The Delhi Sultans

Delhi Sultans

Delhi first became the capital of a kingdom under the Tomara Rajputs, They defeated in the middle of twelfth century by the Chauhans (chahamanas) of Ajmer. Under the Tomaras and Chauhans Delhi became an important commercial centre. Many rich Jaina merchants lived in the city and constructed several temples. Coins minted here, called dehliwal, had a wide circulation.

• Histories are known as tarikh (singular)/tawarikh (plural), in Persian, the language of administration under the Delhi Sultans.

• The authors of tawarikh were learned men: secretaries, administrators, poets and courtiers.

• The circle of justice Fakhr-i Mudabbir wrote in the thirteenth century: "A king cannot survive without soldiers. And soldiers cannot live without salaries. Salaries come from the revenue collected from peasants. But peasants can pay revenue only when they are prosperous and happy. This happens when the king promotes justice and honest governance."

• 1236 Sultan Iltutmish’s daughter, Raziyya, became Sultan. The chronicler (History writer) of the time, Minhaj-i Siraj, found that she was more able and qualified than all her brothers. But he was not comfortable at having a queen as ruler. Nor were the nobles happy at her attempts to rule independently. She was removed from the throne in 1240.

• Minhaj-i Siraj thought that the queen’s rule went against the ideal social order created by God, in which women were supposed to be subordinate to men. He therefore asked: “In the register of God’s creation, since her account did not fall under the column of men, how did she gain from all of her excellent qualities?” On her inscriptions and coins Raziyya mentioned that she was the daughter of Sultan Iltutmish. This was in contrast to the queen Rudramadevi (1262–1289), of the Kakatiya dynasty of Warangal, part of modern Andhra Pradesh. Rudramadevi changed her name on her inscriptions and pretended she was a man. Another queen, Didda, ruled in Kashmir (980–1003). Her title is interesting: it comes from “didi” or “elder sister”, an obviously affectionate term given to a loved ruler by her subjects.

• A mosque is called a masjid in Arabic, literally a place where a Muslim prostrates in reverence to Allah. In a "congregational mosque" (masjid-i-jami or jama masjid Muslims. Members of the congregation choose the most respected, learned male as their leader (imam) for the rituals of prayer. He also delivers the sermon (khutba) during the Friday prayer.

  During prayer, Muslims stand facing Mecca. In India this is to the west. This is called the qibla.

  The Sultanate in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

• After the Tughluqs, the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties ruled Rationalised 2023-24 37 delhi: 12th to 15th... from Delhi and Agra until 1526.

• By then, Jaunpur, Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and the entire south India had independent rulers who established flourishing states and prosperous capitals,new ruler emerged like Afghans and Rajputs.

• In this period some states established but very powerful and extremely well administered, like Sher Shah Sur (1540–1545) started his career as the manager of a small territory for his uncle in Bihar and eventually challenged and defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun (1530–1540, 1555–1556).

• Sher Shah captured Delhi and established his own dynasty. Although the Sur dynasty ruled for only 15 years (1540–1555), it introduced an administration that borrowed elements from Alauddin Khalji and made them more efficient. The great emperor Akbar followed Sher Shah’s administration (1556–1605) when he consolidated the Mughal Empire.