2.7 Summary
Key Points
- A political map is not permanent. Between the 11th and 17th centuries, India’s borders were redrawn repeatedly by conquest, alliance, resistance and decline.
- The Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) began after Muhammad of Ghor defeated Prithviraj Chauhan (1192). It was not one dynasty but five, Mamluk, Khilji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, Lodi, marked by expansion, instability, and at times the plunder of cities and destruction of temples.
- Notable sultans include Alauddin Khilji (a strong army and market price controls) and Muhammad bin Tughlaq (bold but failed experiments, the capital shift and token currency).
- In the south, the Vijayanagara Empire (founded 1336 by Harihara and Bukka) rose to great wealth and culture, peaking under Krishnadevaraya, before its defeat at the Battle of Talikota (1565). Its rival was the Bahmani (later Deccan) Sultanate.
- India was never ruled by a single power. Regional kingdoms held firm: the Rajputs (Maharana Pratap, Haldighati 1576), the Ahoms (Lachit Borphukan, Saraighat 1671), and the Gajapatis of Odisha.
- The Mughal Empire began when Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat (1526). Akbar (1556–1605) made it stable through the mansabdari system, the zabt revenue system, and the tolerant policy of sulh-i-kul (abolishing the jizya, allying with Rajputs).
- The empire peaked under Aurangzeb (1658–1707) but then declined, due to costly Deccan wars, an emptied treasury, the reversal of tolerant policies, weak successors, rising regional powers (Marathas, Sikhs), and invasions such as Nadir Shah’s sack of Delhi (1739).
- As Mughal power faded, India’s map again filled with regional powers, setting the stage for the Marathas and the arrival of the European trading companies.
One Sentence to Remember From the Sultanate to Vijayanagara to the Mughals, India’s political map was constantly reshaped, and the empires that lasted longest were those, like Akbar’s, that governed through fair systems and tolerance rather than force alone.