History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c18.11

c18.11

The decline of the government became rapid after the marriages of the royal princes. In 1312 Shamsul Haqq, surnamed Khizr Khan, the eldest son of the king, was married to the daughter of Alp Khan, governor of Gujarat and brother of the Malka-i-Jahān. But Khizr Khan was never happy with this marriage. He had fallen in love with Deval Rani, daughter of Rai Karan of Gujarat. The strange circumstances under which she had been captured in the south have been related before.⁷ Since then she had lived with her mother Kamla Devi in the royal palace where Khizr Khan fell in love with her. This fact was soon discovered: but since Māhrū, the darling of ‘Alāuddīn’s younger days, was keen on marrying her son to the daughter of her brother, it was decided to separate the two. Deval Devi was sent to the Qasr-i-Lal with her friends. Tongue-tied with bashfulness, Khizr Khan did not say a word in protest, and Malka-i-Jahān after making elaborate preparations and inviting Rajas⁸ and governors from distant parts of the empire married her eldest son to the daughter of Alp Khan on 23rd of Ramzān 711 (February 4th, 1312).