The Rise of Khalji Dynasty

Hello everyone,

Tarun is here with a very important page of Indian history. 13th of June, 1290 is the date marked with the rise of Khalji dynasty.

The credit of the rise of the Khalji dynasty goes to its first ruler and establisher – Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji. He was the person who annexed the throne from last heir of the slave dynasty - Shams ud-Din Kayumars and ascended the throne of Delhi.

Before ascending the throne, he was the officer under the last ruler and had rose to such an important position, that he was being assumed a threat by the other ministers of the dynasty. Also, conspiracies were there by different ministers to kill him. But him, escaping from all the threats and reaching the King’s throne gives the proof of he being an able ruler.

His original name was Malik Firuz, and he attained the title of Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji on 13th of June 1290.

But the thing to be noticed here is how he was able to overthrow such a powerful slave dynasty.

These are some of the reasons, due to which he was able to do so:

a) Weak successors= Balban is considered as the last most powerful ruler of slave dynasty, after him his grandson Muiz ud din Qaiqabad became king, and then Shams ud-Din Kayumars, who was an infant ruler

b) Firuz’s capability= The military tactics and capability of Firuz made him able to acquire the throne of huge Delhi Sultanate. This could also be seen in him was against Mongols.

c) Need of an hour= A complete threat was around India and Delhi Sultanate, if nobody has acquired it, it might have been annexed by the Mongols.

d) Dominance = Though not all the ministers but the army and important men of the state were under the hand of Firuz.

Having a masterplan and due to these factors, Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji annexed the Delhi throne at the age of 70 in 1290 AD.

We must notice some of the important events that happened during the time of rise of Khalji Dynasty:

• Even being a very good and highly capable ruler, Firuz was never free of the conflicts or surprises.

• Immediately after establishment of Khalji dynasty, it was attacked by Malik Chajju, Balban’s nephew.

• Mangols attacked his times under Halaku but the war didn’t become violent, and negotiations were held

• Mongols attacked once again under Ulugh Khan. Ulugh Khan settled in Delhi after defeat and was married by King’s daughter.

• Jalaluddin Khilji was killed by his nephew and son-in-law Alauddin Khilji who succeeded him.

Features of Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji’s administration:

• The king was a peaceful person by nature. He believed in forgiveness above violence.

• Jalal-ud-din Khalji even released criminals whether it was a conspirator or a traitor. This policy was not appreciated by his courtiers and nobles.

• Jalal-ud-din avoided making any radical changes to the administrative set-up and kept administering in traditional Turkic style.

• Jalal-ud-din appointed his relatives and associates to the important offices.

Death of Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji:

The death of the founder of the Khalji dynasty was planned by his own nephew, Ali Gurshasp, who later ascended the throne and ruled it by the name of Alauddin Khalji.

The death of Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji is sometimes considered as the result of his over peacefulness and dependency on relatives for the administrative matters.

The Khalji dynasty viewed it golden rise during the reign of Alauddin Khalji.

Alauddin Khalji is famous for his words

"Only Allauddin has the right over that rarest thing of the world."