The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c3.2

v3.c3.2

Mr Thomas's misnomer, after clinging obstinately, for many years, to this period of Indian history, has been generally discarded, and the period is now known as that of the Sultanate, or Kingdom, of Delhi, as distinguished from the Empire of the Tīmūrids founded by Bābur. This distinction is not entirely accurate, or satisfactory, for it suggests that the earlier Muslim rulers were content with a comparatively small kingdom in the neighbourhood of their capital, whereas for nearly half a century they ruled virtually the whole sub-continent of India, two at least of them being emperors of India in a truer sense than any of the first four Tīmūrids, and the ruin of their empire covered the greater part of India with a number of independent Muslim states. Nevertheless the term will serve, for imperial rule was not characteristic of the sovereigns of Delhi during the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries. During the first century of their rule they were consolidating and extending their authority; then followed half a century of empire, and then the disintegration of that empire.