Chapter 05 · c. 750 to 1500 CE
Cholas to the Sultanate
चोल से सल्तनत तक
From the eighth century no single power held the whole north. The Gurjara-Pratiharas, Palas and Rashtrakutas fought over Kannauj, while in the south the Cholas built a state that conquered northern Sri Lanka and sent a naval expedition against Srivijaya in Southeast Asia. Armies from Ghazni raided the plains in the early eleventh century, and after Tarain in 1192 Ghurid commanders took Delhi, where a sultanate founded in 1206 passed through five dynasties.
Under the Khaljis and Muhammad bin Tughluq the Sultanate reached further south than any earlier state based in the north, then within a generation lost the far south to the Madurai sultans and Vijayanagara, and the Deccan to the Bahmanis. Timur's sack of Delhi in 1398 left it a regional kingdom, held by the Sayyids and then the Lodis until Babur took it in 1526.
The outline is the Delhi Sultanate around 1330, at its greatest reach. It is one of the least certain shapes on this site: in Ma'bar the Sultan's writ lasted barely a dozen years, in the Deccan under thirty, and Bengal was independent by 1338.
Events in this chapter
950 CE – 1050 ±10 · Kandariya Mahadeva temple, Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh
The temples of Khajuraho
Between about 950 and 1050 the Chandela kings build dozens of Hindu and Jain temples at Khajuraho; some twenty survive.
1003 – 1010 ±1 · Brihadisvara temple, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
Rajaraja's temple at Thanjavur
Rajaraja I consecrates the Brihadisvara at Thanjavur in 1010, a granite temple whose walls record the lands and gifts of a growing Chola state.
1022 – 1035 ±2 · Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Tamil Nadu
Rajendra's Gangaikonda Cholapuram
After his army reaches the Ganga, Rajendra I builds a capital named for the feat; in 1025 his fleet raids Srivijaya across the Bay of Bengal.
1026 · Somnath, Prabhas Patan, Gujarat
Mahmud of Ghazni at Somnath
In January 1026 Mahmud of Ghazni sacks the Somanatha temple on the Saurashtra coast, the most remembered of his raids into India.
1191 – 1192 · Taraori, Karnal, Haryana
The battles of Tarain
Prithviraj Chauhan beats Muhammad of Ghur at Tarain in 1191 and loses to him on the same field in 1192, opening the Ganga plain to the Ghurids.
1199 – 1220 ±5 · Qutb Minar, Mehrauli, Delhi
The Qutb Minar and the Delhi Sultanate
Around 1199 Aibak begins a victory tower beside Delhi's first great mosque; Iltutmish completes it as Delhi becomes the seat of a sultanate.
1303 · Chittorgarh fort, Rajasthan
Alauddin Khalji takes Chittor
Seven months after leaving Delhi, Alauddin Khalji takes the Guhila fortress of Chittor on 26 August 1303, extending the Sultanate into Mewar.
1327 – 1335 ±1 · Daulatabad fort, Maharashtra
The move to Daulatabad
In 1327 Muhammad bin Tughluq makes Devagiri, renamed Daulatabad, a second capital and sends Delhi's elite south; by about 1335 the court is back.
1336 – 1346 · Virupaksha temple, Hampi, Karnataka
Vijayanagara is founded
Tradition dates to 1336 the kingdom the brothers Harihara and Bukka founded on the Tungabhadra; it would dominate the south for two centuries.
1347 · Gulbarga (Kalaburagi) fort, Karnataka
The Bahmani sultanate
On 3 August 1347 rebel Deccan amirs proclaim Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah sultan; ruling from Gulbarga, he ends Delhi's hold on the Deccan.
1398 – 1399 · Siri, Delhi
Timur sacks Delhi
Timur routs the Tughluq army outside Delhi on 17 December 1398 and sacks Siri, Jahanpanah and Old Delhi; the Sultanate never regains its reach.