Sikandar Lodi, the second Lodi ruler

Sikandar Lodi was the second ruler of the Lodi dynasty, last of the dynasties that comprised Delhi Sultanate that lasted from AD 1206 to1526. Born as Nizam Khan, he succeeded his father Bahlul Lodi after his death in 1489. Bahlul Lodi had nominated him his heir apparent. Sikandar was the son of the daughter of a Hindu goldsmith. 

In 1494 he dealt a crushing defeat to Hussain Shah Sharqi and demolished the Sharqi monuments in Jaunpur. He crushed the Raja of Tirhut and captured Chanderi in 1514. He was able to seize Bihar and signed a treaty with the Sultan of Bengal.

From 1506 to 1517 he devoted his energies to capturing Gwalior which remained unconquered under its Tomar ruler Raja Man Singh (1486-1517).

He is credited with the tightening of the espionage system. He introduced the system of auditing of accounts and Gaaz-i-Sikandar of 32 digits for measuring cultivated land. He gave patronage of philosophy. His rule saw the rising popularity of Avicenna’s philosophy in Delhi. The famous Sufi saint, known by his nom de plume Jamali, was a poet at his court. Sikandar Lodi had written verses in Persian under the penname of Gulrakhi. 

Sikandar Lodi was a bigot and destroyed Hindu temples including the Jwalamukhi temple at Nagarkot.

He died in 1517.

It was believed by the credulous section of his subjects that he could perform miracles such as raising the dead to life. 

Aurangzeb’s usurpation of Shantidas‘s Temple

Shantidas Jhaveri was a leading Jain jeweller and banker in the Ahmedabad city during the 17th century. He had a beautiful Jain temple built in Ahmedabad. The temple was desecrated and converted into a mosque in 1645 by the then governor of Gujarat, Aurangzeb (later Mughal emperor) who built a mihrab (niche) for prayer in it.

This was complained to Shah Jahan who, on the assertion of scholar and philosopher Mulla Abdul Hakim that Aurangzeb had flagrantly violated the sharia in usurping Shantidas’s property, ordered the temple be restored to the latter.