Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526): Five Dynasties, Iqta System, Market Reforms, Mongols and Culture (UPSC Notes + PYQs)

Background: from Ghur to Delhi

In the late twelfth century, the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghur pushed into north India. He was defeated by Prithviraj Chauhan in the first battle of Tarain in 1191, but won the second in 1192, opening the Ganga plain. His general Qutbuddin Aibak held Delhi and, after Muhammad’s death in 1206, became its independent ruler. For the next 320 years, five dynasties ruled from Delhi, until Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat in 1526. The Sultanate changed north India deeply: it introduced new forms of administration and revenue, new crafts and technologies, Persian as a language of government, and a distinctive Indo-Islamic architecture, while also facing repeated Mongol invasions from the north-west.

Dynasties at a glance

Building the state

• Iltutmish: got recognition from the Abbasid Caliph (1229), organised the iqta system and the silver tanka and copper jital. The Turkan-i-Chahalgani (the Forty) were his nobles.
• Balban: theory of kingship (zil-i-ilahi, shadow of God), sijda and paibos, broke the Forty.
• Chengiz Khan reached the Indus in Iltutmish’s reign but turned back.

Alauddin Khalji

He beat back repeated Mongol attacks and expanded to the Deccan through Malik Kafur. To pay a large standing army he fixed prices of grain, cloth and horses, created separate markets under a shahna-i-mandi, and collected land revenue at half the produce in cash, measured directly (masahat). Barani’s account is the main source, and he wrote with a clear bias.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq and Firuz Shah

Muhammad bin Tughlaq shifted the capital to Daulatabad (1327), issued bronze token currency, raised taxes in the Doab during famine, and planned a Khurasan expedition. Each idea had logic; execution failed. Ibn Battuta served as his qazi. Firuz Shah went the other way: canals, new towns (Hisar, Firozabad), jizya on Brahmins, hereditary iqtas, and a slave department. Timur sacked Delhi in 1398.

Revenue and market reforms

Culture

Qutb Minar (begun by Aibak, completed by Iltutmish), Alai Darwaza with the first true arch and dome, Tughlaqabad’s sloping walls, and Lodi garden tombs. Amir Khusrau wrote in Persian and Hindavi; the Chishti and Suhrawardi Sufi orders spread; the Bhakti movement grew alongside.

Technology in the Sultanate period

The Sultanate period saw several technologies spread across north India. The Persian wheel (araghatta with gearing) made irrigation from wells easier. The spinning wheel and the carder’s bow raised textile output. Paper, already known, became widely used for government records and books. True arches and domes built with lime mortar changed architecture, as seen in the Alai Darwaza. In warfare, the stirrup, better horse breeds and, later, gunpowder altered the balance. Sericulture and new crops spread as well. These changes encouraged towns, crafts and long-distance trade and created new artisan groups, while the demand for cash revenue drew peasants more into markets.

Architecture of the Sultanate

These buildings blended Persian and Central Asian forms with Indian craftsmanship, laying the base for Mughal architecture.

Why the Sultanate declined

Several causes combined. Succession had no fixed rule, so each death brought conflict among nobles and princes. Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s failed experiments drained the treasury and alienated nobles, while Firuz Shah’s hereditary iqtas weakened central control. Timur’s invasion in 1398 sacked Delhi and broke the empire into regional kingdoms such as Gujarat, Malwa, Jaunpur, Bengal and the Bahmani kingdom in the Deccan. The Sayyids and Lodis ruled a much smaller state, and Ibrahim Lodi’s quarrels with Afghan nobles led Daulat Khan Lodi to invite Babur.

Mongol threat

The Mongols raided north India repeatedly from the 1220s to the early 1300s. Balban fortified the north-west frontier, and Alauddin Khalji’s large standing army, paid in cash and supplied through controlled markets, defeated several Mongol invasions, including the siege of Delhi in 1303. Defending the frontier shaped Sultanate finance and military policy. It also explains Alauddin’s need for cheap grain and horses, the branding of horses (dagh) and descriptive rolls of soldiers (huliya).

Delhi Sultanate: UPSC angle

Delhi Sultanate UPSC PYQs (Prelims)

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Mains PYQs on this topic

Questions from the official UPSC Mains papers (2023-2026 in the Battle IAS Mains bank), newest first. Each links to a model answer.

1. UPSC Mains 2023 · GS Paper I · Q12 · 15 marks

   What were the major technological changes introduced during the Sultanate period? How did those technological changes influence the Indian society?

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