The Lodhi Dynasty (1451-1526 AD)

The Lodhi Dynasty (1451-1526 AD)

                                             

Lodhi or Pathans Sultans
Bahlol Lodhi (1451-88 AD)
Bahlol Lodhi was one of the Afghan sardars who established himself in Punjab afer invasion of Timur He founded the Lodhi dynasty. He founded the rule of the Lodhi dynasty by usurping the throne from the last of the Sayyid rulers. He was a strong and brave ruler. He tried to restore the glory of Delhi by conquering territories around Delhi and after continuous war for 26 years, he succeeded in extending his authority over Jaunpur, Rewail, Itawah, Mewar, Sambhal, Gwalior etc. He was a kind and generous ruler. He was always prepared to help his subjects. Though he was himself illiterate, he extended his patronage to art and learning. He died in 1488.
Sikandar Lodhi (1489-1517 AD)
Sikandar Lodhi was the son of Bahlol Lodhi who conquered Bihar and Western Bengal. He shifted his capital from Delhi to Agra, a city founded by him. Sikandar was a fanatical Muslim and he broke the sacred images of the Jwalamukhi Temple at Naga Kot and ordered the temples of Mathura to be destroyed. He took a keen interest in the development of agriculture. He introduced the Gaz-i-Sikandari (Sikandar's yard) of 32 digits for measuring cultivated fields. He was a staunch Sunni and a Muslim fanatic. He lacked religious tolerance. In the name of religion, he perpetuated untold cruelties on the Hindus.
Ibrahim Lodhi (1517-26 AD)
He was the last king of Lodhi dynasty and the last Sultan of Delhi He was the son of Sikandar Lodhi The Afghan nobility was brave and freedom-loving people but it was because of its fissiparous and individualistic tendencies that the Afghan monarchy was weakened. Moreover, Ibrahim Lodhi asserted the absolute power of the Sultan. At last Daulat Kan Lodhi, the governor of Punab invited Babur to poverthrow Ibrahim Lodhi, Babur accepted the offer and inflicated a crushing defeat on Ibrahim Lodhi in the first battle of Panipat in 1526. No Sultan of India except Sultan Ibrahim had been killed on the battle field.

Causes of Decline of Delhi Sultnate : The main causes were :-

1. Deposite and military type of government which did not have the confidence of the people
2. Degeneration of Delhi Sultans (esp. the wild projects of Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq, Incompetence of Firoz Tughlaq)
3. War of succession as there was no fixed law of it
4. Greed and incompetency of nobles
5. Defective military organisation
6. Vastness of empire and poor means of communication
7. Finanical instability
8. Number of slaves increased to 1,80,000 in Firoz Tughlaq's time which was a burden on the treasury
9. Invasion of Timur

General Administration of Sultanate Political Theory of State : The Turkish Sultans in India declared themselves Lieutenant of the faithfuli.e. of the Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad and included his name in Khutba, it did not mean that the Caliph became the legal ruler. The Caliph had only a moral position Political, legal and military authorities were vested in the Sultan. He was responsible for administration and was also the commander-in-chief of the military forces. He was also responsible for the maintenance of law and justice. No clear law of succession developed among Muslim rulers. Thus, military strength was the main factor in succession to the throne. With the exceptions Alauddin Khalji and Mubarak Shah Khalji, all other sultans styled themselves as duputies of Caliph with the title such as Nasir-i-amir ur Momin -assistant of the leader of the faithful or Yamin ul Khalifa i.e. the right hand man of Caliph. When the Turks conquered the country, they divided it into a number of tacts called Iqtas, which were assigned among the leading Turkish nobles. The holders of the office were called Muqti or Walis . It was these tracts, which later Caliph province or Subah. Below the province were the Shiqs and below them the Paragana. We are told that the villages were grouped into units of 100 or 84 traditionally called Chaurasi. The Paragana were headed by Amil. Central Government : The sultanate of Delhi was a police state, whose strength or weakness depended exclusively on the military powers and personality of its depostic sultan. The sultan was assisted in the discharge of his function by a number of dignitaries. To begin with the sultans of the slave dynasty constituted four ministers at the top level. When the sultnate was well-established, two more departmen heads were raised to the status of central ministers, viz sadrus-sadur and the diwan-i-qaza The Commander of the royal army, next after the sultan, the crown prince, and the six or seven dignitaries constituted the nucleus of the council of advisers, called majilis-i-am of majilis-i-khas , which comprised the most trusted and the highest officers of the state. The wazir , also styled as vakil was the prime minister and his department was called the diwan-i-wizarat. He was the head of the finance department and usually held overall charge of the entire administrative set up. The head of the army establishment or the ministry of defence was the diwan-i-arz. He was responsible for the organization and the maintenance of the royal army and excercised disciplinary control over it. The department of correspondence and records of the royal court was called diwan-i-insha; it was held under the charge of a central minister, variously known as the dabir-i-mamlik, dabir-i-khas or amir munshi The diwan-i-risalat consistuted the fourth pillar of the imperial administration of the sultnate. Under the period of slave dynasty, the head of the department was sadar-us-sadur, who was primarily a minister for ecclesiastical affairs. Barid-i-mamlik(intelligence and information);Vakil-i-barbak(royal household); Amir-i-majlis(celebrations & meetings); Amir-i-Shikar(royal hunts);Kotwals(Qazi of metropolis) etc were other important officials of the time.

Following are some of the Sources of Medieval Indian History

• Tajur Masir - Hassan Nizami : This is the first historical narrative of which deals with the beginning of the Muslim rule in India. The author gives in detail the military exploits of Qutobuddin Aibek from 1192 to 1206. The author does not mention Aram Shah but describes the events of Iltutmish's regin up to 1217.

• Tabquat i Narisi - Minhajus Siraj : Siraj produced an elaborate history of the Islamic world in twenty-three compact volumes or books. He starts with the account of the earlier prophets and aneestors of Mohammad.

• Each of his subsequent books is devoted to the history of the caliphs and Muslim rulers of various countries and periods.

• Works of Amir Kusrau : Amir Khusrau was the first and by far the most prominent representive of Indo-Muslim culture of early medieval India. His major works include Qiran us Sa'adain, Miftahed Futuh, Khazainul Futuh, Dewal Rani, Khisly Khani, Nuh Sipir and Tughluq Nama. Quiran us Sa'adain gives an eye-witness account of the meeting that took place in Oudh between Sultan Kaigubad and his father Bughra Kha, the governor of Bengal.

• Dewal Rani Khizr Khani entitled Ashiqa, narrates the romantic story of Khizr Khan, son of Alauddin Khilzi and Dewal Rani, the daughter of Rana Karan of Gujarat. Nuh Sipir is the poetic composition which deals with the region of Mubarak Shah Khilji, the successor of Alauddin Khilhji.

• Tughluq Nama was composed by Amir Khusrau to commemorate the victory of Ghisuddin Tughluq over Khurram Khan (1320 AD), leading to the establishment of a new ruling dynasty.

• Tarikh i Firoze Shahi - Ziauddin barani : This work preserves the history of the Delhi Sultanat for the period 1259 to 1352; it gives the histoy of nine rulers from Balban to Firoze Shah Tughluq. Barani's write up including the narrative of Firoze Tughluq, constitutes a standard a standard work of history, which establishes his reputation as premier historain of his age.

• Fatawa I Jahandari-Barani: It is a complementary volume to the Tarikh i Firoze Shahi. In this book, the author recapitulates and futher elaborates the political philosophy of the sultnate on the basis of his earlier narrative.

• Firoze Tughluq's Authobiography : Sultan Firoze Shan Tughluq has left a brochure of thirty two pages in autobiographical writing, called Futuhat i Firoze Shahi: it give a brief summary of his military compaigns, some of which failed to produce the desired results.

• Tarikh i Forize Shahi - Shams i Siraj Afif: The book is devoted exclusively to the reign of Firoze Tughluq and constitutes the most accurate and authentic contemporary account of his times. The book is unique in sense that it also describes the life and conditions of the people at large.

• Tuzuk i Mubarak Shahi - Yahaya bin Ahmed Sirhindi This is the only contemporary source discovered so far on the history of the Sayyad dynasty(1414-51). The book begins with the rise of the Ghori dynasty and the conquest of the northern India by the turns.

• Futuhus Salatin - Khwaja Abdullah Malik Isami This work was written in 1349-50, on the Turkish rule in India from the Ghaznavids to Muhmmad bin Tughluq.

• Kitab ur Rehla -Ibn batuttaIbn batutta was an Arab traveler and adventure frm Morocoo. His book is a primary source of history of the region of Muhmmad bin Tughluq it throws ligh on the socio-political condition of his times.

Important Central Department, Officials

Important Central Departments
Department	Function
Diwan-i-Risalat (Foreign Minister)	Department of appeals
Diwan-i-Ariz	Military department
Diwan-i-Bandagan	Department of slaves
Diwan-i-Qaza-i-Mamalik	Department of justice
Diwan-i-Isthiaq	Department of pensions
Diwan-i-Mustakhraj	Department of arrears
Diwan-i-Khairat	Department of charity
Diwan-i-Kohi	Department of agriculture
Diwan-i-Insha	Department of correspondence

Important Central Officials
Wazir	The cheif Minister of the State-in  Charge of revenue and finances, controlled by other department.
Ariz-i-Mamlik	Head of Military department
Qazi	Legal Officer(dispensed civil law based on Muslim law Shariat)
Wakil-i-dar	Controller of the royal house hold.
Barid-i-mumalik	Head of the state news agency
Amir-i-majlis	Officer-in-charge of royal feasts, conference and festivals.
Majlis-i-am	Council of friends and officers consulted on important affairs of the state.
Dahir-i-mumalik	Head of the royal correspondence.
Sadr-us-sudur	Dealt with the religious matters and endowments.
Sadr-i-jahan	Officers-in-charge of religious  and charitable endowment.
Amir-i-dad	Public prosecutors
Naib wazir	Deputy Minister
Mushrif-i-mumalik	Accountant general
Amir-i-hazib	Officer-in-charge of the royal court
Kazi-i-mumalik	Chief Justice
Kazi-ul-kazat	Head of the Central Judicial department