History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c21.2

c21.2

Quṭbuddīn's murder saw the accession of Khusrau Khan to the throne. Khusrau was not a Khaljī. He belonged to the Barvārī or Parvārī¹ caste of Gujarat. Ziyāuddīn, indignant at the very idea of a convert's accession, hurls every sort of abuse on the king and his tribe. And since his short reign was not popular, the invectives of the historian become relentless. Thus he declares Khusrau to be "faithless and cunning, dishabille and of low origin (بد اصل)."² "A low born menial" and abuses of this kind are repeatedly inserted in Barani's narrative.³ But these are merely personal aspersions on Khusrau and do not throw any light on the tribe or caste to which he belonged. Depending on Barani, ‘Iṣāmī, Yaḥya, Niẓāmuddīn and other later Persian chroniclers aver that Khusrau Khan belonged to a low caste of Gujarat. Following on their narratives European scholars like Briggs and Thomas think the Parvārīs to be worse than scavengers. Briggs declares that "the Parwari is a Hindoo outcaste, who eats flesh of all kinds, and is deemed so unclean as not to be admitted to build a house within the town."⁴ Since Briggs had thought that Parvār must be the same as Parvārī, and Molesworth defined Parvārī as an individual of low caste, chiefly employed as village watchmen, gate-keepers, porters and said to be synonymous with Dhed and Mahār.¹ Thomas was not slow to conform to Briggs' opinion.² W. Haig also did not choose to differ from his predecessors and writes that the corps of 40,000 Barvārs organised by Khusrau Khān about which Ferishtah makes a mention "was largely composed of and exclusively commanded by members of his own despised tribe."³