Forgotten queens of the Delhi Sultanate

The Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526) is often remembered for its warrior kings Qutab-ud-din Aibak, Alauddin Khilji, and Muhammad bin Tughlaq but records has largely neglected the remarkable girls who formed this era. At the back of the thrones of those effective sultans stood queens, princesses, and noblewomen who wielded political affect, commanded armies, and even challenged patriarchal norms in a male-dominated medieval world.

From Razia Sultan, the only woman to rule Delhi, to lesser-acknowledged but similarly formidable figures like Bibi Nusrat and Malika-i-Jahan, those forgotten queens performed essential roles in international relations, administration, and rise up, yet their tales stay buried beneath the grand narratives of conquest and empire.

The most well-known—and regularly the best remembered—queen of the Delhi sultanate, Razia Sultan, broke centuries of lifestyle by ascending the throne not as a regent however as a sovereign ruler. Daughter of Sultan Iltutmish, she became skilled in war, management, and statecraft, proving herself greater successful than her brothers. In spite of opposition from Turkish nobles who resisted a woman ruler, Razia ruled with authority, adopting male apparel and main armies. But, her courting with Jamal-ud-din Yaqut, an Abyssinian slave-turned-noble, fueled court docket conspiracies. In 1240, she was overthrown and killed, her reign was reduced short but her legacy enduring as a symbol of defiance.

Wife of Sultan Jalal-Ud-Din Khilji and mother of Alauddin Khilji, Malika-i-Jahan became a master strategist who manipulated courtroom politics to hold strength. After her husband’s assassination in 1296, she to begin with supported her son’s rise but later grew to become against him while he sidelined her. Ancient debts endorse she conspired with nobles to weaken Alauddin’s authority, proving that even without a crown, a queen may want to shape the fate of an empire.

Bibi Nusrat: The rebellion queen who challenged Firoz Shah Tughlaq
One of the most interesting but forgotten figures, Bibi Nusrat, was the wife of Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud and a key participant for the duration of the chaotic decline of the Tughlaq dynasty. When Firoz Shah Tughlaq usurped the throne, Bibi Nusrat refused to publish and instead led a revolt from Delhi’s pink fort. Although her rebellion turned into crushed, her resistance highlighted how royal ladies ought to mobilize opposition in opposition to tyrannical rulers.

Chronicler Ziauddin Barani mentions an unnamed daughter of Sultan Ghiyas-Ud-Din Balban who, not like maximum princesses of her time, was educated in combat and led troops in opposition to Mongol invasions. Her life tips at a hidden lifestyle of warrior girls in the sultanate, although patriarchal histories erased her name.

• Male-ruled chronicles – court historians like Minhaj-i-Siraj and Barani focused on kings, disregarding queens as secondary figures.
• Political expediency – later rulers like the Mughals downplayed effective women to boost patriarchal norms.
• Cultural bias – medieval societies struggled to accept female authority, labeling assertive queens as “scheming” or “unnatural.”

Latest research into Persian manuscripts, coins, and inscriptions has begun uncovering these queens’ contributions. Razia’s administrative reforms, Bibi Nusrat’s rebellion, and Malika-i-Jahan’s political maneuvers screen a hidden global of women’s power in medieval India. Their memories remind us that records is not just about kings and conquests, it is also approximately the girls who dominated, resisted, and reshaped empires from behind the veil.

Though forgotten, those girls had been a ways from passive. They negotiated peace, commanded loyalty, and once in a while paid with their lives for bold to say power. As historians re-take a look at the Delhi sultanate, its queens are subsequently emerging from the shadows, no longer as footnotes, however as fearless leaders who defied a technology that sought to erase them.