Delhi Sultanate: Difference between revisions

| image_map_caption      = Delhi Sultanate at its greatest extent, under the [[Tughlaq dynasty]], 1330–1335.<ref name="A Historical atlas of South Asia">{{cite book |last1=Schwartzberg |first1=Joseph E. |title=A Historical atlas of South Asia |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |page=147, map XIV.3 (j)|isbn=0226742210 |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=185}}</ref><ref name="malik" />

| common_languages      = [[Persian language|Persian]] (official and court language)<ref name="asi.nic.in">{{cite web |url = http://asi.nic.in/asi_epigraphical_arabicpersian.asp |title = Arabic and Persian Epigraphical Studies - Archaeological Survey of India |website = Asi.nic.in |access-date = 29 January 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110929105219/http://asi.nic.in/asi_epigraphical_arabicpersian.asp |archive-date = 29 September 2011 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> <br> [[Hindustani language|Hindavi]] (semi-official between 1451 and 1526)<ref>{{cite journal |last=Alam |first=Muzaffar |year=1998 |title = The pursuit of Persian: Language in Mughal Politics |journal = Modern Asian Studies |publisher = Cambridge University Press |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=317–349 |quote = Hindavi was recognized as a semi-official language by the Sor Sultans (1540–1555) and their chancellery rescripts bore transcriptions in the Devanagari script of the Persian contents. The practice is said to have been introduced by the Lodis (1451–1526). |doi = 10.1017/s0026749x98002947 |s2cid=146630389 }}</ref>

| government_type        = [[Monarchy]]

The '''Delhi Sultanate''', or the '''Sultanate of Delhi''', was a Muslim empire<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shally-Jensen |first1=Michael |last2=Vivian |first2=Anthony |title=A Cultural Encyclopedia of Lost Cities and Civilizations |date=11 November 2022 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-7311-9 |page=171 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YQuXEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 |language=en}}</ref> based in [[Delhi]] that stretched over large parts of the [[Indian subcontinent]] during the period of [[Medieval India]], for 320 years (1206–1526).<ref name=brt>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/156530/Delhi-sultanate Delhi Sultanate], Encyclopædia Britannica</ref><ref>A. Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, Leiden, 1980</ref> Following the invasion of [[South Asia]] by the [[Ghurid dynasty]], five largely unrelated dynasties ruled over the Delhi Sultanate sequentially: the [[Mamluk dynasty (Delhi)|Mamluk dynasty]] (1206–1290), the [[Khalji dynasty]] (1290–1320), the [[Tughlaq dynasty]] (1320–1414),<ref name="sen2">{{cite book |last=Sen |first=Sailendra |title = A Textbook of Medieval Indian History |publisher=Primus Books |year=2013 |isbn=978-9-38060-734-4 |pages=68–102 }}</ref> the [[Sayyid dynasty]] (1414–1451), and the [[Lodi dynasty]] (1451–1526). It covered large swaths of territory in modern-day [[India]], [[Pakistan]], and [[Bangladesh]] as well as some parts of southern [[Nepal]].<ref>Chapman, Graham. "Religious vs. regional determinism: India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as inheritors of empire." Shared space: Divided space. Essays on conflict and territorial organization (1990): 106-134.</ref>

The foundation of the Sultanate was laid by the [[Ghurid Empire|Ghurid conqueror]] [[Muhammad of Ghor|Muhammad Ghori]] who routed the [[Rajput|Rajput Confederacy]] led by Ajmer ruler [[Prithviraj Chauhan]] in [[Second Battle of Tarain|1192 near Tarain]], after suffering a reverse against [[First Battle of Tarain|them earlier]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Sugata Bose|author1-link=Sugata Bose|author2=Ayesha Jalal|author2-link=Ayesha Jalal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ihNtzxy5GEC&q=Rajput|title=Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy|date=2004|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-30786-4|page=21|quote=It was a similar combination of political and economic imperatives which led Muhmmad Ghuri, a Turk, to invade India a century and half later in 1192. His defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan, a Rajput chieftain, in the strategic battle of Tarain in northern India paved the way for the establishment of first Muslim sultante|language=en}}</ref> As a successor to the [[Ghurid dynasty]], the Delhi Sultanate was originally one among a number of principalities ruled by the [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] slave-generals of [[Muhammad of Ghor|Muhammad Ghori]], including [[Taj al-Din Yildiz]], [[Qutb al-Din Aibak]], [[Bahauddin Tughril]] and [[Nasir ad-Din Qabacha]], that had inherited and divided the Ghurid territories amongst themselves.<ref>{{cite book |author = K. A. Nizami |author-link = K. A. Nizami |title = A Comprehensive History of India: The Delhi Sultanat (A.D. 1206-1526) |volume=5 |edition = 2nd |page = 198 |year=1992 |publisher=The Indian History Congress / People's Publishing House |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_9cmAQAAMAAJ }}</ref> [[Alauddin Khalji|Khalji]] and [[Muhammad bin Tughlaq|Tughlaq]] rule ushered a new wave of rapid and ceaseless [[Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent|Muslim conquests]] deep into [[South India]].<ref name="Mahajan 121">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nMWSQuf4oSIC&dq=revolution+ceaseless&pg=RA1-PA90 |title= History of Medieval India |page=121 |author= Mahajan |year= 2007 |publisher= Chand |isbn= 9788121903646 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=bodaohHyDRcC&dq=tughlaq+deccan+south+india&pg=PA28 |title= Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy |date= 1998 |author= Sugata Bose, Ayesha Jalal |page= 28 |isbn= 9780415169523 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title = History and Culture of Rajasthan: From Earliest Times Upto 1956 A.D. |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6yNuAAAAMAAJ |publisher = Centre for Rajasthan Studies, University of Rajasthan |author = Krishna Gopal Sharma |year = 1999 }}</ref> The sultanate finally reached the peak of its geographical reach during the Tughlaq dynasty, occupying most of the [[Indian subcontinent]] under [[Muhammad bin Tughluq]]. A major political transformation occurred across [[Northern India]], triggered by Central Asian conqueror [[Tamerlane]]'s devastating raid on [[Delhi]] in 1398, followed soon afterwards by the reemergence of rival Hindu powers

such as the [[Vijayanagara Empire|Vijayanagara]] and [[Mewar]] asserting independence, and new [[Muslims|Muslim]] sultanates such as the [[Bengal Sultanate|Bengal]] and [[Bahmani Sultanate]]s breaking off.<ref>Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, ''A History of India'', 3rd Edition, Routledge, 1998, {{ISBN|0-415-15482-0}}, pp.&nbsp;187-190.</ref><ref>Vincent A Smith, {{Google books|p2gxAQAAMAAJ|The Oxford History of India: From the Earliest Times to the End of 1911|page=217}}, Chapter 2, Oxford University Press</ref> In 1526, [[First Battle of Panipat|the Sultanate was conquered and succeeded]] by the [[Mughal Empire]].

The establishment of the Sultanate drew the Indian subcontinent more closely into international and multicultural Islamic social and economic networks,{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2008|pp=50–52}} (as seen concretely in the development of the [[Hindustani language]]<ref name="brown2008" /> and [[Indo-Islamic architecture]]),<ref>A. Welch, "Architectural Patronage and the Past: The Tughluq Sultans of India", Muqarnas 10, 1993, Brill Publishers, pp.&nbsp;311-322.</ref><ref>J. A. Page, [https://archive.org/stream/guidetothequtbde031434mbp#page/n15/mode/2up/search/temple ''Guide to the Qutb''], Delhi, Calcutta, 1927, pp.&nbsp;2-7.</ref> being one of the few powers to repel attacks of the [[Mongols]] (from the [[Chagatai Khanate]])<ref>Pradeep Barua ''The State at War in South Asia'', {{ISBN|978-0803213449}}, pp.&nbsp;29–30.</ref> and for enthroning one of the few female rulers in [[History of Islam|Islamic history]], [[Razia Sultan]], who reigned from 1236 to 1240.<ref>Bowering et al., ''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought'', {{ISBN|978-0691134840}}, Princeton University Press</ref> [[Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji|Bakhtiyar Khalji]]'s annexations involved a large-scale desecration of [[Hinduism|Hindu]] and [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] temples<ref name="re2000">{{cite journal |author = Richard Eaton |date = September 2000 |title = Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States |journal = Journal of Islamic Studies |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=283–319 |doi=10.1093/jis/11.3.283 |doi-access=free }}</ref> (contributing to the [[Decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent|decline of Buddhism]] in [[East India]] and [[Bengal]]),<ref name="Randall Collins 2000, pages 184-185">Randall Collins, ''The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change.'' Harvard University Press, 2000, pages 184–185</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Craig Lockard |title = Societies, Networks, and Transitions: Volume I: A Global History |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yJPlCpzOY_QC |year=2007 |publisher = University of Wisconsin Press |isbn=978-0-618-38612-3 |page = 364 }}</ref> and the destruction of universities and libraries.<ref name="gk">Gul and Khan (2008)[http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/182 "Growth and Development of Oriental Libraries in India"], ''Library Philosophy and Practice'', [[University of Nebraska–Lincoln]]</ref><ref name="regbook">Richard Eaton, {{Google books|5PgEmMULQC8C|Temple Desecration and Muslim States in Medieval India}}, (2004)</ref> [[Mongol Empire|Mongolian]] raids on [[Western Asia|West]] and [[Central Asia]] set the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, intelligentsia, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from those regions [[Islam in South Asia|into the subcontinent]], thereby establishing [[Islamic culture]] there.{{sfn|Ludden|2002|p = 67}}{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2008|pp=50–51}}

The rise of the Delhi Sultanate in India was part of a wider trend affecting much of the [[Asia]]n continent, including the whole of southern and western Asia: the influx of [[nomad]]ic [[Turkic peoples]] from the Central Asian [[steppes]]. This can be traced back to the 9th century when the Islamic [[Caliphate]] began [[Anarchy at Samarra|fragmenting]] in the [[Middle East]], where Muslim rulers in rival states began enslaving non-Muslim nomadic [[Turkic peoples|Turks]] from the Central Asian steppes and raising many of them to become loyal army slaves called [[Mamluk]]s. Soon, [[Turkic migration|Turks were migrating]] to [[Muslim lands]] and becoming [[Islamicization|Islamicized]]. Many of the Turkic Mamluk slaves eventually rose up to become rulers, and conquered large parts of the [[Muslim world]], establishing Mamluk Sultanates from [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Egypt]] to present-day [[Ghaznavids|Afghanistan]], before turning their attention to the Indian subcontinent.{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2008|pp=19, 50–51}}

After Aibak died, [[Aram Shah]] assumed power in 1210, but he was assassinated in 1211 by Aibak's son-in-law, [[Iltutmish|Shams ud-Din Iltutmish]].<ref>C.E. Bosworth, The New Islamic Dynasties, Columbia University Press (1996)</ref> Iltutmish's power was precarious, and a number of Muslim amirs (nobles) challenged his authority as they had been supporters of Qutb al-Din Aibak. After a series of conquests and brutal executions of opposition, Iltutmish consolidated his power.<ref>Barnett & Haig (1926), A review of History of Mediaeval India, from ad 647 to the Mughal Conquest - Ishwari Prasad, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (New Series), 58(04), pp 780-783</ref>

His rule was challenged a number of times, such as by Qubacha, and this led to a series of wars.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|pp=29-48}} Iltutmish conquered [[Multan]] and [[Bengal]] from contesting Muslim rulers, as well as [[Ranthambore Fort|Ranthambore]] and [[Siwalik]] from the Hindu rulers. He also attacked, defeated, and executed [[Taj al-Din Yildiz]], who asserted his rights as heir to Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori.<ref name=cads>Anzalone, Christopher (2008), "Delhi Sultanate", in Ackermann, M. E. etc. (Editors), Encyclopedia of World History 2, {{ISBN|978-0-8160-6386-4}}</ref> Iltutmish's rule lasted until 1236. Following his death, the Delhi Sultanate saw a succession of weak rulers, disputing Muslim nobility, assassinations, and short-lived tenures. Power shifted from [[Rukn ud din Firuz|Rukn ud-Din Firuz]] to [[Razia Sultana]] and others, until [[Ghiyas ud din Balban|Ghiyas ud-Din Balban]] came to power and ruled from 1266 to 1287.{{sfn|Jackson|2003|pp=29-48}}<ref name=cads/> Ghiyasuddin Balban destroyed the power of the [[Corps of Forty]], a council of 40 Turkic slaves who had played a role as kingmakers and had been independent of the Sultan. He was succeeded by 17-year-old [[Muiz ud din Qaiqabad|Muiz ud-Din Qaiqabad]], who appointed [[Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji|Jalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji]] as the commander of the army. Khalji assassinated Qaiqabad and assumed power, thus ending the Mamluk dynasty and starting the Khalji dynasty.

The [[Khalji dynasty]] was of [[Turko-Afghan]] heritage.<ref name="Khan">{{cite book|last=Khan|first=Hussain Ahmad|title=Artisans, Sufis, Shrines: Colonial Architecture in Nineteenth-Century Punjab|date=2014|publisher=[[I.B.Tauris]]|isbn=9781784530143|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=56gcBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA15|language=en|page=15}}</ref><ref name="Parmar">{{cite book|title=South Asia: a historical narrative |last1=Yunus |first1=Mohammad |author2=Aradhana Parmar |year=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-1957-9711-4 |page=97|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=opbtAAAAMAAJ |access-date=2010-08-23}}</ref><ref name="Asim">{{cite book|title=The Sundarbans of India: A Development Analysis |last1=Kumar Mandal |first1=Asim |year=2003|publisher=Indus Publishing |location=India |isbn=978-81-738-7143-6 |page=43|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jbKGojVTWGcC&pg=PA43 |access-date=2012-11-19}}</ref><ref name="Singh">{{cite book|title=The Sundarbans of India: A Development Analysis |last1=Singh |first1=D. |year=1998 |publisher=APH Publishing |location=India |isbn=978-81-702-4992-4 |page=141|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ThrcNWLRk6EC&pg=PA141 |access-date=2012-11-19}}</ref> They were originally [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], but due to their long presence in Afghanistan, they were treated by others as [[Afghans|Afghan]] as they [[Pashtunization|adopted]] of some Afghan habits and customs.<ref name="Chaurasia">{{cite book|title=History of medieval India: from 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D. |last1=Chaurasia|first1=Radhey Shyam |year=2002|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors |isbn=978-81-269-0123-4 |page=28|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XnaL7zPXPUC |access-date=2010-08-23 |quote=The Khaljis were a Turkish tribe but having been long domiciled in Afghanistan, and adopted some Afghan habits and customs. They were treated as Afghans in Delhi Court.}}</ref><ref name="Cavendish">{{cite book|title=World and Its Peoples: The Middle East, Western Asia, and Northern Africa |last1=Cavendish |first1=Marshall |year=2006|publisher=Marshall Cavendish |isbn=978-0-7614-7571-2 |page=320|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j894miuOqc4C |access-date=2010-08-23 |quote= The members of the new dynasty, although they were also Turkic, had settled in Afghanistan and brought a new set of customs and culture to Delhi.}}</ref>  

The first ruler of the Khalji dynasty was [[Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji|Jalal ud-Din Firuz Khalji]]. He was around 70 years old at the time of his ascension, and was known as a mild-mannered, humble and kind monarch to the general public.<ref>{{cite book |author=A. L. Srivastava |author-link=Ashirbadi Lal Srivastava |title=The Sultanate of Delhi, 711-1526 A.D. |edition=Second |year=1966 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PAsfAAAAIAAJ |publisher=Shiva Lal Agarwala |oclc=607636383 |page=141}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=A. B. M. Habibullah |chapter=The Khaljis: Jalaluddin Khalji |editor1=Mohammad Habib |editor2=Khaliq Ahmad Nizami |title=A Comprehensive History of India |volume=5: The Delhi Sultanat (A.D. 1206-1526) |year=1992 |orig-year=1970 |publisher=The Indian History Congress / People's Publishing House |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9cmAQAAMAAJ |oclc=31870180 |page=312}}</ref> Jalal ud-Din Firuz ruled for 6 years before he was murdered in 1296 by a Muhammad Salim of Samana, on the orders of his nephew and son-in-law [[Alauddin Khalji|Juna Muhammad Khalji]],<ref name=holt913/> who later came to be known as Ala ud-Din Khalji.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0S62AAAAIAAJ&q=jalaluddin+khalji+man+of++samana |title= New Indian Antiquary:Volume 2|date=1939 |publisher=Karnatak Publishing House.|page=545 |quote=Alauddin gave the signal and in a twinkling Muhammad Salim of Samana struck  }}</ref>

Ala ud-Din began his military career as governor of [[Kara, Uttar Pradesh|Kara]] province, from where he led two raids on [[Malwa]] (1292) and [[Devagiri]] (1294) for plunder and loot. After his accession to the throne, expansions towards these kingdoms were renewed including [[Gujarat]] which was conquered by the [[Grand Vizier]] [[Nusrat Khan Jalesari]],<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=18EKAQAAIAAJ&q=nusrat+khan+defeated+vaghela+king |title= History of medieval India (1000-1740 A.D.) |author= AL. P. Sharma |date= 1987 |publisher= TKonark Publishers |isbn= 9788122000429 }}</ref><ref name="Yasin Mazhar Siddiqi 1972 194">{{cite journal |author=Yasin Mazhar Siddiqi |author-link=Yasin Mazhar Siddiqi |year=1972 |title=the Kotwals under the Sultans of Delhi |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |publisher=Indian History Congress |page=194 |jstor=44145331 |quote=Nusrat Khan Jalesari who was the Kotwal in the first year of the Alai reign was an Indian Muslim}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= The Life and Works of Sultan Alauddin Khalji |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nbZgnqfXjnQC&q=nusrat%20khan%20follower%20of%20alauddin&pg=PA51 |quote= the Sultan appointed his Wazir Nusrat Khan to deal with the Jalali nobles |year= 1992 |publisher= Atlantic Publishers & Dist|isbn = 9788171563623}}</ref> the kingdom of Malwa by the Muslim general [[Ainul Mulk Multani]],<ref>{{cite book |title=History of the Punjab: A.D. 1000-1526. Editor: Fauja Singh |author= Fauja Singh |page= 150 |date=1972 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=L5eFzeyjBTQC&q=Medieval%20India%3A%20From%20Sultanat%20to%20the%20Mughals-Delhi%20Sultanat%20(1206-1526%20...&pg=PA90 |author= Satish Chandra |title= Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526) = Part One |publisher= Har-Anand Publications |date= 2004 |isbn= 9788124110645 }}</ref>  as well as [[Rajputana]].<ref>[[Alexander Mikaberidze]], Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia, {{ISBN|978-1598843361}}, pp 62-63</ref> However, these victories were cut short because of [[Mongol invasions of India|Mongol attacks]] and plunder raids from the northwest. The Mongols withdrew after plundering and stopped raiding northwest parts of the Delhi Sultanate.<ref>Rene Grousset - Empire of steppes, Chagatai Khanate; Rutgers Univ Press, New Jersey, U.S.A, 1988 {{ISBN|0-8135-1304-9}}</ref>

After the Mongols withdrew, Ala ud-Din Khalji continued to expand the Delhi Sultanate into southern India with the help of Gujarati slave generals such as [[Malik Kafur]] and [[Khusro Khan]]. They collected much war booty (anwatan) from those they defeated.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-qHiAAAAMAAJ&q=khusrau+khan+gujarati |title= Gujarat State Gazetteer:Part 1 |page=164 |date=1989 }}</ref><ref>Frank Fanselow (1989), Muslim society in Tamil Nadu (India): an historical perspective, Journal Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, 10(1), pp 264-289</ref> His commanders collected war spoils and paid ghanima (Arabic: الْغَنيمَة, a tax on spoils of war), which helped strengthen the Khalji rule. Among the spoils was the [[Warangal]] loot that included the famous [[Koh-i-Noor]] diamond.<ref>Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, A History of India, 3rd Edition, Routledge, 1998, {{ISBN|0-415-15482-0}}</ref>

[[File:Map of the Tughlaqs.png|thumb|Territory of the Tughlaq dynasty circa 1330-1335, corresponding to the maximum extent of the Delhi Sultanate.<ref name="A Historical atlas of South Asia">{{cite book |last1=Schwartzberg |first1=Joseph E. |title=A Historical atlas of South Asia |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |page=147, map XIV.3 (j)|isbn=0226742210 |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=185}}</ref>]]

  |author= Aniruddha Ray |date= 4 March 2019 |isbn= 9781000007299 }}</ref> The other result was that he managed to create a stable Muslim elite and result in the growth of the Muslim population of Daulatabad who did not return to Delhi,<ref name=ebmit/> without which the rise of the Bahmanid kingdom to challenge Vijayanagara would not have been possible.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/stream/CambridgeHistoryOfIslamVol2B/Cambridge%20History%20of%20Islam%20Vol%202A#page/n31/mode/2up |title= The Cambridge History of Islam" Volume 2A |publisher= Cambridge University Press |page= 15 |date= 22 May 1977 |author1=P.M. Holt |author2=Ann K.S. Lambton |author3=Bernard Lewis }}</ref> These were the [[Urdu-speaking people|Urdu-speaking]] community of North Indian Muslims.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://google.ca/books/edition/Languages_and_Literary_Cultures_in_Hyder/SusrDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bahmani+political+deccan&pg=PT120&printsec=frontcover |title=Languages and Literary Cultures in Hyderabad|date=2017 |author=Kousar.J. Azam |publisher=Taylor & Francis|page=8 |isbn=9781351393997 }}</ref> Muhammad bin Tughlaq's adventures in the Deccan region also marked campaigns of destruction and desecration temples, for example, the [[Swayambhunath|Swayambhu Shiva Temple]] and the [[Thousand Pillar Temple]].<ref name=regbook/>

Revolts against Muhammad bin Tughlaq began in 1327, continued over his reign, and over time the geographical reach of the Sultanate shrunk. Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, a Sayyid native of [[Kaithal]] in North India, founded the [[Madurai Sultanate]] in South India.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JB-B7Hk_35AC&dq=kaithal+sayyids&pg=PA82 |author=Raj Kumar |title=Essays on Medieval India |page=82 |date= 2003 |isbn=9788171416837 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url= https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/jalal-al-din-ahsan-COM_32708 |title= Jalal al-Din Ahsan |author1=Kate Fleet |author2=Gudrun Krämer |author3=Denis Matringe |author4=John Nawas |author5=Devin J. Stewart |date= January 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D5ItAAAAMAAJ&q=Writing+about+a+century+later+,+Ya%E1%B8%A5ya+Sarhindi+also+calls+him+a+Sayyid+form+Kaithal |title= Kusumāñjali:New Interpretation of Indian Art & Culture : Sh. C. Sivaramamurti Commemoration Volume · Volume 2 |author=M. S. Nagaraja Rao| date=1987 }}</ref> The [[Vijayanagara Empire]] originated in southern India as a direct response to attacks from the Delhi Sultanate.,<ref>Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, ''A History of India'', (Routledge, 1986), 188.</ref> and liberated south India from the Delhi Sultanate's rule.<ref>Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India by Jl Mehta p.97</ref> In the 1330s, Muhammad bin Tughlaq ordered an invasion of China,{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} sending part of his forces over the [[Himalaya]]s. However, they were defeated by the [[Kangra State]] .<ref>Chandra, Satish (1997). Medieval India: From Sultanate to the Mughals. New Delhi, India: Har-Anand Publications. pp. 101–102. {{ISBN|978-8124105221}}.</ref> During his reign, state revenues collapsed from his policies such as the base metal coins from 1329 to 1332. Famines, widespread poverty, and rebellion grew across the kingdom. In 1338 his own nephew rebelled in Malwa, whom he attacked, caught, and flayed alive.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} By 1339, the eastern regions under local Muslim governors and southern parts led by Hindu kings had revolted and declared independence from the Delhi Sultanate. Muhammad bin Tughlaq did not have the resources or support to respond to the shrinking kingdom.<ref name=vsoxford3>Vincent A Smith, {{Google books|p2gxAQAAMAAJ|The Oxford History of India: From the Earliest Times to the End of 1911|page=217}}, Chapter 2, '''pp 242-248''', Oxford University Press</ref> The historian Walford chronicled Delhi and most of India faced severe famines during Muhammad bin Tughlaq's rule in the years after the base metal coin experiment.<ref>Cornelius Walford (1878), {{Google books|WA8qAAAAYAAJ|The Famines of the World: Past and Present|page=3}}, '''pp 9-10'''</ref><ref>Judith Walsh, A Brief History of India, {{ISBN|978-0816083626}}, pp 70-72; Quote: "In 1335-42, during a severe famine and death in the Delhi region, the Sultanate offered no help to the starving residents."</ref> By 1347, the Bahmani Sultanate had become an independent [[Rebellion of Ismail Mukh]], led by the Afghan, Ismail Mukh. It became a competing Muslim kingdom in the Deccan region of South Asia, founded by [[Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah]].<ref name=mrpislam/><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=rRxkAAAAMAAJ&q=hasan+gangu+hindu+convert |page=3 |author=Suvorova |title= Masnavi |date=2000|isbn=978-0-19-579148-8 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Husaini (Saiyid.) |first=Abdul Qadir |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJgrnbdaefEC&q=%22Hindu+tribes+of+the+punjab%22 |title=Bahman Shāh, the Founder of the Bahmani Kingdom |date=1960 |publisher=Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay |pages=59–60 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NRluAAAAMAAJ&q=hasan+gangu+brahmin+convert |title= Hindu Muslim Communalism, a Panchnama |page=140 |author= Jayanta Gaḍakarī  |date=2000 }}</ref>

Muhammad bin Tughlaq died in 1351 while trying to chase and punish people in Gujarat who were rebelling against the Delhi Sultanate.<ref name=vsoxford3/> He was succeeded by [[Firuz Shah Tughlaq]] (1351–1388), who tried to regain the old kingdom, boundary by waging a war with Bengal for 11 months in 1359. However, Bengal did not fall. Firuz Shah ruled for 37 years. His reign was marked with prosperity much of which was due to the wise and capable [[Grand Vizier]], Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul, a South Indian [[Telugu people|Telugu]] convert to Islam.<ref>{{cite book |quote=Khan-i-Jahan was a Brahmin from Telangana whose original name was Kattu or Kannu. Kannu was brought a captive to Delhi where he embraced Islam and was given the name of Maqbul. No wonder, Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul and his family made a great contribution towards the initial administrative achievements of Sultan Firuz Tughlaq, the peace and propserity of his reign during the first two decades is unintelligible unless the services redered by Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul to the throne are taken into consideration. |title= Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India: Volume 2 |date=1979 |page=225 |author= Mehta }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGSKTttoa3IC&dq=firuz+shah+khan+jahan+maqbul&pg=PA141 |title=Historical Dictionary of Medieval India |page=141|author=Iqtidar Alam Khan |date=2008 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810864016 }}</ref> His reign attempted to stabilize the food supply and reduce famines by commissioning an irrigation canal from the Yamuna river. An educated sultan, Firuz Shah left a memoir.<ref>Firoz Shah Tughlak, [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924073036737#page/n389/mode/2up Futuhat-i Firoz Shahi - Memoirs of Firoz Shah Tughlak], Translated in 1871 by Elliot and Dawson, Volume 3 - The History of India, Cornell University Archives</ref> In it he wrote that he banned the practice of torture, such as amputations, tearing out of eyes, sawing people alive, crushing people's bones as punishment, pouring molten lead into throats, setting people on fire, driving nails into hands and feet, among others.<ref name=vsoxfordmbt>Vincent A Smith, {{Google books|p2gxAQAAMAAJ|The Oxford History of India: From the Earliest Times to the End of 1911|page=217}}, Chapter 2, '''pp 249-251''', Oxford University Press</ref> He also wrote that he did not tolerate attempts by Rafawiz [[Shia]] Muslim and [[Mahdi]] sects from proselytizing people into their faith, nor did he tolerate Hindus who tried to rebuild temples that his armies had destroyed.<ref name="fst377381">Firoz Shah Tughlak, [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924073036737#page/n393/mode/2up Futuhat-i Firoz Shahi - Autobiographical memoirs], Translated in 1871 by Elliot and Dawson, Volume 3 - The History of India, Cornell University Archives, pp 377-381.</ref> Firuz Shah Tughlaq also lists his accomplishments to include converting Hindus to Sunni Islam by announcing an exemption from taxes and [[jizya]] for those who convert, and by lavishing new converts with presents and honours.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}} Simultaneously, he raised taxes and jizya, assessing it at three levels, and stopping the practice of his predecessors who had historically exempted all Hindu [[Brahmin]]s from the jizya.<ref name=vsoxfordmbt/><ref>[[Annemarie Schimmel]], Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, {{ISBN|978-9004061170}}, Brill Academic, pp 20-23</ref> He also vastly expanded the number of slaves in his service and those of Muslim nobles, who were converted to Islam, taught to read and memorize the Quran, and employed in many offices especially in the military, out of which he was able to amass a large army.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SLw6DwAAQBAJ&dq=firuz+shah+hindustani+slaves&pg=PA219 |title=Complete Indian History for IAS Exam Highly Recommended for IAS, PCS and other Competitive Exam |page=217 |last1=Kumar |first1=Praveen }}</ref>  These slaves, who were Indian converts to Islam, were known as the Ghulaman-i-Firuz Shahi, and became an elite guard which later became influential in the state.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uPXvDwAAQBAJ&dq=firuz+shah+slaves+captured+converted+hindus&pg=PA92 |title= The Making of the Indo-Islamic World: C.700-1800 CE |author= André Wink |date=2020 |isbn= 9781108417747 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Xi3cAAAAMAAJ&q=firuz+shahi+slaves+influence |title= A Military History of Medieval India |page=247 |author= Gurcharn Singh Sandhu |date=2003 |isbn= 9788170945253 }}</ref> The reign of Firuz Shah Tughlaq was marked by reduction in extreme forms of torture, elimination of favours to select parts of society, but also increased intolerance and persecution of targeted groups,<ref name=vsoxfordmbt/> the latter of which resulting in conversion of significant parts of the population to Islam.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=M6hOAAAAMAAJ&q=Firuz+converting |title= Indo-Muslim Relations: A Study in Historical Background |year= 1947 |author= Debajyoti Burman |publisher= Jugabani Sahitya Chakra |page= 36}}</ref>

The death of Firuz Shah Tughlaq created anarchy and disintegration of the kingdom. Firuz Shah's successor, [[Tughluq Khan|Ghiyath-ud-Din Shah II]] was young and inexperienced, gave himself up to wine and pleasure. The nobles rose up against him and killed the Sultan and his vizier, and installed [[Abu Bakr Shah]] on the throne.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yIU3EAAAQBAJ&dq=tughluq+ii+inexperienced&pg=PA111|title=History of Mewat |page=112 |author= Dr. Aijaz Ahmad  |date=2021 |isbn=9788193391426 }}</ref> However, the old Ghulaman-i-Firuz Shahi turned against Abu Bakr, who fled, and on their invitation [[Nasir ud din Muhammad Shah III|Nasir-ud-Din Muhammad Shah]] was installed on the throne.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8DYbAQAAMAAJ&q=The+old+Firoz+Shahi+slaves+,+however+,+turned+against+Abu+Bakr+,+who+fled+,+and+on+their+invitation+Sultan+Muhammad+%E2%80%9C+entered+the+city+and+took |page=19 |date=1937 |publisher=Archaeological Survey of India |quote=The old Firoz Shahi slaves , however , turned against Abu Bakr , who fled , and on their invitation Sultan Muhammad “ entered the city and took |title=Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of IndiaIssues 52-54}}</ref> The anamalous institution of the Ghulaman-i-Firuz Shahi became a corrupting influence on the successive Sultans following Firuz Shah.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XGA9AAAAMAAJ&q=firoz+shahi+slaves+institution |title= Tughluq Dynasty |author=Āg̲h̲ā Mahdī Ḥusain  |date=1963 |page=444 |publisher=Thacker, Spink }}</ref> The last rulers of this dynasty both called themselves Sultan from 1394 to 1397: [[Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq|Nasir ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughlaq]], the grandson of Firuz Shah Tughlaq who ruled from Delhi, and [[Nasir-ud-din Nusrat Shah Tughluq|Nasir ud-Din Nusrat Shah Tughlaq]], another relative of Firuz Shah Tughlaq who ruled from [[Firozabad]], which was a few miles from Delhi.<ref name=vsoxford4>Vincent A Smith, {{Google books|p2gxAQAAMAAJ|The Oxford History of India: From the Earliest Times to the End of 1911|page=217}}, Chapter 2, '''pp 248-254''', Oxford University Press</ref> The battle between the two relatives continued until [[Timur#Campaign against the Tughlaq dynasty|Timur's invasion]] in 1398. [[Timur]], also known as Tamerlane in Western scholarly literature, was the Turkicized Mongol ruler of the [[Timurid Empire]]. He became aware of the weakness and quarreling of the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate, so he marched with his army to Delhi, plundering and killing all the way.<ref>Peter Jackson (1999), The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History, Cambridge University Press, pp 312–317</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=Tīmūr Lang | encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]] | publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] | author=Beatrice F. Manz |editor1=P. J. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C. E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W. P. Heinrichs | year=2000 | volume=10 | edition=2}}</ref> Estimates for the massacre by Timur in Delhi range from 100,000 to 200,000 people.<ref>Lionel Trotter (1906), History of India: From the Earliest Times to the Present Day, Gorham Publishers London/New York, pp 74</ref><ref>Annemarie Schimmel (1997), Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, Brill Academic, {{ISBN|978-9004061170}}, pp 36-37; Also see: Elliot, Studies in Indian History, 2nd Edition, pp 98-101</ref> Timur had no intention of staying in or ruling India. He looted the lands he crossed, then plundered and burnt Delhi. Over five days, Timur and his army raged a massacre.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} Then he collected wealth, captured women, and enslaved people (particularly skilled artisans), and returning with this loot to [[Samarkand]]. The people and lands within the Delhi Sultanate were left in a state of anarchy, chaos, and pestilence.<ref name=vsoxford4/> Nasir ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughlaq, who had fled to [[Gujarat]] during Timur's invasion, returned and nominally ruled as the last ruler of Tughlaq dynasty, as a puppet of various factions at the court.<ref name=aschi>Annemarie Schimmel, Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, {{ISBN|978-9004061170}}, Brill Academic, Chapter 2</ref>

[[File:Map of the Sayyid Dynasty.png|thumb|Territories of the Sayyid Dynasty.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schwartzberg |first1=Joseph E. |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/schwartzberg/pager.html?object=076 |title=A Historical atlas of South Asia |date=1978 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0226742210 |location=Chicago |pages=39, 148}}</ref>]]

The historian [[Peter Jackson (historian)|Peter Jackson]] explains in ''[[The New Cambridge History of Islam]]'': "The elite of the early Delhi sultanate comprised overwhelmingly first generation immigrants from [[Persia]] and [[Central Asia]]: [[Persians|Persians (‘Tājīks’)]], [[Turkic peoples|Turks]], Ghūrīs and also [[Khalaj people|Khalaj]] from the hot regions (''garmsīr'') of modern [[Afghanistan]].<ref>{{New Cambridge History of Islam|volume=3|last=Jackson|first=Peter|authorlink=Peter Jackson (historian)|chapter=Muslim India: the Delhi sultanate|page=101}}</ref>  

Medieval scholars such as [[Abdul Malik Isami|Isami]] and [[Ziauddin Barani|Barani]] suggested that the prehistory of the Delhi Sultanate lay in the [[Ghaznavids|Ghaznavid]] state and that its ruler, Mahmud Ghaznavi, provided the foundation and inspiration integral in the making of the Delhi regime. The Mongol and infidel Hindus were the great "Others" in these narratives and the Persianate and class conscious, aristocratic virtues of the ideal state were creatively memorialized in the Ghaznavid state, now the templates for the Delhi Sultanate. Cast within a historical narrative it allowed for a more self-reflective, linear rooting of the Sultanate in the great traditions of Muslim statecraft.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=h0_xhdCScQkC&dq=expanding+frontiers+in+south+asian+the+great+others&pg=PA56 |title= Expanding Frontiers in South Asian and World History |author= John F. Richards |date= 2013 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |page= 55 |isbn= 9781107034280 }}</ref> Over time, successive Muslim dynasties created a 'centralized structure in the Persian tradition whose task was to mobilize human and material resources for the ongoing armed struggle against both Mongol and Hindu infidels'.<ref>{{cite book| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=2RpuAAAAMAAJ&q=task+was+to+mobilize+human+and+material+resources+for+the+ongoing+armed+struggle+against+both+Mongol+and+Hindu+infidels |title= Power, Administration, and Finance in Mughal India |date= 1993 |author= John F. Richards |publisher= Variorum |isbn= 9780860783664 }}</ref> The monarch was not the Sultan of the Hindus or of, say, the people of Haryana, rather in the eyes of the Sultanate's chroniclers, the Muslims constituted what in more recent times would be termed a "Staatsvolk". For many Muslim observers, the ultimate justification for any ruler within the Islamic world was the protection and advancement of the faith. For the Sultans, as for their Ghaznavid and Ghurid predecessors, this entailed the suppression of heterodox Muslims, and [[Firuz Shah Tughlaq|Firuz Shah]] attached some importance to the fact that he had acted against the ashab-i ilhad-u ibahat (deviators and latitudinarians). It also involved plundering, and extorting tribute from, independent Hindu principalities.<ref>{{cite book |title= the Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History |author= Peter Jackson |url= https://archive.org/details/TheDelhiSultanateAPoliticalAndMilitaryHistoryCambridgeStudiesInIslamicCivilization/page/n299/mode/2up?q=staatsvolk |page= 278 |publisher= Cambridge University Press |date= April 1999}}</ref> Firuz Shah, who finally believed that India was a Muslim country,<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=nMWSQuf4oSIC&dq=firuz+shah+country+of+musalmans&pg=PA446 |title= History of Medieval India |author= V. D. Mahajan |date= 2007 |page= 446 |publisher= S. Chand|isbn= 9788121903646 }}</ref> declared that "no zimmi living in a Musalman country might dare to act".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JPptAAAAMAAJ&q=dare |title= Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society: Volume 45 |page= 222 |publisher= Pakistan Historical Society |date= 1997 }}</ref>

The nucleus of this south-east Asian sultanate military were hailed from the Turco-Afghani regular units named ''Wajih'', which are composed of elite household cavalry archers, which hailed from slave background.<ref name="Boot, Hooves and Wheels">{{cite book |author1=Saikat K Bose |title=Boot, Hooves and Wheels |date=2015 |publisher=Vij Books India Private Limited |isbn=9789384464547 |url=https://www.google.co.id/books/edition/Boot_Hooves_and_Wheels/ywfsCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |access-date=21 July 2023 |language=En |format=ebook |chapter=And the Social Dynamics Behind South Asian Warfare |quote=They had corps of regulars, the wajih, formed primarily of mounted archers but which also had an advance reserve, the iltmish, of lancers. The wajih had a nucleus of the elite khasakhail or household cavalry, composed largely of slaves.}}</ref> A major military contribution of the Delhi Sultanate was their successful campaigns in repelling the [[Mongol Empire]]'s [[Mongol invasions of India|invasions of India]], which could have been devastating for the Indian subcontinent, like the [[Mongol invasions]] of [[Mongol invasion of China|China]], [[Mongol invasion of Persia|Persia]] and [[Mongol invasion of Europe|Europe]]. Were it not for the Delhi Sultanate, it is possible that the Mongol Empire may have been successful in invading India.{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2008|pp=19, 50–51}} The strength of the armies changes according to time.

Some historians argue that the Delhi Sultanate was responsible for making India more multicultural and cosmopolitan. The establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in India has been compared to the expansion of the [[Mongol Empire]], and called "part of a larger trend occurring throughout much of Eurasia, in which nomadic people migrated from the steppes of Inner Asia and became politically dominant".{{sfn|Asher|Talbot|2008|pp=50–52}}

According to [[Angus Maddison]], between the years 1000 and 1500, India's [[Gross domestic product|GDP]], of which the sultanates represented a significant part, grew nearly 8% to $60.5 billion in 1500. Though the overall the percentage of the GDP share reduced from 33% to 22% <ref name="maddison379">{{cite book |last = Madison |first = Angus |title = Contours of the world economy, 1–2030 AD: essays in macro-economic history |date = 6 December 2007 |publisher = Oxford University Press |isbn = 978-0-19-922720-4 |page = 379 }}</ref> According to Maddison's estimates, India's population grew from 85million in 1200 to 101 million in 1500 AD in the time period.<ref name="ggdc.net">{{cite web |author=Maddison |date=27 July 2016 |title=Growth of World Population, GDP and GDP Per Capita before 1820 |url=http://www.ggdc.net/maddison/other_books/appendix_B.pdf}}</ref>

The Delhi Sultanate period coincided with a more use of mechanical technology in the Indian subcontinent. India previously already had highly sophisticated agriculture, food crops, textiles, medicine, minerals, and metals, later on Central Asian technique were introduced in the subcontinent  <ref name="Pacey">{{cite book |last=Pacey |first=Arnold |title=Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History |publisher=The MIT Press |year=1991 |edition=1st MIT Press paperback |location=Cambridge, MA |pages=26–29 |orig-year=1990}}</ref> there are plentiful evidence of water wheels existing in India prior to the Delhi Sultanate as described by the various Chinese monks and Arabs travellers and writers in their books .<ref>{{Cite book |last=Al- |first=Biruni |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/162833441 |title=Alberuni's India : an Account of the religion, philosophy, literature, geography, chronology, astronomy, customs, laws and astrology of India about A.D. 1030. An English Edition, with Notes and Indices by Edward C. Sachau. |date=1888 |publisher=Trübner & Co |oclc=162833441}}</ref><ref name="siddiqui">{{cite journal |last=Siddiqui |first=Iqtidar Hussain |year=1986 |title=Water Works and Irrigation System in India during Pre-Mughal Times |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=63–64 |doi=10.2307/3632072 |jstor=3632072}}</ref>{{NoteTag|Pali literature dating to the 4th century BC mentions the ''cakkavattaka'', which commentaries explain as ''arahatta-ghati-yanta'' (machine with wheel-pots attached), and according to Pacey, water-raising devices were used for irrigation in Ancient India predating their use in the Roman empire or China.{{sfn|Pacey|1991|p=10}} Greco-Roman tradition, on the other hand, asserts that the device was introduced to India from the Roman Empire.<ref name=Wikander>{{Citation | last = Oleson | first = John Peter | editor-last = Wikander | editor-first = Örjan | editor-link = Örjan Wikander | contribution = Water-Lifting | title = Handbook of Ancient Water Technology | series = Technology and Change in History | volume = 2 | year = 2000 | publisher = Brill | location = Leiden, South Holland | isbn = 978-90-04-11123-3 | pages = 217–302 }}</ref> Furthermore, South Indian mathematician [[Bhaskara II]] describes water-wheels c. 1150 in his incorrect proposal for a perpetual motion machine.{{sfn|Pacey|1991|p=36}} Srivastava argues that the Sakia, or ''araghatta'' was in fact invented in India by the 4th century.<ref>{{cite book | author = Vinod Chanda Srivastava | author2 = Lallanji Gopal | title = History of Agriculture in India, Up to C. 1200 A.D. | year = 2008 | isbn = 978-81-8069-521-6 | publisher = Project of History of Indian Science, Philosophy and Culture | location = New Delhi }}</ref>}} Later, Mughal emperor Babur provided a description on the use of water-wheels in the Delhi Sultanate.<ref>{{cite book |title = Roots and Routes of Development in China and India: Highlights of Fifty Years of ''The Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient'' (1957-2007) |editor1 = Jos Gommans |editor2 = Harriet Zurndorfer |year = 2008 |publisher = Koninklijke Brill NV |location = Leiden, South Holland |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=bbuwCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA444 |page = 444 |isbn = 978-90-04-17060-5 }}</ref>

According to historians Arnold Pacey and [[Irfan Habib]], the [[spinning wheel]] was introduced to India from Iran during the Delhi Sultanate.{{sfn|Pacey|1991|p=23-24}} Smith and Cothren suggested that it was invented in India during the latter half of the first millennium,<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Smith | first1 = C. Wayne | last2 = Cothren | first2 = J. Tom | title = Cotton: Origin, History, Technology, and Production | publisher = John Wiley & Sons | volume = 4 | date = 1999 | page = viii | url = http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0471180459.html | isbn = 978-0471180456 | quote = The first improvement in spinning technology was the spinning wheel, which was invented in India between 500 and 1000 A.D. }}</ref> but Pacey and Habib said these early references to cotton spinning do not clearly identify a wheel, but more likely refer to [[hand spinning]].{{sfn|Pacey|1991|p=23-24}} The earliest unambiguous reference to a spinning wheel in India is dated to 1350.{{sfn|Pacey|1991|p=23-24}} The worm gear roller [[cotton gin]] was invented in the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries; Habib states that the development may likely occurred in peninsular India, before becoming more widespread across India during the Mughal era.<ref>{{cite book |first=Irfan |last=Habib |date=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K8kO4J3mXUAC&pg=PA53 |title=Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-1500 |page=53 |publisher=Pearson Education|isbn=9788131727911 }}</ref> The incorporation of the crank handle in the cotton gin may have appeared sometime during the late Delhi Sultanate or the early Mughal Empire.{{sfn|Habib|2011|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=K8kO4J3mXUAC&pg=PA53 53–54]}}

[[India]] and [[China]] has connections throughout the thousands of years of history. Paper had already reached some parts of India as early as the 6th or 7th century,<ref name=":0">Harrison, Frederick. ''A Book about Books''. London: John Murray, 1943. p. 79. Mandl, George. "Paper Chase: A Millennium in the Production and Use of Paper". Myers, Robin & Michael Harris (eds). ''A Millennium of the Book: Production, Design & Illustration in Manuscript & Print, 900–1900''. Winchester: St. Paul's Bibliographies, 1994. p. 182.

Mann, George. ''Print: A Manual for Librarians and Students Describing in Detail the History, Methods, and Applications of Printing and Paper Making''. London: Grafton & Co., 1952. p.&nbsp;79. McMurtrie, Douglas C. ''The Book: The Story of Printing & Bookmaking''. London: Oxford University Press, 1943. p.&nbsp;63.</ref><ref>{{Citation |last = Tsien |first = Tsuen-Hsuin |author-link = Tsien Tsuen-hsuin |editor = Joseph Needham |editor-link = Joseph Needham |series = Science and Civilisation in China, Chemistry and Chemical Technology |volume = 5 |title = Paper and Printing |publisher = Cambridge University Press |year = 1985 |issue = 1 |pages = 2–3, 356–357 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |last = Wilkinson |first = Endymion |year = 2012 |title = Chinese History: A New Manual |publisher = Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute |pages = 909 }}</ref> initially through Chinese travellers and the ancient silk road which india was very well connected with. Earlier some  historians believed that  paper failed to catch on as palmyra leaves and birch bark remained far more popular but this theory was descredited later on.<ref>{{Cite book |author=Kurlansky, Mark |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1119136572 |title=Paper : paging through history |date=23 May 2017 |isbn=978-0-393-35370-9 |oclc=1119136572}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author = D. C. Sircar |title = Indian Epigraphy |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=hXMB3649biQC |year = 1996 |publisher = Motilal Banarsidass |isbn = 978-81-208-1166-9 |pages = 67–68 }}</ref> {{sfn|Habib|2011|p=96}} {{sfn|Habib|2011|pp=95-96}} On the other hand, paper may have arrived in [[Bengal]] from a separate route, as 15th century Chinese traveler [[Ma Huan]] remarked that Bengali paper was white and made from "bark of a tree" similar to the Chinese method of papermaking (as opposed to the Middle-Eastern method of using rags and waste material), suggesting a direct route from China for the arrival of paper in Bengal and paper was already very well established and widespread in that part of the subcontinent .{{sfn|Habib|2011|pp=95-96}}

 

{{sfn|Habib|2011|pp=95-96}}

The officers, the Sultans, Khans, Maliks and the soldiers wore the Islamic qabas dress in the style of Khwarezm, which were tucked in the middle of the body, while the turban and kullah were common headwear. The turbans were wrapped around the kullah(caps) and the feet were covered with red boots. The Wazirs and Katibs also dressed like the soldiers, except they did not use belts, and often let down a piece of cloth in front of them in the manner of the Sufis. The judges and the learned men wore ample gowns (farajiyat) and an Arabic garment(durra).<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=e8o5HyC0-FUC&dq=islamic+qabas++khwarizm&pg=PA212 |title= Encyclopaedia Of Untouchables : Ancient Medieval And Modern |author= Raj Kumar |date= 2008 |publisher= Kalpaz Publications |page= 212 |isbn= 9788178356648 }}</ref>

Historian Richard Eaton has tabulated a campaign of destruction of idols and temples by Delhi Sultans, intermixed with certain years where the temples were protected from desecration.<ref name="re2000" /><ref>Richard M. Eaton, ''Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States'', Part II, '''Frontline''', January 5, 2001, 70-77.[http://ftp.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_eaton_temples2.pdf]</ref><ref>Richard M. Eaton, ''Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States'', Part I, '''Frontline''', December 22, 2000, 62-70.[http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_eaton_temples1.pdf]</ref> In his paper, he has listed 37 instances of [[Hindu temple]]s being desecrated or destroyed in India during the Delhi Sultanate, from 1234 to 1518, for which reasonable evidences are available.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news |first=Richard M. |last=Eaton |url=http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl1726/17260700.pdf |title=Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States |year=2000 |page=297 |location=Chennai, India |work=[[The Hindu]] |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140106040012/http://www.hindu.com/fline/fl1726/17260700.pdf |archive-date = 6 January 2014 |df=dmy-all }}</ref><ref>[[Annemarie Schimmel]], Islam in the Indian Subcontinent, {{ISBN|978-9004061170}}, Brill Academic, pp.&nbsp;7-10.</ref><ref>James Brown (1949), The History of Islam in India, The Muslim World, 39(1), 11-25</ref> He notes that this was not unusual in medieval India, as there were numerous recorded instances of temple desecration by [[Hindu]] and [[Buddhist]] kings against rival Indian kingdoms between 642 and 1520, involving conflict between devotees of different Hindu deities, as well as between Hindus, Buddhists and Jains at small scales.<ref name="Eaton-dec">{{cite journal |last=Eaton |first= Richard M. |title = Temple desecration in pre-modern India |journal=[[Frontline (magazine)|Frontline]] |date=December 2000 |volume=17|issue=25|publisher=[[The Hindu Group]] |url = http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1725/17250620.htm }}</ref><ref name="Eaton-sep">{{cite journal |last = Eaton |first = Richard M. |title = Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States |journal=[[Journal of Islamic Studies]]|date=September 2000|volume=11|issue=3|pages=283–319|doi=10.1093/jis/11.3.283|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Eaton-2004">{{cite book |last=Eaton |first = Richard M. |title = Temple desecration and Muslim states in medieval India |year=2004 |publisher = Hope India Publications |location=Gurgaon |isbn= 978-8178710273 }}</ref> He also noted there were also many instances of Delhi sultans, who often had Hindu ministers, ordering the protection, maintenance and repairing of temples, according to both Muslim and Hindu sources. For example, a [[Sanskrit]] inscription notes that Sultan [[Muhammad bin Tughluq]] repaired a Siva temple in [[Bidar]] after his [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]] conquest. There was often a pattern of Delhi sultans plundering or damaging temples during conquest, and then patronizing or repairing temples after conquest. This pattern came to an end with the [[Mughal Empire]], where [[Akbar]]'s chief minister [[Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak|Abu'l-Fazl]] criticized the excesses of earlier sultans such as [[Mahmud of Ghazni]].<ref name="auto" />

In majority cases, the demolished remains, rocks and broken statue pieces of temples destroyed by Delhi sultans were reused to build mosques and other buildings. For example, the Qutb complex in Delhi was built from stones of 27 demolished Hindu and Jain temples by some accounts.<ref>Welch, Anthony (1993), Architectural patronage and the past: The Tughluq sultans of India, Muqarnas, Vol. 10, 311-322</ref> Similarly, the Muslim mosque in Khanapur, Maharashtra was built from the looted parts and demolished remains of Hindu temples.<ref name="awhc" /> [[Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji]] destroyed Buddhist and Hindu libraries and their manuscripts at [[Nalanda]] and [[Odantapuri]] Universities in 1193 AD at the beginning of the Delhi Sultanate.<ref name="regbook" /><ref name="gk" />

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

Somnath temple ruins (1869).jpg|The [[Somnath Temple]] in Gujarat was repeatedly destroyed by Muslim armies and rebuilt by Hindus. It was destroyed by Delhi Sultanate's army in 1299.<ref name=eaton200080>Eaton (2000), [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00islamlinks/txt_eaton_temples2.pdf Temple desecration in pre-modern India] Frontline, p. 73, item 16 of the Table, Archived by Columbia University</ref>

 

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