Delhi Sultanate

2026-05-08T12:16:22Z

82.132.223.65:

{{Short description|Late medieval empire in the Indian subcontinent (1206–1526)}}
{{distinguish|Sultanate of Deli}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = Sultanate of Delhi
| native_name = {{native name|fa|{{Nastaliq|سلطنت دهلی}}}} {{small|{{transliteration|fa|Salṭanat-i-Dehlī}}}} {{native name|hin|{{Script/Devanagari|सल्तनत दिल्ली}}}} {{small|{{transliteration|hi|Saltanat Dillī}}}}
| common_name = Delhi Sultanate
| era = [[Medieval India]]
| status = [[Sultanate]]
| event_start = [[History of Delhi|Independence]]{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=28}}
| year_start = 1206
| date_start = 25 June
| event1 = [[Khalji Revolution]]
| date_event1 = 1 February – 13 June 1290
| event2 = [[Battle of Lahrawat]]
| date_event2 = 6 September 1320
| event3 = [[Sack of Delhi (1398)|Sack of Delhi]]
| date_event3 = 17–20 December 1398
| event_end = [[First Battle of Panipat|Battle of Panipat]]
| year_end = 1526
| date_end = 21 April
| stat_area1 = 1300000 <ref name="escholarship.org">[https://escholarship.org/content/qt8vx325vq/qt8vx325vq_noSplash_a2c2db5cdb06a3d4d4e35b2852a74948.pdf Size and Duration of Empires: Systematics of Size"]</ref>
| stat_area2 = 1500000 <ref name="escholarship.org"/>
| stat_area3 = 3200000 <ref>Turchin, Peter; Adams, Jonathan M.; Hall, Thomas D. (December 2006). [http://peterturchin.com/PDF/Turchin_Adams_Hall_2006.pdf East-West Orientation of Historical Empires] {{webarchive |url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20160517210851/http://peterturchin.com/PDF/Turchin_Adams_Hall_2006.pdf |date=17 May 2016}}" (PDF). Journal of World-Systems Research. 12 (2): 222-223. {{ISSN|1076-156X}}. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.</ref>
| stat_area4 = 2800000 <ref name="escholarship.org"/>
| stat_year1 = 1250
| stat_year2 = 1300
| stat_year3 = 1312
| stat_year4 = 1350
| p1 = Ghurid dynasty
| p2 = Middle kingdoms of India
| s1 = Mughal Empire
| s3 = Regional Sultanates of India
| s2 = Vijayanagara Empire
| image_map = {{Switcher|[[File:Map of the Mamluk Dynasty.png|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Mamluk Dynasty circa 1250.{{sfn|Schwartzberg|1978|p=147}}|[[File:Map_of_the_Khalji_Sultanate.png|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Khalji Dynasty circa 1320.{{sfn|Schwartzberg|1978|p=38}}|[[File:Map_of_the_Tughlaqs.png|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Tughlaq Dynasty circa 1330.{{sfn|Jackson|2003}}{{sfn|Schwartzberg|1978|p=147}}|
[[File:Map of the Sayyid Dynasty.png|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Sayyid Dynasty circa 1421.{{sfn|Schwartzberg|1978|p=148}}|[[File:Map of the Lodis.png|upright=1.15|frameless]]|Lodi Dynasty circa 1489. {{sfn|Schwartzberg|1978|p=148}}|default=3}}
| image_map_caption =
| capital = {{plainlist|
* [[Lahore]] (1206–1210)
* [[Badayun]] (1210–1214)
* [[Delhi]] (1214–1327; 1334–1506)
* [[Daulatabad Fort|Daulatabad]] (1327–1334)
* [[Agra]] (1506–1526)}}
| official_languages = {{ubl
|[[Old Hindi]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eaton |first=Richard Maxwell |title=The Sufis of Bijapur, 1300–1700: Social Roles of Sufis in Medieval India |date=2015 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-6815-5 |pages=41-42}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Alam |first=Muzaffar |year=1998 |title=The pursuit of Persian: Language in Mughal Politics |journal=Modern Asian Studies |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=317-349 |doi=10.1017/s0026749x98002947 |s2cid=146630389 |quote=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).}}</ref>
|[[Persian language|Persian]]<ref name="asi.nic.in">{{Cite web |title=Arabic and Persian Epigraphical Studies - Archaeological Survey of India |url=http://asi.nic.in/asi_epigraphical_arabicpersian.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929105219/http://asi.nic.in/asi_epigraphical_arabicpersian.asp |archive-date=29 September 2011 |access-date=29 January 2018 |website=asi.nic.in}}</ref>
}}
| legislature = [[Corps of Forty]] (1211–1266)
| population_estimate = 101,000,000<ref name="ggdc.net" />
| population_estimate_year = 1500
| religion = '''State religion''' [[Sunni Islam]] '''Others''' [[Hinduism]] (majority), [[Jainism]], [[Buddhism]], [[Christianity]], [[Sikhism]], [[Zoroastrianism]]
| currency = [[Ancient taka|Taka]]
| government_type = [[Sultan|Sultanate]]
| leader1 = [[Qutb ud-Din Aibak]] (first)
| year_leader1 = 1206–1210
| leader2 = [[Ibrahim Khan Lodi]] (last)
| year_leader2 = 1517–1526
| title_leader = [[List of sultans of Delhi|Sultan]]
| today = {{ubl|[[India]]|[[Pakistan]]|[[Bangladesh]]|[[Nepal]]}}
| image_flag = Delhi Sultanate Flag.svg
| flag_type = Flag of the Delhi Sultanate according to the contemporary ''[[Catalan Atlas]]'' ({{circa}} 1375).<ref>Grey flag with black vertical stripe according to the ''[[Catalan Atlas]]'' ({{circa}} 1375): [[File:Flag of the Delhi Tughlaq Sultanate according to the Catalan Atlas.jpg|60px]] in the [[:File:Sultan of Delhi (top) and King of Vijayanagar (bottom) in the Catalan Atlas of 1375.jpg|Depiction of the Delhi Sultanate in the Catalan Atlas]]</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kadoi |first=Yuka |date=2010 |title=On the Timurid flag |url=https://www.academia.edu/17410816 |journal=Beiträge zur islamischen Kunst und Archäologie |volume=2 |page=148 |doi=10.29091/9783954909537/009 |s2cid=263250872 |quote="...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)."}}</ref><ref>Note: other sources describe the use of two flags: the black [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] flag, and the red [[Ghurid dynasty|Ghurid]] flag, as well as various banners with figures of the new moon, a dragon or a lion.{{Cite book |last=Qurashi |first=Ishtiyaq Hussian |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.281982/page/n159/mode/2up |title=The Administration of the Sultanate of Delhi |date=1942 |publisher=SH. MUHAMMAD ASHRAF |location=Kashmiri Bazar Lahore |page=143 |quote="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."}}{{Cite web |last1=Jha |first1=Sadan |title=Reverence, Resistance and Politics of Seeing the Indian National Flag |date=8 January 2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-11887-4 |page=36 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-lswCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36 |language=en}}, also "On the right of the Sultan was carried the black standard of the Abbasids and on the left the red standard of Ghor." in {{Cite book |last1=Thapliyal |first1=Uma Prasad |title=The Dhvaja, Standards and Flags of India: A Study |date=1938 |publisher=B.R. Publishing Corporation |isbn=978-81-7018-092-0 |page=94 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AMogAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA94 |language=en}}</ref>
| flag_border = yes
}}

The '''Delhi Sultanate''' or the '''Sultanate of Delhi''' was a [[Medieval India|late medieval]] [[empire]] primarily based in [[Delhi]] that stretched over large parts of the [[Indian subcontinent]] for more than three centuries.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Shally-Jensen |first1=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YQuXEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 |title=A Cultural Encyclopedia of Lost Cities and Civilizations |last2=Vivian |first2=Anthony |date=2022 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-7311-9 |page=171 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="brt">[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/156530/Delhi-sultanate Delhi Sultanate], Encyclopædia Britannica</ref><ref>A. Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, Leiden, 1980</ref> The sultanate was established in 1206 in the former [[Ghurid Empire|Ghurid territories]] in India. The sultanate's history is generally divided into five periods: [[Mamluk dynasty (Delhi)|Mamluk]] (1206–1290), [[Khalji dynasty|Khalji]] (1290–1320), [[Tughlaq dynasty|Tughlaq]] (1320–1414), [[Sayyid dynasty|Sayyid]] (1414–1451), and [[Lodi dynasty|Lodi]] (1451–1526). It covered large swaths of territory in modern-day [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], as well as some parts of southern [[Nepal]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chapman |first=Graham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tzh-CwAAQBAJ |title=Shared Space - Divided Space: Essays on Conflict and Territorial Organization |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-35837-4 |editor-last=Chisholm |editor-first=Michael |pages=106-134 |language=en |chapter=Religious vs. regional determinism: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as inheritors of empire |editor-last2=Smith |editor-first2=David M. |orig-year=1990}}</ref>

The foundation of the Sultanate was established by the Ghurid conqueror [[Muhammad of Ghor|Muhammad Ghori]], who routed the [[Rajput|Rajput Confederacy]], led by Ajmer ruler [[Prithviraj Chauhan]], in [[Second Battle of Tarain|1192 near Tarain]] in a reversal of an [[First Battle of Tarain|earlier battle]].<ref>{{Cite web |first1=Sugata |last1=Bose |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ihNtzxy5GEC&q=Rajput |title=Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy |last2=Jalal |first2=Ayesha |date=2004 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-30786-4 |page=21 |language=en |quote=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...}}</ref> As a successor to the Ghurid dynasty, the Delhi Sultanate was originally one of several principalities ruled by the Turkic slave-generals of Muhammad Ghori, including [[Taj al-Din Yildiz]], [[Qutb ud-Din Aibak]], [[Bahauddin Tughril]] and [[Nasir ad-Din Qabacha]], that had inherited and divided the Ghurid territories amongst themselves.<ref>{{Cite web |last=K. A. Nizami |author-link=K. A. Nizami |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9cmAQAAMAAJ |title=A Comprehensive History of India: The Delhi Sultanat (A.D. 1206–1526) |publisher=The Indian History Congress / People's Publishing House |year=1992 |edition=2nd |volume=5 |page=198}}</ref> Khalji and Tughlaq rule ushered a new wave of rapid and continual [[Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent|Muslim conquests]] deep into [[South India]].<ref name="Mahajan 121">{{Cite web |last=Mahajan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMWSQuf4oSIC&dq=revolution+ceaseless&pg=RA1-PA90 |title=History of Medieval India |publisher=Chand |year=2007 |isbn=9788121903646 |page=121}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Sugata Bose, Ayesha Jalal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bodaohHyDRcC&dq=tughlaq+deccan+south+india&pg=PA28 |title=Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy |date=1998 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=9780415169523 |page=28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=M.S. Ahluwalia |title=History and Culture of Rajasthan (From Earliest Times upto 1956 A.D.) |publisher=Centre for Rajasthan Studies, University of Rajasthan |year=1999 |editor-last=Shyam Singh Ratnawat |page=135 |chapter=Rajput Muslim Relations (1200–1526 A.D.) |oclc=264960720 |quote=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. |editor-last2=Krishna Gopal Sharma}}</ref> The sultanate finally reached the peak of its geographical reach during the Tughlaq dynasty, occupying most of the Indian subcontinent under [[Muhammad bin Tughluq]]. A major political transformation occurred across [[North India]], triggered by the Central Asian king [[Timur]]'s devastating raid on Delhi in 1398, followed soon afterwards by the re-emergence of rival Hindu powers such as [[Vijayanagara Empire]] and [[Kingdom of Mewar]] asserting independence, and new Muslim sultanates such as the [[Bengal Sultanate|Bengal]] and [[Bahmani Sultanate]]s breaking off.<ref>Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, ''A History of India'', 3rd ed., Routledge, 1998, {{ISBN|0-415-15482-0}}, p. 187-190.</ref>{{sfn|Smith|1920|loc=Ch. 2, p. 218}} In 1526, [[Timurid dynasty|Timurid]] ruler [[Babur]] invaded northern India and [[First Battle of Panipat|conquered the Sultanate]], leading to its succession by the [[Mughal Empire]].

The establishment of the Sultanate drew the Indian subcontinent more closely into international and multicultural Islamic social and economic networks,{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2008|p=50-52}} as seen concretely in the development of the [[Hindustani language]]<ref name="brown2008" /> and [[Indo-Islamic architecture]].<ref>A. Welch, "Architectural Patronage and the Past: The Tughluq Sultans of India", Muqarnas 10, 1993, Brill Publishers, p. 311-322.</ref><ref>J. A. Page, [https://archive.org/stream/guidetothequtbde031434mbp#page/n15/mode/2up/search/temple ''Guide to the Qutb''], Delhi, Calcutta, 1927, p. 2-7.</ref> It was also one of the few powers to repel attacks by the [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]] (from the [[Chagatai Khanate]])<ref>Pradeep Barua ''The State at War in South Asia'', {{ISBN|978-0803213449}}, p. 29-30.</ref> and saw the enthronement of one of the few female rulers in [[History of Islam|Islamic history]], [[Razia Sultana]], who reigned from 1236 to 1240.<ref>Bowering et al., ''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought'', {{ISBN|978-0691134840}}, Princeton University Press</ref> During the sultanate's rule, there was no mass forcible conversion of Hindus, Buddhists, and other [[Indian religions|dharmic faiths]], and Hindu officials and vassals were readily accepted.<ref name="Britannica"/> However, there were cases like [[Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji|Bakhtiyar Khalji]]'s annexations, which involved a large-scale desecration of [[Hinduism|Hindu]] and [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] temples and the destruction of universities and libraries.<ref name="gk">Gul and Khan (2008)[http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/182 "Growth and Development of Oriental Libraries in India"], ''Library Philosophy and Practice'', [[University of Nebraska–Lincoln]]</ref><ref name="Britannica">{{Cite web |date=17 November 2023 |title=Delhi sultanate {{!}} History, Significance, Map, & Rulers {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Delhi-sultanate |access-date=31 December 2023 |website=britannica.com |language=en |quote=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.}}</ref><ref name="regbook">Richard Eaton, {{Google books|5PgEmMULQC8C|Temple Desecration and Muslim States in Medieval India}}, (2004)</ref><ref name="re2000">{{Cite journal |last=Richard Eaton |date=September 2000 |title=Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States |journal=Journal of Islamic Studies |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=283–319 |doi=10.1093/jis/11.3.283}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Peter |title=The Delhi Sultanate: a political and military history |date=2000 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-54329-3 |edition=Reprint |series=Cambridge studies in Islamic civilization}}</ref> Mongolian raids on [[West Asia|West]] and [[Central Asia]] set the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, intelligentsia, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from those regions [[Immigration to India#Medieval era|into the subcontinent]], thereby establishing [[Islamic culture]] there.{{sfn|Ludden|2002|p=67}}{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2008|p=50-51}}

== Name ==
Although conventionally named after its principal capital city, Delhi, the terminology applied to the Delhi Sultanate was often not fixed. It was called the "Empire of Delhi" (Persian: Mamalik-i-Delhi) by Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani and Ziauddin Barani, while Ibn Battuta referred to the empire under Muhammad bin Tughlaq as "Hind and Sind". The Delhi Sultanate was also known as the "Empire of Hindustan" (Persian: Mamalik-i-Hindustan), a name that gained currency during this period.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=86}}

== History ==
=== Background ===
{{Main|Mamluk|Turkic migration}}

The rise of the Delhi Sultanate in India was part of a wider trend affecting much of the [[Asia]]n continent, including the whole of southern and western Asia: the influx of [[nomad]]ic [[Turkic peoples]] from the Central Asian [[steppe]]s. This can be traced back to the 9th century when the Islamic [[Caliphate]] began [[Anarchy at Samarra|fragmenting]] in the [[Middle 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 called [[Mamluk]]s. Soon, [[Turkic migration|Turks were migrating]] to [[Muslim world|Muslim lands]] and becoming [[Spread of Islam|Islamicized]]. Many of the Turkic Mamluk slaves eventually rose to become rulers and conquered large parts of the [[Muslim world]], establishing Mamluk Sultanates from [[Mamluk Sultanate|Egypt]] to present-day [[Ghaznavids|Afghanistan]], before turning their attention to the Indian subcontinent.{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2008|p=19, 50-51}}

{{South Asia in 1175|right|{{center|Main South Asian polities in 1175, on the eve of the [[Ghurid 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.{{sfn|Schwartzberg|1978|p=37, 147}}{{sfn|Eaton|2020|p=38}}}}|{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=31|N |long=67.5|E |mark=Chess drt45.svg|marksize=35}}{{location map~ |South Asia |lat=24.5|N |long=75|E |mark=Ghurid invasions in India (map overlay).png|marksize=225}}}}

It is also part of a longer trend predating the [[spread of Islam]]. Like other [[Sedentary lifestyle|settled]], [[Agrarian society|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.<ref>Richard M. Frye, "Pre-Islamic and Early Islamic Cultures in Central Asia", in ''Turko-Persia in Historical Perspective'', ed. Robert L. Canfield (Cambridge University Press, c. 1991), 35-53.</ref>

By 962 AD, Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms in South Asia faced a series of raids from Muslim armies from Central Asia.<ref name="mrpislam">See:
* M. Reza Pirbha, Reconsidering Islam in a South Asian Context, {{ISBN|978-9004177581}}, Brill
* The Islamic frontier in the East: Expansion into South Asia, Journal of South Asian Studies, 4(1), p. 91-109
* Sookoohy M., Bhadreswar – Oldest Islamic Monuments in India, {{ISBN|978-9004083417}}, Brill Academic; see discussion of earliest raids in Gujarat</ref> Among them was [[Mahmud of Ghazni]], the son of a Turkic Mamluk military slave,{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2008|p=19}} 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.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=3-30}} Mahmud of Ghazni raided the treasuries but retreated each time, only extending Islamic rule into western Punjab.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Heathcote |first=T. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YSK8AAAAIAAJ |title=The Military in British India: The Development of British Land Forces in South Asia, 1600–1947 |date=1995 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-3570-8 |pages=5-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Barnett |first=Lionel D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LnoREHdzxt8C&pg=PA73 |title=Antiquities of India: An Account of the History and Culture of Ancient Hindustan |date=1999 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist |isbn=978-81-7156-442-2 |pages=73-79 |language=en}}</ref>

The series of raids on northern and western Indian kingdoms by Muslim warlords continued after Mahmud of Ghazni.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Davis |first=Richard H. |date=January 1994 |title=Three styles in looting India |journal=History and Anthropology |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=293-317 |doi=10.1080/02757206.1994.9960832}}</ref> The raids did not establish or extend the permanent boundaries of the Islamic kingdoms. In contrast, the [[Ghurid dynasty|Ghurid]] Sultan [[Muhammad of Ghor|Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori]] (commonly known as Muhammad of Ghor) began a systematic war of expansion into northern India in 1173.<ref>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)</ref> He sought to carve out a principality for himself and expand the Islamic world.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=3-30}}<ref>C.E. Bosworth, Tidge History of Iran, Vol. 5, ed. J. A. Boyle, John Andrew Boyle, (Cambridge University Press, 1968), p 161-170</ref> Muhammad of Ghor created a [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] 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.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=3-30}} Some historians chronicle the Delhi Sultanate from 1192 due to the presence and geographical claims of Muhammad of Ghor in South Asia by that time.<ref>[http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/timelines/southasia_timeline.htm History of South Asia: A Chronological Outline] Columbia University (2010)</ref>

Muhammad of Ghor was assassinated in 1206 by [[Ismailism]] Shia Muslims.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/396618/Muizz-al-Din-Muhammad-ibn-Sam Muʿizz al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Sām] Encyclopædia Britannica (2011)</ref> After the assassination, one of Ghor's slaves (or [[Mamluk|Mamluks]]), the Turkic [[Qutb ud-Din Aibak]], assumed power, becoming the first Sultan of Delhi.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=3-30}}

=== Dynasties ===
{{Main|List of sultans of Delhi|List of sultans of Delhi#Family trees|l2 = Sultans of Delhi Family trees}}

==== Mamluk dynasty (1206–1290)====
{{Main|Mamluk dynasty (Delhi)}}

[[File:Map of the Mamluk Dynasty.png|thumb|Territory of the Delhi Mamluk Dynasty circa 1250.{{sfn|Schwartzberg|1978|p=147, map XIV.3 (h)}}]]
[[File:Tomb_of_Altamash.jpg|thumb|left|Tomb of [[Iltutmish]] (r. 1211–1236) in the [[Qutb Minar]] complex.]]

[[Qutb ud-Din Aibak]], a former slave of [[Muhammad of Ghor|Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori]], was the first ruler of the Delhi Sultanate. Aibak was of Turkic [[Cumans|Cuman]]-[[Kipchaks|Kipchak]] origin, and due to his lineage, his dynasty is known as the Mamluk dynasty.<ref>Jackson P. (1990), The Mamlūk institution in early Muslim India, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (New Series), 122(02), p. 340-358.</ref> 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 of ''Lakhbaksh'' (provider of lakhs).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nizami |first=K. A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9cmAQAAMAAJ |title=A Comprehensive History of India: The Delhi Sultanate (A.D. 1206–1526) |publisher=[[People's Publishing House]] |year=1992 |pages=205-206 |chapter=FOUNDATION OF THE DELHI SULTANAT |quote=All contemporary and later chroniclers praise the qualities of loyalty, generosity, courage and justice in his character. His generosity won for him the sobriquet of lakhbaksh (giver of lakhs)}}</ref>

After Aibak died, [[Aram Shah]] assumed power in 1210, but he was assassinated in 1211 by Aibak's son-in-law, [[Iltutmish|Shams ud-Din Iltutmish]].<ref>C.E. Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties, Columbia University Press (1996)</ref> 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.<ref>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), p. 780-783</ref>

His rule was challenged several times, such as by Qubacha, and this led to a series of wars.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=29-48}} Iltutmish conquered [[Multan]] and [[Bengal]] from contesting Muslim rulers, as well as [[Ranthambore Fort|Ranthambore]] and [[Sivalik Hills|Sivalik]] from the Hindu rulers. He also attacked, defeated, executed [[Taj al-Din Yildiz]], who asserted his rights as heir to Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori.<ref name="cads">Anzalone, Christopher (2008), "Delhi Sultanate", in Ackermann, M. E. etc. (Editors), Encyclopedia of World History 2, {{ISBN|978-0-8160-6386-4}}</ref> 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 from [[Ruknuddin Firuz|Rukn ud-Din Firuz]] to [[Razia Sultana]] and others, until [[Ghiyas ud din Balban|Ghiyas ud-Din Balban]] came to power and ruled from 1266 to 1287.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=29-48}}<ref name=cads/> Ghiyasuddin Balban destroyed the power of the [[Corps 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-old [[Muiz ud din Qaiqabad|Muiz ud-Din Qaiqabad]], who appointed [[Jalal-ud-Din Khalji|Jalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji]] as the commander of the army. Khalji assassinated Qaiqabad and assumed power in the [[Khalji Revolution]], thus ending the Mamluk dynasty and starting the Khalji dynasty.

Qutb ud-Din Aibak initiated the construction of the [[Qutb Minar]] but died before it was completed. It was later completed by his son-in-law, Iltutmish.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Qutub Minar |url=http://qutbminardelhi.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723044609/http://qutubminardelhi.com/ |archive-date=23 July 2015 |access-date=5 August 2015}}</ref> The [[Qutb Minar complex|Quwwat-ul-Islam]] (Might of Islam) Mosque was built by Aibak, now a UNESCO world heritage site.<ref name="unescoaqm" /> The Qutub Minar Complex was expanded by Iltutmish, and later by Ala ud-Din Khalji in the early 14th century.<ref name="unescoaqm">[https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/233 Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi] UNESCO</ref>{{NoteTag|Welch and Crane note that the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque was built with the remains of demolished Hindu and Jain temples.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Welch |first1=Anthony |last2=Crane |first2=Howard |year=1983 |title=The Tughluqs: Master Builders of the Delhi Sultanate |url=http://archnet.org/system/publications/contents/3053/original/DPC0347.PDF |url-status=dead |journal=Muqarnas |publisher=Brill |volume=1 |pages=123-166 |doi=10.2307/1523075 |jstor=1523075 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813185947/http://archnet.org/system/publications/contents/3053/original/DPC0347.PDF |archive-date=13 August 2016 |access-date=13 August 2016}}</ref>}} During the Mamluk dynasty, many nobles from Afghanistan and Persia migrated and settled in India, as West Asia came under [[Mongol Empire|Mongol]] siege.<ref name="awhc">{{Cite journal |last1=Welch |first1=Anthony |last2=Crane |first2=Howard |year=1983 |title=The Tughluqs: Master Builders of the Delhi Sultanate |url=http://archnet.org/system/publications/contents/3053/original/DPC0347.PDF |url-status=dead |journal=Muqarnas |publisher=Brill |volume=1 |pages=123-166 |doi=10.2307/1523075 |jstor=1523075 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160813185947/http://archnet.org/system/publications/contents/3053/original/DPC0347.PDF |archive-date=13 August 2016 |access-date=13 August 2016}}</ref>

==== Khalji dynasty (1290–1320)====
{{Main|Khalji Revolution|Khalji dynasty|Mongol invasions of India}}

[[File:Map of the Khalji Sultanate.png|thumb|Territory controlled by [[Khalji dynasty]] circa 1320.{{sfn|Schwartzberg|1978|p=147, map XIV.3 (i)}}]]
[[File:Alai Darwaza.JPG|thumb|left|The [[Alai Darwaza]], completed in 1311 during the Khalji dynasty.]]

The [[Khalji dynasty]] was of [[Turco-Afghan|Turko-Afghan]] heritage.<ref name="Khan">{{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Hussain Ahmad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=56gcBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 |title=Artisans, Sufis, Shrines: Colonial Architecture in Nineteenth-Century Punjab |date=2014 |publisher=[[I.B.Tauris]] |isbn=9781784530143 |page=15 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Parmar">{{Cite book |last1=Yunus |first1=Mohammad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=opbtAAAAMAAJ |title=South Asia: a historical narrative |last2=Aradhana |first2=Parmar |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-1957-9711-4 |page=97 |access-date=23 August 2010}}</ref><ref name="Asim">{{Cite book |last=Kumar Mandal |first=Asim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbKGojVTWGcC&pg=PA43 |title=The Sundarbans of India: A Development Analysis |publisher=Indus Publishing |year=2003 |isbn=978-81-738-7143-6 |page=43 |access-date=19 November 2012}}</ref><ref name="Singh">{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ThrcNWLRk6EC&pg=PA141 |title=The Sundarbans of India: A Development Analysis |publisher=APH Publishing |year=1998 |isbn=978-81-702-4992-4 |page=141 |access-date=19 November 2012}}</ref> They were originally Turkic, but due to their long presence in Afghanistan, they were treated by others as [[Afghans|Afghan]] as they [[Pashtunization|adopted]] Afghan habits and customs.<ref name="Chaurasia">{{Cite book |last=Chaurasia |first=Radhey Shyam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XnaL7zPXPUC |title=History of medieval India: from 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D. |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors |year=2002 |isbn=978-81-269-0123-4 |page=28 |quote=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. |access-date=23 August 2010}}</ref><ref name="Cavendish">{{Cite book |last=Cavendish |first=Marshall |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j894miuOqc4C |title=World and Its Peoples: The Middle East, Western Asia, and Northern Africa |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7614-7571-2 |page=320 |quote=The members of the new dynasty, although they were also Turkic, had settled in Afghanistan and brought a new set of customs and culture to Delhi. |access-date=23 August 2010}}</ref>

The first ruler of the Khalji dynasty was [[Jalal-ud-Din Khalji|Jalal 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.{{Sfn|Srivastava|1929|page=141}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=A. B. M. Habibullah |title=A Comprehensive History of India |publisher=The Indian History Congress / People's Publishing House |year=1992 |editor-last=Mohammad Habib |volume=5: The Delhi Sultanate (A.D. 1206–1526) |page=312 |chapter=The Khaljis: Jalaluddin Khalji |oclc=31870180 |editor-last2=Khaliq Ahmad Nizami |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9cmAQAAMAAJ |orig-year=1970}}</ref> 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-law [[Alauddin Khalji|Juna Muhammad Khalji]],<ref name="holt913"/> who later came to be known as Ala ud-Din Khalji.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0S62AAAAIAAJ&q=jalaluddin+khalji+man+of++samana |title=New Indian Antiquary - Volume 2 |date=1939 |publisher=Karnatak Publishing House |page=545 |quote=Alauddin gave the signal and in a twinkling Muhammad Salim of Samana struck}}</ref>

Ala ud-Din began his military career as governor of [[Kara, Uttar Pradesh|Kara]] province, from where he led two raids on the Kingdom of Malwa (1292) and [[Daulatabad Fort|Devagiri]] (1294) for plunder and loot. After he acceded to the throne, expansions towards these kingdoms were renewed including [[Gujarat]] which was conquered by the [[Grand vizier|Grand Vizier]] [[Nusrat Khan Jalesari]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=AL. P. Sharma |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18EKAQAAIAAJ&q=nusrat+khan+defeated+vaghela+king |title=History of medieval India (1000–1740 A.D.) |date=1987 |publisher=TKonark Publishers |isbn=9788122000429}}</ref><ref name="Yasin Mazhar Siddiqi 1972 194">{{Cite journal |last=Yasin Mazhar Siddiqi |author-link=Yasin Mazhar Siddiqi |year=1972 |title=the Kotwals under the Sultans of Delhi |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |publisher=Indian History Congress |page=194 |jstor=44145331 |quote=Nusrat Khan Jalesari who was the Kotwal in the first year of the Alai reign was an Indian Muslim}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nbZgnqfXjnQC&q=nusrat%20khan%20follower%20of%20alauddin&pg=PA51 |title=The Life and Works of Sultan Alauddin Khalji |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist |year=1992 |isbn=9788171563623 |quote=the Sultan appointed his Wazir Nusrat Khan to deal with the Jalali nobles}}</ref> the kingdom of Malwa by [[Ayn al-Mulk Multani|Ainul Mulk Multani]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Fauja Singh |title=History of the Punjab - A.D. 1000–1526 |date=1972 |page=150}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Satish Chandra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L5eFzeyjBTQC&q=Medieval%20India%3A%20From%20Sultanat%20to%20the%20Mughals-Delhi%20Sultanat%20(1206-1526%20...&pg=PA90 |title=Medieval India - From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206–1526) - Part One |date=2004 |publisher=Har-Anand Publications |isbn=9788124110645}}</ref> as well as [[Rajputana]].<ref>[[Alexander Mikaberidze]], Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, {{ISBN|978-1598843361}}, p. 62-63</ref> However, these victories were cut short because of [[Mongol invasions of India|Mongol attacks]] and plunder raids from the northwest. The Mongols withdrew after plundering and stopped raiding the northwest parts of the Delhi Sultanate.<ref>Rene Grousset – Empire of steppes, Chagatai Khanate; Rutgers Univ Press, New Jersey, 1988 {{ISBN|0-8135-1304-9}}</ref>

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 as [[Malik Kafur]] and [[Khusrau Khan|Khusro Khan]]. They collected much war booty (anwatan) from those they defeated.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qHiAAAAMAAJ&q=khusrau+khan+gujarati |title=Gujarat State Gazetteer: Part 1 |date=1989 |page=164}}</ref><ref>Frank Fanselow (1989), Muslim society in Tamil Nadu (India): a historical perspective, Journal Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, 10(1), p. 264-289</ref> 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 the [[Warangal]] loot that included the famous [[Koh-i-Noor]] diamond.<ref>Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, A History of India, 3rd ed., Routledge, 1998, {{ISBN|0-415-15482-0}}</ref>

{{Continental Asia in 1310 CE|right|The Delhi Sultanate and contemporary Asian polities circa 1320. Most of the Asian continent was occupied by the [[Mongol Empire]] by that time, with Turkic polities occupying South and Western Asia, as far as Egypt where they established the [[Mamluk Sultanate]].||Map of the Delhi Sultanate in 1320 (world).png}}

Ala ud-Din Khalji changed tax policies, raising agricultural taxes from 20% to 50% (payable in grain and agricultural produce), eliminating payments and commissions on taxes collected by local chiefs, banning socialisation 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 and scholars.<ref name="holt913" /> 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, and by whom these goods could be sold. Markets called "shahana-i-mandi" were created.<ref name="als156">{{Harvnb|Srivastava|1929|p=156-158}}</ref> 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.<ref>M.A. Farooqi (1991), The economic policy of the Sultans of Delhi, Konark publishers, {{ISBN|978-8122002263}}</ref>{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=244-248}} Taxes collected in the form of grain were stored in the kingdom's storage. During the famines that followed, these granaries ensured sufficient food for the army.<ref name="holt913" />

Historians note Ala ud-Din Khalji as being a [[tyrant]]. 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.{{sfn|Smith|1920|p=231-235}} He is also known for his cruelty against the 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 like [[Kamal 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.<ref name="holt913">Holt et al., The Cambridge History of Islam – The Indian sub-continent, south-east Asia, Africa and the Muslim west, {{ISBN|978-0521291378}}, p. 9-13</ref> However, the new ruler had the killers of Kafur executed.

The last Khalji ruler was Ala ud-Din Khalji's 18-year-old son [[Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah|Qutb ud-Din Mubarak Shah Khalji]], who ruled for four years before he was killed by [[Khusrau Khan]], another slave-general with Hindu origins, who reverted from Islam and favoured his Hindu Baradu military clan in the nobility. Khusrau Khan's reign lasted only a few months, when Ghazi Malik, later to be called [[Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq]], defeated and killed him and assumed power in 1320, thus ending the Khalji dynasty and starting the Tughlaq dynasty.<ref name="awhc"/>{{sfn|Smith|1920|p=231-235}}

==== Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1413) ====
{{Main|Tughlaq dynasty}}

[[File:Map of the Tughlaqs.png|thumb|Territory of the Tughlaq dynasty circa 1330–1335, corresponding to the maximum extent of the Delhi Sultanate.{{sfn|Schwartzberg|1978|p=147, map XIV.3 (j)}}]]

The [[Tughlaq dynasty]] was a [[Turco–Mongol tradition|Turko-Mongol]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=ÇAĞMAN |first1=FİLİZ |last2=TANINDI |first2=ZEREN |date=2011 |title=Selections from Jalayirid Books in the Libraries of Istanbul |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/23350289.pdf |journal=Muqarnas |volume=28 |pages=231 |issn=0732-2992 |jstor=23350289 |quote="[[Muhammad Tughluq]] and his successors were contemporaries of the [[Jalayirid]] sultans; both dynasties were Turco-Mongol"}}</ref> or Turkic<ref name="malik">{{Cite web |last=Jamal Malik |author-link=Jamal Malik |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FduG_t2sxwMC&pg=PA104 |title=Islam in South Asia: A Short History |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-9004168596 |page=104}}</ref> Muslim dynasty, which lasted from 1320 to 1413. The first ruler was [[Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq|Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq]]. Ghiyath al-Din ruled for five years and built a town near Delhi named [[Tughlaqabad Fort|Tughlaqabad]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eight Cities of Delhi: Tughlakabad |url=http://www.delhitourism.gov.in/delhitourism/aboutus/tughlakabad.jsp |website=Delhi Tourism}}</ref> His son Juna Khan and general Ainul Mulk Multani conquered [[Kakatiya dynasty|Warangal]] in south India.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Siddiqui |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95Q3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA105 |title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition: Supplement, Parts 1-2 |date=1980 |publisher=Brill Archive |isbn=9004061673 |page=105}}</ref> According to some historians such as [[Vincent Arthur Smith|Vincent Smith]],{{sfn|Smith|1920|p=236-242}} he was killed by his son [[Muhammad bin Tughluq|Juna Khan]], who then assumed power in 1325.

Juna Khan renamed himself as [[Muhammad bin Tughluq]] and ruled for 26 years.<ref>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</ref> During his rule, the Delhi Sultanate reached its peak in terms of geographical reach, covering most of the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="ebmit">[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/396460/Muhammad-ibn-Tughluq Muḥammad ibn Tughluq] Encyclopædia Britannica</ref>

Muhammad bin Tughluq 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 metals they had in their houses and used them to pay taxes and [[jizya]].<ref name="ebmit"/>{{sfn|Smith|1920|p=236-242}}

[[File:Shah Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq arrives in Tirhut. Depicted by eyewitness Muhammad Sadr Ala-i in his BasaUn al-uns, ca.1410. Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Museum Library, Ms. R.1032 (the Shah).jpg|thumb|left|Depiction of [[Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq]], founder of the Tughlaq dynasty, in the ''Basātin al-uns'' by [[Muhammad Sadr Ala-i|Ikhtisān-i Dabir]], a member of the Tughluq court and an ambassador to Iran. Ca. 1410 [[Jalayirid Sultanate|Jalayirid]] copy of 1326 lost original.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=ÇAĞMAN |first1=FİLİZ |last2=TANINDI |first2=ZEREN |date=2011 |title=Selections from Jalayirid Books in the Libraries of Istanbul |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/23350289.pdf |journal=Muqarnas |volume=28 |pages=230, 258 Fig.56 |issn=0732-2992 |jstor=23350289}}</ref>]]

Muhammad bin Tughlaq chose the city of [[Daulatabad Fort|Deogiri]] in the present-day Indian state of [[Maharashtra]] (renaming it [[Daulatabad Fort|Daulatabad]]), as the second administrative capital of the Delhi Sultanate.<ref>{{harvnb|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."</ref> He ordered a forced migration of the Muslim population of Delhi, including his royal family, the nobles, [[Sayyid]]s, [[Sheikh]]s and [[Ulama]] 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carl W. Ernst |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5xnM2RWvswgC&q=Eternal%20Garden%3A%20Mysticism%2C%20History%2C%20and%20Politics%20at%20a%20South%20Asian%20Sufi%20Center%20second%20administrative%20capital&pg=PA113 |title=Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center |date=1992 |publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=9781438402123}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Ray|2019|p=115}} 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.<ref>{{harvnb|Ray|2019|p=115}}: "The primary result of the transfer of the capital to Daulatabad was the hatred of the people towards the Sultan."</ref> The other result was that he managed to create a stable Muslim elite, resulting in the growth of the Muslim population of Daulatabad, who did not return to Delhi,<ref name="ebmit"/> without which the rise of the Bahmanid kingdom to challenge the Vijayanagara kingdom would not have been possible.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=P.M. Holt |url=https://archive.org/stream/CambridgeHistoryOfIslamVol2B/Cambridge%20History%20of%20Islam%20Vol%202A#page/n31/mode/2up |title=The Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 2A |last2=Ann K.S. Lambton |last3=Bernard Lewis |date=1977 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=15}}</ref> Muhammad bin Tughlaq's adventures in the [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan region]] also marked campaigns of destruction and desecration temples, for example, the Svayambhu Shiva Temple and the [[Thousand Pillar Temple]] in [[Warangal]].<ref name="regbook"/>

Revolts against Muhammad bin Tughlaq began in 1327, continued over his reign, and over time the geographical reach of the Sultanate shrank. The [[Vijayanagara Empire]] originated in southern India as a direct response to attacks from the Delhi Sultanate,<ref>Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, ''A History of India'', (Routledge, 1986), 188.</ref> and liberated south India from the Delhi Sultanate's rule.<ref>Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India by Jl Mehta p. 97</ref> In the 1330s, Muhammad bin Tughlaq ordered an invasion of China, sending part of his forces over the [[Himalayas]]. However, they were defeated by the [[Kangra State]].<ref>Chandra, Satish (1997). Medieval India: From Sultanate to the Mughals. New Delhi, India: Har-Anand Publications. p. 101-102. {{ISBN|978-8124105221}}.</ref> During his reign, state revenues collapsed due to 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Elphinstone |first=Mountstuart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYpvCwAAQBAJ&q=1338+malwa+revolt+flayed+alive |title=History Of India |date=2014 |publisher=Pickle Partners Publishing |isbn=978-1-78289-478-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XJxeAAAAcAAJ&q=1338+malwa+revolt |title=A Compendium of the History of India: With a Synopsis of the Principal Events |date=1870 |publisher=Gantz Bros. |page=37 |language=en}}</ref> By 1339, the eastern regions under local Muslim governors and southern parts led by [[Hindu king]]s 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.{{sfn|Smith|1920|p=242-248}} 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.<ref>Cornelius Walford (1878), {{Google books|WA8qAAAAYAAJ|The Famines of the World: Past and Present|page=3}}, p. 9-10</ref><ref>Judith Walsh, A Brief History of India, {{ISBN|978-0816083626}}, p. 70-72; Quote: "In 1335–1342, during a severe famine and death in the Delhi region, the Sultanate offered no help to the starving residents."</ref> In 1335, Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, a Sayyid native of [[Kaithal]] in North India, revolted and founded the [[Madurai Sultanate]] in South India.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Raj Kumar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JB-B7Hk_35AC&dq=kaithal+sayyids&pg=PA82 |title=Essays on Medieval India |date=2003 |publisher=Discovery Publishing House |isbn=9788171416837 |page=82}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Kate Fleet |last2=Gudrun Krämer |last3=Denis Matringe |last4=John Nawas |last5=Devin J. Stewart |date=January 2018 |title=Jalal al-Din Ahsan |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/jalal-al-din-ahsan-COM_32708}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=M. S. Nagaraja Rao |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5ItAAAAMAAJ&q=Writing+about+a+century+later+,+Ya%E1%B8%A5ya+Sarhindi+also+calls+him+a+Sayyid+form+Kaithal |title=Kusumāñjali: New Interpretation of Indian Art & Culture: Sh. C. Sivaramamurti Commemoration Volume · Volume 2 |date=1987}}</ref> By 1347, the Bahmani Sultanate had become independent through the [[rebellion of Ismail Mukh]]. It became a competing Muslim kingdom in the Deccan region of South Asia, founded by [[Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah]].<ref name="mrpislam"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Suvorova |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rRxkAAAAMAAJ&q=hasan+gangu+hindu+convert |title=Masnavi |date=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-579148-8 |page=3}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Husaini (Saiyid.) |first=Abdul Qadir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJgrnbdaefEC&q=%22Hindu+tribes+of+the+punjab%22 |title=Bahman Shāh, the Founder of the Bahmani Kingdom |date=1960 |publisher=Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay |pages=59-60 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Jayanta Gaḍakarī |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NRluAAAAMAAJ&q=hasan+gangu+brahmin+convert |title=Hindu Muslim Communalism, a Panchnama |date=2000 |page=140}}</ref>

{{multiple image
| direction = horizontal
| align = right
| total_width = 340
| footer = The Tughlaq dynasty is remembered for its architectural patronage, such as the construction of [[Firoz Shah Kotla]]. It reused old Buddhist pillars erected by [[Ashoka]] in the 3rd century BCE, such as the [[Delhi-Topra pillar]]. The Sultanate initially wanted to use the pillars as [[minaret]]s. Firuz Shah Tughlaq decided otherwise and had them installed near mosques.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=McKibben |first=William Jeffrey |date=1994 |title=The Monumental Pillars of Fīrūz Shāh Tughluq |journal=Ars Orientalis |volume=24 |pages=105-118 |jstor=4629462}}</ref> The meaning of the [[Brahmi script]] on the pillars (the [[Edicts of Ashoka]]) was unknown in Firuz Shah's time.<ref>HM Elliot & John Dawson (1871), [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924073036737#page/n367/mode/2up Tarikh I Firozi Shahi – Records of Court Historian Sams-i-Siraj] The History of India as told by its historians, Volume 3, Cornell University Archives, p. 352-353</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Prinsep, J. |year=1837 |title=Interpretation of the most ancient of inscriptions on the pillar called lat of Feroz Shah, near Delhi, and of the Allahabad, Radhia and Mattiah pillar, or lat inscriptions which agree therewith |url=https://archive.org/stream/journalofasiatic62asia#page/600/mode/2up |journal=Journal of the Asiatic Society |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=600-609}}</ref>
| image1 = Feroz Shah Kotla view.jpg
| image2 = Ashoka Pillar at Feroze Shah Kotla, Delhi 05.JPG
}}

Muhammad bin Tughlaq died in 1351 while trying to chase and punish people in Gujarat who were rebelling against the Delhi Sultanate.{{sfn|Smith|1920|p=242-248}} He was succeeded by [[Firuz 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 Indian [[Telugu people|Telugu]] Muslim.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mehta |title=Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India - Volume 2 |date=1979 |page=225 |quote=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.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Iqtidar Alam Khan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGSKTttoa3IC&dq=firuz+shah+khan+jahan+maqbul&pg=PA141 |title=Historical Dictionary of Medieval India |date=2008 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810864016 |page=141}}</ref> His reign attempted to stabilise the food supply and reduce famines by commissioning an irrigation canal from the [[Yamuna]]| river. An educated sultan, Firuz Shah, left a memoir.<ref>Firoz Shah Tughlak, [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924073036737#page/n389/mode/2up Futuhat-i Firoz Shahi – Memoirs of Firoz Shah Tughlak], Translated in 1871 by Elliot and Dawson, Volume 3 – The History of India, Cornell University Archives</ref> 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.{{sfn|Smith|1920|p=249-251}} He also wrote that he did not tolerate attempts by Rafawiz [[Shia Islam|Shia]] Muslim and [[Mahdi]] sects from proselytizing people into their faith, nor did he tolerate Hindus who tried to rebuild temples that his armies had destroyed.<ref name="fst377381">Firoz Shah Tughlak, [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924073036737#page/n393/mode/2up Futuhat-i Firoz Shahi – Autobiographical memoirs], Translated in 1871 by Elliot and Dawson, Volume 3 – The History of India, Cornell University Archives, p. 377-381.</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dasgupta |first=Ajit K. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YaaJAgAAQBAJ |title=A History of Indian Economic Thought |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-92551-3 |page=45 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="firoz374383">[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924073036737#page/n389/mode/2up 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 Hindu [[Brahmin]]s from the jizya.</ref><ref>[[Annemarie Schimmel]], Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, {{ISBN|978-9004061170}}, Brill Academic, p. 20-23</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kumar |first=Praveen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLw6DwAAQBAJ&dq=firuz+shah+hindustani+slaves&pg=PA219 |title=Complete Indian History for IAS Exam Highly Recommended for IAS, PCS and other Competitive Exam |page=219}}</ref> These slaves were known as the Ghulaman-i-Firuz Shahi formed an elite guard which later became influential in the state.<ref>{{Cite web |last=André Wink |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPXvDwAAQBAJ&dq=firuz+shah+slaves+captured+converted+hindus&pg=PA92 |title=The Making of the Indo-Islamic World: C. 700–1800 CE |date=2020 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108417747}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gurcharn Singh Sandhu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xi3cAAAAMAAJ&q=firuz+shahi+slaves+influence |title=A Military History of Medieval India |date=2003 |publisher=Vision Books |isbn=9788170945253 |page=247}}</ref> 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,{{sfn|Smith|1920|p=249-251}} the latter of which resulting in conversion of significant parts of the population to Islam.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Debajyoti Burman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M6hOAAAAMAAJ&q=Firuz+converting |title=Indo-Muslim Relations: A Study in Historical Background |publisher=Jugabani Sahitya Chakra |year=1947 |page=36}}</ref>

[[File:Forced token currency coin of Muhammad bin Tughlak.jpg|thumb|left|A base metal coin of Muhammad bin Tughlaq that led to an economic collapse.]]

The death of Firuz Shah Tughlaq created anarchy and the disintegration of the kingdom. Firuz Shah's successor, his great-grandson, [[Tughluq Khan|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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dr. Aijaz Ahmad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yIU3EAAAQBAJ&dq=tughluq+ii+inexperienced&pg=PA111 |title=History of Mewat |date=2021 |publisher=Alina Books |isbn=9788193391426 |page=112}}</ref> However, the old Ghulaman-i-Firuz Shahi turned against Abu Bakr, who fled, and on their invitation [[Nasir ud din Muhammad Shah III|Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad Shah]] was installed on the throne.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8DYbAQAAMAAJ&q=The+old+Firoz+Shahi+slaves+,+however+,+turned+against+Abu+Bakr+,+who+fled+,+and+on+their+invitation+Sultan+Muhammad+%E2%80%9C+entered+the+city+and+took |title=Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India Issues 52-54 |date=1937 |publisher=Archaeological Survey of India |page=19 |quote=The old Firoz Shahi slaves, however, turned against Abu Bakr, who fled, and on their invitation Sultan Muhammad entered the city and took}}</ref> The anamalous institution of the Ghulaman-i-Firuz Shahi became a corrupting influence on the successive Sultans following Firuz Shah.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Āg̲h̲ā Mahdī Ḥusain |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGA9AAAAMAAJ&q=firoz+shahi+slaves+institution |title=Tughluq Dynasty |date=1963 |publisher=Thacker, Spink |page=444}}</ref> The last rulers of this dynasty both called themselves Sultan from 1394 to 1397: [[Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq]], the grandson of Firuz Shah Tughlaq who ruled from Delhi, and [[Nasir-ud-din Nusrat Shah Tughluq]], brother of Tughluq Khan and another great-grandson of Firuz who ruled from [[Firozabad]], which was a few miles from Delhi.{{sfn|Smith|1920|p=248-254}} The battle between the two relatives continued until [[Timur#Campaign against the Tughlaq dynasty|Timur's invasion]] in 1398. [[Timur]], also known as Tamerlane in Western scholarly literature, was the Turkicized Mongol ruler of the [[Timurid 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.{{sfn|Jackson|1999|p=312-317}}<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |year=2000 |title=Tīmūr Lang |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |editor-last=P. J. Bearman |edition=2 |volume=10 |author=Beatrice F. Manz |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C. E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W. P. Heinrichs}}</ref> Estimates for the massacre by Timur in Delhi range from 100 000 to 200 000 people.<ref>Lionel Trotter (1906), History of India: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Gorham Publishers London/New York, p. 74</ref><ref>Annemarie Schimmel (1997), Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, Brill Academic, {{ISBN|978-9004061170}}, p. 36-37; Also see: Elliot, Studies in Indian History, 2nd ed., p. 98-101</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jayapalan |first=N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6L6avTlqJNYC&q=timur+massacre+delhi |title=History of India |date=2001 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri |isbn=978-81-7156-928-1 |pages=50-51 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Gipson |first=Therlee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wJWdDwAAQBAJ&q=timur+massacre+delhi |title=India's Struggle |date=2019 |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=978-0-359-59732-1 |page=15 |language=en}}</ref> 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.{{sfn|Smith|1920|p=248-254}} 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.<ref name="aschi">Annemarie Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, {{ISBN|978-9004061170}}, Brill Academic, Chapter 2</ref>

==== Sayyid dynasty (1414–1450) ====
{{Main|Sayyid dynasty}}

[[File:Map of the Sayyid Dynasty.png|thumb|Territories of the Sayyid Dynasty.{{sfn|Schwartzberg|1978|p=39, 148}}]]
[[File:Lodhi_Garden,_New_Delhi._taken_by_Anita_Mishra.JPG|thumb|left|The tomb of [[Muhammad Shah (Sayyid dynasty)|Muhammad Shah]] at [[Lodi Gardens]], New Delhi.]]

The [[Sayyid dynasty]] was founded by [[Khizr Khan]] and it ruled the Delhi Sultanate from 1415 to 1451.<ref name="mrpislam"/> 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 daughter [[Fatima]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05dEAQAAMAAJ&q=The+claim+of+Khizr+Kh%C4%81n+,+who+founded+the+dynasty+known+as+the+Sayyids+,+to+descent+from+the+prophet+of+Arabia+was+dubious |title=The Cambridge History of India: Turks and Afghans, edited by W. Haig |date=1958 |publisher=S. Chand |language=en |quote=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.}}</ref> [[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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Eraly |first=Abraham |title=The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate |date=2015 |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=978-93-5118-658-8 |pages=261 |language=en |quote=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.}}</ref> A.L. Srivastava shares a similar viewpoint.{{Sfn|Srivastava|1929|p=229|loc="their claim of Descendants of Prophet Mohammad is dubious but it seems certain that Khizr Khan's ancestors came from Arabia"}} According to [[Richard M. Eaton]] and [[Simon Digby (oriental scholar)|Simon Digby]], Khizr Khan was a [[Punjabis|Punjabi]] chieftain from [[Khokhar]] clan.<ref>{{Citation |last=[[Simon Digby (oriental scholar)|Digby, Simon]] |title=After Timur Left: North India in the Fifteenth Century |date=13 October 2014 |pages=47-59 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450664.003.0002 |access-date=25 January 2023 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450664.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-945066-4 |quote=And we find that a Khokhar chieftain, Khizr Khan who was sent to Timur as an ambassador and negotiator from the most adjacent area, the Punjab, ultimately became the power holder in Delhi, thanks to the contacts he had {{sic|aq|uired}}.|url-access=subscription}}</ref>{{sfn|Eaton|2020|loc="The career of Khizr Khan, a Punjabi chieftain belonging to the Khokar clan, illustrates the transition to an increasingly polycentric north India."}} 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 the [[Timurid 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.<ref name="aschi"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=V. D. Mahajan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMWSQuf4oSIC |title=History of Medieval India |date=2007 |publisher=S. Chand |isbn=9788121903646 |page=239}}</ref>

With the power of the Sayyid dynasty faltering, Islam's history on the Indian subcontinent underwent a profound change, according to Schimmel.<ref name="aschi"/> The previously dominant Sunni sect of Islam became diluted, alternate Muslim sects such as the Shia rose, and new competing centres of Islamic culture took root 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 to [[Palam]]", i.e. merely {{Convert|13|km|mi|abbr=}}. Historian Richard M. Eaton noted that this saying showcased how the "once-mighty empire had become a joke".{{sfn|Eaton|2020|p=108}} The Sayyid dynasty was displaced by the Lodi dynasty in 1451, however, resulting in a resurgence of the Delhi Sultanate.{{sfn|Eaton|2020|p=108}}

==== Lodi dynasty (1451–1526) ====
{{Main|Lodi dynasty}}

[[File:Map of the Lodis.png|thumb|Territory of the Lodi Sultanate (1451–1526).{{sfn|Schwartzberg|1978|p=147, map XIV.4 (d)}}]]
[[File:Ibrahim Lodi at the Battle of Panipat (1526).jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Ibrahim Lodi]], last Sultan of the [[Lodi dynasty]], at the [[First Battle of Panipat|Battle of Panipat]] (1526) against [[Babur]], ''[[Baburnama]]'' c. 1590]]

The Lodi dynasty was an Afghan, or Turco-Afghan dynasty,{{efn|Herbert Hartel calls the Lodi sultans Turco-Afghan: ''"The Turco-Afghan sultans of the Lodi Dynasty..."''.{{sfn|Hartel|1997|p=261}}}} related to the [[Pashtuns|Pashtun]] ([[Afghans|Afghan]]) [[Lodi (Pashtun tribe)|Lodi tribe]].<ref>Judith Walsh, A Brief History of India, {{ISBN|978-0816083626}}, p. 81; Quote: "The last dynasty was founded by a Sayyid provincial governor, [[Bahlul Khan Lodi]] (r. 1451–1489). The Lodis were descended from Afghans, and under their rule, Afghans eclipsed Turks in court patronage."</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Ramananda Chatterjee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FgPSAAAAMAAJ |title=The Modern Review |publisher=[[Indiana University]] |year=1961 |volume=109 |page=84}}</ref> The founder of the dynasty, [[Bahlul Khan Lodi]], was a [[Khalji dynasty|Khalji]] of the Lodi clan.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Jonathan |title=Afghanistan: A History from 1260 to the Present |publisher=Reaktion Books |year=2019 |isbn=9781789140101 |pages=56 |language=English |quote="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)."}}</ref> He started his reign by attacking the Muslim [[Jaunpur Sultanate]] to expand the influence of the Delhi Sultanate and was partially successful through a treaty. Thereafter, the region from Delhi to [[Varanasi]] (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 himself [[Sikandar Khan Lodi|Sikandar Lodi]] and ruled from 1489 to 1517.<ref>Digby, S. (1975), The Tomb of Buhlūl Lōdī, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 38(03), p. 550-561</ref> 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 on [[Bihar]]. 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 around [[Mathura]]. He also moved his capital and court from Delhi to [[Agra]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=31 March 2017 |title=Delhi Sultanate under Lodhi Dynasty: A Complete Overview |url=https://www.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/delhi-sultanate-under-lodhi-dynasty-a-complete-overview-1490962660-1 |access-date=1 August 2020 |website=Jagranjosh.com}}</ref>. 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.{{sfn|Smith|1920|pp=253–257}}<ref>Andrew Petersen, Dictionary of Islamic Architecture, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415060844}}, p. 7</ref>

Sikandar Lodi died a natural death in 1517, and his second son [[Ibrahim Khan Lodi|Ibrahim Lodi]] assumed power. Ibrahim did not enjoy the support of Afghan and Persian nobles or regional chiefs.<ref>Richards, John (1965), The Economic History of the Lodi Period: 1451–1526, Journal de l'histoire économique et sociale de l'Orient, Vol. 8, No. 1, p. 47-67</ref> Ibrahim attacked and killed his elder brother Jalal Khan, who was installed as the governor of [[Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh|Jaunpur]] by his father and had the support of the amirs and chiefs.{{sfn|Smith|1920|p=253-257}} 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 Mughal [[Babur]] and invited him to attack the Delhi Sultanate.<ref name="eblodi">[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/345985/Lodi-dynasty#ref222519 Lodi Dynasty] ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2009)</ref> Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi in the [[First Battle of Panipat|Battle of Panipat]] in 1526. The death of Ibrahim Lodi ended the Delhi Sultanate, and the [[Mughal Empire]] replaced it.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chandra |first=Satish |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0Rm9MC4DDrcC |title=Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part – II |date=2005 |publisher=Har-Anand Publications |isbn=978-81-241-1066-9 |pages=30-31 |language=en}}</ref>

== Government and politics ==
The historian [[Peter Jackson (historian)|Peter Jackson]] explains in ''[[The New Cambridge History of Islam]]'': "The elite of the early Delhi sultanate comprised overwhelmingly first-generation immigrants from [[Iran]] and [[Central Asia]]: [[Persians]], [[Turkic peoples|Turks]], [[Ghurid dynasty|Ghūrīs]], [[Khalaj people|Khalaj]] from the hot regions (''garmsīr'') of modern [[Afghanistan]]".<ref>{{New Cambridge History of Islam |volume=3 |last=Jackson |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Jackson (historian) |chapter=Muslim India: the Delhi sultanate |page=101}}</ref>

=== Political system ===
{{Main|Delhi Sultanate}}

Medieval scholars such as [[Abdul Malik Isami]] and [[Ziauddin Barani]] suggested that the prehistory of the Delhi Sultanate lay in the [[Ghaznavids|Ghaznavid]] state and that its ruler, Mahmud Ghaznavi, provided the foundation and inspiration integral to 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 memorialised 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=John F. Richards |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h0_xhdCScQkC&dq=expanding+frontiers+in+south+asian+the+great+others&pg=PA56 |title=Expanding Frontiers in South Asian and World History |date=2013 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107034280 |page=55}}</ref> 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 and [[Hindu monarchies]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=John F. Richards |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2RpuAAAAMAAJ&q=task+was+to+mobilize+human+and+material+resources+for+the+ongoing+armed+struggle+against+both+Mongol+and+Hindu+infidels |title=Power, Administration, and Finance in Mughal India |date=1993 |publisher=Variorum |isbn=9780860783664}}</ref> 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, and [[Firuz Shah Tughlaq|Firuz 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.{{sfn|Jackson|1999|p=278}} Firuz Shah, who believed that India was changed into a Muslim nation,<ref>{{Cite book |last=V. D. Mahajan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMWSQuf4oSIC&dq=firuz+shah+country+of+musalmans&pg=PA446 |title=History of Medieval India |date=2007 |publisher=S. Chand |isbn=9788121903646 |page=446}}</ref> declared that "no zimmi living in a Musalman country might dare to act".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JPptAAAAMAAJ&q=dare |title=Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society: Volume 45 |date=1997 |publisher=Pakistan Historical Society |page=222}}</ref>

The Hindu kingdoms who submitted to Islamic rule qualified as [[dhimmi|"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.{{sfn|Jackson|1999|p=283-287}} The Delhi Sultanate also continued the governmental conventions of the previous Hindu polities, claiming [[Suzerainty|paramountcy]] 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.<ref name="brt"/>

=== Economic policy and administration ===
{{Main|Market reforms of Alauddin Khalji}}

[[File:Islamic Sultanates. Bengal. Ghiyath al-Din 'Iwad. Governor, AH 614-616 AD 1217-1220. Struck in the name of Shams al-Din Iltutmish, Sultan of Dehli.jpg|thumb|Coin of [[Iwaz Khalji|Ghiyath al-Din 'Iwad]], Governor of [[Bengal]], AH 614–616 AD 1217–1220. Struck in the name of [[Iltutmish|Shams al-Din Iltutmish]], Sultan of Dehli.]]

The economic policy of the Delhi Sultanate was characterised 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{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=379-380}} on all kinds of goods, "from [[cap]]s to [[sock]]s; from [[comb]]s to [[pin]]s; from [[vegetable]]s to [[soup]]s, from [[Confectionery|sweetmeats]] to [[chapati]]s" (according to [[Ziauddin Barani]] [c. 1357]{{sfn|Satish Chandra|2007|p=105}}). The price controls were inflexible even during droughts.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=379}} Capitalist investors were completely banned from participating in the horse trade,{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=385}} animal and slave brokers were forbidden from collecting commissions,{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=384}} and private merchants were eliminated from all animal and slave markets.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=384}} Bans were instituted against [[hoarding]]{{sfn|Satish Chandra|2007|p=102}} and [[Engrossing (law)|regrating]],{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=380}} granaries were nationalised{{sfn|Satish Chandra|2007|p=102}} and limits were placed on the amount of grain that could be used by cultivators for personal use.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=389}}

Various licensing rules were imposed. Registration of merchants was required,{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=383}} and expensive goods such as certain fabrics were deemed "unnecessary" for the general public and required a [[license|permit]] from the state to be purchased. These licenses were issued to ''[[emir|amirs]]'', ''[[Malik#Usage in South Asia|maliks]]'', and other important persons in government.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=384}} Agricultural taxes were raised to 50%.

Traders regarded the regulations as burdensome, and violations were severely punished, leading to further resentment among the traders.{{sfn|Satish Chandra|2007|p=105}} 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.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=386}}

=== Social policies ===
[[File:Shah Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq arrives in Tirhut. Depicted by eyewitness Muhammad Sadr Ala-i in his BasaUn al-uns, ca.1410. Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Museum Library, Ms. R.1032 (troops led by the Shah).jpg|thumb|[[Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq]] leading his troops in the capture of the city of [[Mithila (region)|Tirhut]] in 1324, from ''Basātin al-uns'' by [[Muhammad Sadr Ala-i|Ikhtisān-i Dabir]], a member of the Tughluq court. Ca. 1410 [[Jalayirid Sultanate|Jalayirid]] copy of 1326 lost original. Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Museum Library, Ms R. 1032.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=ÇAĞMAN |first1=FİLİZ |last2=TANINDI |first2=ZEREN |date=2011 |title=Selections from Jalayirid Books in the Libraries of Istanbul |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/23350289.pdf |journal=Muqarnas |volume=28 |pages=230, 258 Fig.56 |issn=0732-2992 |jstor=23350289}}</ref>]]

The sultanate enforced Islamic religious prohibitions on anthropomorphic representations in art.{{CN|date=March 2026}}

=== Military ===
The army of the Delhi sultans initially consisted of nomadic [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] [[Mamluk]] military slaves belonging to [[Muhammad of Ghor]].

The nucleus of this South Asian sultanate military was the Turco-Afghani regular units named ''Wajih'', which were composed of elite household cavalry archers who came from slave backgrounds.<ref name="Boot, Hooves and Wheels">{{Cite book |last=Saikat K. Bose |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywfsCgAAQBAJ |title=Boot, Hooves and Wheels |date=2015 |publisher=Vij Books India Private Limited |isbn=9789384464547 |language=en |chapter=And the Social Dynamics Behind South Asian Warfare |quote=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. |access-date=21 July 2023}}</ref> A major military contribution of the Delhi Sultanate was their successful campaigns repelling the [[Mongol Empire]]'s [[Mongol invasions of India|invasions of India]], which could have been devastating for the Indian subcontinent, like the [[Mongol invasions and conquests|Mongol invasions]] of [[Mongol conquest of China|China]], [[Mongol invasion of Persia and Mesopotamia|Persia]] and [[Mongol invasion of Europe|Europe]]. Were it not for the Delhi Sultanate, the Mongol Empire may have been successful in invading India.{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2008|p=19, 50-51}}

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 2500-3000 [[war elephant]] as a standing army.<ref name="History of Kanauj To the Moslem Conquest">{{Cite book |last=Ram Shankar Tripathi |author-link=Ram Shankar Tripathi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U8GPENMw_psC |title=History of Kanauj To the Moslem Conquest |date=1989 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=9788120804784 |page=327 |language=en |access-date=14 April 2024}}</ref><ref name="Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour">{{Cite book |last=((Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton)) |author-link=Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=52FDeFdxbV0C |title=Indian and Oriental Arms and Armour |date=2002 |publisher=Dover Publications |isbn=9780486422299 |language=en |access-date=14 April 2024}}</ref><ref name="War-horse and Elephant in the Dehli Sultanate; Simon Digby">{{Cite book |last=Simon Digby |author-link=Simon Digby (oriental scholar) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zo3fAAAAMAAJ |title=War-horse and Elephant in the Dehli Sultanate |date=1971 |publisher=Orient Monographs |isbn=9780903871006 |page=24 |language=en |access-date=14 April 2024}}</ref><ref name="Islamic Arms and Armour of Muslim India">{{Cite book |last=Syed Zafar Haider |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHvfAAAAMAAJ |title=Islamic Arms and Armour of Muslim India |date=1991 |publisher=Bahadur Publishers |isbn=9789698123000 |page=265 |language=en |access-date=14 April 2024}}</ref><ref name="A Description of Indian and Oriental Armour Illustrated from the Collection Formerly in the India Office, Now Exhibited at South Kensington, and the Author's Private Collection, with a Map, Twenty-three Full-page Plates (two Coloured), and Numerous Woodcuts, with an Introductory Sketch of the Military History of India">{{Cite book |last=((Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton)) |author-link=Wilbraham Egerton, 1st Earl Egerton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WXcDAAAAYAAJ |title=A Description of Indian and Oriental Armour Illustrated from the Collection Formerly in the India Office, Now Exhibited at South Kensington, and the Author's Private Collection, with a Map, Twenty-three Full-page Plates (two Coloured), and Numerous Woodcuts, with an Introductory Sketch of the Military History of India |date=1896 |publisher=W. H. Allen & Company, limited |page=16 |language=en |access-date=14 April 2024}}</ref><ref name="Warfare in Pre-British India – 1500BCE to 1740CE">{{Cite book |last=Kaushik Roy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xx7ICQAAQBAJ |title=Warfare in Pre-British India – 1500BCE to 1740CE |date=2015 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781317586920 |page=219 |language=en |access-date=14 April 2024}}</ref> Its successor state, the [[Tughlaq dynasty]] further expanded into 500 000 horse cavalry in their force.<ref name="War-horse and Elephant in the Dehli Sultanate; Simon Digby" />

== Economy ==
{{Main|Economic history of India}}

{{Continental Asia in 1500 CE|left|The Delhi Sultanate and main other polities circa 1500|{{location map~ |Continental Asia |lat=27|N |long=75|E |mark=Orange dot (semi-transparent).png|marksize=30}}}}
[[File:Sirat i-Firuz Shahi 14th century illustration of the transportation of the Topra pillar to Delhi.jpg|thumb|upright|Transportation of the [[Delhi-Topra pillar]] to Delhi. ''Sirat i-[[Firuz Shah Tughlaq|Firuz Shahi]]'', 14th century illustration.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://indianculture.gov.in/ebooks/memoirs-archaeological-survey-india-no-52-memoir-kotla-firoz-delhi |title=Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India No. 52 a Memoir on Kotla Firoz, Delhi |page=58 |language=en}}</ref>]]

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 the [[Mongol 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".{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2008|p=50-52}}

According to [[Angus Maddison]], between the years 1000 and 1500, India's [[Gross domestic product|GDP]], 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% <ref name="maddison379">{{Cite book |last=Madison |first=Angus |title=Contours of the world economy, 1–2030 AD: essays in macro-economic history |date=2007 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-922720-4 |page=379}}</ref> According to [[Angus Maddison|Maddison's]] estimates, India's population grew from 85 million in 1200 to 101 million in 1500 AD in the period.<ref name="ggdc.net">{{Cite web |last=Maddison |date=27 July 2016 |title=Growth of World Population, GDP and GDP Per Capita before 1820 |url=http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/other_books/appendix_B.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212183845/http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/other_books/appendix_B.pdf |archive-date=12 February 2021 |access-date=9 May 2023}}</ref>

The Delhi Sultanate period coincided with more use of mechanical technology in the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="Pacey">{{Cite book |last=Pacey |first=Arnold |title=Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History |publisher=The MIT Press |year=1991 |edition=First MIT Press |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=26-29 |orig-year=1990}}</ref> India previously already had highly sophisticated agriculture, food crops, textiles, medicine, minerals, and metals.<ref name="Pacey" /> [[Water wheel]]s also previously existed in India, as described by various Chinese monks and Arab travellers and writers in their books.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Al- |first=Biruni |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/162833441 |title=Alberuni's India: an Account of the religion, philosophy, literature, geography, chronology, astronomy, customs, laws and astrology of India about A.D. 1030. An English Edition, with Notes and Indices by Edward C. Sachau. |date=1888 |publisher=Trübner & Co |oclc=162833441}}</ref><ref name="siddiqui">{{Cite journal |last=Siddiqui |first=Iqtidar Hussain |year=1986 |title=Water Works and Irrigation System in India during Pre-Mughal Times |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=63-64 |doi=10.2307/3632072 |jstor=3632072}}</ref>{{NoteTag|Pali literature dating to the 4th century BC mentions the ''cakkavattaka'', which commentaries explain as ''arahatta-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.{{sfn|Pacey|1991|p=10}} Greco-Roman tradition, on the other hand, asserts that the device was introduced to India from the Roman Empire.<ref name="Wikander">{{Citation |last=Oleson |first=John Peter |title=Handbook of Ancient Water Technology |volume=2 |pages=217-302 |year=2000 |editor-last=Wikander |editor-first=Örjan |series=Technology and Change in History |chapter=Water-Lifting |place=Leiden, South Holland |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-11123-3 |editor-link=Örjan Wikander}}</ref> Furthermore, South Indian mathematician [[Bhaskara II]] describes water-wheels {{circa|1150}} in his incorrect proposal for a perpetual motion machine.{{sfn|Pacey|1991|p=36}} Srivastava argues that the Sakia, or ''araghatta'' was in fact invented in India by the 4th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Srivastava |first1=Vinod Chanda |title=History of Agriculture in India, Up to C. 1200 A.D. |last2=Gopal |first2=Lallanji |publisher=Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture |year=2008 |isbn=978-81-8069-521-6 |location=New Delhi}}</ref>}} During the Delhi Sultanate, various mechanical devices were introduced from the Islamic world to India, such as [[gear]]ed water-raising wheels and other [[machine]]s with gears, [[pulley]]s, [[cam (mechanism)|cams]], and [[Crank (mechanism)|cranks]].<ref name="Pacey" /> Later, Mughal emperor Babur provided a description on the use of water wheels in the Delhi Sultanate.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bbuwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA444 |title=Roots and Routes of Development in China and India: Highlights of Fifty Years of ''The Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient'' (1957–2007) |publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV |year=2008 |isbn=978-90-04-17060-5 |editor-last=Jos Gommans |editor-link=Jos Gommans |location=Leiden, South Holland |page=444 |editor-last2=Harriet Zurndorfer}}</ref>

According to historians Arnold Pacey and [[Irfan Habib]], the [[spinning wheel]] was introduced to India from Iran during the Delhi Sultanate.{{sfn|Pacey|1991|p=23-24}} Smith and Cothren suggested that it was invented in India during the latter half of the first millennium,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Smith |first1=C. Wayne |url=http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471180459.html |title=Cotton: Origin, History, Technology, and Production |last2=Cothren |first2=J. Tom |date=1999 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-0471180456 |volume=4 |page=viii |quote=The first improvement in spinning technology was the spinning wheel, which was invented in India between 500 and 1000 A.D. |archive-date=1 April 2017 |access-date=15 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170401042540/http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471180459.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> but Pacey and Habib said these early references to cotton spinning do not identify a wheel, but more likely refer to [[hand spinning]].{{sfn|Pacey|1991|p=23-24}} The earliest unambiguous reference to a spinning wheel in India is dated to 1350.{{sfn|Pacey|1991|p=23-24}} The worm gear roller [[cotton 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Habib |first=Irfan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K8kO4J3mXUAC&pg=PA53 |title=Economic History of Medieval India, 1200–1500 |date=2011 |publisher=Pearson Education |isbn=9788131727911 |page=53}}</ref> The incorporation of the crank handle in the cotton gin may have appeared sometime during the late Delhi Sultanate or the early Mughal Empire.{{sfn|Habib|2011|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=K8kO4J3mXUAC&pg=PA53 53-54]}}

India and China have connections throughout thousands of years of history. Paper had already reached some parts of India as early as the 6th or 7th century,<ref name=":0">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.</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Tsien |first=Tsuen-Hsuin |title=Paper and Printing |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=2-3, 356-357 |year=1985 |editor-last=Joseph Needham |series=Science and Civilisation in China, Chemistry and Chemical Technology |publisher=Cambridge University Press |author-link=Tsien Tsuen-hsuin |editor-link=Joseph Needham}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Wilkinson |first=Endymion |title=Chinese History: A New Manual |pages=909 |year=2012 |publisher=Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kurlansky, Mark |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1119136572 |title=Paper: paging through history |date=2017 |publisher=National Geographic Books |isbn=978-0-393-35370-9 |oclc=1119136572}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=D. C. Sircar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hXMB3649biQC |title=Indian Epigraphy |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |year=1996 |isbn=978-81-208-1166-9 |pages=67-68}}</ref>{{Sfn|Habib|2011|p=96}}{{Sfn|Habib|2011|p=95-96}} On the other hand, the paper may have arrived in [[Bengal]] from a separate route, as 15th-century Chinese traveller [[Ma 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.{{sfn|Habib|2011|p=95-96}}

== Factors ==
=== Demographics ===
{{Main|Demographics of India#History|l1 = Demographics of India: History}}

According to one set of very uncertain estimates by modern historians, [[Demographics of India|the total Indian population]] had largely been stagnant at 75 million during the [[Middle kingdoms of India|Middle Kingdoms]] era from 1 AD to 1000 AD. During the [[Medieval India|Medieval]] 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.<ref name="maddison">[[Angus Maddison]] (2001), ''[[The World Economy: Historical Statistics|The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective]]'', [http://theunbrokenwindow.com/Development/MADDISON%20The%20World%20Economy--A%20Millennial.pdf#page=242 pages 241-242] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111170118/http://theunbrokenwindow.com/Development/MADDISON%20The%20World%20Economy--A%20Millennial.pdf#page=242 |date=11 November 2020}}, [[OECD Development Centre]]</ref><ref name="maddison236">[[Angus Maddison]] (2001), ''[[The World Economy: Historical Statistics|The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective]]'', [http://theunbrokenwindow.com/Development/MADDISON%20The%20World%20Economy--A%20Millennial.pdf#page=237 page 237] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111170118/http://theunbrokenwindow.com/Development/MADDISON%20The%20World%20Economy--A%20Millennial.pdf#page=237 |date=11 November 2020}}, [[OECD Development Centre]]</ref>

=== Culture ===
{{See also|Indo-Persian culture}}
[[File:هند قلعه سرخ دهلی - panoramio.jpg|thumb|upright=1.0|Decorative reliefs, [[Alai Darwaza]], 1311.]]

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.{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2008|p=47}}<ref>{{Citation |last1=Metcalf |first1=B. |title=A Concise History of Modern India |date=9 October 2006 |page=6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iuESgYNYPl0C&pg=PA6 |edition=2nd |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-68225-1 |last2=Metcalf |first2=T. R. |author-link1=Barbara Metcalf |author-link2=Thomas R. Metcalf}}</ref> 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.<ref>Eaton, Richard M., The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993, accessed on 1 May 2007</ref>

The [[Hindustani language]] (Hindavi) began to emerge in the Delhi Sultanate period, developed from the [[Middle Indo-Aryan languages|Middle Indo-Aryan]] ''[[Apabhraṃśa|apabhramsha]]'' [[vernacular]]s of [[North India]]. [[Amir Khusrau]], who lived in the 13th century CE during the Delhi Sultanate period in North India, used a form of Hindustani, which was the ''[[lingua franca]]'' of the period, in his writings and referred to it as ''Hindavi''.<ref name="brown2008">{{Citation |last1=Keith Brown |title=Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F2SRqDzB50wC |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-08-087774-7 |quote=... 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 ... |last2=Sarah Ogilvie}}</ref>

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 and [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa clothing|kullah]] 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).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Raj Kumar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e8o5HyC0-FUC&dq=islamic+qabas++khwarizm&pg=PA212 |title=Encyclopaedia Of Untouchables : Ancient Medieval And Modern |date=2008 |publisher=Kalpaz Publications |isbn=9788178356648 |page=212}}</ref>

=== Architecture ===
{{Main|Indo-Islamic architecture}}

[[File:Qutab Minar mausoleum.jpg|thumb|The [[Qutb Minar]] (left, begun {{circa|1200}}) next to the [[Alai Darwaza]] gatehouse (1311); [[Qutb Minar complex]] in Delhi.<ref name="unescoaqm" />]]

The start of the Delhi Sultanate in 1206 under [[Qutb ud-Din Aibak]] introduced a large Islamic state to India, using Central Asian styles.<ref>Harle, 423-424</ref> The types and forms of large buildings required by Muslim elites, with [[mosque]]s and tombs much the most common, were very different from those previously built in India. The exteriors of both were very often topped by large [[dome]]s and made extensive use of [[arch]]es. Both of these features were hardly used in [[Hindu 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.{{sfnm|Harle|1994|1pp=421, 425|2a1=Yale|2p=165|3a1=Blair|3a2=Bloom|3y=1995|3p=149}}

The important [[Qutb Minar complex]] in Delhi was begun under [[Muhammad of Ghor]], by 1199, and continued under Qutb ud-Din Aibak and later sultans. The [[Qutb Minar complex#Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque|Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque]], now a ruin, was the first structure. Like other early Islamic buildings, it re-used elements such as columns from destroyed [[Hindus|Hindu]] and [[Jainism|Jain]] temples, including one on the same site whose platform was reused. The style was Iranian, but the arches were still [[Corbel arch|corbelled]] in the traditional Indian way.{{sfnm|1a1=Yale|1pp=164-165|Harle|1994|2pp=423-424|3a1=Blair|3a2=Bloom|3y=1995|3p=149}}

Beside it is the extremely tall [[Qutb Minar]], a [[minaret]] or victory tower, whose original four stages reach 73 meters (with a final stage added later). Its closest comparator is the 62-metre all-brick [[Minaret of Jam]] in Afghanistan, of {{circa|1190}}, a decade or so before the probable start of the Delhi tower.{{NoteTag|Also two huge minarets at [[Ghazni]].}} The surfaces of both are elaborately decorated with inscriptions and geometric patterns; in Delhi, the shaft is [[fluting (architecture)|fluted]] with "superb [[stalactite]] bracketing under the balconies" at the top of each stage.{{sfnm|1a1=Yale|1p=164|Harle|1994|2p=424|2ps=(quoted)|3a1=Blair|3a2=Bloom|3y=1995|3p=149}} In general, minarets were slow to be used in India, and are often detached from the main mosque where they exist.<ref>Harle, 429.</ref>

The Tomb of [[Iltutmish]] was added by 1236; its dome, the [[squinch]]es 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.{{sfnm|1a1=Yale|1p=164|1ps=(quoted)|Harle|1994|2p=425}} Other elements were added to the complex over the next two centuries.

Another very early mosque, begun in the 1190s, is the [[Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra]] in [[Ajmer]], [[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 an [[iwan]]. At Ajmer, the smaller screen arches are tentatively cusped, for the first time in India.{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1a2=Bloom|1y=1995|1pp=149-150|Harle|1994|2p=425}}

By around 1300, true domes and arches with [[voussoir]]s were being built; the ruined [[Tomb of Balban]] (d. 1287) in Delhi may be the earliest survival.{{sfn|Harle|1994|p=425}} The [[Alai 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 red [[sandstone]] and white [[marble]], 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 mild [[horseshoe arch]] effect, and their internal edges are not cusped but lined with conventionalised "spearhead" projections, possibly representing [[Nelumbo nucifera|lotus]] buds. [[Jali]], stone [[openwork]] screens, are introduced here; they already had been long used in temples.{{sfn|Blair|Bloom|1995|p=151}}

==== Tughlaq architecture ====
[[File:Tomb_of_Shah_Rukn-e-Alam_2014-07-31.jpg|thumb|[[Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam]] at [[Multan]], built during the reign of [[Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq|Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughluq]] in 1320 AD]]

The [[tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam]] (built 1320 to 1324) in [[Multan]], [[Pakistan]] is a large octagonal brick-built [[mausoleum]] 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 the [[Tughlaq dynasty]] (1320–1413), built during the unsustainable expansion of its massive territory. It was built for a [[Wali|Sufi saint]] rather than a sultan, and most of the many [[Tughluq tombs|Tughlaq 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 small [[amalaka]] and a round [[finial]] like a [[kalasha]]. 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 ruined [[Tughlaqabad Fort]] opposite the tomb, intended as the new capital.{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1a2=Bloom|1y=1995|1pp=151-156|Harle|1994|2pp=425-426}}

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 standardised dynastic style.{{sfn|Blair|Bloom|1995|p=151}} The third sultan, [[Firuz Shah Tughlaq]] (r. 1351–1388) is said to have designed buildings himself and was the longest ruler and greatest builder of the dynasty. His [[Firoz Shah palace complex]] (started 1354) at [[Hisar (city)|Hisar]], [[Haryana]] is a ruin, but parts are in fair condition.{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1a2=Bloom|1y=1995|1p=154|Harle|1994|2pp=425}} Some buildings from his reign take forms that had been rare or unknown in Islamic buildings.{{sfn|Blair|Bloom|1995|pp=154-156}} He was buried in the large [[Hauz Khas Complex]] in Delhi, with many other buildings from his period and the later Sultanate, including several small domed [[pavilion]]s supported only by columns.{{sfnm|1a1=Blair|1a2=Bloom|1y=1995|1pp=154-156|Harle|1994|2p=425}}

By this time Islamic architecture in India had adopted some features of earlier Indian architecture, such as the use of a high [[Pedestal|plinth]],{{sfn|Blair|Bloom|1995|p=149}} and often [[Molding (decorative)|mouldings]] around its edges, as well as columns and brackets and [[hypostyle]] halls.{{sfn|Blair|Bloom|1995|p=156}} 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 impressive [[Lodi Gardens|Lodi 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.{{sfnm|Harle|1994|1p=426|2a1=Blair|2a2=Bloom|2y=1995|2p=156}}

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra (literally "shed of 2½ days").jpg|Screen of the [[Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra]] mosque, [[Ajmer]], {{circa|1229}}; [[Corbel arch]]es, some cusped.
File:Tomb of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq and side tomb (3319047170).jpg|Tomb of [[Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq]] (d. 1325), Delhi
File:Balban Khan's Tomb 029.jpg|Possibly the first "true" arches in India; [[Tomb of Balban]] (d. 1287) in Delhi
File:The tomb of Ferozshah ii ag61.jpg|Pavilions in the [[Hauz Khas Complex]], Delhi
File:The Tomb of Sikander Lodi, seen from the Sheesh Gumbad.JPG|The [[Shish Gumbad]] in the [[Lodi Gardens]], Delhi
File:Tomb_of_Sikandar_Lodi_in_Lodi_Garden_08.jpg|Tomb of [[Sikandar Khan Lodi|Sikandar Lodi]] in the [[Lodi Gardens]], Delhi
</gallery>

== List of rulers ==
{{Main|List of rulers of the Delhi Sultanate}}

== Decline ==
=== Cities ===
While the sacking of cities was not uncommon in medieval warfare, the army of the Delhi Sultanate also often destroyed cities in its military expeditions. According to Jain chronicler Jinaprabha Suri, [[Nusrat Khan Jalesari|Nusrat Khan's]] conquests destroyed hundreds of towns including [[Ashaval|Ashapalli]] (modern-day [[Ahmedabad]]), Anhilvad (modern-day [[Patan, Gujarat|Patan]]), [[Vanthali]] and [[Surat]] in Gujarat.{{sfn|Lal|1950|p=85}} This account is corroborated by [[Ziauddin Barani]].{{sfn|Lal|1950|p=86}}

=== Battles and massacres ===
* [[Ghiyas ud din Balban]] wiped out the Rajputs of [[Mewar]] and [[Awadh]], killing approximately 100,000 people.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hunter |first=W. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vdv7AQAAQBAJ&q=Balban+massacred+100,000+Hindus+south+of+Delhi&pg=PA280 |title=The Indian Empire: Its People, History and Products |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136383014 |pages=280 |language=en}}</ref>
* Alauddin Khalji ordered the killing of 30,000 people at [[Siege of Chittorgarh (1303)|Chittor]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barua |first=Pradeep |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FIIQhuAOGaIC&pg=PA30 |title=The State at War in South Asia |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |year=2005 |isbn=0803213441 |pages=30, 317}}</ref>
* Alauddin Khalji ordered the killing Brahmins during his [[Alauddin Khalji's raid on Devagiri|raid on Devagiri]].{{sfn|Lal|1950|p=55}}
* According to a hymn, Muhammad bin Tughlaq is said to have killed 12,000 Hindu ascetics during the sacking of [[Srirangam]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hopkins |first=Steven Paul |date=18 April 2002 |title=Singing the Body of God: The Hymns of Vedantadesika in Their South Indian Tradition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N6teBA7bmFwC&pg=PA69 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=69 |isbn=9780198029304}}</ref>
* [[Firuz Shah Tughlaq]] killed 180,000 people during his invasion of [[Odisha]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rummel |first=R. J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N1j1QdPMockC&q=180,000+massacred+bengal&pg=PA60 |title=Death by Government |date=2011 |publisher=[[Transaction Publishers]] |isbn=9781412821292 |page=60 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Desecration ===
[[File:Jordanus, on the destructions of the Turkish Saracens in India (Mirabilia Descripta, 1329–1338).jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|[[Jordan Catala]] was a contemporary European witness of the destructions by the "Turkish Saracens" in India (extract from ''Mirabilia Descripta'', written in 1329–1338).<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Jordanus |first1=Catalani |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_wQUVAAAAQAAJ/page/n52/mode/1up |title=Mirabilia descripta: the wonders of the East |last2=Yule |first2=Henry |last3=Parr |first3=Charles McKew donor |last4=Parr |first4=Ruth |date=1863 |publisher=Printed for the Hakluyt Society |page=23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Juncu |first=Meera |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3NYkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT85 |title=India in the Italian Renaissance: Visions of a Contemporary Pagan World 1300–1600 |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-44768-9 |page=85 |language=en}}</ref>]]

Historian Richard Eaton has tabulated a campaign of destruction of idols and temples by the Delhi Sultans, intermixed with certain years where the temples were protected from desecration.<ref name="re2000" /><ref>Richard M. Eaton, ''Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States'', Part II, '''Frontline''', 5 January 2001, 70-77. [http://ftp.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_eaton_temples2.pdf]</ref><ref>Richard M. Eaton, ''Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States'', Part I, '''Frontline''', 22 December 2000, 62-70.[http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_eaton_temples1.pdf]</ref> In his paper, he has listed 37 instances of [[Hindu temple]]s being desecrated or destroyed in India during the Delhi Sultanate, from 1234 to 1518, for which reasonable evidences are available.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news |last=Eaton |first=Richard M. |year=2000 |title=Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States |url=http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl1726/17260700.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106040012/http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl1726/17260700.pdf |archive-date=6 January 2014 |newspaper=[[The Hindu]] |location=Chennai, India |page=297}}</ref><ref>[[Annemarie Schimmel]], Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, {{ISBN|978-9004061170}}, Brill Academic, p. 7-10.</ref><ref>James Brown (1949), The History of Islam in India, The Muslim World, 39(1), 11-25</ref> He notes that this was not unusual in medieval India, as there were numerous recorded instances of temple desecration by [[Hinduism|Hindu]] and [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] 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.<ref name="Eaton-dec">{{Cite journal |last=Eaton |first=Richard M. |date=December 2000 |title=Temple desecration in pre-modern India |url=http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1725/17250620.htm |journal=[[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]] |publisher=[[The Hindu Group]] |volume=17 |issue=25}}</ref><ref name="Eaton-sep">{{Cite journal |last=Eaton |first=Richard M. |date=September 2000 |title=Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States |journal=[[Journal of Islamic Studies]] |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=283-319 |doi=10.1093/jis/11.3.283}}</ref><ref name="Eaton-2004">{{Cite book |last=Eaton |first=Richard M. |title=Temple desecration and Muslim states in medieval India |publisher=Hope India Publications |year=2004 |isbn=978-8178710273 |location=Gurgaon}}</ref> 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, a [[Sanskrit]] inscription notes that Sultan [[Muhammad bin Tughluq]] repaired a Shiva and Parvati temple in [[Bidar]] after his [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]] conquest. There was often a pattern of Delhi sultans plundering or damaging temples during the conquest and then patronising or repairing temples after the conquest. This pattern came to an end with the [[Mughal Empire]], where [[Akbar]]'s chief minister [[Abul Fazl|Abu'l-Fazl]] criticised the excesses of earlier sultans such as [[Mahmud of Ghazni]].<ref name="auto" />

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.<ref>Welch, Anthony (1993), Architectural patronage and the past: The Tughluq sultans of India, Muqarnas, Vol. 10, 311-322</ref> Similarly, the Muslim mosque in [[Khanapur]], [[Maharashtra]] was built from the looted parts and demolished remains of Hindu temples.<ref name="awhc" />

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.<ref name="re2000"/> The campaign extended to [[Andhra Pradesh]], [[Karnataka]] and [[Tamil Nadu]] under [[Malik Kafur]] and [[Ulugh Khan]] in the 14th century, and by the Bahmanis in the 15th century.<ref name="regbook"/>{{failed verification|date=October 2023}} 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 paid [[jizya]] (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.{{Sfn|Srivastava|1929}}<ref>R. Islam (2002), Theory and Practice of Jizyah in the Delhi Sultanate (14th Century), Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society, 50, p. 7-18</ref>{{sfn|Jackson|2003|p=287-295}} 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.<ref>Eva De Clercq (2010), ON JAINA APABHRAṂŚA PRAŚASTIS, Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hung. Volume 63 (3), p. 275-287</ref> In his memoirs, Firoz Shah Tughlaq describes how he destroyed temples and built mosques instead and killed those who dared build new temples.<ref name="fst377381" /> Other historical records from ''wazirs'', ''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.<ref>Hasan Nizami et al., [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924073036729#page/n233/mode/2up Taju-l Ma-asir & Appendix], Translated in 1871 by Elliot and Dawson, Volume 2 – The History of India, Cornell University Archives, p. 22, 219, 398, 471</ref>

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Temple desecration during Delhi Sultanate period, a list prepared by Richard Eaton in ''Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States''<ref name="re2000"/><ref>Richard Eaton, Temple desecration and Indo-Muslim states, Frontline (5 January 2001), p. 72-73</ref>
|-
!Sultan / Agent
!Dynasty
!Years
!Temple Sites Destroyed
!States
|-
| [[Muhammad of Ghor]], [[Qutb ud-Din Aibak]] and [[Bakhtiyar Khalji]]
| [[Ghurids]]
| 1192–1206
| [[Ajmer]], [[Samana, Punjab|Samana]], [[Kuhram]], [[Delhi]], [[Kara, Uttar Pradesh|Kara]], [[Pushkar]], [[Anahilavada]], [[Kol Tehsil|Kol]], [[Kannauj]], [[Varanasi]], [[Nalanda]], [[Odantapuri]], [[Somapura Mahavihara|Somapura]], [[Vikramashila]]
| [[Rajasthan]], [[Punjab]], [[Haryana]], [[Gujarat]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[Bihar]], [[Bengal]]
|-
| [[Iltumish]], [[Jalal-ud-din Khalji]], [[Alauddin Khalji]], [[Malik Kafur]]
| Mamluk and Khalji
| 1211–1320
| [[Vidisha|Bhilsa]], [[Ujjain]], [[Jhain]], [[Vijapur]], [[Devagiri]], [[Ellora Caves|Ellora]], [[Lonar]], [[Veraval|Somnath]], [[Ashaval|Ashapalli]], [[Khambhat]], [[Vanthali|Vamanathali]], [[Surat]], [[Dhar]], [[Mandu, Madhya Pradesh|Mandu]], [[Ranthambore Fort|Ranthambore]], [[Chittor]], [[Siwana]], [[Jalore]], [[Hanmakonda]], [[Halebidu|Dvarasamudra]], [[Chidambaram]], [[Srirangam]], [[Madurai]]
| Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu
|-
| [[Ulugh Khan]], [[Firuz Shah Tughlaq]], [[Raja Nahar Khan]], [[Muzaffar Khan]]
| Khalji and Tughlaq
| 1320–1395{{NoteTag|[[Ulugh Khan]] also known as Almas Beg was brother of [[Ala-al Din Khalji]]; his destruction campaign overlapped the two dynasties.}}
| [[Warangal]], [[Bodhan]], [[Erakeswara Temple, Pillalamarri|Pillalamarri]], [[Ghanpur, Mulugu district|Ghanpur]], [[Halebidu|Dvarasamudra]], [[Belur, Karnataka|Belur]], [[Somanathapura]], [[Puri]], [[Cuttack]], [[Jajpur]], [[Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh|Jaunpur]], [[Sainthal, Uttar Pradesh|Sainthali]], [[Idar, Gujarat|Idar]]{{NoteTag|[[Somnath]] temple went through cycles of destruction by Sultans and rebuilding by Hindus.}}
| Gujarat, Telangana, Karnataka, Orissa, Haryana
|-
| [[Sikandar Shah Miri|Sikandar]], [[Muzaffar Shah I|Muzaffar Shah]], [[Ahmad Shah I|Ahmad Shah]], [[Mahmud]]
| Sayyid
| 1400–1442
| [[Paraspur]], [[Bijbehara]], [[Tripureshwor|Tripureshvara]], [[Idar, Gujarat|Idar]], [[Diu, India|Diu]], [[Manvi]], [[Sidhpur]], [[Navasari]], [[Dilwara Temples|Dilwara]], [[Kumbhalgarh|Kumbhalmer]]
| Gujarat, Rajasthan
|-
| [[Suhrawardy family|Suhrab]], [[Bey|Begada]], [[Bahmani Sultanate|Bahmanis]], [[Khalid Shahanshah|Khalil Shah]], [[Khawas Khan Marwat|Khawwas Khan]], [[Sikandar Khan Lodi|Sikandar Lodi]], [[Ibrahim Lodi]]
| Lodi
| 1457–1518
| [[Mandalgarh]], [[Malana, Himachal Pradesh|Malan]], [[Dwarka]], [[Alampuram (Hemalapuram)|Alampur]], [[Kondapalli]], [[Kanchipuram]], [[Amorha|Amod]], [[Nagarkot]], [[Girnar]], [[Vadnagar]], [[Junagadh]], [[Pavagadh]], [[Uthiramerur|Utgir]], [[Narwar]], [[Khajuraho]], [[Gwalior]]
| Rajasthan, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
|-
|}

<gallery class="center" widths="200" heights="200" perrow="4" caption="[[Iconoclasm]] under the Delhi Sultanate">
File:Somnath temple ruins (1869).jpg|The [[Somnath temple|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.<ref name="eaton200080">Eaton (2000), [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_eaton_temples2.pdf Temple desecration in pre-modern India] Frontline, p. 73, item 16 of the Table, Archived by Columbia University</ref>

File:Benares- The Golden Temple, India, ca. 1915 (IMP-CSCNWW33-OS14-66).jpg|The [[Kashi Vishwanath Temple]] was destroyed by [[Muhammad of Ghor]] along with thousand other temples in [[Varanasi]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Andre Wink]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=75FlxDhZWpwC |title=Al-Hind the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: The Slave Kings and the Islamic Conquest: 11th–13th Centuries |date=1991 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9004102361 |page=333 |language=en |quote=We do not know much about the first Muslim raid on Benares, by Ahmad Nayaltigin in 1033 AD, which appears merely to have been a plundering expedition. When Muhammad Ghuri marched on the city, we are merely told that after breaking the idols in above 1000 temples, he purified and consecrated the latter to the worship of the true God}}</ref>

File:Temple de Mînâkshî01.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.<ref name="Ernst2004p109">{{Cite book |last=Carl W. Ernst |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9bNAAQAAIAAJ |title=Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-566869-8 |page=109}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sarojini Chaturvedi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qXcwAQAAIAAJ |title=A short history of South India |publisher=Saṁskṛiti |year=2006 |isbn=978-81-87374-37-4 |page=209}}</ref><ref name="Eraly2015chid">{{Cite book |last=Abraham Eraly |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyEoAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT155 |title=The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2015 |isbn=978-93-5118-658-8 |pages=155–156}}</ref>

File:Warangal fort.jpg|[[Kakatiya Kala Thoranam]] (Warangal Gate) built by the [[Kakatiya dynasty]] in ruins; one of the many temple complexes destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate.<ref name="re2000" />

File:Rani ki vav1.jpg|[[Rani ki Vav]] is a [[stepwell]], built by the [[Chaulukya dynasty]], located in [[Patan, Gujarat|Patan]]; the city was sacked by Sultan of Delhi [[Qutb ud-Din Aibak]] between 1200 and 1210, and again by the [[Alauddin Khalji|Allauddin Khalji]] in 1298.{{sfn|Lal|1950|p=84}}

File:Elevation of Kirtistambh Rudramahalaya Sidhpur Gujarat India.jpg|Artistic rendition of the Kirtistambha at [[Rudra Mahalaya Temple]]. The temple was destroyed by [[Alauddin Khalji]].<ref name="Burgess1874">{{Cite book |last1=Burgess |title=Photographs of Architecture and Scenery in Gujarat and Rajputana |last2=Murray |publisher=Bourne and Shepherd |year=1874 |page=19 |chapter=The Rudra Mala at Siddhpur |access-date=23 July 2016 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/photographsofarc00murr#page/n17/mode/2up}}</ref>

File:Exteriors Carvings of Shantaleshwara Shrine 02.jpg|Exterior wall reliefs at [[Hoysaleswara Temple|Hoysaleshvara Temple]]. The temple was twice sacked and plundered by the Delhi Sultanate.<ref name="Bradnock2000p959">{{Cite book |last1=Robert Bradnock |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2hCFDsTbmhoC |title=India Handbook |last2=Roma Bradnock |publisher=McGraw-Hill |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-658-01151-1 |page=959}}</ref>
</gallery>

== See also ==
{{History of India|File:Rani_ki_vav1.jpg}}

* [[Mongol invasions of India]]
* [[Delhi Sultanate literature]]
* [[Iconoclasm]]
* [[Tomb of Ibrahim Lodi|Ibrahim Lodi's Tomb]]
* [[Persianate society|Persianate states]]
* [[Tomb of Bahlol Lodi]]
* [[Turkish slaves in the Delhi Sultanate]]
* [[Islam in South Asia]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=note}}
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{refbegin |colwidth=30em |indent=yes}}

* {{Cite book |last1=Asher |first1=C. B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZvaGuaJIJgoC |title=India Before Europe |last2=Talbot |first2=C. |date=1 January 2008 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-51750-8 |edition=1st}}

* {{Cite book |last1=Blair |first1=Sheila |title=The Art and Architecture of Islam, 1250–1800 |last2=Bloom |first2=Jonathan M. |publisher=Yale University Press Pelican History of Art |year=1995 |isbn=0300064659}}

* {{Cite book |last=Satish Chandra |author-link=Satish Chandra (historian) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qHnHHwAACAAJ |title=History of Medieval India: 800–1700 |publisher=Orient Longman |year=2007 |isbn=978-81-250-3226-7}}


* {{Cite book |last=Eaton |first=Richard M. |title=India in the Persianate Age |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-141-98539-8 |location=London |orig-year=1st pub. 2019}} * {{Cite book |last1=Ettinghausen |first1=Richard |title=Islamic Art and Architecture: 650–1250 |last2=Grabar |first2=Oleg |author-link2=Oleg Grabar |last3=Jenkins-Madina |first3=Marilyn |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780300088694 |ref={{sfnref|Yale}}}}



* {{Cite book |last=Harle |first=J.C. |title=The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent |publisher=Yale University Press Pelican History of Art |year=1994 |isbn=0300062176 |edition=2nd}}
* {{Cite book |last=Hartel |first=Herbert |title=The Last Great Muslim Empires |publisher=BRILL |year=1997 |isbn=90-04-02104-3 |editor-last=Kissling |editor-first=H. J. |pages=262–263 |chapter=India under the Moghol Empire |access-date=20 July 2011 |editor-last2=Barbour |editor-first2=N. |editor-last3=Spuler |editor-first3=Bertold |editor-last4=Trimingham |editor-first4=J. S. |editor-last5=Bagley |editor-first5=F. R. C. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-AznJs58wtkC&pg=PA262}}


* {{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Jackson (historian) |url=https://archive.org/details/TheDelhiSultanateAPoliticalAndMilitaryHistoryCambridgeStudiesInIslamicCivilization |title=the Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History |date=April 1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
** {{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Jackson (historian) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lt2tqOpVRKgC&pg=PA221 |title=The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-521-54329-3}}


* {{Cite book |last=Lal |first=Kishori Saran |author-link=K. S. Lal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2XXqAQAACAAJ |title=History of the Khaljis (1290–1320) |publisher=The Indian Press |year=1950 |location=Allahabad |oclc=685167335}}
* {{Citation |last=Ludden |first=David |title=India And South Asia: A Short History |pages=xii, 306 |year=2002 |no-pp=true |publisher=Oxford: Oneworld |isbn=978-1-85168-237-9}}.


* Majumdar, R. C., Raychaudhuri, H., & Datta, K. (1951). An advanced history of India: 2. London: Macmillan.
* Majumdar, R. C., & Munshi, K. M. (1990). The Delhi Sultanate. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.

* Prasad, Pushpa (1990). ''Sanskrit Inscriptions of Delhi Sultanate 1191-1526''. Oxford University Press.


* {{Cite book |last=Ray |first=Aniruddha |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jNSNDwAAQBAJ |title=The Sultanate of Delhi (1206-1526): Polity, Economy, Society and Culture |date=4 March 2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781000007299}}

* {{Cite book |last=Banarsi Prasad Saksena |author-link=Banarsi Prasad Saksena |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9cmAQAAMAAJ |title=A Comprehensive History of India: The Delhi Sultanate (A.D. 1206–1526) |publisher=The Indian History Congress / People's Publishing House |year=1992 |editor-last=Mohammad Habib |edition=2nd |volume=5 |chapter=The Khaljis: Alauddin Khalji |oclc=31870180 |editor-last2=Khaliq Ahmad Nizami |orig-year=1970}}
* {{Cite book |last=Schwartzberg |first=Joseph E. |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=185 |title=A Historical atlas of South Asia |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0226742210 |location=Chicago |archive-date=5 June 2021 |access-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210605005217/https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=185 |url-status=dead}}
* {{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Vincent Arthur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2gxAQAAMAAJ |title=The Oxford History of India: From the Earliest Times to the End of 1911 |date=1920 |publisher=Clarendon Press |language=en}}
* {{Cite book |last=Srivastava |first=Ashirvadi Lal |author-link=Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava |url=https://archive.org/stream/sultanateofdelhi001929mbp#page/n5/mode/2up |title=The Sultanate Of Delhi 711–1526 A D |publisher=Shiva Lal Agarwala & Company |year=1929 |edition=2nd |oclc=607636383}}







{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Encyclopaedia Islamica |last1=Seyyed Hussein-zadeh |first1=Huda |last2=Miller |first2=Isabel |title=Delhi Sultanate |year=2018 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-islamica/*-COM_037181}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Elliot |first1=H. M. |author-link1=Henry Miers Elliot |title=The History of India, as Told by Its Historians. The Muhammadan Period (Vol 3.) |title-link=The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians |last2=John Dowson |author-link2=John Dowson |publisher=Trübner & Co. |year=1867 |location=London |chapter=15. Táríkh-i Fíroz Sháhí, of Ziauddin Barani |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924073036737#page/n107/mode/2up}}
* {{Cite book |author-link=Nile Green |title=The Persianate World: The Frontiers of a Eurasian Lingua Franca |date=2019 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520972100 |editor-last=Green |editor-first=Nile |editor-link=Nile Green}}
* {{Encyclopaedia Iranica |volume=7 |fascicle=3 |title=Delhi Sultanate |last=Hambly |first=Gavin R. G. |last2=Asher |first2=Catherine B. |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/delhi-sultanate |pages=242-250}}
* {{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Mohd. Adul Wali |url=https://archive.org/stream/goldandsilvercoi019909mbp#page/n0/mode/2up |title=Gold and Silver Coins of Sultans of Delhi |publisher=Government of Andhra Pradesh |year=1974}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kumar |first=Sunil |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EoIMAQAAMAAJ |title=The Emergence of the Delhi Sultanate, 1192–1286 |date=2007 |publisher=Permanent Black |isbn=978-81-7824-147-0 |language=en}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{Wikiquote-inline}}

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