After the death of Sikandar, his eldest son, Ibrahim, was elevated to the throne at Agra on the 21st November, 1517. A faction of the nobility advocated a partition of the kingdom and set up lbrahim’s younger brother, Jalal Khan, on the throne of Jaunpur.
Indeed, the fall of the Delhi Sultanate was inevitable under the conditions which had their birth in the last days of Muhammad bin Tughluq. The indiscretions of that Sultan brought on a process of disintegration, which was accelerated by the weakness and impolitic measures of his immediate successor, Firuz Shah, such as the revival of the jagir system, the extension of the institution of slavery, the imposition of jizya on the non-Muslims and persecution of the heretical Muslim sects. This process could not be checked by the weak Sayyids and unstatesmanlike Lodis. In spite of some military successes to their credit, the Lodis failed to introduce any wholesome and strong element in the administrative structure, and committed a fatal blunder by making an attempt to suppress the military and official nobility by a policy of repression. An external calamity, which might very well be regarded as a symptom of the growing decline of the Delhi Sultanate, hastened its end. While internal dissensions had been eating into its vitality, the invasion of Timur destroyed its coherence and increased the selfish intrigues of the nobility, who, like the feudal baronage of later medieval Europe, plunged the whole kingdom into disorder and confusion which it was beyond the capacity of the weak rulers of Delhi to remove by prudent measures. Further, the Tughluqs, and their successors, did nothing to introduce such reform as could lead to the growth of a unified State in a country like India, where, during the Middle Ages, the sense of social solidarity or of territorial and political unity had hardly grown. Thus the military autartchy of the Turks and the Afghans could enforce obedience among the governors and peoples of the different provinces only so long as it could retain its vigour. As soon as the central authority grew weak, the centrifugal tendencies, so common in the history of India, made headway, and a number of independent kingdoms arose on the ruins of the Delhi Sultanate. Their history may now be studied in brief.
Bengal
The control of the Delhi Sultans over Bengal was always dubious, and it was one of the earliest provinces to assert its independence. Its distance from Delhi, and its profuse wealth, often tempted its governors to rebel against the central authority, which, as has already been noted, caused much trouble to Iltutmish and Balban. Under the descendants of Balban it was virtually independent of the Delhi Government, whose control was again asserted only in the time of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughluq, who defeated Ghiyas-ud-din Bahadur Shah and divided the province into three independent administrative divisions with their capitals at Lakhnauti, Satgaon, and Sonargaon respectively. Soon after his accession, Muhammad bin Tughluq appointed Qadar Khan to the government of Lakhnauti, ‘Izz-ud-din A’zam-ul-mulk to that of Satgaon, and restored Ghiyas-ud-din Bahadur Shah to the government of Sonargaon but associated with him his own foster-brother, Tartar Khan, better known as Bahram Khan. This partition of Bengal did not, however, serve to remove the chronic troubles in that province. Ghiyas-ud-din Bahadur soon revolted and issued coins from the mints at Sonargaon and Ghiyaspur. But he was soon defeated and killed, and Bahram Khan became the sole governor of Sonargaon, Satgoan and temporarily of Lakhnauti. Bahram Khan died in A.D. 1336, whereupon his armour-bearer, Fakhr-ud-din, immediately proclaimed himself ruler of Sonargaon under the title of Fakhr-ud-din Mubarak Shah. Shortly ‘Ala-ud-din ‘Ali Shah (A.D. 1339-1345) made himself independent in Northern Bengal, and removed his capital from Lakhnauti to Pandua. The coins of Fakhr-ud-din were of excellent quality. These have been described as “veritable gems of the art of coin-striking and speak volumes in favour of the skill of the Sonargaon artists. Their shape is regular, the lettering on them delightfully neat and well-shaped, and they carry about them a refreshing air of refinement.” It has been asserted on the evidence of some coins that Fakhr-ud-din Mubarak Shah died a natural death after an unbroken reign of ten years and was succeeded on the throne of Sonargaon by Ikhtiyar-ud-din Ghazi Shah, who was most probably his son.
Ultimately Haji Iliyas, foster-brother of ‘Ala-ud-din ‘Ali Shah, made himself the independent ruler of the entire province of Bengal, about A.D. 1345, under the title of Shams-ud-din Iliyas Shah. Soon after his accession he extended his power in different directions. He even invaded Nepal in A.D. 1350 and destroyed many cities there. It appears that after annexing the easter kingdom of Sonargaon in A.D. 1352 he exacted tribute from the kingdoms of Orissa and Tirhut and went as far as Benares. He also annexed some parts of Kamrup to his kingdom. Thus his activities proved to be a menace to the Delhi kingdom on its eastern frontier, and it was during his reign that Firuz of the house of Tughluq made an attempt to recover the lost province of Bengal, which, however, ended in failure. Iliyas died at Pandua in A.D. 1357. His reign was marked by peace and prosperity, which “are attested by the inauguration of a national and typical coinage, and by the growth of a taste for the arts of peace, especially architecture”.
