Jaunpur Sultanate

The Jaunpur Sultanate was a Muslim kingdom of the middle Ganges plain, ruling much of present-day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in northern India and parts of southern Nepal from 1394 until the late fifteenth century. Its rulers, the Sharqi dynasty, began as governors for the Tughlaq sultans of Delhi and became for a time the strongest rival of Delhi itself. Their capital, Jaunpur, became famous for its learning and its distinctive mosques.

The founder, Malik Sarwar, was a eunuch, probably of African origin, who rose in the service of the Tughlaq court and became a minister. In 1394 the sultan in Delhi made him governor of Jaunpur and granted him the title Malik-us-Sharq. As the Delhi Sultanate fell into disorder, he governed on his own account, put down revolts around Etawah and Kanauj, and extended his rule over Awadh, Kara, Bahraich and southern Bihar. He also began a long conflict with the Ujjainiya chiefs of Bhojpur.

Malik Sarwar's adopted son, Malik Qaranfal, succeeded him in 1399 as Mubarak Shah and had the Friday sermon read in his name. On his death in 1402 his younger brother became sultan as Shams-ud-Din Ibrahim Shah, ruling until 1440. Ibrahim was the first Sharqi ruler to strike coins in his own name, and under him the sultanate reached its peak, stretching from Kanauj in the west to Bihar in the east. He threatened Delhi and attempted to conquer the Bengal Sultanate, without success.

Ibrahim Shah founded colleges and sponsored works of Islamic law and theology, and Jaunpur came to be called the "Shiraz of India". The Sharqi rulers developed their own architectural style, seen in the Atala Mosque, begun under Firuz Shah Tughluq in 1376 and completed under Ibrahim in 1408, the Lal Darwaza Mosque of about 1450 and the great Jama Masjid of 1470. The last sultan, Hussain Shah, was a noted musician who contributed to the khyal style of Hindustani music, and a raga still known as Jaunpuri is credited to him.

Ibrahim's son Mahmud Shah took Chunar but was defeated by the Gajapati ruler of Odisha, and in 1452 he besieged Delhi, only to be beaten by Bahlul Lodi. Rajput vassals within and around the sultanate are thought to have supplied large numbers of troops, which may help explain how Jaunpur sustained its wars. After a brief reign by Muhammad Shah, his brother Hussain Shah seized the throne in 1458. Hussain marched on Delhi several times; in 1478 he is said to have rejected an offer by Bahlul Lodi to rule Delhi as his vassal. But a series of defeats cost him much of his territory, and Bahlul Lodi eventually captured Jaunpur.

Hussain Shah fled east to Kahalgaon in Bihar, where the sultan of Bengal gave him refuge and an estate, and he continued to strike coins. Dates for the final end vary: Sharqi inscriptions in Jaunpur itself stop in 1479, Bahlul Lodi placed his son Barbak Shah on the throne of Jaunpur in 1486, and a final defeat near Benares in 1494 is usually treated as the end of the kingdom. Hussain Shah died in 1505.

Our 1400 map shows the young sultanate on the middle Ganges, between the shrinking Delhi Sultanate to the west and the Bengal Sultanate to the east.