Lodi dynasty
The Lodi dynasty was an Afghan dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate from 1451 to 1526. It was the fifth and last dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, and was founded by Bahlol Khan Lodi who replaced the Sayyid dynasty.
Bahlol Lodi
Bahlol Khan Lodi ( r. 1451–1489) was the nephew and son-in-law of Malik Sultan Shah Lodi, the governor of Sirhind in India (Punjab) and succeeded him as governor of Sirhind during the reign of the ruler of the Sayyid dynasty. Muhammad Shah. Muhammad Shah raised him to the rank of Tarun-bin-Sultan. He was the most powerful of the Punjab chiefs and a forceful leader who, with his strong personality, held together a loose confederation of Afghan and Turkish chiefs. He brought the restive chiefs of the provinces into subjection and infused some power into the government.
After the last Sayyid ruler of Delhi, Alauddin Alam Shah voluntarily abdicated in his favor, Bahlol Khan Lodi ascended the throne of the Delhi Sultanate on 19 April 1451. The most important event of his reign was the conquest of Jaunpur. Bahlol spent most of his time fighting against the Sharqi dynasty and eventually captured it. He placed his eldest surviving son Barbak on the throne of Jaunpur in 1486.
Sikandar Khan Lodi
Sikandar Khan Lodi (1489–1517) (born Nizam Khan), Bahlol's second son, succeeded him after his death on 17 July 1489 and assumed the title Sikandar Shah. h His father named him as his successor and was crowned Sultan on 15 July 1489. He founded Agra in 1504 and built mosques. He shifted the capital from Delhi to Agra.
He patronized trade and commerce. He was a distinguished poet, who composed under the pen name of Guru. He was also a patron of learning and ordered the translation of a Sanskrit work on medicine into Persian. He curbed the individualistic tendencies of his Pashtun nobles and forced them to submit their accounts to state audit. Thus, he was able to infuse vigor and discipline into the administration. His biggest achievement was the conquest and annexation of Bihar.
Ibrahim Lodi
Ibrahim Lodi (1517–1526), the eldest son of Sikandar, was the last Lodi Sultan of Delhi. He possessed the qualities of an excellent warrior, but was impetuous and impetuous in his decisions and actions. His attempt at imperial despotism was premature and without measures to strengthen the administration and increase military resources his policy of sheer repression proved unsuccessful.
Ibrahim faced several rebellions and kept the opposition out for nearly a decade. He engaged in warfare with the Afghans and the Mughal Empire for most of his reign, and died trying to save the Lodi dynasty from destruction. Ibrahim was defeated in the Battle of Panipat in 1526. It marked the end of the Lodi dynasty and the rise of the Mughal Empire in India under the leadership of Babur (1526–1530).
fall of empire
By the time Ibrahim ascended the throne, the political structure in the Lodi dynasty had disintegrated due to abandoned trade routes and an empty treasury. The Deccan was a coastal trade route, but the supply lines had collapsed by the end of the fifteenth century.
The decline and eventual failure of this distinctive trade route resulted in the closure of supplies from the coast to the interior, where the Lodi Empire resided. The Lodi dynasty was not able to defend itself if wars broke out on the trade routes; Therefore, they did not use those trade routes, thus the decline of their trade and hence their treasury made them vulnerable to internal political problems. Daulat Khan Lodi, the governor of Lahore, asked Babur, the ruler of Kabul, to invade his kingdom to avenge the insults inflicted by Ibrahim. Thus Ibrahim Lodi was killed in a battle with Babur. With the death of Ibrahim Lodi, the Lodi dynasty also came to an end.
Afghan factionalism
When Ibrahim ascended the throne in 1517, another problem was that of the Pashtun nobles, some of whom supported Ibrahim's elder brother Jalaluddin in taking up arms against his brother in the region of Jaunpur in the east.
Ibrahim gathered military support and defeated his brother by the end of the year. After this incident, he arrested the Pashtun nobles who opposed him and appointed his men as the new administrators. Other Pashtun nobles supported Dariya Khan, the governor of Bihar, against Ibrahim.
Another factor that led to a rebellion against Ibrahim was the lack of a clear successor. His own uncle Alam Khan betrayed Ibrahim by supporting the Mughal invader Babur.
Rajput invasion and internal rebellion
The Rajput leader of Mewar (1509–1526) Rana Sanga expanded his kingdom, defeated the Lodi king of Delhi and was accepted by all Rajput clans as the chief prince of Rajputana. Daulat Khan, the governor of the Punjab region, asked Babur to invade the Lodi kingdom with the idea of taking revenge on Ibrahim Lodi. Rana Sanga also extended his support to Babur to defeat Ibrahim Lodi.
Battle of Panipat, 1526 AD
Babur gathered his army after getting the assurance of cooperation from Alam Khan and Subedar Daulat Khan of Punjab. On entering the Punjab plains, Babur's chief ally, Langar Khan Niyazi, advised Babur to enlist the powerful Janjua Rajputs to join him in his conquests.
The rebellious stand of the tribe for the throne of Delhi was well known. Upon meeting their chiefs, Malik Hast (Asad) and Raja Sanghar Khan, Babur noted the popularity of the Janjua as traditional rulers of their kingdom and their paternal support for their patriarch Amir Timur during the conquest of Hind.
Babur assisted them in defeating their enemies, the Gakhars, in 1521, thus cementing their alliance. Babur appointed them as generals for his campaign of Delhi, the conquest of Rana Sanga and the conquest of India.
Babur and the Ascension of the Mughals
After Ibrahim's death, Babur declared himself emperor of Ibrahim's territory instead of placing Alam Khan (Ibrahim's uncle) on the throne. Ibrahim's death marked the end of the Lodi dynasty and established the Mughal Empire in India. The rest of the Lodi territories were absorbed into the new Mughal Empire. Babur continued to engage in more military campaigns.
Mahmood Lodi
Ibrahim Lodi's brother Mahmud Lodi declared himself Sultan and continued to resist the Mughal forces. He provided about 4,000 Afghan soldiers to Rana Sanga in the battle of Khanwa. After the defeat, Mahmud Lodi fled eastwards and challenged Babur again two years later at the Battle of Ghaghra.
Religion and Architecture
Like their predecessors, the Lodi sultans styled themselves as representatives of the Abbasid caliphs, and thus acknowledged the authority of a united caliphate over the Muslim world. He provided cash stipends and granted revenue-free lands (including entire villages) to Muslim ulema, Sufi sheikhs, descendants of Muhammad and members of his Quraysh clan.
Muslim subjects of the Lodis were required to pay zakat tax for religious merit, and non-Muslims were required to pay jizya tax to receive state patronage. In some parts of the Sultanate, Hindus had to pay an additional pilgrimage tax. Nevertheless, several Hindu officers formed a part of the revenue administration of the Sultanate.
Sikandar Lodi, whose mother was a Hindu, resorted to strong Sunni conservatism to prove his Islamic credentials as a political necessity. He destroyed Hindu temples, and under pressure from the ulama, allowed the death penalty for a Brahmin who declared Hinduism to be as true as Islam.
He also banned women from visiting the mazars (tombs) of Muslim saints, and banned the annual procession of the famous Muslim martyr Salar Masood's spear. They also established Sharia courts in many cities with significant Muslim populations, allowing qazis to apply Islamic law to Muslim as well as non-Muslim subjects.
By Chanchal Sailani | January 24, 2023, | Editor at Gurugrah_Blogs.
