Emperor of Hindustan

Indian title of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals

Not to be confused with Emperor of India.

Seal of the Mughal Empire

Emperor of Hindustan sometimes also translated as Emperor of India,[Note 1] is the usual rendering in English of the imperial title used firstly by the Delhi Sultanate[1] and then their successors the Mughal Empire[2][3] It signified their sovereignty over Northern India and later much of the Indian subcontinent.[Note 2]

Bahadur Shah Zafar, last Emperor of Delhi.

The term Hindustan was used for Northern India in particular, and also the whole Indian subcontinent during the Medieval period. During the rule of the Mughal Empire in the 16th century, the term was equivalent to Emperor of India.

Even after effective Mughal rule had collapsed by about 1720, the Mughal dynasty continued to be recognised as the ceremonial rulers of India by regional powers in India, such as the Maratha Confederacy, the British East India Company and many other Indian polities, until Mughal rule was formally abolished in 1858. For example, the East India Company issued coinage in the name of the Mughal emperors until 1835.

## History

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### Delhi Sultanate

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After the Delhi Sultanate gained independence from the Ghurid Empire, it called its land Hindustan, representing its sovereignity over Northern India (the Indo-Gangetic plains) and later the Indian subcontinent.[4]

Map of the Delhi Sultanate under Tuqhlaq dynasty, ruling over most of Hindustan.

Scholar Bratindra Nath Mukherjee states that during the Delhi Sultanate, Hindustan simultaneously represented Northern India as well as the entire Indian subcontinent.[5]

### Mughal Empire

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The Delhi Sultanate was succeeded by the Mughal Empire, which called its polity Hindustan. By this period, Hindustan had come to mean the entirety of the Indian subcontinent rather than only Northern India.[6]

Mughal Empire in 1700, ruling over entirety of the Indian subcontinent except deep south and northeast.

## See also

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* Hindustan
* List of sultans of Delhi
* List of emperors of the Mughal Empire
* Monarchs of India
* Emperor of India

## References and notes

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1. ^ Only during the period of the Mughal Empire during and after the 16th century
2. ^ Excepting northeastern and deep southern regions.

1. ^ Larned, Josephus Nelson (1895). History for Ready Reference: From the Best Historians, Biographers, and Specialists; Their Own Words in a Complete System of History ... C.A. Nichols Company.
2. ^ Hindustan), Jahangir (Emperor of (1999). The Jahangirnama: Memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India. Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. ISBN 978-0-19-512718-8.
3. ^ Journal of Historical Research. Department of History, Ranchi University. 1983.
4. ^ Jackson, Peter (16 October 2003). The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press. p. 86\. ISBN 978-0-521-54329-3.
5. ^ Mukherjee, Bratindra Nath (1989). The Foreign Names of the Indian Subcontinent. Place Names Society of India.
6. ^ Vanina, Evgenii͡a I͡Urʹevna (2012). Medieval Indian Mindscapes: Space, Time, Society, Man. Primus Books. ISBN 978-93-80607-19-1.