Tag: kings and kingdoms of the early medieval period

Alauddin Khilji was the most powerful ruler of the Khilji dynasty. He was the first Sultan of Delhi who conquered Southern India. Malik Kafur was the commander of Alauddin Khilji, who invaded South India. 

Chand Bardai was an Indian poet, who composed Prithviraj Raso, an epic poem in Brajbhasa about the life of the Chahamana king Prithviraj Chauhan. The poem presents him as a court poet of Prithviraj. According to it, after Prithviraj was defeated at the Second battle of Tarain and taken to Ghazna by Muhammad of Ghor, Chand Bardai travelled to Ghazna and helped Prithviraj kill Muhammad.

Alberuni is the author of Kitab-ul-Hind. It contains comments on Indian sciences, Hindu religious beliefs, customs, and social organization. Al Beruni was an Iranian scholar and polymath from Khwarezm, modern day Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Most of his works including Kitab-ul-Hind are in Arabic.

Razia Sultan belonged to slave dynasty and was the first Muslim woman to rule India and the only woman to occupy the throne of Delhi. She was the daughter of Iltutmish. She was talented, wise, brave, excellent administrator, and a great warrior which resulted in her becoming the next sultan of Slave dynasty. 

Doab means the land between two converging rivers. Do means two and ab means water. The regions of the doabs near the rivers consist of low-lying, floodplains which are more fertile than the higher lying land away from the rivers. Some of the well known doabs are Yamuna-Ganga doab, Sindh Sagar doab, Jech doab, Raichur doab, etc.

Alauddin Khilji brought many reforms which included introduction of the system of branding of horses which made administration more efficient. The corruption was checked by the dagh or branding system. Every soldier had his face recorded and his horse branded with imperial sign.

The Paramara Dynasty was founded by a chief called Upendra (Krishanaraja) at the beginning of the 9th century. The capital of Paramaras initially was Ujjain which later was replaced by Dhara. They were able to rule till 1305 when Malwa was conquered finally by Alauddin Khilji.

The Gurjara Pratihara dynasty was founded by Harichandra, in the area around Jodhpur in Rajputana. They ruled most of northern India from mid-7th to the 11th century. Gurjara-Pratihara are known for their sculptures, carved panels and open pavilion style temples. The greatest development of their style of temple building was at Khajuraho