How many dynasties ruled from Delhi during the Delhi Sultanate period (1206-1526)?

Five dynasties ruled from Delhi during the period of the Delhi Sultanate, from 1206 to 1526.

The five dynasties:

• "Mamluk dynasty" (also called the Slave dynasty or Ilbari dynasty).
• "Khalji dynasty".
• "Tughlaq dynasty".
• "Sayyid dynasty".
• "Lodi dynasty".
• Each of these dynasties came to power by overthrowing or replacing the previous one.

About the Mamluk dynasty:

• It is called the "Slave dynasty" because several of its rulers had been slaves before becoming Sultans.
• Historians prefer the term "Mamluk", which means "owned" (a slave trained for military service).
• In fact, three different families ruled during this period, so some historians do not treat it as a single dynasty.
• Its important rulers were Qutbuddin Aibak, Iltutmish, Razia and Balban.

About the Khaljis:

• Their rise to power is sometimes called the "Khalji revolution", because it ended the monopoly of the Turkish nobility over high offices.
• Their most famous ruler was Alauddin Khalji.

About the Tughlaqs:

• Their famous rulers were Muhammad bin Tughlaq and Firoz Shah Tughlaq.
• The Sultanate reached its greatest territorial extent under them.

About the Sayyids:

They were weak rulers, whose authority was limited to the area around Delhi.

About the Lodis:

• They were the last dynasty of the Sultanate.
• The Sultanate ended in 1526, when Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat and founded the Mughal empire.

NCERT on the Sultanate:

• NCERT describes how the Delhi Sultanate expanded from a small garrison town into a vast empire under the Khaljis and Tughlaqs.
• It uses sources such as inscriptions, coins and architecture, and the histories (tarikh) written in Persian.

Capitals:

Delhi remained the main capital, though several Sultans built new fortified cities in the Delhi area.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Four, six and seven are incorrect; there were five dynasties.