KnowraDelhi SultanateDelhi SultanateA succession of Muslim-ruled dynasties based in Delhi that governed much of northern India from 1206 to 1526.BriefConnectGhurid dynasty: A Persianate Muslim dynasty that ruled parts of Afghanistan and northern India in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Ghurid conquests in northern India laid the political foundations for the Sultanate.Iqta: A land-revenue assignment granted by a ruler to an official, often in return for administrative or military service. Iqta assignments helped sultans pay officials and maintain forces without a permanent cash salary.Balban: A sultan of Delhi from 1266 to 1287 who strengthened royal authority and court hierarchy. His rule made the monarchy more centralized after decades of factional conflict.Indo-Islamic architecture: Architectural traditions in South Asia combining Islamic forms with regional materials, techniques, and artistic practices. Sultanate patrons helped develop these forms in mosques, tombs, and forts.Mughal Empire: A South Asian empire founded by Babur in 1526 and ruled by his successors until the nineteenth century. The Mughal victory at Panipat replaced the Lodi dynasty and ended the Sultanate.Qutb al-Din Aibak: A former Ghurid general who founded the Mamluk dynasty in Delhi in 1206. His accession marks the conventional beginning of the Delhi Sultanate.Delhi Sultanate army: The military forces maintained by Delhi's sultans, including cavalry, infantry, and locally recruited contingents. The army enforced the sultan's authority and guarded the realm against rivals and invasions.Alauddin Khalji: A sultan of Delhi from 1296 to 1316 who expanded the realm and reorganized military and fiscal policies. His reign brought the Sultanate to a high point of territorial expansion.Qutb Minar: A monumental minaret in Delhi begun under Qutb al-Din Aibak and completed by later rulers. Its construction embodies the Sultanate's early monumental architecture and claims to authority.Vijayanagara Empire: A South Indian empire founded in the fourteenth century that became a major regional power. Its rise offers a powerful southern counterpart to the Sultanate's northern-centered rule.Show all 26Linked from 50 pagesSultanBroader topic: Its dynasties carried the sultan title into the political history of South Asia.Ibn BattutaRelated: Ibn Battuta served Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq as a judge in Delhi.Amir KhusrauNarrower topic: Its courts and political changes provided the setting for Khusrau’s long career.Tripartite StruggleCompared with: Its centralized sultanates emerged centuries after the three-way struggle among regional dynasties.Indo-Persian cultureBroader topic: Its courts established Persian as a major language of government and high literary culture in North India.BaburRelated: Babur’s conquest displaced its final ruling dynasty and took its capital.Mir Taqi MirNarrower topic: Its older courtly world formed part of the region’s literary inheritance, though it ended before Mir’s lifetime.Early medieval IndiaCompared with: Its emergence marks a major political transition near the conventional end of this period.Show all 50