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MEDIEVAL DELHI

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During the Delhi Sultanate, spanning from the early 13th century to the early 16th century, Delhi commenced its Islamic periods and emerged as a prominent center of political power, culture, and architectural innovation. Delhi Sultanate was ruled by several dynasties, including the Mamluk (Slave) Dynasty, the Khilji Dynasty, the Tughlaq Dynasty, the Sayyid Dynasty, and the Lodi Dynasty. Delhi was the capital for most of the Sultanate and later, Mughal, period. Its strategic location facilitated control over northern India and enabled efficient administration and military expeditions. Spanning from the early 16th century to the mid-18th century, the Mughal era left an indelible mark on Delhi’s history.  Delhi expanded significantly during these periods, with cities like Siri, Tughlaqabad, Firozabad, and Jahanpanah, Din Panah and Shahjahanabad being added to Delhi's layered continuum. Economy, culture, education, music, literature- all weaved into a composite fabric in complex and syncretic ways. Explore the stories behind the iconic monuments like the Qutb Minar, Alai Darwaza, Hauz Khas complex, Tughlaqabad Fort, Purana Qila, Lal Qila, Humayun's Tomb and many more on this page.

Contents

  1. Alam, M. (1986). The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

  2. Aquil, R. (2017). The Muslim Question: Understanding Islam and Indian History. Delhi: Penguin Random House India.

  3. Ashraf, K. M. (2015). Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan: 1200-1550. New Delhi: Gyan Publishing House.

  4. Balakrishna Sandeep (2020). Invaders and infidels: From Sind to Delhi – The 500 years journey of Islamic invasions. New Delhi, India: Bloomsbury.

  5. Balakrishna, S. (2020). Invaders and Infidels (Book 1): From Sindh to Delhi: The 500-Year Journey of Islamic Invasions. Bloomsbury Publishing.

  6. Bernier, F. (1916). Travels in the Moghul Empire, 1656-1668. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  7. Blake, S. P. (1991). Shahjahanabad: The Sovereign City in Mughal India, 1639-1739. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

  8. Chandra, S. (1996). Historiography, Religion and State in Medieval India. New Delhi: Har Anand.

  9. Chandra, S. (2015). History of Medieval India. Delhi: Orient Blackswan.

  10. Chattopadhyaya, B. (2012). The Making of Early Medieval India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

  11. Delhi Down the Ages, Dinesh Kapoor, Times Group Books, New Delhi

  12. Eraly, A. (2007). The Mughal world: Life in India's last golden age. Penguin Books India.

  13. Farooqui, S. A. (2011). A Comprehensive History of Medieval India. Pearson Education India.

  14. Flood, F. B. (2003). Pillars, palimpsests and princely practices: Translating the past in Sultanate Delhi. Spring, 2003.

  15. Flood, F. B. (2008). Piety and Politics in the Early Indian Mosque. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

  16. Frykenberg, R. E. (Ed.). (1988). Delhi Through the Ages: Essays in Urban History, Culture and Society. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

  17. Fuess, A., & Hartung, J. P. (Eds.). (2011). Court Cultures in the Muslim World, Seventh to Nineteenth Century. London: Routledge.

  18. Gupta, N. (Year). The Indomitable City. In Shahjahanabad/Old Delhi: Tradition and Colonial Change (pp. 29-44). New Delhi: Manohar.

  19. Habib, M., & Khan, A. U. S. (Year). The Political Theory of the Delhi Sultanate. Publisher: Kitab Mahal.

  20. Habib, M., & Nizami, K. A. (Eds.). (1970). A Comprehensive History of India, Vol. V. Delhi: Peoples Publishing House.

  21. Haider, N. (2014). A Lost City of Delhi Through Persian Histories. Studies in Peoples History, 1(163).

  22. Haque, Ishrat. (1992). Glimpses of Mughal Society and Culture. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Co.

  23. Hardy, P. (1960). Historians of Medieval India: Studies in Indo-Muslim Islamic Writing. London: Luzac and Company Ltd.

  24. Hussain, M. (1976). The Rehla of Ibn Batuta. Baroda: Orient Institute.

  25. Jackson, P. (2003). The Delhi sultanate: a political and military history. Cambridge University Press.

  26. Jarrett, H. S. (Trans.). (1949). Ain-i-Akbari (Vol. II). (corrected and further annotated by J. Sarkar,). Calcutta: Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal.

  27. Kumar, S. (2000). Assertions of Authority: A Study of the Discursive Statements of Two Sultans of Delhi. In M. Alam (Ed.), The Making of Indo Persian Culture. Delhi: Manohar.

  28. Kumar, S. (2002). The Present in Delhi’s Pasts. New Delhi: Three Essays.

  29. Kumar, Sunil. (2010). Emergence of The Delhi Sultanate. New Delhi: Permanent Black.

  30. Kumar, S. (2009). The Ignored Elites: Turks, Mongols and a Persian Secretarial Class in the Early Delhi Sultanate. Modern Asian Studies, 43(1), 45-77.

  31. Lane-Poole, S. (1903). Mediaeval India under the Mohammedan Rule. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons.

  32. Mittal S. (2013). Delhi During Pax Britannica (1803-1857), THE DISCUSSANT Journal of Centre for Reforms, Development and Justice, JULY 2013 Vol.1 No.3

  33. Mittal, S. (2018). Delhi Journey Part 2. Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research, 5(2), February 2018.

  34. Mittal, S., & Singh, N. K. (2023). Material Culture in Shahjahanabad. International Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Studies, 5(5), 57-65. 

  35. Mukhia, H. (2008). The Mughals of India. New Delhi: Wiley India Pvt. Ltd.

  36. Mukhoty, I. (2018). Daughters of the Sun: empresses, queens and begums of the Mughal Empire. Aleph Book Company.

  37. Munshi, R. M. (1911). The History of the Qutb Minar. Bombay: Fort Printing Press.

  38. Naim, C. M. (2011). Individualism within conformity: A brief history of Waz’dārī in Delhi and Lucknow. The Indian Economic & Social History Review, 48(1), 35-53.

  39. Ojha, A. (2021). Bazaars of 17th century Shahjahanabad as spatial, symbolic and cultural spaces. Punjab University Research Journal of Social Sciences, 29(1-3).

  40. R Nath, R. (2005). Private Life of The Mughals of India. Rupa & Co.

  41. Rizvi, S. A. A. (2005). The Wonder That Was India II. New Delhi: Picador India.

  42. Sachau, C. E. (2015). Al Baruni’s India: An Account of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Geography, Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India About A.D. 1030 (2 Vols.). Delhi: Rupa and Co.

  43. Siddiqui, I. H. (Year). Delhi Sultanate: Urbanization and Social Change. Viva Books Pvt. Ltd. New Delhi.

  44. Spear, P. (1945). Delhi: A Historical Sketch. Bombay: Oxford University Press.

  45. Stein, M. A. (Year). Kalhan's Rajatarangini (Vol. II). Westminster

  46. The Last Light in Delhi: Glimpses from a Golden Age of Poetry. (2022). Delhi: Penguin. 

Glimpse of Mughal Society and culture.webp

Glimpse of Mughal Society and culture

Ishrat Haque

The mughals of India.jpg

The Mughals of India

Harbans Mukhia

Delhi sultanate Urbanization and social change.jpg

Delhi Sultanate: Urbanization and social change

Iqtidar Husain Siddique

The Present in Delhi's Pasts 

Sunil Kumar

The Emergence of the Delhi Sultanate.jpg

Sunil Kumar

The Emergence of the Delhi Sultanate

Sunil Kumar

Medival India umdr.jpg

Medieval India under Mohammedan Rule (AD 712-1764)

Stanley Lane-Poole

Delhi ages.jpg
Historiography, Religion and State in Medieval India.webp

Historiography, Religion and State in Medieval India

Satish Chandra

Delhi through ages 
Essays in Urban history, Culture and Society

R.E. Frykenberg

the hisory of kutb Minar.jpg

History of The Kutb Minar

R.N. Munshi

Assertions of Authority: A Study of the Discursive Statements of Two Sultans of Delhi

Assertions of Authority: A Study of the Discursive Statements of Two Sultans of Delhi

Sunil Kumar

Piety and Politics in the Early Indian Mosque (Introduction)

Finbarr Barry Flood

A lost city of Delhi through Persian histories', Studies in People's History, vol 1 

piety_and_politics_in_the_early_indian_mosque_idk973.jpg

Najaf Haidar

Persian Histories and a Lost City of Delhi', Studies in People's History, vol 1

shahjahanabad__old_delhi_tradition_and_colonial_idd507.webp

Shahjahanabad / Old Delhi: Tradition and Colonial Change (The Indomitable City)

Narayani Gupta

The Wonder that was India II

S.A.A. Rizvi

Shahjahanabad- The sovereign city.jpg

Shahjahanabad: The Sovereign City in Mughal India, 1639-1739

Stephen P. Blake

Alberuni's India.jpg

 Alberuni’s India, 2 vols (Kitab-al-Hind) Translation by Carl Edward Sachu

Alberuni

Download PDF

delhi a historical sketcghb.jpg

Delhi : A Historical Sketch

Percival Spear

Fatawa-i-Jahandari

The Political Theory of the Delhi Sultanate 

Mohammad Habib

history of medival india.jpg

History of Medival India

Satish Chandra

Delhi Down the Ages Travel through History.jpg

Delhi Down the Ages: Travel through History

Dinesh Kapoor

Ratnagiri.jpg
A comprenshive history of India.png

Kalhana's Rajatarangini, vols 2
Translation by M.A. Stein

Kalhana

A Comprehensive History of India, Vol. V

Mohammad Habib
Khaliq Ahmad Nizami

Life and Conditions of the People of Hindustan

Dr K.M. Ashraf

Download PDF

Court Cultures in the Muslim World

Albrecht Fuess and Jan-Peter Hartung

The Ain-i- mAkhbari.jpg

Ain-i-Akbari, vol 2

Abul Fazal - I - Allami

travels in Mogul Empire.jpg

Travels in the Mogul Empire AD 1656 - 1668 - 

Francois Bernier

Brajadulal Chattopadhayaya, The Making of Early Medieval India.jpeg

The Making of Early Medieval India

Brajadulal Chattopadhayaya

Salma Ahmed Farooqui, A Comprehensive History of Medieval India From Twelfth to the Mid-Ei

A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century

Salma Ahmed Farooqui

The Rehla by Ibn Batuta

Mahdi Husain

From Sindh to Delhi: The 500-Year Journey of Islamic Invasions

Private Lives of the Mughals of India (1626-1803)

R Nath

Peter Hardy, Historians of medieval India - Studies in Indo-Muslim Historical Writing.jpeg

Historians of Medieval India: Studies in Indo-Muslim Historical Writing

Peter Hardy

Raziuddin Aquil, The Muslim question- Understanding Islam and Indian history (Chapter 6 Vi

The Muslim question:Understanding Islam and Indian History (Chapter 6: Violating Norms of Conduct)

Raziuddin Aquil

The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History

The Crisis of Empire in Mughal North India: Awadh and the Punjab 1707-1748

Muzaffar Alam

Mirza Farhatullah Baig, The Last Light of Delhi - Glimpses from a Goolden Age of Poetry.jp

The Last Light of Delhi

Mirza Farhatullah Baig

Daughters of the Sun: Empresses, Queens and Begums of the Mughal Empire.

The Mughal World: Life in India's Last Golden Age

Abraham Eraly

Delhi during Pax Britannica

Sangeeta Mittal

Individualism within Conformity: A History of Wazdari in Delhi and Lucknow

C M Naim

Material Culture in Shahjahanabad

Sangeeta Mittal
Niraj Kumar Singh

Pillars, palimpsests and Princely Pratice: Translating the Past in Sultanate Delhi

Finbar B Flood

The Ignored Elites: Turks, Mongols and a Persian Secretarial Class in the Early Delhi Sultanate

 

Sunil Kumar

Bazaars of17th Century
Shahjahanabad as Spatial, Symbolic and Cultural Spaces

Archana Ojha

Delhi Journey Part 2

Sangeeta Mittal

A major research project sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR)

Dr. Niraj Kumar Singh
Project Director

Prof. Sangeeta Mittal
Co-Project Director

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