HISTORY (VII)-LESSON-3 THE DELHI SULTANS (LESSON NOTES)

  

HISTORY (VII)-LESSON-3

THE DELHI SULTANS

(LESSON NOTES)

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v INTRODUCTION

Ø Delhi became an important city only in the twelfth century. Firstly, It become a capital of kingdom under the Tomara Rajputs, who were defeated by Chauhan (also called Chahamanas) of Ajmer. It was inhabited by many Jaina merchants who also constructed a number of temples.

Ø The transformation of Delhi into a capital that controlled a vast area of the subcontinent started with the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate at the beginning of the 13th century.

v THE DELHI SULTANATE

Ø From 13^th century onward Delhi become an important city and capital under five different dynasties of Delhi sultans which together known as Delhi sultanate. They established many cities in Delhi as Dehli-i Kuhna, Siri Tughluqabad, Adalibad, Firaz shah kotla, Firuzabad,and Jahanpanah, etc.

DYNASTIES OF DELHI SULTANATE

Ø There are different sources to know about Delhi sultans

§  We come to know about Delhi sultans from the Inscriptions, coins (such as dehliwal) and architecture.

§  The text known as Tarikh (singular)/tawarikh (plural), written in Persian which was the language of Delhi Sultans also provide lot of information.

·       The authors of tawarikh were learned men, secretaries, administrators, poets and courtiers. They also advised rulers on governance, emphasizing the importance of just rule based on birthright and gender distinctions. But their information may be biased as

·       They did have information above rural areas as they lived in cities.

·       They often wrote for Sultans in the hope of rich rewards.

RULERS OF DELHI SULTANATE

 

v THE EXPENSION OF DELHI SULTANANATE

(From Garrison Town to Empire)

Ø The expansion of Delhi sultanate was taken place in two phases. Internal and External frontiers.

Ø Internal frontier-

§  In the early thirteenth century, there was no significant expansion of Delhi beyond heavily fortified town occupied by garrisons.

§  The expansion was initiated with the internal frontier. Means near by areas.

§  Forests were cleared in the Ganga-Yamuna doab and hunter-gatherers and pastoralists expelled from their habitats and these lands were given to the peasants in order to promote agricultur.

 

Ø External frontiers

§  External frontier was the next phase of expansion which started with Alauddin Khalji in southern India and culminated with Muhammad Tughluq.

§  In this phase the armies of Delhi Sultanate had marched across a large part of the subcontinent and controlled large areas.

§  They defeated rivals, seized cities. The Sultanate collected taxes from the peasantry.

v MASJIDS OF DELHI SULTANS

Ø  Delhi sultans built many Mosques (Masjid) in this sub continent. There are some features of Masjid as-

§  A mosque or Masjid is a holy place where a Muslim prostrates in reverence to Allah.

§  During prayer, Muslims stand facing Mecca. In India this is to the west. This is called the qibla.

 

§  In a “congregational mosque” (masjid-i jami or jama masjid) Muslims read their prayers (namaz) together.

§  Members of the congregation choose the most respected, learned male as their leader (imam) for the rituals of prayer.

§  He also delivers the sermon (khutba) during the Friday prayer.

v RAZIYYA SULTANS

Ø Raziya Sultans was the daughter of Sultan lltutmish, became the Sultan of Delhi in 1236. She was first women ruler during medieval time.

Ø  But she was dethroned only in 1240 only for being a woman and was unacceptable to the nobles.

Ø A famous chronicler Minhaj-i Siraj, recognized her as more able than all her brothers but was not comfortable with her, only for her being a lady.

v ADMINISTRATION AND CONSOLIDATION

Ø The administration of Delhi sultanate was quite centrilised. They appointed reliable governors in different areas.

Ø Early Turkist ruler, Iltutmish’ purchased special slaves for military service called as Bandagan. He appointed them governors as they were more reliable rather than aristocrats even their sons.

Ø The Khiljis and Tughluqs continued to use Bandagan and also raised people of humble birth to high positions like governors and generals. But it creates problems as-

§  Slaves were loyal to their servants not to their heirs.

§  So, the new rulers appointed their own new slaves.

§  So there were often conflicts between new and old nobles.

Ø The Khiljis and Tughluqs appointed military commanders as governors of territories of varying sizes.

Ø These lands were called iqta and their holder was called muqti or iqtadar. There were different duties of Muqti as

§  The duty of muqtis was to lead military campaigns.

§  He also maintains law and order in their iqtas.

§  Muqtis collected the revenues from the peasants.

§  He used this revenues as his salary and also paid their soldiers

Ø The accountants were appointed to check the amount collected by the muqtis.

Ø They also forced the samants and the rich landlords to accept their authority.

Ø The Delhi sultans collect mainly three types of taxes:-

§  (1) Kharaj-Tax on agriculture which was 50 % of production

§  (2) Taxes on cattle

§  (3) Taxes on houses.

v MONGOL  ATTACKS AND EFFECTS

Ø The Mongols led by Genghis Khan invaded Transoxiana in north-east Iran in 1219. During the reign of Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad Tughluq’s rule, these attackes increased so they took many decisions as

§  They raised the large standing army.

§  They also constructed many garrison towns for soldiers.

§  They also raised the taxes to finance the war expenditure.

§  The soldiers were paid in cash.

Ø Muhammad-bin-Tughluq introduced three projects  but all failed which weakened his position compare to Alauddin Khalji :-

§  Shifting of capital from Delhi to Daulatabad –During the shifting many people died on the way. It became very difficult to look after Delhi from Daulatabad. So after some years it again shifted to Delhi.

§  Introduction of token currency also created a great loss for the kingdom as people started to make duplicate currency. It was very difficult to know the differences.

§  Raising the land tax in the Doab region to fifty per cent. But it  coincided with famine in that area.

 

v THE SULTANATE IN THE 15^th and 16^th CENTURIES

Ø The Tughluq, the Sayyid and Lodi dynasties ruled from Delhi and Agra until 1526.

Ø By then Jaunpur, Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and entire South India had Independent rulers.

Ø New ruling dynasties like the Afghans and Rajputs also arose during the period. In 1526, Mughals established their empire.

Ø Sher Shah Suri challenged and defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun. He captured Delhi and established his own dynasty. Although, he ruled for only fourteen years (1540-1555) but his administration became the model followed by the great Mughal emperor Akbar (1556-1605), when he consolidated the Mughal Empire.

 

v TERMS-

Ø Dhaliwal: The names of coins which were minted in Delhi.

Ø Tarikh: History.

Ø Tawarikh: Plural of Tarikh.

Ø Birthright: It refers to the privileges claimed on account of the birth.

Ø Gender distinctions: Social and biological differences between men and women.

Ø Hinterland: It refers to the land adjacent to a city or port that supply it with goods and services.

 Ø Women rulers- Rudramadevi (1262-1289), of the Kakatiya dynasty of Warangal, part of modern Andhra Pradesh. Another queen, Didda, ruled in Kashmir (980-1003). Her title is interesting: it comes from “didi” or “elder sister” 

Ø Garrison town: It refers to a town which is fortified with soldiers.

Ø Client: Someone who is under the protection of another, a dependent or hanger-on.