Delhi Sultanate - Quiz

Aram Shah was the second sultan of the Mamluk dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. He reigned from 1210 to 1211.

The relationship of Aram Shah with Qutb al-Din Aibak (the first sultan of Delhi, who ruled from 1206 to 1210) is a subject of controversy. According to some, he was Aibak's son, but Minhaj-i-Siraj distinctly writes that Qutb al-Din only had three daughters. Abul Fazl has made the "astonishing statement" that Aram Shah was Qutb al-Din's brother. A modern writer has hazarded the opinion that "he was no relation of Qutb al-Din" but was selected as his successor as he was available on the spot.

First capital of Delhi Sultanate was Lahore. From 1206 to 1210 Lahore was the capital of Delhi Sultanate.

In 1327, Tughluq passed an order to shift the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad (in present-day Maharashtra) in the Deccan region of south India. Tughluq said that it would help him to establish control over the fertile land of the Deccan plateau and to create a more accessible capital since his empire had grown more in the south. He also felt that it would make him safe from the Mongol invasions which were mainly aimed at Delhi and regions in north India. It was not always possible to operate an army from Delhi for the occupation of Southern states. Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq himself had spent a number of years as a prince on campaign in the southern states during the reign of his father. Daulatabad was also situated at a central place so the administration of both the north and the south could be possible.

We know of Firuz Shah Tughlaq in part through his 32-page autobiography, titled Futuhat-e-firozshahi. He was 45 when he became Sultan of Delhi in 1351. He ruled until 1388. At his succession, after the death of Muhammad Tughlaq, he faced many rebellions, including in Bengal, Gujarat and Warangal. Nonetheless he worked to improve the infrastructure of the empire building canals, rest-houses and hospitals, creating and refurbishing reservoirs and digging wells. He founded several cities around Delhi, including Jaunpur, Ferozpur, Hissar, Firuzabad, Fatehabad. Most of Firozabad was destroyed as subsequent rulers dismantled its buildings and reused the spolia as building materials, and the rest was subsumed as New Delhi grew.

Explanation: The Mongolian raids on West and Central Asia set the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing soldiers, intelligentsia, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from those regions into the subcontinent, thereby establishing Islamic culture there.

Explanation: The Bahmani Sultanate was a Muslim sultanate that broke off from the Delhi Sultanate.

Explanation: The rise of the Delhi Sultanate in India was part of a wider trend affecting much of the Asian continent, including the whole of southern and western Asia: the influx of nomadic Turkic peoples from the Central Asian steppes.

Explanation: Muslim rulers in rival states began enslaving non-Muslim nomadic Turks from the Central Asian steppes and raising many of them to become loyal military slaves called Mamluks.

Explanation: Some historians chronicle the Delhi Sultanate from 1192 due to the presence and geographical claims of Muhammad Ghori in South Asia by that time.

Explanation: The Mamluks were nomadic Turkic peoples from Central Asia who were enslaved by Muslim rulers in rival states and raised to become loyal military soldiers.