History of Delhi - 8th Century To 16th Century

8th Century To 16th Century

The Tomar dynasty founded Lal Kot in 736. The Prithviraj Raso names the Tomar Anangpal as the founder of Lal Kot, whose name is inscribed on Iron Pillar of Delhi at Qutb complex, ascribed to Chandra or Chandragupta II.

The Chauhan kings of Ajmer conquered Lal Kot in 1180 and renamed it Qila Rai Pithora.

The Chauhan king Prithviraj III was defeated in 1192 by the Muslim invader Muhammad Ghori. Anangpal Tomar, who, according to historian Augustus Hoernle, was a Gurjar ruler of Delhi, often described as the founder of Delhi, built the citadel some 10 kilometres from Suraj Kund around 731.

From 1206, Delhi became the capital of the Delhi Sultanate under the Slave Dynasty and thus started the city of Delhi (or Dehli as it was then known in Persian). The first Sultan of Delhi, Qutb-ud-din Aybak, was a former slave who rose through the ranks to become a general, a governor and then Sultan of Delhi. Qutb-ud-din started the construction of the Qutub Minar, a recognisable symbol of Delhi, to commemorate his victory but died before its completion. In the Qutb complex he also constructed the Quwwat-al-Islam (might of Islam), which is the earliest extant mosque in India. He was said to have destroyed twenty-seven Jain temples initially housed in the Qutb complex and pillaged exquisitely carved pillars and building material from their debris for this mosque, many of which can still be seen. After the end of its the Slave dynasty, a succession of Turkic Central Asian and Afghan dynasties, the Khilji dynasty, the Tughluq dynasty, the Sayyid dynasty and the Lodi dynasty held power in the late medieval period and built a sequence of forts and townships in Delhi.

In 1398, Timur Lang invaded India on the pretext that the Muslim sultans of Delhi were too tolerant of their Hindu subjects. After defeating the armies of Nasiruddin Mahmud of Tughlaq dynasty, on December 15, 1398, Timur entered Delhi on December 18, 1398, and the city was sacked, destroyed, and left in ruins, and over 100,000 war prisoners were killed as well. In 1526, following the First Battle of Panipat, Zahiruddin Babur, the former ruler of Fergana, defeated the last Afghan Lodi sultan and founded the Mughal dynasty which ruled from Delhi, Agra and Lahore.