The break-up of the Gurjara-Pratihara empire led to a phase of political uncertainty in north India. As a result, little attention was paid to the emergence of the aggressive and expansionist Turks. Rajputana States The three most important of the Rajput states in north India were the Gahrwals of Kanauj, the Paramaras of Malwa and [...]
Ghori’s conquest became the nucleus of a new political entity of India – the Delhi Sultanate. For almost one hundred years after that, the Delhi Sultanate was involved in foreign invasions, internal conflicts among the Turkish leaders and the dispossessed Rajput rulers and chiefs to regain their independence. Ghori left his Indian possessions in the [...]
The Khiljis used their Afghan descent to win the loyalties of the discontented nobles, who felt that they had been neglected by earlier sultans. Jalaluddin Khilji (1290 AD – 1296 AD) tried to mitigate some of the harsh aspects of Balban’s rule. He was the first ruler to put forward the view that the state [...]
The Tughlaqs also wished to rule the whole of India. Ghyasuddin’s (1320 AD – 1325 AD) campaign to Warrangal, Orissa and Bengal were directed towards this end. He built the city Tughlaqabad near Delhi. By 1324 AD, the territories of the Delhi sultanate reached upto Madurai. However, his economic policy was not consistent with his [...]
The Tughlaq dynasty ended soon after the Timurs invasion but the sultanate survived, though it was merely a shadow of its former self. Timurs nominee captured Delhi and was proclaimed the new sultan and the first of Sayyid Dynasty (1414 AD – 1451 AD), which was to rule the earlier half of the fifteenth century. [...]
Harihara and Bukka, two brothers from Warangal, whom the Sultan Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq had taken captive, were converted to Islam, and were commissioned to consolidate his rule in Kampila. When the Sultan became weak, they renounced Islam and conquered the territory of the Hoysalas. They founded the Vijayanagara Empire along the river Tungabhadra, in 1336 with the [...]
The Bahamani kingdom was founded by Hasan Gangu, who led a rebellion against Sultan Muhammad- Bin-Tughlaq and proclaimed the independence of the Bahamani kingdom (1346 AD). He took the title of Bahaman Shah and became the first ruler of the dynasty. This kingdom included the whole of the northern Deccan upto the river Krishna. South [...]
The Mughal period can be called a second classical age in northern India. In this cultural development, the Indian traditions were amalgamated with the Turko-Iranian culture, brought to the country by the Mughals. The Mughal rulers of India kept up the closest of contacts with Iran and there was a stream of scholars and artists [...]
Akbar, The Great (1556 AD – 1605 AD) He consolidated the empire. Daring and reckless, an able general, and yet gentle and full of compassion. An idealist and a dreamer, and yet a man of action and a leader of men who roused the passionate loyalty of his followers. He was only thirteen, when he [...]
Shah Jahan (1628 AD – 1658 AD) On his succession to the throne, the first thing he had to face was revolts in Bhundelkhand and the Deccan.The former he put down easily and the latter came into control with difficulty. Meanwhile the Marathas also emerged as a major threat to the authority of the Mughals. [...]
