The KHALJIs

Introduction

Khalji’s were originally of Turkish origin but had acquired Afghan character during their long residence in Afghanistan. However, there was no love lost between them and the Turks. They took advantage of the political disorders of the time to establish their power.

Jalaluddin Firuz Khalji, the founder of the Khalji Empire, an old man of seventy years, mild and tender,  was not liked by the nobles and the populace of Delhi and had to make Kilokhri the seat of his government. However, the excellence of his character, his justice, generosity and devotion, gradually removed the aversion of the people, and hope of grants of land made the nobles come to terms to the new Sultan. Although Jalaluddin retained the earlier nobility in the administration, but the rise of Khaliji’s to power ended the monopoly of nobility of slaves to high offices.

Jalaluddin ruled only for a short span of six years and tried to mitigate some of the harsh aspects of Balban’s rule. He was the first ruler of the Delhi Sultanate to clearly put forward the view that the state should be based on the willing support of the governed, and that since the large majority of the people in India were Hindus, the state in India could never be a truly Islamic state.

Jalaluddin tried to win the goodwill of the nobility by a policy of tolerance. He avoided harsh punishments, leading to nobles believing him to be weak.

Allaudin Khalji

He was succeeded by his nephew and son-in-law Allauddin Khalji, who killed the king to ascend the throne. He  reversed Jalaluddin’s policy and gave drastic punishments to all those who oppose him. He revived Balban’s policies of ruthless governance. He decided to curb the powers of the nobles and interference of the Ulemas in the matter of the state. 

He also faced a few rebellions in succession during the early years of his reign. In order to prevent the re-occurrence he formulated certain regulation and implemented them like the families of the nobles that had been enjoying free land to support themselves should pay tax for their land holdings, leading to the curb of the excess wealth of the nobles. He reorganized the spy system and prohibited the use of liquor and other intoxicants. He also ordered the nobles not to organize social gathering or inter-marry without his permission.

Allauddin established a huge permanent, standing army to satisfy his ambition of conquest and to protect the country from the Mongol invasion. Under him, the territorial expansion of the Delhi Sultunate beyond north India took place. 

He began his territorial conquest with a successful campaign against Gujarat and then annexed Rathambore, Chittor, Malwa, Ujjain, Mandu, Dhar and Chanderi. After annexing the whole Rajputana, he planned fresh campaign in Deccan and occupied Warangal in Telegana, D’war Samudra and Ma’bar in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu respectively.

Following the death of Allaudin Khalji in AD 1316, the Delhi Sultunate was plunged into confusion. Malik Kafur, the trusted aide of the dead Sultan ascended the throne for a brief period of 35 days, and was soon deposed off and murdered by Qutubuddin Mubarak Shah, who was himself murdered by Khusrau. Khusrau was soon defeated by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq and was killed thus ending the Khaliji dynasty within four years of the death of Allaudin Khalji and founding the Tughluq Dynasty.