Muhammad Bakhtyar Khalji, who destroyed the undefended university town of Adantpuri in Bihar in 1200, butchering all of the Buddhist monks in their monasteries.

He also attacked the town of Nadiya in 1202. In the Muntakhab-ut-Tawarikh of Badauni it is described that more property and booty was taken by the Muslims than could be calculated, and Bakhtyar destroyed all of the temples and founded mosques.

Nonetheless, by 1206 Kalinjar had been repossessed by the Hindu Chandellas, and Ranthambhor had disconnected itself from the Delhi Sultanate. Gwalior had been retaken by the Pratihars, the Doab was takenby the Gahadvad prince Harischandra, and the Katehar Rajputs had regained influence over the area beyond the Ganges.

Plus, the Yadavbhatti Rajputsnear Alwar had cut off the road to Ajmer. Aibak was unable to regain any of these territories before he died in 1210. Aibak’s son-in-law and successor, Shamsuddin Iltutmish (1210 – 1236), succeeded Aibak as the sultan by defeating Aibak’s son. Thus, the principle of heredity, of son succeeding his father was checked at the outset.

Iltutmish must be regarded as the real consolidator of the Turkish conquests in north India. He invaded Malwa in 1234 and destroyed the ancient temple at Vidisha. Badauni also reports that he leveled to the ground the famous Mahakal Shivatemple in Ujjain, which had already been in existence for 600 years. He brought brass Vedic deities back to Delhi and placed them in the ground in front of the mosque doors so people would trample on them. He succeeded in retaking Ranthambhor and Gwalior, and the area around Ajmer. But he suffered several defeats by the Guhilots of Nagda, the Chauhans of Bundi, the Paramars of Malwa, and the Chandellas of Bundelkhand.

He could also not shake the hold of the Katehar Rajputs. Even his grip around Ajmer started to slip away by the time he died in 1236. During his last years, Iltutmish finally nominated his daughter Raziya(1236 – 1239) to the throne.

Raziya was the first and only Muslim lady to sit on the Delhi throne. But in order to assert her claim, Raziya had to contend against her brothers as well as against powerful Turkish nobles, and could rule only for three years. Though brief, her rule had a number of interesting features, like the beginning of the struggle for power between the monarchy and the Turkish chiefs, sometimes called as the forty or Chahalgami.

She sent an expedition against Ranthambhor to control the Rajputs, and successfully established law and order in the length and breadth of her kingdom. In 1239, an internal rebellion broke out in which Raziya was imprisoned and killed by bandits.

Hereafter, Muslim power declined as Hindu strength began to be revived, especially by the Katehar Rajputs who had not submitted to Islamic imperialism. The Muslim Balban had to engage in a fierce battle, crossing the Ganges in 1254, and in Katehar he cruelly killed every male, even down to eight years old, and captured all of the women.

  • Nonetheless, Islamic power still declined until it was reinforced by the Khaljis in 1290.The Sultanate of Delhi was held by five separate dynasties,
  • Beginning with the Slave Dynasty (1206-1290), the Khaljis (1290-1320), the Tughluqs(1320-1414), the Sayyids (1414-1451), and the Lodis (1451-1526).
  • There were 34 Sultans who sat on the Delhi throne in a little over three centuries.Over all, there were seven other sultanates in India, namely the Gujarat(1407-1526), Khandesh (1370-1510), the two dynasties of Malwa (1401-1531), Jaunpur (1394-1479), the four dynasties of Bengal (1282-1533), Multan (1444-1525), and the Bahmani Sultanate of the Deccan (1347-1482).
  • However, there were several Hindu kingdoms that were also greatly influential, which included the Vijayanagar kingdom (1336-1565), Mewar (1314-1528), Marwar, Mithila, Orissa, and Assam which were never completely subjugated by the Muslims during this time, nor were the Hindu kingdoms of the deep south, except for when the Khaljis gained some influence.

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