Medieval States of the Indian Subcontinent, 1072 CE – 1429 CE: Map & History
22 states of the Indian Subcontinent on one map, from 1072 CE to 1787 CE.The largest, Tughlaq Dynasty, covered about 2,449,486 km²; the longest-lived, Kathmandu, lasted 1202 CE – 1761 CE. Each has its own section below with its rulers, capitals, wars and pictures where the records hold them.
Each state in its own colour. Move the timeline to see which existed in any year from 1072 AD to 1787; select a territory to read about it. Borders: Cliopatria / Seshat (CC BY 4.0).
The Medieval States of the Indian Subcontinent, 1072 CE – 1429 CE Compared
Pandua, (1352–1390, 1410-1433), Sonargaon, (1390–1410), Gaur the Restored Ilyas Shahi dynasty, the Habshi dynasty, and the Hussain Shahi dynasty., (1433–1565), Tanda, (1565–1576)
1072 CE – 1259 CE · Capital: Vijayarajapura · 73,514 km²
Polonnaruwa Velaikkara Slab Inscription. This Polonaruwa inscription is really interesting; it is w:Vatteluttu script (Tamil) with w:Grantha script for Sanskrit words, as was a common style historically.Anton Croos · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Kingdom of Polonnaruwa (Sinhala: පොළොන්නරුව රාජධානිය, romanized: Polonnaruwa Rājādhaniya) was the Sinhalese kingdom that expanded across the island of Sri Lanka from 1070 until 1232. The kingdom unified the island and started expanding its overseas influence during the reign of Parakramabahu the Great.
It had an influence in Pandya Nadu since its involvement in a civil war in the Pandya country. During this war, Pandya Nadu was seized as a country administered by the military of Polonnaruwa and Vira Pandyan of Pandya Dynasty.
Buddhism continued to be the main religion in the Polonnaruwa era. Its monarchs enjoyed the exchange of religious jewels and other expensive items with the Theravada Buddhist kings of Siam, Burma, and Kampuchea. Prior to the Buddhist kings' takeover, there was a strong influence of Hinduism caused by Cholas. It is evident from the removal of the cow in Polonnaruwa moonstone, and also by the presence of Shiva temples in Polonnaruwa. After Chola rule, many viharas were renovated by Vijayabahu I and his successor Parakramabahu I.
Massive tanks were built for this purpose. Some of his notable works are the Parakrama Samudra and the Giritale tank. These works surpassed what existed during the Anuradhapura period. Previously built dams were also largely renovated during this period.
A partial consolidation of Chola power in Rajarata had succeeded the initial season of plunder. With the intention to transform Chola encampments into more permanent military enclaves, Saivite temples were constructed in Polonnaruwa and in the emporium of Mahatittha. Taxation was also instituted, especially on merchants and artisans by the Cholas. In 1014 Rajaraja I died and was succeeded by his son Rajendra Chola I, perhaps the most aggressive king of his line. Chola raids were launched southward from Rajarata into Rohana. By his fifth year, Rajendra claimed to have completely conquered the island. Thus, the whole of Anuradhapura including the south-eastern province of Rohana were incorporated into the Chola Empire. As per the Sinhalese chronicle Mahavamsa, the conquest of Anuradhapura was completed in the 36th year of the reign of the Sinhalese monarch Mahinda V (c. 1017–18).
The ancient Sinhalese civilization was highly advanced in technology. While the irrigation systems of Polonnaruwa bore strong similarities to those of the Anuradhapura period, they represented a further stage of refinement and sophistication.
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Works of hydraulic architecture, ranging from dams to artificial reservoirs such as the Parakrama Samudra, demanded advanced technology and were constructed using engineering techniques.
military rule was followed by the ascension of Vikramabahu I; who was assassinated by a nephew of Kalinga Lokeshvara, Chodaganga. The military once again organized a coup and arrested Chodaganga. The military became more dominant, ousting the monarchy; as a result, king Anikanga appealed for support from the Cholas. An army was sent, and Anikanga ascended the throne. The three month-old Dharmásoka of Polonnaruwa was slaughtered along with the commander of the Polonnaruwa Royal Army.
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The military once again seized power, and Lilavati was installed on the throne. She was ousted by Lokissara, a military commander. The Royal Army, being a rival to Lokissara's forces, killed him.
1085 CE – 1201 CE · Capital: Varanasi and Kannauj · 217,539 km²
The Gahadavala dynasty (IAST: Gāhaḍavāla), also known as Gahadavalas of Kannauj, was a Rajput dynasty that ruled parts of the present-day Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, during 11th and 12th centuries. Their capital was located at Banaras (now Varanasi) in the Gangetic plains, and for a brief period, they also controlled Kannauj.
Chandradeva, the first monarch of the dynasty, established a sovereign kingdom sometime before 1090, after the decline of the Kalachuri power.
Chandradeva, the first monarch of the dynasty, was a son of Mahichandra and a grandson of Yashovigraha. The Gahadavala inscriptions state that Yashovigraha "seized the earth and made her fond of the king's sceptre (or justice)". He did not bear any royal titles, so it appears that he was a petty chief with some military victories to his credit. He probably served a prominent king, possibly the 11th century Kalachuri king Karna. His son Mahichandra (alias Mahitala or Mahiyala) bore the feudatory title nṛpa, and is said to have defeated several enemies. He may have been a Kalachuri vassal.
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According to Chandrawati inscriptions from 1093 CE and 1100 CE, the Gahadavalas occupied Kanyakubja after the descendants of Devapala had been destroyed. This Devapala can be identified as the mid-10th century Gurjara-Pratihara king of Kanyakubja.
The Gahadavalas controlled their territory through semi-independent feudatory chiefs, whose various titles included Rāṇaka, Mahānāyaka, Mahārāja and Rāja.
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The yuvaraja (heir apparent) and other princes announced grants in their own name, while the grants made by the queens were announced by the king.
According to the Gahadavala inscriptions, Govindachandra appreciated and patronized different branches of learning (as indicated by his title Vividha-vidya-vichara-vachaspati). His courtier Lakshmidhara composed Kṛtya-Kalpataru at the king's request.
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Vijayachandra also patronized scholars and poets including Shriharsha, whose works include Naishadha Charita and the now-lost Shri-Vijaya-Prashasti. Jayachandra's court poet Bhatta Kedar wrote a eulogy titled Jaichand Prakash (c. 1168) on his life, but the work is now lost. Another lost eulogy on his life is the poet Madhukar's Jaya-Mayank-Jasha-Chandrika (c. 1183).
The Gahadavala dynasty played a significant role in the development and popularisation of Chhath Puja in the region, promoting the worship of the Sun and contributing to the festival's establishment as an important cultural and religious tradition.
The last extant inscription of Govindachandra is dated 1154 CE, and the earliest available inscription of his successor Vijayachandra is dated 1168 CE. Such a long gap is unusual for the dynasty, and may indicate troubled times arising out of an external invasion or a war of succession after Govindachandra's death. Vijayachandra faced a Ghaznavid invasion, which he seems to have repulsed sometime before 1164 CE. His focus on guarding the western frontiers against the Ghaznavids may have led to the neglect of the kingdom's eastern border, which later resulted in a Sena invasion.
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Jayachandra, the last powerful king of the dynasty, faced a Ghurid invasion under Muhammad of Ghor and his slave commander Qutbuddin Aibak. He was defeated and killed at the Battle of Chandawar in 1194.
The Hoysala Kingdom was a prominent South Indian dynasty that ruled most of what is now Karnataka, as well as parts of Tamil Nadu and southwestern Telangana, between the 11th and 14th centuries CE. The capital was initially located at Belur and was later moved to Halebidu.
The origins of the Hoysala dynasty are traced to the Malnad region of Karnataka. Initially, the Hoysalas served as feudatories of the Western Chalukyas of Kalyana.
Kannada folklore tells a legend of a young man, Sala (also known as Poysala), who saved his Jain guru Sudatta by killing a tiger (sometimes described as a lion) that they encountered whilst in a forest, at "Sosevur" located at present-day Angadi Village in Chikkamagaluru district, the original home of the Hoysala family. The word strike translates to "hoy" in Old Kannada, hence the name 'Hoy-sala'. The legend purporting to show how Sala became the founder of the Hoysala dynasty is shown in the Belur inscription of the Hoysala king Vishnuvardhana, dated c. 1117, but owing to several inconsistencies in the story it remains in the realm of folklore. Their inscriptions refer to the founders of the Hoysala dynasty as Maleparolganda ('Lord of the hills'), which makes their original home the Malenadu region of modern southern Karnataka.
In its administrative practices, the Hoysala Empire followed some of the well-established and proven methods of its predecessors covering administrative functions such as cabinet organisation and command, the structure of local governing bodies and the division of territory. Several of their major feudatories were Gavundas of the peasant extraction. Records show the names of many high-ranking positions reporting directly to the king. Senior ministers were called Pancha Pradhanas, ministers responsible for foreign affairs were designated Sandhivigrahi and the chief treasurer was Mahabhandari or Hiranyabhandari. Dandanayakas were in charge of armies and the chief justice of the Hoysala court was the Dharmadhikari.
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The Kingdom was divided into provinces named Nadu, Vishaya, Kampana and Desha, listed in descending order of geographical size.
The Hoysala administration supported itself through revenues from an agrarian economy. Land was assessed as being wet land, dry land or garden land for the purposes of taxation, and judged according to the quality of the soil. Taxes on commodities (gold, precious stones, perfumes, sandalwood, ropes, yarn, housing, hearths, shops, cattle pans, sugarcane presses) as well as produce (black pepper, betel leaves, ghee, paddy, spices, palm leaves, coconuts, sugar) are noted in village records. The Hoysalas encouraged people to move to newly-built villages by means of land grants and tax concessions.
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Taxes, collected in the form of cash, from trade and commerce generated considerable wealth for the Hoysala state, and enabled it to buy armaments, elephants, horses and precious goods.
During the reign of King Vishnuvardhana (r. c. 1108–1152 CE), the Hoysalas fought decisive campaigns against the Cholas. Chola incursions into Gangavadi reportedly included the destruction of Jain Basadis around Talakadu. Vishnuvardhana's general Ganggaraj led the counter-offensive defeating the Chola general Adiyamma near Talakadu and recovering lost territory. After this victory Vishnuvardhana earned the title "Talakadugonda" ("Conqueror of Talakadu"), while inscriptions highlighted Gangaraja's leading role in these campaigns.
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King Vishnuvardhana fought the Western (Kalyani) Chalukyas in Nolambavadi asserting his independence from them. In a second Chola campaign, the Hoysala armies chased the Chola forces to Vellore which was deep inside Tamil territory.
Hoysala society was marked by a highly stratified social order, religious pluralism, and rich cultural development. The empire was predominantly agrarian, with villages serving as the basic unit of administration and economy. Land grants to temples, monasteries, and scholars were common, helping sustain religious institutions and local elites.
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Urban centers such as Halebidu, Shravanbelgola, Belur, and Somanathapura became important hubs of trade, craft production, and temple-building activity. The Hoysalas supported merchant guilds (nagaram), artisans, and sculptors, contributing to the development of the distinctive Hoysala architectural style known for its intricate ornamentation. Caste divisions were significant, with Brahmins receiving patronage for education and ritual services, while other occupational groups included agriculturists, artisans, merchants, and laborers.
The Hoysalas extended their foothold in modern-day Tamil Nadu around 1225, making the city of Kannanur Kuppam near Srirangam a provincial capital and taking control over the southern Deccan region. Vira Narasimha II's son Vira Someshwara earned the honorific Mamadi (uncle) from the Pandyas and Cholas. From 1220 to 1245 the dynasty's hegemony increased southwards to cover both the Chola and Pandya Kingdoms. Toward the end of the 13th century, Veera Ballala III recaptured territory in the Tamil country which had been lost during a Pandya uprising, thus uniting the northern and southern portions of the Kingdom.
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In the early part of the 14th century, major political changes took place in the Deccan region during a period when large areas of northern India were under Muslim rule. Alauddin Khalji, the Sultan of Delhi, was determined to control southern India.
1152 CE – 1209 CE · Capital: Firozkoh, Herat, Ghazni (1170s–1215) · 2,143,165 km²
Map of the Ghurid Empire in 1215naturalearthdata.com, offered to the Public Domain per Terms of Use · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; Persian: غوریان, romanized: Ġōrīyān; self-designation: Persian: شنسبانی, romanized: Šansabānī) was a culturally Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian Tajik origin, which ruled from the 8th-century in the region of Ghor, and became an Empire from 1175 to 1215. The Ghurids were centered in the hills of the Ghor region in the present-day central Afghanistan, where they initially started out as local chiefs. They gradually converted to Sunni Islam after the conquest of Ghor by the Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud of Ghazni in 1011.
In the 19th century some European scholars, such as Mountstuart Elphinstone, favoured the idea that the Ghurid dynasty was related to today's Pashtun people but this is generally rejected by modern scholarship. Contemporary scholars state that the dynasty was of Tajik origin. Later, due to intermarrying, the Ghurid princes were distinguished by their significant blending of Tajik, Persian, Turkic, and native Afghan ethnicities.
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Encyclopædia Iranica states: "Nor do we know anything about the ethnic stock of the Ḡūrīs in general and the Šansabānīs in particular; we can only assume that they were eastern Iranian Tajiks". Bosworth further points out that the actual name of the Ghurid family, Āl-e Šansab (Persianized: Šansabānī), is the Arabic pronunciation of the originally Middle Persian name Wišnasp.
The Ghurids positioned themselves as defenders of Sunnism. They had good relations with the Abbasids in Baghdad, who urged them to repel the advances of the Kwarizmians into western Persia. Their conquests in India were also presented as a battle between the armies of Islam (lashkar-i Islam) and the armies of the unbelievers (lashkar-i kuffar), and gave them great prestige in the Islamic world as defenders of the orthodoxy.
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It is said that the brothers Ghiyath al-Din and Mu'izz al-Din were raised as Karramites and initially adhered to the doctrines of that sect. Later, however, Ghiyath abandoned Karramism and adopted the Shafi'i school, a shift that caused significant tensions among the various branches of the Ghūrid dynasty.
Evidence of mint names and inscriptions have been used to identify several primary centers of Ghurid coin production. These include Herat, Balkh, Ghazni, Bamiyan, and Firuzkuh. Each mint documents different stages in the dynasty's political geography.
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Herat was one of the earliest and most successful mints. It issued dirhams under Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad Ibn Sam when the city of Herat was conquered by the Ghurids in the middle of the twelfth century.
Balkh coins date back to around 1190 and show periods of Ghurid control followed by non-Ghurid control, until around 1196 CE, which suggest the Ghurids had lost and recovered the city several times.
Ghazni coin inscriptions identify Muʿizz al-Dīn Muhammad Ibn Sam, indicating his authority over eastern territories.
On the eve of the Ghurid invasion of the subcontinent, northern India was ruled by many independent Rajput kings, often fighting with each other, such as the Chahamana ruler Prithviraja III in Delhi and Ajmer, the Chaulukya ruler Mularaja II in Gujarat, the Gahadavala ruler Jayachandra in Kanauj, further in the east of Ganges Plain there were other independent Hindu powers such as the Sena's under Lakshmana in Bengal etc.
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Northern India and Bengal were conquered by Muhammad of Ghor during the period from 1175 to 1205, just before his death in 1206. His capital was in Ghazni, while his elder brother Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad with whom Muhammad ruled in a diarchy, governed the western part of the empire from his capital at Fīrōzkōh. In 1175, Muhammad crossed the Indus River, approaching it through the Gomal Pass instead of Khyber Pass, in order to outflank the Ghaznavids in Panjab.
The Ghurids were great patrons of Persian culture and literature. The Čahār maqāla, a work of Persian prose, was written by the poet Nizami Aruzi and dedicated to prince Abu’l-Ḥasan Ḥosām-al-Dīn ʿAlī.
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Ghurid contributions laid the basis for a Persianized state in the Indian subcontinent. However, most of the literature produced during the Ghurid era has been lost. They also transferred Persian architecture to India. According to Amir Khusrau (died 1325), the Indians learned Persian because of the influence of the "Ghurids and Turks." The notion of Persian kingship served as the basis for the imperial formation, political and cultural unity of the Ghurids.
Out of the Ghurid state grew the Delhi Sultanate which established the Persian language as the official court language of the region – a status it retained until the late Mughal era in the 19th century.
Ghiyath died on 13 March 1203 due to gout and was succeeded by Muhammad of Ghor as the sole ruler of the vast Ghurid Empire. Soon after, Alauddin Khwarazm Shah besieged and captured some of the strongholds of the Ghurids around Merv, although Muhammad drove him back and further besieged their capital Gurgānj.
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Alauddin then appealed to his nominal suzerain the Qara-Khitai, who dispatched a large contingent led by Yelü Zhilugu. In the ensuing Battle of Andkhud (1204), fought near the river Oxus, the Ghurid troops were completely routed by the combined forces of the Qara-Khitai and the Khwarizmians. The defeat at Andkhud was a watershed for the Ghurids who lost their control over most of the Khurasan. Notwithstanding, Muhammad within a year or so raised a vast army and build bridge across the Oxus to launch a full-scale invasion of Transoxiana to avenge his defeat.
1177 CE – 1325 CE · Capital: Orugallu · 297,558 km²
The Kakatiya dynasty (IAST: Kākatīya) was a Telugu dynasty that ruled most of eastern Deccan region in present-day India between 12th and 14th centuries. Their territory comprised much of the present day Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, parts of eastern Karnataka, northern Tamil Nadu, and southern Odisha. Their capital was Orugallu, now known as Warangal.
Early Kakatiya rulers served as feudatories to Rashtrakutas and Western Chalukyas for over two centuries. They assumed sovereignty under Rudradeva in 1163 CE by suppressing other Chalukya subordinates in the Telangana region.
The Kakatiya rulers traced their ancestry to a legendary chief or ruler named Durjaya. Many other ruling dynasties of Andhra also claimed descent from Durjaya. Nothing further is known about this chief.
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Most of the Kakatiya records do not mention the varna (social class) of the family, but the majority of the ones that do, proudly describe them as Shudra. Examples include the Bothpur and Vaddamanu inscriptions of Ganapati's general Malyala Gunda senani. The Kakatiyas also maintained marital relations with other Shudra families, such as the Kotas and the Natavadi chiefs. This indicates that the Kakatiyas were likely of Shudra origin.
A few copper-plate inscriptions of the Kakatiya family describe them as belonging to the Kshatriya (warrior) varna. These inscriptions primarily document grants to Brahmans, and appear to be inspired by the genealogies of the Imperial Cholas.
There is a disparity between the analysis of inscriptions, of which the work of Cynthia Talbot has been in the vanguard and the traditional works of Vedic Hinduism that described pre-colonial India in terms of a reverent and static society that was subject to the strictures of the caste system. Colonial British administrators found much that appealed to them in the latter works but the Kakatiya inscriptions of Andhra Pradesh, which depict a far wider range of society and events, suggest that the reality was far more fluid and very different from the idealised image.
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Caste itself seems to have been of low importance as a social identifier. There was a lack of consistency regarding the varna rank of Kakatiyas. In most of their inscriptions, no varna affiliation was specified. In the case of a few where it was specified, they were mostly recorded to have been shudras.
Telugu, Sanskrit, Kannadacite book, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra
Religion
Hinduism, Jainism
Achievements and Monuments
A notable trend during the dynastic period was the construction of reservoirs for irrigation in the uplands, around 5000 of which were built by warrior families subordinate to the Kakatiyas. This dramatically altered the possibilities for development in the sparsely populated dry areas. Many of these edifices, often called "tanks", including the large examples at Pakala and Ramappa, are still used today.
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Another notable architectural feature of the dynasty relates to temples. Even before the arrival of the dynasty, there were large, well-established and well-endowed Hindu places of worship in the relatively populous delta areas; however, the temples of the uplands, which were smaller and less cosmopolitan in origin and funding, did not exist until the Kakatiya period.
The Kakatiya kingdom attracted the attention of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji because of the possibility of plunder. The first foray into the Kakatiya kingdom was made in 1303 by Malik Chajju, the nephew of the Indian Muslim Wazir Nusrat Khan Jalesari of Delhi, and Fakhruddin Jauna, which was a disaster due to the resistance of the Kakatiya army in the Battle of Upparapalli. In 1309 the Gujarati general, Malik Kafur, in an attempt to force Prataparudra into acceptance of a position subordinate to the sultanate at Delhi. Kafur organised a month-long siege of Orugallu that ended with success in February 1310. Prataparudra was forced to make various symbolic acts of obeisance designed to demonstrate his new position as a subordinate but, as was Alauddin's plan, he was not removed as ruler of the area but rather forced thereafter to pay annual tribute to Delhi.
Tughlaq's control of the area lasted only for around a decade. The fall of the Kakatiya dynasty resulted in both political and cultural disarray because of both disparate resistance to the sultanate and dissension within it. The structure of the Kakatiya polity disintegrated and their lands soon fell under the control of numerous families from communities such as the Reddies and Velamas. As early as 1330, Musunuri Nayaks who served as army chiefs for Kakatiya kingdom united the various Telugu clans and recovered Warangal from the Delhi Sultanate and ruled for half a century. Surrounded by more significant states, by the 15th century these new entities had ceded to the Bahamani Sultanate and the Sangama dynasty, the latter of which evolved to become the Vijayanagara Empire.
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He is said to have left [Orugallu] for the northeast after anointing Prataparudra's son as king.
The Seuna, Sevuna, or Yadavas of Devagiri (IAST: Seuṇa, c. 1187–1317) was a medieval Indian dynasty, which at its peak ruled a realm stretching from the Narmada river in the north to the Tungabhadra river in the south, in the western part of the Deccan region. Its territory included present-day Maharashtra, northern Karnataka and parts of Madhya Pradesh, from its capital at Devagiri (present-day Daulatabad in modern Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, Maharashtra).
The Yadavas initially ruled as feudatories of the Western Chalukyas.
The earliest historical ruler of the Seuna/Yadava dynasty can be dated to the mid-9th century, but the origin of the dynasty is uncertain. Little is known about their early history: their 13th century court poet Hemadri records the names of the family's early rulers, but his information about the pre-12th century rulers is often incomplete and inaccurate.
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The dynasty claimed descent from Yadu, a legendary hero mentioned in the Puranas. According to this account, found in Hemadri's Vratakhanda as well as several inscriptions, their ancestors originally resided at Mathura, and then migrated to Dvaraka (Dvaravati) in present-day Gujarat. A Jain legend states that the Jain saint Jinaprabhasuri saved the pregnant mother of the dynasty's founder Dridhaprahara from a great fire that destroyed Dvaraka.
Bhillama's son Jaitugi successfully invaded the Kakatiya kingdom around 1194, and forced them to accept the Yadava suzerainty.
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Jaitugi's son Simhana, who succeeded him around either 1200 or 1210, is regarded as the dynasty's greatest ruler. At its height, his kingdom probably extended from the Narmada River in the north to the Tungabhadra River in the south, and from the Arabian Sea in the west to the western part of the present-day Telangana in the east. He launched a military campaign against the Hoysalas (who were engaged in a war with the Pandyas), and captured a substantial part of their territory. The Rattas of Saundatti, who formerly acknowledged the Hoysala suzerainty, became his feudatories, and helped him expand the Yadava power southwards. In 1215, Simhana successfully invaded the northern Paramara kingdom.
The Yadavas were the first major dynasty to use Marathi as an official language. Earlier, both Sanskrit and Kannada had been used for official inscriptions in present-day Maharashtra; subsequently, at least partly due to the efforts of the Yadava rulers, Marathi became the dominant official language of the region. Even if they were not of Marathi origin, towards the end of their reign, they certainly identified with the Marathi language. The early Marathi literature emerged during the Yadava rule, because of which some scholars have theorized that it was produced with support from the Yadava rulers. However, there is no evidence that the Yadava royal court directly supported the production of Marathi literature with state funds, although it regarded Marathi as a significant language for connecting with the general public.
Kathmandu, vue aérienne au décollageRoyonx · CC0 · Commons
Kathmandu is the capital and largest city of Nepal, situated in the central part of the country within the Kathmandu Valley. The city is in Kathmandu District. Kathmandu is the main governmental, financial, industrial, and cultural centre of Nepal. As per the 2021 Nepal census, it has a population of 845,767 residing in 105,649 households, with approximately 4 million people in the surrounding metropolitan area. The city stands at an elevation of 1,324 metres (4,344 ft) above sea level.
Kathmandu Municipal Corporation (KMC) is the chief nodal agency for the administration of Kathmandu. The Municipality of Kathmandu was upgraded to a metropolitan city in 1995.
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Metropolitan Kathmandu is divided into five sectors: the Central Sector, the East Sector, the North Sector, the City Core and the West Sector. For civic administration, the city is further divided into 32 administrative wards. The Council administers the Metropolitan area of Kathmandu city through its 177 elected representatives and 20 nominated members. It holds biannual meetings to review, process and approve the annual budget and make major policy decisions.
The location and terrain of Kathmandu have played a significant role in the development of a stable economy which spans millennia. The city is in an ancient lake basin, with fertile soil and flat terrain. This geography helped form a society based on agriculture. This, combined with its location between India and China, helped establish Kathmandu as an important trading centre over the centuries. Kathmandu's trade is an ancient profession that flourished along an offshoot of the Silk Road which linked India and Tibet. From centuries past, Lhasa Newar merchants of Kathmandu have conducted trade across the Himalaya and contributed to spreading art styles and Buddhism across Central Asia. Other traditional occupations are farming, metal casting, woodcarving, painting, weaving, and pottery.
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Kathmandu is the most important industrial and commercial centre in Nepal.
Flag of Kathmandu, NepalThe original uploader was Zscout370 at English Wikipedia. · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Achievements and Monuments
The literal meaning of Durbar Square is a "place of palaces". There are three preserved Durbar Squares in Kathmandu valley and one unpreserved in Kirtipur. The Durbar Square of Kathmandu is in the old city and has heritage buildings representing four kingdoms (Kantipur, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Kirtipur); the earliest being the Licchavi dynasty. The complex has 50 temples and is distributed in two quadrangles of the Durbar Square. The outer quadrangle has the Kasthamandap, Kumari Ghar, and Shiva-Parvati Temple; the inner quadrangle has the Hanuman Dhoka palace. The squares were severely damaged in the April 2015 earthquake.
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Hanuman Dhoka is a complex of structures with the royal palace of the Malla kings and of the Shah dynasty. It is spread over five acres. The eastern wing (with ten courtyards) is the oldest part, dating to the mid-16th century.
1210 CE – 1293 CE · Capital: Delhi · 1,344,819 km²
Tomb of Sultan Qutb al-Din Aibak, LahoreMuhammad Umair Mirza · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
The Mamluk dynasty (lit. 'slave dynasty' - see mamluk), or the Mamluk Sultanate, is the historiographical name or umbrella term used to refer to the three dynasties of Mamluk origin who ruled the Ghurid territories in India and subsequently, the Sultanate of Delhi, from 1206 to 1290 — the Qutbi dynasty (1206–1211), the first Ilbari or Shamsi dynasty (1211–1266) and the second Ilbari dynasty (1266–1290).
1216 CE – 1325 CE · Capital: Korkai (port, early historic), Madurai (till 1335 CE), Tenkasi (1422–1618 CE) · 220,110 km²
Madurai and view of the gopurams of Meenakshi temple, State of Tamil Nadu, IndiaBernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Pandya dynasty (Tamil: [paːɳɖijɐr]), also referred to as the Pandyas of Madurai, was an ancient Tamil dynasty of South India, and among the four great kingdoms of Tamilakam, the other three being the Pallavas, the Cholas and the Cheras. Existing since at least the 4th to 3rd centuries BCE, the dynasty passed through two periods of imperial dominance, the 6th to 10th centuries CE, and under the 'Later Pandyas' (13th to 14th centuries CE).
The etymology of Pandya is still a matter of considerable speculation among scholars. One theory is that the word pandya is derived from the ancient Tamil word "pandu" meaning "old". The theory suggests that in early historic Tamil lexicon the word pandya means old country in contrast with Chola meaning new country, Chera meaning hill country and Pallava meaning branch. Another theory is that the word Pandya is derived from the Sanskrit word Pandu to mean white or pale, in reference to king Pandu and the Pandavas. Apart from these derivations mentioned, several other theories do appear in historical studies.
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Tamil legends narrate an origin myth for the three crowned kings, described by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri as a legend similar to that of Romulus and Remus. According to the myth, the three brothers Cheran, Cholan and Pandyan ruled in common at the southern city of Korkai.
Early Pandya rulers are traditionally associated with patronage of Jainism and Shaivism. In literary and inscriptional records, several Pandya kings are described as having supported Jain monks and institutions. According to tradition, a Pandya ruler known as Koon Pandya was later converted to Shaivism. Based on such accounts, historians believe that the early Pandyas were originally adherents of Jainism and only later converted to Shaivism and lending royal support to the Bhakti movement.
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The Pandya period (c. 13th century CE) was characterised by several elite forms of Hinduism, a popular bhakti religion and an even more widespread local form of Hinduism. The distinctions between the three were not differentiated. The worship of the gods Vishnu and Shiva was generally supported by the elite and Shiva was generally later supported by the elite.
The Pandya country, located at the extreme southwestern tip of South Asia, served as an important meeting point throughout the history of India. The location was economically and geopolitically significant as a key point connecting the shipping between Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Graeco-Roman merchants frequented the ancient Tamil country, present day south India and Sri Lanka, securing contacts with the Tamil chiefdoms of the Pandya, Chola and Chera families. The western sailors also established several trading settlements on the harbours of the ancient Tamil region. The trade with South Asia by the Greco-Roman world flourished since the time of the Ptolemaic dynasty a few decades before the start of the Common Era and remained long after the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
After the death of Maravarman Kulasekhara I (1310), his sons Vira Pandya IV and Sundara Pandya IV fought a war of succession for control of the empire. It seems that Maravarman Kulasekhara wanted Vira Pandya to succeed him (who in turn was defeated by Sundara Pandya after a short period). Unfortunately, the Pandya civil war coincided with the Khalji raids in south India. Taking advantage of the political situation, the neighbouring Hoysala king Ballala III invaded the Pandya territory. However, Ballala had to retreat to his capital, when Alauddin Khalji's general Malik Kafur invaded his kingdom at the same time. After subjugating Ballala III, the Khalji forces marched to the Pandya territory in March 1311. The Pandya brothers fled their headquarters, and the Khaljis pursued them unsuccessfully.
While the Pandyas and the Rashtrakutas were busy engaging the Pallavas, with the Gangas and the Simhalas (Sri Lanka) also in the mix, the Cholas emerged from the Kaveri delta and took on the chieftains of Thanjavur (the Mutharaiyar chieftain had transferred their loyalty from the Pallava to the Pandya). The Chola king Vijayalaya conquered Thanjavur by defeating the Mutharaiyar chieftain around c. 850 CE. The Pandya control north of the Kaveri river was severely weakened by this move (and straightened the position of the Pallava ruler Nripatunga). Pandya ruler Varaguna-varman II (r. c. 862–880 CE) responded by marching into the Chola country and facing a formidable alliance of Pallava prince Aparajita, the Chola king Aditya I and the Ganga king Prithvipati I. The Pandya king suffered a crushing defeat (c. 880 CE) in a battle fought near Kumbakonam.
1236 CE – 1506 CE · Capital: Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte (legislative), Colombo (executive and judicial) · 73,532 km²
Topography of Sri Lanka, obtained from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission of STS-99, aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Heights below 10 meters (33 feet) above sea level have been colored red.National Aeronautics & Space Administration · Public domain · Commons
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It is located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, and is separated from India by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait. Sri Lanka shares a maritime border with the Maldives to the southwest and India to the northwest, and lies across the Bay of Bengal from Bangladesh and Myanmar to the northeast and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India to the east.
The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years and possibly even as far back as 500,000 years. The era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and early Iron Ages. Among the Palaeolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala (37,000 BP), named after the Chinese traveller monk Faxian; Batadombalena (28,500 BP); and Belilena (12,000 BP) are the most important. In these caves, archaeologists have found the remains of anatomically modern humans which they have named Balangoda Man, and other evidence suggesting that they may have engaged in agriculture and kept domestic dogs for driving game.
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The earliest inhabitants of Sri Lanka were likely ancestors of the Vedda people, an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka.
The current political culture in Sri Lanka is a contest between two rival coalitions led by the centre-left and progressive United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), an offspring of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), and the comparatively right-wing and pro-capitalist United National Party (UNP). After 2018, two major political parties split from these two parties: The Samagi Jana Balawegaya split from the UNP, and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna split from the UPFA. The third wing party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna has gained popularity since 2022.
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Sri Lanka is essentially a multi-party democracy with many smaller Buddhist, socialist, and Tamil nationalist political parties. As of July 2011, the number of registered political parties in the country is 67. Of these, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), established in 1935, is the oldest.
According to the International Monetary Fund, Sri Lanka's GDP in terms of purchasing power parity is the second highest in the South Asian region in terms of per capita income. In the 19th and 20th centuries, Sri Lanka became a plantation economy famous for its production and export of cinnamon, rubber, and Ceylon tea, which remains a trademark national export. The development of modern ports under British rule raised the strategic importance of the island as a centre of trade. From 1948 to 1977, socialism strongly influenced the government's economic policies. Colonial plantations were dismantled, industries were nationalised, and a welfare state established. In 1977, the free market economy was introduced to the country, incorporating privatisation, deregulation, and the promotion of private enterprise.
The movie Kadawunu Poronduwa (The Broken Promise), produced by S. M. Nayagam of Chitra Kala Movietone, heralded the coming of Sri Lankan cinema in 1947. Ranmuthu Duwa (Island of Treasures) marked the transition of cinema from black-and-white to colour. In recent years, movies have featured subjects such as family melodrama, social transformation and the years of conflict between the military and the LTTE. The Sri Lankan cinematic style is similar to Bollywood movies. In 1979, movie attendance rose to an all-time high but has been in a steady decline since then.
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An influential filmmaker is Lester James Peiris, who has directed a number of movies which led to global acclaim, including Rekava (Line of Destiny, 1956), Gamperaliya (The Changing Village, 1964), Nidhanaya (The Treasure, 1970) and Golu Hadawatha (Cold Heart, 1968).
The first king to choose Dambadeniya as his capital was Vijayabahu III. He was able to bring about the unity among the Sangha that had fled in various directions due to the hostile activities of the invader Kalinga Magha and succeeded in holding a Buddhist convention in 1226 to bring about peace among the Buddhist clergy.
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Parakramabahu II succeeded his father, King Vijayabahu III. He was regarded as a gifted ruler, celebrated both as a poet and a prolific writer. Among his notable works is Kausilumina, which is considered a masterpiece of Sinhala literature.
His eldest son, Bosath Vijayabahu, was crowned in 1270. He was well known for his modest character and religious devotion. However, his reign was short-lived; he was assassinated in the second year of his rule by a minister named Miththa.
The Dambadeniya period is regarded as a golden era of Sinhala literature. Many significant literary works were produced in Sinhala, Pali, and Sanskrit during this time, including Sinhala Thupavamsa, Dalada Siritha, and Sarajothi Malai. Notable poetic works include Kausilumina, Muwadewdawatha, Sidath Sangarawa, Buthsarana, and Saddharma Rathnawaliya.
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Stone inscriptions from this period include Kevulgama pillar inscription, Narambadde Ududumbara inscription, Rambukkana Dewala inscription, Aluthnuwara Dewala inscription, and Galapatha Viharaya inscription. King Parakramabahu II contributed to literature himself, writing Visuddi Marga Sannasa and Kavisilumina.
1285 CE – 1332 CE · Capital: Kammatadurga · 5,836 km²
The Kampili kingdom was a short-lived Hindu kingdom in the 14th century CE in South India. The kingdom existed near Ballari in the Tungabhadra river in the northeastern parts of the present-day Karnataka state, India. It was destroyed after a defeat by the armies of the Tughlaq dynasty and a Jauhar (mass war suicide by immolation) in 1327 CE when it faced a defeat. The Kampili kingdom in some historical accounts is called the Basnaga kingdom, and it is the kingdom which inspired and ultimately led to the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire.
1294 CE – 1325 CE · Capital: Delhi, Kilokhri (Kilokari) (Present: Part of Jungpura, South East Delhi district; nearby Humayun's tomb) · 1,701,618 km²
The Khalji or Khilji dynasty was the second ruling house of the Delhi Sultanate, covering large parts of the Indian subcontinent for nearly three decades between 1290 and 1320. Founded by Jalal-ud-Din Khalji, it is best known for the reign of Alauddin Khalji, under whom the Sultanate reached its greatest territorial extent and underwent significant military, administrative, and economic reforms.
The Khalji dynasty was of Turko-Afghan origin whose ancestors, the Khalaj, are said to have been initially a Turkic people who migrated together with the Hunas and Hephthalites from Central Asia, into the southern and eastern regions of modern-day Afghanistan as early as 660 CE, where they ruled the region of Kabul as the Buddhist Turk Shahis. According to R.S. Chaurasia, the Khaljis slowly inherited many Afghan habits and customs, and that they were treated as Afghans by the Turkic nobles of the Delhi Sultanate. Even to the point where Turkic nobles in the Delhi Sultanate opposed Jalal-ud-din's ascension to the throne of Delhi after the Khalji Revolution.
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According to The New Cambridge History of Islam in the thirteenth century the Khalji were regarded as a separate people distinct from the Turks.
Alauddin Khalji enforced four taxes on non-Muslims in the Sultanate - jizya (poll tax), kharaj (land tax), kari (house tax), and chari (pasture tax). He also decreed that his Delhi-based revenue officers assisted by local Muslim jagirdars, khuts, mukkadims, chaudharis and zamindars seize by force half of all produce any farmer generates, as a tax on standing crop, so as to fill sultanate granaries. His officers enforced tax payment by beating up middlemen responsible for rural tax collection. Furthermore, Alauddin Khalji demanded, state Kulke and Rothermund, from his "wise men in the court" to create "rules and regulations in order to grind down the common man, so as to reduce them to abject poverty and deprive them of wealth and any form of surplus property that could foster a rebellion; At the same time, he confiscated all landed property from his courtiers and officers.
Alauddin Khalji is credited with the early Indo-Mohammedan architecture, a style and construction campaign that flourished during Tughlaq dynasty. Among works completed during Khalji dynasty, are Alai Darwaza - the southern gateway of Qutb complex enclosure, the Idgah at Rapri, and the Jamat Khana Masjid in Delhi. The Alai Darwaza, completed in 1311, was included as part of Qutb Minar and its Monuments UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993.
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Perso-Arabic inscriptions on monuments have been traced to the Khalji dynasty era.
One of the most significant Hindu temples in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It stands in the town of Nallur. The presiding Deity is Lord Muruga in the form of the holy Vel.Gane Kumaraswamy · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Commons
The Jaffna kingdom (Tamil: யாழ்ப்பாண அரசு, Sinhala: යාපනය රාජධානිය; 1215–1619 CE), also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, was a historical kingdom of what today is northern Sri Lanka. It came into existence around the town of Jaffna on the Jaffna Peninsula and was traditionally thought to have been established after the invasion of Kalinga Magha from Kalinga in India.
The origin of the Jaffna kingdom is obscure and still the subject of controversy among historians. Among mainstream historians, such as K. M. de Silva, S. Pathmanathan and Karthigesu Indrapala, the widely accepted view is that the kingdom of the Aryacakravarti dynasty in Jaffna began in 1215 with the invasion of a previously unknown chieftain called Magha, who claimed to be from Kalinga in modern India. He deposed the ruling Parakrama Pandyan II, a foreigner from the Pandyan dynasty who was ruling the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa at the time with the help of his soldiers and mercenaries from the Kalinga, modern Kerala and Damila (Tamil Nadu) regions in India.
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After the conquest of Rajarata, he moved the capital to the Jaffna Peninsula which was more secured by heavy Vanni forest and ruled as a tribute-paying subordinate of the Chola Empire of Tanjavur, in modern Tamil Nadu, India.
According to Ibn Batuta, a traveling Moroccan historian of note, by 1344, the kingdom had two capitals: one in Nallur in the north and the other in Puttalam in the west during the pearling season. The kingdom proper, that is the Jaffna peninsula, was divided into various provinces with subdivisions of parrus meaning property or larger territorial units and ur or villages, the smallest unit, was administered on a hierarchical and regional basis. At the summit was the king whose kingship was hereditary; he was usually succeeded by his eldest son. Next in the hierarchy stood the adikaris who were the provincial administrators. Then came the mudaliyars who functioned as judges and interpreters of the laws and customs of the land. It was also their duty to gather information of whatever was happening in the provinces and report to higher authorities.
The economy of the kingdom was almost exclusively based on subsistence agriculture until the 15th century. After the 15th century, however, the economy became diversified and commercialized as it became incorporated into the expanding Indian Ocean.
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Ibn Batuta, during his visit in 1344, observed that the kingdom of Jaffna was a major trading kingdom with extensive overseas contacts, who described that the kingdom had a "considerable forces by the sea", testifying to their strong reputed navy. He witnessed a hundred ships of varying sizes belonging to the Jaffna kingdom on the Malabar Coast. The kingdom's trades were oriented towards maritime South India, with which it developed a commercial interdependence. The non-agriculture tradition of the kingdom became strong as a result of large coastal fishing and boating population and growing opportunities for seaborne commerce.
The Kotte conquest of the Jaffna kingdom was led by king Parakramabahu VI's adopted son, Prince Sapumal. This battle took place in many stages. Firstly, the tributaries to the Jaffna kingdom in the Vanni area, namely the Vanniar chieftains of the Vannimai were neutralised. This was followed by two successive invasions. The first invasion did not succeed in capturing the kingdom and failed. It was the second invasion dated to 1450 that eventually was successful.
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Apparently connected with this event was an expedition to Adriampet in modern South India, occasioned according to Valentyn by the seizure of a Sri Lankan ship laden with cinnamon. The Tenkasi inscription of Arikesari Parakrama Pandya of Tinnevelly who saw the backs of kings at Singai, Anurai, and elsewhere, may refer to these wars; it is dated between 1449–50 and 1453–54 and it's pointing to Pandyan Victory over Kotte.
The social organization of the people of the Jaffna kingdom was based on a caste system and a matrilineal kudi (clan) system similar to the caste structure of South India. The Aryacakravarti kings and their immediate family claimed Brahma-Kshatriya status, meaning Brahmins who took to martial life. The Madapalli were the aristocrats and cooks, the Akampadayar's formed the palace servants, the Paraiyar were the royal heralds and the Siviyar were the royal palanquin bearers. The army and navy generals were from the Karaiyar caste, who also controlled the pearl trade and whose chiefs were known as Mudaliyar, Paddankatti and Adapannar. The Mukkuvar and Thimilar were also engaged in the pearl fishery. The Udayars or village headmen and landlords of agriculture societies were mostly drawn from the Vellalar caste.
Portuguese traders reached Sri Lanka by 1505 where their initial forays were against the south-western coastal Kotte kingdom due to the lucrative monopoly on trade in spices that the Kotte kingdom enjoyed that was also of interest to the Portuguese. The Jaffna kingdom came to the attention of Portuguese officials in Colombo for multiple reasons which included their interference in Roman Catholic missionary activities, (which was assumed to be patronizing Portuguese interests) and their support to anti-Portuguese factions of the Kotte kingdom, such as the chieftains from Sitawaka. The Jaffna kingdom also functioned as a logistical base for the Kandyan kingdom, located in the central highlands without access to any seaports, as an entryport for military aid arriving from South India.
1326 CE – 1414 CE · Capital: Delhi · 2,449,486 km²
Shah Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq arrives in Tirhut. Depicted by eyewitness Muhammad Sadr Ala-i in his BasaUn al-uns, ca.1410. Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Museum Library, Ms. R.1032 (the Shah)1410 painter and writer · Public domain · Commons
The Tughlaq dynasty was the third dynasty to rule over the Delhi Sultanate in the medieval Indian subcontinent. The dynasty came to power in 1320 when Ghazi Malik assumed the throne in Delhi under the title of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, and ended in 1413.
The Tughlaq dynasty reached its territorial zenith through the military campaigns led by Muhammad bin Tughluq between 1330 and 1335. It ruled most of the Indian subcontinent until its decline in the late 14th-century.
The etymology of the word Tughlaq is not certain. The 16th-century writer Firishta claims that it is an Indian corruption of the Turkic term Qutlugh, but this is doubtful. Literary, numismatic and epigraphic evidence makes it clear that Tughlaq was not an ancestral designation, but the personal name of the dynasty's founder Ghazi Malik. Historians use the designation Tughlaq to describe the entire dynasty as a matter of convenience, but to call it the Tughlaq dynasty is inaccurate, as none of the dynasty's kings used Tughlaq as a surname: only Ghiyath al-Din's son Muhammad bin Tughluq called himself the son of Tughlaq Shah ("bin Tughlaq").
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The ancestry of Ghiayth al-Din is debated among modern historians because the earlier sources provide differing information regarding it. However, he is usually considered to be of Turko-Mongol or Turkic origins.
Persian (official) Hindavi (Language of elites and lingua franca)
Religion
Sunni Islam
Coins, Currency and Symbols
Currency
Taka
Wars and Battles
The first civil war broke out in 1384 four years before the death of ageing Firoz Shah Tughlaq, while the second civil war started in 1394 six years after Firoz Shah was dead. The Islamic historians Sirhindi and Bihamadkhani provide the detailed account of this period. These civil wars were primarily between different factions of Sunni Islam aristocracy, each seeking sovereignty and land to tax dhimmis and extract income from resident peasants.
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Firuz Shah Tughluq's favourite grandson died in 1376. Thereafter, Firuz Shah sought and followed Sharia more than ever, with the help of his wazirs. He himself fell ill in 1384. By then, Muslim nobility who had installed Firuz Shah Tughluq to power in 1351 had died out, and their descendants had inherited the wealth and rights to extract taxes from non-Muslim peasants.
Kesari Veer is a 2025 Indian Hindi-language historical action film directed by Prince Dhiman. The film is co-produced by Rajen Chauhan, Heena Chauhan, Suhraj Chauhan and Ohm Chauhan. Written, co-directed and produced by Kanubhai Chauhan of Chauhan Studios, the film stars Suniel Shetty, Vivek Oberoi, Sooraj Pancholi and Akanksha Sharma. It tells the story of Rajput warrior Hamirji Gohil, who fought against the Tughlaq empire to protect the Somnath Temple from destruction.
The provinces of Deccan, Bengal, Sindh and Multan had become independent during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq. The invasion of Timur further weakened the Tughlaq empire and allowed several regional chiefs to become independent, resulting in the formation of the sultanates of Gujarat, Malwa and Jaunpur. The Rajput states also expelled the governor of Ajmer and asserted control over Rajputana. The Tughlaq power continued to decline until they were finally overthrown by their former governor of Multan, Khizr Khan, resulting in the rise of the Sayyid Dynasty as the new rulers of the Delhi Sultanate.
1344 CE – 1587 CE · Capital: Srinagar (1320–1323; 1339–1343; 1354–1470; 1472–1529; 1530–1586), Sikandarpur (1470–1472), Naushahra (1529–1530), Chandrakot (1586–1587), Varmul (1587–1588), Suyyapur (1586–1588), no centralised capital (1588–1589) · 201,742 km²
View of Dal Lake and the city of Srinagar from Shankaracharya HillKennyOMG · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Kashmir Sultanate, historically Latinised as the Sultanate of Cashmere, was a medieval kingdom primarily based in the Kashmir Valley, in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, between the early 14th and late 16th centuries. It was established by Rinchan Shah, a Ladakhi noble who had converted from Buddhism to Islam. After a brief interregnum by the Loharas, Shah Mir, a councillor of Rinchan, overthrew the Lohara dynasty and founded his own dynasty. The Shah Miris ruled from 1339 until they were deposed by the Chak warlords and nobles in 1561.
A number of attempts had been made to conquer Kashmir, first by the Arabs in the 7th and 8th century, and then by the Turks in the 11th century, but it was not until the reigns of Mahmud of Ghazni and Muhammad of Ghor that Kashmir faced serious threat. It was at this time that Tajik traders entered Kashmir and were permitted to serve in the Lohara army. With the Hindu dynasty weakened, Kashmir became a subject to the Mongol invasions in the 13th century. Unable to fend off the invasions this time, Kashmir became a Mongol dependency some time after 1235. In 1320, a Mongol commander, Zulju, with an army of Qara'unas, entered Kashmir and, after perpetrating all types of atrocities and violence, left the valley with the loot. As the king Suhadeva fled to Kishtwar, the Valley passed on to the hands of local chiefs who asserted independence.
Even though the Sultan held the highest order of the Sultanate with executive, legislative and judicial powers in his hand, he still formed a central government to run his Sultanate effectively thus forming a council (Shura) of his most trusted ministers and appointed them accordingly.
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Wazīr (Prime Minister) was the highest official in the state and was also responsible for the civil administration. He was the constant advisor to the Sultan. The Wazīr was granted excellent and sovereign executive and judicial powers, even leading expeditions under the Sultan's orders.
Dīwan-i-Kul (Finance Minister) was a minister of the Sultan's council who held the economical, revenue, and financial powers of the Sultanate.
Mīr Bakhshī or Sipahsālār (Military Commander) was the commander of the military department and led the Sultan's army into foreign invasion or civil wars.
Sanskrit (widely used in administration, court and government until the end of 14th century), Persian (widely used in administration, court and government), Kashmiri (native language, given official status later on), Dardic languages, Arabic (religious)
Religion
State religion: Sunni Islam (Shafi'i and Hanafi), (1320–1561), Shi'a Islam (Imamiyya), (1561–1589), Minority religions: Hinduism, Buddhism
After the reign of Haidar Shah (1470–1472) and Hasan Shah (1472–1484), the two sons of Zainu'l-Abidin, a power struggle started between Fath Shah and Muhammad Shah. One of the two factions, at times, was supported by the Mughals, while the other was backed by the nobles. Mughal commanders Kuchak Beg and Shaikh Ali Beg led an expedition under Babur to Kashmir in 1527, supporting Sikandar Shah II against Muhammad Shah. Muhammad Shah, with the help of Lohar Magre and Kaji Chak, defeated the Mughals near Naushahra, whereas Sikandar Shah was blinded and later died in prison. The Mughals again marched onto Kashmir, with Kamran Mirza as their commander in 1531. Even though Srinagar was sacked, Kaji Chak, along with his army, defeated and routed Kamran back to India. Another attempt to annex Kashmir was carried out, this time by Sultan Said Khan of the Yarkent Khanate.
1344 CE – 1525 CE · Capital: Samanagar · 123,233 km²
The Samma dynasty was a medieval Sindhi Muslim dynasty based in Sindh. It was established by Unar bin Babinah in 1351 after defeating Hamir (the last Soomra Emir) and declaring independence from the Delhi Sultanate. The Sammas took the title of jam, the equivalent of sultan. The capital of the sultanate was in the city of Samanagar (modern-day Thatta). The Sammas were conquered in the early 16th century by the Arghun dynasty. The dynasty has left architectural mark in Sindh, most notably at the Makli Necropolis.
Information about the early years of the Samma dynasty is very sketchy. Tribes such as Samma were regarded as a sub-division of Jats or on a par with the Jats when Muslims first arrived in Sindh. Sarah Ansari states both Sammas and Soomros to be Rajput tribes who converted to Islam. Their chiefs were followers of Suhrawardi Sufi saints with their base at Uch and Multan. The medieval historian Firishta mentions two groups of zamindars in Sindh, namely Sumra and Samma.
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During most of period of Samma rule, Sindh was politically and economically tied to the Gujarat Sultanate, with occasional periods of friction. Coins struck by the Samma dynasty have the titles sultan and shah as well as jam. The Jadeja rulers of western Gujarat were a part of Samma tribe and directly descended from Jam Unar, the first Samma sultan of Sindh.
The rise of Thatta as an important commercial and cultural centre was directly related to Jam Ninda's patronage and policies. At the time the Portuguese took control of the trading centre of Hormuz in 1514 CE, trade from the Sindh accounted for nearly 10% of their customs revenue, and they described Thatta as one of the richest cities in the world. Thatta's prosperity was based partly on its own high-quality cotton and silk textile industry, partly on export of goods from further inland in the Punjab and northern India. However, the trade declined when the Mughals took over. Later, due to silting of the main Indus channel, Thatta no longer functioned as a port.
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The Samma civilization contributed significantly to the evolution of the Indo-Islamic architectural style. Thatta is famous for its necropolis, which covers 10 square km on the Makli Hill.
1344 CE – 1533 CE · Capital: Pandua, (1352–1390, 1410-1433), Sonargaon, (1390–1410), Gaur the Restored Ilyas Shahi dynasty, the Habshi dynasty, and the Hussain Shahi dynasty., (1433–1565), Tanda, (1565–1576) · 361,167 km²
This is a photo of a monument in Bangladesh identified by the IDNahid.rajbd · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: শাহী বাঙ্গালা, romanization: Śāhī Bāṅgālā, lit. 'Royal/Imperial Bengal') was a late medieval sultanate based in the Bengal region in eastern South Asia between the 14th and 16th centuries. It was the dominant power of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, with a network of mint towns spread across the region. The Bengal Sultanate had a circle of vassal states in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, including parts of Odisha in the southwest, parts of Bihar in the northwest, parts of Assam in the northeast, Arakan in the southeast, and Tripura in the east.
Bengal was gradually absorbed into the Delhi Sultanate during the 1200s. It began with Bakhtiyar's 1202–1204 conquest of Gauda during the reign of Muhammad of Ghor. This saw the beginning of the rise of Turko-Afghans in the Indian subcontinent. Bakhityar Khalji served as a military general of the Ghurid ruler Muhammad of Ghor. He formed the Khalji dynasty of Bengal. After the assassination of Bakhtiar Khalji by his own officer Ali Mardan in 1206, Bengal was administered by various Maliks belonging to the Khalji tribe (except a brief interregnum by Ali Mardan himself) until Delhi Sultan Iltutmish sent forces under his son, Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud, to bring Bengal under the direct control of the Delhi Sultans. Iltutmish declared Bengal as a province of Delhi in 1225.
The Bengal Sultanate was an absolute monarchy and took influence from Persianate traditions. Its revenue system was maintained in the Bengali language throughout the course of its history. The government employed both Muslims and Hindus, promoting a form of religious pluralism. In addition to the royal family and government body, the Sultan also relied on the support of the ulama (Islamic scholars).
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The Sultanate was divided into administrative subdivisions such as arsa and iqlim, which were further divided into mahals, thanas, and qasbas.
The economy of the Bengal Sultanate inherited earlier aspects of the Delhi Sultanate, including mint towns, a salaried bureaucracy, and the jagirdar system of land ownership. The production of silver coins inscribed with the name of the Sultan of Bengal was a mark of Bengali sovereignty. Bengal was more successful in perpetuating purely silver coinage than Delhi and other contemporary Asian and European governments. There were three sources of silver. The first source was the leftover silver reserve of previous kingdoms. The second source was the tribute payments of subordinate kingdoms, which were paid in silver bullion. The third source was during military campaigns when Bengali forces sacked neighbouring states.
Bengal sultanate flag reconstructionVectorised by Greatswrd · Public domain · Commons
Wars and Battles
The sultans had a well-organised army, including cavalry, artillery, infantry, and war elephants; and a navy. Due to the riverine geography and climate, it was not feasible to use cavalry throughout the year in Bengal. The cavalry was probably the weakest component of the Bengal Sultanate's army, as the horses had to be imported from foreign countries. The artillery was an important section. Portuguese historian João de Barros opined that the military supremacy of Bengal over Arakan and Tripura was due to its efficient artillery. The artillery used cannons and guns of various sizes. The paiks formed the vital part of the Bengal infantry during this period. There were occasions when the paiks also tackled political situations. The particular battle array of the foot soldiers who used bows, arrows, and guns attracted the attention of Babur.
The Bengali language was the most spoken language, while Persian was an administrative and commercial language. Men wore white shirts, cotton fabrics of various colors, turbans, sarongs, lungis, dhutis, leather shoes, and belts to wrap their robes on the waist. Women wore cotton saris. Upper-class women wore gold jewelry. There were various classes of artisans, as well as physicians and fortune tellers. There was a class of musicians who would gather by the houses of the rich during dawn and play music; and they would be rewarded with wine, food, and money during breakfast hours. Some men would have performances with a chained tiger. The Hindu minority did not eat beef. The streets and markets included bathing areas, eating and drinking places, and dessert shops. Betel nut was offered to guests. The population included royalty, aristocrats, natives, and foreigners.
The absorption of Bengal into the Mughal Empire was a gradual process. It began with the defeat of Bengal forces under Sultan Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah by the first Mughal ruler Babur at the Battle of Ghaghra. The second Mughal ruler, Humayun, occupied the Bengal capital of Gaur during the invasion of Sher Shah Suri against both the Mughals and Bengal Sultans. Humayun later took refuge in the Safavid Empire in Persia. Sher Shah Suri, of Afghan origin, succeeded in conquering Bengal, forming the Sur Empire. During this period, the Grand Trunk Road was renovated, while the Sur rulers placed successive governors in Bengal. The third governor, Muhammad Khan Sur, declared independence after the death of Islam Shah Suri. Muhammad Khan ended the interrupting period of Delhi's rule and re-established the Bengal Sultanate under the Muhammad Shahi dynasty, which was also of Afghan origin.
1352 CE – 1491 CE · Capital: Kalaburagi · 470,821 km²
Great Mosque in Gulbarga Fort.Dayal, Deen · Public domain · Commons
The Bahmani Kingdom, or the Bahmani Sultanate, was a late medieval Persianate kingdom that ruled the Deccan Plateau in India. The first independent Muslim sultanate of the Deccan, the Bahmani Kingdom came to power in 1347 during the rebellion of Ismail Mukh against Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the Sultan of Delhi. Ismail Mukh then abdicated in favour of Zafar Khan, who established the Bahmani Sultanate.
The Bahmani Kingdom was perpetually at war with its neighbours, including its rival to the south, the Vijayanagara Empire, which outlasted the sultanate.
Before the establishment of his kingdom, Hasan Gangu (Zafar Khan) was Governor of Deccan and a commander on behalf of the Tughlaqs. On 3 August 1347, during the rebellion by the Amirs of the Deccan, Ismail Mukh, the leader of the rebellion (whom the rebel amirs of the Deccan placed on the throne of Daulatabad in 1345), abdicated in favor of Zafar Khan, resulting in the establishment of the Bahmani Kingdom. The Sultan of Delhi had besieged the rebels at the citadel of Daulatabad. As another rebellion had begun in Gujarat, the Sultan left and installed Shaikh Burhan-ud-din Bilgrami and Malik Jauhar and other nobles in charge of the siege.
The Bahmani dynasty patronized Indo-Muslim and Persian culture from Northern India and the Middle East. However, the society of the Bahmnanis was dominated prominently by Iranians, Afghans, and Turks. They also had considerable and social influence such as with the celebration of Nowruz by Bahmani rulers. This also comes as Mohammed Shah I ascended the throne on Nowruz. According to Khafi Khan and Ferishta, musicians flocked to the court from Lahore, Delhi, Persia, and Khorasan.
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The Bahmani sultans were patrons of the Persian language, culture, and literature, and some members of the dynasty became well-versed in the language and composed its literature in the language.
The first sultan, Alauddin Bahman Shah, is noted to have captured 1,000 singing and dancing girls from Hindu temples after he battled the northern Carnatic chieftains.
Muhammad Shah III Lashkari was succeeded by his son Mahmood Shah Bahmani II, the last Bahmani ruler to have real power. The tarafdars of Ahmednagar, Bijapur, and Berar, Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I, Yusuf Adil Shah, and Fathullah Imad-ul-Mulk agreed to assert their independence in 1490, and established their own sultanates but maintained loyalty to the Bahmani Sultan. The sultanates of Golconda and Bidar would become in practice independent as well. In 1501, Mahmood Shah Bahmani united his amirs and wazirs in an agreement to wage annual Jihad against Vijayanagara. The expeditions were financially ruinous.
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The last Bahmani Sultans were puppet monarchs under their Barid Shahi prime ministers, who were the de facto rulers. After 1518 the sultanate formally broke up into the five states of Ahmednagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. They are collectively known as the Deccan Sultanates.
1395 CE – 1481 CE · Capital: Jaunpur (1394–1493), Kahalgaon (capital-in-exile) (1494–1505) · 159,344 km²
View of the Fort, Jaunpur, Uttar PradeshThomas Daniell · Public domain · Commons
The Jaunpur Sultanate (Persian: سلطنتِ جونپور) was a late medieval Indian Muslim state which ruled over much of what is now the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and southern Nepal between 1394 and 1494. It was founded in 1394 by Khwajah-i-Jahan Malik Sarwar, a eunuch slave and former wazir of Sultan Nasiruddin Muhammad Shah, amidst the disintegration of the Delhi Sultanate under the ruling Tughlaq dynasty. Centred in Jaunpur, the sultanate extended authority over a large part of the Ganges-Yamuna Doab.
The Sharqi dynasty was founded by Malik Sarwar, a eunuch slave of probably African origin. He was succeeded by his adopted son, Malik Qaranfal, who was previously a Hindu slave-boy and a water-bearer of Firoz Shah Tughlaq. However, according to a contemporary writer, Yahya Sirhindi, Malik Qaranfal was a member of the Sayyid dynasty. Malik Qaranfal became the next sultan with the title of Mubarak Shah. He was succeeded by his brother, Ibrahim Shah.
Persian (official), Hindustani, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Nepali (common), Arabic (religious), Sanskrit (literature)
Religion
Shia Islam
Economy and Trade
The coin hoards of the Jaunpur Sultan's have mainly been found in the territory of the modern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in India indicating the circulation of Sharqi coins in these regions.
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English translation: "In the time of the Imam, the Deputy of the Commander of the faithful, the father of victory, may the caliphate perpetuate".
His successors, Mahmud Shah and Hussain Shah also continued to mint coins in their own names with billon and copper.
Over the course of the fourteenth century, the Jaunpur Sultanate appeared to have been numerically superior to its neighbours when it came number of troops. It has been posited that this was because Jaunpur had many Rajput vassals under the sultans who paid tribute with levies of peasant war-bands. Among the contemporary Rajput clans who were situated in the territory or the peripheries of the Jaunpur Sultans, were the Baghelas of Rewa, the Bachgotis of Sultanpur in Uttar Pardesh, Ujjainiyas of Bhojpur as well as the Tomars of Gwalior.
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The support of these Rajput levies were what allowed the last sultan, Hussain Shah, to continue to challenge the sultans of Delhi.
The Sharqi rulers of Jaunpur were known for their patronage of learning and architecture. Jaunpur was known as the Shiraz of India during this period. Most notable examples of Sharqi style of architecture in Jaunpur are the Atala Mosque, the Lal Darwaza Mosque and the Jama Mosque. Though the foundation of the Atala Masjid was laid by Firuz Shah Tughluq in 1376, it was completed only during the rule of Ibrahim Shah in 1408. Another mosque, the Jhanjhari Masjid was also built by Ibrahim Shah in 1430. The Lal Darwaja Masjid (1450) was built during the reign of the next ruler Mahmud Shah. The Jama Masjid was built in 1470, during the rule of the last ruler Hussain Shah.
Muhammed Shah's Tomb at Lodhi Gardens, New Delhi, India.Vssun · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
The Sayyid dynasty was the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, with four rulers ruling from 1414 to 1451 for 37 years. The first ruler of the dynasty, Khizr Khan, initially a vassal of Timurid Empire at Multan, conquered Delhi in 1414. His successor Mubarak Shah proclaimed himself sultan in 1421. The dynasty succeeded the Tughlaq dynasty and ruled the sultanate until they were displaced by the Lodi dynasty in 1451.
Silver Tanka of Khizr Khan INO Muhammad Bin FirozMohammed Tariq · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Khizr Khan was the founder of the dynasty. His father, Malik Sulaiman, was an adopted son of Malik Mardan Daulat, who succeeded Ayn al-Mulk Mahru as the governor of Multan under Tughlaq dynasty. The epithet 'sayyid' affixed to the name of dynasty came from their claimed descent from Muhammad. According to the Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi of a contemporary writer Yahya Sirhindi, the Syed identity of Malik Sulaiman was established by the Sufi saint Syed Jalaluddin Bukhari during one of his visits to Mardan Daulat, whose patronage the saint enjoyed. Modern historians doubt the claimed Syed ancestry of the dynasty, although several scholars suggest Khizr Khan to have descended from an Arab family long settled at Multan. Some scholars suggest Khizr Khan to be a Punjabi chieftain from the Khokhar clan, who rose to power through his contacts in the Timurid Empire.
1429 CE – 1787 CE · Capital: Launggyet (1429–1430), Mrauk U (1430–1785) · 102,177 km²
Carvings from Shite-thaung Temple, Mrauk U, Rakhine, MyanmarUthantofburma at English Wikipedia · Public domain · Commons
The Kingdom of Mrauk-U (Arakanese: မြောက်ဦး ဘုရင့်နိုင်ငံတော်) or Kingdom of Arakan was a kingdom that existed on the Arakan coastal plain from 1429 to 1785. Based in the capital Mrauk U, near the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, the kingdom ruled over what is now Rakhine State, Myanmar, and the southern part of Chittagong Division, Bangladesh. Though it started out as a protectorate of the Bengal Sultanate from 1429 to 1531, Mrauk-U went on to conquer Chittagong with the help of the Portuguese.
Mrauk U had economic relations with the Dutch East India Company (VOC) during the 17th century by trade, military collaboration, and occasional tensions. The Dutch first initiated trade relations with Mrauk U in 1608, signaling the beginning of their commercial interest in the region. By 1610, they established their first trade settlement, or ‘factory,’ in Mrauk U, capitalizing on the kingdom's strategic location along the Bay of Bengal and its bustling markets.
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The primary motivation for the Dutch presence in Mrauk U was economic. The VOC aimed to engage in trade, particularly in goods such as rice, ivory, elephants, tree sap, cotton, spices, textiles, and slaves. However, their engagement was also linked to military considerations, as the Arakanese kingdom had a powerful war fleet that conducted raids, often with the support of Portuguese and Dutch mercenaries.
Buddhism (Theravada Buddhism as de facto state religion), Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Animism
Economy and Trade
Mrauk U thrived as a commercial hub engaging in trade with Arab, Dutch, Portuguese, and other merchants. The administration regulated trade, collected customs duties, and maintained diplomatic relations to bolster the kingdom's economy. The Rakhine kings are said to have spent a lot of money to hire Japanese warriors as their trusted bodyguards.
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Sebastien Manrique, who visited the region in the early 1630s, estimated the city's population at 160,000 and likened its grandeur to that of Venice.
Agricultural development during this period was notable with techniques such as the construction of dams and embankments along rivers and the use of animal manure as fertilizer. The Mughal historian Shiabuddin Talish noted that while Portuguese pirates sold captives into slavery, the Arakanese employed them in agriculture and other services, thereby increasing the available labor force.
The 1666 Mughal conquest of Chittagong marked a definite end of the Golden Age of Arakan for most historians. Arakan lost control of end of western bank of the Naf River in southeast Bengal after the Mughal conquest of Chittagong.
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Relations with the Mughals began in the early 17th century as the Portuguese and Arakanese continued their raids of the Ganges Delta, now Mughal Bengal, including a raid in Dhaka in 1625.
In 1660, Prince Shah Shuja, the governor of Mughal Bengal and a claimant of the Peacock Throne, fled to Arakan with his family after being defeated by his brother Emperor Aurangzeb during the Battle of Khajwa. Shuja and his entourage arrived in Arakan on 26 August 1660. He was granted asylum by King Sanda Thudhamma. In December 1660, the Arakanese king confiscated Shuja's gold and jewelry, leading to an insurrection by the royal Mughal refugees.
Maha Thammada Raza The Last King of Mrauk-U Kingdom, ArakanArezarni · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
King Bodawpaya of the Konbaung Dynasty sought to consolidate Burma's western frontiers to preempt external threats. Arakan's location along the Bay of Bengal made it a strategic gateway for maritime trade and a buffer against British colonial expansion in Bengal. Arakan, with its ancient Buddhist heritage was portrayed as a "fallen" kingdom requiring purification. The annexation and relocation of the Mahamuni Buddha Temple allowed Bodawpaya to present himself as a restorer of Buddhist order.
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Following the Burmese invasion in 1785, the kingdom came to an end. As many as 35,000 people of the region at that time fled to the neighbouring Chittagong region and Cox's Bazar areas of the British Bengal in 1799 to seek protection under the British Raj.
Mrauk-U is the longest-lived capital in Myanmar after Inwa. Arakanese chronicle records that more than six million shrines and pagodas flourished in Mrauk-U. A British archaeologist, Emil Forchhammer noted that "in durability, architectural skill, and ornamentation the Mrauk-U temples far surpass those on the banks of Irrawaddy." The English author Maurice Collis made Mrauk U and Rakhine famous with his book "The Land of the Great Image: Being experiences of Friar Manrique in Arakan" based on the accounts of Friar Manrique travels in Arakan.
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Gold and silver coins serve as the heritage of the Mrauk-U period. The tradition of coin-making was handed down from the Vesali kings who started minting coins around the fifth century. The coins so far found are of one denomination only.
Medieval States of the Indian Subcontinent, 1072 CE – 1429 CE: Frequently Asked Questions
Which states existed in the Indian Subcontinent in this period?
This page maps 22 states of the Indian Subcontinent founded between 1072 CE and 1429 CE: Kingdom of Polonnaruwa, Gahadavala Dynasty, Hoysala Kingdom, Ghurid Dynasty, Kakatiya Dynasty, Yadava Dynasty, Kathmandu, Mamluk Dynasty, Pandya Empire, Ceylon, Kingdom of Dambadeniya, Kampili Kingdom and 10 more.
Which was the largest of the Medieval States of the Indian Subcontinent, 1072 CE – 1429 CE?
Tughlaq Dynasty had the largest mapped extent, about 2,449,486 km².
Which of the Medieval States of the Indian Subcontinent, 1072 CE – 1429 CE lasted longest?
Kathmandu lasted longest, 1202 CE – 1761 CE.
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