Delhi Sulatanate
Delhi Sulatanate
In 712 Muhammad bin Quasim invaded sind and killed Dahir in a hotly contested battle near Brahmanabad as per the direction of Hajjaj , the governor of Iraq. The Chach Namah deals with the administrative regulations of Muhammad introduced in Sind. The people of Sind were given the status of protected subjects (Zimmis), so no interference can be made in their lives and property. In 714 Muhammed was recalled by caliph and the administration of sind was broken down.
Invasion's of Mahmud Ghazni
Mahmud Ghazni’s Invasions of India commenced in 1000 A.D.when he captured some forts near Lamghan. In 1001 he defeated Jayapala, the Hindu Shahi ruler in the battle near Peshwar. In 1009 at Waihind Mahmud defeated Anandapala, Jayapala’s son. In 1025 -26 he started his famous expedition to Somanath in Gujarat. Bhima I , the Chalukya ruler
of Anhilwara offered no resistance and the temple was looted. Al Beruni and Firdausi lived in his court. Muhammad Ghuri's InvasionMuhammad Ghuri invaded seized Multan in 1175 however when he attacked Anihilwara or Patan , he was defeated by Mularaja IIin a battle near Mount Abu in 1178. In 1189 Muizz-ud-din (Muhammad Ghuri) Seized Tabarhinda which made Prithviraj Chauhan to react immediately. Both met in a battle at Tarain , near Delhi in 1189. Ghori was defeated and badly wounded. However in the 2nd battle of Tarain in 1192 , Ghori defeated Prithviraj Chauhan and he was taken prisoner to Ajmir and later executed. Ghori defeated Jayachandra , the Gahadavala Ruler of Kanuj in 1194 in the battle of Chandwar. One of the slaves of Ghuri, Bakthiyar Khalji conquered Bengal and Bihar. In 1204-5 attacked Lakshmana sena of Bengal. Ghori was assassinated by a Kokkhar on the bank of Jhelum.
Slave Dynasty (1206 – 1290)
Qutb ud din Aibak (1206-10): He founded the slave dynasty (Mamluk dynasty). He built quwwat ul islam at Delhi and Adhai din ka Jombra at Ajmir. He also started the construction of Qutb Minar. He died while playing chaugan or polo.
Iltumish (1210-1236): Iltumish was the slave and son in law of Aibak came to power by deposing Aram Baksh , the son and successor of Aibak. Iltumish was an able ruler, established anadministrative cum military service, Iqta system and the Forty ( a group of powerful nobles). He received the receipt of letter of investiture (Mansur) from the caliph which gave legal status to his kingship.
Razia (1236-40): She was the daughter of Iltumish who seized the throne from her brother Rukn ud din. She appointed Jamal ud din Yaqut , an ethopian as the superintendent of royal horses which aroused the resentment of many Turkish nobles. One of the nobles Altunia killed Yaqut and took Razia prisoner. Later Razia married Altunia however they were killed by some robbers.
Balban (1266-87): He was the next important ruler of slave dynasty. He was the member of Forty and later became the king. He introduced rigorous court discipline such as sijada (prostration) and Paibos ( Kissing the feet of sultan) to prove the superiority of Sultan over the nobles. He crushed the Chahagani ( the family of forty). He established a separate <diwan I arz ( Military department) and reorganized the army. He established peace in the region surrounding Delhi by crushing mewati strongholds. Mongol attack was a menance to his rule. His son Muhammed was killed by Mongols. The last ruler of Slave dynasty was Kaikubad who was struck by paralysis and killed by Khaljis. Thus Ilbari rule come to an end.
Khalji (1290 – 1320)
Jalal ud din (1290-96): He was the first important ruler of Khalji dynasty. Ala ud din ( Ali Gurshap) attacked Devagiri without the knowledge of the Sultan and persuaded the sultan to visit him. He killed Jalal ud din and became the Sultan in 1296.
Ala ud din Khilji(1296-1316): After the usurpation of the throne, he analyzed the causes for the rebellions in his kingdom. He found the follwing reasons were the causes of rebellions.
- The general prosperity of the officials
- Inter marriages of families of nobles
- Inefficiency in the espionage system
- drinking liquor
He took several steps to overcome these defects. He forbade public sale of liquor, marriage of family members of nobles without his consent, social gatherings and strengthened the espionage system. As the village headmen known as Khuts and Muqaddams were rich, the revenue regulations reduced this class to poverty. 50% was the land revenue during his period. Ala ud dins military reforms included the introduction of dagh (branding of horses) and Chahra ( descriptive roll of soliders), abolition of iqtas of the royal troopers and payment in cash . He introduced a price control mechanism by establishing separate markets and fixing of the prices of the commodities by the sultan. He established a new department , Diwan I mustakhraj to enquire into the revenue arrears and to collect them. He also appropriated 4/5 ths of the share of war booty (Khums) to the state and giving 1/5th to the soldiers. Although the sultan was illiterate, he patronized Amir Khusrau and Amir Hasan.
Ala ud din’s Military campaigns
In 1299 Gujarat was attacked. The Hindu eunuch Kafur Hazardinari was taken from his master during this campaign. Ruler of Gujrat Raja Kiran and his daughter Deval devi escaped but his wife Kamal devi was captured. Next Hamir deva of Rathambhor was attacked. In 1303 an army was dispatched to Pratapa Rudra deva of Warangal . In the same year, sultan himself marched against Chittor. The beauty of Rani Padmini was said to be the main reason for his attack. The ruler, Raja Ratan Singh was finally submitted. He sent Malik Kafur to subjugate the South Indian kingdoms. Malik Kafur defeated Ramadeva of devagiri, Prataparudra deva II of warangal , Raja Vir Ballala of Hoyasalas and Vira Pandya of Pandya Kingdom.
The last ruler of Khaligi dynasty was Khusrau (1320), islamicised Baraud (Hindu) who killed Mubark and took the title Khusrau. He was killed by Ghazi Malik who ascended the throne under the title of Ghiyas ud din Tughlug.
TUGHLUQS (1320- 1399)
Ghiyas ud din Tughlug ( 1320 – 1325) Mohammed Bin Tughlug(1325 -1351): The most important ruler of Tughluqs wasMuhammad Bin Tughluq(Fakr ud din Jauna). He was the son of Ghiyas ud din and given the title Ulugh Khan by his father. Isami and Ibn Battutah accuse Ulugh Khan of paricide. When Ghiyas ud din returned from Bengal after controlling the rebellion, Muhammad had built one wooden pavilion to receive him. The wooden pavilion was collapsed and Ghiyas ud din was killed in that accident. Ulugh succeeded his father under the title Muhammad. He is the only sultan to receive a comprehensive literary, religious and philosophical education as well as military education. He promoted to high position intelligent administrators whose ancestors had very humble background.
His famous experiments
- Transfer of Capital: He wanted centrally located Devagiri as his second capital and renamed it as Daulatabad. In 1328-29 he tried to move the entire population to Delhi and this stay was unsuccessful, since Daulatabad was found to be unsuccessful and eventually the court returned to Delhi.
- Qarachil expediation : Muhammad dispatched an army to secure his northern border but after some initial victory’s his army suffered severe setbacks
- Token Currency : In 1329-30 issued bronze ( or copper) coins at par with the value of Silver Tanka coins. The goldsmiths forged the token coins and the country was flooded with forged coins. At last, The sultan was forced to pay genuine gold coins in exchange of forged coins.
- Agricultural reforms : In 1338-44, the sultan introduced new regulations to improve agriculture and established an agriculture ministry called diwan I kohi to bring barren land under cultivation. This scheme failed as the advance money collected by farmers spent for personal needs.
Muhammad reign witnessed many rebellions. Ahsan shah founded Madurai Sultanate. In 1336 Hari Hara and Bukka founded Vijayanagar Kingdom. 1347 Hasan Gangu founded the Bhamini Kingdom. In his last three years, he concentrated on chasing Taghi ( a rebel officer) who took shelter with Sumras of Thatta. The Sultan died of fever while pursuing rebels in Sindh – his ambitions had consistently been beyond the means at his disposal. According to Badauni , the death liberated the Sultan from his people and freed them from him.
Firuz Tughlug (1351-88): The nobles and theologians at the court selected his cousin, Firoz Shah as the next Sultan. Heforbade special tax on 28 items of urban trade and commerce deemed unislamic was abolished. He had a large number of slaves and created diwan I bandagani (department of slaves). He also created diwan i khairat to carry out the welfare measures and public works. Firuz sha is said have destroyed the Jagannatha temple at Puri.
The worst of the Mongol raids took place in 1398 under the leadership of the notorious Timur, a central Asian Turk, who maintained that the Tughlaqs were not good Muslims and therefore had to be punished. The provinces of Gujarat, Malwa and Jaunpur took the opportunity to proclaim their independence. Timur having sacked Delhi, returned to central Asia, leaving a nominee to rule in Punjab. The Tughlaq line ended soon after, but not so the Sultanate, which continued, though a shadow of its former self.
Sayyed Dynasty (1414-1450)
Timurs nominee Khizr Khan captured Delhi and was proclaimed the new Sultan, the first of the Sayyed dynasty which was to rule during the earlier half of the 15th century. The last ruler was Ala ud din Alam sha proved incompetent and handed over the reigns of kingdom to Bahlul Lodhi.
The Lodi dynasty (1451-1526)
The Lodhi were of pure Afghani origin, which meant the eclipse of the Turkic nobility. Nizam Khan popularly known as Sikander is the most famous ruler of Lodis. He took a keen interest in agriculture and regularly examined the price schedule. The last ruler of Lodi was Ibrahim Lodi who was defeated by Babur in the first Battle of Panipat.
Administration
The government established by Turks was a compromise between Islamic political ideas and rajput system of government . The following are the important functionaries in the sultanate period.
- Sultan was the head of the state, chief executive and highest court of appeal.
- Naib Sultan was next highest position sometimes became powerful when the ruler was weak. This position was also given as a mark of respect.
- Wazir was the head of the Finace Dept. assisted by Naib wazir(Deputy), Mushriff I mumalik(maintains accounts) and Mustauf i mumalik (Auditor).
- Ariz i mumalik was head of the military department diwan i arz.
- Sadr us Sadr head of public charities and ecclesiastical dept. diwan I risalat
- Quazi ul quzat was the head of judicial dept. applicable to muslims. Hindus were governed by their own personal law for civil case though panchayats
- Amir i munshi was the head of records dept. known as diwan i insha
- Barid i mumalik was head of information and intelligence dept.
Provincial government
The whole kingdom was divided into a number of provinces and tributary states. A noble man was assigned unconquered or semi conquered territory as iqta and he was acknowledged the governor of all the land he could subdue by force. This was not applied in later stages. The Sultan freely transferred the Governors. The head of the provice was governor (nayim or wali).Below him there was provincial wazir, provincial ariz and provincial quazi. The provinces were divided into shiqs under shiqdar and paraganas under amil. The village was the smallest unit of administration. The most important official was theheadman muqaddam or chaudari.
Economy and social structure
The Delhi Sultans classified the land into three categories : iqta land i.e. land assigned to officials as iqtas in lieu of salaries,Khalisa land or crown land which comes under the direct control of the sultan and inam land assigned or granted to pious persons, religious leaders and also to religious institutions. The Delhi sultans were very successful in systematization of agrarian exploitation and acquired revenues thus obtained. The peasantry paid 1/3rd of their produce as land revenue sometimes even 1/2 of the produce. Muqaddams and land lords had a better standard of life whereas the autonomous chieftains constituted the most prosperous rural section. Delhi sultans encouraged peasants to cultivate superior crops and cash crops. There was an improvement in the quality of fruits and the system of gardening. These period witnessed the growth of urban centres a fact attested by Ibn Battutah. Sarais or rest houses were constructed on the side of roads for the convenience of traders and merchants. Introduction of spinning wheel, cotton carders bow and weavers treadles increased the production of cotton textile. Sericulture (production of silk by rearing silk worms), paper, new building techniques like arched roofing, cementing lime etc were made its appearance in this time.
Sources of Revenue
Khams | 1/5th of the spoils of war |
Kharaj | Land Tax |
Jaziya | Tax levied on non muslims for the protection of life and property |
Zakat | a religious tax paid by the muslims to the needy |
Ghanima | 4/5th of the plunder of war |
Art and Architecture
The main feature of this period was the construction of Arch and dome which dispensed with the need for large number of pillars to support the roof. They used fine quality of mortar in their buildings. They used geometrical, floral designs and verses from Quran to decorate their buildings. The combinations of these techniques were known as arabesque. Another method employed in their construction is known as Slab and Beam method.
- The most magnificent building constructed by Turks was Qutb Minar which was dedicated to Qutb ud din Bakhtiyar Kaki.
- Sultan Garhi tomb was built by Iltumish so called father of tomb building.
- Ala ud din built his capital at Siri. He also added an entrance door to Qutb Minar which contains a dome built on correct scientific lines.
- Ghiyas ud din and Muhammad Tughluq built palace cum fortess complex called Tughluqabad.
- Firuz sha built the famous Hauz Khas and Kotla fort at delhi.
The sloping walls or the batter which give the effect of strength to the building was an important feature of Tughlug architecture. Lodis used Balconies, kiosks and caves of Rajasthani style in their buildings. They placed buildings on a high platforms. The tomb of sikandar has two domes.
Coins of Delhi sultanate
- The gold coins of Ghuri depicted Hindu godess Lakshmi .
- Iltumish issued the famous silver tanka coins.
- Ala ud din dropped the usual reference of caliph from coins and substituted the self laudatory title The second Alexander,the right hand of khalifate.
- Ghiyaz ud din used the title Ghazi (champion of faith).
- Mubarak Khalji used arrogant titles The supreme head of Islam Khalifa etc.
- Muhammad bin Tughluq has been called the the prince of moneyers. He issued gold dinars and silver aslis.
- Jital was famous copper coin of that period.
Literature
Amir Khusrau was the most notable Persian writer of this period. He created a new style of poetry called Sabaq i Hind or the style of India. He participated in the musical gathering of sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya. Many Sanscrit works were transilated into Persian. Zia Nakshabi was the first to transilate sanscrit works into Persian. He trasilated Indian treatise on sexology Kok Sastra into Persian. His tuti Namah was a Persian transilation of Sansrit stories.
Important literary works
Author | Book(s) |
Al Beruni | Kitab (Tarik) i Hind , Qanun i Masuudi, Jawahir fil jawahir |
Amir Khusrau | Khazain u Futuh ,Tughluq Namah, Miftah ul Futuh, Khamsah |
Firuzabadi | Qamus |
Hasan Nizami | Taj ul Maathir |
Firuz Tughlug | Futuhat i Firuz shahi |
Abu Bakr | Chach Namah |
Zia ud din Barani | Tarikh i Firuz shahi |
Shiraj Afif | Tarikh i Firuz shahi |
Minhaj us Siraj | Tabaqat i Nasiri |
Isami | Futuh us Salatin |
Md Al Utbi | Tarikh i Yamini |
Ibn Battutah | Kitab ul Rahla |
Sarfuddin Yazdi | Zafar Namah |
Firdausi | Shah Namah |
...................................................................................................................................
Posts
Post a Comment