Lodi Dynasty

The entire 15th century saw the power of Delhi vanished, following the collapse of the Tughlaq Dynasty, after the invasion of Timur. The Sayyid utterly failed. The Lodi Afghans showed some energy and wisdom but could not regain the old power and pomp. The last feeble Sayyid was supplanted by Bahlol Lodi in 1451.

Bahlol Lodi 1451 – 1489

Bahlol Lodi was a good soldier and governor of Sirhind. After taking some minor principalities near Delhi, he was able to recover Jaunpur and surrounding territories expanding the territories as far as Bihar. He had married a Hindu Goldsmith of Sirhind and the offspring of this matrimony was Sikandar Lodi, who succeeded him after his death in 1489.

Sikandar Lodi 1489-1517

Sikandar Lodi was the second son of Bahlol, so naturally there was a power struggle between him and his elder brother Barbak Shah, who was then viceroy of Jaunpur. But since, Sikandar was nominated as heir apparent by his father, there was no bloodshed and Barbak Shah kept ruling Jaunpur. Sikandar ascended the throne in 1489 AD.

The campaigns of Sikandar Lodi began to recall the earlier supremacy of Delhi. He was able to subdue the rajas of Bihar, Bengal, Dholpur, Chanderi, Gwalior, Awadh, Tirhut, Bundelkhand etc.

• In 1503 heestablished the city of Agra and in 1506, transferred his capital from Delhi to Agra.
• Sikandar, like Firoz Tughlaq was harsh to Hindus and is known to have burnt alive a Hindu Brahmin who preached that “Islam and Hindu are both ways acceptable to God“.
• He razed temples such asJwalamukhi temple at Nagarkot. He imposed Jaziya on Hindus and did all what he could do to prove the supremacy of Islam.

The dream of conquering the Gwalior fort could never come true in his life. He attacked 5 times to win this mighty fort but each time he was defeated by raja Mansingh of Gwalior. He died in 1517 and was succeeded by his son Ibrahim Lodi, who was the last Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate.

Ibrahim Lodi: 1517-1526

Ibrahim Lodi was obsessed with the Royal prerogative. He made the Afghan chiefs on whose swords his dominion rested, stand motionless in his presence with folded hands and they got so much vexed with his petty rules that discontent rose among them.

Ibrahim tried to subdue the inferno with the blood of some of the elite and result of this bloodshed was that Afghans rose in arms. There was a rebel in all of his sides. The chiefs of Oudh, Jaunpur and Bihar chose Darya Khan as their leader. In Punjab there was a revolt under Daulat Khan. The rule of Ibrahim became so intolerant that one of his uncles Aalam Khan fled to Kabul and invited Babur to invade India. In Mewar, a new power under Rana Sanga was on its zenith. Under these circumstances Babur attacked India and closed the chapter of Delhi Sultanate.