Khilji Dynasty (1290-1320)
Jalaluddin Khilji assassinated the last Slave ruler Qaiqabad and established the Khilji Dynasty in 1290.
Jalaluddin Khilji (1290-96) - The biggest challenge to him was his nephew Alauddin Khilji. Alauddin raided Devgiri without the permission of the Sultan. He also did not shared looted wealth with the Sultan. When Jalaluddin was returning from Bengal expedition, he paid a visit to Alauddin (as he was invited by Alauddin due to remorse - as Jalaluddin thought, but Alauddin fooled him), where he was assassinated. As such Alauddin became the next Sultan of Delhi.
Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316) - Alauddin was stationed at Awadh before becoming the Sultan of Delhi.
Alauddin wanted to have control over Gujarat as it has some natural port. Alauddin asked the ruler of Chittorgarh, Kunwar Ratan Singh to give the way to Gujarat. But Ratan singh refused. Alauddin took another route, defeated and annexed Gujarat. From Gujarat, Alauddin got a very able person Malik Kafur (also known as Hazar Dinari), who later became the general of Alauddin's army.
The Mongols who accepted Islam and joined army under Jalaluddin got suspicious about Alauddin's intention as he killed his own uncle. Also, they did not want to go away such treasury which they got from Gujarat expedition.
So, they hoarded some amount and fled from Gujarat and seek refugee near Ranthambor (ruler - Hamir Dev). Hamir Dev gave refugee to these Mongols. Alauddin gave letter to Hamir Dev to return them but Hamir Dev refused as he was very confident about the strength of his fort which was considered as the strongest of that time.
As such Alauddin attacked Ranthambore. Ranthambore fort was impenetrable, so Alauddin strategically stationed around the fort cutting all the supply chain. Alauddin also dug tunnels to the Ranthambore.
Meanwhile, one fair night Alauddin's army got inside the fort and massacred all men selectively. Women inside the fort felt circumspect about the intention of Alauddin and to protect their dignity and honour, they performed enmass 'Johar'.
This act of Johar was marked as an act of courage on the part of women by Amir Khusrau.
Note - This was the first description of Johar by Amir Khusrau.
Sak - Like Johar, it was an act of killing herself to protect the honour and dignity of himself. It was performed by men. They killed themselves rather than got killed by enemy's sword.
Hamir Dev performed Sak.
Alauddin also annexed Chittorgarh from Ratan Singh where the women along with Padmavati performed enmass Johar.
Malik Muhammad Jayasi wrote Padmavat.
Alauddin was very ambitious and wanted to expand the territory to far-flung areas but the Qaji whom Alauddin had great faith suggested him not to capture but to plunder and loot the areas as if he annexed the area, he will not rule even two years more. Though Alauddin was not religious but he paid heed to the words of Qaji and started his campaign of plundering the area after consolidating his position in North.
After consolidating his position in the North and West India, Alauddin decided to plunder kingdoms in South. His South Indian campaign was laid by Malik Kafur. Kafur raided Devgiri, Wrangle, Dwarasamudra and Mabar.
Kakatiya ruler , Pratap Rudra gifted 'Kohinoor diamond' to Alauddin.
Alauddin died in 1316. After the death of Malik Kafur, the last Khilji ruler Quṭb-ud-Din Mubarak Shah was also assassinated by one of the noble Khusrau Shah who in turn was assassinated by Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq who founded Tughlaq Dynasty in 1320.
Initiatives of Alauddin Khilji -
- Alauddin was considered as the master of market reform. He fixed the prices of all basic commodities (it was done from the perspective that his army men will be able to buy things at cheaper rate and unnecessarily he will not have to raise their salary of soldiers).
- He created three types of Market - One for food grains, one for clothes & foot wear and one for slave trade & animal trade.
- He tried to curb the corruption and standardized weighs and measures.
- He utilised the services of banjara community for doing trades.
- He also started the practice of measuring land before imposing taxes. Tax rates was kept at upper end, i.e., 50% of the produce.
- He initiated Dag system which was related to branding of horses.
- He also initiated Huliya system where by the physical appearance of the soldiers was noted down.
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Note - This is my Vision IAS Notes (Vision IAS Class Notes) and Ashutosh Pandey Sir's Public Administration Class notes. I've also added some of the information on my own.
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