Delhi Sultanate

13 and 14th Cent CE

Islam and the Subcontinent
How are situations changing in West and Central Asia?
Metal currency and trade
Arab Muslim settlements along the west coast
Novel idea of rulership - Separation of the Religious and Political
leader
Idea of zimmi
Sources
Persian chronicles - Minhaj-i-Siraj’s
Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, Hasan Nizami’s
Taj’al Ma’asir, Barani’s Tarikh-i-
Firoz Shahi

Sufi masnavis - Amir Khusrau’s Nur

Siphr

Sanskrit Inscriptions and chronicles -

Prithvirajavijaya

Traveller’s Accounts - Ibn Batuta’s

Rehla

Architecture and Epigraphy

Aibak, Iltutmish and
Razia (1206-1239)
Aibak and the Qutb Complex

Iltutmish - the Consolidation

of the Sultanate - threat
from Khwarizm and other
Ghurid governors

Reading of the khutbah

Razia and the Nobility

Balban (1265-1286)
Chahalgani and resistance

Afrasiyab - sijda and

paibos

Diwan-i-arz - Military
Department

Mongol Threat

Rohilakhand, Bengal
Khaljis (1290 - 1320)

Jalaluddin Khalji

Alauddin - Alai Nobles

1299 - Conquest of Gujarat

Campaigns into Rajputana -

Ranthambhor (1301),
Chittor (1303), Warangal
and Dwarasamudra (1309-
1311)
Tughlaqs (1320-1412)

Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq and

Tughlaqabad

Mohammad bin Tughlaq

Changes in the nobility

The shift to Daulatabad -

significance
 Nature of the State
Militaristic and Aristocratic
Sharing of power - nobility; rural chiefs
Iqta System
Changes in the
Economy
Alauddin’s Market Reforms -
foodgrains, horses & slaves, cloth

Growth of Cash economy under

Khaljis and Tughlaqs

Dealings with Khots and Muqqaddams

Emerging overland trade routes and

centres - Lahore, Multan, Kara,
Lakhnauti, Cambay; qasba settlements
- Gwalior, Chanderi

Communication networks - roads and

sarais
 ‘There are in Hindustan two kinds of couriers; horse and foot: these they generally
term El Wolak ["the Quick"]. The horse courier, which is part of the Sultan's cavalry,
is stationed at the distance of every four miles. As to the foot couriers, there will be
one at the distance of every mile, occupying three (consecutive) stations, which they
term El Davah ["the Runner"], and making (in the whole) three miles: so that there
is, at the distance of every three miles, an inhabited village; and without this, three
sentry-boxes, in which the couriers sit, prepared for motion, with their loins girded.
In the hand of each is a whip about two cubits long, and upon the head of this are
small bells. Whenever, therefore, one of the couriers leaves any city, he takes his
despatches in the one hand, and the whip which he constantly keeps shaking in the
other. In this manner he proceeds to the nearest foot-courier; and, as he approaches,
he shakes his whip. Upon this out comes another, who takes the despatches, and so
proceeds to the next. For this reason it is, that the Sultan receives his despatches in
so short a time.’
 Governance
Diwan-i-arz (military department) - regulation of horses and payments to
cavalrymen

Diwan-i-risalat (religious and judidcial department) - Chief Sadr/Chief Qazi - civil

law

Barid (Intelligence department)

Society
Further immigration of
khurasanis, Persianised Turks -
literati, engineers, artisans, etc.

Diffusion of institutions, norms

and tastes informed by the
circulation of Persian texts

Shaikhs - sufi saints and their

khanqahs - Nizamuddin Auliya -
informal affiliation of the
Sultanate court
Sufism
Contemplation and meditation

“O Allah! If I worship You for fear of

Hell, burn me in Hell,

and if I worship You in hope of

Paradise, exclude me from Paradise.

But if I worship You for Your Own

sake,

grudge me not Your everlasting

Beauty.’

Poetry in Persian

Amir Khusrau - Hindustani, ghazals