Person · Delhi Sultanate ruler · India
Razia Sultan
Also known as Razia Sultan — Delhi
The Delhi Sultan Razia (ruled 1236-1240), the only woman to rule the Delhi Sultanate in her own name and one of the few women rulers in medieval Islamic history to style herself as 'Sultan' (not 'Sultana'). Razia was the daughter of Shams-ud-din Iltutmish, who had designated her as his successor in 1236. She ruled for 3.5 years, during which she dropped the veil, held open court, and challenged the Turkic nobility's male-only governance tradition. Her alleged affair with the Abyssinian noble Jamaluddin Yaqut (her armour-bearer) was used by the Chihalgani Turkic nobility as a pretext for her overthrow. She was defeated by Malik Altunia at Bhatinda in 1240, married him, attempted to recover Delhi, and was killed in battle at Kaithal on 15 October 1240. Her tomb's exact location is disputed between Kaithal, Delhi (Bulbuli Khana) and Tonk. Her reign preceded the Mamluk sultanate's decline.
- Date
- 1236–1240
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Patron dynasty
- Delhi Sultanate / Mamluk
- Condition
- historical person
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 28.650, 77.230
About the place
Placed at Delhi, the sultanate she ruled from 1236 to 1240. Her tomb's location is uncertain — the site shown in Old Delhi is a traditional identification rather than a documented one.
Connections (3)
- Life routeQutb complex, Delhi
Razia Sultan is buried inside the Qutb complex in Delhi — under the tomb attributed to her, at the foot of Iltutmish’s own — and her four-year reign ran from that same Ilbari court on the same site. She was proclaimed Sultan in 1236 after Iltutmish left her the throne over her brothers, held Delhi against the nobility for as long as she did, and was killed with Malik Altunia near Kaithal in 1240.
- Father ofShams-ud-Din Iltutmish
Iltutmish nominated his daughter Razia as successor in his will of 1236, specifying her in preference to his sons on the ground of her capacity to rule. The Delhi nobility accepted the will for four years before deposing her in 1240 — the single documented case of a father Sultan explicitly designating a daughter as heir in medieval Islamic India.
- Imprisoned atBathinda Fort (Qila Mubarak)
Razia Sultan — the only woman to rule the Delhi Sultanate (1236-40) — was deposed by her Turkic nobles in April 1240 after her alliance with Jamaluddin Yaqut provoked the Chihalgani’s revolt. She was imprisoned at Bathinda’s Qila Mubarak by its governor Altunia. She later escaped by marrying Altunia and marched with him on Delhi to retake the throne; both were defeated and killed by her brother Bahram Shah on 14 October 1240. The Bathinda imprisonment is the one well-attested place-anchor in her downfall.
Sources
Minhaj-i Siraj, Tabaqat-i Nasiri; Delhi Sultanate histories.
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