Medieval History

[ramana]

One thing I notice during the medieval period is that the political center of the Islamic rule shifted all over but there seems to be a point of view to present Delhi as being the focus of an immovable Islamic power.

For example from 1192 to about 1350 Delhi Sultanate was quite important. After that we see the rise of the Bahmani kingdom in Deccan and even the Madurai Sultanate. The defeat of Vijayanagar empire in 1565 saw the rise of Delhi again under the Mughals and then from 1757 to 1911 Calcutta was the center of political power.

For example from Dijvijay's blog
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Professor Herman Kulke in his book "A History of India, ISBN: 0415154820, Publisher: Routledge; 3rd edition (March 1998)" records:

Ala-ud-din was also quite realistic when he mentioned that his order would be obeyed only upto a distance of about 100 miles from Delhi; beyond that limit military intervention was required if he wanted to impose his will on the people."

This shows that even at the height of power, Khilji barely controlled the outskirts of Delhi and rest of India was not under his control. These two historians capture the conditions in India at the time of invasions quite well..<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->