Chapter 2 — Reshaping India's Political Map

The Delhi Sultanate was formed after the defeat of King Prithviraj Chauhan in 1192. It was ruled by five successive Turkic-Afghan dynasties: the Mamluks (also called the Slave dynasty), the Khiljis, the Tughlaqs, the Sayyids, and the Lodis.

Muhammad bin Tughlaq moved his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad (then called Devagiri, near present-day Sambhaji Nagar), perhaps thinking its more central location would offer better control of the empire. The people were forced to travel over 1,000 km. When the plan misfired, he shifted the capital back to Delhi; both transfers resulted in great loss of life according to some sources.

The Vijayanagara Empire was established by two brothers, Harihara and Bukka, who had initially served as governors under Muhammad bin Tughlaq before rejecting Delhi's authority. According to popular folklore, they chose Hampi (in present-day Karnataka) as their capital after their guru Vidyaranya interpreted a remarkable sight there — a hare chasing a pack of hounds — as a symbol of resilience and bravery.

Krishnadevaraya was the most celebrated ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire, under whom it reached its peak in the 16th century. He expanded and secured the empire's dominance over the Deccan, patronised poets and scholars in Sanskrit, Telugu, and Kannada, and himself composed the Telugu epic Amuktamalyada. He provided grants to many temples including Tirupati and the Vitthala temple at his capital. He died of illness in 1529.

In 1565, a coalition of Deccan Sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara forces led by Ramaraya, Krishnadevaraya's son-in-law. The city of Vijayanagara was sacked over several months — houses, shops, buildings, palaces, and most of its temples were destroyed, and much of its civilian population massacred. After this, the empire fragmented into smaller regions ruled by Nayakas, former military governors.

Babur, a Turkic-Mongol ruler and descendant of Timur, had been thrown out of Samarkand (modern-day Uzbekistan) and turned his sights to India. He defeated Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526, relying heavily on gunpowder, field artillery, and matchlock guns that had recently been introduced in warfare in India. This defeat ended the Delhi Sultanate and laid the foundation of the Mughal Empire.

Sulh-i-kul literally means 'peace with all' and was Akbar's doctrine of tolerance of all faiths. He abolished the jizya tax on non-Muslims, entered into marriage alliances with princesses of neighbouring kingdoms, welcomed Rajput and regional leaders into his court, appointed Hindu officials in high positions, and engaged in interfaith dialogues. He also established a 'house of translation' at Fatehpur Sikri where major Sanskrit texts were translated into Persian.

The mansabdari system was Akbar's administrative framework in which officers (mansabdars) were assigned a rank (mansab) and were required to maintain a precise number of elephants, horses, camels, and troops for the state. This made it possible to assemble an army quickly without maintaining a permanent centralised army. Mansabdars were generally paid by being assigned land (jagirs) and were therefore also known as jagirdars.

The Ahoms, who had migrated from present-day Myanmar to the Brahmaputra Valley in the 13th century, used their paik system to maintain a large force and their knowledge of the terrain — dense forests, hills, and rivers — to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Mughals. In the Battle of Saraighat (1671), fought on the Brahmaputra River near present-day Guwahati, Ahom military commander Lachit Borphukan with 10,000 men defeated a Mughal force of 30,000 soldiers, ultimately preserving Ahom independence.

In 1675, a group of Kashmiri Pandits approached Guru Tegh Bahadur seeking protection from religious persecution. The Guru decided to stand with them and court martyrdom. Arrested, Aurangzeb ordered him to convert to Islam; despite torture and witnessing two of his disciples being tortured to death, the Guru refused. On Aurangzeb's orders, he was publicly beheaded in Chandni Chowk, Delhi. In response, his son Guru Gobind Singh established the Khalsa in 1699 — a martial brotherhood committed to justice, equality, and defence of the faith.

The iqta system was an administrative arrangement in which territories were assigned to nobles called iqtadars. They collected taxes from their assigned territories and, after deducting expenses, sent the remainder to the Sultan's treasury — primarily to maintain the army. The iqtadars' posts were not hereditary, creating a network of local administrators loyal to the central authority.

Rani Durgavati was the queen of the Garha kingdom, one of the Gond kingdoms in central India. She ruled wisely, made her kingdom prosperous, and kept an army of 20,000 soldiers and 1,000 elephants. When a general sent by Akbar attacked her kingdom in 1564, she led her troops and fought bravely despite being outnumbered. Wounded, she took her own life on the battlefield to avoid capture; she was only 40. Her sacrifice is remembered as a symbol of regional pride and resistance.

At the end of the 14th century, Timur — a brutal Turkic-Mongol conqueror from Central Asia — invaded northwest India and launched a devastating attack on Delhi. Large numbers were killed or enslaved, and the city was left in ruins. Timur withdrew with huge plunder, leaving chaos behind. In the aftermath, the Lodis emerged as the last dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, though its territory had by then shrunk considerably.

A hundi was a written instruction to make payment to an individual. It allowed merchants to transfer funds across political boundaries without physically transporting currency, making them less vulnerable to plunder. The system enabled financial transactions across trade networks without the participation of the ruling classes and is considered a precursor to modern banking.

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