3.1 Slave or Mamluk Dynasty (1206-1290 AD)

Qutub-ud-din Aibak (1206-1210 AD)

• Qutub-ud-din Aibak severed relations with Ghazni after Ghori's death and founded the Slave dynasty in India, declaring himself the Sultan, with Lahore as the capital of his kingdom.
• He is also known as "Lakh Baksh" (Donor of lakhs).
• Constructed two mosques: Quwat-ul-Islam in Delhi and Arhai din ka Jhonpra in Ajmer.
• Commissioned the construction of Qutub Minar dedicated to Sufi saint Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakthiyar Kaki.
• Tajul-Ma'asir (the first history book of the Delhi Sultanate) was written by Hasan Nizami under his patronage.

Shams-ud-din Iltutmish (1210-1236 AD)

• He was the slave and son-in-law of Aibak and succeeded him after defeating his son. So he is also called 'slave of a slave'. He belongs to the Ilbari tribe.
• Iltutmish is considered the real consolidator of Turkish conquests in northern India.
• The first Mongol invasion of India took place in his reign. But he saved India from Mongols (Genghis Khan) by refraining from supporting Khwarizm Jalaluddin, a Central Asian ruler, in his battle against the Mongols.
• Shifted the capital from Lahore to Delhi. Appointed elite military slaves (Bandagan), imported from centres like Bukhara, Samarqand, and Baghdad, as governors and generals.
• He formed Chahalgani/Chalisa (council of 40 members) to administer the Sultanate.
• Introduced copper (Jital) and silver coins (tanka), the two basic coins of the Sultanate period.
• Qutb Minar, a colossal victory tower, completed during his reign.
• Started the Iqta system in India.

Razia Sultan (1236-1240 AD)

• Only female Muslim ruler of the Sultanate. According to Ibn Battuta, she defied norms by riding horses, being armed, discarding the veil system, wearing male attire, and leading the army in war.
• Power struggle between the monarchy and the Turkish chiefs (Chahalgani) started during her reign.
• The elevation of a slave, Jalal-ud-din Yaqut, to the post of Amir-i-Akhur (Master of the Stables), angered the Turkish nobles. She was later assassinated while suppressing a rebellion in southern Punjab.

Balban (1266-1287 AD)

• He was intolerant of criticism and extremely authoritarian. After consolidating his power, he assumed the title of Zil-e-Ilahi.
• He abolished Chalisa/Chahalgani because of its growing influence in the administration.
• He enforced ceremonies like Sijada (prostration) and Paiboss (kissing the monarch's feet)—symbolising that nobles were not his equals.
• Maintained an extensive network of spies in the government departments.
• Balban adopted the policy of 'blood and iron' to deal with robbers and dacoits on the roads in Awadh and Ganga-Jamuna doab region and suppressing Meos (inhabitants of Mewat region), who plundered the outskirts of Delhi. Military outposts (thanas) were set up around Delhi.
• Balban reorganised the military department (Diwan-i-Arz) and provided pensions to soldiers no longer fit for service.

3.2 Khilji Dynasty (1290 - 1320 AD)

Jalaluddin Khilji (1290-1296 AD)

• He did not exclude the Turks from high offices but ended their monopoly of high offices.
• He moderated Balban's strict policies, asserting that with a Hindu majority, the state couldn't be solely Islamic, thus, displaying a tolerant approach towards Hindus.
• He was killed by his nephew and son-in-law, Alauddin Khalji, who subsequently ascended the throne.

Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316 AD)

• He took the title of Sikander-i-Azam.
• He introduced the Chehra (description of soldiers) and Dagh (branding of horse) system.
• He was the first Sultan to pay soldiers in cash instead of shares of booty and had the largest standing army of all the Delhi rulers.
• He defended against the Mongol invasion led by Targhi who marched up to Delhi and besieged the city.

Administration

• Centralised revenue collection directly from the farmers. Tax policies primarily targeted the wealthy rather than burdening the poor.
• Traditional village officials, khots (smaller landlords) and muqaddams (village headmen) were stripped of their customary privileges. He taxed them at the same rate as peasants and subjected them to Charai (grazing tax) and Ghari taxes (House tax).
• He established a postal system to maintain communication across the empire.
• He established a spy service to monitor the activities and discussions of nobles.
• He famously proclaimed 'Kingship knows no kinship'.
• Banned wines and intoxicants; Gambling was forbidden.
• He stored grains in royal granaries to mitigate famines and control prices.
• To sustain a large army on modest pay, he ensured low prices for essential commodities by setting maximum prices for items including grains, cloth, fruits, livestock, and even slaves and horses.
• Price control was done through an extensive intelligence network to keep an eye on black-marketing and hoarding.
• The sera-i-adl for cloth, sugar, herbs, dry fruits, butter, and lamp oil; another for horses, slaves, and cattle.
• Kharaj - agriculture tax amounting to about 50 per cent of the peasant's produce. For collecting kharaj, a particular post of the officer was created known as Mustakharaj.
• Biswa (1/20 of bigha) was used for cultivable land measurement and calculating its productivity.
• The land tax generally had to be paid in cash, pushing peasants into the money market. While in the Doab region, the tax was collected on grain for future scarcity.

Art and Architecture

• He supported poets of his period: Amir Khusrau and Mir Hasan Dehlvi.
• Honored Amir Khusrau with the title of Tuti-i-Hind (Parrot of India).
• Khazain-ul-Futuh by Amir Khusrau describes the conquests undertaken by Alauddin.
• Architecture: He constructed:
  • Alai Darwaza (1311): the southern gateway of the Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque in Qutb complex, Mehrauli, Delhi.
  • Siri Fort (1303): Situated north of the Qutub complex.
  • Mosque Jamait Khanm: Built within the enclosure of Nizam-ud-din Aulia's shrine.

3.3 Tughlaq Dynasty (1320 AD TO 1413 AD)

Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (1320-1325 AD)

• He belonged to the Qarauna tribe of Turks and was the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty.
• He was the first Sultan to construct canals.
• Tughlakabad Fort was built by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (1321) in Delhi.
• Amir Khusrau's "Tughlaq Nama" is a biography of Ghiyasuddin along with other Tughlaq rulers.

Mohammad Bin Tughlaq (1325-1351 AD)

• His reign marked both the zenith and the onset of decline for the Delhi Sultanate. Moroccan traveller Ibn-Batuta served as his envoy to China.
• He established the Diwan-i-Amir-Kohi, a separate department promoting agriculture by providing loans (known as 'Taccavi loans') to induce them to cultivate superior crops.
• First Sultan to have participated in the festival of Holi.
• Enhanced taxation and cesses in 1336 in the Ganga-Yamuna doab region.
• He first shifted the capital from Delhi to Devagiri (Daulatadab) for improved control over south India but the transfer proved disastrous.
• He launched a token currency, with bronze coins equated to silver tanka coins value.
• Proposed Khurasan Expedition (1329) to conquer Khurasan and Iraq, which was later abandoned.
• He died in 1351 when he was marching towards Sindh on which Badauni commented "The king was freed from his people and they from their King."

Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351-1388 AD)

• Soldiers were not paid in cash but by assignments of the land revenue of villages.
• Established Wakil-i-Dar - Responsible for court decorum and noble precedence.
• Created a public works department responsible for construction in the towns of Fatehabad, Hissar, Firozpur, Jaunpur, and Firuzabad.
• Two pillars of Ashoka were brought to Delhi, one from Meerut and the other from Topara.
• Amassed a huge number of slaves and established a department for slaves (Diwan-i-Bandagan).
• He established hospitals for the poor known as "Dar-ul-shafa".
• Diwan-i-Khairat for providing for the marriages of poor girls.
• He introduced two new coins: The Adha (equivalent to 50% of a Jital) and the Bikh (equivalent to 25% of a Jital).
• Jizyah was imposed as a separate tax by Firoz Shah Tughlaq which was previously collected in conjunction with land revenue.
• He imposed four taxes sanctioned by Islamic law: Kharaj (land tax); Khams (1/5 of the looted property during wars); Jizya (religious tax on Hindus); Zakat (2½ per cent of the income of Muslims, used for the welfare of Muslim subjects and their religion).
• He became the first Sultan to impose a Sharb (irrigation tax).
• He wrote his autobiography titled 'Fatuhat-i-Firozshahi' (Persian).
• Zia-ud-Din Barani wrote 'Fatawa-i-Jahandari' and 'Tarikh-i-Firozshahi'.
• Firuz Tughlaq was the first ruler who initiated the translation of Hindu religious works from Sanskrit into Persian.
• He founded the city of Jaunpur in memory of his cousin Mohammed bin Tughlaq. He also built the Kotla Fort in Delhi.

3.4 Sayyid Dynasty (1414 -1451 AD)

• After Firoz Shah Tughlaq, the rulers were weak. Timur's (Mongol chieftain) invasion in 1398 plundered northern India. While leaving India, he appointed Khizar Khan as the governor of Multan, Lahore, and Dipalpur.
• Khizr Khan (1414-1421 AD) took over Delhi and started the Sayyid dynasty.
• His reign and that of his successors were marked by efforts to quell rebellions in regions like Kateher, Badaun, Etawah, and others, as well as contending with the Sharqi sultans of Jaunpur.
• After he died in 1421, he was succeeded by Mubarak Shah (1421-1433 CE), Muhammad Shah (1434-1443 CE), and Alauddin Alam Shah (1445-1451), who were not very influential leaders.
• The Sayyids put on a pointed cap (kulah) and were known as 'Kulah-Daran'.

3.5 Lodi Dynasty (1451-1526 AD)

Bahlul Lodi (1451-1489 AD)

• He founded the Lodhi dynasty and succeeded in bringing a large area of North India under his control. He annexed the Jaunpur kingdom.
• He was given the title Khan-i-khanan after successfully helping Muhammad Shah against the Malwa Sultan.

Sikandar Lodi (1489-1517 AD)

• He was the son of Bahlul Lodi. The Lodi Empire in North India attained its zenith under him.
• He was contemporary of both Mehmud Begarha of Gujarat and Rana Sanga of Mewar.
• He abolished the 'zakat' tax on grains.
• Introduced a new unit of measurement called the Gaz-i-Sikandari.
• Reimposed the Jaziya tax on non-muslims.
• Established the city of Agra and relocated the capital from Delhi to Agra in 1506.
• He was a well-known poet and wrote with the pen name Gulrukhi.

Ibrahim Lodi (1517-1526 AD)

• He served as the last Sultan of the Lodi Dynasty in Delhi.
• Succession dispute led to the division of the empire. This weakened the central power and led to internal conflict.
• Daulat Khan Lodhi, the governor of Punjab, invited Babur to overthrow Ibrahim Lodhi. Babur accepted the offer and defeated Ibrahim in the First Battle of Panipat (1526). Thus ending the Delhi Sultanate.

3.6 Key Aspects of Delhi Sultan Administration

Iqta System

• Iqta is an Arabic word and the institution started in Persia (Iran). It was used in the Caliphate administration as a way of financing operations and paying civil and military officers.
• The rulers made revenue assignments (Iqta), instead of cash to their nobles (umara).
• The assignees (known as muqti and wali) collected revenue from these areas.
• The collected revenue was for their expenses, paying the troops (maintained by them), and sent the surplus (fawazil) to the centre.
• It was non-hereditary and did not imply a right to the land, but it became hereditary under Firuz Shah Tughlaq. These revenue assignments were transferable, with the iqta-holder being transferred from one region to another every three or four years.

Important Offices

Local Administration in Delhi Sultanate

Land Categorization

• Iqta land: Lands that officials received as iqtas in lieu of payment for their services.
• Khalisa land: Directly controlled by the Sultan, revenues designated for the royal court and royal household expenses.
• Inam land: Land granted to religious leaders or institutions.

Agriculture

• Food crops, cash crops, fruits, vegetables, and spices were cultivated (account of Ibn Battutah), including sericulture, using techniques like crop rotation, double cropping, three-crop harvesting, and fruit grafting.
• Artificial water-lifting devices like the Persian wheel were used.

Amir Khusrau

• Innovated musical instruments like the tabla and sitar.
• Also known as the "Parrot of India" or "Tuti-i-hind".
• Played a pivotal role in creating new ragas and qawwalis.
• He also compiled "Tughlaq Nama" and lauded Kashmir as a paradise on earth.

7. Summary: Delhi Sultanate Dynasties