Mamluk dynasty (Delhi)

Map of Mamluk dynasty within South Asia.

Template:History of Pakistan Mamluk dynasty was a dynasty established in South Asia by Qutb ud-Din Aibak. He was a turkic slave of Muhammad of Ghor. The Mamluk dynasty ruled much of Eastern Pakistan, Northern India and present-day Bangladesh from 1206 to 1290. It was the first of five dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate, which lasted until 1526.^[1]^[2]^[3]

History

The Mamluk, literally meaning owned, was a soldier of slave origin (came from a slave background) who had converted to Islam. In the 9th century the Mamluks became a powerful military caste in Muslim societies. Mamluks held political and military power most notably in Egypt, but also in Levant, Iraq, and the Indo-Pak subcontinent.

In 1206, Muhammad of Ghor, Sultan of the Ghurid dynasty was assassinated.^[4] Since he had no children, his empire split into minor sultanates led by his former mamluk generals.

Taj-ud-Din Yildoz became the ruler of Ghazni. Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji got Bengal. Nasir-ud-Din Qabacha became the sultan of Multan. Qutb ud-Din Aibak became the sultan of Delhi, and that was the beginning of the Slave dynasty. However, his reign as the Sultan of Delhi was short lived as he died in 1210. His son Aram Shah came to the throne, only to be assassinated by Iltutmish in 1211.

The Sultanate under Iltutmish established friendly contacts with the Abbasid Caliphate between 1228–29. He had managed to keep India unaffected by the invasions of Genghis Khan and his successors.Following the death of Iltutmish in 1236, a series of weak rulers remained in power. The throne shifted from Rukn ud din Firuz to Razia Sultana until Ghiyas ud din Balban, the last powerful ruler of this dynasty. The Khalji dynasty was established, when Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji overthrew the last of the Slave dynasty rulers, Muiz ud din Qaiqabad, the great grandson of Balban.^[2]

Sultans