History of the Delhi Sultanate in India Essay Example

Slave Dynasty.

He was a great builder who built the majestic 238 feet high stone tower known as Qutub Minar in Delhi. The next important king of the Slave dynasty was Shams-ud-din Iltutmush, who himself was a slave of Qutub-ud-din Aibak. Iltutmush ruled for around 26 years from 1211 to 1236. Finally, the youngest son of Iltutmush, Nasir-ud-din Mahmud became Sultan in 1245. Though Mahmud ruled India for around 20 years, throughout his tenure, the main power remained in the hands of Balban, his Prime Minister.

After the death of Mahmud, Balban directly took over the throne and ruled Delhi. During his rule from 1266 to 1287, Balban consolidated the administrative setup of the empire and completed the work started by Iltutmush. Before his death, Balban appointed his grandson, Kai Khusrav as his successor since Bughra Khan, the second son, had refused to accept kingly responsibilities. Following the death of Balban, the Sultanate became weak and there were a number of revolts. This was the period when the nobles placed Jalal-ud-din Khilji on the throne.

This marked the end of the Slave dynasty and the beginning of the Khilji dynasty. The rule of this dynasty started in 1290 A. D. Ala-ud-din was very greedy for power, wealth, and political power. He had no intention of sharing this wealth with his uncle and father-in-law.

Ala-ud-din Khilji, a nephew of Jalal-ud-din Khilji hatched a conspiracy and got Sultan Jalal-ud-din killed and proclaimed himself as the Sultan on July 19th, 1296. On October 3rd, 1296, Ala-ud-din was crowned as Sultan in the Red Palace of Balban. Ala-ud-din Khilji was the first Muslim ruler whose empire covered almost the whole of India up

to its extreme south. He fought many battles, conquered Gujarat, Ranthambhor, Chittor, Malwa, and Deccan. During his reign of 20 years, Mongols invaded the country several times but were successfully repulsed. From these invasions, Alla-ud-din Khilji learned the lessons of keeping himself prepared, by fortifying and organizing his armed forces.

Alla-ud-din died in 1316 A. D., and with his death, and soon the Khilji dynasty came to an end. Mubarak made people happy, plugged himself into a life of pleasure, and according to research written in Dr. Das’s assignment lecture notes, he spent the majority of his time drinking, listening to music, and giving out gifts during his short reign of four years and four months. Conditions were relatively peaceful; there were attacks by the Mongols, and only one huge rebellion in Devagiri, under Mubarak's reign. In 1320 he was assassinated by one of Khusrav’s aides, which leads to the end of the line of Khalji kings. Khusrav took the throne and title of Nasir-ud-din Khusrav Shah. He basically killed off any supporters of the Khalji reign one by one.

In September 1320, Nasir-ud-din Khusrav Shah was killed by a small army led by Ghazi Malik. Because there were no bloodlines or suitable successors to the throne, the nobles asked Malik to ascend the throne as Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq. This brought transition and disintegration to the Delhi Sultanate and passed the line of rulers to the Tughlaq.