Khilji Dynasty
| Author of this article is Dayanand Deswal दयानन्द देसवाल |
The Khilji dynasty (Persian: سلسله خلجی; Hindi: सलतनत ख़िलजी) or Khalji was a Muslim dynasty which ruled large parts of South Asia between 1290 and 1320. It was founded by Jalal-ud-din Firuz Khilji and became the second dynasty to rule the Delhi Sultanate of India.
The dynasty, like the previous Slave Dynasty, was of Turkish origin, though the Khalji tribe had long been settled in Afghanistan. Its three kings were noted for their faithlessness, their ferocity, their penetration of the Hindu south, and defending the Sultanate against the repeated Mongol invasions on India.
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Rulers of Khilji dynasty
- Jalal-ud-din Khilji or Jalaluddin Khilji(1290-1296)
- Ala-ud-din Khilji or Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316)
- Mubarak Shah or Qutb-ud-din Mubarak Shah Khilji (1316-1320) - He was the weakest ruler of the dynasty, and was murdered by Khusro Khan in 1320, which ended the Khilji dynasty's rule.
Loots and devastation during Khilji Dynasty's rule
Alauddin Khilji reigned for 20 years. He attacked and seized Ranthambhor (1301), Chittorgarh (1303), Māndu (1305) and plundered the wealthy state of Devagiri, and also withstood two Mongol raids. Alauddin is also known for his cruelty against attacked kingdoms, after the wars.
In 1308, Alauddin's lieutenant, Malik Kafur captured Warangal, overthrew the Hoysala Empire south of the Krishna River and raided Madura in Tamil Nadu, then looted the treasury in capitals, and from the temples of south India. Among these loots was the Warangal loot that included world famous Koh-i-Noor diamond. This made Malik Kafur a favorite of Alauddin Khilji.
Cruel taxation system during Khilji regime
Alauddin Khilji changed the tax policies to strengthen his treasury to help pay salaries to his army and fund his wars of expansion. He raised agriculture taxes from 20% to 50% – payable in grain and agricultural produce (or cash), eliminating payments and commissions on taxes collected by local chiefs, banned socialization among his officials as well as inter-marriage between noble families to help prevent any opposition forming against him.
Alauddin Khilji enforced four taxes on non-Muslims in the Sultanate - jizya (poll tax), kharaj (land tax), kari (house tax) and chari (pasture tax). Revenue assignments to Muslim jagirdars were also cancelled and the revenue was collected by the central administration. Alauddin Khilji's taxation methods and increased taxes reduced agriculture output and the Sultanate witnessed massive inflation. Taxes collected in the form of seized crops and grains were stored in sultanate's granaries. Over the time, farmers quit farming for income and shifted to subsistence farming, the general food supply worsened in north India, shortages increased and Delhi Sultanate witnessed increasingly worse and extended periods of famines. The price control system collapsed shortly after the death of Alauddin Khilji, with prices of various agriculture products and wages doubling to quadrupling within a few years.
Alauddin Khilji's taxation system was probably the one institution from his reign that lasted the longest, even upto the nineteenth century. The land tax (kharaj or mal) became the principal form in which the peasant's surplus was expropriated by the ruling classes.
The last Khilji sultans
Aladdin Khilji died in December 1315. Thereafter, the sultanate witnessed chaos, coup and succession of assassinations. Malik Kafur became the sultan but lacked support from Muslim amirs and was killed within a few months. Within the next three years, three more Khilji successors violently assumed power but were in turn, all violently put to death in coups. After Malik Kafur's death, the Muslim amirs installed Shihab-ud-din Omar, a six-year-old, as Sultan, with his elder teenage brother Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah as regent. Mubarak Shah killed his younger brother and then appointed himself as the Sultan. To win over the loyalty of the amirs and the Malik clan in the Sultanate, Mubarak Shah offered Ghazi Malik the command of Punjab and others various offices, or death. The amirs chose the office. Mubarak Shah ruled for less than 4 years, then was murdered in 1320 by his army general Khusraw Khan. The Muslim amirs in Delhi reached out and invited Ghazi Malik, the then Muslim army commander in Punjab, to lead a coup against Khusraw Khan. Ghazi Malik attacked Khusraw Khan in Delhi, beheaded him, and rechristened himself as Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq the first ruler of the Tughluq Dynasty.
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