The Delhi Sultanate I: The Mamluks and the Khaljis — Aibak, Iltutmish, Raziya, Balban and Alauddin Khalji

Start Here — Why the Sultanate Matters for UPSC

🎯 Exam priority: Steady (T2) and a Mains staple. Prelims has asked about the Mongols and the Sultans (2021 and 2022), the Amil, Iqta and Mir Bakshi (2019), the group known as Kulah-Daran (2022), and the economic terms of the time (2016, 2022). Mains asks the Sultanate through culture, architecture and Sufism.

Think of the Sultanate as three stories: how a Turkish military elite built and held a state in a hostile land (Iltutmish, Balban); how the state became an empire and an administrative experiment (Alauddin Khalji; Muhammad bin Tughlaq in the next article); and how Indian and Islamic cultures met (Sufis, Persian, Hindavi, architecture). This article covers the foundation under the Mamluks and the Khaljis; the Tughlaq–Lodi stage, administration and decline are in the next.

Sources — The Writers of the Sultanate

Reading the sources. Barani wrote for a high-born Turkish audience and thought low-born appointees (like the Khaljis' and Khusrau Khan's supporters) subverted the state; he refused to see the Sultanate as fully Islamic because the Sultans supplemented the sharia with their own regulations (zawabit) — a point UPSC once built a question on. Amir Khusrau's verse praises his patrons but is full of details of markets, wars and music.

Qutb-ud-din Aibak and Iltutmish — Foundation and Consolidation

Aibak (1206–1210)

• A Turkish slave who rose to be Ghori's governor in India; became the first Sultan of Delhi (hence 'Mamluk' or Slave dynasty). Capital at Lahore. Known as Lakh-baksh for his generosity. Died in 1210 from a fall from his horse while playing chaugan (polo) — a favourite PYQ trivia item.

• Built the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque (Delhi) and the Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra (Ajmer), using temple materials (spolia), and began the Qutb Minar, dedicated to the Sufi Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki.

Iltutmish (1210–1236) — the real consolidator

• Aibak's slave and son-in-law; he moved the capital from Lahore to Delhi, defeated Yildiz and Qubacha (rivals at Ghazni and Multan), and crushed the Bengal governors. In 1229 the Abbasid Caliph's investiture gave him legitimacy as Sultan.

• Mongols (1221): when Chengiz Khan chased the Khwarizmi prince Jalal-ud-din Mangbarni to the Indus, Iltutmish politely refused him asylum, sparing India an invasion — the Delhi Sultanate's first and most important diplomatic success (the 2021 PYQ statement 1).

• Institutions: he organised the Iqta system on a regular basis (military commanders assigned the revenue of territories instead of salaries); created the Turkan-i-Chahalgani, the 'Forty' nobles who dominated politics after him; issued the silver tanka (about 175 grains) and the copper jital, standardising the currency, with the Caliph's name on coins; completed the Qutb Minar and the Quwwat-ul-Islam. Sultan Ghari in Delhi (1231) is the earliest Islamic tomb in India, built for his son Nasir-ud-din Mahmud.

• He nominated his daughter Raziya as successor.

Raziya, the Forty and Balban

• Raziya (1236–1240): the only woman to rule from Delhi; she set aside her brother Ruknuddin Firoz, dropped the veil, appointed an Abyssinian, Yakut, as master of the horse — which offended the Turkish nobles — and married the governor Altuniya of Bhatinda; both were killed in the nobles' coup. The episode shows the Forty's strength.

• Nasir-ud-din Mahmud (1246–1266) was a pious figure; his minister (naib) Ghiyas-ud-din Balban held real power and succeeded him.

• Balban (1266–1286) restored the Sultan's prestige: he destroyed the Forty; claimed the divine right of kings (zil-i-ilahi, shadow of God; also nibabat-i-khudai); introduced Persian court customs — sijda (prostration), paibos (kissing the feet), Nauroz and the dress and decorum of a Persian court; reorganised the military department as Diwan-i-Arz under the ariz-i-mumalik; set up an extensive spy network (barids); followed a 'blood and iron' policy against Mewati bandits and a rebellious Doab, and fortified the north-west against the Mongols (his son Muhammad died fighting them in 1285). Barani gives his theory of kingship. Balban was the first to claim that the Sultan's authority was based on descent and prestige, not on mere force.

• His grandson Kaiqubad was killed, and Jalal-ud-din Khalji took the throne in 1290, ending the Mamluk line.

The Khalji Revolution and Alauddin

• Jalal-ud-din Khalji (1290–1296), an old soldier of Turkish stock settled in Afghanistan, was accepted by Indian Muslims as a break from Turkish nobility monopoly. His nephew and son-in-law Alauddin, governor of Kara, attacked Devagiri (1296) without orders, returned with vast booty and murdered his uncle.

• Alauddin Khalji (1296–1316) — the most imperialistic Sultan; he took the title Sikandar-i-Sani ('the second Alexander') on coins and thought of founding a new religion.

Conquests

• North and west: Gujarat (1299–1300, Karna Waghela; Nusrat Khan and Ulugh Khan), Ranthambhor (1301, Hammira Deva), Chittor (1303, Rana Ratan Singh — the Padmavat story is a later poem), Malwa (1305), Marwar and Jalor.

• South (Malik Kafur, a converted slave, c. 1307–1311): Devagiri (Yadavas), Warangal (Kakatiyas — Prataparudra paid tribute with the Koh-i-Noor in tradition), Dwarasamudra (Hoysalas), Madurai (Pandyas, inconclusive) and a pillar at Rameshwaram. These were raids for treasure and tribute; the southern kingdoms were not annexed.

• Mongols: The Mongols attacked repeatedly in his reign — the most serious in 1299 (Qutlugh Khwaja), 1303 (Targhi's siege of Delhi) and 1305–06 — and were repelled. Alauddin built the new fortified city of Siri, rebuilt frontier forts and expanded the army to meet them. This is the motive behind his market and military reforms.

Reforms

• Effects: soldiers lived on cash salaries and cheap goods, the peasantry (especially in the Doab) was heavily taxed, and the revenue system was made more bureaucratic; the policy depended on a strong Sultan and collapsed after his death. Opinions differ whether it covered the whole empire or only Delhi — a common Mains point.

• After Alauddin died (1316), Malik Kafur's brief regency, Mubarak Shah's rule and the usurper Khusrau Khan ended in 1320 when Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq took Delhi.

Mongols and the Sultanate — A Timeline

• 1221 — Iltutmish: Chengiz Khan reached the Indus after Jalal-ud-din Mangbarni; Iltutmish refused asylum and avoided conflict.

• Balban: fortified the north-west; his son Muhammad Khan (Khan-i-Shahid) died against the Mongols.

• 1290s: Jalal-ud-din Khalji defeated a Mongol attempt (Abdullah) and settled thousands of converts ('New Muslims') near Delhi.

• Alauddin (1297–1306): Six major attacks; one besieged Delhi (1303) but was repulsed.

• Muhammad bin Tughlaq: a Tarmashirin invasion c. 1326–27 was bought off or repelled; the Mongol attack on the north-west frontier is a reason given for shifting the capital to Devagiri.

• The 2022 PYQ statements, in this light: (1) the first Mongol invasion was not under Jalal-ud-din (it was in Iltutmish's time); (2) under Alauddin one Mongol force did besiege Delhi — correct; (3) Muhammad bin Tughlaq did not lose the north-west to the Mongols. Hence 'only statement 2'.

Sultanate Architecture — The Foundation Phase

• Indo-Islamic synthesis: the arcuate method (arches, domes, minarets) of West and Central Asia combined with the trabeate (post-and-lintel, corbelled) tradition of Indian masons; motifs from Hindu temples — lotus, bells, balconies — were reused in early Delhi buildings; calligraphy, geometric and floral arabesque, jaali work, and no human figures.

• Slave dynasty: Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque, Qutb Minar (Aibak laid it; Iltutmish added three storeys; Firoz Shah Tughlaq repaired it and added the fifth), Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra (Ajmer), Sultan Ghari's tomb, Iltutmish's tomb (corbelled).

• Khalji: the Alai Darwaza (1311) — the gateway built by Alauddin for the extended Quwwat-ul-Islam complex — with a true dome, true arches, red sandstone and white marble inlay; the fort of Siri; the Hauz-i-Alai (Hauz Khas); the Jamaat Khana mosque at Nizamuddin.

• The Tughlaq, Lodi and provincial styles are covered in the next article and in the Part C architecture articles.

The Nature of the Early Sultanate State

• Legitimacy. The Sultans ruled in the name of the Abbasid Caliph (Iltutmish received the investiture in 1229) and struck coins to show it; later rulers (Muhammad bin Tughlaq, Firoz) sought fresh recognition from the Caliph's successor in Cairo. Kingship rested on the sword and on the Sultan's religious claim.

• Islamic or not? The ulema wanted the Sultan to rule by the sharia, imposing jizya and protecting only the true faith. Rulers answered that they needed regulations (zawabit) of their own to govern a vast non-Muslim majority — Alauddin even said he did not know whether his regulations were lawful but they served the state. Barani, the conservative historian, therefore refused to see the Sultanate as truly Islamic. Hindus were treated as zimmis, 'protected people' who paid jizya, but in practice rural elites (khuts, muqaddams, chaudharis) and merchants kept their places until Alauddin hit their privileges.

• Nobility. Turkish nobles at first, then Tajiks, Afghans and Indian Muslims; Khalji and Tughlaq rule widened the base. Disputes over succession were chronic because there was no rule of primogeniture.

• Army. Heavy and light cavalry, the iron stirrup and horseshoe and armoured warhorses gave the Turks their edge; the Sultans' strength lay in a mounted force paid by iqta or, after Alauddin, in cash.

Alauddin's Campaigns in Tables

Malik Kafur's southern raids

The purpose was treasure and tribute, not occupation: the distance and the difficulty of holding the south, and Alauddin's focus on the Mongols, argued against annexation. The 1307–11 campaigns also opened the Deccan to later expeditions (Muhammad bin Tughlaq's) and eventually to the Vijayanagara–Bahmani rivalry.

Society, Economy and Culture of the Slave and Khalji Age

• Cities and technology. Delhi grew into a big city with the arrival of Central Asian refugees fleeing the Mongols; the Turks brought or popularised the spinning wheel (charkha), the Persian wheel, paper and improved cavalry equipment, and the arch and dome in architecture.

• Money and markets. The silver tanka and copper jital made coinage uniform; cash revenue and wages spread; karkhanas (royal workshops) made luxury goods; trade with Central Asia and the coast revived under strong rulers.

• Sufis. The Chishtis (Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, Baba Farid at Pakpattan, Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi) kept their distance from the state, lived on futuh (unasked gifts), used sama (music) and welcomed all; the Suhrawardis (Bahauddin Zakariya at Multan) accepted royal posts. See the Bhakti and Sufi article.

• Literature and music. Persian chronicles and poetry; Amir Khusrau's Hindavi verse, riddles and songs; he is credited with developing the khayal and qawwali and, by tradition, the sitar and tabla.

• Women and Raziya. Raziya's reign shows both the opening for talented women and the resistance of the nobility.

How UPSC Has Asked It — And What Could Come Next

• Seen: Mongol invasions and the Sultans (2021, 2022), plus related terms.

• Likely next: Alauddin's market and revenue terms (Shahana-i-mandi, Diwan-i-Riyasat, Dagh, Chehra, masahat, ghari, charai); Iltutmish's coins (tanka, jital) and his investiture; Balban's kingship rituals (sijda, paibos, Nauroz, zil-i-ilahi); sources (Minhaj, Barani, Khusrau); the Qutb Minar's storeys and who built them; Siri versus Tughlaqabad; Raziya's officers; the Chahalgani.

• Traps: Aibak died of a fall at polo, not in battle; Iltutmish, not Aibak, shifted the capital to Delhi; Ghiyas-ud-din Balban is not Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq; Alauddin's southern campaigns were raids for tribute; the Padmavat story is literary tradition.

Further Reading

• Standard NCERT-level texts and reference books on ancient, medieval and cultural Indian history (any UPSC reading list).

Test Yourself: Practice Questions & PYQs

Sequence the Sultans first (Aibak, Iltutmish, Raziya, Balban; Jalal-ud-din, Alauddin), then attach the institutions.

Practice Questions

Q1. Who is considered the real consolidator of the Delhi Sultanate and shifted its capital to Delhi?

• (a) Balban

• (b) Aibak

• (c) Alauddin Khalji

• (d) Iltutmish

Q2. The 'Turkan-i-Chahalgani' was:

• (a) Balban's spy network

• (b) A tax on non-Muslims

• (c) A group of forty Turkish nobles

• (d) The royal bodyguard of Alauddin

Q3. Which Sultan was the first to claim kingship as 'zil-i-ilahi' (shadow of God) and introduced sijda and paibos?

• (a) Alauddin Khalji

• (b) Iltutmish

• (c) Firoz Shah Tughlaq

• (d) Balban

Q4. Which of the following was NOT a part of Alauddin Khalji's market reforms?

• (a) Diwan-i-Kohi

• (b) Diwan-i-Riyasat

• (c) Shahana-i-mandi

• (d) Dagh

Q5. Malik Kafur led Alauddin's campaigns against all of the following EXCEPT:

• (a) Warangal

• (b) Dwarasamudra

• (c) Devagiri

• (d) Vijayanagara

Q6. The Alai Darwaza was built in:

• (a) 1211

• (b) 1311

• (c) 1511

• (d) 1411

Q7. Who wrote the 'Tabaqat-i-Nasiri'?

• (a) Amir Khusrau

• (b) Ziauddin Barani

• (c) Minhaj-us-Siraj

• (d) Hasan Nizami

Q8. During whose reign did Chengiz Khan reach the Indus in pursuit of the Khwarizmi prince?

• (a) Aibak

• (b) Iltutmish

• (c) Balban

• (d) Alauddin

Q9. The 'Ilbari' dynasty is another name for:

• (a) Tughlaq dynasty

• (b) Sayyid dynasty

• (c) Khalji dynasty

• (d) Mamluk (Slave) dynasty

Q10. Qutb-ud-din Aibak died:

• (a) At the siege of Kalinjar

• (b) After a fall from his horse while playing chaugan

• (c) In battle with Yildiz

• (d) In a coup by the Forty

UPSC Previous Year Questions (PYQs)

Real UPSC Prelims questions on the Mamluk–Khalji period (2021 and 2022), answers matched to UPSC's official key. Explanations in our own words.

Q11. (UPSC Prelims 2022) With reference to Indian history, consider the following statements: 1. The first Mongol invasion of India happened during the reign of Jalal-ud-din Khalji. 2. During the reign of Ala-ud-din Khalji, one Mongol assault marched up to Delhi and besieged the city. 3. Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq temporarily lost portions of north-west of his kingdom to Mongols. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 2 only

• (b) 1 and 2

• (c) 1 and 3

• (d) 3 only

Q12. (UPSC Prelims 2021) Consider the following statements: 1. It was during the reign of Iltutmish that Chengiz Khan reached the Indus in pursuit of the fugitive Khwarezm prince. 2. It was during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq that Taimur occupied Multan and crossed the Indus. 3. It was during the reign of Deva Raya II of Vijayanagara Empire that Vasco da Gama reached the coast of Kerala. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

• (a) 1 and 2

• (b) 3 only

• (c) 2 and 3

• (d) 1 only

Mains Practice Questions

Use these to frame full-length answers. You don't have to answer one exactly — they show the angles UPSC tests, so let them guide which points you cover.

• Evaluate the role of Iltutmish in the consolidation of the Delhi Sultanate.

• Discuss Balban's theory of kingship and its impact on the Sultanate.

• Assess Alauddin Khalji's administrative and market reforms. Were they successful?

• Why did Mongol invasions fail to conquer the Delhi Sultanate?

• Examine the character of the Khalji revolution.