Sikandar Khan Lodi

The second and most successful ruler of the Lodi dynasty of the Delhi sultanate, he was also a poet of the Persian language and prepared a diwan of 9000 verses.

[4] The newly crowned Raja Man Singh Tomar was not prepared for an invasion from Delhi, and decided to avoid a war by paying Bahlul Lodi a tribute of 800,000 tankas (coins).

The Sultan, wanting to punish Raja Man Singh Tomar, and to expand his territory, launched a punitive expedition against Gwalior.

Historian Kishori Saran Lal theorizes that Vinayaka Deva had not lost Dholpur at all: this narrative was created by the Delhi chroniclers to flatter the Sultan.

During his return to Agra, Raja Man Singh Tomar ambushed his army near Jatwar, inflicting heavy casualties on the invaders.

[11] In December 1508, Lodi placed Narwar in charge of Raj Singh Kachchwaha, and marched to Lahar (Lahayer) located to the south-east of Gwalior.

[13] His influence initiated a renaissance of poetry and music in Delhi, with the Hindu poet Dungar teaching at a Muslim college.

[14] He was not just a generous patron of writers, but also a talented scholar and poet who wrote Persian poetry under the pen name Gul Rukhi.

[13] Because Sikandar's mother was a Hindu, he tried to prove his Islamic credentials by resorting to strong Sunni orthodoxy as a political expediency.

[15] Before Sikandar's time, the judicial duties in smaller villages and towns were performed by local administrators, while the Sultan himself consulted the scholars of the Islamic law (sharia).

The top two storeys of the Qutub Minar were reconstructed in marble by Sikandar Lodi