With recent resurfacing of Mughals in the popular discourse, since the news of their removal from history textbooks, I’ve noticed that people across the political or ideological spectrum give excessive attention to Mughals, often generalizing the entire Islamic period of India, clubbing them into mughals. I’ve seen people blaming the Mughals for destruction of Nalanda or Somnath, which happened centuries before the Mughal arrival. There were a lot more Islamic dynasties/Sultanates/empires that ruled / pillaged/ attacked (parts of) India.
Muslim invasions of India began as early as in the 7th century CE. Mughals came into the scene much later in the 16th century. Before them there was a long period of brutal Islamic rule, And other than the mughals there were several other regional Islamic rulers as well. Because of this Generalizing the rule of non-mughal Islamic monarchs go largely unaddressed. I don’t consider it wise to remove Mughals or any other historical incident from the History books. On the contrary there should be more and more education about the millennia of Islamic Rule on India. Censoring their discourse would only be counterproductive and harmful in the longer run.
So here is a small effort in spreading some basic awareness about the 1000 years of Islamic Rule on India, a list of the Islamic dynasties that had their presence in India.(India here means the entire Subcontinent or South Asia)
- Rashidun Caliphate; 1st Islamic Caliphate. Attacked various frontier kingdoms & places of india from 643 CE, such as Kapisa, Zabulistan, Sistan, Kabul, Kandhar, Zaranj, Balkh, Herat,
- Umayyad caliphate ;2nd Islamic caliphate. Launched various attacks on India from 712-740 CE, both land and naval. Expanded upto Sindh. The infamous Muhammad bin qasim was a Commander of Umayyad army only.
- Abbasid caliphate; 3rd Islamic Caliphate, succeeded the Umayyads and their territories. Attacked kabul, Punjab & kashmir(which were under karkotas), Kutch, etc.
- Habbari emirate(854 -1011 CE); succeeded the Abbassids in sindh.attacked multan.
- Emirate of Multan(855-1010 CE)
- Banu Munabbih(855 – 959 CE), ruled under Abbasid sovereignty till 861 CE, then declared independence.
- Interregnum by Jalam bin Shayban (959 – 985 CE); destroyed the famous Multan Sun Temple.
- Lodi Dynasty of Multan(985 -1010 CE)
- Saffarid Dynasty; succeeded the Abbasids in Persia; attacked Kabul, Zaranj and Zunbil in 871 CE.
- Samanid emirate ; took over the Saffarid domain in Afghanistan and other regions.
- Soomra Dynasty(1026-1356 CE); succeeded the Habbari emirate in sindh.
- Samma Dynasty(1351-1524 CE); succeeded the Soomras.
- Ghaznavid empire;(977-1186 CE); seized ghazni; attacked multan, kabul. Mahmud of Ghazni, the ransacker of Somnath was from this dynasty.
- Ghurid dynasty; (879-1215 CE); succeeded Ghaznavids in Afghanistan, overthrowing them from Lahore expanded through the Gangetic plains upto Bengal.
- Delhi Sultanate(1206 -1526 CE)
- Mamluk dynasty(1206-1290 CE); succeeded the Ghurids in the subcontinent; Ruled over western sindh, punjab(then lahore) and the gangetic plains.
- Khalji dynasty(1290 – 1320 CE) succeeded the Mamluks; Expanded west and deeper into south and. Ruled over largely west-central regions of the subcontinent. Alaudin Khalji was from this dynasty
- Tughlaq dynasty(1320-1414 CE) succeeded the Khiljis; expanded east and further into south.
- Sayyid dynasty(1415-1451 CE) succeeded the Tughlaqs
- Lodi dynasty(1451 – 1526 CE), succeeded Sayyids; Sikandar Lodi, who distributed the broken idol pieces of nagarkot Jwala devi temple to butchers to be used as weights was from this dynasty.
- Raees Dynasty(1320-1660); ruled over chitral, massively islamized the region.
- Khalji Dynasty of Bengal(1204-1227 CE) initially a governate under the Mamluk rule, but later declared independence. Established by Bakhtiyar Khilji, the destroyer of Nalanda, vikramshila, odantapuri.
- Balban dynasty(1287 – 1324 CE); established by Bughra Khan, initially governor of bengal (1281-1287 CE) under Mamluk Rule, later Declared independence.
- Chaghtai Khanate(& later with Quaranas) ; raided , ransacked various places in North and northwestern Indian Subcontinent from 1292 -1350 CE. (Chaghtai mongols were not fully muslims, many of their khans were Tengrists , but they had several Muslim Khans as well; the Quaranas were muslims)
- Independent Sultans of different regions in Bengal during Tughlaq rule at Delhi (1338–1352)
- Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah (1338-1349CE) ; capital at Sonargaon
- Alaudin Ali Shah (1339-1342); capital at Lakhnauti(Gauda)
- Ikhtiyaruddin Ghazi Shah (1349 – 1352 CE) succeeded Mubarak Shah at Sonargaon
- Illiyas Shah, ruled with capital at Satgaon(1339-42CE), disposed Alaudin Ali Shah in 1342, then ruled over both Satgaon & Lakhnauti for 10 years(1342-52), launched various attacks to adjoining areas upto modern day western UP, Nepal, Odisha, Assam and unified bengal under his rule, declared the establishment of 1st bengal sultanate in 1352 CE.
- Shah Miri Dynasty(1339-1351 CE) 1st Islamic dynasty of kashmir, led to massive islamization of the region. Sikandar Butshikan was from this dynasty.
- Bahmani Sultanate(1347-1527 CE) declared independence from the tughlaqs in Deccan.
- Ma’bar Sultanate(1335-1378 CE) declared independence from Tughlaqs at Madurai.
- Bengal Sultanates
- Illiyas Shahi Dynasty (1352-1414 & 1435- 1487)
- Habshi dynasty (1487-1494)
- Hussain shahi dynasty (1494-1538 CE)
- Malwa Sultanate(1392 -1531 CE)
- Ghuri Dynasty (1392-1436 CE); declared independence from the tughluqs
- Khalji Dynasty(1436-1531 CE); tried to invade the rajput kingdoms several times.
- Sharqi Dynasty(1394-1479 CE) declared independence from Tughluqs and established the Jaunpur Sultnate.
- Timurid empire; invaded and ransacked various places of northern and Northwest India in 1398-99 CE.
- Faruqi Dynasty (1399-1601 CE); declared independence from Bahamani sultanate, establishing Khandesh Sultanate.
- Muzaffarid Dynasty(1407-1573 CE) declared independence from the tughlaqs and established the Gujarat Sultanate.
- Langah Sultanate(1445-1540 CE); ruled over Punjab with capital at Multan, after decline of Sayyids of Delhi Sultanate.
- Nawabs of Sylhet (1499 – 1968 CE)
- Arghun Dynasty(1520-1591); succeeded the Samma dynasty of sindh; ruled over sindh and parts of afghanistan.
- Deccan Sultanates(1527-1686 CE) formed after the disintegration of Bahmani Sultanate
- Barid Shahi dynasty (1489 – 1619 CE); Bidar Sultanate
- Imad shahi dynasty(1490-1572 CE) ; Berar sultanate
- Nizam Shahi dynasty(1490-1636 CE); Ahmadnagar sultanate
- Adil Shahi dynasty(1490- 1686 CE); Bijapur Sultanate
- Qutb Shahi dynasty(1518 – 1687 CE); Golconda Sultanate
- Later Malwa Sultans
- Qadir Shah (1540-42 CE)
- Baz Bahadur (1555-61 CE)
- Mughal Empire(1526-1540) ruled over the parts of Gangetic plains upto Bihar and parts of modern day Punjab(then Lahore) , Peshavar and Kabul(with adjoining regions)
- Sur Empire(1540-1556 CE), established by Sher shah suri by overthrowing the 2nd mughal emperor, Humayun. Ruled over Indo-Gangetic plains.
- Arakkal Kingdom(1545-1819 CE); ruled over Kannur in Kerala and Lakshdweep Islands.
- Tarkhan dynasty; (1554-1591); succeeded the Arghuns in Sindh.
- Mughal Empire restored(1555-1857 CE) ruled over almost entire subcontinent at its prime.
- Bengal Sultanates (Post Suri Rule)
- Muhammad shahi dynasty (1554-64 CE)
- Karrani dynasty (1564-76 CE)
- Katoor Dynasty (1560-1969 CE) ruled over eastern Hindu Kush region, chitral; expanded upto Gilgit valley at its prime.
- Safavid Empire, had various conflicts with ruling mughals of India over the Kandahar province, that resulted into Mughal-Saffavid wars of 1622-23 & 1649-53.
- Najm-i-Sani dynasty(1658-1949 CE) 3 dynasties of 3 different places originated from this
- Nawabs of Khambat/Cambay; founded by the last mughal governor of Gujarat.
- Nawabs of Banganapalle (1665-1769 CE)
- Nawabs of Masulipatnam (1731 – 1883 CE)
- Nawabs of Malerkotla (1657-1948 CE)
- Khans of Kalat (1666 – 1958 CE) ruled over Balochistan
- Miyana Dynasty(1672-1948 CE) , Nawabs of Savanur
- Carnatic Sultanate (1710-1855 CE); Nawabs of Arcot
- Princes of Arcot (1867 – present)
- Kalhora dynasty (1701-1783 CE) , succeeded the mughals in Sindh
- Orakzai dynasty
- Mirazi Khel Branch (1707-1949 CE), Nawabs of Bhopal
- Firuz Khel Branch (1713-1948 CE), Nawabs of Kurwai
- Nawabs of Basoda (1753-1947 CE)
- Nawabs of Mohammadgarh (1842-1948 CE)
- Rohilla Dynasty(1721-1982 CE); Nawabs of Rampur
- Asaf Jahi Dynasty(1724 – 1948 CE); Nizams of Hyderabad
- Babi Dynasty(1730-1948 CE); Nawabs of Junagadh
- Nawabs of Awadh (1732-1818 CE)
- Nawabs of Bengal
- Nasiri dynasty(1717-40 CE) declared independence from the Mughals
- Afshar dynasty(1740-57 CE)
- Najafi dynasty (1757-1884 CE)
- Afsharid Empire; Nader Shah the founder of this dynasty invaded/ransacked all of North and North west India, upto Delhi, plundering and looting the city, from 1738-40
- Sidi Dynasty(1759-1948 CE) ruled over Janjira and Jaffarabad
- Sultans of Mysore (1761-99 CE)
- Naqdi dynasty (1769-1948 CE and namesake upto 1983) succeeded the Najm-i-Sani dynasty of Banganpalle
- Talpur dynasty(1783 – 1843 CE) succeeded the Kalhoras in Sindh
- Najafi dynasty(1882-1971 CE); Nawabs of Murshidabad, succeeded the nawabs of Bengal
- Nawabs of Pataudi(1804-1971 CE)
- Durrani Empire; Ahmad Shah Abdali, the founder of this empire, invaded North and North West India on multiple occasions from 1748-67 CE.
And there were several other also such as Barha dynasty, Hotak Empire, Seljuks, etc. I have only listed the Islamic dynasties of mainland Subcontinent only, there were several dynasties that ruled over Lakshdvip and Maldives which aren’t listed here.