Page 27 - SST Class 07
P. 27
3 3 3
The Delhi Sultanate
The transformation of Delhi as capital had to establish themselves in the subcontinent.
started way before 1931. This transformation Apart from coins, monuments and inscriptions,
came into action after the Delhi Sultanate. But, one of the main sources of information about the
what was the Delhi Sultanate? Who all were the Delhi Sultanate are the Tawarikh or historical
part of this Sultanate? Let us travel back in the accounts written by courtiers, poets and other
past and find out more on the Delhi Sultanate. learned men who lived in the cities.
THE BEGINNING OF THE DELHI QUTB-UD-DIN AIBAK (1206-1210)
SULTANATE Qutb-ud-Dïn Aibak
The Delhi Sultanate was a major Muslim sultan- founded the Mamluk
ate from the 13th to the 16th century in India. It Dynasty in 1206. He was
began with the campaigns of Muizz-al-din a central Asian Turk and a
Muhammad ibn Sam (Muhammad of Ghur; former general for the
brother of Sultan Ghiyas-al-Din of Ghur) and his crumbling Ghurid
lieutenant Qutb-ud-Din Aibak primarily between Sultanate, a Persian
1175 and 1206 respectively. dynasty that had ruled
It was the victory against the Rajputs that began over what is now Iran,
the established the reign of the Delhi Sultanate. Pakistan, northern India
Until the end of 12th century, it was Prithviraj and Afghanistan .
Qutb-ud-Dïn Aibak
Chauhan who ruled on the Indian land. During However, Qutb-ud-Dïn’s
his reign, Prithviraj Chauhan fought many battles reign was short-lived, as were many of his
out of which both the battles of Tarain fought in predecessors, and he died in 1210. The reign of
the late 12th century were crucial. In both battles, the Mamluk dynasty passed to his son-in-law
he fought Muhammad of Ghur of the Ghurid Iltutmish who would go on to truly establish the
dynasty of Afghanistan. sultanate in Delhi before his death in 1236.
In the first battle of Tarain between Muhammad During that time, the rulership of Delhi was
of Ghur and Prithviraj Chauhan and other Indian knocked into chaos as four descendants of
rulers that was fought in 1191 AD, Muhammad Iltutmish were placed on the throne and killed.
of Ghur faced a harsh defeat and had to retreat. Interestingly, the four-year reign of Razia Sultana
And, in the second battle that was fought in 1192 — whom Iltutmish had nominated on his death
AD, he returned and fought with more reinforce- bed — serves as one of the many examples of
ments and a stronger army with an intention to women in power in early Muslim culture.
defeat the Rajputs and succeeded in doing so. ILTUTMISH (1210-36)
This defeat ended the Rajputs’ supremacy in Iltutmish, a “slave of a slave” is regarded by
north India and gave way for Turkish emperors several historians as the real founder and
Social Science-7 27
