Late Middle Ages · South Asia · Politics

1414

Khizr Khan Founds the Sayyid Dynasty in Delhi

1414

After Timur's devastating invasion left northern India in smoking fragments, his appointed governor Khizr Khan established a new ruling house in Delhi that claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammad himself. The Sayyid sultans ruled little beyond the capital's immediate hinterland, their authority a shadow of earlier sultanate power. Their weakness signaled the deep political fragmentation of north India that would persist until Babur arrived with artillery a century later.