later, in 1192. His defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan, a Rajput chieftain, in the strategic battle of Tarain in northern India paved the way for the establishment of the first Muslim sultanate...
^M.S. Ahluwalia (1999). "Rajput Muslim Relations (1200–1526 A.D.)". In Shyam Singh Ratnawat; Krishna Gopal Sharma (eds.).History and Culture of Rajasthan (From Earliest Times upto 1956 A.D.). Centre for Rajasthan Studies, University of Rajasthan. p. 135.OCLC264960720.The Khaiji rule proved much stronger for the Rajput principalities ... A new wave of invasions and conquests began, which ended only when practically the whole of India had been bought under the sway of the Delhi kingdom.
^Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund,A History of India, 3rd ed., Routledge, 1998,ISBN0-415-15482-0, pp. 187–190.
^abKeith Brown; Sarah Ogilvie (2008),Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World, Elsevier,ISBN978-0-08-087774-7,... Apabhramsha seemed to be in a state of transition from the Middle Indo-Aryan to the New Indo-Aryan stage. Some elements of Hindustani appear ... the distinct form of the lingua franca Hindustani appears in the writings of Amir Khusro (1253–1325), who called it Hindwi ...
^A. Welch, "Architectural Patronage and the Past: The Tughluq Sultans of India", Muqarnas 10, 1993, Brill Publishers, pp. 311–322.
^Bowering et al.,The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought,ISBN978-0691134840, Princeton University Press
^ab"Delhi sultanate | History, Significance, Map, & Rulers | Britannica".www.britannica.com. 17 November 2023. Retrieved31 December 2023.The Delhi sultanate made no break with the political traditions of the later Hindu period—namely, that rulers sought paramountcy rather than sovereignty. It never reduced Hindu chiefs to unarmed impotence or established an exclusive claim to allegiance. The sultan was served by a heterogeneous elite of Turks, Afghans, Khaljīs, and Hindu converts; he readily accepted Hindu officials and Hindu vassals. Threatened for long periods with Mongol invasion from the northwest and hampered by indifferent communications, the Delhi sultans perforce left a large discretion to their local governors and officials.
^abcdeRichard Eaton (September 2000). "Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States".Journal of Islamic Studies.11 (3):283–319.doi:10.1093/jis/11.3.283.
^Jackson, Peter (2000).The Delhi Sultanate: a political and military history. Cambridge studies in Islamic civilization (Reprint ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-54329-3.
^Richard M. Frye, "Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Cultures in Central Asia", inTurko-Persia in Historical Perspective, ed. Robert L. Canfield (Cambridge U. Press c. 1991), 35–53.
^Davis, Richard H. (January 1994). "Three styles in looting India".History and Anthropology.6 (4):293–317.doi:10.1080/02757206.1994.9960832.
^MUHAMMAD B. SAM Mu'izz AL-DIN, T.W. Haig, Encyclopaedia of Islam, Vol. VII, ed. C.E.Bosworth, E.van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs and C. Pellat, (Brill, 1993)
^C.E. Bosworth, Tidge History of Iran, Vol. 5, ed. J. A. Boyle, John Andrew Boyle, (Cambridge University Press, 1968), pp 161–170
^Jackson P. (1990), The Mamlūk institution in early Muslim India, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (New Series), 122(02), pp. 340–358.
^C.E. Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties, Columbia University Press (1996)
^Barnett & Haig (1926), A review of History of Mediaeval India, from ad 647 to the Mughal Conquest – Ishwari Prasad, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (New Series), 58(04), pp 780–783
^Chaurasia, Radhey Shyam (2002).History of medieval India: from 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. p. 28.ISBN978-81-269-0123-4. Retrieved23 August 2010.The Khaljis were a Turkish tribe but having been long domiciled in Afghanistan, adopted Afghan habits and customs. They were treated as Afghans in Delhi Court.
^A. B. M. Habibullah (1992) [1970]."The Khaljis: Jalaluddin Khalji". In Mohammad Habib; Khaliq Ahmad Nizami (eds.).A Comprehensive History of India. Vol. 5: The Delhi Sultanate (A.D. 1206–1526). The Indian History Congress / People's Publishing House. p. 312.OCLC31870180.
^abcdHolt et al., The Cambridge History of Islam – The Indian sub-continent, south-east Asia, Africa and the Muslim west,ISBN978-0521291378, pp 9–13
^New Indian Antiquary: Volume 2. Karnatak Publishing House. 1939. p. 545.Alauddin gave the signal and in a twinkling Muhammad Salim of Samana struck
^Yasin Mazhar Siddiqi (1972). "the Kotwals under the Sultans of Delhi".Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Indian History Congress: 194.JSTOR44145331.Nusrat Khan Jalesari who was the Kotwal in the first year of the Alai reign was an Indian Muslim
^Frank Fanselow (1989), Muslim society in Tamil Nadu (India): a historical perspective, Journal Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, 10(1), pp 264–289
^Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, A History of India, 3rd ed., Routledge, 1998,ISBN0-415-15482-0
^Elliot and Dowson, Táríkh-i Fíroz Sháhí of Ziauddin Barani, The History of India as Told by Its Historians. The Muhammadan Period (Vol 3), London, Trübner & Co
^Ray 2019, p. 115: "The Sultan created Daulatabad as the second administrative centre. A contemporary writer has written that the Empire had two capitals –Delhi and Daulatabad."
^Judith Walsh, A Brief History of India,ISBN978-0816083626, pp 70–72; Quote: "In 1335–42, during a severe famine and death in the Delhi region, the Sultanate offered no help to the starving residents."
^Mehta (1979).Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India: Volume 2. p. 225.Khan-i-Jahan was a Brahmin from Telangana whose original name was Kattu or Kannu. Kannu was brought a captive to Delhi where he embraced Islam and was given the name of Maqbul. No wonder, Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul and his family made a great contribution towards the initial administrative achievements of Sultan Firuz Tughlaq, the peace and prosperity of his reign during the first two decades are unintelligible unless the services rendered by Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul to the throne are taken into consideration.
^Futuhat-i Firoz Shahi Simultaneously, he raised taxes and jizya, assessing it at three levels, and stopping the practice of his predecessors who had historically exempted all HinduBrahmins from the jizya.
^Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India Issues 52–54. Archaeological Survey of India. 1937. p. 19.The old Firoz Shahi slaves, however, turned against Abu Bakr, who fled, and on their invitation Sultan Muhammad " entered the city and took
^Āg̲h̲ā Mahdī Ḥusain (1963).Tughluq Dynasty. Thacker, Spink. p. 444.
^Beatrice F. Manz (2000). "Tīmūr Lang". In P. J. Bearman; Th. Bianquis; C. E. Bosworth; E. van Donzel; W. P. Heinrichs (eds.).Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 10 (2 ed.).Brill.
^Lionel Trotter (1906), History of India: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Gorham Publishers London/New York, p. 74
^Annemarie Schimmel (1997), Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, Brill Academic,ISBN978-9004061170, pp 36–37; Also see: Elliot, Studies in Indian History, 2nd ed., pp 98–101
^The Cambridge History of India: Turks and Afghans, edited by W. Haig. S. Chand. 1958.The claim of Khizr Khān, who founded the dynasty known as the Sayyids, to descent from the prophet of Arabia was dubious, and rested chiefly on its causal recognition by the famous saint Sayyid Jalāl-ud-dīn of Bukhārā.
^Eraly, Abraham (2015).The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate. Penguin UK. p. 261.ISBN978-93-5118-658-8.The first of these two dynasties was founded by Khizr Khan, who bore the appellation 'Sayyid', which identified him as a descendant of prophet Muhammad, so the dynasty he founded came to be known as the Sayyid dynasty. The veracity of Khizr Khan's claimed lineage is uncertain, but his forebears were likely Arabs, who had migrated to India in the early Tughluq period and settled in Multan. The family prospered in India, gaining wealth and power. This advancement culminated in Malik Suleiman, Khizr Khan's father, becoming the governor of Multan under the Tughluqs. When Suleiman died, Khizr Khan succeeded him in the post but lost it during the political turmoil following the death of Firuz Tughluq.
^Srivastava 1929, p. 229, "their claim of Descendants of Prophet Mohammad is dubious but it seems certain that Khizr Khan's ancestors came from Arabia".
^Eaton 2020, p. 105 "The career of Khizr Khan, a Punjabi chieftain belonging to the Khokar clan, illustrates the transition to an increasingly polycentric north India.".
^Judith Walsh, A Brief History of India,ISBN978-0816083626, p. 81; Quote: "The last dynasty was founded by a Sayyid provincial governor, Buhlul Lodi (r. 1451–89). The Lodis were descended from Afghans, and under their rule, Afghans eclipsed Turks in court patronage."
^Lee, Jonathan (2019).Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present. Reaktion Books. p. 56.ISBN9781789140101.In 1451 Bahlul Khan, a Khalji of the Lodhi clan, deposed the then sultan and founded a second Afghan sultanate, the Lodhi Dynasty, which ruled northern India for 75 years (1451–1526).
^Digby, S. (1975), The Tomb of Buhlūl Lōdī, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 38(03), pp. 550–561
^Andrew Petersen, Dictionary of Islamic Architecture, Routledge,ISBN978-0415060844, p. 7
^Richards, John (1965), The Economic History of the Lodi Period: 1451–1526, Journal de l'histoire economique et sociale de l'Orient, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp 47–67
^Jackson, Peter (2010). "Muslim India: the Delhi sultanate". InMorgan, David O.;Reid, Anthony (eds.).The New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 3: The Eastern Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 101.ISBN978-0-521-85031-5.
^Saikat K Bose (2015). "And the Social Dynamics Behind South Asian Warfare".Boot, Hooves and Wheels(ebook). Vij Books India Private Limited.ISBN9789384464547. Retrieved21 July 2023.They had corps of regulars, the watch, formed primarily of mounted archers but which also had an advance reserve, the blemish, of lancers. The wajih had a nucleus of the elite khasakhail or household cavalry, composed largely of slaves.
^Madison, Angus (2007).Contours of the world economy, 1–2030 AD: essays in macro-economic history. Oxford University Press. p. 379.ISBN978-0-19-922720-4.
^abcPacey, Arnold (1991) [1990].Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History (1st MIT Press paperback ed.). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. pp. 26–29.
^Siddiqui, Iqtidar Hussain (1986). "Water Works and Irrigation System in India during Pre-Mughal Times".Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient.29 (1):63–64.doi:10.2307/3632072.JSTOR3632072.
^Oleson, John Peter (2000), "Water-Lifting", inWikander, Örjan (ed.),Handbook of Ancient Water Technology, Technology and Change in History, vol. 2, Leiden, South Holland: Brill, pp. 217–302,ISBN978-90-04-11123-3
^Srivastava, Vinod Chanda; Gopal, Lallanji (2008).History of Agriculture in India, Up to C. 1200 A.D. New Delhi: Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture.ISBN978-81-8069-521-6.
^Harrison, Frederick.A Book about Books. London: John Murray, 1943. p. 79. Mandl, George. "Paper Chase: A Millennium in the Production and Use of Paper". Myers, Robin & Michael Harris (eds).A Millennium of the Book: Production, Design & Illustration in Manuscript & Print, 900–1900. Winchester: St. Paul's Bibliographies, 1994. p. 182.Mann, George.Print: A Manual for Librarians and Students Describing in Detail the History, Methods, and Applications of Printing and Paper Making. London: Grafton & Co., 1952. p. 79. McMurtrie, Douglas C.The Book: The Story of Printing & Bookmaking. London: Oxford University Press, 1943. p. 63.
^Tsien, Tsuen-Hsuin (1985),Joseph Needham (ed.),Paper and Printing, Science and Civilisation in China, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, vol. 5, Cambridge University Press, pp. 2–3,356–357
^Wilkinson, Endymion (2012),Chinese History: A New Manual, Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute, p. 909
^Eva De Clercq (2010), ON JAINA APABHRAṂŚA PRAŚASTIS, Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hung. Volume 63 (3), pp 275–287
^Hasan Nizami et al.,Taju-l Ma-asir & Appendix, Translated in 1871 by Elliot and Dawson, Volume 2 – The History of India, Cornell University Archives, pp 22, 219, 398, 471
^Richard Eaton, Temple desecration and Indo-Muslim states, Frontline (5 January 2001), pp 72–73
^Burgess; Murray (1874)."The Rudra Mala at Siddhpur".Photographs of Architecture and Scenery in Gujarat and Rajputana. Bourne and Shepherd. p. 19. Retrieved23 July 2016.
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1These are traditional areas of settlement; the Turkic group has been living in the listed country/region for centuries and should not be confused with modern diasporas. 2State with limited international recognition.
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![The Somnath Temple in Gujarat was repeatedly destroyed by Delhi Sultanate armies and rebuilt by Chaulukya armies. It was destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate's army in 1299 and was rebuilt afterwards.[258]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aSomnath_temple_ruins_(1869).jpg)
![The Kashi Vishwanath Temple was destroyed by Muhammad of Ghor along with thousand other temples in Varanasi.[259]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aBenares-_The_Golden_Temple%2c_India%2c_ca._1915_(IMP-CSCNWW33-OS14-66).jpg)
![The armies of the Delhi Sultanate led by their Delhi Sultanate commander Malik Kafur demolished and plundered the Meenakshi Temple of Madurai and looted it of all its wealth.[260][261][262]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aTemple_de_M%25C3%25AEn%25C3%25A2ksh%25C3%25AE01.jpg)
![Kakatiya Kala Thoranam (Warangal Gate) built by the Kakatiya dynasty in ruins; one of the many temple complexes destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate.[35]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWarangal_fort.jpg)
![Rani ki Vav is a stepwell, built by the Chaulukya dynasty, located in Patan; the city was sacked by Sultan of Delhi Qutb ud-Din Aibak between 1200 and 1210, and again by the Allauddin Khalji in 1298.[263]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRani_ki_vav1.jpg)
![Artistic rendition of the Kirtistambha at Rudra Mahalaya Temple. The temple was destroyed by Alauddin Khalji.[264]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aElevation_of_Kirtistambh_Rudramahalaya_Sidhpur_Gujarat_India.jpg)
![Exterior wall reliefs at Hoysaleshvara Temple. The temple was twice sacked and plundered by the Delhi Sultanate.[265]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aExteriors_Carvings_of_Shantaleshwara_Shrine_02.jpg)
_and_King_of_Vijayanagar_(bottom)_in_the_Catalan_Atlas_of_1375.jpg){kind=link}