NOTES

Ans.
The Delhi Sultanate was a Muslim kingdom based mostly in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526).Five dynasties ruled over Delhi Sultanate sequentially: the Mamluk dynasty (1206–90), the Khilji dynasty (1290–1320), the Tughlaq dynasty (1320–1414), the Sayyid dynasty (1414–51), and the Lodi dynasty (1451–1526). The first two and the fourth dynasties (Mamluk, Khilji, and Sayyid) were of Turkic origin, the third (Tughlaq) was of Turko-Indian origin,and the last dynasty (Lodi) was of Afghan origin. The sultanate is noted for being one of the few states to repel an attack from the Mongol Empire,and enthroned one of the few female rulers in Islamic history, Razia Sultana, who reigned from 1236 to 1240.
Qutb al-Din Aibak, a former slave of Muhammad Ghori, was the first sultan of Delhi and his dynasty conquered large areas of northern India. Afterwards the Khilji dynasty was also able to conquer most of central India, but both failed to unite the Indian subcontinent. The sultanate reached the peak of its geographical reach during the Tughlaq dynasty, covering most of the Indian subcontinent.This was followed by decline due to continuing Hindu-Muslim wars, states such as the Vijayanagara Empire asserting independence, and new Muslim sultanates such as the Bengal Sultanate breaking off.
The Delhi Sultanate caused destruction and desecration of politically important temples of South Asia, but the time of their rule also included the earliest forms of Indo-Islamic architecture.In 1526 the Sultanate fell, to be succeeded by the Mughal Empire.