The Lodhi Dynasty

Lodhi Empire

•They were Afghans by race (considered the first Afghan dynasty of India).

•They were ruling over Sirhind when Sayyids were in India.

History of Bahlul Lodhi (1451 – 1489):

•Conquested Jaunpur by ousting Sharqui dynasty.

•Revived Sultanate to quite an extent.

History of Sikandar Lodhi (1489 – 1517):

•Real name was Nizam Khan. Noblest of the three Lodhi rulers.

•Introduced the Gaz-i-Sikandari (Sikandar’s yard) of 32 digits for measuring cultivated fields.

•In 1504, he founded the city of Agra and made it his capital.

•Set up an efficient espionage system and introduced the system of auditing of accounts.

•Took care of department of Justice and department of agriculture.

•Was a poet himself and wrote verses in Persian under the pen-name of Gulrukhi.

•Repaired Qutab Minar.

Ibrahim Lodhi (1517 – 1526):

•Repressive ruler.

•Was defeated and killed by Babur in the I Battle of Panipat in 1526.

•With this the Sultanate of Delhi ended.

Administration, Society and Economy Under the Delhi Sultanate :

•The country was divided into iqtas which was distributed among the nobles, officers and soldiers for the purpose of administration and revenue collection. Iqtadars could also be transferred. Iqtadars maintained the iqtas, kept a certain sum for the cost of administration and their personal expenses, and sent the rest to the Sultan.

•Civil administration was headed by Wazir (Chief Minister) who supervised the collection of revenue, the checking of the accounts and the regulation of expenditure. His office was known as Diwan-i-wizarat.

•The next important department was diwan-i-arz headed by ariz-i-mumalik, who was responsible for the recruitment, payment and inspection of troops.

•Diwan-i-Insha headed by dahir-i-mumalik managed the royal correspondence.

•Religious matters and endowments were dealt with by the diwan-i-rasalat headed by sadr-us-sadur.

•Barid-i-mumalik was the head of the state news agency.

•The provinces were divided into shiqs under the control of shiqdars. The next unit was parganas, groups of hundred villages, headed by cbaudhary. The village was the smallest unit of administration.

Lodhi Dynasty Cultural Development (13th – 15th Century)

Art and Architecture India :

•The use of arch and the dome is the special feature of the Muslim architecture. As the arch and dome needed strong cement finer quality of mortar became wide-spread in north India.

•For decoration, the Turks used geometrical and floral designs (instead of human and animal figures in Hindu temples), with verses from Quran. They also used some Hindu motifs like bel motifs, lotus, swastik, etc.

•The Tughlaq built sloping walls called battar combining the principles of arch and the lintel and beam.

Music :

•New musical modes and instruments like rabab and sarangi were introduced.

•Amir Khusro introduced many Persian Arabic ragas. Also invented the sitar.

Painting in India : Paper was introduced by the Arabs in the 15th century and this patronized painting.

Literature India :

•Udayaraja wrote Raja Vinoda on Mahmud Begarha.

•Merutanga’s Prabandha Chintamani

•A no. of Sanskrit works – Rajatarangani, Mahabharata, Koka Shastra – were translated into Persian.

•Zai Nakshabi’s TutiNama (a translation of Sanskrit stories into Persian) was very popular.