Iltutmish

History glossary

Also called: Shamsuddin Iltutmish · Topic: Turkic Invasions and the Delhi Sultanate · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Iltutmish (full name Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, ruled 1211–1236) was the Mamluk ('Slave dynasty') sultan who made the young Delhi Sultanate stable. He made Delhi its capital, received recognition from the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad in 1229, brought in the silver tanka and copper jital coins, set up the iqta system, and added three storeys to Qutb-ud-din Aibak's Qutb Minar [1].

Many historians call him the real founder of the Delhi Sultanate. Aibak began Turkic rule in north India, but Iltutmish gave it a fixed capital, a lawful title, a regular currency and a working way to govern.

Explanation

Background: how a slave became sultan

  • Iltutmish was an Ilbari Turk. He was sold as a slave as a boy and later bought by Qutb-ud-din Aibak.
  • He rose the way a mamluk did. A mamluk was a soldier bought as a slave, trained for war, then freed and promoted. Iltutmish became Aibak's trusted officer, then governor of Badaun, and married Aibak's daughter. So he was Aibak's son-in-law and successor [1].
  • Aibak died in 1210. His son Aram Shah took the throne. Delhi's nobles found him weak and invited Iltutmish, who removed him in 1211.
  • This fits the wider pattern of the Sultanate: about two out of three sultans took power by removing the ruler before them.

Early troubles: rivals and the Mongols

  • The new state had rivals on every side.
  • Yalduz at Ghazni and Qubacha in Multan and Sind both claimed Aibak's lands. Iltutmish defeated both.
  • Bengal and Bihar had broken away under Khalji chiefs. He brought them back under Delhi.

  • Rajput chiefs had taken back forts such as Ranthambhor and Gwalior. He fought to recover them.

  • The Mongol danger (c. 1221).

  • Chingiz Khan chased the Khwarizmian prince Jalal-ud-din Mangbarni up to the Indus.
  • Mangbarni asked Iltutmish for shelter. Iltutmish politely refused.
  • So the Mongols had no reason to enter India, and the young Sultanate was saved from their attack.

What he built: the main features of his rule

  • Delhi as capital. Aibak had ruled mostly from Lahore. Iltutmish made Delhi the fixed seat of power.
  • Caliph's recognition (1229). The Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad sent him a letter of investiture (a formal paper granting authority).
  • This made him a lawful sultan in Muslim eyes, not just a lucky general.

  • It also gave him moral power over rival Turkic chiefs.

  • Coins. He issued the silver tanka and the copper jital. These became the standard money of the Sultanate.

  • Iqta system. An iqta was a piece of land whose revenue an officer collected in place of a salary. In return, the officer (iqtadar or muqti) kept soldiers and kept order there.
  • This paid the army without a large cash treasury.

  • It also tied distant areas to Delhi.

  • The 'Forty' (Turkan-i-Chahalgani). He built up a group of about forty loyal Turkic slave-nobles. They ran the army and the provinces.

  • Buildings.
  • He added three storeys to the Qutb Minar, on top of the single storey Aibak had built [1].
  • His own tomb stands in the Qutb Minar complex [2].

Results and legacy

  • A stable base. By 1236 the Sultanate had a capital, a legal title, coins and a system of administration. Later sultans built on all of these.
  • The succession problem stayed. Iltutmish named his daughter Razia as his heir. The Forty did not want a woman to rule. They first raised his weak son to the throne, and they later removed Razia herself.
  • The very nobles he created became kingmakers after his death.
  • This fed the chronic instability of the Sultanate, until Balban broke the power of the Forty.

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: early 13th century; reign AD 1211–36 [1].
  • Dynasty: the Mamluks, the first of the five dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate (Mamluk → Khilji → Tughlaq → Sayyid → Lodi). His line is sometimes called the Shamsi line, after his name.
  • Region: north India. His rule centred on Delhi and reached Punjab, Sind–Multan, the Ganga plains and Bengal. Independent kingdoms still held large parts of India.
  • Key people: Qutb-ud-din Aibak (master and father-in-law), Aram Shah (removed in 1211), Yalduz and Qubacha (rivals), Chingiz Khan and Jalal-ud-din Mangbarni (Mongol crisis), Razia (daughter and chosen heir).
  • How we know:
  • ASI records on the Qutb Minar. Aibak laid the foundation in AD 1199 and built only the first storey. Iltutmish added three more storeys. The tower was built for the mu'azzin's call to prayer [1].
  • The monument itself. It is a red sandstone tower 72.5 m high, 14.32 m wide at the base and 2.75 m at the top [2].
  • UNESCO World Heritage Site "Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi". It includes the tomb of Iltutmish [2].
  • Coins. His tankas and jitals are surviving evidence of his currency reform.
  • Court chronicle. The Tabaqat-i-Nasiri by Minhaj-us-Siraj, written in Delhi soon after his reign, is the main written account.

Don't confuse with

  • Qutb-ud-din Aibak: the first Mamluk ruler. He began the Qutb Minar (1199, first storey) and the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque [1]. Iltutmish was his son-in-law. He added three storeys and is often called the real founder.
  • Balban: a later Mamluk sultan who broke the power of the Forty. Iltutmish was the one who created the Forty.
  • Alauddin Khalji: a Khalji sultan, not a Mamluk. He built the Alai Darwaza (1311) and the unfinished Alai Minar in the same complex [2]. Do not credit these to Iltutmish.
  • Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque vs Qutb Minar: the mosque (ASI date AD 1198) was begun under Aibak [1]. The tower is the minar that Iltutmish raised higher.

Prelims Hooks

  • Iltutmish ruled 1211–1236. He was the son-in-law and successor of Aibak in the Mamluk dynasty [1].
  • He received an investiture from the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad in 1229.
  • Coins: silver tanka and copper jital. Both are linked to Iltutmish, not Alauddin Khalji or Muhammad bin Tughlaq.
  • Qutb Minar: first storey by Aibak (1199) and three storeys by Iltutmish [1]. Height 72.5 m [2].
  • Turkan-i-Chahalgani ('the Forty'): created by Iltutmish and broken by Balban. This is a common trap.
  • Iltutmish's tomb is inside the Qutb Minar complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site [2].

Mains Points

  • The 'real founder' of the Sultanate. Aibak won the territory. Iltutmish built the state.
  • Capital: Delhi.
  • Lawful title: the Caliph's recognition in 1229.
  • Currency: the tanka and the jital.
  • Administration: the iqta system.

These four answer GS-I questions on how a conquest became a lasting state.

  • His solutions also created the next problem. The Forty and the iqtadars kept the state together in his lifetime. After his death they became kingmakers, and they set aside even his chosen heir, Razia. This shows that the Sultanate's instability came from its structure, since there was no fixed rule of succession. Balban's later crushing of the Forty shows both continuity and change.
  • Statecraft and heritage together. Iltutmish's careful refusal to shelter Mangbarni kept the Mongols out at a critical time. His additions to the Qutb Minar [1] and his tomb [2] show early Sultanate building skill. A balanced answer should also note that the complex's mosque reused material from 27 destroyed Hindu and Jain temples.

Related concepts

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Sources

  1. 1Qutb Minar — Archaeological Survey of Indiaasi.nic.in · tier 1
  2. 2Qutb Minar and its Monuments, Delhi — UNESCO World Heritage Centrewhc.unesco.org · tier 2