The decline of the Delhi Sultanate - late middle-ages of the Indian subcontinent

The grey area between the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent is where a lot of skirmishes, rise and downfall of empires, vanishing dynasties and emergence of new powers occurred in the late-middle ages. The Delhi Sultanate rose to power in the 13th century and while Europe was infested with a plague pandemic, commonly known as the Black Death, South Asia was battling with Islamic Sultanates, all hungry for the seat of Delhi. Starting from the Ilbari Dynasty (1206 - 1290), followed by the Khilji (1290 - 1320), the Tughlaqs (1320 - 1412), the Sayyid Tughlaqs (1414 - 1450) and finally the Lodhis (1451 - 1526). It's interesting to note that the times when Delhi Sultanate started was when the majestic Mongol Empire had disintegrated into various Khanates all across Europe and Asia. This was also the time when one of the greatest African empires, the Mali Empire, existed which lasted for more than four centuries. 

Awadh - the Sharqi Dynasty

At the complete downfall of the Delhi Sultanate, the world had changed massively. New World was now discovered and the Spanish had their claims in the Caribbean and Central America, while the Portuguese shad still scratched the edges of modern-day Brazil. This was also the era when the Muscovy Empire would rise in power, which would in the coming centuries give birth to modern-day Russia. The Ottoman Empire was already at its peak transcending three continents centred at Constantinople or Istanbul. But even on the Indian subcontinent, the bombardment of new empires had started, just before the arrival of the Mughals in 1526. Just at the end of the 14th century, in 1394, the Sharqi Dynasty rose from Jaunpur and established a dynasty that would go for another eight decades centred in the Awadh region. It bordered the Malikzadas of Kalpi in the southwest (an autonomous state under the Tughluqs which later became a dependency on the Khaljis of Malwa in 1443), the Baghelas in the south with their capital at Batgahora (in today's Madhya Pradesh), the Ilyas Shahi Ganesas clan in the east and the Mallas in the northeast. 

Bengal - the Ilyas Shahis 

The territory of Tirhut / Mithila under the Sugauna clan was briefly held under the Sharqis. Sugauna or Oiniwar dynasty reigned in the Mithila region of today's Bihar and parts of Nepal for about two centuries before the establishment of Raj Darbhanga that have had a massive impact on the Maithili culture till date. The eastern boundary of Sharqi dynasty touched the Ilyas Shahi Dynasty of Bengal in the east that marked the first Islamic rule of the region. Started in 1342, the Ilyas Shahis were spread throughout today's Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bangladesh regions and had their capital at Gauda (or Lakhnauti, distributed in today's Malda district of WB and Rajshahi region of Bangladesh).

Punjab-Rajasthan - the Sayyids

The successor to the Tughlaqs, the Sayyids, ruled from 1414 to 1451 and marked the western frontiers of the Sharqis. They ruled today's Punjab region and extended to the Mewat territory of the Khanzadas in the southwest. The fight for Delhi (or Dehli) by the Sayyids fluctuated between the end of the 14th century till 1451 when finally it was taken over by the Lodis, the last clan of the Delhi Sultanate. 

Central India

Going further south, were the Sisodiyas of Mewar, the Khaljis and Ghurids of Malwa and to the far west were the Ahmad Shahis of Gujarat and Kathiawar. Other smaller factions were the Khanzadas of Mewat, the Rathors of Marwar and the Hadas of Bundi that bombarded today's Rajasthan state of India. Coming back to the Himalayan border of the Sharqis, this was the time when one of the earliest clans of today's Nepal was in rising, the Mallas. They would later develop into a full-fledged dynasty of various clans united together as the Nepal Mandala and rise of the cities such as Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur - which are chief Nepalese towns even to this day. 

Northeast India

Bordering Bangala (or Bengal) were the kingdoms of Tippera, Kamata and the clans of Khens, Kacharis, Ahoms and Chutiyas. While the Ahoms and Kacharis reigned in the Brahmaputra river valley, the Chutiyas were centred around the Sadiya region of northernmost Assam. The Burmese kingdom of the Shans and the country of Ava would border further east and south of these dynasties. The Ilyas Shahis of Bengal did repulse an invasion from the Kamata by a combined force of Khens and Ahoms. The dynasties did have diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty of China during this period. 

Gujarat - the Ahmad Shahis

Gujarat and Kathiawar were ruled by the Ahmad Shahis or better known as the Gujarat Sultanate that would rule for another century. It was at this time that a new walled city of Karnavati was established, soon to be renamed after Sultan Ahmed Shah in 1411 as Ahmadabad. This is Gujarat just a century before it would take part in the naval battles between the Ottoman Sultans and the Portuguese. The entire 15th century would go in hostilities and ambushes between the Sisodiyas of Mewar, the Khaljis of Malwa and the Ahmad Shahis of Gujarat. Adding to this, they would also engage in conflicts with the Bahmanis of Barar in Maharashtra. The Sisodiyas would also exert their dominance over the Jadons of Jaisalmer and the Rathors of Marwar, thus occupying the entire stretch of Rajasthan between Jaisalmer, Sirohi and Bundi. Another smaller faction, the Faruqis of Khandesh (today's Dhule, Nandurbar and Jalgaon districts of Maharashtra) would campaign unsuccessfully against the Gujarat Sultanate in the early 15th century. 

Fascinating events during this era 

The late-middle ages of the Indian subcontinent were fascinating with respect to personalities as well. The famous Hindu saint Kabirdas was born in 1398 (or 1440 according to some sources) at Banaras in a Muslim family. Roughly six decades later, the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak was born in 1469 at Nankana Sahib (in today's Nankana Sahib district, Punjab, Pakistan). Let's compare this on an international scale outside the Indian subcontinent. Between 1400 - 1415, the last war of the Welsh independence was fought against the Kingdom of England, famously known as the Glyndŵr Rising. While this was happening on one end, in India the Jaunpur Sultanate would takeover the falling Tughluqs. In the year 1431 when Gujarat was a battleground between various kingdoms, the famous trial of Joan of Arc took place at Rouen, Normandy (in France), where she was burnt alive at stake. And while the Khaljis were unsuccessfully raiding Delhi in 1442, a German goldsmith named Johannes Gutenberg invented the first printing press. 

1453 was the year when Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Sultan, marking the end of the Byzantine Empire. While on the Rajputana heartland, the Sisodiyas of Mewar would rise to prominence against the Khaljis of Malwa. And all this happened before the invention of the world's first globe, parachute and muzzle-loaded rifles. 

Coming back to the map part, here's a rough sketch of the various clans of northern India, popularly known in the Muslim world as Hindustan, of the late-middle ages.