Returning for this year's Romance of the Three Empires event (i.e., the theme of China, Iran, and Rome) is Delhi. Civilization on the Indo-Gangetic plain goes back thousands of years before the march of the Islamic Iranians and Turks into the region. The Kannauj Triangle was a point of contention between older Indian empires on the Ganges, demonstrating that feudal conflict perverted the river for a long, long time. Eventually the notable city of Delhi would supplant Kannauj the major centre of the plain after the defeat of Prithiviraj Chauhan against the Muslims.
A series of dynasties beginning with Indian Mamluks in 1206 AD would see foreign Persianate lords become endemic to India through marriage, syncretism, and the arts. The term "Delhi Sultanate" is an anachronistic exonym, these early Hindustani realms would have gone by the dynastic names of the Mamluks (1206 AD - 1290 AD), Khaljis (1290 AD - 1320 AD), Tugluqs (1320 AD - 1414 AD), Sayyids (1414 AD - 1451 AD), and Lodis (1451 AD - 1526 AD). That middle dynasty, the Tugluqs, saw the aptly named Delhi Sultanate reach its zenith under Muhammad ibn Tugluq.
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