Delhi Sultanate II — Tughlaqs, Sayyids & Lodis

Why This Chapter Matters

SSC CGL, CHSL, MTS and RRB NTPC GA sections ask 1-2 questions from this chapter almost every year. The favourite topics are Muhammad bin Tughlaq's two blunders (capital shift to Daulatabad and token currency), Firoz Shah Tughlaq's welfare works and canal building, Timur's invasion of 1398, and the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 that ended the Sultanate and opened the Mughal era. Questions on "who shifted the capital", "who introduced token currency", "who built canals", and "who founded which dynasty" repeat with only the wording changed.

This period also closes the 320-year story of the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526), so exams like to test the exact sequence of five dynasties: Slave, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, Lodi. Remember the order and you can answer half the "arrange chronologically" questions without knowing a single extra fact. Keep an eye on Ibrahim Lodi too, since his defeat at Panipat is the hinge point between medieval Sultanate history and Mughal history, and both books test it.

1. Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq and the Founding of the Dynasty

Ghazi Malik, a Turkish-Indian noble who had served as governor of Dipalpur under the Khaljis, overthrew the weak Khusrau Khan in 1320 and took the throne as Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (1320-1325). He founded the Tughlaq dynasty, the third dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.

Ghiyasuddin built a new fortified city near Delhi called Tughlaqabad. He kept land revenue moderate, unlike Alauddin Khalji's harsh market controls, and tried to restore order after the chaos of Khusrau Khan's short reign.

He sent his son Muhammad bin Tughlaq (then called Jauna Khan or Ulugh Khan) on campaigns to Bengal and Warangal, both of which succeeded. On his return journey from a Bengal campaign in 1325, Ghiyasuddin died when a wooden pavilion built to welcome him at Afghanpur collapsed. Many chroniclers, including Ibn Battuta later, suspected that the prince Jauna Khan had engineered the collapse, though this is not settled fact and exams do not test it as certain.

2. Muhammad bin Tughlaq (1325-1351)

Muhammad bin Tughlaq succeeded his father in 1325. He was one of the most learned rulers of the Sultanate, well read in logic, philosophy, mathematics and medicine, yet he is remembered in exam books mainly for two failed experiments.

Transfer of Capital to Daulatabad

Around 1327, Muhammad bin Tughlaq shifted his capital from Delhi to Daulatabad (renamed from Devagiri) in the Deccan. His stated reason was that Daulatabad sat closer to the centre of his empire and would help him control the south. He reportedly ordered the entire population of Delhi, or at least its elite, to march roughly 1,100 km to Daulatabad.

The move failed. Water scarcity at Daulatabad and the hardship of the journey caused huge suffering, and within a few years Muhammad bin Tughlaq reversed the decision and moved the capital back to Delhi. SSC often frames this as "which Sultan shifted his capital and later reversed it" — the answer is always Muhammad bin Tughlaq.

Token Currency Experiment

Around 1329-1330, facing financial pressure from wars and famine relief, Muhammad bin Tughlaq introduced token currency: bronze/copper coins that were to be treated as equal in value to gold and silver coins. China's Yuan dynasty and Iran's Il-khanate had tried similar paper/token money experiments, and the idea itself was not irrational.

The scheme collapsed because the government could not stop people from forging the bronze tokens in their own homes, since bronze was cheap and widely available. Fake coins flooded the market, foreign merchants refused to accept the tokens, and the treasury had to withdraw the scheme and exchange tokens for real gold and silver coins at heavy loss. This is one of the most repeated MCQ facts of medieval India: "token currency" plus "Muhammad bin Tughlaq" plus "withdrawn due to forgery."

Other Measures and the Kharaj Increase

Muhammad bin Tughlaq raised land tax (kharaj) sharply in the fertile Doab region during a famine year, which triggered peasant revolts and further unrest. He also planned a Qarachil expedition into the Himalayan foothills that ended in heavy losses.

By the end of his reign the empire faced repeated rebellions: Bengal broke away, and in the Deccan, the Bahmani Sultanate (founded 1347 by Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah) and the Vijayanagara Empire (founded 1336 by Harihara and Bukka) both emerged from territory that had been under Tughlaq control. Muhammad bin Tughlaq died in 1351 while chasing a rebel in Sindh; a later historian called him "a mixture of opposites" for combining brilliance with disastrous judgement.

3. Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351-1388)

Firoz Shah Tughlaq, a cousin of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, was chosen by nobles to succeed him in 1351. His reign is remembered for public works and welfare measures rather than military conquest.

Key achievements:

• Built several canals for irrigation, most notably from the Yamuna and the Sutlej to the Hisar region. His canal network is the earliest large-scale irrigation system credited to a Sultanate ruler.
• Founded new towns: Firozabad (near Delhi), Fatehabad, Hisar, and Jaunpur (named after Muhammad bin Tughlaq, whose original name was Jauna Khan).
• Set up a Diwan-i-Khairat (department of charity) and a Diwan-i-Bandagan (department of slaves), and expanded state support for the poor, the unemployed and unmarried girls needing dowry.
• Reintroduced and reimposed jizya (tax on non-Muslims) more strictly, and imposed it even on Brahmins who had earlier been exempt, drawing objections from the ulema initially but he held firm.
• Banned certain forms of physical punishment used by earlier Sultans, showing a comparatively humane streak in penal policy.
• Brought two Ashokan pillars to Delhi from Topra and Meerut, re-erecting one at Firoz Shah Kotla. He was curious about the Brahmi script on them but could not get them deciphered in his time (Brahmi was deciphered much later by James Prinsep in 1837, a fact tested more often in the ancient India context).
• Compiled his memoirs, the Futuhat-i-Firoz Shahi.

Firoz Shah's excessive reliance on iqta assignments and hereditary claims by nobles and slaves weakened central control. After his death in 1388, weak successors and factional fighting among nobles crippled the dynasty within a decade.

4. Timur's Invasion (1398)

The Tughlaq dynasty limped on under weak rulers until the Central Asian conqueror Timur (Tamerlane) invaded India in 1398, during the reign of Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah Tughlaq. Timur defeated the Delhi forces, occupied and plundered Delhi with massive bloodshed, and withdrew after a few weeks, leaving behind a governor named Khizr Khan at Multan.

Timur's invasion effectively finished the Tughlaq dynasty as a real power. Delhi's economy and population took years to recover. The last nominal Tughlaq ruler died in 1412, and Khizr Khan, who had been left in charge of Multan and Punjab by Timur, marched on Delhi and took the throne in 1414, founding the Sayyid dynasty.

5. The Sayyid Dynasty (1414-1451)

Khizr Khan (1414-1421) founded the Sayyid dynasty, claiming descent from the Prophet's family (hence "Sayyid"). He ruled as a subordinate of the Timurid successors in name, not as an independent Sultan, and his territory was limited mostly to Delhi and parts of Punjab.

His successors, Mubarak Shah (1421-1434), Muhammad Shah (1434-1445) and Alauddin Alam Shah (1445-1451), ruled over a shrinking and disturbed kingdom, unable to control provincial governors. The Sayyid dynasty is the shortest and weakest of the five Delhi Sultanate dynasties, and exams mostly test just this: name, founder, and the fact that it was founded by a Timurid appointee.

In 1451, Alauddin Alam Shah voluntarily gave up the throne of Delhi to Bahlul Khan Lodi, the powerful Afghan governor of Sirhind, and retired to Badaun.

6. The Lodi Dynasty (1451-1526)

The Lodi dynasty was the first and only Afghan dynasty to rule the Delhi Sultanate (all four earlier dynasties, Slave/Mamluk, Khalji, Tughlaq and Sayyid, were of Turkish or mixed Turco-Afghan origin at the top, though Khaljis themselves are debated as Turkicised Afghans by some historians; the Lodis are the dynasty most clearly and consistently labelled Afghan in exam material).

Bahlul Lodi (1451-1489)

Bahlul Lodi founded the dynasty in 1451. He spent much of his reign fighting the Sharqi dynasty of Jaunpur and eventually annexed Jaunpur to the Delhi Sultanate around 1484, ending that independent kingdom (detailed further in Chapter 15 on regional kingdoms). He gave important Afghan nobles a share in governance, treating them more as partners than as subjects, a style very different from the centralising Turkish Sultans.

Sikandar Lodi (1489-1517)

Sikandar Lodi, Bahlul's son, was the most capable Lodi ruler. He founded the city of Agra in 1504, which later became the Mughal capital under several emperors. He was a patron of learning, promoted the translation of Sanskrit medical texts into Persian, and reimposed jizya on Hindus with new strictness. He also enforced restrictions on Hindu practices at pilgrimage sites in some regions, a policy that is described in exam material as intolerant compared to earlier practice. He standardised the gaz (measuring yard) used for land measurement, a fact occasionally asked in SSC.

Ibrahim Lodi (1517-1526) and the End of the Sultanate

Ibrahim Lodi, Sikandar's son, proved arrogant and heavy-handed with the Afghan nobility, unlike his father and grandfather who had shared power. His attempt to centralise authority alienated powerful nobles.

Daulat Khan Lodi, the governor of Punjab, and Rana Sanga of Mewar are both traditionally said (in the standard exam narrative) to have invited Babur, the Timurid ruler of Kabul, to invade India and remove Ibrahim Lodi. Babur had already raided Punjab a few times earlier.

In 1526, Babur's forces met Ibrahim Lodi's much larger army at Panipat in the First Battle of Panipat. Babur's use of gunpowder artillery (matchlocks/tufak) and the Ottoman-style tactic of Rumi Khan, plus wagons chained together (araba) to break cavalry charges, overcame the numerical disadvantage. Ibrahim Lodi was killed on the battlefield, becoming the only Delhi Sultan to die fighting in battle for his throne.

This battle ended the Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526), a span of 320 years and five dynasties, and began the Mughal Empire under Babur. The next chapter in this book picks up Babur's reign and the Mughal founding in full detail.

7. Sultanate Timeline: Five Dynasties in Sequence

Dynasty	Approximate span	Founder	Notable end point
Slave (Mamluk)	1206-1290	Qutb-ud-din Aibak	Overthrown by Jalaluddin Khalji
Khalji	1290-1320	Jalaluddin Khalji	Khusrau Khan's brief usurpation, then overthrown
Tughlaq	1320-1414	Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq	Weakened by Timur's 1398 invasion
Sayyid	1414-1451	Khizr Khan	Alauddin Alam Shah surrendered throne to Bahlul Lodi
Lodi	1451-1526	Bahlul Lodi	Ibrahim Lodi killed at First Battle of Panipat, 1526

This sequence, Slave-Khalji-Tughlaq-Sayyid-Lodi, is worth memorising as a single unit. A large share of "which dynasty came after which" questions in SSC tier-1 papers draw directly from this list.

8. Why the Tughlaq Experiments Are Asked So Often

Coaching teachers keep coming back to Muhammad bin Tughlaq because his two failed schemes, the Daulatabad capital shift and the token currency, are unusual enough to be memorable and specific enough to make good single-fact MCQs. Remember three linked facts and you can answer almost any question on him:

1. Capital shifted from Delhi to Daulatabad, later reversed.
2. Token currency was in bronze/copper, meant to pass as gold/silver, withdrawn due to large-scale forgery.
3. He is called "a mixture of opposites" and sometimes "the wisest fool" in popular exam-coaching shorthand for combining scholarly brilliance with poor practical judgement.

Firoz Shah Tughlaq, by contrast, is asked about mostly for constructive achievements: canals, new towns, and charity departments. If a question describes canal building or town founding among the Tughlaqs, the answer is Firoz Shah, not Muhammad bin Tughlaq.

9. Administrative Continuity and Regional Fallout

The Tughlaq period also matters for what it lost, not just what it built. Under the Slave and Khalji Sultans, Delhi's writ ran deep into the Deccan and the south through repeated campaigns. Muhammad bin Tughlaq inherited that reach, but his Daulatabad experiment and financial troubles drained the resources needed to hold it.

Two lasting regional kingdoms trace their origin to this weakening. In the north Deccan, a group of Muslim nobles led a successful revolt in 1347 and set up the Bahmani Sultanate under Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah, with its early capital at Gulbarga. Roughly around the same period, in 1336, the Sangama brothers Harihara and Bukka founded Vijayanagara on the banks of the Tungabhadra river, which grew into the major Hindu power of the south for the next two centuries. Both kingdoms are covered in detail in Chapter 6 of this book; here it is enough to know that both emerged directly from territory that had slipped out of Tughlaq control during Muhammad bin Tughlaq's reign.

Bengal too broke away permanently during this period and never returned to firm Delhi control for the rest of the Sultanate era, becoming an independent Sultanate under its own line of rulers (covered under regional kingdoms in Chapter 15).

This pattern, a strong centre under the Khaljis giving way to a fragmented map under the later Tughlaqs, Sayyids and Lodis, is a useful frame for understanding why the Delhi Sultanate that Babur defeated in 1526 controlled only a fraction of the territory that Alauddin Khalji had once commanded.

10. The Ulema, Nobility and Sultanate Weakening

A second thread worth tracking across this chapter is the shifting balance between the Sultan, the ulema (Muslim religious scholars/clergy) and the nobility. Firoz Shah Tughlaq deferred to the ulema more than his predecessors, which shows in his stricter jizya policy and in penal law framed closer to orthodox positions. This made him popular with the clergy but did not stop the empire's slow territorial and financial decline.

The Lodi Sultans faced a different problem: managing a nobility of fellow Afghans who saw themselves as near-equals of the Sultan rather than as his servants. Bahlul Lodi handled this by sharing power generously, almost ruling as "first among equals" with his Afghan chiefs. Sikandar Lodi tightened control somewhat while keeping noble cooperation. Ibrahim Lodi broke this balance by trying to assert full royal authority over nobles used to a much larger say in government, and this ruptured his support base within his own class of chiefs, weakening the Sultanate from within even before Babur's invasion.

Exam questions occasionally frame this as "Lodi rulers treated nobles as ___ rather than ___", expecting the answer "equals/partners" rather than "subjects/servants" for Bahlul Lodi, with Ibrahim Lodi as the exception who tried to reverse this and paid for it.

Quick Revision — One-Line Facts

• Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq founded the Tughlaq dynasty in 1320 after overthrowing Khusrau Khan.
• Ghiyasuddin built the fortress city of Tughlaqabad near Delhi.
• Ghiyasuddin died in 1325 when a wooden pavilion collapsed at Afghanpur.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq shifted the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad around 1327 and later reversed it.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq introduced token (bronze/copper) currency around 1329-1330; it failed due to forgery.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq raised land tax in the Doab during a famine, causing revolts.
• Bahmani Sultanate was founded in 1347 by Alauddin Hasan Bahman Shah, breaking away from the Tughlaqs.
• Vijayanagara Empire was founded in 1336 by Harihara and Bukka.
• Firoz Shah Tughlaq ruled from 1351 to 1388 and focused on public works.
• Firoz Shah built canals from the Yamuna and Sutlej rivers to Hisar.
• Firoz Shah founded Firozabad, Fatehabad, Hisar and Jaunpur.
• Firoz Shah set up Diwan-i-Khairat (charity department) for welfare.
• Firoz Shah reimposed jizya strictly, even on Brahmins.
• Firoz Shah wrote his memoirs, Futuhat-i-Firoz Shahi.
• Timur (Tamerlane) invaded Delhi in 1398 during Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah Tughlaq's reign.
• Timur left Khizr Khan in charge of Multan and Punjab.
• Khizr Khan founded the Sayyid dynasty in 1414.
• The Sayyid dynasty (1414-1451) is the shortest and weakest of the five Sultanate dynasties.
• Alauddin Alam Shah, the last Sayyid ruler, surrendered Delhi to Bahlul Lodi in 1451.
• Bahlul Lodi founded the Lodi dynasty, the only Afghan dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate.
• Bahlul Lodi annexed the Sharqi kingdom of Jaunpur around 1484.
• Sikandar Lodi founded the city of Agra in 1504.
• Sikandar Lodi got Sanskrit medical texts translated into Persian.
• Ibrahim Lodi's clash with his own Afghan nobles weakened his position before 1526.
• Daulat Khan Lodi and Rana Sanga are traditionally said to have invited Babur to invade India.
• First Battle of Panipat was fought in 1526 between Babur and Ibrahim Lodi.
• Babur used gunpowder artillery and chained wagons (araba) at Panipat in 1526.
• Ibrahim Lodi died fighting at Panipat, the only Delhi Sultan to die in battle for his throne.
• The Delhi Sultanate lasted from 1206 to 1526, spanning five dynasties over 320 years.
• Babur's victory at Panipat in 1526 began the Mughal Empire in India.

Memory Tables

Table A: Tughlaq, Sayyid and Lodi Rulers at a Glance

Ruler	Dynasty	Reign	Known for
Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq	Tughlaq	1320-1325	Founded dynasty; built Tughlaqabad
Muhammad bin Tughlaq	Tughlaq	1325-1351	Capital shift to Daulatabad; token currency
Firoz Shah Tughlaq	Tughlaq	1351-1388	Canals, new towns, Diwan-i-Khairat
Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah Tughlaq	Tughlaq	1394-1413	Faced Timur's invasion in 1398
Khizr Khan	Sayyid	1414-1421	Founded Sayyid dynasty as Timurid appointee
Alauddin Alam Shah	Sayyid	1445-1451	Last Sayyid ruler; surrendered throne to Bahlul Lodi
Bahlul Lodi	Lodi	1451-1489	Founded Lodi dynasty; annexed Jaunpur
Sikandar Lodi	Lodi	1489-1517	Founded Agra (1504); patron of learning
Ibrahim Lodi	Lodi	1517-1526	Killed at First Battle of Panipat, 1526

Table B: Key Events and Years

Year	Event
1320	Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq founds the Tughlaq dynasty
1325	Ghiyasuddin dies; Muhammad bin Tughlaq becomes Sultan
1327	Capital shifted from Delhi to Daulatabad
1329-1330	Token currency introduced, later withdrawn
1336	Vijayanagara Empire founded
1347	Bahmani Sultanate founded
1351	Firoz Shah Tughlaq becomes Sultan
1398	Timur invades and sacks Delhi
1414	Khizr Khan founds the Sayyid dynasty
1451	Bahlul Lodi founds the Lodi dynasty
1484	Bahlul Lodi annexes Jaunpur
1504	Sikandar Lodi founds Agra
1526	First Battle of Panipat; Ibrahim Lodi killed; Delhi Sultanate ends

Practice MCQs

Q1. Who founded the Tughlaq dynasty in 1320? (a) Muhammad bin Tughlaq (b) Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (c) Firoz Shah Tughlaq (d) Khizr Khan

Q2. Muhammad bin Tughlaq shifted his capital from Delhi to which city? (a) Devagiri/Daulatabad (b) Agra (c) Lahore (d) Jaunpur

Q3. The token currency introduced by Muhammad bin Tughlaq around 1329 was made of which metal(s)? (a) Gold and silver (b) Bronze/copper (c) Iron (d) Lead

Q4. Why did Muhammad bin Tughlaq's token currency scheme fail? (a) The metal was too expensive to mint (b) Foreign traders demanded gold only (c) It was easily forged since bronze was cheap and available (d) The Sultan banned its use himself

Q5. Which Sultan is credited with building major irrigation canals from the Yamuna and Sutlej rivers? (a) Muhammad bin Tughlaq (b) Firoz Shah Tughlaq (c) Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq (d) Sikandar Lodi

Q6. Firoz Shah Tughlaq set up which department to support the poor and unemployed? (a) Diwan-i-Arz (b) Diwan-i-Khairat (c) Diwan-i-Insha (d) Diwan-i-Wizarat

Q7. Which Central Asian conqueror invaded and plundered Delhi in 1398? (a) Genghis Khan (b) Nadir Shah (c) Timur (d) Ahmad Shah Abdali

Q8. Who founded the Sayyid dynasty in 1414? (a) Bahlul Lodi (b) Khizr Khan (c) Mubarak Shah (d) Daulat Khan Lodi

Q9. Which of the following statements about the Sayyid dynasty is correct? (a) It was the longest-ruling Delhi Sultanate dynasty (b) It was founded by an Afghan noble from Sirhind (c) It was the shortest and weakest of the five Sultanate dynasties (d) It ended with Timur's invasion

Q10. Bahlul Lodi, founder of the Lodi dynasty, belonged to which ethnic group? (a) Turkish (b) Mongol (c) Afghan (d) Persian

Q11. Which city did Sikandar Lodi found in 1504? (a) Delhi (b) Agra (c) Lahore (d) Jaunpur

Q12. Arrange the following Delhi Sultanate dynasties in chronological order: (i) Khalji (ii) Lodi (iii) Sayyid (iv) Tughlaq (a) (i)-(iv)-(iii)-(ii) (b) (iv)-(i)-(ii)-(iii) (c) (i)-(ii)-(iii)-(iv) (d) (iii)-(i)-(iv)-(ii)

Q13. The First Battle of Panipat (1526) was fought between Babur and which Delhi Sultan? (a) Sikandar Lodi (b) Ibrahim Lodi (c) Bahlul Lodi (d) Alauddin Alam Shah

Q14. Which of the following is correctly matched? (a) Muhammad bin Tughlaq — founded Agra (b) Firoz Shah Tughlaq — token currency (c) Ibrahim Lodi — killed at First Battle of Panipat (d) Khizr Khan — annexed Jaunpur

Q15. Ibrahim Lodi is remembered in exam history mainly because he was: (a) The only Delhi Sultan to abdicate voluntarily (b) The only Delhi Sultan to die fighting in battle for his throne (c) The founder of the Lodi dynasty (d) The builder of Agra city

Answer Key

Q	Answer	One-line reason
1	(b)	Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq founded the Tughlaq dynasty in 1320.
2	(a)	Daulatabad (Devagiri) was Muhammad bin Tughlaq's new capital, later abandoned.
3	(b)	The token currency used bronze/copper coins meant to pass as gold/silver.
4	(c)	Cheap, easily available bronze let people forge coins at home, flooding the market.
5	(b)	Firoz Shah Tughlaq built canals from the Yamuna and Sutlej to the Hisar region.
6	(b)	Diwan-i-Khairat was Firoz Shah's charity department for the poor.
7	(c)	Timur invaded and sacked Delhi in 1398 under Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah Tughlaq.
8	(b)	Khizr Khan, Timur's appointee at Multan, founded the Sayyid dynasty in 1414.
9	(c)	The Sayyid dynasty (1414-1451) was the shortest and weakest of the five dynasties.
10	(c)	Bahlul Lodi was Afghan; the Lodis were the only Afghan dynasty of the Sultanate.
11	(b)	Sikandar Lodi founded Agra in 1504.
12	(a)	Correct order: Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, Lodi.
13	(b)	Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat in 1526.
14	(c)	Ibrahim Lodi died fighting at the First Battle of Panipat, 1526.
15	(b)	Ibrahim Lodi is the only Delhi Sultan known to have died fighting for his throne.