History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c3.s2: 'Alāūddīn in Kara (1291-96)

History of the Khaljis, A.D. 1290–1320 c3.s2

Language: English

'Alāūddīn in Kara (1291-96)

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This appointment proved to be a turning point in the prince's career. At Kara the conditions were far from peaceful. No doubt Malik Chhajjū's revolt had been crushed, but not so the spirit of the disaffected Amīrs. They regarded Jalāluddīn as a usurper and a weakling, and one, who with a little organised effort could easily be removed from the throne. They had been at the back of Chhajjū's revolt, and now suggested to the new governor in the very year of his arrival in Kara, the possibility of recruiting a large army and making a bid for the throne. They also emphasised that money was very essential for that purpose: because the rebellion of Malik Chhajjū had failed for want of sufficient resources in gold and silver.

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*‘Alāuddīn’s Domestic unhappiness.*

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This tempting advice did not fall upon deaf ears. ‘Alāuddīn himself thirsted for a diversion from the miseries of an unhappy home. Eversince his marriage with Jalāluddīn’s daughter, he had not been happy with her. As a royal princess she tried to dominate over her husband. The sudden rise of her father had made her exceedingly vain. Her impudence greatly distressed ‘Alāuddīn but he was avers to bringing the disobedience of his wife before the sultan. All the same he smarted under a sense of humiliation¹⁰ and used to consult his associates how to end his troubles. Hājjīuddabīr elucidates the cause of misunderstanding between ‘Alāuddīn and his consort. He says that ‘Alāuddīn had two wives,—one, the daughter of the sultan, and the other Māhrū, a sister of Malik Sanjar, later known as Alp Khān. Intelligence of the fact that ‘Alāuddīn had another wife enraged the king’s daughter and she began to pry into the affairs of her husband.¹¹ One day when the amorous couple were *tête-à-tête* in a garden, Jalāluddīn's daughter arrived on the scene and began to belabour Māhrū with her sandal. 'Alāuddīn could hardly bear this insult and in a fit of violence he assaulted his uncle's daughter with his sword but luckly she escaped only with a few minor injuries.¹²

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¹⁰ *Futūh* p. 221.

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¹¹ *Zafarul Vāli* has الزوجة for Māhrū. It is really strange how, if Māhrū was a wedded wife, Jalāluddīn’s daughter had no previous knowledge of the fact. Later events, however, clearly show that Māhrū was legally married to ‘Alāuddīn. At his accession she became the chief queen, Malka-i-Jahān, and her son Khizr Khan was declared heir-apparent.

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¹² *Zafarul Vāli* p. 154.

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This incident was duly reported to the Sultan but he took no notice of it.¹³ Not only that, the behaviour of his mother-in-law had made 'Alāuddīn miserable still. The Malika-i-Jahan had got scent of his ambitions and kept a close watch upon him. She warned her old and vacillating husband about 'Alāuddīn's alleged intentions of establishing an independent principality in some remote corner of the country.¹⁴ She even encouraged her daughter to behave arrogantly towards her husband. At Kara 'Alāuddīn breathed a sigh of relief. Here he was away from the indifference of the Sultan, the dominance of the Malka-i-Jahān, and the priggishness of his imperious wife. He began to ponder over his past and to plan out his future. His one idea was to keep away from the two shrews. It is difficult, however, to assign to the princess and her mother the entire blame for 'Alāuddīn's domestic unhappiness, because he himself was not without faults. He was hard-hearted and uncompromising.

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¹³ According to Ibn Battutah the sultan's indifference towards 'Alāuddīn's family troubles very much strained the retions between the king and his nephew.

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¹⁴ Ferishtah p. 94.

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Meanwhile Sultan Jalāluddīn's prestige had suffered a set back. There had been conspiracies among Turkish Amīrs against him and he had not been able to subdue the city of Delhi. He had neither the capacity to punish the rebels nor the generosity to reward his partisans. His retreat from Ranthambhor was disgraceful enough; but his conclusion of a temporary truce with the Mughal invader was worse still.

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Particularly his giving his daughter in marriage to Alghū must have produced a very bad impression on the nobility and populace of Delhi. In distant Kara, the rendezvous of the discontented Amīrs, the stories of the sultan's disgrace and defeat must have been repeated with added warmth to 'Alāuddīn who himself must have felt humiliated at the cowardice of his uncle and father-in-law. But he did not give expression to his resentment as Malik Ahmad Chap so often did. He continued to protest his obedience and loyalty.

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*‘Alāuddīn's raid on Bhilsa 1292.*

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Towards the end of the year 691 A.H. (1292 A.D.) 'Alāuddīn requested the Sultan's permission to invade Bhilsa.¹⁵ The latter had just accomplished the conquest of Mandor, capturing it in the very first attack.¹⁶ He had also raided and plundered Jhain for the second time. The request of 'Alāuddīn at that time was, therefore, quite welcome to him, and he readily gave his consent. 'Alāūddīn left Kara and cleared the road to Ujjain on which lay the town of Bhilsa. His sudden arrival there created much consternation in the city. The frightened inhabitants concealed their idols in the bed of the Betwa, to save them from population at the hands of the Musalmans, but the prince had them hauled out of the river.¹⁷ After breaking a number of temples and capturing enormous booty 'Alāūddīn proceeded to Delhi to pay his respects to the sultan. He carried with him a variety of articles of plunder together with a massive idol, which was loaded on a cart.¹⁸ Jalāluddīn was immensely pleased at the results of his nephew's adventure. He ordered the captured idol to be laid at the Badaon Gate to be trampled upon by the faithful and rewarded 'Alāuddīn with the post of Minister of War ('Arīz-i-Mumālik) and added Avadh to his iqta' of Kara.

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¹⁵ Bhilsa lies on the river Betwa. It is a railway station on the G.I.P. Ry. 34 miles north-east of Bhopal.

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¹⁶ Mandor lies 4 miles north of Jodhpur. A mosque then built there is still in existence and contains a broken inscription. At the time of this invasion Mandor was in possession of Songra Chouhan Sāmant Singh. (*Marvār kā Itihās Hindī* by B. N. Reau. p. 15).

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¹⁷ *Miftāhul Futūh* Elliot Vol. III, p. 543.

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¹⁸ *Tab. Akb.* and Ferishtah have two brass idols.

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At Bhilsa 'Alāuddīn had heard of the fabulous wealth of Devagiri. He had made up his mind to invade the kingdom once he had assembled an adequate army at Kara, but he nursed his ambition secretly. Now when he saw the king so kindly disposed towards him and the revenues of Avadh added to those of Kara, he begged for another favour from the Sultan. "Chanderi and its neighboursood" he represented "are free (from payment of revenue) and are ignorant (heedless) of the army of Delhi. If it be your pleasure I shall employ new troops and retainers with the revenues of my fiefs so as to attack these places and bring countless booty ... and deposit everything in the Imperial Treasury."¹⁹ The unsuspecting monarch, who had no idea of the extent of 'Alāuddīn's ambitions, nor even of the intensity of his estrangement with his wife and mother-in-law, gave the requisite permission to raise a new army; and tempted by the prospects of a rich booty he remitted the revenues of Kara and Avadh.²⁰ 'Alāuddīn returned to Kara and began to make preparations to invade Chanderi.²¹ This was the opportunity for which he had thirsted for so long a time. He had now both men and money. His plans had begun well.

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¹⁹ *Baranī* p. 220.

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²⁰ The total revenue of a province is known as *mahāsil*, and what is left after defraying the expences of administration is known as *favāzil*. The latter is sent to the Imperial exchequer, but 'Alāuddīn was permitted to withhold both. *Baranī*, p. 220.

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²¹ *Baranī*, p. 221.

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*The Kingdom of Devagiri.*

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The great Maratha kingdom of Devagiri lay between north India and the Deccan peninsula. To the north of Devagiri stood the mighty Vindhyas and to the north and northwest of it were situated the kingdoms of Malwa and Gujarat. In the east and south were situated the kingdoms of Telingana and the Hoysalās respectively, and in the west were the Western Ghāts. Protected by the Vindhyas on the north it remained outside the operational sphere of the foreign invaders who incessantly poured into northern India from the eighth to the thirteenth century, carrying away untold wealth from towns and temples alike and leaving misery and desolation behind. But at the close of the thirteenth century conditions changed, and the piercing eye of the ambitious 'Alāūddīn found a passage and a pretext for its conquest.

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At that time the kingdom was ruled by a Yadava king named Ram Chandra. The Yadavas claimed for themselves an ancient pedigree. Their bards spoke of them as descendants of no less a personage than Lord Krishna himself. Formerly Yadava rulers were feudatory chiefs of the Chalukyas, but about the end of the twelfth century Bhillama Yadava was successful in throwing off their yoke, and in seizing the whole country north of the river Krishna.²³ But the credit of raising the minor kingdom to one of the greatest powers of the Deccan goes to Singhana, who ruled in the first half of the thirteenth century. He successfully invaded Malwa and Gujarat, conquered lower Konkan, and snatched away the southern Maratha country from the Hoysala chief.²⁴ He died after a long and brilliant reign in 1247, and was succeeded by his grandson Krishna II. When he died, in 1260, the crown devolved on his brother Mahādeva, who ruled until 1271, when Ram Chandra, son of Krishna II, succeeded him. And it was this monarch who, in his old age, and after a long and successful reign had to face the unexpected invasion of 'Alāuddīn and to make an abject surrender to a foreign foe. "His early years were prosperous enough. His armies invaded both Malwa and Mysore and he was unquestionably the greatest king in Peninsular India. A hectic splendour, too illuminated his reign. In it flourished the minister Hemadri or Hemadpant. In it also appeared Dyandev, the first of the great Maratha poets of the Pandharpur school."²⁵

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²² Devagiri or Deogir of Muslim chronicles is the modern Daulatabad in the Hydrabad state, 19.57N. 75.15E.

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²³ Bhillama's reign commenced in 1185 and not in 1187 A.D. as assumed by Dr. Fleet. This fact is revealed by the discovery of two contemporary inscriptions. The earliest record which mentions Devagiri as the capital of the Yadavas belongs to the reign of Jaitpala, a predecessor of Singhana and is dated Saka 1119 (1196 A.D.) *Arch. Sur. Report.* 1929-30. p. 172, 175.

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²⁴ It appears that the Yadava Empire in the time of Singhana was as extensive as that ruled by the ablest monarchs of the preceding dynasties. The full titles of a paramount sovereign are given to Singhana in his inscriptions, such as "the supporter of the whole world," "the love of the earth" (*Prithvīvallabha*) and "king of kings". (Bhandarkar: *Early History of the Deccan*, p. 194.) The early history of the family is to be found partly in epigraphic records, and partly in the introduction to Hemadri's *Vratakhand*. The Puranic genealogy is perhaps given most fully by Hemadri. (J. F. Fleet: *Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts*, Bombay, 1836, p. 511.)

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²⁵ Kincaid and Parasnis: *History of the Maratha People*, Vol. I pp. 36-37.

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Thus during the course of the thirteenth century the kingdom of Devagiri had witnessed all round progress under the two capable Yadava kings, Singhana and Ram Chandra.²⁶ " For twenty five years Ram Chandra had ruled prosperously. The valour of his armies guarded his far flung frontier. The wisdom of Hemadpant secured the prosperity of his subjects and filled the treasury of the monarch."²⁷ Apart from territorial acquisitions Devagiri had also been enriched by its booming trade and commerce which are apt to flourish in a country enjoying perpetual peace internally. No foreign raiders had robbed the treasures of the country, and 'Alāuddīn had learnt at Bhilsa that Ram Chandra had inherited a huge treasure accumulated by his ancestors.²⁸ The social practices of the times and especially the use of various kinds of gold ornaments by the Hindus had made gold a household commodity, while the treasuries of the kingdom were full of precious metals and precious stones.

Cites (3)

Tārīkh-i Firishta — Muḥammad Qāsim Hindū Shāh Firishta 1606, Persian
Vratakhaṇḍa — Hemādri, Sanskrit
Tārīkh-i Fīrūzshāhī — Shams-i Sirāj ʿAfīf, Persian