razia

Razia, commonly known as Razia Sultana, was the only female ruler of the Delhi Sultanate and one of the few female medieval Muslim rulers in the Indian subcontinent. She reigned from 1236 to 1240 and was the daughter of Shams al-Din Iltutmish, the third ruler of the Mamluk dynasty of Delhi. Following Iltutmish's death, Razia was chosen by some trusted nobles and ministers to succeed him, despite traditional expectations of male rule. Her accession marked a rare departure from the male dynastic sequence in the Delhi throne.

Her rule sought to stabilize and administer the sultanate through the existing bureaucracy and a mix of loyal administrators. She faced significant opposition from the Turkic nobility and some segments of the clergy, who were reluctant to accept a woman on the throne. This resistance contributed to political instability during her tenure. Razia conducted frontier campaigns and maintained the empire's administrative framework, but she did not fully overcome the factional rivalries that defined the period.

In 1240 Razia was overthrown in a coup led by factions of the nobility; the circumstances of her death are uncertain in historical sources. The throne passed to Razia’s successor in the ensuing power struggles. Razia's legacy rests on her status as a pioneering female ruler in a male-dominated political landscape; she has been the subject of historical analysis, literary depictions, and feminist discourse, highlighting themes of gender, power, and governance in medieval South Asia.