Tughlaq dynasty

The Tughlaq dynasty (Persian: سلسلہ تغلق‎‎), also referred to as Tughluq or Tughluk dynasty, was a Muslim dynasty of Turkic origin which ruled over the Delhi sultanate in medieval India. Its reign started in 1320 in Delhi when Ghazi Malik assumed the throne under the title of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq. The dynasty ended in 1413.

The dynasty expanded its territorial reach through a military campaign led by Muhammad ibn Tughluq, and reached its zenith between 1330 and 1335. Its rule was marked with torture, cruelty and rebellions, resulting in the rapid disintegration of the dynasty's territorial reach after 1335 AD.

History

The Khilji dynasty ruled the Delhi Sultanate before 1320. Its last ruler, Khusro Khan was a Hindu who had converted to Islam and then served Delhi Sultanate as the general of its army. Khusro Khan, along with Malik Kafur, had led numerous military campaigns on behalf of Alauddin Khilji, to expand the Sultanate and plunder non-Muslim kingdoms in India.

After Alauddin Khilji's death from illness in 1316, a series of palace arrests and assassinations followed, with Khusro Khan coming to power in June 1320 after killing licentious son of Alauddin Khilji, Mubarak Khilji. However, he lacked the support of the Persian and Afghan nobels and aristocrats in Delhi. The Muslim aristocracy invited the Turkic origin Ghazi Malik, then the governor in Punjab under the Khiljis, to lead a coup in Delhi and remove Khusro Khan. In 1320, Ghazi Malik launched an attack and killed Khusro Khan to assume power.