Khilji Dynasty - Origins

Origins

The Khilji rulers trace their roots to Central Asia and were of Turkic origin. They settled in what is now Qalat, Afghanistan before proceeding to Delhi in India. The name "Khilji" refers to an Afghan village or town known as Qalat-e Khilji (Fort of Khilji). They were treated by others as ethnic Afghans due to their adoption of some Afghan habits and customs. As a result of this, the dynasty is referred to as a Turko-Afghan. The three sultans of the Khalji dynasty were noted by historians for their faithlessness and ferocity.

Ikhtiar Uddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiar Khilji was a servant of Qutb-ud-din Aibak, who was an ex-slave of the Ghurids with a Turkic background. Mohammad Khilji was an Indo-Ghurid Shah (king) and founder of the Delhi Sultanate, which conquered Bihar and Bengal in the late 12th century. From this time, the Khiljis became servants and vassals of the Mamluk dynasty of Delhi. From 1266 until his death in 1290, the Sultan of Delhi was called Ghiyas ud din Balban, another servant of Qutab-ud-din Aybak. Balban's immediate successors, however, were unable to manage either the administration or the factional conflicts between the old Turkic nobility and the new forces led by the Khaljis. After a struggle between the two factions, Jalal ud din Firuz Khilji was installed as sultan by a noble faction of Turkic, Persian, Arabic and Indian-Muslim aristocrats at the collapse of the last Mumluk sultan, Kay-Qubadh. Their rise to power was aided by outsiders (some of them Indian-born Muslims) who might enhance their positions if the hold of the followers of Balban and the "Forty" (the members of the royal Loya Jirga) were broken. Jalal-ud-din was old, and for a time he was so unpopular that he dared not enter the capital because his tribe was thought to be close to the nomadic Afghans. During his short reign (1290–96), some of Balban's officers revolted due to this assumption of power; Jalal-ud-din suppressed them, led an unsuccessful expedition against Ranthambhor and defeated a Mongol force on the banks of the Sind River in central India.

Alauddin Khilji, his nephew and son-in-law, was ordered by his father to lead an expedition of between 4,000 and 7,000 men into the Hindu Deccan (where many rulers had refused to submit) and capture Ellichpur and its treasure. Upon his return in 1296 (having gained status and power) he killed his uncle.

Alauddin reigned for 20 years and is considered the greatest member of the dynasty. He captured Ranthambhor (1301) and Chittorgarh (1303), conquered Māndu (1305) and captured the wealthy Hindu state of Devagiri, also repelling two Mongol raids. Alauddin's lieutenant, Malik Kafur (a Muslim Indian), was sent on an expedition to the south in 1308 which led to the capture of Warangal, the overthrow of the Hoysala Empire south of the Krishna River and the occupation of Madura in the south. Malik Kafur returned to Delhi in 1311. The empire fell into political decadence, and the sultan died in early 1316; Malik Kafur’s attempted usurpation ended in his death. The last Khalji (Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah) was murdered in 1320 by a former Indian slave who had risen to become his chief minister and friend, Khusraw Khan. Power was then assumed by Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, the first ruler of the Turkic Tughluq dynasty. A remnant of the ruling house of the Khaljis ruled in Malwa from 1436 to 1530 (or 1531), until the Sultan of Gujarat purged the nobility.

To some extent, the Khilji usurpation was a move toward the recognition of a shifting balance of power attributable to the developments outside the territory of the Delhi Sultanate (in Central Asia and Iran) and to the changes which followed the establishment of Turkic rule in northern India. In large measure, the dislocation in the regions beyond the northwest assured the establishment of an independent Delhi Sultanate and its subsequent consolidation. The eastern steppe tribes' movements to the west not only ended the threat to Delhi from the rivals in Ghazni and Ghor, but also forced a number of Central Asian Muslims to migrate to northern India. This phenomenon also led to the destabilization of the core of the Turkic Mamluks. During the Mongol plunder of Central Asia and eastern Persia (now parts of modern-day Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan), many more members of the political and religious elite of these regions were thrown into northern India, where they were admitted into the military and administrative cadre by the early Delhi sultans.