NATIONAL LAW INSTITUTE UNIVERSITY, BHOPAL

History-I Project

Decline of Delhi Sultanate

Semester-III

Submitted by: Amitabh Abhijit

Roll no.: 2019BALLB112
Section: B
Submitted to: Professor Uday Pratap Singh
 Table of Contents

Certificate.............................................................................................................3
Acknowledgement................................................................................................4
Introduction...........................................................................................................5
Project Synopsis....................................................................................................7
Statement of the Problem:...............................................................................7
Method of Study:.............................................................................................7
Hypothesis:......................................................................................................7
Review of Literature:.......................................................................................8
The Solidification of the Delhi Sultanate.............................................................9
The Eventual Decline of the Delhi Sultanate.....................................................10
Lodi Dynasty: The Last Straw............................................................................13
Causes of the Sultanate’s Decline.......................................................................14
Conclusion..........................................................................................................17
Bibliography.......................................................................................................18
 Certificate
This is to certify that the research paper titled “Decline of the Delhi Sultanate” has been
prepared and submitted by Amitabh Abhijit who is currently pursuing his BA LLB(Hons.) at
National Law Institute University, Bhopal in fulfillment of History-I course. It is also
certified that this is an original research report and this paper has not been submitted to any
other university, nor published in any journal.
 Acknowledgement

This project has been made possible by the unconditional help and support of many people. I
would like to acknowledge and extend my heartfelt gratitude to Professor Uday Pratap Singh
for guiding me throughout the development of this paper into a coherent whole by providing
helpful insights and sharing his brilliant expertise. I would also like to thank the officials of
the Gyan Mandir, National Law Institute University, for providing me with online resources
and the means to access them. I am deeply indebted to my parents, seniors and friends for all
the moral support and encouragement.
 Introduction

The Delhi Sultanate denotes an entire era in Indian History during which five dynasties took
over the administration of the subcontinent and thus ruled over India from 1206 AD to 1526
AD. The origin of the Sultanate can be traced back to the death of Muhammad Ghouri,
formally known as Muhammad of Ghor, Qutub-ud-din Aibak who was his general
established the Delhi Sultanate and India’s independence from the Ghurid Empire. From then
on for at least a considerable amount of time, the Sultanate soared with an iron fist over India
but in its later stages the Empire suffered from various predicaments that eventually
contributed towards its disintegration.

The end of this long-standing era could be traced back to various contributing factors that
ranged all the way from lack of popular support to the internal conflicts between kingdoms.
In this view, one aspect has been laid out as elementary for weakening if not completely
ending the Delhi Sultanate and this is the constant friction between the rulers and the nobles.
One thing that was clear from the beginning was that the rulers needed to equip themselves
better for not only outside threats but inner conflicts that had the potential to weaken the
administration from the inside.

There’s no denying that the Delhi Sultanate had its great moments and the earlier dynasties
had such as the Mamluk dynasty had effective control over the subcontinent and the general
population acknowledged their rule as well.

However, the same cannot be said about the later dynasties that proved to be far more
authoritarian. In other words, much like the other great eras, the Delhi Sultanate suffered
quite a lot due to its shortcomings which included the constant change in dynasties which
implied instability especially in the political sense over a long-term. According to various
noted scholars and Historians, the decline began with the Tughluq dynasty under the rule of
Feroz Shah Tughluq in the year 1388.
 Project Synopsis

Statement of the Problem: The researcher aims to conduct an analytical study into the
decline of the Delhi Sultanate that happens to define one of the most formidable eras in
Indian history.

Objectives of Study:
 To learn about the establishment and solidification of the Delhi Sultanate.
 To assess the contributing factors that led to the Sultanate’s decline and its eventual
disintegration.
 To examine the extent of the Delhi Sultanate and its subsequent dynasties.
 To understand the reasons behind the political instability of various later dynasties of
the Delhi Sultanate.

Research Questions:
The research question for this proposal area as follows:
a. What are the major highlights of the Delhi Sultanate?
b. What caused the decline of the Delhi Sultanate? Lastly,
c. What were the major implications of the decline of the Delhi Sultanate?

Method of Study: The research work would be carried out with the help of doctrinal
method of data collection. The main sources from which the research work would be
formulated would mainly consist of research papers, e-books and scholarly articles.

Hypothesis: It can hardly be stated that the Delhi Sultanate simply disintegrated only due
to the Mongol invasions that came in its last years. In all actuality, there are several
relationships such the relationship between the nobility and the Rulers along with the lack of
popular support enjoyed by the later kingdoms of the Sultanate.

Review of Literature:
 Indian Polity: Sultanate, Unit 18, Problem Crisis and Decline: The following
resource is a chapter in the book “Indian Polity: Sultanate” available online and it
dilates upon the details of the Delhi Sultanate’s decline. It deals with various aspects
of the disintegration such as the nature of the kinship, the crisis in revenue
administration as well as the problems between nobility and the royalty.

 Eraly, A. (2015). The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate. Penguin

UK: This book is considered to be one of the most comprehensive research works in
the subject matter relating to the decline of the Delhi Sultanate. Eraly,A describes the
era of the Delhi Sultanate as the “The Age of Wrath” on account of the the lack of
popular support received by the rulers and their authoritarian responses to the same.

 Qadir, K. (1994). Survey of Muslim Politics in the Delhi Sultanate. Journal of the

Pakistan Historical Society, 42(2), 155-171: This research paper is definitely a
formidable piece of work as it suggests a different perspective to the eventual decline
of the Delhi Sultanate and views it as a doing of the rulers as well instead of only
considering the contribution of the outside forces.

 Dalziel, N.R. (2016). Delhi Sultanate. In the Encyclopedia of Empire (eds N.

Dalziel and J.M. MacKenzie: Dalziel, N.R. is yet another noted historian who
conducted a detailed study into the nature of kinship during the Delhi Sultanate and
proposed various reasons for the decline of each and every dynasty leading up to the
downfall of the era itself. The work done cannot be ignored by anyone conducting a
research on the downfall of the Delhi Sultante.
 The Solidification of the Delhi Sultanate

The Delhi Sultanate, for at least a century and a half, became one of the most formidable
administrations in not just Indian history but world history entirely. Such a feat quite
obviously required a huge number of administrators and rulers who were well capable of
managing an empire as huge as the Delhi Sultanate. In this view, however, the dynasties at
Delhi Sultanate were quite unique in achieving such a level of administrative sophistication.
For instance, one of the earlier rulers of the Delhi Sultanate Iltutmish favored employing
‘bandagans’ who were trained slaves as chieftains, governors and even administrators.

“Nevertheless, the former is merely one of the many factors that helped in solidifying the
Sultanate’s rule over the subcontinent. Additionally, the contemporary chronicles view their
success as the ‘Will of God’, but the British historians hold the view that the invading armies
consisted of war-like tribes with better horses and better arms and the Indians were pacifists
by nature and were not given to war. 1This view is disproved by the fact that the Indians were
not lacking in bravery and martial spirit. Some Indian historians attribute the success of Turks
to the peculiar social structure created by Islam.”

The Decline of Delhi sultanate was sure and absolute in the year 1388 when the ruler Firoz
Tughlaq died. The empire started to fall apart due to the growth and spilt political and in-
house clash of the power. The successors of the ruler could not find their place of stand due
to the difference in support by various nobles in different individuals. There had been clear
indications of the empire falling apart and the other rules from different provinces found their
battling ground to take over the position in this moment of weakness for the Delhi Sultanate.

There were several reasons for the decline of the Delhi Sultanate and Timur getting a viable
chance to invade the city. Mainly, the research will be subjected to attending the causes and
analyzing the history deeper in order to justify the topic.

1
Decline of the Delhi Sultanate, Britannica India
 The Eventual Decline of the Delhi Sultanate

The invasion by Mohammad Ghori of Afghanistan in the northern India between the years
1175 and 1206 was the beginning of the Delhi Sultanate as stated in the study of Dalziel
(2016). Dalziel (2016) provides that the first sultan of the Delhi Sultanate was Qutub Al-Din
Aibak, who belonged to the military slaves and founded the Mamluk Dynasty.

The founding of this dynasty also marked the construction of other dynasties like the Khalji
Dynasty (1290 – 1320). Tughluk Dynasty (1320 – 1414), the Sayyid Dynasty (1414 – 1451)
and lastly Afghan Lodi Dynasty. As per the research by Dalziel (2016) the start of the Afghan
Lodi Dynasty paved way for the Mughals to invade in the year 1526.

A noted historian, Dalziel2, through his research on the decline of the Delhi Sultanate
emphasized on the Khalji Dynasty and describes the Khalji Dynasty and its major events as
the ones that marked the major events of the Delhi Sultanate. Basically, the ruler Ala-ud-Din
Khalji made changes and reformed the economic policies and rules. He also managed to keep
the Mongol attacks at the least invasive. But even after this, the other local rules and the
emperors were always into personal disputes and this created a weak link for the dynasty.

No matter how strong the Khilji Dynasty was, the inadequacy of the other rulers created a
risk for the sultanate. Dalziel (2016) in the research provides that the foreign invasive threats
from the Timurids and the Mongols created a chaos for the ruler and his people leaving the
Sultanate vulnerable. Since there were Hindus and Muslims both thriving in the Delhi
Sultanate but there was constant conflict. The Hindus had an upper hand due to their
population and oppressed the Muslims in the local province.

Dalziel’s work revealed that there was political variability in the government and the dynasty,
the problems and the chaos kept rising leading to people creating a personal government. The
dynasty was huge and had strong rulers in the Delhi Sultanate. But the end of it was marked
by the miscommunications in the political front and with the people. The Hindu Muslims
conflicts were never resolved and kept the fumes high at all times. 3

2
Dalziel, N.R. (2016). Delhi Sultanate. In The Encyclopedia of Empire (eds N. Dalziel and J.M.
MacKenzie). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118455074.wbeoe423
3
Id.
Qadir, K.4, another noted historian, noted in his research has mentioned a different side of the
Delhi Sultanate. He has considered to elaborate the politics by the Muslims in the Delhi
Sultanate. By research from different resources and reading material, it can be ascertained
that the politics in the Delhi sultanate was one of the major reasons for it to decline.

On the other hand, Eraly, A.5 named the Delhi Sultanate as “The age of Wrath.” His book
presents the reasons for the decline of the Sultanate along with the rise and the events along
the timeline of the Delhi Dynasty. His work presents that the Turkish invasion of the Turks
was unforeseen and that the events followed by the same were also very unaware to the
people. The people of the city did not understand the culture and the radical reforms of the
Turks. The invasion of the Turks to the India could have been envisioned but the rulers in the
country were very fragile and were engaged in the petty fights giving the Turks the chance to
set the foot deep in India.

Essentially, he gives the first reason that marked the end was the cultural difference and
unawareness of the methods of living for both the communities, the Turks and the Indians.
The contrast in the cultures created a sense of unacceptability between the two and led to the
differences uprising with time. Along with the culture, the religious beliefs also differed. The
Hindus and the Islam were poles apart in terms of the religious beliefs and aspects.

The Islam religion was hardcore and strict in its belief. They would not bend their beliefs
towards assertiveness to the Hindu community. The Hindus on the other hand, were too
dedicated to their religious belief to find harmony in Islamic religious beliefs. Eraly, A. finely
presented the resentment and the conflict between the two communities that led to the decline
of the Delhi Sultanate. 6

He also determines the second reason for the decline of the dynasty as the incompetence of
the political pillars in the reign of the sultans in Delhi. The constant conflict between the two

4
Qadir, K. (1994). Survey of Muslim Politics in the Delhi Sultanate. Journal of the Pakistan Historical
Society, 42(2), 155-171.

5
Eraly, A. (2015). The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate. Penguin UK.
6
Id.
communities regarding the cultures and their religious beliefs led to the inconvenience of
laying the foundations of a good politic standards and policies. There was no unity and the
division of the communities only contributed to the failure of the political infrastructure.

The failure of the rulers in the Delhi Sultanate is the one of the major reasons for its failure
according to Eraly, A. (2015). 7Muhammad-Bin-Tughluq had created so much chaos in the
country and the disruption led to the people losing hope. This led to the people taking matters
into their own hands and forming alliances to fight the government and the ineffective
measures of the rulers. The decline was marked with the destructive events and the confusion
caused by Muhammad-Bin-Tughluq.

Lodi Dynasty: The Last Straw

7
supra note 2.
When the Lodi dynasty came to power not only had the coalescence of the Delhi Sultanate
come to a complete halt, but the empire itself was subjected to various predicaments.
Nevertheless, the Lodi dynasty endeavored to re-establish it, and in the quest of this objective
they started campaigns in the North. With the victory over Jaunpur, their intentions were
clear. The Sultanate started to re-establish its authority over northern India. However, this did
not mean that the Lodi dynasty had found steadiness in its conquests. They continually lost
some conquests regardless of their victories.

Ibrahim Lodi was an absolutist, more than any of his predecessors. He was ostensibly less
ready to control his agitated nobility, which expanded exponentially after the huge
immigration of Afghans to India. They would generally consider the Lodi kings just as “first
among equals”. Ibrahim, after a while met an Afghan resistance in the East under the
authority of his sibling Jalal Khan, and, while Ibrahim put down this and other Afghan
rebellions in the area, the foundation for the last catastrophe was laid in the west. 8

Dawlat Khan Lodi, legislative leader of the Punjab, asked Babur for help in their endeavour
to topple the Sultan of Delhi. Babur was an opportunist and wanting to make the most out of
the changing political climate, sought to add Punjab to the Sultanate. In 1524, he drove an
endeavour to Lahore and crushed Ibrahim's armed forces. Babur at that point disregarded his
Afghan partners and selected his own people in the Punjab.

After his so-called partners left him in anger, he proceeded to annihilate Ibrahim at the first of
three significant in Panipat, which is infamously known as the battle of Panipat, in the year
1526. The Afghan sultanate went through a short recovery under the Suris in 1540–55, just to
be supplanted by the Mughals again under Humayun and then from one of the greatest rulers
of all time, King Akbar

Causes of the Sultanate’s Decline

8
supra note 1.
  Lack of clarity in succession laws:
In the Delhi Sultanate’s long-standing era the hereditary principle was accepted but
was definitely not paramount and in no way was it adhered to invariably. In other
words, there was no regulation regarding the usual convention that only the eldest son
would succeed and thus primogeniture was not a certainty. “9In one case, even a
daughter was nominated (for example, Raziya Sultan). At any rate, a slave, unless he
was manumitted, that is, freed, could not claim sovereignty. In fact, as it operated in
the Sultanate, 'the longest the sword, the greater the claim'.”

With the accession of the Lodi Dynasty a new element, the Afghans was added. 10The
Afghans had a certain peculiar concept of sovereignty. They were prepared to accept
the position of a Sultan over them, but they sought to partition the empire among their
clans After the death of Sultan Sikandar Lodi (1517 A.D.), the empire was divided
between Ibrahim and Jalal. Even the royal privileges and prerogatives were equally
shared by the clan members.”

Besides, the Afghans entertained the concept of maintaining tribal militia which in the
long run greatly hampered the military efficiency of the Delhi Sultanate. It is true that
Sikandar Lodi tried to keep the ambitious Afghan nobles in check, but it seems that
the concept of Afghan polity was more tilted towards decentralization that created
fissures in the end.”

 The friction between the nobility and the rulers:

The political history of the Sultanate period testifies that consolidation and decline of
the Sultanate were largely the result of constructive and destructive activities of the
nobles (umara). 11The nobles always tried to maximize their demands in terms of the
economic and political gains.”

The Sultans repeatedly made attempts to organize, with turns and twists but all his
efforts failed to put them under check. The problems created by the nobles can be
gauged from the fact that twenty-two rebellions that took place during the reign of

9
supra note 3.
10
supra note 5.
11
Indian Polity: Sultanate, Unit 18, Problem Crisis and Decline.
 Muhammad-bin-Tughluq with the loss of at least one territory, later known as
Bahmani kingdom.”

 Crisis in Revenue Administration:

Iltutmish had introduced a sound system of revenue assignments known as the iqta
system through which the vast bureaucracy was maintained. Firoz Tughluq's reign,
however, saw deterioration in its working. 12During his reign, revenue assignments
tended to be hereditary and permanent. This applied even to the royal soldiers (yaran-I
-hashm).”

Sikandar Lodi stopped to reclaim the balance (fawazil). The tendency of the principal
assignees to sub-assign their territories also increased greatly during his reign. All this
had deep implications. It meant not only loss of vast revenue resources to the state
exchequer but by making the assignments permanent.”

 Rise of Regional States:

Clashes between the nobles and the Delhi Sultans marred the Sultanate from the
beginning of its foundation. But, so long as the centre was powerful to retaliate, the
rebellions were successfully crushed. Signs of physical disintegration were witnessed
for the first-time during Muhammad Tughluq's reign in 1347 A.D. with the
establishment of the Bahamani kingdom. But the Sultanate remained intact at least
nearly for fifty years when finally, the Timurid invasion (1398 A.D.) exposed the
weakness.”

It provided ample opportunity for the nobles to establish their own areas of influence,
independent of the Sultan. Governors like Khwaja Jahan (Jaunpur) in 1394 Khwaja in
1394, Dilawar Khan (Malwa) in 1401, Zafar Khan (Gujarat) in 1407, and some
regions in Rajasthan also declared their independence during the 15th century.nt the
Sultan allowed the {assignees to develop strong local roots which led to wide-scale
corruption and turbulence.”

 The Mongol invasions:

The Mongol invasions continued up to the period of Muhammad Tughluq with certain
12
Id.
 intervals. Alauddin Khalji and Muhammad Tughluq were very much conscious of the
Mongol assaults and resisted them successfully. While it is true that so much money
and time had to be spent and thousands of soldiers were sacrificed, it does not seem
that these invasions enfeebled the Sultanate in any substantial manner.”

By the time of the Lodhi Dynasty’s succession, it was well established that the Delhi
Sultanate had succumbed to its many predicaments and when Ibrahim Lodhi lost the
Battle of Panipat to Babur, it was certainly an expected outcome given the amount of
trouble the Mongolian invasions had caused to the Sultanate in its prime.
Consequently, a weakened Delhi Sultanate stood no chance in front an enemy as
formidable as the Mongols.13

Conclusion

It can very well be argued that the Delhi Sultanate finds its place among the many great eras
that led to its own fall. In other words, the many predicaments that faced the Sultanate were
mostly driven by internal forces. For instance, one political reason for the decline of the

13
supra note 1.
Sultanate was the absence of any well established and universally accepted law of succession.
This was in line with the entire history of the Islamic polity.

As long as a Sultan was strong and was able to gain the support of some groups of 'nobles, he
could continue with some superficial semblance of dynastic stability. Dissensions and
conflicts amongst the ruling groups might remain apparently dormant in such circumstances;
but at the slightest opportunity their internal struggle would come to the force often in a
violent fashion.

Initially, the iqta system served the central authority, its elements of transfer and non-
permanence ensured the Sultan's power. On the other hand, the gradual disappearance of
these principles, especially during Firoz Tughluq's rule, paved the way for the steady
dissipation of the state's authority. The upshot was the emergence of autonomous and, then,
independent political centers in different regions. The Mongols might have hammered the
Sultanate off and on but, on the whole, their forays did not affect the Sultanate's political and
economic fortune.

As a result, it can be safely assumed that the destiny of the Sultanate’s downfall was written
within the rules of the Delhi Sultanate itself in the form of its shortcomings and inefficiencies
that, at the time may not have seemed to pose a large threat but became so with the passage of
time. Briefly noting, the Sultanate’s greatest years resulted in the development of a system
that was not accustomed to change with time, this was a major disadvantage for the later
kingdoms as it is very much a contributing factor leading up to their loss.

In essence, the reasons for the decline of Delhi sultanate can be attributed to series of
unfortunate decisions made by the Sultans themselves. Much like the legend of Icarus, the
overambitious nature of the rulers led to downfall unlike any other.

Bibliography

1. Book(s):
  Eraly, A. (2015). The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate. Penguin
UK

2. Journal/Research Paper(s):
 Qadir, K. (1994). Survey of Muslim Politics in the Delhi Sultanate. Journal of the
Pakistan Historical Society, 42(2), 155-171.
 Indian Polity: Sultanate, Unit 18, Problem Crisis and Decline available at
https://www.shivajicollege.ac.in/sPanel/uploads/econtent/650a9a46d87b7f909229431
d88f26018.pdf
 Dalziel, N.R. (2016). Delhi Sultanate. In the Encyclopedia of Empire (eds N. Dalziel
and J.M. MacKenzie). 

3. Scholarly Article(s):
 Decline of the Delhi Sultanate, Britannica India:
https://www.britannica.com/place/India/Decline-of-the-sultanate