Chronicles of the Delhi Sultanate mention the just and honest rule by kings in order to get support from others to run the empire. The system was called the circle of justice, in which the king needed to maintain ideal relations with all sections of the society for building a balance and prosperous rule. In this system, every point of the circle (i.e., all sections of the society) is equal and essential. God stands above everyone and casts his shadow on earth through the sultan. At the same time, chronicles of that time also emphasized the existence of gender distinction for the accession to the throne, in order to have an ‘ideal’ social and political order.
Chronicles written by scribes during the sultanate period were called as Tawarikh. These Tawarikh were written by the learned men of the society such as poets, courtiers, administrators and secretaries etc.
Buddha Offers Fruit to the Devil - from Jami al-Tawarikh
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
The chronicles were written in the Persian language, which was the administrative language of that time. The authors of Tawarikh used to live in city like Delhi, recorded the events of the time and guided sultans to run a just and prosperous empire, expecting rewards in return for their services. In a nutshell these Tawarikh served as a major sources of information of the Delhi Sultanate period.
The idea of governing through the circle of justice was common in the Turkish and Persian rule, which they have adopted from the Sumerians. In the reign of the Delhi Sultanate, the chronicler Fakr-i-Mudabbir in the thirteenth century, gave the idea of the circle of justice, in which the king was expected to have a positive attitude towards his subjects. According to this idea, no power or king can survive without soldiers, and soldiers needed money or salary to survive. And the major portion of their income was collected as a revenue from the peasantry and for that matter the peasantry could pay only when they are happy and prosperous. To keep the prosperity intact in the empire, the king was expected to promote the justice and fair governance. In this way there was a circle, in which all elements are interdependent on each other in order to have a strong empire.
Raziya was the first and the only woman sultan in Delhi. She is amongst the most fascinating characters of the Delhi Sultanate. She was trained to lead an army and administer a kingdom in times of necessity. She became adept as an archer and a horse rider by the age of 13. She even went on military expeditions with her father as a teenager. She discarded purdah and held open court. Iltutmish’s sons were incompetent, but his daughter, Raziyya, was well-educated and adept in military tactics. Therefore, Iltutmish nominated Raziyya as his successor. His wish was considered offensive by the chahalgani.
When Iltutmish died in 1236 CE, the nobles of the court refused to have a woman as the sultan. Thus, they disregarded the deceased sultan’s nominated successor and raised Ruknuddin Firuz Shah to the throne.
Ruknuddin’s reign was short. He was an incapable ruler. In 1236 CE, he was assassinated. The nobility finally agreed to allow Raziyya as the sultan of Delhi. As a sultan, Raziyya reportedly sought to abolish the tax on non-Muslims, but this was met with opposition from the nobility. She established schools, academies, centres for research and public libraries.
Minhaj I Siraj was a historian from Persia, born in 1193 in Ghor region in present-day Afghanistan. He worked as a teacher in a madrasa under Nasiruddin Qubacha. Then he came to Delhi and got protection from Iltutmish. Iltutmish appointed him as Qazi and Imam of Gwalior. During Razia’s reign, he was appointed as principal of Madarasa in Delhi. He also condemned the idea of Raziyya as the Delhi Sultan.
Minhaj-i-Siraj acknowledged that Raziya was way more efficient and qualified than her brothers as ruler. However, like chahalgani, he was not in favour of making a female as the ruler at the helm. It was deemed to be against the social order ordained by God. In a way, this signifies that society was male-dominated. He also expressed that in “God’s register, Raziyya’s name does not fall under the column of men then how can she possess all qualities of man as ruler?”.
Eventually, due to a lot of conspiracy against her, Raziyya was overthrown and her brother, Muizuddin Bahram Shah, usurped the throne.
With the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in the subcontinent of India, the idea of a just and ideal system of ‘the circle of justice’, in which a ruler was expected to keep fair relationships with different sections of society from troops to peasantry because the prosperity and the consolidation of the empire were more or less was dependent on all elements of the social structure.
Furthermore, this ideal social order also emphasized that the power of ruling the kingdom is always vested with males of the society, and to make a woman the ruler or sultan would be against the order of god’s creation, and this power can not be given to a woman. As a result the first and last sultan of Delhi, Raziyya was removed from the throne.
Q1. Name other women in ancient Indian history who wielded great power in governance of a kingdom but had to face gender biasness.
Ans. Rudramadevi of the Kakatiya dynasty of Warangal in Andhra Pradesh in 1262- 1289 CE. She ignored the gender distiction by inscribing a changed name on inscriptions and pretended to be a man. Another woman was the ruler of Kashmir ruled during 980-1003, referred as ‘didda’ rather than ‘didi’.
Q2. When was Raziyya ascended to the throne and which dynasty she belonged to?
Ans. Raziyya sultan ruled the Delhi sultanate from 1236 CE to 1240 CE. She belonged to the slave or mamluk dynasty, the first dynasty of the Delhi sultanate.
Q3. What was chahalgani?
Ans. Chahalgani was the council of forty, it was a group of administrative and military nobles exerting considerable influence on sultans.
Q4. Which ruler of the Delhi sultanate broke up the chahalgani?
Ans. Ghiyasuddin Balban broke up the chahalgani, the group of forty nobles in an attempt to establish peace and order in the country.
Q5. Who was Nasiruddin Qubacha?
Ans. Nasiruddin Qubacha was the turkish governor of Multan appointed by Muhammed Ghori. He advanced to Lahore with the intention of extending authority over Punjab but was expelled from the city by Iltutmish.
Q6. Who was Iltutmish?
Ans. Shamshuddin Iltutmish was Aibak’s (founder of the Delhi Sultanate) son-in-law. He belonged to the Ilberi tribe of Turks. Iltutmish’s accomplishments attracted the attention of Qutubuddin Aibak. After Aibak’s death, Iltutmish ascended the throne by replacing Aram Shah (son of Aibak) by chahalgani. He was given the title of Altamash orIltamash, which later changed to Iltutmish.
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