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The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c21: 15. The Sayyid Dynasty

The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c21

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15. The Sayyid Dynasty

Khizr Khan, 1414—1421

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Khizr Khan was the first and the ablest ruler of the so-called Sayyid dynasty. His claim to be a descendant of Prophet Muhammad was dubious and rested on the recognition of Shaikh Jalal-ud-din of Bukhara. It seems, however, certain that his ancestors had come from Arabia. Khizr Khan did not assume the title of king, but contented himself with that of *Rayat-i-Ala*. He pretended to act as the viceroy of Shah Rukh, the fourth son and successor of Timur, to whom he is said to have sent the yearly tribute. While he ordered the *khutba* to be read in the name of the Mongol king, his coins continued to bear the name of his Tughluq predecessors. With his accession, the Panjab, Multan and Sindh again became parts of the Sultanate. The extent of the kingdom was now practically doubled.

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Khizr Khan's reign was not marked by any striking success. He made an attempt to recover Etawah, Katehar, Kanauj, Patiali and Kampil, but did not achieve much success. Almost every year he would undertake an expedition for plunder and realisation of revenue and would return with certain amount of booty. The revenue of the districts of the kingdom could not be realised without the help of troops. His minister, Taj-ul-mulk, co-operated with him in putting down disorder, but his efforts were not attended with conspicuous success. There grew up a rivalry between Delhi and Gujarat and Delhi and Jaunpur; and the rulers of these two newly established kingdoms tried to conquer and annex Delhi. In the Panjab an impostor, who gave himself out to be Sarang Khan, appeared near Hoshiarpur. The Khokhar chief, Jasrath, gave great trouble in the north-eastern Panjab. Bahadur Nahir of Mewar raised his head. The chiefs in the Doab continued in rebellion and would not pay the revenue except at the point of the bayonet. Khizr Khan struggled hard against these chronic rebellions. He could not treat his disloyal vassals as rebels and try to crush them completely. His policy was to compel the chiefs and vassals to pay a part of the revenue due from them and to extract a promise to pay the remaining next year. But this promise was almost invariably broken as soon as his back was turned. Having been worn out by these troubles and disorders, Khizr Khan died on May 20, 1421. According to Farishta, he was a just and generous ruler; but he lacked that ability, strength and character which were sorely needed in a king of Delhi at that critical juncture in our history.

Mubarak Shah, 1421—1434

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While on death bed, Khizr Khan nominated his son, Mubarak Khan, as his heir. The new king sat on the throne of Delhi and assumed the title of Mubarak Shah. The nobles acclaimed him as their ruler, but he could not really get adequate support from them. Like his father, he had to undertake only punitive expeditions to the different parts of his kingdom in order to put down rebels and suppress disorder. Mubarak Shah succeeded in suppressing a rebellion at Bhatinda and also in the Doab; but the Khokhars of the Salt Range could not be punished. Their leader, Jasrath, was an ambitious chief who aspired for the throne of Delhi. Mubarak made little attempt to recover any of the lost provinces of the kingdom. His reign is notable for the fact that for the first time we come across one or two important Hindu nobles at the court of Delhi. Some of the Muslim and Hindu nobles under the leadership of Sarwar-ul-mulk, who was the wazir of the kingdom, hatched a conspiracy against the Sultan. When Mubarak was supervising the construction of a town on the bank of the Yamuna, the plotters fell on him and put him to death on February 19, 1434.

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We have a fairly detailed account of the reign of Mubarak Shah and his predecessors in a Persian work entitled *Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi*. This chronicle was compiled by Yahiya bin Ahmad Sarhindi during the reign of this ruler.

Muhammad Shah, 1434—1445

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On the death of Mubarak Shah the nobles of Delhi elevated Muhammad to the throne. He was a grandson of Khizr Khan and the heir-designate of Mubarak Shah. The wazir, Sarwar-ul-mulk, anxious to keep power in his own hands, appropriated the royal treasures, the stores and the elephants and kept them in his possession.

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He persuaded the new king to grant him the title of Khan-i-Jahan. He filled the high offices of the State with his own nominees and supporters. Important fiefs, such as, Bayana, Amroha, Narnaul, Kuhram and some of the parganas in the Doab were assigned to Siddhipala and his friends and followers who had played a prominent part in the assassination of Mubarak Shah. Other followers of the perfidious wazir were similarly rewarded. There was, however, one noble, named Kamal-ul-mulk, who was loyal to Khizr Khan’s house and was secretly nursing a grievance against the murderers of Mubarak, whom he wanted to punish. He secretly raised a party of his followers which consisted of old maliks and amirs who were dissatisfied with the wazir for his policy of associating Hindu nobles with the administration of the court. These discontented peers besieged the wazir in the fort of Siri. The new king became a privy to the conspiracy and lent support to Kamal-ul-mulk and his party. On the other hand, Sarwar-ul-mulk wanted to lay hands on the Sultan. The Sultan, however, forestalled their designs and ordered an attack on the wazir and his followers when they came to the court. Kamal-ud-din came up with his followers in time and put Sarwar-ul-mulk and his followers to death. He was now appointed minister and he distributed offices among his friends and supporters. But Kamal-ul-mulk was not likely to succeed, as he had no powerful army at his back. Rebellions continued as before. Ibrahim Sharqi of Jaunpur invaded the eastern parts of the Sultanate and seized a number of its parganas. Mahmud Khalji of Malwa also raided the vicinity of Delhi in order to invade it; but he was obliged to return to his capital, Mandu, on the receipt of the news that his capital was threatened by Ahmad Shah of Gujarat. Moreover, he was nervous to hear that Bahlol Lodi, the governor of Lahore and Sarhind, was coming to reinforce the Delhi army. Bahlol arrived in time and chased the retreating Malwa army and captured its baggage. For this timely service Bahlol was given the title of Khan-i-Khana, and Muhammad called the Lodi chief affectionately his ‘son’.

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Unfortunately, another important factor emerged in the politics of Delhi at this time. Bahlol Lodi entertained the ambition of seizing the throne of Delhi for himself. He was encouraged in this ambition by Jasrath Khokhar, who had his own axe to grind. To achieve this object, Bahlol began collecting a large army of the Afghans. He invaded Delhi with a large force, but failed to capture the capital city. The fall of the dynasty, however, was only a question of time. Everywhere there was insubordination. Revenues did not come forth and, at the top of this, the formidable governor in the kingdom, namely, Bahlol Lodi, was hungrily awaiting the opportunity of striking a fatal blow at it. At this critical time Muhammad died in 1445. He had proved weaker than his predecessors.

Ala-ud-din Alam Shah, 1445—1450

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The maliks and amirs now placed Muhammad’s son on the throne under the title of Ala-ud-din Alam Shah. The new king was even more incompetent than his father. Bahlol Lodi tried his best to take the fullest advantage of the weakness of the Delhi government. Fortunately for him there was a quarrel between the new king and his wazir, Hamid Khan, whom the Sultan wanted to kill. Hamid Khan, therefore, invited Bahlol to the capital, thinking that the Afghan chief would act as a tool in his hands and allow him to conduct the administration as before. But Bahlol was not the man to share power with anybody. He seized Delhi by a *coup* and put Hamid Khan out of his way. Ala-ud-din Alam Shah, who was a mean spirited ruler, resigned the whole kingdom to Bahlol and betook to Badaun. Bahlol removed Alam Shah’s name from the *khutba* and the coins and proclaimed himself king of Delhi on April 19, 1451. Ala-ud-din continued to live as a private nobleman at Badaun where he died a few years later.

The Sayyid Dynasty

Cites (1)