Reshaping India’s Political Map

1. Chapter at a Glance

From the 13th to the 17th century — often called the later “medieval” period of Indian history — India's political map kept changing. Invaders of Turkic, Afghan and Mughal origin set up the Delhi Sultanate and then the Mughal Empire; at the same time, powerful Indian states such as the Eastern Gangas, Vijayanagara, the Rajputs, the Ahoms and later the Sikhs resisted and flourished. This chapter traces these changes, how the rulers governed, and how ordinary people lived through a time of conflict as well as creativity.

2. The Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526)

After Pṛithvīrāja Chauhān's defeat in 1192, Muhammad Ghūrī's general Qutb-ud-dīn Aibak became the first sultan. Five dynasties ruled from Delhi: Mamluks (Slave dynasty), Khaljis, Tughlaqs, Sayyids and Lodis. Successions were often violent — about two out of three sultans took power by removing the previous one, so reigns averaged only about nine years.

• The Qutub Minar complex in Delhi includes the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque; its inscription records the use of material from 27 demolished Hindu and Jain temples.
• Ala-ud-din Khalji (c. 1296–1316) called himself “the second Alexander”, plundered many cities, but also repelled several Mongol invasions. His general Malik Kafur raided the South, including Madurai, Srirangam and Chidambaram.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq ruled most of the subcontinent for a short time, but his poorly planned schemes failed: he shifted the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad (Devagiri), over 1,000 km away, and back again; and his token currency (copper coins valued like silver) was widely counterfeited and hurt trade.
• Wealth came from plunder, heavy taxes and the slave trade. Many sultans imposed jizya, a tax on non-Muslims, and destroyed images in temples (iconoclasm).
• In 1398 Timur, a Turkic–Mongol conqueror, sacked Delhi, killing and enslaving many. The Sultanate shrank; the Lodis were the last dynasty.

Resistance to the Sultanate

• Eastern Gangas of Kalinga: Narasimhadeva I (13th c.) beat back Sultanate forces and built the Konark Sun temple.
• Musunuri Nayakas united about 75 Telugu chiefs and drove Tughlaq forces out of Warangal (c. 1330s).
• Hoysalas resisted for long before merging into Vijayanagara in the 14th century.
• Rana Kumbha of Mewar (15th c.) defended Rajasthan and built Kumbhalgarh fort, whose wall of about 36 km is among the longest in the world.
• Breakaway regional sultanates — Bahmani (Deccan), Gujarat, Bengal — further weakened Delhi.

3. The Vijayanagara Empire (1336–mid-17th c.)

• Founded by brothers Harihara and Bukka, guided (by tradition) by the sage Vidyāraṇya. Legend says they saw a hare turn and chase hounds at Hampi — a sign of courage — and built their capital there.
• Rivals: the Bahmani Sultanate, which later split into five Deccan Sultanates (Bijapur, Golconda, Ahmednagar, Berar, Bidar), and the Gajapatis of Odisha. Royal titles: Narapati (lord of men, Vijayanagara), Gajapati (lord of elephants), Aśhvapati (lord of horses, Bahmanis), Chhatrapati (Marathas).
• Krishnadevaraya (1509–1529) took the empire to its peak; he wrote the Telugu poem Āmuktamālyada on Āṇḍāḷ, with a section on good governance, and supported the Tirupati and Vitthala temples (famous for its “musical pillars”).
• Portuguese visitor Domingo Paes compared the city to Rome in size and praised its gardens, lakes and markets.
• In 1565 the Deccan Sultanates jointly defeated Vijayanagara at Talikota; the capital was looted for months and left in ruins. The empire broke into Nayaka states.

4. The Mughals

5. Resistance to the Mughals

• Peasants and tribes: Jat peasants rose against oppressive officials; Bhils, Gonds, Santhals and Kochs defended their lands.
• Rani Durgavati of the Gond kingdom of Garha fought Akbar's general in 1564 and chose death over capture.
• Rajputs: Rana Sanga united clans; Maharana Pratap of Mewar fought at Haldighati (1576), escaped, and continued guerrilla warfare from the Aravallis with the help of Bhil archers (a Bhil warrior appears on Mewar's emblem). Durga Das Rathore defended Marwar against Aurangzeb.
• Ahoms (came from present-day Myanmar to the Brahmaputra valley in the 13th century): their paik system required every able-bodied man to give labour or military service in return for land. At Saraighat (1671) near Guwahati, Lachit Borphukan used river warfare and terrain to defeat a much larger Mughal force.
• Sikhs: Guru Nanak (15th c.) taught equality and one God (Ik Onkar). Guru Arjan, who compiled the Guru Granth Sahib, was tortured to death under Jahangir (1606); Guru Hargobind began martial training. In 1675 Guru Tegh Bahadur defended persecuted Kashmiri Pandits and was beheaded at Chandni Chowk (now Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib) for refusing to convert. Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa (1699). Maharaja Ranjit Singh later united the Sikh confederacies into the Sikh Empire.

6. Administration

Despite sulh-i-kul, non-Muslims rarely made up more than a third of Akbar's senior officials. Village self-government continued largely untouched.

7. People's Lives and the Economy

• India remained one of the world's richest regions thanks to farming, crafts, guilds (śhreṇis), temple economies and trade.
• Irrigation (e.g. the Persian wheel) allowed multiple crops — rice, wheat, pulses, sugarcane, cotton, silk, indigo, spices.
• Exports of textiles and other goods went out from Calicut, Surat, Masulipatnam, Hooghly; imports were mainly horses, silk, metals and luxuries.
• The hundi — a written payment order — let merchants transfer money across kingdoms without carrying cash, an early form of banking; trading communities such as the Marwaris built networks of trust.
• Temples held endowments, gave credit, built tanks and pilgrim rest-houses.
• But wealth was concentrated among rulers, nobles and merchants; peasants often kept little after taxes, famines struck, and many fell into bonded labour by the late 1600s.
• Ordinary people of different faiths mostly lived side by side and depended on one another, creating a shared heritage in music, architecture and painting.

8. Master Table: Key Terms

9. Master Summary Table

Chart — average length of reign (years, as calculated in the NCERT textbook):

10. Mind Map

11. Tips and Tricks

12. Important One-liners

• The Delhi Sultanate was founded in 1206.
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq moved his capital to Daulatabad.
• Timur attacked Delhi in 1398.
• Narasimhadeva I built the Konark Sun temple.
• Harihara and Bukka founded Vijayanagara in 1336.
• Krishnadevaraya wrote Āmuktamālyada.
• Babur won the First Battle of Panipat in 1526.
• Akbar's policy was sulh-i-kul.
• Maharana Pratap fought at Haldighati in 1576.
• Lachit Borphukan won the Battle of Saraighat.
• Guru Gobind Singh founded the Khalsa in 1699.

13. Exam-pattern Questions with Detailed Answers

14. Quick Revision Summary