Sikandar Lodi

Born as Nizam Khan , Sikandar Lodi († November 21, 1517 ) ruled the Islamic Sultanate of Delhi from 1489 until his death.

Sikandar Lodis silver coin

biography

Sikandar Lodi was the son of Bahlul Lodi and Bibi Ambha, the daughter of a Hindu goldsmith from the Punjab . Nothing is known about his youth. After the death of his father, he - and not his older brother Barbak Shah, who was favored by the nobles of the empire - inherited the successor, which led to disagreements, which could be settled, because his brother received rule over the formerly independent sultanate from Jaunpur .

Sikandar Lodi proved to be a capable ruler and expanded the dominion of the Lodi dynasty to Bihar in the east and Gwalior in the south. However, he was unable to take the mighty Fort of Gwalior in five attempts - the Maharaja Mansingh offered bitter resistance each time. He also controlled parts of Bengal and at times also of Afghanistan . In 1503 he founded Sikanderabad near the older settlement of Agra on the Yamuna River and subsequently expanded the city into the second capital of his empire.

From a religious point of view, he was rather intolerant - despite his Hindu ancestry on his mother's side. It is said that he had a sadhu named Bodhan burned alive because he said that the teachings of Islam and Hinduism were equal before God if they were followed seriously. He also had a large number of Hindu temples destroyed and built mosques in their place; he also banned Hindu purification ceremonies.

aftermath

Sikandar Lodi died on November 21, 1517 and was buried in a mausoleum - surrounded by a fortress-like wall - in the so-called Lodi Gardens in Delhi. His eldest son Ibrahim Lodi (r. 1517–1526) was his successor; however, he lost his empire to the newly formed Mughal Empire and was killed in the Battle of Panipat .

Sikandar Lodis Mausoleum

Sikandar Lodis octagonal mausoleum

The Sikandar Lodis mausoleum in the Lodi Gardens (Delhi) is an octagonal dome building , which is wide open on all eight sides by three-arched arcades and, in its overall conception, is essentially on the neighboring - also octagonal - tomb of Mohammed Shah , the third ruler of the Sayyid -Dynasty oriented. Stone and stucco ornaments are only very reserved; the capitals consist of little profiled stone slabs with simple leaf or crenellated ornaments. A double-shelled dome rises above the stone cenotaph in the middle of the inner octagon, which shows an abstract sixteen- petalled rosette on the inside and is slightly raised on the outside by a clad drum - the dome, however, is not bulged as in the later Mughal tombs . The tip of the outer dome is formed by a stylized upside-down lotus blossom, an ancient element of Hindu architecture (see Gupta temple by Gop).

literature

• Hermann Kulke , Dietmar Rothermund : History of India. From the Indus culture to today. CH Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-60414-0 .

Web links

Commons : Lodi Dynasty  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Lodi dynasty - Quick Facts (Engl.)
• Sultans of Delhi (1320-1526) (Eng.)
• Mausoleum Sikandar Lodi - short video (Engl.)