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Delhi Sultanate By: Valeria Baez
Definitions • The Delhi Sultanate is a term used to cover five short-lived dynasties, Delhi based kingdoms or sultanates, mostly of Turkic and Pashtun (Afghan) origin in mediaeval India. The sultanates ruled from Delhi between 1206 and 1526, when the last was replaced by the Mughal dynasty. The five dynasties were the Mamluk dynasty (1206–1290); the Khilji dynasty (1290–1320); the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414); the Sayyid dynasty (1414–51); and the Afghan Lodi dynasty (1451–1526).
Important figures The second of the Delhi Sultanates, the Khilji Dynasty, is most famous for fending off Genghis Khan's descendants and keeping the Mongols out of India Qutb-ud-din Aybak founded the Mamluk Dynasty in 1206. He was a Central Asian Turk and a former general for the crumbling Ghurid Sultanate, an Iranian dynasty that had ruled over what is now Iran, Pakistan, northern India, and Afghanistan. The Tughlaq Dynasty managed to extend its control south over much of modern-day India. However, under its watch Timur (Tamerlane) invaded India in 1398, sacking and looting Delhi, and massacreing the people of the capital city Timuridinvasion, a family claiming descent from the Prophet Muhammad took control of northern India. The Sayyid Dynasty did not last long; its fourth sultan abdicated the throne in 1451 in favor of BahlulKhan Lodi
Important figures • Bahlul Khan Lodi, was the founder of the Afghan Pashtun Lodi Dynasty. Lodi was a famous horse-trader and warlord, who re-consolidated northern India after the trauma of Timur's invasion and the weak leadership of the Sayyids.The Lodi Dynasty fell after the First Battle of Panipat (1526), in which Babur defeated the far larger Lodi armies and killed Ibrahim Lodi. Yet another Muslim Central Asian leader, Babur founded the Mughal Empire, which would rule India until the British Raj brought it down in 1857
How these dynasties fell These rulers (last slide) lacked unity They were not organized These dynasties were moving at different paces
Accoplishments • Explains today’s Pakistan being Muslim • Mostly Turkish people who had converted to Islam • Turks protected India from Mongols for a long time (until Mughal India in 1526) • The Sultans based their laws on the Qur'an and the sharia and permitted non-Muslim subjects to practice their religion only if they paid jizya or head tax.
Religion/culture The Sultanate time was a period of great transformation in religious ideas. Not only was the new religion of Islam making significant inroads into the country, Hinduism. The Bhakti movement began with the aim to reform Hinduism and make it a religion to which the common people could relate to. They tried to explain the nuances of philosophy in a simple way and bring to the people the great ancient literature, what was then inaccessible to them. Islamic society meanwhile was also experiencing a reform movement, the Sufi movement. The Sufi's protested against the misinterpretation of the Quran by the Sultanate rulers. It proposed several liberal ideas and advocated social justice and equality. Unlike their Bhakti counterparts however, Sufi saints detached themselves from society and inhabited their own world of mysticism and symbolism. They generally lived in seclusion from society, an unfortunate choice for they would have been far more successful in spreading their ideas if they had worked from within society. The fusion between Islamic culture and the Indian culture at the time is the reason for the caste system.
economy Agriculture: Common crops were rice, sugarcane, sesame, indigo and cotton. Many industries like oil pressing, jaggery, and weaving and dyeing. Trade: Trade increased under the Delhi Sultanate. There was a sound currency system, based on the silver tanka. Roads and communication systems developed. Roads connected Delhi, Lahore, and Sonargaon in Bengal. MuhammedTughluq built a road to Daulatabad. A relay system of post was created, with relay runners or horse riders to carry the post. Women: Women in the upper classes were secluded, but enjoyed more freedom in the lower classes. Customs like sati and the ban on widow remarriage were already established. But widows were allowed to inherit their husbands' individual property. These divisions and the division into religious groups dominated social life. In the government . Standards of life: The sultan and his nobles enjoyed a standard of life that was almost the highest in the world. Each ruler built his own palace. Nobles also live a lavish life. In the towns, the artisans, shopkeepers and lower government employees formed the middle classes. Slavery was allowed. Common slaves and domestic servants were very poor. Some slaves, like the sultan's personal slaves, could become very powerful.
