dynasty death_date birth_date reign father death_place title coronation spouse image name caption predecessor birth_place issue successor mother religion article_title
mamluk 13 october , 1240 -lrb- aged 35 -rrb- 1205 10 november , 1236 -- 13 october , 1240 iltutmish delhi , india sultan of delhi 1236 ikhtiar-ud-din mirza altunia file : tomb of razia begum.jpg razia sultan tomb -rrb- in mohalla bulbuli khana of razia begum -lrb- w : razia sultan rukn ud din firuz delhi , india zubrudin mirza rashil -lrb- 1237-1238 -rrb- ; adopted son muiz ud din bahram qutub begum islam razia sultana

razia sultana

raziya al-din -lrb- 1205 -- october 13 , 1240 -rrb- , throne name `` jalâlat ud-dîn raziyâ '' -lrb- perso-arabic : جلاله الد دین رضیه -rrb- , hindi : जलालत उद-द ीन रज़िया -rrb- , usually referred to in history as razia sultana , was born in budaun and was the sultan of delhi in india from 1236 to may 1240 .
like some other muslim princesses of the time , she was trained to lead armies and administer kingdoms if necessary .
razia sultan was the only woman ruler of both the sultanate and the mughal period , although other women ruled from behind the scenes .
razia refused to be addressed as sultana because it meant `` wife or consort of a sultan '' .
she would answer only to the title `` sultan . ''
raziya -lrb- also called `` radiyya '' or `` raziyya '' -rrb- succeeded her father shams-ud-din iltutmish to the sultanate of delhi in 1236 .
iltutmish became the first sultan to appoint a woman as his successor when he designated his daughter razia as his heir apparent .
razia was the first and last female ruler of delhi sultanate .
-lrb- according to one source , iltumish 's eldest son had initially been groomed as his successor , but had died prematurely . -rrb-
but the muslim nobility had no intention of acceding to iltutmish 's appointment of a woman as heir , and after the sultan died on wednesday 30 april 1236 , razia 's brother , rukn ud din firuz , was elevated to the throne instead .
ruknuddin 's reign was short .
with iltutmish 's widow shah turkaan for all practical purposes running the government , ruknuddin abandoned himself to the pursuit of personal pleasure and debauchery , to the outrage of the citizenry .
on november 9 , 1236 , both ruknuddin and his mother shah turkaan were assassinated after only six months in power .
with reluctance , the nobility agreed to allow razia to reign as sultan of delhi .
she `` abandoned the veil and adopted masculine attire . ''
she was an efficient ruler and possessed all the qualities of a monarch .
according to minhaj-i-siraj , she was `` sagacious , just , beneficient , the patron of the learned , a dispenser of justice , the cherisher of her subjects , and of warlike talent , and endoweed with all the admirable attributes and qualifications necessary for a king . ''
as a child and adolescent , razia had little contact with the women of the harem , so she had not learnt the customary behavior of women in the muslim society that she was born into .
even before she became sultan , she was reportedly preoccupied with the affairs of state during her father 's reign .
a shrewd politician , razia managed to keep the nobles in check , while enlisting the support of the army and the populace .
her greatest accomplishment on the political front was to manipulate rebel factions into opposing each other .
at that point , razia seemed destined to become one of the most powerful rulers of the delhi sultanate .
but razia miscounted the consequences that a relationship with one of her advisers , jamal-ud-din yaqut , an abyssinian siddi -lrb- habshi -rrb- slave , would have for her reign .
according to some accounts , razia and yaqut were lovers , other sources simply identify them as close confidants .
in any case , before long she had aroused the jealousy of the turkic nobility by the favoritism she displayed toward yaqut , who was not a turk , when she appointed him to be superintendent of the stables .
eventually , a childhood friend named malik altunia , the governor of bhatinda , joined a rebellion by other provincial governors who refused to accept razia 's authority .
a battle between razia and altunia ensued , with the result that yaqut was killed and razia taken prisoner .
she was incarcerated in april , 1240 at qila mubarak at bathinda .
while in prison , razia sultan was allowed to go to hajirattan mosque to offer prayers on fridays in a special palki .
she was released in august 1240 .
to escape death , razia agreed to marry altunia .
meanwhile , razia 's brother , muizuddin bahram shah , had usurped the throne .
after altunia and razia undertook to take back the sultanate from bahram through battle , both razia and her husband were defeated on the 24th of rabi ' al-awwal a.h. 638 -lrb- october 1240 -rrb- .
they fled delhi and reached kaithal the next day , where their remaining forces abandoned them .
they both fell into the hands of jats and were robbed and killed on the 25th of rabi ' al-awwal a.h. 638 , this date corresponds to october 13 , 1240 .
bahram , for his part , reigned from 1240 to 1242 , but would be dethroned for incompetence .
