Delhi Sultanate and the Regional Kingdoms

The Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526)

Five dynasties ruled from Delhi, one after another:

Key institutions

• Iqta – land revenue assignments given to officers (iqtadars) in place of salary.
• Persian became the language of administration.
• New architecture: the true arch and dome, e.g. the Alai Darwaza.

The Vijayanagara and Bahmani kingdoms

• Vijayanagara was founded in 1336 by Harihara and Bukka (Sangama dynasty), with its capital at Hampi (a UNESCO site).
• Its greatest ruler was Krishnadeva Raya (Tuluva dynasty), who wrote the Telugu work Amuktamalyada.
• It was defeated at the Battle of Talikota (1565) by an alliance of the Deccan Sultanates.
• The Bahmani kingdom (founded 1347) later broke into five Deccan Sultanates. Its minister Mahmud Gawan built a famous madrasa at Bidar.

Visitors to remember

• Ibn Battuta (Morocco) – came during Muhammad bin Tughlaq's reign and wrote the Rihla.
• Abdur Razzaq (Persia), Domingo Paes and Nuniz (Portugal) described Vijayanagara.

Background: why Delhi?

After Muhammad Ghori defeated Prithviraj Chauhan at the Second Battle of Tarain (1192), his general Qutb-ud-din Aibak stayed on in India. After Ghori's death (1206), Aibak ruled independently. Delhi became the centre because it controlled the routes between the Punjab and the Ganga plains.

Consolidation – the key rulers explained

• Iltutmish (1211–36) is the real consolidator. He got recognition from the Abbasid Caliph (1229), created the "Chalisa" (a group of forty Turkish nobles), organised the iqta system and standardised coinage. He shifted the capital from Lahore to Delhi.
• Razia (1236–40) was capable but faced opposition from nobles who resented a woman ruler and her reliance on non-Turks.
• Balban (1266–87) crushed the Chalisa, introduced sijda and paibos (prostration and kissing the feet) to raise royal prestige, and used a strong spy system (barids). His theory was that the king is the "shadow of God" (zil-i-ilahi).
• Alauddin Khalji (1296–1316) – faced Mongol raids. He kept a large standing army paid in cash. To make this affordable, he fixed prices of grain, cloth and horses; set up separate markets, with the shahna-i-mandi (market superintendent); measured land and fixed revenue at half the produce in the doab; and introduced the dagh (branding of horses) and chehra (descriptive rolls of soldiers). His general Malik Kafur led raids deep into the south.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1325–51) – an educated but impulsive ruler. His experiments: transferring the capital to Daulatabad (1327) to control the south; token currency of copper/brass (forged widely and withdrawn); a planned Khurasan expedition; and raising taxes in the doab during a famine. Many failed through poor implementation, not bad ideas.
• Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351–88) – canals (e.g. the Western Yamuna canal), new towns (Hisar, Firozabad), a department of slaves (diwan-i-bandagan), the diwan-i-khairat (charity), hospitals (dar-ul-shifa). He made the iqtas hereditary – a weakness later. He imposed jizya on Brahmins too.
• Timur's invasion (1398) sacked Delhi and accelerated the decline.

Administration at a glance

Causes and effects – why the Sultanate declined

Causes: a vast empire and poor communications; conflicts among nobles; hereditary iqtas (Firoz Shah); MBT's failed experiments; Timur's invasion; the rise of provincial kingdoms (Bengal, Jaunpur, Malwa, Gujarat, the Bahmanis, Vijayanagara).

Effects (lasting legacy): Persian administration and vocabulary; the iqta idea that evolved into the Mughal jagir; new architecture (the true arch and dome); the growth of Urdu/Hindavi; Sufi and Bhakti interaction; new crafts (paper, the spinning wheel – charkha – and the bow for carding cotton spread in this period).

Vijayanagara – how a southern empire worked

• Nayankara system: military chiefs (nayakas) received territories (amaram) in return for troops. Later, these nayakas became independent (Madurai, Thanjavur).
• Ayagar system: village servants paid through land grants.
• Economy: temples were economic hubs; there was trade in horses (from Arabia and later through the Portuguese) and spices.
• Culture: the Vitthala and Virupaksha temples at Hampi (stone chariot, musical pillars); Telugu literature flourished under Krishnadeva Raya (Ashtadiggajas – eight poets, including Allasani Peddana).
• Rivalry with the Bahmanis was mainly over the fertile Raichur doab between the Krishna and the Tungabhadra.

Case study: Alauddin's market reforms – lessons for today

Alauddin wanted to pay soldiers less without making them poorer, so he controlled prices with strict supervision and punishments, plus state granaries. It worked in Delhi during his lifetime, but it depended on coercion and collapsed after him. In GS3 inflation answers, this is a historical example showing that price controls need supply-side support and are hard to sustain – a link to buffer stocks and the PDS today.

Common misconceptions

• "Qutb-ud-din Aibak built the Qutub Minar." – He began it. Iltutmish completed it, and Firoz Shah Tughlaq repaired it.
• "The token currency failed because copper coins were a bad idea." – It failed because the state could not stop forgery; token currency itself is how modern money works.
• "Vijayanagara was a purely Hindu kingdom at war with Muslims." – Its army employed Muslim cavalry and archers, and its rivalry with the Sultanates was largely territorial and economic.

How UPSC asks it

Prelims asks about administrative terms (iqta, dagh, chehra, shahna-i-mandi), travellers (Ibn Battuta, Nuniz, Paes, Abdur Razzaq) and Vijayanagara features. Mains themes include the iqta system, Alauddin's reforms, and Vijayanagara's art and administration.

Mains answer framework

Q-type: "Assess Muhammad bin Tughlaq's administrative experiments."

• Intro: a scholar-ruler at the peak of the Sultanate's extent.
• Body: each experiment – its aim, its logic, why it failed (implementation, timing, resistance).
• Balance: visionary ideas (token currency, a southern capital) versus impractical execution.
• Conclusion: lessons for policy – piloting, consultation, enforcement capacity.

Key administrative terms

Regional kingdoms to remember

• Vijayanagara (founded 1336 by Harihara and Bukka): Krishnadeva Raya's reign as a high point; Hampi's temples; defeated at Talikota (1565).
• Bahmani kingdom (1347): Mahmud Gawan's administration; later split into five Deccan sultanates.
• Rajput states, Bengal, Gujarat, Kashmir (Zain-ul-Abidin's tolerance).

Mains practice question

Q. Assess Muhammad bin Tughlaq's experiments. Outline: transfer of capital to Daulatabad, token currency, taxation in the Doab, the Khurasan expedition; ideas often ahead of their time but poorly implemented; consequences for the treasury and for rebellions; a lesson in the importance of administrative capacity for reform.

Check your understanding

1. Why did the Sultanate decline? Weak successors after Firuz Tughlaq, rebellions by provincial governors, Timur's invasion (1398) and the financial strain of military campaigns.
2. What was the Vijayanagara nayaka system? Military chiefs (nayakas) received territories in return for maintaining troops – comparable in some ways to the iqta system.