Rulers of Delhi

Rulers of Delhi

Delhi first became the capital of a Kingdom under the Tamara Rajput, who were defeated by  Chauhans of Ajmer. The transformation of Delhi into a capital that controlled vast areas of the subcontinent started with the foundation of Delhi Sultanate at the beginning of 13th century.

The Delhi Sultans:-

Indian architecture provide a lot of information. Further valuable sources are histories.Twarikh written in Persian language of administration under the Delhi Sultans. The author of Twarikh were secretaries, administrators, poets and courtiers, who both recounted events and advise rulers on governance, emphasizing the importance of just rule.

The authors of Twarikh lived in cities (mainly Delhi) and hardly ever in villages.They often wrote their histories for Sultan in the hope of rich rewards.These authors advice rulers on the need to preserve an ideal social order based on birthright and gender distinctions.Their ideas were not shared by everybody.

In 1236, SultanIltutmish’s daughter Razia Sultana inherited the throne. Since none of her brothers were qualified enough to become the king. However, this lead to lots of agony among the brothers, and the Queen was finally dethroned and killed in 1240.Whole idea of dethroning Razia Sultan was because the court and her brothers could not stand the women leading the empire and ordering the man of the court. Even Minaj- i-siraj felt that she was not supposed to be on the throne as women were made to be subordinate of men and that it does not qualify her to be one who should be ordering men, which led to her execution and the dethronement.