delhi sultanate

The period from ______ to ______ is described as the period of the Delhi Sultanate.

1206 to 1526

Slave Dynasty -

1206 - 1290

Khalji Dynasty -

1290 - 1320

Tughlaq Dynasty -

1320 - 1414

Slave Dynasty rulers -

Qutb-ud-din Aibak, Shamasuddin Iltutmish, Razia, Ghiyasuddin Balban

Khalji Dynasty rulers -

Jalaluddin Khlaji, Alauddin Khalji

Tughlaq Dynasty -

Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, Muhammed Tughlaq, Firoz Shah Tughlaq

___________________ provide information about Delhi Sultanate.

Inscriptions, coins, architecture

__________ were written in __________ and provided most information, written by authors that _____________________

Histories/Tarikh/Tawarikh, Persian, recounted events and advised rulers

Qutb--ud-din Aibak -

First Sultan. General of Mohammad Ghori. After ghoris’s death, he began to rule. He was a kind-hearted man. He was called as lakh-baksh. He built Quwwat-ul-islam mosque in Delhi.

Iltutmish -

consolidater of the slave dybasty, consolidated his position in north-west. defeated rulers of ujjain and ranthambhor. annexed bihar and Bengal. iltutmish defeated Mohammad Ghori’s general, Qubacha. He completed construction of the Qutub Minar. He crowned his daughter razia.

razia -

she faced many problems during her reign. she wore male attire and rode an elephant. she succeeded establishing law and order in her empire. nobles conspired and killed her in battle. she is buried is turkman gate as a great woman warrior of her times

razia removed from throne -

Razia removed from throne in 1240 CE, because nobles uncomfortable at lady ruler. Although she was more able/qualified than her brothers

ghiyusuddin balban -

last slave king, powerful ruler. reorganised his army and fought local rulers. defended his empire from invasions of the mongols. he made sultan’s position supreme. he introduced persian custom of sijdah, nobels had to kneel and touch the ground and salute the sultan. orthodox Muslims didny like this. he died in 1287 of illness

jalaluddin firoz khalji -

first leader, not strong leader. lenient policy towards mongols.

alauddin khalji -

he was an ambitious ruler. won over nobles by distributing gold from the treasury. he imposed many restrictions on nobles; nobles needed his permission to have festivities, he had spies everywhere. started conquest in gujarat and malwa. he tried to control rajasthan by capturing forts ranthanmbhor and chittor. after chittorgarh, Rani Padmini committed jauhar with other rajput women. alauddin ordered slaughter of his enemies.

Amir khusrau -

court poet, said 30,000 rajputs died on that single day. he launched campaigns in deccan lead by malik kafur, first army to cross vindhya mountains.

economic measures

- to increase revenue collection he controlled the prices of all the commodities, food grains, cattle, slaves.
- government bought all excess non-perishable commodities
- a strict watch was kept on buying and selling of commodities
- anyone found cheating was severely punished
- the rights of local chieftains to levy taxes were cancelled, and they were forced to pay taxes.
- he imported horses and paid his soldiers in cash.
-three types of taxes -
kharaj - tax on cultivation which amounted to 50% of the peasent’s produce
on cattle
on houses

Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq -

capable military commander. He suppressed many rebellions and consolidated the empire.

mohammad-bin-tughlaq -

he had knowledge in phil, maths, logi, and medicine. he knew several languages. main source of information about his period are the records of a Moroccan traveller Ibn-battuta. he didn’t implement his ideas properly

dumb things laq did

* Transfer of capital - delhi to dalautabad. He thought it would be a better place to administer and control the empire, the mongols would not threaten dalautabad. he instructed the entire population of delhi to move to dalautabad. the journey was long and arduous. he realised its impossible to keep a check on the northern frontiers. people had to march back
* taxation in doab - to increase revenue collection, raised taxes on peasants in doab while facing a severe famine. peasants abandoned their land and he withdraw his orders
* introduction of token currency - he introduced brass and copper token coins, exchange for silver coins from the royal treasury. they had the same value as silver tanka. he failed to check for forgery, people started illegally minting coins. trade suffered. foreign merchants refused to accept token currency. he had to exchange tokens w coins and the treasury became empty.
* khurasan expedition - he wanted to expand his empire, so he decided to conquer khurasan. he mobilised a huge army and spend a lot to equip them with weapons. he hastily abandoned the expedition.

mohammad-bin-tughlaq had __________

lost trust of the common people, nobels. revolts broke out in gujarat and warangal. he lost control of his empire. he died in 1357.

firoz shah -

he introduced many welfare schemes for his people. he increased salaries and gave bigger jagirs to them. he was very religious.

chalgans -

Chalgans/turkan-i-chihilgani or ‘the Forty’ were Illtutmish’s group of personal supporters that were powerful officers

muqtis -

Military commanders that governed territories called iqta. Duty: join military campaigns, maintain law and order.

garrison towns -

till late 13th century, Sultante control was confined to fortified towns with soldiers