Medieval and Islamic History

Grant duff wrote the book  A History of the Mahrattas. It was written in 3 volumes.

Babur, the founder of the Mughal empire wrote his autobiography which was titled Tuzuk-i-Babari. It contains the descriptions of the battles fought by him. Babur has also recorded his minute observations of all the regions and cities visited by him which include the local economy, customs, and traditions.

Akbarnana, the biography of Akbar was written by Abul Fazl. Abul Fazl's Akbarnama is very important from the viewpoint of critical historiography. His method of collecting authentic historical documents and their scrutiny is looked upon as devoid of bias and hence realistic.

In 1612, James I instructed Sir Thomas Roe to visit the Mughal Emperor Nuruddin Salim Jahangir to arrange for a commercial treaty that would give the company exclusive rights to reside and establish factories in Surat and other areas. 

Akbar spent his youth learnings to hunt, run and fight made him a daring, powerful and brave warrior, but he never learned to read and write.

Ghiyasuddin Balban (1266-1287) was the first Sultan of Delhi to introduce the practice of 'Sijda'. He started Sijda (prostration) and Paibos as the normal form of Salutation of the king. In Sijda people had to Kneel down and touch the ground with their head to greet the Sultan.

Transfer of capital from Delhi to Devagiri (Daulatabad) was one of the most important reasons for the unpopularity of Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq. He wanted to establish control over the fertile land of the Deccan plateau (present day Maharashtra) and to create a more accessible capital. He thought it would give him safety against Mongol invasions as well. But the decision was taken in haste and made locals uncomfortable.

Mohammad Ghazni’s court had a famous scholar called Alberuni. He was a philosopher, mathematician, geographer and writer. He wrote a book called ‘Tariq-ul-Hind’ dealing with Indian social, economic and religious topics. 

It is an important historical work on medieval India. It was written by Ziauddin Barani, a historical and a political thinker who lived in India during the reign of Mohammad bin Tughluq and Firuz Shah. 

The Hauz Khas, a royal tank was constructed by Alauddin Khilji for supplying of water to the Siri Fort area. The word Hauz Khas in the Urdu language is derived from the words 'Hauz' means 'water tank' and 'Khas' means 'royal'.

Five dynasties ruled over Delhi Sultanate sequentially, the first four of which were of Turkic origin: the Mamluk dynasty (1206–90), the Khilji dynasty (1290–1320), the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414), the Sayyid dynasty (1414–51), and the Afghan Lodi dynasty (1451–1526).

When Akbar's father Humayun was out of the country, it was Sher Shah Suri who played an important role in establishing the Suri dynasty. Sher Shah is considered a brilliant administrator who worked on creating a strong political province in the North of India. Hence, this laid the foundation for Akbar and with him the coming back of the Mughal rule. 

The lowest stratum of the society of Delhi Sultanate was peasants. They lived in villages, paid taxes to state as land revenue. Peasants life was in severe poverty.

During the Sultanate period, Islam was opposite to the Hinduism of the day as it talked of equality, brotherhood, and monotheism. Hence many lower class people attracted to Islamic principles and converted to Islam.

Shamsuddin Iltutmish was one of the powerful rulers of slave dynasty. The rulers of this dynasty were also called "Mamluk Sultans". The term "Mamluk" in Arabic means "Owned". Iltutmish organised the Iqta system. He granted land to his army. These granted lands were known as Iqta. The iqta holders were known as Iqtadar or Muqti. In return of Iqta, Iqtadar had to give military help to the Sultan at the time of war.