Raziya Sultan

(?-1240)

   The daughter of Shams al-Din Iltutmish (1211-1236), she was nominated by him to succeed on the throne. The nobles, reluctant to serve under a woman, elevated to the throne one of her brothers, Rukn al-Din (1236), who proved incompetent and was removed within a few months. Only then was she invited to ascend the throne. Soon, many nobles, who were not happy that she was seeking to impose firm discipline on them, turned against her. Favor shown by her to the Abyssinian amir akhur Malik Jalal al-Din Yaqat also of-fended many nobles. The first to revolt was the governor of Lahore, but Raziya promptly chased him out of that province in 1239. While she was busy suppressing the revolt at Lahore, another revolt, this time by the governor of Sirhind, Malik Altunia, surfaced. At this point Raziya's Turkish guards betrayed her to the rebels. While a captive in the hands of the rebels, Raziya won over Malik Altunia and married him. Subsequently, she and Altunia marched upon Delhi, where the no-bles had installed Raziya's brother Bahrain as the sultan. They were defeated twice by the opposing nobles near Kaithal. While fleeing from their enemies, Raziya and Altunia were captured and killed by the lo-cal chiefs of the region in October 1240.