Mamluk dynasty (Delhi)

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Mamluk dynasty
Delhi Sultanate
1206–1290
Flag of Mamluk dynasty (Delhi)
Flag of the Delhi Sultanate according to the contemporary Catalan Atlas (c. 1375).[1][2][3]
Territory of the Delhi Mamluk Dynasty circa 1250.[4]
Territory of the Delhi Mamluk Dynasty circa 1250.[4]
Capital
  • Lahore (1206–1210)
  • Badayun
    (1210–1214)
  • Delhi (1214–1290)
[5]
Common languagesTurkic (main)[6]
Qutb ud-Din Aibak
• 1287–1290
Muiz ud din Qaiqabad
History 
• Established
1206
• Disestablished
1290
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Chahamanas of Shakambhari
Tomara dynasty
Ghurid Sultanate
Sena Empire
Khalji dynasty of Bengal
Khalji dynasty
Today part of
Qutb Minaret
Qutb al-Din Aibak in 1199 and completed by his son-in-law Iltutmish in 1220, an example of the Mamluk dynasty's works. It is somewhat similar to the earlier Minaret of Jam in Afghanistan
.

The Mamluk dynasty (

Gangetic plain and established control over some of the new areas.[12][13]

History

Mamluk dynasty was founded by

Mamluks were soldiers of slave origins who had converted to Islam. The phenomenon started in the 9th century and gradually the Mamluks became a powerful military class in various Muslim societies. Mamluks held political and military power most notably in Egypt, but also in the Levant, Iraq, and India
.

In 1206,

Qutb ud-Din Aibak became the sultan of Delhi
, and that was the beginning of the slave dynasty.

Aibak rose to power when his Ghurid overlord Muhammad of Ghor was assassinated.

Sultan of Delhi was short-lived as he died in 1210 and his successor Aram Shah rose to the throne, only to be assassinated by Iltutmish
in 1211.

The Sultanate under Iltutmish established cordial diplomatic contact with the

Rukn ud din Firuz to Razia Sultana until Ghiyas ud din Balban rose to the throne and successfully repelled both external threats to the Sultanate from the Chagatai Khanate invasions and internal threats from the rebellious sultanate nobles.[10][15]

At least until the end of the 13th century when they ruled the Mamluk Sultanate in India, the Ghurid Turks maintained their ethnical characteristics, continuing to use Turkish as their main language, rather than Persian, and persisting in their rude and bellicose ways as "men of the sword", in opposition to the Persian "men of the pen".[8]

The

Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji overthrew the last of the Slave dynasty rulers, Muiz ud din Qaiqabad, the grandson of Balban, and assumed the throne at Delhi.[16]

Sultans

Ghiyath al-Din 'Iwad, Governor of Bengal (AH 614–616 AD 1217–1220). Struck in the name of Shams al-Din Iltutmish
, Sultan of Dehli.

The first Sultan of the Mamluk dynasty was

Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque and the Qutb Minar.[17] In 1210, he died due to injuries received from an accident while playing a game of polo in Lahore; his horse fell and he was impaled on the pommel of his saddle. He was buried near the Anarkali Bazaar in Lahore.[17]

The second Sultan was

Badaun, to replace Aram. Iltutmish defeated Aram in the plain of Jud near Delhi in 1211. It is not quite certain what became of Aram.[17]

The third Sultan was Shams-ud-din

Bakhtiyar Khilji and his successors of the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, was finally incorporated into the Delhi Sultanate in 1227.[14][18] In 1230, Iltutmish built the Hauz-i-Shamsi reservoir in Mehrauli, and in 1231 he built Sultan Ghari, which was the first Islamic mausoleum in Delhi.[17]

Qutub Minar
complex.

The fourth Sultan was

Rukn-ud-din Feroze, who had the titular name of Sultan and reigned from April 1236 to November 1236. He ruled for only seven months and his mother, Shah Turkan
, for all practical purposes was running the government. He abandoned himself to the pursuit of personal pleasure and debauchery, to the considerable outrage of the citizenry. On 9 November 1236, both Rukn-ud-din Feroze and his mother Shah Turkan were assassinated by the Chihalgani.

The fifth Sultana was

Jats and were robbed and killed on 14 October 1240.[17]

The sixth Sultan was Muiz-ud-din Bahram, who had the titular name of Sultan and reigned from 1240 to 15 May 1242. During his reign, the Chihalgani became disorderly and constantly bickered among each other. It was during this period of unrest that the Mongols invaded the Punjab and sacked Lahore. Muiz-ud-din Bahram was too weak to take any action against them, and the Chihalgani besieged him in the White Fort of Delhi and put him to death in 1242.[17]

South Asian polities, circa 1250 CE.[19]

The seventh Sultan was

Nasiruddin Mahmud, who was another grandson of Iltutmish.[17]

The eighth Sultan was Nasiruddin Mahmud, who had the titular name of Nasir-ud-din Feroze Shah and reigned from 1246 to 1266. As a ruler, Mahmud was known to be very religious, spending most of his time in prayer and was renowned for aiding the poor and the distressed. It was his Deputy Sultan, Ghiyath-ud-din Balban, who primarily dealt with state affairs.[17]

The ninth Sultan was Ghiyath-ud-din Balban, who had the titular name of Sultan and reigned from 1266 to 1287. Balban ruled with an iron fist and broke up the Chihalgani group of noblemen. He tried to establish peace and order in India and built many outposts with garrisons of soldiers in areas where there had been disorder. Balban wanted to make sure everyone was loyal to the crown, so he established an efficient espionage system. He also fought against the Mongols and repelled many invasions by them. He lost his favourite son Prince Muhammad in the Battle of Beas River against the Mongols.[17]

The tenth and final Sultan was Muiz-ud-din Muhammad Qaiqabad, who had the titular name of Sultan and reigned from 1287 to 1290. Being still young at the time, he ignored all state affairs. After four years, he suffered a paralytic stroke and was later murdered in 1290 by a Khalji chief. His three-year-old son Kayumars nominally succeeded him, but the Slave dynasty had ended with the rise of the Khaljis.[17]

Architecture

The architectural legacy of the dynasty includes:[17]

Gandhak ki Baoli
Empty
Filled with water
The Gandhak Ki Baoli stepwell, built by Iltutmish (r. 1211–1236).[20]

Qutb ud-Din Aibak (1150–1210)

Iltutmish (r. 1211–1236)

Other rulers

  • The Quwwat-ul-Islam ("Might of Islam") mosque, at the Qutb complex in Delhi, started in 1193 CE by Qutb-ud-din-Aibak to mark his victory over the Rajputs
    The
    Qutb-ud-din-Aibak
    to mark his victory over the Rajputs
  • Intricate stone carvings on the cloister columns at Quwwat ul-Islam Mosque, Qutb complex, Delhi. These are recycled Hindu temple pillars displaying Hindu iconography.
    Intricate stone carvings on the cloister columns at Quwwat ul-Islam Mosque, Qutb complex, Delhi. These are recycled Hindu temple pillars displaying Hindu iconography.
  • The Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra mosque in Ajmer was started in 1192 and completed in 1199 by Qutb al-Din Aibak.
    The Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra mosque in Ajmer was started in 1192 and completed in 1199 by Qutb al-Din Aibak.
  • Decoration inside the Marble Mehrab at Sultan Ghari
    Decoration inside the Marble Mehrab at Sultan Ghari

See also

  • Tughlaq Dynasty
  • Indian campaigns of Muhammad of Ghor
  • Persianate states

References

  1. ^ Grey flag with black vertical stripe according to the Catalan Atlas of c. 1375: in the depiction of the Delhi Sultanate in the Catalan Atlas
  2. S2CID 263250872
    . ...helps identify another curious flag found in northern India – a brown or originally silver flag with a vertical black line – as the flag of the Delhi Sultanate (602-962/1206-1555).
  3. .
  4. .
  5. ^ Vincent A Smith, The Oxford History of India: From the Earliest Times to the End of 1911 at Google Books, Chapter 2, Oxford University Press
  6. .
  7. ^ "Arabic and Persian Epigraphical Studies - Archaeological Survey of India". Asi.nic.in. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  8. ^ . The ethnicity of Turkish slaves, the earliest generation of whom dated to the Ghurid invasions of India, survived well into the thirteenth century. For a time, even Persian-speaking secretaries had to master Turkish in order to function. There persisted, more-over, deep cultural tensions between native Persian-speakers – whether from Iran, Khurasan or Central Asia – and ethnic Turks. Nizam al-Din Auliya (d. 1325), Delhi's renowned Sufi shaikh, characterized Turks as rude, bellicose and vain, reflecting a view, prevalent among many native Persians of the day, that Turks were uncultured boors who had illegitimately monopolized power and privilege. Such animosities were amplified by the asymmetrical power relations between ethnic Turks and Persians, often depicted in the literature as 'men of the sword' and 'men of the pen' respectively.
  9. ^ Walsh, pp. 68-70
  10. ^ a b c Anzalone, p. 100
  11. .
  12. ^ Sisirkumar Mitra 1977, pp. 123–126.
  13. .
  14. ^ .
  15. ^ a b Walsh, p. 70
  16. ^ Anzalone, p. 101
  17. ^ .
  18. .
  19. .
  20. ^ .

Sources

Further reading

External links