This much anticipated volume looks at the historical evolution of towns and cities in medieval India from the early thirteenth to the late eighteenth century. The selection is based on the availability of documents. These include the narratives of European travellers in English, French, Italian, Dutch, and German with the exception of Ibn Battuta in mid-fourteenth century and also Middle Bengali literature in case of towns in Bengal. While the coastal towns and cities have been looked at, the interior ones are also described on the basis of the writings of later historians and archaeologists. Care has been taken to explain the rise, growth and the decline of some towns and cities in which the changing courses of rivers had played a crucial role. Attempts have been made to search other factors responsible for such eventualities. The delineation of physical features within the city has been given due emphasis including the different quarters of the city and the manners and customs of the local population with reference to craft production and commercial links. The morphological differences between the cities of eastern and those of the western or northern India have also been described. This is clear from the observations of port towns described here. All these would show that India was one of the most urbanized area in the medieval period before advent of the British.

This book provides an integrated view of the Delhi Sultanate government from 1206 to 1526. It is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the political events and the dynastic history of the Sultans and the second part with the administration, different land issues, social life including two major religious movements and other cultural aspects including architecture and sculpture. The growth of the city of Delhi has been shown here perhaps for the first time. Most of the books on Delhi Sultanate mainly narrate the political events. Here other aspects have been included to show the real character of the Sultanate. It may be mentioned that the English officials from the end of the eighteenth Century had termed the medieval period of India as a 'dark age' - a statement that has been accepted by several Indian writers. It is to negate this view that an integrated narrative has been provided here. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka