Modern India — Company Raj & Independence Era

Why This Chapter Matters

Medieval India is the single richest zone in the entire history syllabus for RRB NTPC, IBPS, and SSC papers combined — expect anywhere from 5 to 8 questions from this stretch alone across a full attempt. Five Sultanate dynasties, six major Mughal emperors, two southern kingdoms, and two religious movements all compress into roughly 400 years, which sounds intimidating until you realise the exam mostly tests the same twenty or so anchor facts repeatedly, phrased differently each time.

The single biggest mistake aspirants make in this chapter is confusing the five Delhi Sultanate dynasties with each other, especially mixing up which Tughlaq shifted the capital or which Khalji sultan fought the Mongols. The second most common trap is muddling Akbar's religious policy (Din-i-Ilahi, Sulh-i-Kul) with Aurangzeb's — one built bridges, the other burned them, and the exam knows you might mix that up under time pressure. Keep the chronology straight in your head as you read: Sultanate first, then the two southern kingdoms running parallel to it, then Bhakti and Sufi movements weaving through both periods, then the Mughals arriving to replace the Sultanate, and finally the Marathas rising as the Mughals decline.

The Delhi Sultanate (1206-1526)

Overview of the Five Dynasties

The Delhi Sultanate was not one continuous dynasty but five successive ones, ruling Delhi and large parts of north India for roughly three centuries after Muhammad Ghori's general Qutb-ud-din Aibak established control following the Second Battle of Tarain (1192), where Ghori defeated Prithviraj Chauhan.

Memory hook: Remember the order with "Slaves Khaled Toys, Sailed Loudly" — Slayer/Slave, Khilji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, Lodi. A clumsy phrase, but the five initials in the right order are what you actually need on exam day.

Dynasty	Approx. Period	Founder	Most Tested Ruler
Slave (Mamluk)	1206-1290	Qutb-ud-din Aibak	Iltutmish, Razia Sultan
Khilji	1290-1320	Jalal-ud-din Khilji	Alauddin Khilji
Tughlaq	1320-1414	Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq	Muhammad bin Tughlaq
Sayyid	1414-1451	Khizr Khan	—
Lodi	1451-1526	Bahlul Lodi	Ibrahim Lodi

The Slave (Mamluk) Dynasty

Qutb-ud-din Aibak founded this dynasty in 1206, ruling from Lahore, and began construction of the Qutub Minar in Delhi (completed later by Iltutmish). He died in 1210 after a fall from his horse while playing chaugan (an early form of polo).

Iltutmish (r. 1211-1236) is considered the real consolidator of the Sultanate. He secured recognition from the Abbasid Caliph, introduced the silver tanka and copper jital coins, and organised the Chahalgani (a group of forty loyal Turkish nobles).

Razia Sultan (r. 1236-1240), Iltutmish's daughter, was the only woman to ever rule the Delhi Sultanate. Her short reign faced resistance from the Turkish nobility precisely because she was a woman, and she was eventually deposed and killed. This single fact — the only female sultan of Delhi — is asked so frequently it deserves to be tattooed on your memory rather than just read once.

Ghiyasuddin Balban (r. 1266-1287) is remembered for the "theory of kingship" he enforced through strict court discipline (prostration, the Persian custom of sijda) and for crushing the power of the Chahalgani nobles who had grown too influential.

The Khilji Dynasty

Alauddin Khilji (r. 1296-1316) is the most significant ruler of this dynasty. He successfully repelled repeated Mongol invasions, expanded the Sultanate deep into the Deccan through his general Malik Kafur, and introduced market control reforms — fixed prices for grain, cloth, and horses, backed by strict state supervision, largely to maintain a low-cost, well-supplied army. This market regulation system is one of the most distinctive administrative experiments of the entire Sultanate period and gets tested often as "who fixed prices in the market."

Exam trap: Alauddin Khilji's market reforms are sometimes wrongly attributed to Muhammad bin Tughlaq in option sets, because both rulers are associated with unusual economic experiments. Keep them separate: Alauddin fixed prices, Muhammad bin Tughlaq experimented with token currency.

The Tughlaq Dynasty

Muhammad bin Tughlaq (r. 1325-1351) is remembered for two famous, largely unsuccessful experiments: shifting the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad (in present-day Maharashtra) around 1327, intended to better administer the Deccan, and later reversing the decision, causing tremendous hardship to the relocated population; and introducing token currency made of copper and brass to represent the value of silver coins, an idea ahead of its time in concept but which failed in practice due to widespread forgery, since the state lacked the means to prevent counterfeiting.

Think of the token currency experiment like introducing a new form of digital payment in a town with no security checks — a clever idea on paper, undone entirely by an inability to stop fraud.

Firoz Shah Tughlaq (r. 1351-1388), his successor, is remembered for public works — canals, rest houses, and hospitals — and for reviving the jizya tax on non-Muslims in a stricter form. Timur's invasion in 1398, during the later Tughlaq period, devastated Delhi and hastened the dynasty's decline.

Sayyid and Lodi Dynasties

The Sayyid dynasty (1414-1451) was a weak, transitional period following Timur's invasion. The Lodis (1451-1526), the only Afghan (as opposed to Turkish) dynasty of the Sultanate, ended with Ibrahim Lodi, defeated and killed by Babur at the First Battle of Panipat (1526), which brought the Sultanate to a close and opened the Mughal era.

Sultanate Administration

The Sultan was assisted by a council of ministers: the Wazir (finance), Ariz-i-Mumalik (military affairs), Diwan-i-Insha (correspondence), and Diwan-i-Risalat (religious affairs and appeals). Provinces were called iqtas, governed by iqtadars/muqtis who collected revenue in exchange for military service — a system that resembles feudal Europe's fief arrangement more than it resembles later Mughal centralisation.

The Vijayanagara and Bahmani Kingdoms

While the Sultanate ruled the north, two rival powers dominated the Deccan and south, locked in near-constant conflict with each other for nearly two centuries.

Vijayanagara Empire (1336-1646)

Founded in 1336 by brothers Harihara I and Bukka I on the banks of the Tungabhadra river, the Vijayanagara Empire became south India's dominant Hindu kingdom, its capital Hampi later celebrated for its temple architecture and markets. The empire's peak came under Krishnadevaraya (r. 1509-1529) of the Tuluva dynasty, a patron of Telugu literature (himself a poet, author of "Amuktamalyada") and a builder of grand temples, whose court reportedly hosted eight great scholars, the "Ashtadiggajas."

The empire's decisive defeat came at the Battle of Talikota (1565), where a united alliance of Deccan Sultanates (successors of the Bahmani kingdom) crushed Vijayanagara forces, leading to the sack of Hampi and the empire's long, slow decline over the following century.

Bahmani Kingdom (1347-1527)

Founded by Alauddin Bahman Shah in 1347 after a revolt against Muhammad bin Tughlaq's authority in the Deccan, the Bahmani Sultanate was the chief rival of Vijayanagara. It eventually splintered into five smaller Deccan Sultanates — Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmednagar, Bidar, and Berar — which later combined forces to defeat Vijayanagara at Talikota. Golconda is separately famous in the exam context for its diamond mines and later for the magnificent Charminar, built in Hyderabad by the Qutb Shahi rulers.

Bhakti and Sufi Movements

The Bhakti Movement

Bhakti, meaning devotion, was a religious movement emphasising a direct, personal, and emotional relationship with God, bypassing ritual, caste, and priestly intermediaries — a democratic reworking of Hindu worship that had started in south India around the 7th-9th centuries CE among Tamil saints (the Alvars, devoted to Vishnu, and Nayanars, devoted to Shiva) before spreading north over succeeding centuries.

Key Bhakti saints tested in exams include Ramanuja (Vishishtadvaita philosophy), Kabir (a weaver-poet who blended Hindu and Islamic ideas, rejecting both idol worship and empty ritual, composer of dohas still quoted today), Guru Nanak (founder of Sikhism, born 1469 at Talwandi, later Nankana Sahib), Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Bengal, associated with the spread of Krishna bhakti and sankirtan devotional singing), Meera Bai (Rajasthan, Krishna devotee and poet), and Tulsidas (author of the Awadhi-language "Ramcharitmanas," which retold the Ramayana for the common person).

Memory hook: Picture Bhakti as a river flowing from the deep south northward over centuries — Alvars and Nayanars in Tamil country first, then Ramanuja and Basava further north, then Kabir, Nanak, Meera, and Chaitanya spreading it across the entire subcontinent by the 15th-16th centuries.

The Sufi Movement

Sufism was the mystical strand of Islam, similarly stressing direct personal experience of the divine over ritual formality, organised into silsilahs (orders) led by spiritual masters called pirs. The Chishti order, most influential in India, was established by Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, whose shrine (dargah) at Ajmer remains one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in the country regardless of religion. Nizamuddin Auliya, a later Chishti saint in Delhi, is remembered for his humility and his refusal to accept court patronage or interact closely with reigning sultans, a stance that actually enhanced his popular authority rather than diminishing it.

Exam trap: Do not confuse the Chishti order (which avoided state involvement, emphasised love and tolerance) with the Suhrawardi order (which was comparatively more willing to engage with political power and accept royal patronage). Papers occasionally test this contrast directly.

Both Bhakti and Sufi movements, running in parallel through the same centuries, softened rigid boundaries between Hindu and Muslim communities at the level of popular religious practice, even as political conflict continued at the level of kingdoms and courts — worth remembering as two separate tracks of medieval history that rarely intersect directly in exam questions but are often tested back to back.

The Mughal Empire

Babur to Humayun

Babur (r. 1526-1530), a descendant of both Timur and Genghis Khan, founded the Mughal Empire after defeating Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat (1526), using superior artillery and the Tulughma (flanking) battle tactic. He further defeated Rana Sanga of Mewar at the Battle of Khanwa (1527), securing his hold on north India. His memoirs, the Baburnama, written in Chagatai Turkish, remain a valuable and unusually personal historical source.

Humayun (r. 1530-1540, restored 1555-1556) lost his kingdom to the Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri at the Battle of Chausa (1539) and again at Kanauj (1540), spending years in exile in Persia before reclaiming Delhi in 1555. He died within a year, falling down the stairs of his library at Din Panah.

Sher Shah Suri (r. 1540-1545), though not a Mughal, ruled the interregnum efficiently and left a lasting administrative legacy: the Grand Trunk Road, a reformed currency system (the silver rupiya, ancestor of today's rupee), and a systematic land revenue survey that later Mughal administration, especially under Akbar, borrowed heavily from. This is a frequently tested "non-Mughal ruler between Mughals" fact.

Akbar the Great

Akbar (r. 1556-1605) ascended the throne at age 13 under the regency of Bairam Khan, and won the decisive Second Battle of Panipat (1556) against the Hindu general Hemu, securing Mughal rule for the long term. Akbar's reign is the pivot of Mughal history, marked by both military conquest (annexing Gujarat, Bengal, and parts of the Deccan) and a distinctive policy of religious tolerance.

He introduced Sulh-i-Kul (peace with all), abolished the jizya tax on non-Muslims, married Rajput princesses to build political alliances (notably from Amber/Jaipur), and founded Din-i-Ilahi in 1582, a syncretic ethical order blending elements of multiple faiths, which never became a mass religion but signalled his personal openness. His administrative reforms included the Mansabdari system (a ranked military-administrative hierarchy assigning officials both zat, personal rank, and sawar, cavalry command) and the Zabti/Dahsala land revenue system developed under his finance minister Raja Todar Mal, which assessed revenue based on a ten-year average of prices and yields.

Exam trap: Akbar's Din-i-Ilahi should not be confused with Sulh-i-Kul. Din-i-Ilahi was a specific syncretic order with a small number of followers; Sulh-i-Kul was the broader state policy of religious tolerance applied to governance and administration.

Jahangir and Shah Jahan

Jahangir (r. 1605-1627), Akbar's son, is remembered for continuing largely stable administration, for his interest in painting (Mughal miniature art flourished under his patronage), and for his marriage to Nur Jahan, who wielded significant political influence during his reign. The English ambassador Sir Thomas Roe visited Jahangir's court in 1615-1619, securing trading concessions for the East India Company, an event with major long-term consequences you will meet again in the next chapter.

Shah Jahan (r. 1628-1658) presided over the peak of Mughal architecture. His signature monument, the Taj Mahal at Agra, built in white marble as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, remains the most recognisable structure of the entire Mughal period and indeed of India itself. He also built the Red Fort and Jama Masjid in Delhi, and the ornate Peacock Throne. Late in his reign, a war of succession among his sons ended with Aurangzeb imprisoning him at Agra Fort, where he reportedly spent his final years gazing at the Taj Mahal from a window.

Aurangzeb

Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707) ruled the longest of any Mughal emperor and expanded the empire to its greatest territorial extent, but his reign is also associated with policies that reversed Akbar's tolerance: he reimposed the jizya tax in 1679, banned certain Hindu festivals and temple construction in some regions, and pursued relentless military campaigns in the Deccan against the Marathas and the remaining Deccan Sultanates, campaigns that drained the treasury without delivering lasting stability. His reign is generally treated by exams as the turning point after which Mughal central authority began a long, uneven decline.

Exam trap: Do not assume Aurangzeb's reign was purely one of decline. He controlled the largest Mughal territory in history at his peak. The decline set in largely after his death in 1707, driven by weak successors, exhausted finances, and rising regional powers — the empire's shrinkage was gradual, not sudden.

Mughal Administration and Architecture

Mughal administration built on the Sultanate's iqta system but refined it into the Mansabdari-Jagirdari framework, where officials (mansabdars) held ranks and were compensated through revenue assignments (jagirs) rather than direct salaries in most cases. The Diwan (revenue), Mir Bakshi (military pay and promotions), and Sadr-us-Sudur (religious and charitable matters) formed the top tier of central administration under the emperor.

Mughal architecture blended Persian, Central Asian, and Indian styles, producing charbagh (four-part) garden layouts, bulbous domes, and extensive use of red sandstone and white marble. Landmark structures beyond the Taj Mahal include Humayun's Tomb in Delhi (an early prototype for later Mughal mausoleum design), Fatehpur Sikri (Akbar's short-lived capital near Agra, abandoned reportedly due to water scarcity), and the Buland Darwaza, built by Akbar to commemorate his Gujarat victory, among the tallest gateways in the world at the time of construction.

The Rise of the Marathas Under Shivaji

Shivaji Bhonsle (1630-1680) built a formidable Maratha kingdom in the western Deccan through a combination of guerrilla warfare tactics (suited to the hilly terrain, avoiding pitched battles with larger Mughal forces), a network of hill forts, and effective administration. He was crowned Chhatrapati at Raigad in 1674, formally establishing Maratha sovereignty.

Shivaji's administration featured the Ashtapradhan, a council of eight ministers overseeing revenue, military, foreign affairs, and other departments, and a revenue system that, notably, avoided the jagirdari model in favour of direct cash payment to officials, reducing the risk of regional officials building independent power bases. His conflict with the Mughals included a famous escape from house arrest in Agra in 1666, disguised, after Aurangzeb attempted to detain him — an episode still cited as an example of tactical cunning under extreme pressure. After Shivaji's death, the Marathas would grow into the dominant power of 18th-century India, though that expansion belongs properly to the story of Mughal decline covered in the next section and the following chapter.

Decline of the Mughal Empire

After Aurangzeb's death in 1707, the empire entered a long decline driven by several overlapping causes: weak and short-reigned successors unable to hold the vast territory together; the crushing financial and military burden of Aurangzeb's endless Deccan campaigns; the rise of regional powers (Marathas, Sikhs under Guru Gobind Singh and later Banda Bahadur, and the Nawabs of Bengal, Awadh, and Hyderabad asserting increasing autonomy); and repeated external invasions, most devastatingly by Nadir Shah of Persia in 1739, who sacked Delhi and carried away the Peacock Throne, and later by Ahmad Shah Abdali, whose invasions culminated in the Third Battle of Panipat (1761) against the Marathas.

By the mid-18th century, the Mughal emperor retained little more than symbolic authority around Delhi, even as his name continued to appear on coins minted by regional powers who found it politically useful to claim nominal loyalty to a fading empire — a striking picture of a once-vast administration reduced to a ceremonial signature stamped on other people's money. This power vacuum is precisely what allowed European trading companies, especially the British East India Company, to expand their influence, setting up the events of the next chapter.

Quick Revision — One-Line Facts

• The Delhi Sultanate began in 1206 under Qutb-ud-din Aibak after Ghori's victory at the Second Battle of Tarain (1192).
• Razia Sultan was the only woman to rule the Delhi Sultanate.
• Iltutmish organised the Chahalgani and introduced the tanka and jital coins.
• Alauddin Khilji introduced market price control reforms and repelled Mongol invasions.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq shifted the capital to Daulatabad and introduced token currency.
• Ibrahim Lodi was the last Sultanate ruler, defeated by Babur in 1526.
• Vijayanagara Empire was founded in 1336 by Harihara I and Bukka I on the Tungabhadra.
• Krishnadevaraya was Vijayanagara's greatest ruler, author of "Amuktamalyada."
• The Battle of Talikota (1565) ended Vijayanagara's dominance.
• Bahmani Kingdom, founded 1347, later split into five Deccan Sultanates.
• Kabir blended Hindu and Islamic devotional ideas, rejecting ritual and idol worship.
• Guru Nanak, born 1469, founded Sikhism.
• Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti's dargah is located at Ajmer.
• Babur founded the Mughal Empire after the First Battle of Panipat (1526).
• Sher Shah Suri built the Grand Trunk Road and reformed currency with the silver rupiya.
• Akbar won the Second Battle of Panipat (1556) against Hemu.
• Akbar's Din-i-Ilahi (1582) was a syncretic order; Sulh-i-Kul was his broader tolerance policy.
• Raja Todar Mal developed the Zabti/Dahsala land revenue system under Akbar.
• Shah Jahan built the Taj Mahal in memory of Mumtaz Mahal.
• Aurangzeb reimposed the jizya tax in 1679 and ruled the longest of any Mughal emperor.
• Shivaji was crowned Chhatrapati at Raigad in 1674.
• Shivaji's council of eight ministers was called the Ashtapradhan.
• Nadir Shah's invasion of Delhi in 1739 carried away the Peacock Throne.
• The Third Battle of Panipat (1761) was fought between the Marathas and Ahmad Shah Abdali.
• Sir Thomas Roe visited Jahangir's court (1615-1619) securing East India Company trading rights.
• Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar's capital, was abandoned largely due to water scarcity.
• The Chishti Sufi order avoided political entanglement; the Suhrawardi order engaged more with rulers.
• Humayun died from a fall down the stairs of his library.
• The Lodis were the only Afghan dynasty to rule the Delhi Sultanate.
• Mughal decline accelerated after Aurangzeb's death in 1707.

Memory Tables

Table 1: Delhi Sultanate Dynasties and Founders

Dynasty	Founder	Ended By/With
Slave (Mamluk)	Qutb-ud-din Aibak	Internal succession changes
Khilji	Jalal-ud-din Khilji	Overthrown by Ghazi Malik (Tughlaq)
Tughlaq	Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq	Weakened after Timur's invasion (1398)
Sayyid	Khizr Khan	Displaced by Bahlul Lodi
Lodi	Bahlul Lodi	Ibrahim Lodi defeated by Babur (1526)

Table 2: Mughal Emperors at a Glance

Emperor	Reign	Best Known For
Babur	1526-1530	First Battle of Panipat, founded empire
Humayun	1530-40, 1555-56	Lost and regained throne, Baburnama's sequel struggles
Akbar	1556-1605	Sulh-i-Kul, Din-i-Ilahi, Mansabdari system
Jahangir	1605-1627	Patron of painting, Nur Jahan's influence
Shah Jahan	1628-1658	Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Peacock Throne
Aurangzeb	1658-1707	Largest territorial extent, jizya reimposed

Practice MCQs

Q1. Who was the only woman to rule as sovereign of the Delhi Sultanate? (a) Nur Jahan (b) Razia Sultan (c) Mumtaz Mahal (d) Chand Bibi

Q2. Alauddin Khilji's market control reforms were primarily aimed at: (a) Encouraging foreign trade (b) Maintaining a low-cost, well-supplied army (c) Reducing land revenue (d) Promoting handicrafts

Q3. Which Sultanate ruler shifted the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad? (a) Firoz Shah Tughlaq (b) Muhammad bin Tughlaq (c) Alauddin Khilji (d) Balban

Q4. The Vijayanagara Empire was founded on the banks of which river? (a) Krishna (b) Godavari (c) Tungabhadra (d) Kaveri

Q5. The Battle of Talikota (1565), which led to the decline of Vijayanagara, was fought against an alliance of: (a) Mughal forces (b) Deccan Sultanates (c) Maratha forces (d) Portuguese forces

Q6. Which Sufi order, most influential in India, was established by Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti? (a) Suhrawardi (b) Qadiri (c) Chishti (d) Naqshbandi

Q7. The First Battle of Panipat (1526), which established Mughal rule in India, was fought between Babur and: (a) Rana Sanga (b) Sher Shah Suri (c) Ibrahim Lodi (d) Hemu

Q8. Which non-Mughal ruler is credited with building the Grand Trunk Road and reforming currency with the silver rupiya? (a) Babur (b) Sher Shah Suri (c) Humayun (d) Akbar

Q9. Akbar's land revenue system, based on a ten-year average of prices and yields, was developed under which minister? (a) Bairam Khan (b) Raja Man Singh (c) Raja Todar Mal (d) Abul Fazl

Q10. Din-i-Ilahi, the syncretic religious order founded by Akbar in 1582, is best described as: (a) A mass religion adopted by the general population (b) A small ethical order with limited followers (c) A ban on all religious practice (d) An official state religion enforced by law

Q11. The Taj Mahal at Agra was built by Shah Jahan in memory of: (a) Nur Jahan (b) Mumtaz Mahal (c) Jodha Bai (d) Roshanara Begum

Q12. Which Mughal emperor reimposed the jizya tax on non-Muslims in 1679? (a) Akbar (b) Jahangir (c) Shah Jahan (d) Aurangzeb

Q13. Shivaji was crowned Chhatrapati, formally establishing Maratha sovereignty, at which fort in 1674? (a) Shivneri (b) Raigad (c) Pratapgad (d) Sinhagad

Q14. The Third Battle of Panipat (1761) was fought between the Marathas and: (a) Nadir Shah (b) Ahmad Shah Abdali (c) Aurangzeb (d) Ibrahim Lodi

Q15. Sher Shah Suri, Sir Thomas Roe's court visit, and the Baburnama are all associated with which broad period of Indian history? (a) The Delhi Sultanate only (b) The transition from Sultanate to Mughal rule and early Mughal period (c) The Vijayanagara period exclusively (d) The late Maratha period

Answer Key

Q	Answer	Reason
1	(b) Razia Sultan	Iltutmish's daughter, she ruled 1236-1240 despite strong noble opposition to a female ruler.
2	(b) Low-cost army	Alauddin fixed prices of grain, cloth, and horses to sustain a large standing army cheaply.
3	(b) Muhammad bin Tughlaq	He shifted the capital to Daulatabad around 1327, later reversing the unpopular decision.
4	(c) Tungabhadra	Harihara I and Bukka I founded Vijayanagara in 1336 on the Tungabhadra's banks.
5	(b) Deccan Sultanates	A united alliance of Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmednagar, and others defeated Vijayanagara.
6	(c) Chishti	The Chishti order, avoiding state entanglement, became the most popular Sufi order in India.
7	(c) Ibrahim Lodi	Babur defeated the last Lodi sultan in 1526, founding the Mughal Empire.
8	(b) Sher Shah Suri	Though not a Mughal, his administrative reforms shaped later Mughal governance.
9	(c) Raja Todar Mal	His Zabti/Dahsala system assessed revenue on a ten-year average of yields and prices.
10	(b) Small ethical order	Din-i-Ilahi never became a mass religion; it reflected Akbar's personal syncretic beliefs.
11	(b) Mumtaz Mahal	The Taj Mahal was built as a mausoleum for Shah Jahan's wife Mumtaz Mahal.
12	(d) Aurangzeb	Aurangzeb reversed Akbar's tolerant policy, reimposing jizya on non-Muslims in 1679.
13	(b) Raigad	Shivaji's coronation as Chhatrapati at Raigad in 1674 marked formal Maratha sovereignty.
14	(b) Ahmad Shah Abdali	The 1761 battle between Marathas and Abdali's forces checked Maratha expansion northward.
15	(b) Sultanate-to-Mughal transition	Sher Shah's rule, Humayun's exile and return, and Jahangir's court all span this transition era.