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Some individuals and events mentioned in this chapter:
Chinggis (Genghis)
Khan
Genghis Khan (c.?1158–1162 – August 18, 1227), born Temüjin, was
the founder and first Great Khan (Emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became
the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. He came to power by
uniting many of the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia, and, after being
proclaimed the universal ruler of the Mongols, or Genghis Khan, he launched the
Mongol invasions, which ultimately conquered most of Eurasia, reaching as far
west as Poland and as far south as Egypt. His major campaigns include those
against the Qara Khitai, Khwarezmia and the Western Xia and Jin dynasties, and
his generals conducted further raids into medieval Georgia, the Kievan Rus',
and Volga Bulgaria. Genghis Khan and his empire have a fearsome reputation in
local histories. Many medieval chroniclers and modern historians describe
Genghis Khan's conquests as wholesale destruction on an unprecedented scale,
causing great demographic changes and a drastic decline of population as a
result of mass exterminations and famine. A conservative estimate amounts to
about four million civilians (whereas other figures range from forty to sixty
million) who lost their lives as a consequence of Genghis Khan's military
campaigns. In contrast, Buddhist Uyghurs of the kingdom of Qocho, who willingly
left the Qara Khitai empire to become Mongol vassals, viewed him as a
liberator.
Genghis Khan was also portrayed positively by early Renaissance sources out of
respect for the great spread of culture, technology and ideas under the Mongol
Empire. By the end of the Great Khan's life, the Mongol Empire occupied a
substantial portion of Central Asia and China. Due to his exceptional military
successes, Genghis Khan is often considered to be one of the greatest
conquerors of all time. Beyond his military accomplishments, Genghis Khan also
advanced the Mongol Empire in other ways. He decreed the adoption of the Uyghur
script as the Mongol Empire's writing system. He also practised meritocracy and
encouraged religious tolerance in the Mongol Empire, unifying the nomadic
tribes of Northeast Asia. Present-day Mongolians regard him as the founding
father of Mongolia. He is also credited with bringing the Silk Road under one
cohesive political environment. This brought relatively easy communication and
trade between Northeast Asia, Muslim Southwest Asia, and Christian Europe,
expanding the cultural horizons of all three areas.
Khwarazmian
Empire
The Khwarazmian Empire also spelt Khwarazmian) was a Turko-Persian Sunni Muslim
empire that ruled large parts of present-day Central Asia, Afghanistan, and
Iran in the approximate period of 1077 to 1231, first as vassals of the Seljuk
Empire and the Qara Khitai (Western Liao dynasty), and later as independent
rulers, up until the Mongol conquest in the 13th century. It is estimated that
the empire spanned an area of 2.3 million square kilometers to 3.6 million
square kilometers in the beginning of the 13th century, effectively making it
one of the largest land empires in history. The date of the founding of the
state of the Khwarazmshahs remains debatable. The dynasty that ruled the empire
was founded by Anush Tigin (also known as Gharachai), initially a Turkic slave
of the rulers of Gharchistan, later a Mamluk in the service of the Seljuqs.
However, it was Ala ad-Din Atsiz, descendant of Anush Tigin, who achieved
Khwarazm's independence from its neighbors. In 1220, the Mongols under their
ruler Genghis Khan invaded the Khwarazmian Empire, successfully conquering the
whole of it in less than two years. The Mongols exploited existing weaknesses
and conflicts in the empire, besieging and plundering the richest cities, while
putting its citizens to the sword in one of the bloodiest wars in human
history.
Khwarazmian
dynasty
The Khwarazmian dynasty also known as the Khwarezmid dynasty, dynasty of
Khwarazm Shahs, and other spelling variants; from Persian Khwarazmshahiyan,
"Kings of Khwarezmia") was a Persianate Sunni Muslim dynasty of
Turkic Mamluk origin. The dynasty ruled large parts of Greater Iran during the
High Middle Ages, in the approximate period of 1077 to 1231, first as vassals
of the Seljuqs and Kara-Khitan, and later as independent rulers, up until the
Mongol invasion of Khwarezmia in the 13th century. The dynasty was founded by
Anush Tigin Gharchai, a former Turkish slave of the Seljuq sultans, who was
appointed the governor of Khwarezm. His son, Qutb ad-Din Muhammad I, became the
first hereditary Shah of Khwarezm. The date of the founding of the Khwarazmian
dynasty remains debatable. During a revolt in 1017, Khwarazmian rebels murdered
Abu'l-Abbas Ma'mun and his wife, Hurra-ji, sister of the Ghaznavid sultan
Mahmud. In response, Mahmud invaded and occupied the region of Khwarezm, which
included Nasa and the ribat of Farawa. As a result, Khwarezm became a province
of the Ghaznavid Empire from 1017 to 1034. In 1077 the governorship of the
province, which since 1042/1043 belonged to the Seljuqs, fell into the hands of
Anush Tigin Gharchai, a former Turkic slave of the Seljuq sultan.
In 1141, the Seljuq Sultan Ahmed Sanjar was defeated by the Kara Khitay at the
battle of Qatwan, and Anush Tigin's grandson Ala ad-Din Atsiz became a vassal
to Yelü Dashi of the Kara Khitan. Sultan Ahmed Sanjar died in 1156. As the
Seljuq state fell into chaos, the Khwarezm-Shahs expanded their territories
southward. In 1194, the last Sultan of the Great Seljuq Empire, Toghril III,
was defeated and killed by the Khwarezm ruler Ala ad-Din Tekish, who conquered
parts of Khorasan and western Iran. In 1200, Tekish died and was succeeded by
his son, Ala ad-Din Muhammad, who initiated a conflict with the Ghorids and was
defeated by them at Amu Darya (1204). Following the sack of Khwarizm, Muhammad
appealed for aid from his suzerain, the Kara Khitai who sent him an army.
With this reinforcement, Muhammad won a victory over the Ghorids at Hezarasp
(1204) and forced them out of Khwarizm. Muhammad's gratitude towards his
suzerain was short-lived. He again initiated a conflict, this time with the aid
of the Kara-Khanids, and defeated a Kara-Khitai army at Talas (1210), but
allowed Samarkand (1210) to be occupied by the Kara-Khitai. He overthrew the
Karakhanids (1212) and Ghurids (1215). In 1212, Muhammad II shifted capital
from Gurganj to Samarkand.
Thus Muhammad II incorporated nearly the whole of Transoxania and present-day
Afghanistan into his empire, which after further conquests in western Persia
(by 1217) stretched from the Syr Darya to the Zagros Mountains, and from the
northern parts of the Hindu Kush to the Caspian Sea. The son of Ala ad-Din
Muhammad, Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu became the new Sultan (he rejected the title
Shah). He attempted to flee to India, but the Mongols caught up with him before
he got there, and he was defeated at the Battle of Indus. He escaped and sought
asylum in the Sultanate of Delhi. Iltumish however denied this to him in
deference to the relationship with the Abbasid caliphs. Returning to Persia, he
gathered an army and re-established a kingdom. He never consolidated his power,
however, spending the rest of his days struggling against the Mongols, the
Seljuks of Rum, and pretenders to his own throne. He lost his power over Persia
in a battle against the Mongols in the Alborz Mountains. Escaping to the
Caucasus, he captured Azerbaijan in 1225, setting up his capital at Tabriz. In
1226 he attacked Georgia and sacked Tbilisi. Following on through the Armenian
highlands he clashed with the Ayyubids, capturing the town Ahlat along the
western shores of the Lake Van, who sought the aid of the Seljuqs Sultanate of
Rûm. Sultan Kayqubad I defeated him at Arzinjan on the Upper Euphrates at
the Battle of Yassiçemen in 1230. He escaped to Diyarbakir, while the
Mongols conquered Azerbaijan in the ensuing confusion. He was murdered in 1231
by Kurdish highwaymen.
Mongol
conqeust of the Khwarazmian Empire
The Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia, or the Mongol invasion of Persia/Iran, was
the invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire by the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan
and Hulagu Khan. The comprehensive defeat and destruction of this Turco-Persian
empire at the hands of the Mongols marked the beginning of their conquest of
Central Asia and the Islamic world. The chain of events that led to the Mongol
invasion started when the Shah of Khwarazm, Shah Muhammad II, broke a peace
treaty that he had agreed with Genghis Khan. On the Shah's orders, the governor
of the city of Otrar arrested and put to death all the members of a Mongol
trade caravan; when the Khan, trying to avoid open war, sent three diplomats to
the Shah at Urgench, one was beheaded and the others were publicly humiliated.
Outraged by this affront, Genghis left the wars he was fighting in China, and
prepared to attack Khwarazm. In the ensuing conflict, which lasted less than
two years, the Shah's empire was annihilated by the Mongol armies. Genghis,
leading a force of around 100,000 men, exploited existing weaknesses and
conflicts in the Khwarazmian Empire to isolate and massacre his enemies. The
three leading Eastern Kwarazmian cities (Bukhara, Samarkand, and Urgench) were
successfully besieged and plundered; the citizens of the western cities of Merv
and Nishapur were put to the sword in one of the bloodiest wars in human
history. Shah Muhammed died on an island in the Caspian Sea, exhausted by the
loss of his kingdom, which was absorbed into the Mongol Empire. The subjugation
of the Khwarazmian heartlands in central Asia provided a springboard for the
Mongols' later assaults on the Caucasus and the Abbasid Empire. When the Empire
later fractured into four separate khanates, most of the Khwarazmian lands
taken by Genghis would be ruled by the powerful Ilkhanate, with some of the
northern lands ruled by the Chagatai Khanate. It would be from these northern
lands that Timur would launch his large-scale campaigns on the rest of Asia.
Ala ad Din
Mohammad 1200 -1220
Ala ad-Din Muhammad II (full name: Ala ad-Dunya wa ad-Din Abul-Fath Muhammad
Sanjar ibn Tekish) was the Shah of the Khwarazmian Empire from 1200 to 1220.
His ancestor was Anushtegin Gharchai, a Turkic Ghulam who eventually became a
viceroy of a small province named Khwarizm. He is perhaps best known for
inciting the Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire, which resulted in the
utter destruction of his empire.
Delhi Sultanate see
map for extent
The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over
large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526). Five
dynasties ruled over the Delhi Sultanate sequentially: the Mamluk dynasty
(1206–1290), the Khalji dynasty (1290–1320), the Tughlaq dynasty
(1320–1414), the Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451), and the Lodi dynasty
(1451–1526). It covered large swathes of territory in modern-day India,
Pakistan, and Bangladesh as well as some parts of southern Nepal. As a
successor to the Ghurid dynasty, the Delhi Sultanate was originally one among a
number of principalities ruled by the Turkic slave-generals of Muhammad Ghori
(who had conquered large parts of northern India), including Yildiz, Aibek and
Qubacha, that had inherited and divided the Ghurid territories amongst
themselves. After a long period of infighting, the Mamluks were overthrown in
the Khalji revolution which marked the transfer of power from the Turks to a
heterogeneous Indo-Muslim nobility. Both of the resulting Khalji and Tughlaq
dynasties respectively saw a new wave of rapid Muslim conquests deep into South
India.
The sultanate finally reached the peak of its geographical reach during the
Tughlaq dynasty, occupying most of the Indian subcontinent under Muhammad bin
Tughluq. This was followed by decline due to Hindu reconquests, Hindu kingdoms
such as the Vijayanagara Empire and Mewar asserting independence, and new
Muslim sultanates such as the Bengal Sultanate breaking off. In 1526, the
Sultanate was conquered and succeeded by the Mughal Empire. The sultanate is
noted for its integration of the Indian subcontinent into a global cosmopolitan
culture (as seen concretely in the development of the Hindustani language and
Indo-Islamic architecture), being one of the few powers to repel attacks by the
Mongols (from the Chagatai Khanate) and for enthroning one of the few female
rulers in Islamic history, Razia Sultana, who reigned from 1236 to 1240.
Bakhtiyar Khalji's annexations were responsible for the large-scale desecration
of Hindu and Buddhist temples (leading to the decline of Buddhism in East India
and Bengal), and the destruction of universities and libraries. Mongolian raids
on West and Central Asia set the scene for centuries of migration of fleeing
soldiers, intelligentsia, mystics, traders, artists, and artisans from those
regions into the subcontinent, thereby establishing Islamic culture in India
and the rest of the region.
Battle of Parwan
1221
The Battle of Parwan was fought in 1221 in Parvan, Khwarazmian Empire, between
armies of its Sultan, Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu and the Mongol Empire commanded by
Genghis Khan's adopted brother Shikhikhutag. In late 1219, Genghis Khan started
a campaign on the Khwarazmian Empire. As it became evident that the Mongols
were coming, Jalal al-Din proposed to encounter them in one decisive battle
near the Syr Darya, but Khwarezmshah Muhammad II instead used a passive
defense, relying on his fortresses without assembling his army. Khwarazmian
cities fell one by one. Muhammad II started to retreat into the west after
Bukhara and Samarkand fell in the beginning of 1220. Muhammad II died in an
island in the Caspian sea, but prior to his death he announced that Jalal
al-Din would inherit the throne. Jalal al-Din went to Urgench but was ousted.
He defeated the Mongols in several battles and then retreated into the
Hindukush. In February 1221, Jalal al-Din went to Ghazni and assembled a
coalition of Afghan and Turkic warriors. From there, he went first to Valiyan,
which was under siege of the Mongols, defeated their two armies, under the
leaderships of Tekejik and Molger, and seized Valiyan back. Jalal ad-Din
advanced into Parwan and defeated the Mongol detachment near Parwan. A week
later, Genghis Khan sent his chief justice Shikhikhutag to hunt down Jalal
al-Din, but only gave the inexperienced general 30,000 – 50,000 troops.
Modern scholarship differ on the strength of both armies while the medieval
scholarship differ on the strengths of the Mongol army. Ata Malik Juvayni
reports Shikhikhutug's strengths as 30,000, Juzjani reports it as 45,000
whereas Ibn Abd Allah al-Umari gives his strength as 70,000. Juzjani, Nasawi,
Juvayni, Ibn al-Athir and Handmir all report the Khwarezmian strength as
60,000.
Modern scholarship differ on the strength of both sides. The lowest estimate
for Jalal al-Din's strength is 30,000 while the highest is 120,000. At the
Harper's Military Encyclopedia, N. Trevor and Ernest Dupuy gives Jalal al-Din's
force as 120,000. Spencer C. Tucker similarly gives Jalal's strength as
120,000. Estimates for Shikhikhutug's strength range between 30,000 and 70,000.
Mclynn Frank estimates the Mongol forces were around 45 - 50,000 whereas he
estimates Jalal had 60,000-70,000, he further adds that while the numbers are
exaggerated, the proportion of Jalal's army's numerical superiority is probably
accurate. Carl Sverdrup on the other hand assesses that Jalal al-Din probably
had 15,000 men in total whereas Shikhikhutug commanded as many as 10,000 men.
The Khwarezmian army was ill-equipped and majority of them was consisted of
infantries whereas the entire army of Shikhikhutug was well equipped cavalry.
Shikhikhutag was overconfident after the continuous Mongol successes, and he
quickly found himself on the back foot against the more numerous Khwarezmian
force. The battle took place in a narrow valley, which was unsuitable for the
Mongol cavalry. Jalal al-Din had mounted archers, whom he ordered to dismount
and fire on the Mongols. Jalal al-Din gave Saif al-Din Igrakh the command of
the left flank and Malik Khan the right flank, consisted of 10,000 soldiers. On
the first day of the battle, Malik Khan's division pushed the Mongol left into
their base. Because of the narrow terrain, the Mongols could not use their
normal tactics. On the second day of the battle, to deceive the Khwarezmians,
Shikhikhutag mounted straw warriors on spare remounts, which may have spared
him from a killing stroke, but Jalal al-Din was not fooled by the ruse. On the
third day, the Mongol right flank charged on Igrakh's division, Ighraq's
division responded by shooting arrows on foot to which the Mongols feigned
flight. Ighraq's men charged but the Mongols suddenly counter-attacked and
killed 500 men of Ighraq. Seeing this, Jalal al-Din personally attacked the
Mongols and forced them to flight. Large number of the Mongols were captured
alive, the Khwarezmians killed them by nailing stakes into their ears.
Shikhikhutug was driven off in defeat, losing over half his army.
Terken
Khatun
Terken Khatun was the Empress of the Khwarazmian Empire by marriage to Shah Ala
ad-Din Tekish, and the mother and de facto co-ruler of Muhammad II of the
Khwarazmian Empire. Terken Khatun was the Qipchaq khan's daughter. She was from
either the Qangli or the Bayandur tribe of the Kimek. According to Jalal ad-Din
Mingburnu's biographer, Shihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi, the majority of her
son Ala ad-Din Muhammad's top commanders were from Terken Khatun's tribe, and
the need to attach them to his side was one reason why the Shah lent so heavily
on his mother for advice. After the death of her husband, 'Ala' al-Din Tekish
(1172-1200), she so dominated the court of their son, 'Ala' al-Din Muhammad II
(1200–20), and quarreled so bitterly with his heir by another wife, Jalal
al-Din, that she may have contributed to the impotence of the Khwarazmian
Empire in the face of the Mongol onslaught. She had a separate Diwan and
separate palace and the orders of the Sultan were not considered to be
effective without her signature. The Shah ruled the heterogeneous peoples
without mercy. In face of Mongol attacks, Khwarazmian empire, with a combined
army of 400,000, simply collapsed. Khwarazmshah Muhammed had retreated to
Samarkand towards the end of his domination and he had to leave the capital
city of Gurgenç (Köneürgenç, present-day Turkmenistan)
to her. She was captured by Ghengis Khan and died in Mongolia.
Jalal al Din
1199 -1231
Jalal al-Din Mingburnu , also known as Jalal al-Din Khwarazmshah, was the last
Khwarazmshah of the Anushtegin dynasty. The eldest son and successor of Ala
ad-Din Muhammad II of the Khwarazmian Empire, Jalal al-Din was brought up at
Gurganj, the wealthy capital of the Khwarezmid homeland. An able general, he
served as second-in-command to his father in at least one battle; however,
since he was the son of a concubine, he was challenged as successor by a
younger brother, whose cause was supported by the powerful Queen Mother, Terken
Khatun. Nevertheless, after the Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire led
to his father's flight and death on an island in the Caspian Sea, Jalal-al Din
gained the loyalty of the majority of Khwarazmian loyalists. Jalal ad-Din rode
to Gurganj a city reportedly housing 90,000 soldiers, and found the city in
turmoil. The city's nobility, like Terken Khatun, were not prepared to accept
Jalal ad-Din as Shah, preferring the more malleable Uzlaq, and planned a coup
against al-Din.
Al-Din left the capital after being warned of the coup, accompanied by Timur
Malik and 300 cavalry. Crossing the Karakum desert, he attacked the garrison of
a Mongol detachment at Nesa, killing most of the force including two brothers
of Toghachar, son in law of Genghis Khan. The Mongols pursued, past Nishapur
and Herat, but lost the trail before Ghazni, where al-Din found 50,000
loyalists waiting for him. After a few days, he was joined by his maternal
uncle Temur Malik, who brought an additional 30,000 veterans — al-Din now
had a sizeable force with which to strike back at the Mongols.
Meanwhile, back in Khwarazm, Gurganj, Merv, Balkh, and Nishapur had all been
taken by the Mongol forces. Jalal al-Din, who had just married Temur Malik's
daughter to solidify ties, marched towards Kandahar which was under siege by an
Mongol army and defeated them after a two day battle.
In autumn 1221, he then moved north to Parwan and attacked a besieging army
north of Charikar; the numerically inferior Mongols lost 1,000 and retreated
across the river, destroying the bridge. Genghis sent an army numbering between
thirty and forty-five thousand under Shigi Qutuqu to confront the Shah. The
Battle of Parwan was fought on a rock-strewn, narrow valley which was
unsuitable for the Mongol cavalry, and the Muslims fought dismounted until the
final charge led by Jalal ad-Din, who personally commanded the center,
resulting in the repulsion of the Mongols. This battle made Jalal al-Din's
reputation; however, he soon lost half of his army through infighting: the
sources report a dispute over booty between Temur Malik and Ighrak, commander
of the right flank. Jalal al-Din had won several victories against the Mongols
in 1221, and after the Battle of Parwan, independent insurgency groups emerged
in multiple cities inspired by his deeds.
Kushteghin Pahlawan launched a revolt in Merv and ousted the Mongol
administration; he then made a successful attack on Bukhara, while Herat also
rebelled. These revolts would be crushed by the Mongols, and many atrocities
perpetuated as retribution. However Genghis Khan, now at Bamiyan, did not take
this defeat lightly. After executing that fortress, he made his way eastwards
to confront Jalal al-Din, using his powers of organization to send detachments
out to prevent the disparate Khwarazmid factions from uniting, one of whom
al-Din managed to isolate and defeat. Al-Din knew he had no chance of winning
against Genghis in a pitched battle with his diminished army and after attempts
to win back Ighrak and his men failed, he marched towards India.
The Khan's army managed to surround al-Din's army on the banks of the River
Indus and crushed them in the ensuing battle in November 1221. The Shah escaped
the battle by jumping into the river fully armed, and reaching the other shore.
This act of desperation is said to have drawn the admiration of Genghis Khan,
who forbade Mongols to pursue the Shah or shoot him with arrows. The Shah's
surviving troops were however slaughtered, along with his harem and children.
The new Shah moved to Gurganj, but departed eastwards after Terken Khatun moved
against him; evading Mongol patrols, he gathered a substantial army at GhazTni.
He managed to inflict an excellent defeat on Shigi Qutuqu at the Battle of
Parwan, but soon lost a good portion of his army in a dispute over spoils. He
was defeated by a vengeful Genghis Khan at the Battle of the Indus, and fled
across the river. After the battle of Indus, Jalal al-Din crossed the Indus and
settled in India. A local prince, who had six thousand men attacked Jalal
al-Din's makeshift forces of no more than four thousand, but al-Din still
triumphed, greatly enhancing his Indian appeal. He then sought asylum in the
Sultanate of Delhi but Iltutmish denied this to him because of al-Din's poor
relationship with the Abbasid caliphs; he did however give one of his daughters
to al-Din as a peace offering.
The Khan sent Dorbei Doqshin with two tumens to pursue al-Din, whom he still
regarded as a threat, in early 1222; one account has Doqshin fail to secure
al-Din, and return to the Khan in Samarkand, who was so infuriated Doqshin was
sent out at once on the same task. Meanwhile, al-Din was quarrelling with local
princes, but was mostly victorious when it came to battle. Under Doqshin's
leadership, the Mongol army took Nandana from one of the lieutenants of Jalal
ad-Din, sacked it, then proceeded to besiege the larger Multan. The Mongol army
managed to breach the wall but the city was defended successfully by the
Khwarezmians; due to the hot weather, the Mongols were forced to retreat after
42 days . It is probable that Doqshin, having been instructed not to return
unsuccessfully, eventually converted to Islam and joined al-Din. The rest of
al-Din's three years in exile in India were spent in taking large parts of
Lahore and the Punjab; he returned to Persia at the behest of his brother
Ghiyath al-Din Pirshah, who still controlled parts of Persia, in late 1223.
Having gathered an army and entered Persia, Jalal ad-Din sought to re-establish
the Khwarazm kingdom, but he never fully consolidated his power. In 1224, he
confirmed Burak Hadjib, ruler of the Qara Khitai, in Kerman, and received the
submission of his brother Ghiyath, who had established himself in Hamadan and
Isfahan, and the province of Fars, and clashed with the Caliph An Nasser in
Khuzestan, from whom he captured parts of Western Iran. The next year, he
dethroned the Eldiguzid Uzbek Muzaffar al-Din and set himself up in their
capital of Tabriz on 25 July 1225. That same year, he attacked Georgia,
defeating its forces in the battle of Garni, and conquered Tbilisi, after which
a hundred thousand citizens were allegedly put to death for not renouncing
Christianity.
Jalal ad-Din spent the rest of his days struggling against the Mongols,
pretenders to the throne and the Seljuqs of Rûm. His dominance in the
region required year-after-year campaigning. In 1226, Burak Hadjib, the
governor of Kerman and al-Din's father-in-law, rebelled against him, but after
al-Din marched against him he was subdued. Jalal ad-Din then had a brief
victory over the Seljuqs and captured the town of Akhlat in Turkey from the
Ayyubids.
In 1227, after the death of Genghis Khan, a new Mongol army commanded by
Chormagan was sent to invade al Din's lands; they were met near Dameghan and
defeated. In August 1228, a new Mongol army under the leadership of Taymas
Noyan invaded the re-established kingdom. Jalal al-Din met them near Isfahan
and the two armies battled. The Mongols scored a pyrrhic victory in this
battle, unable to exploit their victory as they had no power left to advance.
The same year, his brother Ghiyath al-Din rebelled but was defeated. Ghiyath
al-Din fled to Kerman where he and his mother were killed. The revived
Khwarazmshah by this time controlled Kerman, Tabriz, Isfahan and Fars. Jalal
ad-Din moved against Ahlat again in 1229. However, he was defeated in this
campaign by Sultan Kayqubad I at the Battle of Yassiçemen in 1230, from
whence he escaped to Diyarbakir. Now essentially a warlord, Jalal al-Din
managed to establish a succession short-lived states: first in the Punjab, from
1222-4, and then in northwest Iran and Georgia, after 1225. In politics, Jalal
al-Din did not have the ability which underpinned his martial exploits, and he
was forced to fight several large revolts. Additionally, he came under
increasing pressure from Mongol forces. Eventually, he was killed by a Kurd in
August 1231.
Jalal al-Din was considered by many to be a fearless commander and a great
warrior. His biographer, Shihab al-Din Muhammad al-Nasawi, described him as
follows: He was swarthy (dark-skinned), small in stature, Turkic in
"behavior" and speech, but he also spoke Persian. As for his courage,
I have mentioned it many times when describing the battles he took part in. He
was a lion among lions and the most fearless among his valiant horsemen. He was
mild in his temper though, did not get easily provoked and never used bad
language. Juzjani described al-Din as "endowed with great heroism, valour
and high talents and accomplishments" Yaqut al-Hamawi notes that Jalal
al-Din was known as a bellicose warrior and Jalal al-Din's passiveness after
the Battle of Yassiçemen was seen as unbelievable. Modern historians are
also positive concerning his military talent. Carl Sverdrup described Jalal
al-Din as "brave and energetic"; while Timothy May describes him as
the most stalwart enemy of the Mongols in West Asia until the time of the
Mamluk Sultanate. Due to his reputation for resisting the Mongols, Jalal al-Din
is commonly depicted on artwork resembling that of the Persian epic Shahnameh,
where he is associated with the mythological warrior Rostam. Though considered
a successful warrior and a general, Jalal al-Din is considered a poor ruler and
the loss of his re-established empire to the Mongol has been attributed to his
poor diplomacy and rulership; he was seen as untrustable and warmongering. His
enmity with many neighbors resulted in his isolation against the Mongol army of
Chormaqan. Vasily Bartold believed that Jalal al-Din executed more cruel and
irrational brutality than Genghis Khan did. Even al-Nasawi was unable to
justify the negative impact Jalal al-Din's rule and conduct of his soldiers had
on his subjects.
Battle of the Indus
1221
The Battle of the Indus was fought at the Indus River, in 1221 between Jalal
ad-Din Mingburnu, the sultan of the Khwarezmian Empire and his remaining forces
of 30,000 men against the 200,000 strong Mongolian army of Genghis Khan. Jalal
ad-Din Mingburnu was fleeing to India with his men and thousands of refugees
from Persia, following the Mongol sacking of several cities, including Bukhara
and Samarkand, the latter being the Khwarezmian capital. Jalal al-Din defeated
the Mongols in the Battle of Ustuva, the Battle of Kendakhar, the Battle of
Waliyan, the Battle of Djerdin and the Battle of Parwan, near the city of
Ghazni. According to Ibn Al-Athir's account, after the battle of Parwan, Jalal
al-Din sent a message to Genghis Khan, stating "In which locality do you
want the battle to be, so that we may make our way to it?" On the evening
of the day the battle was won, a quarrel arose among the two main generals of
Jalal al-Din, Sayf Al-Din Bugrakh and Malik Khan, and as a result 30,000
soldiers of Sayf Al-Din Bughrakh abandoned Jalal's army. Then came a large
army, larger than the one in the battle of Parwan, sent by Genghis Khan under
the leadership of his son Tolui and Jalal al-Din met them in Kabul and defeated
them again. As his newly formed army was disassembled after having fought three
battles against the Mongols and being abandoned by half of the army, Jalal
ad-Din Mingburnu headed for India to seek refuge together with his army of some
3,000 men and several thousand refugees. However, at first an advance army of
Genghis khan under the leadership of a Mongol general named Chagan caught up
with Jalal al-Din at a place named Djerdin. Jalal al-Din defeated them there
but a powerful army, which was at least 5 times bigger than the forces of Jalal
al-Din, under Genghis Khan, numbering 25,000–50,000 cavalry, caught up
with him when he was about to cross the Indus River.
Jalal ad-Din positioned his army of at least 30,000 men (consisted of 3,000
cavalry, 700 bodyguards and refugees of Central Asian Turkomans, Tajiks,
Uzbeks, Kangly origin) in a defensive stance against the Mongols, placing one
flank against the mountains while his other flank was covered by a river bend.
Genghis Khan gave Chagatai Khan command of the right wing; he gave command of
the left wing to Ögedei Khan. Jalal ad-Din's army was much weaker.
Khwarezmian army's right wing rested on the river and was being commanded by
Malik Khan. Khwarezmian army's left wing was deployed on rising grounds. Jalal
ad-Din thus covered his flanks making it difficult for Genghis Khan to outflank
his forces. The initial Mongol charge that opened the battle was beaten back.
Jalal ad-Din counterattacked in the centre with his crack 700-man bodyguard and
nearly breached the center of the Mongol Army. Genghis then sent a contingent
of 10,000 men around the mountain to flank Jalal ad-Din's army.
The soldiers of Jalal ad-Din's army, which were 30,000 in total, were much
fatigued with having fought ten whole hours against more than 300,000 men, were
seized with fear and fled. Genghis Khan wanted Jalal ad-Din alive and forbade
killing him; in order to prevent his escape, Genghis Khan arranged his forces
in a form of a bow. With his army being attacked from two directions and
collapsing into chaos, Jalal ad-Din, left with 700 men held out in the centre,
kept striking out in various directions but was left almost alone and for his
own safety, took off his armor, rode his horse into the river and forced it to
jump into the river from a low cliff (about 50 feet high), swam on horseback,
safely reaching the other bank of the Indus River in spectacular style. Genghis
Khan witnessed the feat and famously remarked: "Fortunate should be the
father of such a son." Genghis Khan did not allow his men to shoot at
Jalal ad-Din. The Mongol warriors wanted to chase Jalal ad-Din but Genghis Khan
did not permit them, stating "the prince will defeat all of their
attempts." Chagatai Khan was sent back south to hunt down Jalal al-Din
who, reports given to Genghis Khan said, had re-crossed the Sindhu to bury his
dead. Ibn Al Athir mentions that the Mongols lost more lives and suffered more
wounds than that of Khwarezmians.
Chagatai Khan was sent back south to hunt down Jalal al-Din who, according to
the reports given to Genghis Khan, had re-crossed the Sindhu. East of the Indus
River Jalal al-Din remained at large, and defeated two local forces close to
Lahore. He was reportedly able to build up his forces to as many as 10,000 men.
After summer of 1222, Genghis Khan sent Dorbei Doqshin and Bala back across the
Indus to hunt down the refugee prince. The latter retreated towards Delhi.
Dorbei and Bala did not remain for long east of the Indus, and Dorbei returned
to Genghis Khan near Samarkand. Genghis Khan was furious that they had failed
to hunt down Jalal al-Din, and sent him back to India. Jalal al-Din re-crossed
the Indus back to bury the dead of his campaign, Genghis Khan sent Chagatai
Khan back to capture Jalal al-Din before he gets strong enough. Chagatai Khan
failed to deal with Jala al-Din and returned back. After summer of 1222,
Genghis Khan appointed Dorbei Doqshin and Bala with huge armies to the
expedition of Indian subcontinent to pursue Jalal al-Din. Jalal al-Din moved
closer to Delhi. Dorbei Doqshin and Bala left Indian subcontinent and returned
to Genghis khan when he was in Samarkand. Genghis khan got angry with them and
sent them back again with the same mission. In January 1223, three different
Mongol armies coming from Khorasan, Seistan and Ghazni met in Saifrud and
together they made an all out assault.
After being beaten, the Mongol army gave up and left in March. Later, Dorbei
Doqshin was sent with the same mission for the second time. Under Dorbei
Doqshin's leadership, the Mongol army took Nandana from one of the lieutenants
of Jalal ad-Din, sacked it, then proceeded to besiege the larger Multan. The
Mongol army managed to breach the wall but the city was defended successfully
by the Khwarezmians. Jalal al-Din himself came to the siege and repelled Dorbei
Doqshin back. Dorbei Doqshin decided to retreat due to the climate before the
city was captured. The siege was aborted after 42 days (March–April 1224).
The Mongols under the leadership of Dorbei returned north via Ghazni. Dorbei
Doqshin was sent with the same mission again but after several unsuccessful
battles against Jalal al-Din, he joined Jalal al-Din and converted to Islam.
Shikhikhutug, on the other hand, was first sent to Nishapur with Tolun Cherbi,
the step-brother of Genghis Khan. After his mission in Nishapur, he was
appointed the charge of the captive craftsmen in Ghazni that were to be
transported to Mongolia. Then he led the siege of Tulak, the governor of Tulak,
Hashabi Nizawar agreed to pay tribute to him. After taking Tulak, Shikhikhutug
dealt with the coup d'état that took place in Merv. After the battle of
Indus, Genghis Khan went after Saif al-Din Bughraq, who abandoned Jalal
al-Din's army after the battle of Parwan, found them and killed them all.
Battle of Garni
1225
The Battle of Garni was fought in 1225 near Garni, in modern day Armenia, then
part of the Kingdom of Georgia. The invading Khwarazmian Empire was led by
Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu, its last Sultan, who was driven from his realm by the
Mongol Empire and was trying to recapture lost territories. The battle ended
with a Khwarezmid victory and is marked as a disastrous event in Georgian
history due to betrayal. As a result, the royal court of Georgian Queen Rusudan
(1223–1245) moved to Kutaisi and the country was exposed to subsequent
looting during the Mongol invasion.
Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu sent an abasement letter to Queen Rusudan demanding
subordination of Georgia under his rule. At the same time, he assembled a huge
military force, asking for troops from his allies and nobles across the empire.
The purpose was to completely crush the Kingdom of Georgia and take all its
dominions successfully ceding its existence. The Georgian court and leadership
had notes and reports about a possible intervention but did not consider it
necessary to take measures since that threat was not taken seriously. Instead,
the nobility replied by sending a letter that reminded Jalal ad-Din of his
crushing defeat against the Mongols, while having no idea how strong his empire
already was by then. In 1225, a large Khwarezmid army crossed the Georgian
border and soon both parties met on the battlefield.
Under the command of Queen Rusudan, messengers were sent out to all regions of
the Kingdom of Georgia in order to gather troops. During that period the
kingdom had the potential to raise around 100,000 men in total including
mercenaries. However the Georgians had reserved some forces for security
reasons, thus leaving around 60–70,000 men for battle. The strength of the
invading army far exceeded that of Rusudan's forces. According to the unknown
Georgian chronicler named "jamtaaghtsereli", the army of Jalal ad-din
was 140,000 men strong. Armenian sources say that the Muslim coalition deployed
up to 200,000 men. A Georgian vanguard of around 20,000 men led by the Toreli
brothers - Shalva Akhaltiskheli and Ivane Akhaltsikheli rushed towards the
Khwarazmid forces to secure areal dominance. While the Khwarazmians were
disposed on lower ground and flat lands, the Georgian who had arrived earlier
were deployed wisely on top of surrounding plateaus and established a strategic
advantage for the arriving main army. General Mkhargrdzeli with his more than
50,000 warriors arrived in time and initially kept himself in the background
being expected by the other commanders to react on any attack against his
vanguard while remaining unnoticed by the enemy.
The battle began with Jalal ad-Din's left wing attacking the Georgian vanguard
and it did not take long for his main forces to be ordered into fight. By that
time, Shalva Toreli-Akhaltiskheli and Ivane Toreli-Akhaltsikheli had already
sent several messengers to the commander of the main Georgian army asking him
to strike the Khwarezmid rear as the vanguard was able to stabilize the front
lines.
Despite the crucial advantage of the terrain, relief for the vanguard became
critically necessary. Mkhargrdzeli's army had still not replied and his
Georgian army's main body remained absolutely stationary. A nearly perfect
opportunity to force its enemy to fight against being encircled or caught in a
pincer movement, was wasted. Soon the Georgian vanguard was breaking apart and
finally got completely overrun. Commander Mkhargrdzeli then ordered his troops
to abandon the battlefield entirely, leaving the other two commanders Shalva
and Ivane Akhaltsikheli in their enemies' hands. Once again internal conflicts
and personal feuds between Georgian grand feudal lords decisively crippled the
Georgian kingdom's defences and its leaders power. After the battle Tbilisi was
sacked, allegedly a hundred thousand citizens were put to death for not
renouncing Christianity. A quarter of the Georgian army was annihilated,
leaving the country poorly steeled against an upcoming Mongol invasion. The
capture of Dvin brought about the end of Georgia's medieval heyday.
Battle of
Yassicemen 1230
Battle of Yassiçemen (Turkish: Yassiçemen Savasi) was a battle
fought in Anatolia, in what is now Erzincan Province, Turkey in 1230. Jalal
ad-Din was the last ruler of the Khwarezm Shahs. Actually the territory of the
sultanate had been annexed by the Mongol Empire during the reign of Jalal
ad-Din’s father Alaaddin Muhammad; but Jalal ad-Din continued to fight
with a small army. In 1225, he retreated to Azerbaijan and founded a
principality around Maragheh, East Azerbaijan. Although initially he formed an
alliance with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm against the Mongols, for
reasons unknown he later changed his mind and began hostilities against the
Seljuks. In 1230, he conquered Ahlat, (in what is now Bitlis Province, Turkey)
an important cultural city of the era from the Ayyubids which led to an
alliance between the Seljuks and Ayyubids. Jalal ad-Din on the other hand
allied himself with Jahan Shah, the rebellious Seljuk governor of Erzurum. The
battle took place in Yassiçemen, a location west of Erzincan. Jalal
ad-Din tried to attack before the merging of the Seljuk and Ayyubid armies, but
it was too late, as the Ayyubids had already sent a reinforcement of 10,000 to
the Seljuks. The commander of the Seljuk-Ayyubid army was the Seljuk sultan
Ala-ad Din Kayqubad I. The battle continued for three days. The alliance's
numerical superiority was at least two-folds.
The Khwarezmian army was stretched enclosing the plain. The alliance units
attacked on the Khwarezmian army and the Khwarezmian retaliated in the same
way. Jalal al-Din stood on a hill and coordinated his army. During the first
day, the alliance seized some positions from the Khwarezmians but the occupiers
abandoned the newly captured positions at night. Jalal al-Din refrained from
attacking. The alliance again started an attack on the next dawn but they were
repelled back. After repelling the allied army, the Khwarezmians charged
forward and forced Kaykubad I to retreat further. The lost positions were
captured back. Al-Ashraf ,the commander of the Mamluk army reinforced
Kaykubad's divisions. After seeing the reinforcements, Jalal al-Din concluded
that the battle is lost, due to the numerical superiority of the alliance and
abandoned the battlefield.
This battle was Jalal ad-Din’s last battle, as he lost his army, and while
escaping in disguise he was spotted and killed in 1231. His short-lived
principality was conquered by the Mongols. The battle of Yassicemen is
considered to be the fall of the Khwarezmian empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of
Rum gradually absorbed Ahlat, Van, Bitlis, Malazgirt and Tbilisi. The Seljuk
Sultanate of Rum attained a border with the Mongol Empire as they occupied the
former territories of Jalal al-Din Mangburnu. After the death of Jalal al-Din,
Kaykubad I hired Jalal al-Din's former lieutenants to use them as a shield
against possible Mongol invasion. After the death of Aladdin Kayqubad, Seljuks
shared the same fate in 1243 following the Battle of Kösedag.
Battle of Kose Dag -
1243
During the reign of Ögedei Khan, the Sultanate of Rum offered friendship
and a modest tribute to Chormaqan, a kheshig and one of the Mongols' greatest
generals. Under Kaykhusraw II, however, the Mongols began to pressure the
sultan to go to Mongolia in person, give hostages and accept a Mongol
darughachi. Under the leadership of Baiju, the Mongol commander, the Mongols
attacked Rum in the winter of 1242–1243 and seized the city of Erzurum.
Sultan Kaykhusraw II immediately called on his neighbors to contribute troops
to resist the invasion. The Empire of Trebizond sent a detachment and the
sultan engaged a group of "Frankish" mercenaries. A few Georgian
nobles such as Pharadavla of Akhaltsikhe and Dardin Shervashidze also joined
him, but most Georgians were compelled to fight alongside their Mongol
overlords. The decisive battle was fought at Köse Dag on June 26, 1243.
The primary sources do not record the size of the opposing armies but suggest
that the Mongols faced a numerically superior force. Baiju brushed aside an
apprehensive notice from his Georgian officer regarding the size of the Seljuq
army by stating that they counted as nothing the numbers of their enemies:
"the more they are, the more glorious it is to win, and the more plunder
we shall secure". Kaykhusraw II rejected the proposal of his experienced
commanders to wait for the Mongol attack. Instead, he sent a force of 20,000
men, led by inexperienced commanders, against the Mongol army. The Mongol army,
pretending a retreat, turned back, encircled the Seljuq army and defeated it.
When the rest of the Seljuq army witnessed their defeat, many Seljuq commanders
and their soldiers, including Kaykhusraw II, started to abandon the
battlefield. Eventually, the Seljuq army was left without leaders and most of
their soldiers had deserted, without seeing any combat. After their victory,
the Mongols took control of the cities of Sivas and Kayseri. The sultan fled to
Antalya but was subsequently forced to make peace with Baiju and pay a
substantial tribute to the Mongol Empire. The defeat resulted in a period of
turmoil in Anatolia and led directly to the decline and disintegration of the
Seljuq state. The Empire of Trebizond became a vassal state of the Mongol
Empire. Furthermore, the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia became a vassal state of
the Mongols. Real power over Anatolia was exercised by the Mongols.
Kurt dynasty 1244 -
1381
The Kart dynasty, also known as the Kartids, was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of
Tajik origin closely related to the Ghurids, that ruled over a large part of
Khorasan during the 13th and 14th centuries. Ruling from their capital at Herat
and central Khorasan in the Bamyan, they were at first subordinates of Sultan
Abul-Fateh Ghiya'-ud-din Muhammad bin Sam, Sultan of the Ghurid Empire, of whom
they were related, and then as vassal princes within the Mongol Empire. Upon
the fragmentation of the Ilkhanate in 1335, Mu'izz-uddin Husayn ibn
Ghiyath-uddin worked to expand his principality. The death of Husayn b.
Ghiyath-uddin in 1370 and the invasion of Timur in 1381, ended the Kart
dynasty's ambitions. The Karts trace their lineage to a Tajuddin Uthman
Marghini, whose brother, 'Izzuddin Umar Marghini, was the Vizier of Sultan
Ghiyath-ud-din Muhammad bin Sam (d.1202-3). The founder of the Kart dynasty was
Malik Rukn-uddin Abu Bakr, who was descended from the Shansabani family of
Ghur. Malik Rukn-uddin Abu Bakr married a Ghurid princess.
Shams-uddin Muhammad succeeded his father in 1245, joined Sali Noyan in an
invasion of India in the following year, and met the Sufi Saint Baha-ud-din
Zakariya at Multan in 1247–8. Later he visited the Mongol Great Khan
Möngke Khan (1248–1257), who placed under his sway Greater Khorasan
(present Afghanistan) and possibly region up to the Indus. In 1263–4,
after having subdued Sistan, he visited Hulagu Khan, and three years later his
successor Abaqa Khan, whom he accompanied in his campaign against Darband and
Baku. He again visited Abaqa Khan, accompanied by Shams-uddin the Sahib Diwan,
in 1276–7, and this time the former good opinion of the Mongol sovereign
in respect to him seems to have been changed to suspicion, which led to his
death, for he was poisoned in January 1278, by means of a water-melon given to
him while he was in the bath at Tabriz. Abaqa Khan even caused his body to be
buried in chains at Jam in Khorasan.
Fakhr-uddin was a patron of literature, but also extremely religious. He had
previously been cast in prison by his father for seven years, until the
Ilkhanid general Nauruz intervened on his behalf. When Nauruz's revolt faltered
around 1296, Fakhr-uddin offered him asylum, but when an Ilkhanid force
approached Herat, he betrayed the general and turned him over to the forces of
Ghazan. Three years later, Fakhr-uddin fought against Ghazan's successor
Oljeitu, who shortly after his ascension in 1306 sent a force of 10,000 to take
Herat.
Fakhr-uddin, however, tricked the invaders by letting them occupy the city, and
then destroying them, killing their commander Danishmand Bahadur in the
process. He died on 26 February 1307. But Herat and Gilan were conquered by
Oljeitu. Sham-suddin Muhammad was succeeded by his son Rukn-uddin. The latter
adopted the title of Malik (Arabic for king), which all succeeding Kart rulers
were to use. By the time of his death; in Khaysar on 3 September 1305,
effective power had long been in the hands of his son Fakhr-uddin.
Fakhr-uddin's brother Ghiyath-uddin succeeded him upon his death; almost
immediately, he began to quarrel with another brother, Ala-uddin ibn
Rukn-uddin. Taking his case before Oljeitu, who gave him a grand reception, he
returned to Khurasan in 1307/8. Continuing troubles with his brother led him to
visit the Ilkhan again in 1314/5.
Upon returning to Herat, he found his territories being invaded by the Chagatai
prince Yasa'ur, as well as hostility from Qutb-uddin of Isfizar and the
populace of Sistan. A siege of Herat was set by Yasa'ur. The prince, however,
was stopped by the armies of the Ilkhanate, and in August 1320, Ghiyath-uddin
made a pilgrimage to Mecca, leaving his son Shams-uddin Muhammad ibn
Ghiyath-uddin in control during his absence. In 1327 the Amir Chupan fled to
Herat following his betrayal by the Ilkhan Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan, where he
requested asylum from Ghiyath-uddin, whom he was friends with. Ghiyath-uddin
initially granted the request, but when Abu Sa'id pressured him to execute
Chupan, he obeyed. Soon afterwards Ghiyath-uddin himself died, in 1329. He left
four sons: Shams-uddin Muhammad ibn Ghiyath-uddin, Hafiz ibn Ghiyath-uddin,
Mu'izz-uddin Husayn ibn Ghiyath-uddin, and Baqir ibn Ghiyath-uddin.
Four years after Mu'izz-uddin Husayn ibn Ghiyath-uddin's ascension, the Ilkhan
Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan died, following which the Ilkhanate quickly fragmented.
Mu'izz-uddin Husayn, for his part, allied with Togha Temür, a claimant to
the Ilkhanid throne, and paid tribute to him. Up until his death, Mu'izz-uddin
Husayn's main concern were the neighboring Sarbadars, centered in Sabzavar. As
the Sarbadars were the enemies of Togha Temür, they considered the Karts a
threat and invaded. When the Karts and Sarbadars met in the Battle of Zava on
18 July 1342, the battle was initially in the favor of the latter, but disunity
within the Sarbadar army allowed the Karts to emerge victorious. Thereafter,
Mu'izz-uddin Husayn undertook several successful campaigns against the Chagatai
Mongols to the northeast. During this time, he took a still young Timur into
his service. In 1349, while Togha Temür was still alive, Mu'izz-uddin
Husayn stopped paying tribute to him, and ruled as an independent Sultan. Togha
Temür's murder in 1353 by the Sarbadars ended that potential threat.
Sometime around 1358, however, the Chagatai amir Qazaghan invaded Khurasan and
sacked Herat. As he was returning home, Qazaghan was assassinated, allowing
Mu'izz-uddin Husayn to reestablish his authority. Another campaign by the
Sarbadars against Mu'izz-uddin Husayn in 1362 was aborted due to their internal
disunity. Shortly afterwards, the Karts leader welcomed Shia dervishes fleeing
from the Sarbadar ruler Ali-yi Mu'ayyad, who had killed their leader during the
aborted campaign. In the meantime, however, relations with Timur became tense
when the Karts launched a raid into his territory. Upon Mu'izz-uddin Husayn's
death in 1370, his son Ghiyas-uddin Pir 'Ali inherited most of the Kart lands,
except for Sarakhs and a portion of Quhistan, which Ghiyas-uddin's stepbrother
Malik Muhammad ibn Mu'izz-uddin gained .
Ghiyas-uddin Pir 'Ali, a grandson of Togha Temür through his mother Sultan
Khatun, attempted to destabilize the Sarbadars by stirring up the refugee
dervishes within his country. 'Ali-yi Mu'ayyad countered by conspiring with
Malik Muhammad. When Ghiyas-uddin Pir 'Ali attempted to remove Malik Muhammad,
'Ali-yi Mu'ayyad flanked his army and forced him to abort the campaign, instead
compromising with his stepbrother. The Sarbadars, however, soon suffered a
period of internal strife, and Ghiyas-uddin Pir 'Ali took advantage of this by
seizing the city of Nishapur around 1375 or 1376. In the meantime, both
Ghiyas-uddin Pir 'Ali and Malik Muhammad had asked for the assistance of Timur
regarding their conflict: the former had sent an embassy to him, while the
latter had appeared before Timur in person as a requester of asylum, having
been driven out of Sarakhs. Timur responded to Ghiyas-uddin Pir 'Ali by
proposing a marriage between his niece Sevinj Qutluq Agha and the Kart ruler's
son Pir Muhammad ibn Ghiyas-uddin, a marriage which took place in Samarkand
around 1376.
Later on, Timur invited Ghiyas-uddin Pir 'Ali to a council, so that the latter
could submit to him, but when the Kart attempted to excuse himself from coming
by claiming he had to deal with the Shia population in Nishapur, Timur decided
to invade. He was encouraged by many Khurasanis, included Mu'izzu'd-Din's
former vizier Mu'in al-Din Jami, who sent a letter inviting Timur to intervene
in Khurasan, and the shaikhs of Jam, who, being very influential persons, had
convinced many of the Kart dignitaries to welcome Timur as the latter neared
Herat. In April 1381, Timur arrived before the city, whose citizens were
already demoralized and also aware of Timur's offer not to kill anyone that did
not take part in the battle. The city fell, its fortifications were dismantled,
theologians and scholars were deported to Timur's homeland, a high tribute was
enacted, and Ghiyas-uddin Pir 'Ali and his son were carried off to Samarkand.
Ghiyas-uddin Pir 'Ali was made Timur's vassal, until he supported a rebellion
in 1382 by the maliks of Herat. Ghiyas-uddin Pir 'Ali and his family were
executed around 1383, and Timur's son Miran Shah destroyed the revolt. That
same year, a new uprising led by a Shaikh Da'ud-i Khitatai in Isfizar was
quickly put down by Miran Shah. The remaining Karts were murdered in 1396 at a
banquet by Miran Shah. The Karts therefore came to an end, having been the
victims of Timur's first Persian campaign.
Battle of Amroha
1305
The Battle of Amroha was fought on 20 December 1305 between the armies of the
Delhi Sultanate of India and the Mongol Chagatai Khanate of Central Asia. The
Delhi force led by Malik Nayak defeated the Mongol army led by Ali Beg and
Tartaq near Amroha in present-day Uttar Pradesh. The Mongol Chagatai Khanate
had invaded the Delhi Sultanate a number of times in the 13th century. After
Alauddin Khalji ascended the throne of Delhi, four such invasions had been
repulsed in 1297-98, 1298-99, 1299, and 1303. During the 1303 invasion, the
Mongols managed to enter Alauddin's capital Delhi, which prompted him to take a
series of steps to prevent further Mongol invasions. Alauddin started residing
in the newly-constructed Siri Fort, repaired and built several frontier forts,
and appointed powerful commanders in the frontier regions.
Despite Alauddin's measures, a Mongol force led by Ali Beg invaded the Delhi
Sultanate in 1305.
The Delhi chronicler Ziauddin Barani describes Ali Beg as a descendant of
Genghis Khan, but Ali Beg actually belonged to the Khongirad tribe. He was
married to a Chinggisid princess, who was a descendant of Genghis Khan through
Ogodei. Ali Beg was supported by the generals Tartaq and Noyan Taraghai
(sometimes incorrectly transliterated as "Targhi"]). This was
Taraghai's third time in India: he was a general in Qutlugh Khwaja's army
during the 1299 invasion, and had led the 1303 invasion. However, this time, he
appears to have returned once the invading army crossed the Jhelum river. Dawal
Rani by the Delhi chronicler Amir Khusrau implies that he was later killed by
his fellow Mongols.
After Taraghai's return, Ali Beg and Tartaq continued their march with towards
present-day Punjab, India. According to Amir Khusrau, their army had 50,000
soldiers, although other chroniclers give lower numbers (as low as 30,000). The
Punjab area was under the control of Alauddin's officer Malik Nayak, who was a
Hindu convert to Islam. This officer is also called Naik, Manik, or Manak in
some manuscripts; Isami wrongly calls him "Nanak".
One manuscript of Amir Khusrau's Khaizan-ul-Futuh erroneously mentions the
general's name as "Malik Nayb"; some later chroniclers read this as
"Malik Na'ib" (which was the title of a post later held by Malik
Kafur); based on this, `Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni wrongly names the general as
Malik Kafur. Malik Nayak was a different officer, who held the title
Akhurbeg-i-Maisrah (equivalent to "Master of the Horse"), and had
been granted the iqta's of Samana and Sunam. The Mongols did not attack any
frontier forts in the territory administered by Malik Nayak. Expecting them to
launch a direct attack on Delhi, Malik Nayak seems to have led his army to that
city. However, unlike on the previous occasions, the Mongols did not attack
Delhi this time. They knew that the city was heavily guarded, and the Mongol
armies had been unable to capture it in the past. Therefore, they ransacked the
territories at the foot of the Shivalik Hills, and then proceeded south-east to
the Gangetic plains along the Himalayan foothills.
Alauddin sent a 30,000-strong cavalry led by Malik Nayak to defeat the Mongols.
Malik Nayak's subordinate commanders included Bahram Aibah, Tughluq, Mahmud
Sartiah, Qarmshi, Qutta, Takli, and Tulak. This army faced the Mongols
somewhere in present-day Amroha district on 20 December 1305. The Mongols
launched one or two weak attacks on the Delhi army. In words of the Delhi
chronicler Amir Khusrau, they were "like an army of mosquitoes which tries
to move against a strong wind". The Delhi army inflicted a crushing defeat
upon the invaders. According to another Delhi chronicler Ziauddin Barani,
Alauddin captured 20,000 horses belonging to dead Mongols after the battle was
won.
Alauddin organized a grand durbar (court) in Delhi to receive Malik Nayak and
his victorious army. Alauddin was seated on a throne at Chautra-i Subhani, and
the Delhi army stood in double row, forming a long queue. According to Barani,
a huge crowd gathered to see this event, leading to exorbitant increase in the
price of a cup of water. The Mongol commanders Ali Beg and Tartaq, who had
surrendered, were presented before Alauddin with other Mongol prisoners.
According to Amir Khusrau, Alauddin ordered some of the captives to be killed,
and others to be imprisoned. However, Barani states that Alauddin ordered all
captives to be killed by having them trampled under elephants' feet. The number
of these captives was around 9,000.
The 16th century historian Firishta claims that the heads of 8,000 Mongols were
used to build the Siri Fort commissioned by Alauddin. Amir Khusrau and another
chronicler Isami state that Alauddin spared the lives of Ali Beg and Tartaq
(probably because of their high ranks). According to Amir Khusrau, one of these
commanders died "without any harm being done to him", and the other
was "left alone". He ambiguously adds that Alauddin "was so
successful in sport that he took their lives in one game after another".
According to Isami, Alauddin made the two Mongol commanders Amirs (officials
with high status), and also gave each of them an India-born slave girl. Two
months later, Tartaq started demanding answers about the fate of his army and
his belongings, in a state of drunken stupor. As a result, Alauddin ordered him
to be killed. Sometime later, Ali Beg was also killed because of "the evil
in his heart". Historian Peter Jackson speculates that Ali Beg and Tartaq
might have been killed when a large number of Mongols in Delhi rebelled against
Alauddin, prompting the Sultan to order a massacre of all the Mongols in his
empire.
History of Sindh
This article is very lengthy as efits the long history of Sindh undercontrol of
many different dynasties and empires.
The history of Sindh or Sind refers to the history of the modern-day Pakistani
province of Sindh, as well as neighboring regions that periodically came under
its sway. Sindh has longer history of dynastic rule than any other province of
Pakistan due to its relatively isolated location, as compared to Punjab and
Balochistan. Sindh was a cradle of civilization as the center of the ancient
Indus Valley civilization, and through its long history was the seat of several
dynasties that helped shape its identity.
Hazaras
The Hazaras Hazara; Hazaragi:Azra) are a Persian-speaking ethnic group native
to, and primarily residing in the Hazarajat region in central Afghanistan and
generally scattered throughout Afghanistan. They speak the Hazaragi dialect of
Persian which is mutually intelligible with Dari, one of the two official
languages of Afghanistan. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in
Afghanistan, and are also significant minority groups in neighboring Pakistan,
mostly in Quetta, and as well as in Iran. Hazaras are considered by some to be
one of the most vulnerable groups in Afghanistan, and their persecution has
occurred various times across previous decades. Although the origins of the
Hazara people have not been fully reconstructed, Turkic and Mongol origin is
probable for the majority. This is a result of common physical attributes,
physical appearance, parts of their culture and language resembling those of
Central Asian Turkic tribes and the Mongols, although phenotype can vary, with
some noting that certain Hazaras may resemble Europeans or peoples native to
the Iranian plateau. Genetic analysis of some of the Hazara indicates partial
Mongol ancestry. Invading Mongols and Turco-Mongols mixed with the local
indigenous population. For example, Qara'unas settled in what is now
Afghanistan and mixed with the local populations. The second wave of mostly
Chagatai Turco-Mongols came from Central Asia, associated with the Ilkhanate
and the Timurids, all of whom settled in Hazarajat and mixed with the local
population. These result in academics believing that Hazaras are ultimately a
result of several Turco-Mongol tribes mixing with the local population. mtDNA
sequencing studies demonstrated relatively high frequencies of West Eurasian
mtDNA.
The first mention of Hazara is made by Babur in the early 16th century and
later by the court historians of Shah Abbas of the Safavid dynasty. It is
reported that they embraced Shia Islam between the end of the 16th and the
beginning of the 17th century, during the Safavid period. Hazara men, along
with those of other ethnic groups, were recruited to the army of Ahmad Shah
Durrani in the 18th century.
During the second reign of Dost Mohammad Khan in the 19th century, Hazara from
Hazarajat began to be taxed for the first time. However, for the most part,
they still managed to keep their regional autonomy until the subjugation of
Abdur Rahman Khan began in the late 19th century. When the Treaty of Gandomak
was signed and the Second Anglo-Afghan War ended in 1880, Abdur Rahman Khan set
out a goal to bring Hazarajat and Kafiristan under his control. He launched
several campaigns in Hazarajat due to resistance from the Hazara in which his
forces committed atrocities. The southern part of Hazarajat was spared as they
accepted his rule, while the other parts of Hazarajat rejected Abdur Rahman and
instead supported his uncle, Sher Ali Khan. In response to this Abdur Rahman
waged a war against tribal leaders who rejected his policies and rule. This is
known as the Hazara Uprisings. Abdur Rahman arrested Syed Jafar, chief of the
Sheikh Ali Hazaras, and jailed him in Mazar-e Sharif. These campaigns had a
catastrophic impact on the demographics of Hazaras causing over 60% of them to
perish with some becoming displaced.
Alauddin Khalji
1296-1316
Alaud-Din Khalji, also called Alauddin Khilji (r. 1296–1316), born Ali
Gurshasp, was an emperor of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate
in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant
administrative changes, related to revenues, price controls, and society.
Alauddin was a nephew and a son-in-law of his predecessor Jalaluddin. When
Jalaluddin became the Sultan of Delhi after deposing the Mamluks, Alauddin was
given the position of Amir-i-Tuzuk (equivalent to master of ceremonies). After
suppressing a revolt against Jalaluddin, Alauddin obtained the governorship of
Kara in 1291, and the governorship of Awadh in 1296, after a profitable raid on
Bhilsa. In 1296, Alauddin raided Devagiri, and acquired loot to stage a
successful revolt against Jalaluddin. After killing Jalaluddin, he consolidated
his power in Delhi, and subjugated Jalaluddin's sons in Multan. Over the next
few years, Alauddin successfully fended off the Mongol invasions from the
Chagatai Khanate, at Jaran-Manjur (1297–1298), Sivistan (1298), Kili
(1299), Delhi (1303), and Amroha (1305). In 1306, his forces achieved a
decisive victory against the Mongols near the Ravi riverbank, and later
ransacked the Mongol territories in present-day Afghanistan. The military
commanders that successfully led his army against the Mongols include Zafar
Khan, Ulugh Khan, and his slave-general Malik Kafur.
Alauddin conquered the kingdoms of Gujarat (raided in 1299 and annexed in
1304), Ranthambore (1301), Chittor (1303), Malwa (1305), Siwana (1308), and
Jalore (1311). These victories ended several Hindu dynasties, including the
Paramaras, the Vaghelas, the Chahamanas of Ranastambhapura and Jalore, the
Rawal branch of the Guhilas, and possibly the Yajvapalas. His slave-general
Malik Kafur led multiple campaigns to the south of the Vindhyas, obtaining a
considerable amount of wealth from Devagiri (1308), Warangal (1310) and
Dwarasamudra (1311). These victories forced the Yadava king Ramachandra, the
Kakatiya king Prataparudra, and the Hoysala king Ballala III to become
Alauddin's tributaries. Kafur also raided the Pandya kingdom (1311), obtaining
much treasure and many elephants and horses. During the last years of his life,
Alauddin suffered from an illness, and relied on Malik Kafur to handle the
administration. After his death in 1316, Malik Kafur appointed Shihabuddin, son
of Alauddin and his Hindu wife Jhatyapali, as a puppet monarch. However, his
elder son Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah seized the power shortly after his death.
Contemporary chroniclers did not write much about Alauddin's childhood.
According to the 16th/17th-century chronicler Haji-ud-Dabir, Alauddin was 34
years old when he started his march to Ranthambore (1300–1301). Assuming
this is correct, Alauddin's birth can be dated to 1266–1267. His original
name was Ali Gurshasp. He was the eldest son of Shihabuddin Mas'ud, who was the
elder brother of the Khalji dynasty's founder Sultan Jalaluddin. He had three
brothers: Almas Beg (later Ulugh Khan), Qutlugh Tigin and Muhammad. Alauddin
was brought up by Jalaluddin after Shihabuddin's death. Both Alauddin and his
younger brother Almas Beg married Jalaluddin's daughters. After Jalaluddin
became the Sultan of Delhi, Alauddin was appointed as Amir-i-Tuzuk (equivalent
to Master of ceremonies), while Almas Beg was given the post of Akhur-beg
(equivalent to Master of the Horse). In 1291, Alauddin played an important role
in crushing a revolt by the governor of Kara Malik Chajju. As a result,
Jalaluddin appointed him as the new governor of Kara in 1291. Malik Chajju's
former Amirs (subordinate nobles) at Kara considered Jalaluddin as a weak and
ineffective ruler, and instigated Alauddin to usurp the throne of Delhi. This,
combined with his unhappy domestic life, made Alauddin determined to dethrone
Jalaluddin.]
While instigating Alauddin to revolt against Jalaluddin, Malik Chajju's
supporters emphasized that he needed a lot of money to raise a large army and
stage a successful coup: Malik Chajju's revolt had failed for want of
resources. To finance his plan to dethrone Jalaluddin, Alauddin decided to raid
the neighbouring Hindu kingdoms. In 1293, he raided Bhilsa, a wealthy town in
the Paramara kingdom of Malwa, which had been weakened by multiple invasions.
At Bhilsa, he came to know about the immense wealth of the southern Yadava
kingdom in the Deccan region, as well as about the routes leading to their
capital Devagiri. Therefore, he shrewdly surrendered the loot from Bhilsa to
Jalaluddin to win the Sultan's confidence, while withholding the information on
the Yadava kingdom. A pleased Jalaluddin gave him the office of Ariz-i Mamalik
(Minister of War), and also made him the governor of Awadh. In addition, the
Sultan granted Alauddin's request to use the revenue surplus for hiring
additional troops.
After years of planning and preparation, Alauddin successfully raided Devagiri
in 1296. He left Devagiri with a huge amount of wealth, including precious
metals, jewels, silk products, elephants, horses, and slaves. When the news of
Alauddin's success reached Jalaluddin, the Sultan came to Gwalior, hoping that
Alauddin would present the loot to him there. However, Alauddin marched
directly to Kara with all the wealth. Jalaluddin's advisors such as Ahmad Chap
recommended intercepting Alauddin at Chanderi, but Jalaluddin had faith in his
nephew. He returned to Delhi, believing that Alauddin would carry the wealth
from Kara to Delhi. After reaching Kara, Alauddin sent a letter of apology to
the Sultan, and expressed concern that his enemies may have poisoned the
Sultan's mind against him during his absence. He requested a letter of pardon
signed by the Sultan, which the Sultan immediately despatched through
messengers. At Kara, Jalaluddin's messengers learned of Alauddin's military
strength and of his plans to dethrone the Sultan. However, Alauddin detained
them, and prevented them from communicating with the Sultan. Meanwhile,
Alauddin's younger brother Almas Beg (later Ulugh Khan), who was married to a
daughter of Jalaluddin, assured the Sultan of Alauddin's loyalty. He convinced
Jalaluddin to visit Kara and meet Alauddin, saying that Alauddin would commit
suicide out of guilt if the Sultan didn't pardon him personally. A gullible
Jalaluddin set out for Kara with his army. After reaching close to Kara, he
directed Ahmad Chap to take his main army to Kara by the land route, while he
himself decided to cross the Ganges river with a smaller body of around 1,000
soldiers. On 20 July 1296, Alauddin had Jalaluddin killed after pretending to
greet the Sultan, and declared himself the new king. Jalaluddin's companions
were also killed, while Ahmad Chap's army retreated to Delhi.
Alauddin, known as Ali Gurshasp until his ascension in July 1296, was formally
proclaimed as the new king with the title Alauddunya wad Din Muhammad Shah-us
Sultan at Kara. Meanwhile, the head of Jalaluddin was paraded on a spear in his
camp before being sent to Awadh. Over the next two days, Alauddin formed a
provisional government at Kara. He promoted the existing Amirs to the rank of
Maliks, and appointed his close friends as the new Amirs. At that time, there
were heavy rains, and the Ganga and the Yamuna rivers were flooded. But
Alauddin made preparations for a march to Delhi, and ordered his officers to
recruit as many soldiers as possible, without fitness tests or background
checks. His objective was to cause a change in the general political opinion,
by portraying himself as someone with huge public support. To portray himself
as a generous king, he ordered 5 manns of gold pieces to be shot from a
manjaniq (catapult) at a crowd in Kara.
One section of his army, led by himself and Nusrat Khan, marched to Delhi via
Badaun and Baran (modern Bulandshahr). The other section, led by Zafar Khan,
marched to Delhi via Koil (modern Aligarh).
As Alauddin marched to Delhi, the news spread in towns and villages that he was
recruiting soldiers while distributing gold. Many people, from both military
and non-military backgrounds, joined him. By the time he reached Badaun, he had
a 56,000-strong cavalry and a 60,000-strong infantry. At Baran, Alauddin was
joined by seven powerful Jalaluddin's nobles who had earlier opposed him. These
nobles were Tajul Mulk Kuchi, Malik Abaji Akhur-bek, Malik Amir Ali Diwana,
Malik Usman Amir-akhur, Malik Amir Khan, Malik Umar Surkha and Malik Hiranmar.
Alauddin gave each of them 30 to 50 manns of gold, and each of their soldiers
300 silver tankas (hammered coins).[16]Alauddin's march to Delhi was
interrupted by the flooding of the Yamuna river. Meanwhile, in Delhi,
Jalaluddin's widow Malka-i-Jahan appointed her youngest son Qadr Khan as the
new king with the title Ruknuddin Ibrahim, without consulting the nobles. This
irked Arkali Khan, her elder son and the governor of Multan. When
Malika-i-Jahan heard that Jalaluddin's nobles had joined Alauddin, she
apologized to Arkali and offered him the throne, requesting him to march from
Multan to Delhi. However, Arkali refused to come to her aid. Alauddin resumed
his march to Delhi in the second week of October 1296, when the Yamuna river
subsided. When he reached Siri, Ruknuddin led an army against him. However, a
section of Ruknuddin's army defected to Alauddin at midnight.
A dejected Ruknuddin then retreated and escaped to Multan with his mother and
the loyal nobles. Alauddin then entered the city, where a number of nobles and
officials accepted his authority. On 21 October 1296, Alauddin was formally
proclaimed as the Sultan in Delhi. Consolidation of power Initially, Alauddin
consolidated power by making generous grants and endowments, and appointing
many people to the government positions. He balanced the power between the
officers appointed by the Mamluks, the ones appointed by Jalaluddin and his own
appointees.
He also increased the strength of the Sultanate's army, and gifted every
soldier the salary of a year and a half in cash. Of Alauddin's first year as
the Sultan, chronicler Ziauddin Barani wrote that it was the happiest year that
the people of Delhi had ever seen.[ At this time, Alauddin's could not exercise
his authority over all of Jalaluddin's former territories. In the Punjab
region, his authority was limited to the areas east of the Ravi river. The
region beyond Lahore suffered from Mongol raids and Khokhar rebellions. Multan
was controlled by Jalaluddin's son Arkali, who harboured the fugitives from
Delhi. In November 1296, Alauddin sent an army led by Ulugh Khan and Zafar Khan
to conquer Multan. On his orders, Nusrat Khan arrested, blinded and/or killed
the surviving members of Jalaluddin's family Shortly after the conquest of
Multan, Alauddin appointed Nusrat Khan as his wazir (prime minister). Having
strengthened his control over Delhi, the Sultan started eliminating the
officers that were not his own appointees.
In 1297, the aristocrats (maliks), who had deserted Jalaluddin's family to join
Alauddin, were arrested, blinded or killed. All their property, including the
money earlier given to them by Alauddin, was confiscated. As a result of these
confiscations, Nusrat Khan obtained a huge amount of cash for the royal
treasury. Only three maliks from Jalaluddin's time were spared: Malik Qutbuddin
Alavi, Malik Nasiruddin Rana, Malik Amir Jamal Khalji. The rest of the older
aristocrats were replaced with the new nobles, who were extremely loyal to
Alauddin. Meanwhile, Ala-ul Mulk, who was Alauddin's governor at Kara, came to
Delhi with all the officers, elephants and wealth that Alauddin had left at
Kara. Alauddin appointed Ala-ul Mulk as the kotwal of Delhi and placed all the
non-Turkic municipal employees under his charge.[22] Since Ala-ul Mulk had
become very obese, the governorship of Kara was entrusted to Nusrat Khan, who
had become unpopular in Delhi because of the confiscations. Mongol invasions
and northern conquests, 1297–1306 :
In the winter of 1297, the Mongols led by a noyan of the Chagatai Khanate
raided Punjab, advancing as far as Kasur. Alauddin's forces, led by Ulugh Khan,
defeated the Mongols on 6 February 1298. According to Amir Khusrow, 20,000
Mongols were killed in the battle, and many more were killed in Delhi after
being brought there as prisoners. In 1298–99, another Mongol army
(possibly Neguderi fugitives) invaded Sindh, and occupied the fort of Sivistan.
This time, Alauddin's general Zafar Khan defeated the invaders, and recaptured
the fort.] In early 1299, Alauddin sent Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan to invade
Gujarat, where the Vaghela king Karna offered a weak resistance. Alauddin's
army plundered several towns including Somnath, where it desecrated the famous
Hindu temple. The Delhi army also captured several people, including the
Vaghela queen Kamala Devi and slave Malik Kafur, who later led Alauddin's
southern campaigns. During the army's return journey to Delhi, some of its
Mongol soldiers staged an unsuccessful mutiny near Jalore, after the generals
forcibly tried to extract a share of loot (khums) from them. Alauddin's
administration meted out brutal punishments to the mutineers' families in
Delhi, including killings of children in front of their mothers.
According to Ziauddin Barani, the practice of punishing wives and children for
the crimes of men started with this incident in Delhi. In 1299, the Chagatai
ruler Duwa sent a Mongol force led by Qutlugh Khwaja to conquer Delhi. In the
ensuing Battle of Kili, Alauddin personally led the Delhi forces, but his
general Zafar Khan attacked the Mongols without waiting for his orders.
Although Zafar Khan managed to inflict heavy casualties on the invaders, he and
other soldiers in his unit were killed in the battle. Qutlugh Khwaja was also
seriously wounded, forcing the Mongols to retreat.
In 1301, Alauddin ordered Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan to invade Ranthambore,
whose king Hammiradeva had granted asylum to the leaders of the mutiny near
Jalore. After Nusrat Khan was killed during the siege, Alauddin personally took
charge of the siege operations, and conquered the fort in July 1301. During the
Ranthambore campaign, Alauddin faced three unsuccessful rebellions. To suppress
any future rebellions, he set up an intelligence and surveillance system,
instituted a total prohibition in Delhi, established laws to prevent his nobles
from networking with each other, and confiscated wealth from the general
public. In the winter of 1302–1303, Alauddin dispatched an army to ransack
the Kakatiya capital Warangal. Meanwhile, he himself led another army to
conquer Chittor, the capital of the Guhila kingdom ruled by Ratnasimha.
Alauddin captured Chittor after an eight-month long siege.
According to his courtier Amir Khusrau, he ordered a massacre of 30,000 local
Hindus after this conquest. Some later legends state that Alauddin invaded
Chittor to capture Ratnasimha's beautiful queen Padmini, but most modern
historians have rejected the authenticity of these legends. While the imperial
armies were busy in Chittor and Warangal campaigns, the Mongols launched
another invasion of Delhi around August 1303. Alauddin managed to reach Delhi
before the invaders, but did not have enough time to prepare for a strong
defence.
Meanwhile, the Warangal campaign was unsuccessful (because of heavy rains
according to Ziauddin Barani), and the army had lost several men and its
baggage. Neither this army, nor the reinforcements sent by Alauddin's
provincial governors could enter the city because of the blockades set up by
the Mongols. Under these difficult circumstances, Alauddin took shelter in a
heavily guarded camp at the under-construction Siri Fort. The Mongols engaged
his forces in some minor conflicts, but neither army achieved a decisive
victory. The invaders ransacked Delhi and its neighbourhoods, but ultimately
decided to retreat after being unable to breach Siri. The Mongol invasion of
1303 was one of the most serious invasions of India, and prompted Alauddin to
take several steps to prevent its repeat. He strengthened the forts and the
military presence along the Mongol routes to India. He also implemented a
series of economic reforms to ensure sufficient revenue inflows for maintaining
a strong army.
In 1304, Alauddin appears to have ordered a second invasion of Gujarat, which
resulted in the annexation of the Vaghela kingdom to the Delhi Sultanate. In
1305, he launched an invasion of Malwa in central India, which resulted in the
defeat and death of the Paramara king Mahalakadeva. The Yajvapala dynasty,
which ruled the region to the north-east of Malwa, also appears to have fallen
to Alauddin's invasion. In December 1305, the Mongols invaded India again.
Instead of attacking the heavily guarded city of Delhi, the invaders proceeded
south-east to the Gangetic plains along the Himalayan foothills. Alauddin's
30,000-strong cavalry, led by Malik Nayak, defeated the Mongols at the Battle
of Amroha. Many Mongols were taken captive and killed; the 16th-century
historian Firishta claims that the heads (sir) of 8,000 Mongols were used to
build the Siri Fort commissioned by Alauddin. In 1306, another Mongol army sent
by Duwa advanced up to the Ravi River, ransacking the territories along the
way. Alauddin's forces, led by Malik Kafur, decisively defeated the Mongols.
Duwa died next year, and after that the Mongols did not launch any further
expeditions to India during Alauddin's reign. On the contrary, Alauddin's
Dipalpur governor Malik Tughluq regularly raided the Mongol territories located
in present-day Afghanistan.
Marwar and southern campaigns:
Around 1308, Alauddin sent Malik Kafur to invade Devagiri, whose king
Ramachandra had discontinued the tribute payments promised in 1296, and had
granted asylum to the Vaghela king Karna at Baglana. Kafur was supported by
Alauddin's Gujarat governor Alp Khan, whose forces invaded Baglana, and
captured Karna's daughter Devaladevi (later married to Alauddin's son Khizr
Khan). At Devagiri, Kafur achieved an easy victory, and Ramachandra agreed to
become a lifelong vassal of Alauddin. Meanwhile, a section of Alauddin's army
had been besieging the fort of Siwana in Marwar region unsuccessfully for
several years. In August–September 1308, Alauddin personally took charge
of the siege operations in Siwana. The Delhi army conquered the fort, and the
defending ruler Sitaladeva was killed in November 1308. The plunder obtained
from Devagiri prompted Alauddin to plan an invasion of the other southern
kingdoms, which had accumulated a huge amount of wealth, having been shielded
from the foreign armies that had ransacked northern India.
In late 1309, he sent Malik Kafur to ransack the Kakatiya capital Warangal.
Helped by Ramachandra of Devagiri, Kafur entered the Kakatiya territory in
January 1310, ransacking towns and villages on his way to Warangal. After a
month-long siege of Warangal, the Kakatiya king Prataparudra agreed to become a
tributary of Alauddin, and surrendered a large amount of wealth (possibly
including the Koh-i-Noor diamond) to the invaders. Meanwhile, after conquering
Siwana, Alauddin had ordered his generals to subjugate other parts of Marwar,
before returning to Delhi. The raids of his generals in Marwar led to their
confrontations with Kanhadadeva, the Chahamana ruler of Jalore.
In 1311, Alauddin's general Malik Kamaluddin Gurg captured the Jalore fort
after defeating and killing Kanhadadeva. During the siege of Warangal, Malik
Kafur had learned about the wealth of the Hoysala and Pandya kingdoms located
further south. After returning to Delhi, he took Alauddin's permission to lead
an expedition there. Kafur started his march from Delhi in November 1310, and
crossed Deccan in early 1311, supported by Alauddin's tributaries Ramachandra
and Prataparudra. At this time, the Pandya kingdom was reeling under a war of
succession between the two brothers Vira and Sundara, and taking advantage of
this, the Hoysala king Ballala had invaded the Pandyan territory. When Ballala
learned about Kafur's march, he hurried back to his capital Dwarasamudra.
However, he could not put up a strong resistance, and negotiated a truce after
a short siege, agreeing to surrender his wealth and become a tributary of
Alauddin. From Dwarasamudra, Malik Kafur marched to the Pandya kingdom, where
he raided several towns reaching as far as Madurai. Both Vira and Sundara fled
their headquarters, and thus, Kafur was unable to make them Alauddin's
tributaries. Nevertheless, the Delhi army looted many treasures, elephants and
horses.
The Delhi chronicler Ziauddin Barani described this seizure of wealth from
Dwarasamudra and the Pandya kingdom as the greatest one since the Muslim
capture of Delhi. During this campaign, the Mongol general Abachi had conspired
to ally with the Pandyas, and as a result, Alauddin ordered him to be executed
in Delhi. This, combined with their general grievances against Alauddin, led to
resentment among Mongols who had settled in India after converting to Islam. A
section of Mongol leaders plotted to kill Alauddin, but the conspiracy was
discovered by Alauddin's agents. Alauddin then ordered a mass massacre of
Mongols in his empire, which according to Barani, resulted in the death of
20,000 or 30,000 Mongols. Meanwhile, in Devagiri, after Ramachandra's death,
his son tried to overthrow Alauddin's suzerainty. Malik Kafur invaded Devagiri
again in 1313, defeated him, and became the governor of Devagiri.
Military reforms:
Alauddin maintained a large standing army, which included 475,000 horsemen
according to the 16th-century chronicler Firishta. He managed to raise such a
large army by paying relatively low salaries to his soldiers, and introduced
market price controls to ensure that the low salaries were acceptable to his
soldiers. Although he was opposed to granting lands to his generals and
soldiers, he generously rewarded them after successful campaigns, especially
those in Deccan. Alauddin's government maintained a descriptive roll of every
soldier, and occasionally conducted strict reviews of the army to examine the
horses and arms of the soldiers. To ensure that no horse could be presented
twice or replaced by a poor-quality horse during the review, Alauddin
established a system of branding the horses.
Siege of
Chittorgarh 1303
In 1303, the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji captured the Chittor Fort
from the Guhila king Ratnasimha, after an eight-month-long siege. Alauddin
began what later came to be known as the Imperial period of the sultanate of
Delhi.] The conflict has been described in several legendary accounts,
including the historical epic poem Padmavat, which claims that Alauddin's
motive was to obtain Ratnasimha's beautiful wife Padmavati; this legend is
considered historically inaccurate by most historians. The Mewar region in
north-western India was ruled by the Guhila dynasty, whose seat was located at
the Chittor Fort (Chittorgarh). In 1299, Alauddin's general Ulugh Khan had
raided the Mewar region on his way to Gujarat. However, this appears to have
been a light raid rather than a serious invasion. The Guhila king Samarasimha
protected his country from the raiders, possibly by paying a tribute.] Soon
after coming to power in 1296 CE after seizing the throne from his uncle
Jalal-ud-din Khilji, Alauddin started what can be called a systematic
suppression of the various rebellions and oppositions from the various Hindu
rulers and Central authorities and fending off attacks from the Mongols. This
led to the subjugation of Gujarat in 1299 CE. Furthermore, in 1301, Alauddin
conquered Ranthambore, located between Delhi and Chittor, and then returned to
Delhi. The same year, Ratnasimha ascended the throne of Chittor Historians have
cited two main reasons for the invasion of Mewar and siege of Chittor fort.
According to historians, Alauddin was furious at Ratan Singh(Ratansimha) for
denying his forces to match through Mewar to reach Gujarat during his earlier
subjugation.
On 28 January 1303, Alauddin started his march to Chittor with a large army.
After arriving near the fort, he set up a camp between the Berach and Gambhiri
rivers. His army then surrounded the fort from all sides. Alauddin stationed
himself at Chitori hillock located to the north of the fort. The siege went on
for nearly eight months, suggesting that the defenders put up a strong
resistance. Amir Khusrau, who accompanied Alauddin to Chittor, has briefly
described the siege in his Khaza'in ul-Futuh. However, no detailed account of
the siege operations is available.[8] Khusrau implies that the frontal attacks
by the invaders failed twice. He states that the invaders managed to reach the
"waist" of the hill during the two months of the rainy season but
could not advance further. Alauddin ordered the fort to be pelted with stones
from siege engines (munjaniqs). At the same time, his armoured soldiers
attacked it from all sides. The fort garrison may have suffered from a famine
or an epidemic. On 26 August 1303, Alauddin entered the fort. After his
victory, Alauddin ordered a general massacre of Chittor's population. According
to Amir Khusrau, 30,000 Hindus were "cut down like dry grass" due to
this order. According to historian, after the castle subdued, Alauddin forces
moved their huge Manjaniqs (catapults) which sizes were so huge that it leaves
no room left inside the castle.
Alauddin assigned Chittor to his son Khizr Khan (or Khidr Khan), who was 7 or 8
years old. The Chittor fort was renamed "Khizrabad" after the prince.
Khizr Khan was given a gold-embroidered robe and a red canopy, which was
usually bestowed upon an heir apparent. Alauddin stayed at Chittor for seven
more days and then left for Delhi, probably after learning about the Mongol
invasion. An important inscription at Chittor dated 13 May 1310, recording
Alauddin as the ruler, indicates that the place had not been evacuated by the
Khaljis till that period. As Khizr Khan was only a child, the actual
administration was handed over to a slave named Malik Shahin, who held the
office of naib-i barbek (deputy in-charge of the royal court), and whom
Alauddin called his son.
According to the 14th-century chronicler Isami, Malik Shahin fled the fort
sometime later because he was afraid of the Vaghela king Karna, who had managed
to recapture the neighbouring Gujarat region after Alauddin's 1299 invasion.
Later, Alauddin decided that it was best to govern Chittor indirectly through a
Hindu ruler. He transferred the governance of Chittor from Khizr Khan to the
Chahamana chief Maladeva (Maldeo), who was supported by the locals. Maladeva
was a brother of the Kanhadadeva. He had saved Alauddin's life from an accident
during Alauddin's siege of Kanhadadeva's Jalore fort.e contributed 5,000
horsemen and 10,000 infantrymen to Alauddin's campaigns, whenever ordered. He
used to bring gifts for Alauddin during his annual visit to the imperial court,
where he was honoured in return. Alauddin maintained an imperial garrison at
Chittor, and one of his inscriptions (dated May 1310) has been discovered
there. According to the 16th-century chronicler Firishta, when Alauddin was on
his deathbed, the ruler of Chittor rebelled and executed the imperial soldiers
stationed in the fort. After the death of Maladeva around 1321, the fort came
under the control of Hammir Singh, a ruler of the Sisodia branch of the
Guhilas. However, historian Peter Jackson believes that the fort remained under
the control of the governors dispatched from Delhi, even during the reigns of
the first two Tughluq rulers (1321-1350), as suggested by epigraphic evidence.
According to Jackson, the accounts about Maladeva and Sisodias originated from
a Sanskrit epic and seemed to be inaccurate.
Siri fort
Siri Fort, in the city of New Delhi, was built during the rule of Alauddin
Khalji, the ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, to defend the city from the onslaught
of the Mongols. It was the second of the seven cities of medieval Delhi built
around 1303 (stated to be the first entirely constructed by Turks), which at
present is seen only in ruins with a few remnants.
Battles/wars:
Mongol siege of Delhi :
The fort is incomplete. Alauddin is the best known of the Khalji dynasty
because he extended his dominion to Southern India and established the second
city of Delhi, Siri. He created Siri between 1297 and 1307 to defend against
Mongol invasions of India and Delhi. In response, he built Siri Fort, mimicked
massive Turkish ones. The Fort served as the seat of his power during his
campaigns to enlarge his territory. Due to frequent Mongol invasions of West
Asia, the Seljuqs took asylum in Delhi. The craftsmen of Seljuq dynasty are
credited with this era's architectural monuments in Delhi.
In 1303, Targhi, a Mongol general, besieged the Siri fort when Alauddin
retreated during the Mongol expedition into India. Targhi could not penetrate
the fortifications of the Siri Fort and he finally retreated to his Kingdom in
Central Asia. Subsequently, Alauddin's forces defeated Mongols decisively at
Amroha (1306).
Siri, which is now a part of New Delhi, was later linked to the fortifications
of Jahanpanah. Siri was then also known as "Darul Khilafat" or
‘’Seat of Califate’’.
In 1398 AD, Timurlane, the Mongol ruler who invaded Delhi, wrote in his
memoirs, " the Siri is around city. Its buildings are lofty. They are
surrounded by fortifications built of stone and brick, and they are very strong
– from the fort of Siri to that of Old Delhi, which is a considerable
distance – there runs a strong wall built of stone and cement. The part
called Jahanpanah is situated in the midst of the inhabited city. The
fortifications of the three cities (old Delhi, Siri and Tughlaqabad) have
thirty gates. Jahanpanah has thirteen gates, Siri has seven gates. The
fortifications of the old Delhi have ten gates, some opening to the exterior
and some towards the interior of the city."
Siri Fort was built 5 km (3.1 mi) to the north-east of the Qutab Minar on an
old camp near Delhi. The first city is considered to be built by Muslims, it
was in an oval shape; its ruins are presently seen in an area of about 1.7 km2
(0.7 sq mi). Allauddin, the second ruler of the Khalji dynasty, laid the
foundation for the City of Siri in 1303 AD. The structures built in Siri were
stated to have had a fine imprint of the enthusiasm of the rulers of Khalji
dynasty (particularly, the first three out of six Rulers of the Dynasty) with
Allauddin's deep interests in architecture and his achievements supported by
the imported skills of the artists of Seljuqs richly contributing to the
efforts to build the new city.
Legend states that Allauddin's prolific building involved engagement of 70,000
workers. The city was built with an oval plan with palaces and other
structures. There were seven gates for entry and exit, but at present only the
south-eastern gate exists. The fort was once considered the pride of the city
for its palace of a thousand pillars called the Hazar Sutan. The palace was
built outside the fort limits, and had marble floors and other stone
decoration. Its Darwaza (door) is supposed to have been beautifully decorated.
In eastern part of the ruins there are remnants of flame-shaped battlements,
loop holes for arrows, and bastions, which were considered unique new additions
of that period. In the nearby Shahpur Jat village (pictured), some dilapidated
structures of the period are seen.
Tohfewala Gumbad Masjid (pictured) is one such structure whose ruins show the
form of domed central apartment and sloping wall characteristic of Khaljis
architecture. Apart from building the Siri Fort, the citadel around it and the
water supply system with a reservoir at Hauz Khas Complex (in present Hauz Khas
locality) for providing water supply to Siri, his new city, Ala-ud-din also
expanded the building activity around the religious city of the first city
complex of Qutb complex by making additions to the Quwwatul-Islam Mosque, which
doubled its original size, additions to the Qutub Minar itself (Nagari
inscriptions on the tower attribute to this tower as "Vijaya sthamba"
or victory tower of Ala-ud-din) and a grandiose plan of constructing a new
Minar (tower) bigger (double) that of the Qutub Minar. This plan was left half
completed, as may be seen from the ruins at the site, due to the death of
Allauddin in 1316. The destruction of the Fort is attributed to the local
rulers who removed the fort's stones, bricks and other artifacts for their own
buildings. In particular, Sher Shah Suri (1540–1545), of Pashtun Afghan
descent from Eastern India (Bihar), took away material from Siri to build his
own city. The battered walls of the fort had a wider base on the outside. A
protected passage was provided within the battered walls (now seen in ruins as
pictured)
Khalji dynasty
The Khalji or Khilji dynasty was a Turco-Afghan dynasty which ruled on the
Delhi sultanate, covering large parts of the Indian subcontinent for nearly
three decades between 1290 and 1320. Founded by Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji as
the second dynasty to rule the Delhi Sultanate of India, it came to power
through a revolution that marked the transfer of power from the monopoly of
Turkic nobles to Afghans. Its rule is known for conquests into present day
South India and successfully fending off the repeated Mongol invasions of
India.
The Khaljis of the Khalji Dynasty were of Turko-Afghan origin whose ancestors,
the Khalaj, are said to have been initially a Turkic people who migrated
together with the Hunas and Hephthalites from Central Asia, into the southern
and eastern regions of modern-day Afghanistan as early as 660CE, where they
ruled the region of Kabul as the Buddhist Turk Shahis.
According to Radhey Shyam Chaurasia, the Khaljis slowly inherited many Afghan
habits and customs, and that they were treated as Afghans by the Turkic nobles
of the Delhi Sultanate. Even to the point where Turkic nobles in the Delhi
Sultanate opposed Jalal-ud-din's acension to the throne of Delhi after the
Khilji revolution. According to C. E. Bosworth, the modern Pashto-speaking
Ghilzai Pashtuns, who make up the majority of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan, are
the modern result of the Khalaj assimilation into the Pashtuns.
Between the 10th and 13th centuries, some sources refer to the Khalaj people as
of Turkic, but some others do not. Minorsky argues that the early history of
the Khalaj tribe is obscure and adds that the identity of the name Khalaj is
still to be proved. Mahmud al-Kashgari (11th century) does not include the
Khalaj among the Oghuz Turkic tribes, but includes them among the Oghuz-Turkman
(where Turkman meant "Like the Turks") tribes. Kashgari felt the
Khalaj did not belong to the original stock of Turkish tribes but had
associated with them and therefore, in language and dress, often appeared
"like Turks". The 11th century Tarikh-i Sistan and the Firdausi's
Shahnameh also distinguish and differentiate the Khalaj from the Turks.
Minhaj-i-Siraj Juzjani (13th century) never identified Khalaj as Turks, but was
careful not to refer to them as Pashtuns. They were always a category apart
from Turks, Tajiks and Pashtuns.
Muhammad ibn Najib Bakran's Jahan-nama explicitly describes them as Turkic,
although he notes that their complexion had become darker (compared to the
Turks) and their language had undergone enough alterations to become a distinct
dialect. The modern historian Irfan Habib has argued that the Khaljis were not
related to the Turkic people and were instead ethnic Pashtuns. Habib pointed
out that, in some 15th-century Devanagari Sati inscriptions, the later Khaljis
of Malwa have been referred to as "Khalchi" and "Khilchi",
and that the 17th century chronicle Padshahnama, an area near Boost in
Afghanistan (where the Khalaj once resided) as "Khalich". Habib
theorizes that the earlier Persian chroniclers misread the name
"Khalchi" as "Khalji" . He also argues that no 13th century
source refers to the Turkish background of the Khalji. However, Muhammad ibn
Najib Bakran's Jahan-nama (c. 1200-1220) described the Khalaj people as a
"tribe of Turks" that had been going through a language shift.
Jalal-ud-din Khalji :
Khaljis were vassals of the Mamluk dynasty of Delhi and served the Sultan of
Delhi, Ghiyas ud din Balban, as a minor part of the Muslim nobility. The last
major Turkic ruler, Balban, in his struggle to maintain power over his
insubordinate Turkish officers, destroyed the power of the Forty. However this
indirectly damaged the Turkish integrity of the nobility, which had opposed the
power of the non-Turks. This left them vulnerable to the Khalji and Indo-Muslim
faction, which had been strengthening due to the ever-growing number of
converts, to take power through a series of assassinations. One by one the
Mamluk officers were murdered, and the last ruler of the Turkic Mamluk dynasty
- the 17-year old Muiz ud din Qaiqabad - was killed in the Kailu-gheri Palace
during the coup by Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji. Jalaluddin Firuz Khalji, who was
around 70 years old at the time of his ascension, was known as a mild-mannered,
humble and kind monarch to the general public. Jalaluddin succeeded in
overcoming the opposition of the Turkish nobles and ascended the throne of
Delhi in January 1290. Jalal-ud-din was not universally accepted: During his
six-year reign (1290–96), Balban's nephew revolted due to his assumption
of power and the subsequent sidelining of nobility and commanders serving the
Mamluk dynasty. Jalal-ud-din suppressed the revolt and executed some
commanders, then led an unsuccessful expedition against Ranthambhor and
repelled a Mongol force on the banks of the Sind River in central India with
the help of his nephew Juna Khan.
Alauddin Khalji Main article: Alauddin Khalji Alauddin Khalji was the nephew
and son-in-law of Jalal-ud-din. He raided the Deccan peninsula and Deogiri -
then the capital of the state of Maharashtra, looting their treasure. He
returned to Delhi in 1296, murdered Jalal-ud-din and assumed power as Sultan.
He would appoint his Indo-Muslim allies such as Zafar Khan(Minister of War),
Nusrat Khan (Wazir of Dehli), Ayn al Mulk Multani] Malik Karfur, Malik
Tughlaq,] and Malik Nayk(Master of the Horse) who were famous warriors but
non-Turks, which resulted in the emergence of an Indo-Muslim state. To secure a
route to Gujarat's trading ports, Ayn al-Mulk Multani was sent to conquer the
Paramara kingdom of Malwa. Its Rai defended it with a large Rajput army, but he
was defeated by Multani who became the governor of the province. Then Nusrat
Khan was sent to conquer Gujarat itself, where he defeated its Solanki king.
Nusrat Khan plundered its chief cities and sacked its temples, such as the
famous temple of Somnath which had been rebuilt in the twelfth century. It was
here where Nusrat Khan captured Malik Kafur who would later become a military
general. Alauddin continued expanding Delhi Sultanate into South India, with
the help of generals such as Malik Kafur and Khusraw Khan, collecting large war
booty (Anwatan) from those they defeated. His commanders collected war spoils
from conquered kingdoms and paid khums (one fifth) on ghanima (booty collected
during war) to Sultan's treasury, which helped strengthen the Khalji rule.
Alauddin Khalji reigned for 20 years. He attacked and seized states of
Ranthambhor (1301 AD), Chittorgarh (1303), Mandu (1305) and plundered the
wealthy state of Devagiri. He also withstood two Mongol raids. Alauddin was
also known for his cruelty against attacked kingdoms after wars. Historians
note him as a tyrant, and that anyone Alauddin Khalji suspected of being a
threat to this power was killed, along with the women and children of that
family. In 1298, between 15,000 and 30,000 people near Delhi, who had recently
converted to Islam, were slaughtered in a single day, due to fears of an
uprising.
He also killed his own family members and nephews, in 1299–1300, after he
suspected them of rebellion, by first gouging out their eyes and then beheading
them. In 1308, Alauddin's lieutenant, Malik Kafur captured Warangal, overthrew
the Hoysala Empire south of the Krishna River and raided Madurai in Tamil Nadu.
He then looted the treasury in capitals and from the temples of south India.
Among these loots was the Warangal loot that included one of the largest known
diamond in human history, the Koh-i-Noor. Malik Kafur returned to Delhi in
1311, laden with loot and war booty from Deccan peninsula which he submitted to
Alauddin Khalji. This made Malik Kafur, born in a Hindu family and who had
converted to Islam before becoming Delhi Sultanate's army commander, a favorite
of Alauddin Khalji. In 1311, Alauddin ordered a massacre of Mongols in the
Delhi Sultanate wherein between 15,000 and 30,000 Mongol settlers, who had
recently converted to Islam, were killed after Khalji suspected them of
plotting an uprising against him.
The last Khalji sultans:
Main articles: Shihabuddin Omar, Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah, and Khusro Khan :
Malik Kafur became the sultan but lacked support from the amirs and was killed
within a few months. Coinage of Khusrau Khan. Over the next three years
following Malik Kafur's death, another three sultans assumed power violently
and/or were killed in coups. First, the amirs installed a six-year-old named
Shihab-ud-din Omar as sultan and his teenage brother, Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah,
as regent. Qutb killed his younger brother and appointed himself sultan; to win
over the loyalty of the amirs and the Malik clan he offered Ghazi Malik the
position of army commander in the Punjab. Others were given a choice between
various offices and death. After ruling in his own name for less than four
years, Mubarak Shah was murdered in 1320 by one of his generals, Khusraw Khan.
Amirs persuaded Ghazi Malik, who was still army commander in the Punjab, to
lead a coup. Ghazi Malik's forces marched on Delhi, captured Khusraw Khan, and
beheaded him. Upon becoming sultan, Ghazi Malik renamed himself Ghiyath al-Din
Tughluq, becoming the first ruler of the Tughluq dynasty.
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