Raziya

Fifth sultan of Delhi (r. 1236-1240)

• Born: Unknown
• Died: Probably October 13, 1240
• Place of death: Kaithal (now in India)

Raziya seized the throne of the Delhi sultanate from her incompetent predecessor. She exercised sovereignty as long as she commanded the support of a faction of the ruling elite. When that support was withdrawn, she was overthrown and killed.

Early Life

Raziya (rah-ZEE-yuh) was the daughter of Iltutmish (r. 1211-1236), a sultan of Delhi. A Central Asian Turk of the Ilbari tribe, Iltutmish was sold into slavery by resentful kinsmen, was taken to Bukhara, and there was purchased by a master who had him instructed in the tenets of Islam and in the skills of a warrior. Subsequently, he was sold as a military slave (mamlūk) to QutŃ al-Dīn Aybak, a celebrated mamlūk-commander who became the first Delhi sultan (r. 1206-1210). At his master’s death and after a brief reign by Aybale’s son, Ārām Shāh, who proved to be incompetent, Iltutmish replaced him on the throne, eliminating rivals and consolidating his hold over much of northern India. Like all great mamlūk-commanders who clawed their way up the ladder of power, Iltutmish found it impossible to found a permanent dynasty, although for thirty years after his death, the Delhi throne was occupied by three sons, a daughter, and a grandson. Iltutmish, however, considered only his daughter, Raziya, worthy of succeeding him.

Before her accession, not much is known about Raziya. Her mother, styled Turkan Khatun, may have been the daughter of QutŃ al-Dīn Aybak, the former sultan, and this bloodline may explain the support that Raziya enjoyed from her father’s mamlūks, despite her gender. She would have grown up secluded in the women’s quarters of the palace, but Iltutmish held her in high esteem, had encouraged her to interest herself in state affairs, and wanted to designate her as his heir. In addition, it is known that she intoned the Qur՚ān correctly, a feat unusual among Central Asian Turks, but one that would have impressed a religious scholar such as Minhāj Sirāj Jūzjānī, the chronicler of her reign.

Life’s Work

At Iltutmish’s death, his eldest son, Ruknuddin Firūz Shāh (r. 1236), succeeded him. The new sultan immediately embarked on a course of extravagance and dissipation, abandoning Delhi for his pleasure palace at Kilokhri, a few miles away. The conduct of affairs was left to his mother, Shāh Turkan, an Indian concubine who now sought to pay off old scores, executing several of the late sultan’s wives, including any who were pregnant, thus eliminating potential rivals to her son. Likewise, she ordered first the blinding and then the killing of Iltutmish’s youngest son, although his other sons escaped her vengeance. She also tried to seize and kill Raziya, but the latter escaped as a result of a popular uprising of supporters who stormed the palace and took Shāh Turkan prisoner. Ruknuddin returned to Delhi only to discover that his high-ranking mamlūks had gone over to Raziya and that she had already been proclaimed sultan. Ruknuddin was seized and imprisoned and was executed shortly afterward.

Because of her gender, Raziya’s rise to sultan was unusual. In Islamic tradition, there was nothing comparable to the contemporary Christian coronation ceremony, but the loyal Turkish mamlūks would have immediately taken the oath of allegiance (bay՚at) to Raziya. Then, on the first Friday after the coup d’état, probably in the Quwwat al-Islam (“might of Islam”) mosque, close to her father’s grave, her name would have been read in the khutba (prayers invoking God’s blessing on the ruler) for the first time. This, together with the minting of coins with the new ruler’s name and title, constituted the formal “proofs” of sovereignty. The wording used on that occasion is not recorded, but Jūzjānī, who every week for four years read the khutba in her name, may have replicated the wording in the phrase he used when writing his account of her reign: “The Sultan, Praiseworthy [raziya] in the Eyes of the World and of the Faith, the Daughter of the Sultan.” Significantly, a surviving coin of 1236-1237 from Lakhnawti in Bengal, proclaims: “The Great Sultan, Illustrious [jalalat] of the World and of the Faith, Queen [malikat], Daughter of the Sultan Iltutmish.” Clearly, she wished to remind her subjects that she was her father’s daughter.

No sooner was Raziya on the throne than some of those who had supported her candidacy, not satisfied with the offices, titles, and revenue assignments (iqta) they had received, mutinied. Through devious intrigues aimed at dividing the rebels, Raziya managed to surmount this crisis. A treacherous vizier was driven into exile, summary executions were performed, and at least one rebel head was brought back to Delhi as a trophy.

One event that added to Raziya’s prestige was the submission of the Karakhitan warlord who had seized control of Bengal, but who was anxious to be left undisturbed with his ill-gotten gains. Raziya, pleased not to have to deal with insubordination from that quarter, sent him a canopy of state and ceremonial banners and symbols of sovereignty (but in this instance delegated ones), which stressed her authority as donor and his as loyal recipient. This event led Jūzjānī to remark that the whole realm was obedient to her from Lakhnawti to Diwal (from Bengal to Sind), an illusion, however, on his part.

The shuffling of great officeholders with the object of reinforcing loyalty was crucial for any sultan, but in this Raziya was not wholly successful. Because a woman was not expected to lead her troops into battle, the office of sultan’s military deputy (na’ib-i lashgar) was of critical importance. In 1237, she appointed to that office QutŃ al-Dīn Ḥasan ibn ՙAlī, an experienced malik (lord or king) who had ties with the Ghūrid past and who had ranked third in seniority at Iltutmish’s court. The remote fortress of Ranthanbor had been captured by Iltutmish in 1226, but perhaps sensing the fragility of Raziya’s rule, a Rājput army was now besieging it. About 1237-1238, QutŃ al-Dīn Ḥasan ibn ՙAlī was sent to relieve it. He drove off the besiegers, entered the fortress, dismantled its defenses, and evacuated the beleaguered garrison. This was the one major military achievement of the reign, although because QutŃ al-Dīn was not a Turkish mamlūk, his triumph probably caused resentment among the latter rank and file.

Another sensitive office was that of amir-hajib (military chamberlain), which determined who had access to the sultan. Here, Raziya chose most unwisely, appointing a senior mamlūk, Ikhtiar al-Dīn Aytegin, who proceeded to undermine her authority surreptitiously. After he had helped to destroy her, he endeavored to repeat his role under her successor and younger brother, Bahrām Shāh (r. 1240-1242), who swiftly procured his assassination.

Another appointment, which proved disastrous because it deeply offended the Turkish mamlūks, was that of an Abyssinian slave, Jamāl al-Dīn Yakut, to the office of amir-i akhur (master of the horse). As with the appointment of QutŃ al-Dīn Ḥasan ibn ՙAlī, Raziya may have made this appointment as a ploy to build up an alternative power base to the Turkish mamlūks. If so, it backfired, not least because it coincided with Raziya’s unpopular decision to abandon wearing women’s clothing for a male tunic and headdress and, instead of governing indirectly from the harem, to appear in public.

During the winter of 1239-1240, Raziya was compelled to lead an army into Punjab to put down a revolt. She returned to Delhi in triumph in the spring of 1240, but in her absence, the governor of Tabarhindh, Ikhtiar al-Dīn Altuniya, encouraged by the treacherous Aytegin, rebelled. In April, 1240, Raziya marched against Tabarhindh, but while her troops were besieging the town there was a mutiny in her camp. Yaqut was assassinated, Raziya was arrested, and besiegers and besieged joined forces. Meanwhile, in Delhi, a coup d’état engineered by Aytegin placed Bahrām Shāh on the throne.

This last development angered Altuniya. who was holding Raziya captive in the Tabarhindh fort. He promptly married her, and together they set off for Delhi to restore her to power. In October, 1240, their forces were intercepted and defeated near Kaithal by her brother’s supporters, and both were taken and killed probably on October 13.

Jūzjānī states that she was killed by Hindus, local villagers, or camp followers preying on battlefield fugitives, but the fourteenth century Moroccan traveler to Delhi, Ibn BatŃtŃūtŃah, heard a more specific account of her death that may embody a genuine oral tradition. In this account, Raziya, dressed as a man and fleeing from the slaughter, begged a crust of bread from a cultivator tilling his field. Exhausted, she then lay down and slept. The cultivator, noticing a tunic embroidered with jewels beneath her outer garments, killed her and stripped the body, and then buried it. After attempting to sell the jewels in a nearby market, he was arrested and tortured and then confessed. A local police officer went to where she had been killed, disinterred and washed the body, had it wrapped in a shroud, and reburied it in the same place, which, according to Ibn BatŃtŃūtŃah, became a pilgrimage center. In Old Delhi, however, within the Turkoman Gate and near the Kalan mosque, is an enclosure with two unmarked stones traditionally supposed to mark the graves of Raziya and a sister, whose name is unknown.

Perhaps the best assessment of her rule was that made by the chronicler Jūzjānī, who was also a Muslim judge (qadi) in her service. As a ruler, he described her as prudent, just, and generous, an upholder of justice, the protector of her subjects, a patron of learned men, and endowed with all the attributes of kingship save one: She was not born a man.

Jūzjānī is the only contemporary source for Raziya’s reign. Later accounts derive from his narrative but are modified to reflect differing points of view. There is scant surviving numismatic and epigraphic material. Modern Indian novelists and filmmakers have presented Raziya as a romantic and exotic heroine, but there is no basis for this view in the historical record. Ethnically, Raziya was of Central Asian Turkish descent and physically may have resembled a modern Uzbek or Kazakh woman. No description survives, but the fact that she apparently needed assistance in mounting her horse suggests that she may have been short. She was certainly accustomed to handling weapons, which implies physical strength, but this too is a surmise.

Significance

Raziya is a unique figure in medieval Muslim history. From time to time, circumstances led to women ruling on behalf of a minor or a dead kinsman, and under the Seljuk Turks and the Mongol Il-Khans, considerable latitude was given to widows, mothers, and daughters to act as surrogate rulers. However, Raziya’s case was different, because despite the turmoil of the four years of her reign, she was recognized by a substantial portion of the ruling elite of the sultanate as being the de jure as well as the de facto ruler.

India’s Muՙizzī Slave Sultans, 1206-1290

Reign

• Ruler

1206-1210

• Quṭ al-Dīn Aybak

1210-1211

• Ārām Shāh

1211-1236

• Iltutmish

1236

• Ruknuddin Firūz Shāh

1236-1240

• Raziya

1240-1242

• Bahrām Shāh

1242-1246

• MasYūd Shāh

1246-1266

• Ma#x0068;̣mūd Shāh

1266-1287

• Balban Ulugh Khān

1287-1290

• Kay Qubādh

1290

• Kayūmarth

Bibliography

Jackson, Peter. The Delhi Sultanate. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999. A very detailed study of the early sultanate period (1210-1400), emphasizing politics and warfare, with careful scrutiny of the source material. Addresses the reign of Sultan Raziya in a broader context. The maps are outstanding.

Jackson, Peter. “Sultan Radiyya bint Iltutmish.” In Women in the Medieval Islamic World, edited by Gavin R. G. Hambly. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998. This scholarly essay provides a thoughtful summary of the essential facts relating to Sultan Raziya’s career.

Juzjani, Siraj-i Minhaj. Tabakat-i Nasiri. Translated by H. G. Raverty. 2 vols. 1881. Reprint. Calcutta, India: Asiatic Society, 1995. The only truly contemporary account of Sultan Raziya’s reign, by a writer who knew her personally. All later chronicles are virtually paraphrases, with some embroidering of the facts.

Wink, André. Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World. Vol. 2. Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1997. This volume, covering the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, perfectly complements Jackson’s monograph, while ranging far beyond the northern frontiers of the Delhi sultanate. Excellent maps.