The Age of Wrath: A History of the Delhi Sultanate

by Abraham Eraly

An age of chaos, an age of violence, and an age of wrath, the years when the Delhi Sultanate ruled over most of India were some of the most turbulent years. In many ways, it paved the way for India to become the high seat of Mughal power, and the grand throne on which the British Empire seated itself for nearly four centuries thereafter. Hindu culture mixed with Islam, ceding way to something that was a not-too-sublime version of everything. A version which has no other word for it, except perhaps to be called Indian. Architecture, literature, music, food, clothing and religion interspersed freely, and this led to the India we all know and love. However, it was not without price. Many were massacred, and many more oppressed in the name of religion and in the war for power. India emerged, but only to fall into the hands of an invading Timur the Lame, also called Tamerlane. The high seat of Mughal power was ready, and the Mughals ascended it. Abraham Eraly's book sings the story of an India unsung, the India of the Tughlaks, and the India which was called the mythic jewel of the east.

Genres: History, India, Nonfiction

448 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2014

About the author

Abraham Eraly is an Indian writer. He has written many acclaimed books on Indian history.

Reviews

[W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before the advent of Mughal rule in India,there was the era of the Delhi Sultanate,which spanned 320 years. Thirty three sultans reigned during that period,and there were five dynasties.

The first of these,remarkably, was the Slave dynasty. Qutb udin Aibak,was a former slave,who rose to the exalted position of Sultan. The famous monument,the Qutb Minar in Delhi,is a reminder of that era. The dynasty also included such names as Iltimush and Balban.But even more remarkably included the first and only woman among the Sultans of Delhi,Razia Sultana,who distinguished herself in her brief reign of three years,before she was killed.

The Khiljis,were the next dynasty.Jalal ud Din Khilji,reigned for a while,before his nephew,Ala ud Din Khilji,killed him. Jalal ud Din had actually raised Ala ud Din,since he was a child !

Ala ud Din Khilji was ruthless,and capable of great cruelty. But he was the most successful of the Sultans of Delhi,a very effective administrator,who greatly expanded the empire.But after him,his successors were not as good,many of his family were killed,and that was the end of the dynasty.

The Khiljis gave way to the Tughluqs.Ghiyas ud Din Tughlaq,the first of this dynasty was mysteriously killed. Could his son,Muhammad Tughlaq have been responsible ? He ascended the throne,and his reign was a very turbulent one. He greatly expanded the empire,but found it hard to govern the new territories. His was also a very cruel reign.The next Sultan,Feroze Shah Tulghaq,did a better job.

As Tughlaq rule neared its end,Tamerlane,invaded from Samarkand. After staying for six months,and waging a violent campaign,with lots of bloodshed,Tamerlane returned home. This helped hasten the end of the Tughlaqs,and brought the Sayyed dynasty,to power.They stayed for thirty seven years,but the Delhi Sultanate,was now a much diminished kingdom.

Finally,the Lodhi dynasty took over. The third and last of the Lodhis,Ibrahim,was slain in battle against Babar,the first Mughal. That brought the curtain down on three centuries of the Delhi Sultanate.

It is a fascinating account of a period,which has been given relatively little attention in history books.This era was characterized by incessant war,and rebellion.

The Sultans were mostly insecure,and resorted to all sorts of cruelty,to preserve their rule.The accounts of the punishments given by them are gruesome.Their enemies were slaughtered,blinded,flayed,and trampled on by elephants.

Eraly does a terrific job of bringing the era to life.The book provides memorable descriptions of the way in which people in medieval India lived.

The later part of the book gets repetitious,but despite that,this remains an excellent book.

[Vikram Joshi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is perhaps my least favorite Eraly book. His previous works on the Golden age of Hindu/Buddhist Civilization and the Glories of the Mughal era was fantastic reads - but this one reads like he only had enough material for half the size of the book that this one is.
Facts and quotes and sentences are repeated ad nauseum. I counted one fact that was repeated 8 times in the course of the first 5 chapters!

Also, I suppose I was hoping to learn more about how India changed with the Turkish/Afghan Sultanate - instead I got the same tired cliches about how Hindu society was decadent and effete and about the bloodthirstiness of the Turks.

Very little information was shared on pivotal stories like the sack of Chittor by Ala-u-ddin Khilji or Deogiri by Malik Kafur - other than the usual three lines. I realize material might be scant - but perhaps more research could have been done to make this richer?

When Eraly says Raziyaa Sultan was killed and her tomb is supposedly one of three places - one would hope he'd name the three places? Many such missteps in this book - along with common spelling errors which spoil the overall tone.

All in all this book disappointed me with it's emphasis on the "famous" Sultanate rulers - and almost zero information on the lesser rulers.

I much prefered the other 3 books of Eraly's 4-book series on Indian civilization. But as a history buff, I'll still give this one a 2/5 with a "can do and has done better" comment.

[Divya Darshani · Rating 5 out of 5]

O god I can't believe it!!!! I read entire Delhi Sultanate which is divided into 5 dynasties!! 5!!!


The years spanning 1206 CE-1526 CE in medieval Indian history are known as period of the Delhi Sultanate. After Muhammad Ghori's death, the Indian empire was divided among his generals.
One such successful general was Qutbuddin Aibak, who was a Turkish slave. He became the first sultan of Delhi in 1206 CE and founded the Slave dynasty, also known as the Mamluk dynasty. The sultans of this dynasty thus came to be called the Mamluk sultans.
There were five dynasties that ruled India between 1206 CE and 1526 CE, starting with the Slave dynasty and ending with Lodhi Dynasty.

Actually, I am not interested in reading historical books but I choose it to cover my first semester syllabus and you know it is still like a dream that I have completed five chapters. (which I think were the hardest chapters of my book) Now I am stress free for the whole semester. This book describes every relevant topic of Delhi Sultanate. The language of the book has been kept simple to make history more engaging and understandable. Illustrations depicting various events have been provided to enhance the understanding.
I assure this book will prove to be a milestone in learning one of the important topic of history. Being a student, it helped me a lot and now I'm eagerly waiting for history exam.😅

[Jasmeet Matharoo · Rating 2 out of 5]

writing style of the author is not consistent as many characters are introduced without any introduction ,many phrases and content in the book is repeated just for the sake of extending the pages in the book. if you can find any other book on Delhi sultanate then do not go for this one.

[Amit Sharma · Rating 2 out of 5]

More of an overview book, not much in-depth research really, and quite a bit of repetition as well, entire paragraphs have been repeated.

[Saju Pillai · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is this thing about books; they have to be a certain length. It is really hard to make a book longer than it wants to be - Eraly tries but fails miserably. The entire second half of this book is mostly redundant. The repetition simply gets to you, not just facts but lines repeated verbatim. Perhaps the publishers had set Eraly a certain "word count" goal, but there is really only so much overview material available for the Delhi Sultanate and short of inventing a fictitious dynasty or two, one is really hard stretched to fill up these many pages. It is very impressive the first time you read it, but after the third time, even Sultan Begarha's poison drinking habit gets old.

The first half of the book is a well written, layman's introduction to the History of the Delhi Sultanate. I have always been embarrassed by my lack of knowledge of that period. This is the perfect book to whet your appetite for 'factoids' on the Arab expansion into Sind and the Delhi Sultanate. I will definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a light read on that time period of Indian history

Oh did I mention, the poison drinking habit of the Sultan of Bergaha? You get the point.

[Gulshan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible. Feels like only 20% of the book is fresh, rest is repeatition of the 20%.

[Assad Mehdi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much Repetition makes it less engrossing.

[Rohit Kumar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Filled with errors
Aibak didn't mint coin in his own name
There was no jayapala in first battle of tarain

[Samikshan Sengupta · Rating 2 out of 5]

After the Golden Age of the Mughals, this book by Abraham Eraly came as a drab.

I wanted to understand WHY the Sultanate was different from the Mughals, why they couldn't administer the country better, why in a space of 300 years, we had as many as 32 Sultans, most of them imbeciles, and SIX dynasties. In comparison, from 1526 to 1707 (281 years) till the death of Aurangzeb, we had just 6 Mughal rulers.

I got none of these answers. The author sidestepped by saying "medieval" wars & empires were like that only.

I feel cheated, I feel dissatisfied. This book served little more purpose that a ninth standard history book or perhaps a Wikipedia page.

Also, some perspectives of the author are dead wrong.

Absolute no go !!

[Sajith Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just as Europe declined to Dark Ages in the sixth century CE, India too witnessed the demise of its classical age. The drivers of its growth and vitality gradually dried up. This put India in a difficult position vis-a-vis the foreign invasions that was still continuing with devastating regularity. The Turks from Turkestan in Central Asia poured into India in large swarms. The Turks were entirely different from all the previous invaders of India, and Indians of this age were entirely different from their forefathers. India had absorbed all the pre-Turkish invaders and migrants into its society because it was then a marvellously vital and creative civilization, which was far more advanced than that of the invaders. In dismal contrast to this, Indian civilization at the time of the Turkish invasion was in an awfully decadent and comatose state. The Turks landed in India and stayed for seven centuries in the form of the Delhi sultanate and later as the Mughals. This book covers the Sultanate period, and its description covers the Arab conquest of Sindh in 711 CE to the defeat of Ibrahim Lodi to Babur at Panipat in 1526 CE. Abraham Eraly is a Keralite historian who is the acclaimed author of three books on Indian history.

This book is the second in the series on Indian history. The first part, titled ‘The First Spring’ came out in two parts and was reviewed earlier. Its narrative ends at around the middle of the first millennium CE which marked the disintegration of Indian society. Eraly identified the cause of the decline to the fall of the Roman Empire that desiccated the flow of trade between Europe and Asia. Whatever may be the reason, the author clearly pinpointed the wilting away of creativity as the factor that led to the country’s abject surrender to Muslim invaders. Instead of the urban sophistication that had characterized the classical Indian civilization in the early medieval period, crude rusticity characterized it leading to the fall of towns and society moved back to the villages. This dismal state of Indian culture worsened during the Sultanate period because the main sustenance of cultural activity was royal patronage and this dwindled. Vandalization and destruction of many of India's ancient cultural institutions and religious structures pushed the country deep into the Dark Age.

Eraly makes a guess on the geographical and physical factors that contributed to the rout of Indian princes on the battlefield. The aggressors who swooped down from the cool Afghan mountains had immense kinetic energy. Indians were mostly plainspeople leading a sedentary, lethargic life in an enervating climate. Their posture as defenders was generally static. Psychologically too, they suffered from the victim syndrome and were sluggish in battles. Their fatalistic value system inculcated a defeatist attitude. To add to all these woes, they were demoralized by astrological predictions that a Muslim victory was inevitable. This book houses a gruesome account of the brutal destruction and plunder of Somnath Temple at the hands of Mahmud of Ghazni (p.46-9). What is strange is the ecstatic report of the medieval historian al-Biruni on this incident, who says, ‘Mahmud utterly ruined the prosperity of the country and performed there wonderful exploits, by which the Hindus became like atoms and dust scattered in all directions’. It is also stated that Mahmud assembled all his plundered riches while in deathbed and wept bitterly as he could not take them to the afterlife.

The medieval sultans belonged to a very small Muslim aristocracy ruling over a sea of Hindus. Terrifying their subjects with murders, religious conversions and destruction of temples formed part of the modus operandi of them. But if you reduce the situation to a nutshell, the continued existence of Hindus was in the interests of the sultans, since all of them could not be killed or converted anytime soon. So, a working relationship eventually evolved between them. Hindus could live in the kingdom as second class citizens, but without any notions of confidence or self-respect. But, Ala-ud-din Khilji went one step further and was a bloodthirsty tyrant who wanted to crush his Hindu subjects by indirect means. He controlled the price of grains and other commodities through rigorous financial and trade reforms. The market price of all articles, including that of slaves, was kept at a deliberately low level so that he could employ a larger standing army without a commensurate increase in wages. Almost all of the peasants and traders were Hindus, who were thus forced to reduce the selling price at immense loss to them on the pain of cruel punishments for infringement. Ala-ud-din maintained that Hindus would never become submissive and obedient till they are reduced to grinding poverty. Strict orders were issued to see that they are not able to accumulate wealth and prosper. The wives of even the landed proprietors and chief men had to go to the houses of the Muslim nobles and do domestic work there for the meagre wages it offered. The agricultural tax rate shot up to 50 per cent during this period and suffocated the farmers. The revenue collector was so dreaded and authoritative a figure that Zia-ud-din Barani comments that ‘should the collector chooses to spit into his mouth, the Hindu should open the same without hesitation so that the official may spit into it’ (p.129). Eraly however comments that many of his reforms were several centuries ahead of their time. Probably he had Kim Jong Un of North Korea or Adolf Hitler in his mind!

Okay, if Ala-ud-din Khilji was such a monster, was there any sultan who stood at the other end of the spectrum? Eraly offers Firuz Tughluq to such a place, who is praised as ‘a people's sultan’ having wide cultural interests and liberality in patronage of culture. Let’s briefly examine his antecedents from the narratives of foreign chroniclers. During his campaign in Rohilkhand, he ordered the general massacre of Hindus and the devastation of the region for the next five years. He duly visited the place every year to see that his order was obeyed in every detail (p.183). Firuz sacked the temple town of Puri in Odisha. He not only demolished the renowned Jagannath Temple, but also rooted up its idol, took it with him to Delhi and placed it in an ignominious position (p.184). During Bengal campaign he issued an order for collecting the heads of slain Bengalis and a silver tanka was offered for every head. Soon, 180,000 people were slain by his motivated soldiers (p.180). Ferishta states that he broke the idols of Jwalamukhi temple in Kangra, mixed their fragments with the flesh of cows, hung them in nose bags round the neck of Brahmins and sent the principal idol as a trophy to Medina (p.185). Eraly describes such a wicked bigot as ‘a highly cultured person whose actions were guided by humane and liberal principles’, ‘the most liberal of the rulers of the Delhi sultanate’ (p.183) and ‘essentially a man of peace’!

The author does not comment on the drain of huge amounts of wealth from India to Central Asia due to the relentless plunder that lasted nearly a thousand years. The Muslim sultans provided a readymade template to the following British by importing a nobility from foreign lands to lord over the natives. The sultans generally preferred to appoint foreign migrants, namely, Arabs, Turks and Persians who were assigned top administrative and military posts in government, reflecting their disdain for native Indians (p.280). This form of apartheid coupled with the pervasive violence and criminality of the age makes the book’s title ‘The Age of Wrath’ an apt one.

Eraly follows the path of leftist historians who somehow always end up glorifying violence and condoning genocide if Indians are at the receiving end. The Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque near Qutb Minar in Delhi was built using the material from 27 Hindu and Jain temples demolished for the purpose. But the author justifies this wanton assault on the basis of necessity rather than choice that made Aibak use those materials, because it was easy to construct by destroying temples rather than facing delays in fetching fresh quarry of stones. He exonerates Bakhtiyar Khilji on the destruction of Nalanda because he ‘mistook’ it to be a fort. He made another ‘mistake’ in killing all the Buddhist monks of the university as he thought they were Brahmins! In fact, the books he burnt there continued to smoulder for many months. Is it possible that people with that much firepower make a mistake of whom they visit? Another often used disclaimer is that the atrocities were staged just to ‘demoralize and subjugate the Hindus’!

The diction in the book is clean, clear and impeccable. However, the text is solely based on the narratives of medieval Muslim chroniclers. It includes several chapters on South Indian history like Vijayanagar and Bahmani Sultanates. There are many repetitions in the thematic descriptions as they are again taken out of the main passages and told repeatedly.

The book is highly recommended.

[Rajiv Chopra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am going to give this book four stars for one simple reason - that he managed to make sense of that extremely confusing period of Indian history called The Delhi Sultanate.
It is true that the advent of The Delhi Sultanate changed Indian history forever. This is something most people do not realise, and would do well to do so
There are stories of some great kings here, and we would do well to remember them better. There are stories of some forgettable monarchs as well.
Could he have done better analysis? Possibly.
I would have liked more work on the Sayyid and Lodi Dynasties
There are several times when he has repeated himself, ad incidents. To fill pages? Possibly.
At least, he has brought some sense, in an approachable manner, to that confusing and seminal age in the history of India.

[Aarish Khan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, the book has repetitions—actually plenty of them—but it’s still quite interesting. It is a good roller-coaster account of the history of the Muslim kingdom in Delhi prior to the advent of the Mughals. The ups and downs of the age and the tumultuous events are well-documented in it. At times one is left wanting for further detail of particularly interesting episodes in the history of Delhi Sultanate, which is not there. One could argue, however, that it is not what this book is aimed at. Furthermore, this tells you that the book is interesting enough to generate further interest of the reader in the history of the era.

Another thing that I really liked about it is that the author has relied mostly on the accounts of history contemporaneous to the times. At times he has also used historical accounts of a little later era but not very far after the actual happenings. Yes, there are limits to the historical accounts written in the courts of kings because of their likely biases; but the author has done well to cross-examine them with other contemporary sources available, and also with sources written a little after the era of the particular king who is the subject of discussion or the dynasty in question. Since I was reading the history of the Delhi Sultanate in its entirety for the first time, it was far from boring. As far as the numerous repetitions are concerned, I think the blame for that should partially go to the editor. I think a good editor’s job is to take out superfluous repetitions or to alert the author about them.

After reading the book, one gets the impression that if there was one factor that affected the politics of the era the most, it was religion. The very nature of the two religions of Islam and Hinduism—the former being inclusive but rigid, and the latter being exclusive but flexible according to the author—was enough to create friction between them. The author has gone to great lengths asserting that the ordinary lives of Hindus living under Delhi Sultanate or the various other Muslim kingdoms in India were not interfered with by the Muslim political elite. The book leaves an impression that religion was important, very important, actually so important that it would determine one’s status as friend or foe or at times one’s fate to exist or otherwise. And I think the dichotomy between the two communities and their outlooks is so strong that it persists to this day in India after around 800 years. It was actually this dichotomy that became the undoing of the largest ever territories united under a central Indian rule by the British. After having read the book, the division of India in 1947 does not come across as a misfortune of history contrived by the British with their divide-and-rule hypocrisy. It comes across as a fait accompli, the seeds of which were already there in the genes of the state and society in India for centuries.

The author has also tried to answer some tricky and thorny questions in his book, like why were Hindu armies almost invariably routed by the Muslim ones. He attributes this to a variety of reasons: from the organization of the two kinds of militaries to martial spirits of their soldiers; from the enervating impact of the Indian climate on its people to the composition of forces and styles of battles. The most important reason that he gives for it though is the fatalistic nature of Hindu religion, which usually failed in rousing martial tendencies in men, resulting in their preference for flight over fight. For instance, he states that even the more spectacular acts of fatalism like the ritual of Johar—in which the noble Rajputs would kill their women and children with their own hand before going to a tough battle so that they would not fall into the hands of the enemy if they would be killed in battle and their army routed—were the outcome of a defeatist mindset.

Notwithstanding the repetitions, it is a good book overall with plenty of history and good analysis on slippery subjects.

[E.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was a little sceptical about whether to read this book or not after some negative reviews here. But, i loved 'Gem in the lotus' and decided to give it a shot. The first half is pretty interesting with the descriptions of kings, power struggles, battles etc
The second half (as with Eraly's books on Classical and Mughal India) is on social/economic/cultural aspects. Think the section called 'Polity' can be safely skipped bcoz most of the info has been covered in other parts. Other than that a recommended read.

[Shehroze Ameen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author is really good. Whilst preparing this review, I read that Abraham Eraly was an Indian writer who passed away in 2015. May he rest in peace.

His books, are exceptionally well written. IT is a shame, then, that Modi the cow piss drinking minority killing cunt of the world with a face uglier than the dumbest brown uncle in Lahore having a bad fucking day, hopefully this shit biscuit waste of cow semen will die and rot in hell with his body buried and forgotten was allowed to succeed and continue to succeed until he got called out.

Which, now that I think about it, is pretty much how the politics of India went about at the time when the Delhi Sultanate was taking place. Or more accurately, when the Hindu rulers who were dominating India were slowly being pushed into irrelevance as a consequence of attempting to make alliances with the Muslim conquerors who were slowly making their way into India.

This book provides a very insightful look into how the Hindus were complicit in the Muslim invasions. The fact is, the Hindus were the majority rulers in this area - Sikhism only took root after the arrival of the Muslim invaders, and were substantially more influential during the time of the Mughals, leading to their contributions as was highlighted in his other well known work The Mughal Throne (And it is a well known book, the same depth of research as this one.

Again, in both cases, the Hindus were complicit. In order to maintain their kingdoms, they hired Muslim mercenaries in their armies. And unlike the modern portrayal by that disgusting cow feces loving cow jizz made orange buboon bastard animal and his ugly trash cunt hair supporters the actual Muslim and Hindu rulers who were present at the time, both footholds by the Delhi Sultanate and otherwise, did collaborate with each other - they played a role in the development of their equivalent cultures, social structures, poetry, the armies that they setup, the establishment of taxation policies, even how the Sultans conducted themselves whilst at the same time emphasizing their nuanced view of the world. There was significant political, cultural, and religious discourse which was undertaken by them - in fact, this discourse would be carried forward as principled foundations that would be built up further during the reign of the Mughals. In essence, they played a significant role in terms of their interactions.

It talks about every single dynasty involved in the Delhi Sultanate, and even highlights key locations which would be nostalgic to those who are residents of those areas. Places like Delhi, Lahore, Multan, Gujarat, the Deccan, all these places are covered in this book. It even highlights the controversial kinds and sultans who were notably horrifying in how they went about their time and their place (i.e. the way they would be recorded in history). This book even highlights the nuances to analyzing the sultanate and even the independent observations about it.

Oh incidentally, this book recommends that you also check out Al Muqaddimah: Prolegomena as well as The Travels of Ibn Batuta. Especially the latter, since that man was right here, at the time of the Tughluq Dynasty - and highlighted the grim tyranny with which they held their control over their people.

Complete support for this book. if you see it, buy it. Don't think twice about it. If it make Modi cry like a little bitch, it is worth doing.

[SUBRATA DATTA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last thing first. You may not entirely agree with Eraly’s analysis and interpretation of the history of the Delhi Sultanate. But there is no denying that his is one of the most important voices of popular history and he has rightly earned that accolade.

The problem with the Islamic rule of India is that it has left such an indelible mark on the sub continental civilization that it is often difficult, if not altogether impossible, to look at the period with a reasonable degree of detachment. The country has been divided on the basis of religion. But seventy years later, the sore continues to fester. Modi has abrogated Article 370. But what does the future portend? We just do not know as yet.

As Eraly has pointed out at the very beginning: “[A] major problem that we have with early medieval Indian history is that our main sources of information about it are the accounts given by Arab, Persian and Turkish chroniclers. There are inevitably one-sided, though they seldom deliberately falsify facts. We have virtually no Indian sources for the history of this age.”

And this reliance on the contemporary sources shows. At places Eraly seems to have paraphrased the narrative of an Afif, or an Al-Utbi or a Barani or a Battuta with almost an undertone of approval.

“…(Bakhtiyar Khalji) was also phenomenally destructive – he was responsible for the destruction of the great Buddhist University of Nalanda in Bihar, though it has to be noted, as an extenuating circumstance, that he mistook the walled university to be a fort, and Buddhist monks to be Brahmins.” Is it just a mistake? Or is it the expression of the same mentality that dynamites the 2000-year-old Buddha statue at Bamian in Afghanistan?

In describing almost all the instances of Islamic atrocities, Eraly never fails to remind the reader that the Hindu kingdoms of the medieval India were no less savage.

However, the conclusions that Eraly reaches at the end of his narrative of the Delhi Sultanate deserve to be taken serious note of, because these are the conclusions that history will probably reach in the long run:

“The character of Delhi Sultanate during its entire history was more like that of a military occupation than that of an established state…”

“Brutality and terror … were essential for their survival as rulers in that brutal age, particularly in India, where they were a small group of alien invaders ruling over a vast and hostile subject people.”

“Timur was in India for about six months only, but those were the most devastating six months in the entire history of India.”

There are some repetitions which could well have been avoided.

And last thing last. Having said all this, it is to be admitted that The Age of Wrath, written in delectable English, will remain one of the most authoritative popular histories of the Delhi Sultanate and a go-to source book for the history of the period.

To use that cliché, you may love or hate Eraly but you cannot ignore him.

[Nahian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before the Mughal Empire's golden age, India was ruled by the Delhi Sultanate for three and a half centuries. This period of Muslim rule encompassed five dynasties: the Slave, Khalji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, and Lodi.

In this book Abraham Eraly demonstrates his mastery of Indian history, providing a concise and unbiased account of this medieval era. He skillfully navigates the complex cultural landscape, highlighting the stark contrast between Hindu and Islamic traditions. Eraly points out the inclusive nature of Islam compared to the Hindu caste system, while also noting Hinduism's flexibility in belief compared to Islam's more rigid structure.

The book meticulously chronicles the 32 sultans of Delhi, highlighting key figures such as the golden age rulers Ala Uddin Khalji and Firuz Tughlaq, the first female ruler, Sultana Rizaya, and the infamous Muhammad Tughlaq. Eraly draws upon a variety of sources, from local historians like Baruni and Ferishta to the accounts of renowned travelers such as Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo. Critically, he doesn't simply accept these accounts at face value, but analyzes and sometimes challenges them, offering his own insights where he believes they were mistaken or reflected an outsider's limited understanding.

Eraly doesn't confine his narrative to Delhi. He explores the broader context of the medieval world, including Timur's invasion and the rise of other kingdoms and empires within the subcontinent, such as the Bengal Sultanate, Madurai, and the Vijayanagar Empire. He effectively portrays the era when three major powers—the Delhi Sultanate, the Bahmani Sultanate, and the Vijayanagar Empire—dominated the region, acknowledging the significant influence of figures like Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagar, even though they were outside of Delhi's direct rule.

Despite its strengths, the book has some shortcomings. Certain facts, such as the ruler of Gujarat's daily consumption of small doses of poison, are repeated excessively. Additionally, the lack of illustrations is a significant drawback. Eraly frequently mentions places like Gur, Daulatabad, Vijayanagar City, and Nadia, many of which no longer exist. Readers unfamiliar with the geography of the time may struggle to visualize these locations and their historical significance. Illustrations of forts and other important structures would have further enriched the reader's understanding of this opulent era.

Nevertheless, this book remains an invaluable resource for anyone interested in this pivotal period of Indian history. It stands as an unparalleled exploration of the Delhi Sultanate, offering a comprehensive and insightful look at a transformative era.

[Suman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very detailed history of Delhi and India during the 304 years of rule by the invaders from Turco-Afgan linage. In his book, Eraly has made innumerable references to the writings of various contemporary foreign travellers and writers who visited the courts of these rulers. It is apparent that the main intention of these rulers was to loot and plunder the Kings and the commoners and their authority was mainly focused on these activities than really to govern or manage the Sultanate.

If you read the book you will learn which foreign rulers actually looted India of her wealth and comparatively did nothing in return and that too for over 300 years. This was followed by another set of foreign invaders from the Turco-Mongol linage for subsequent 300 more years.

Multiple repetition of incidences and narrations in the book, could have been best avoided.

[Mohit · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half is outstanding. As correctly pointed out by many others, the second part is absolutely redundant. Read a chapter (in the second half) and closed the book. But that doesn’t take away the beauty of the first part. It reads like a novel. The chapters of Ala-ud-din Khilji and Mohammed Tuglaq are fairly detailed, Sultans who generate abundant curiosity. Firuz’s sultunate was a genuine surprise for me. I hardly remember reading much about him. Breaks many popular myths. An attached map would have made the book phenomenal.
Looking forward to the Peacock throne now!

[Ps Rath · Rating 5 out of 5]

History of Dark Age

This book describes the dark aahe of
mediaeval India in an interesting manner that arouses the interest of the reader from chapter to chapter. It's like time travel to those days. Though repeatative is a great book. A must read for all. It's focus on the lives of common people in that period is especially praise worthy. Most books only focus on the kings or the generals oe the nobles. None focus realistically on the common people. The detailing is authentic.

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully written history of the Delhi Sultanate. But it suffers, as almost all of Eraly’s works do, from repetition. It’s almost as if he writes each chapter as a self contained article and that too separated by many years so keeps on repeating the same stories and points in each. 5 stars for the first half, 2 stars for the next.

[Tahir Hussain · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent chronologically events and personalities defined by an able soul.no doubt it was time of wrath and vengeance by most of the kings,with few exception of firuzudin,subuktugin,and shahabudin.

[Sai Bhimaneni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, but some parts are repetitive

[Anu Anu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want to read to know about the legal system of salateen

[Rajat Jain · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book to understand the whole history behind the Delhi Sultanate in a single place.

The review of this book is in two halves: The first half where the author went through the entire chronology of Delhi Sultanate — that is 4 stars.

The second half where the author talks about generic topics during this period: religion, culture & art, economic policies etc. — that is 2 stars.

The first part was very engaging and read through like a breeze. The second part was a big bore and I skipped through many many pages just to finish it.

Overall, a genuinely worth read if someone wants to learn about this period. I could have increased another star if this book was ~150 pages shorter.

[Debjit Sengupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Muslim empire began with Arab conquest of Sind, Mahmud Ghazni incessant raids and finally with the invasion of Mohammed Gouri to establish Delhi Sultanate. The empire which started with Slave dynasty followed by Khilji, Tughluq, Saayid and Lodi lasted 320 years. The books give an account of each ruler, their journey to throne, their treatment towards their subject, development activities, and military conquest and how they survived, evolved or dissolved in the murky atmosphere.

Despite leading an opulent lifestyle, the Sultans were a distraught soul. They were continuously bothered due to rebellious nobles and governors, resurgent Rajput rajas, troublesome hill tribes and bandits and constant fear of Mongols in the north. So they would leave no stone unturned in dealing with presumed enemies. The book also gives a sordid account of acrimonious, animosity, unpleasant and diabolic tales during these Delhi Sultanate regimes. Though they have indulged in various welfare scheme but it’s get negated by the sheer brutality towards their bête-noire. Rebellious subjects were flayed alive, thrown alive into blazing fire, fed to wild animals or thrown under elephant feet. Then there was amputation of hand, plucking of eyes, pouring of hot molten material into the throat and driving iron nails into the hand or feet.

This is the 2nd book that I have read, written by Abhraham Eraly. The first one was “The Mughal World”. I must admit that he has the knack of going into minuets of detail. He does it so astutely. Language is eloquent and can be easily followed. He had not only covered the mode of tortures in detail but also given sufficient space to the welfare activities. He has also tried to ensure that torture mentioned does not stretched to gruesome so that it gets difficult for readers to digest. There is also in-depth coverage of socio-economic life of common people. There are repetitions of facts which otherwise could have shortened the length of the book by at least 10%. It can be irritating but on the positive side, repetition ensures recall values and thus information stay stuck in the mind.

Travelers, Historian and Chronicler played a key role in chronicles events, without which we would have been completely in dark about the happening during those periods. People like Ibn Battuta, Al-Baruani, Amir Khusrav, Al-Utbi , Kazwani, Abdur Razzak deserves all the kudos for documenting facts , at a time though they may exaggerate or biased in their opinion. Even European travelers like Nikitin, Fernao Nuniiz, Domingos Paes and Duarte Barbosa had provided valuable inputs. Collating facts from divergent source is an arduous and painstaking activity that modern historians had performed with distinctions. Despite some shortcomings, this is a wealth of information which is not to be missed

[Mohan Chitrapu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Indian history has been more or less dominated by Mughals and the British for obvious reasons and I was never really acquainted well with the pre-mughal Muslim rule of the sub continent. For anybody interested in what all went on from the day Muhammad Qasim entered until the first battle of Panipat occurred, this is a great read - 5 dynasties that included the Slave, Tuglaq, Lodi, Khalji and Sayyids ruled over a span of nearly 300 years.
I personally did not find anything fascinating about this period. I would label this as period of utter chaos, disunity among the different kingdoms, large scale pogroms in the name of religion and absolute distrust among the kith and kin. The only bright spot I see was a woman ruler, even though she fell victim to the jealousy and misogynistic mentality the time and culture encouraged.

The book is as interesting as it can get. Perhaps one reason for that is there are not many written records left from the period by the ones who were oppressed and all you have is a one sided narration of events. The only issue I see with the book is its ridiculously repetitive. How many times I read about the Gujarat king and his appetite (with a daily dose of poison)!!!

Overall a great read for history enthusiasts.

[Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very comprehensive history of the Delhi Sultanate, and to a lesser extent, Islamic invasion and occupation of South Asia. It's quite important for anyone who wants to understand South Asian history and how it all fits together. I've just finished a history of the Chinese monk Xuanzhang who traveled from Changan to visit the main holy sites, including most of the Buddhist highpoints in India. This was 630 to 645, during King Harsha's reign and the Tang Dynasty. It's interesting to see how it all changed two hundred years later, when Buddhism was wiped out and Hinduism suppressed.

[Abdaali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone interested in reading about the Military conquests/occupation of North India , from Kabul to Bengal or post Ghazni era ,From Aibak's to Lodhi's this is the book you need to read. I approve it.

[Aleena Bashir · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to read this book.