Delhi Sultanate Timeline

During the medieval Delhi Sultanate era, India's population experienced lasting growth after a millennium of stagnation according to uncertain modern estimates. The population increased by nearly 50 percent to about 110 million by 1500.

According to Angus Maddison's estimates, India's GDP grew nearly 8% to $60.5 billion in 1500, while its share of global GDP declined from 33 percent to 22 percent.

The Qutb Minar complex in Delhi was begun under Muhammad of Ghor around 1199. The project was continued by Qutb ud-Din Aibak and later sultans, becoming a major symbol of the new Islamic state.

Image source: Qutb Minar

Amir Khusrau, who lived during the thirteenth-century Delhi Sultanate, used a form of Hindustani in his writings. He referred to this lingua franca as Hindavi.

Image source: Amir Khusrau

The worm-gear roller cotton gin was invented in the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries. Habib suggested that this development may have occurred in peninsular India before spreading more widely during the Mughal era.

Image source: Cotton gin

Under the Mamluks and Khaljis, campaigns involving temple desecration expanded into Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. The listed historical account records instances from 1234 through the late thirteenth century.

Image source: Somnath Temple

The Tomb of Iltutmish was added to the Qutb complex by 1236. Its dome is now missing, while its intricate carving reflects the adaptation of local craftsmen to unfamiliar architectural traditions.

Image source: Iltutmish

Alauddin Khalji replaced private markets with four centralized government-run markets. He appointed a market controller and imposed strict price controls on goods ranging from clothing and household items to vegetables and prepared food.

The listed historical account states that temple-desecration campaigns extended to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu under Malik Kafur and Ulugh Khan in the fourteenth century. Orissa temples were also destroyed under the Tughlaqs.

The balance of evidence indicates that in the latter half of the fourteenth century, if not earlier, jizyah was levied as a discriminatory tax on non-Muslims. The extent to which it could be enforced outside major centers of Muslim authority remains difficult to determine.

Image source: Jizya

The Qutb Minar complex was expanded under Ala ud-Din Khalji in the early fourteenth century. The Alai Darwaza gatehouse, completed in 1311, demonstrates the period's developing use of arches and domes.

Image source: Qutb Minar complex

The tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam was built at Multan between 1320 and 1324. Its large octagonal brick structure and polychrome glazed decoration remained closely related to architectural styles from Iran and Afghanistan.

Image source: Tomb of Shah Rukn-e-Alam

According to the Sri Vaishnava temple chronicle Kōil Oḻugu, an expedition led by Ulugh Khan, later Muhammad bin Tughluq, sacked the Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam. The chronicle estimates that 12,000 Vaishnava scholars and temple functionaries were killed.

Image source: Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam

The earliest unambiguous reference to a spinning wheel in India is dated to 1350. Its appearance belongs to the period of technological and economic change associated with medieval India.

Image source: Spinning wheel

Firuz Shah's palace complex at Hisar, Haryana, was begun in 1354. Although now largely ruined, parts of the complex remain in fair condition and reflect the sultan's extensive building activity.

Image source: Firoz Shah palace complex

Paper was already established and widespread in Bengal by the fifteenth century. The Chinese traveler Ma Huan described Bengali paper as white and made from tree bark, suggesting a route of transmission from China distinct from the Middle Eastern rag-based method.

Image source: History of paper

Jalal ud-Din Firuz ruled for six years and founded the Khalji dynasty's period of the Delhi Sultanate. He was murdered in 1296 by Muhammad Salim of Samana on the orders of his nephew and son-in-law Juna Muhammad Khalji.

Image source: Jalal-ud-Din Khalji

Ala ud-Din Khalji began his military career as governor of Kara and led a raid on the Kingdom of Malwa in 1292. The operation sought plunder and loot before his accession as sultan.

As governor of Kara, Ala ud-Din Khalji led a second major raid in 1294 against Devagiri. The campaign brought substantial plunder and helped establish his military reputation.

Image source: Alauddin Khalji's conquest of Devagiri

After arranging the murder of his uncle Jalal ud-Din Firuz, Ala ud-Din Khalji became sultan. His reign expanded the sultanate, strengthened its army, and introduced extensive market controls.

Historians estimate that the Delhi Sultanate under the Khaljis maintained between 300,000 and 400,000 horse cavalry and 2,500 to 3,000 war elephants as a standing army.

Between 15,000 and 30,000 Mongols near Delhi, many of whom had recently converted to Islam, were slaughtered in a single day after a mutiny during an invasion connected with Gujarat. The episode illustrates the sultanate's resistance to Mongol attacks.

Malik Kafur's 1311 campaign reached the Pandya kingdom. His forces plundered the Nataraja Temple at Chidambaram and the Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam before sacking Madurai and seizing its accumulated treasury.

Image source: Malik Kafur

Ala ud-Din Khalji died in 1316 after being assassinated by his nobles. His general Malik Kafur then assumed de facto power with support from non-Khalji nobles including Kamal al-Din Gurg.

Image source: Alauddin Khalji

Khusrau Khan ruled for only a few months after the political crisis following Ala ud-Din Khalji's death. Ghazi Malik defeated and killed him in 1320.

Image source: Khusrau Khan

Ghazi Malik assumed power in 1320 and became known as Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq. His accession ended the Khalji dynasty and began the Tughlaq period of the Delhi Sultanate.

Image source: Tughlaq dynasty

According to some historians, Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq was killed by his son Juna Khan, who assumed power in 1325 and became Muhammad bin Tughlaq.

Image source: Muhammad bin Tughluq

Muhammad bin Tughlaq introduced base-metal coins between 1329 and 1332. The policy contributed to the collapse of state revenues during a reign increasingly challenged by revolts.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq died in 1351 while trying to chase and punish rebels in Gujarat. His death followed years of revolt and the contraction of the Delhi Sultanate's territory.

Firuz Shah Tughlaq ruled from 1351 to 1388 and attempted to recover the old kingdom's boundaries. He waged an eleven-month war with Bengal in 1359 and was also known as the dynasty's longest-ruling and greatest-building sultan.

Image source: Firuz Shah Tughlaq

Revolts against Muhammad bin Tughlaq began in 1327 and continued throughout his reign. By 1339, eastern regions under local Muslim governors and southern territories led by Hindu kings had revolted and declared independence.

Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, a Sayyid from Kaithal, revolted in 1335 and founded the Madurai Sultanate in southern India. Later Delhi incursions under the Tughlaqs were connected with the establishment of this independent sultanate.

Image source: Madurai Sultanate

The Bahmani Sultanate became independent in 1347 through the rebellion of Ismail Mukh. Its emergence was part of the fragmentation of Tughlaq authority in southern India.

Image source: Bahmani Sultanate

From 1394 to 1397, two relatives each called themselves sultan: Mahmud Shah Tughluq ruled from Delhi, while Nusrat Shah Tughluq ruled from Firozabad. Their conflict continued until Timur's invasion.

Timur's devastating raid on Delhi in 1398 caused a major political transformation across northern India. It coincided with the re-emergence of powers such as Vijayanagara and Mewar and the independence of new Muslim sultanates including Bengal and Bahmani.

The Sayyid dynasty was founded by Khizr Khan and ruled the Delhi Sultanate from 1415 to 1451. It governed after the disruption caused by Timur's invasion.

Image source: Sayyid dynasty

The Lodi dynasty displaced the Sayyid dynasty in 1451, producing a resurgence of the Delhi Sultanate. The Lodis were the final ruling dynasty of the sultanate.

Image source: Lodi dynasty

After Bahlul Lodi died, his son Nizam Khan assumed power, renamed himself Sikandar Lodi, and ruled from 1489 to 1517.

Image source: Sikandar Khan Lodi

Sikandar Lodi died a natural death in 1517, after which his second son Ibrahim Lodi assumed power. His reign ended with the Timurid invasion led by Babur.

Image source: Ibrahim Khan Lodi

Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi in the Battle of Panipat in 1526. The conquest ended the Delhi Sultanate and led to its succession by the Mughal Empire.

Image source: First Battle of Panipat