Alauddin Khalji — (1296–1316)
If you ask me to point out turning points in Indian history, my list will definitely include reign of Alauddin Khalji which was from 1296 to 1316. It is hard to quantify how much of our today we owe to such historical turning points. Reign of Alauddin Khalji can be classified into : Prelude, Mongol and Northern Expansion and, Kafur Expeditions.
Prelude
Fascinating reign of Alauddin had a fascinating beginning too. Alauddin became governor of Kara-Manikpur province (Present day Allahabad division) in 1291, While his uncle Jalal-ud-din Khalji was ruling from Delhi. Alauddin knew, usurping his uncle from Delhi throne will not be viable unless he has enough wealth and man power. Since manpower can be bought with wealth, so all he needed was wealth. In the year 1292 to achieve his objective of wealth he raided city of Bhilsa in adjacent Malwa region which was then ruled by Paramara dynasty, and there he got to know about the riches of the city of Deogir (Present day Daulatabad).
Deogir at that time was the capital city of Yadavas, which were ruling over Deccan region. By end of 13th century Deccan and southern India were being ruled by four major dynasties : Yadavas of Devagiri, Kakatiyas of Warangal, Hoysalas of Dwarasamudra and Pandyas of Madurai. Till 1296, Deccan and southern India were free from turmoil caused by central Asian menace. Delhi sultanate had not crossed Vindhyas and Narmada in any major way by then which for them was acting as topographical barrier. Also Mongol threat in the north west were not allowing sultans of Delhi to maneuver far from Delhi.
While Yadavas of Devagiri were relying on the impossibility of Delhi army to reach to the their homeland, Alauddin was planning to raid their capital Devagiri and use the treasure looted from there to raise an army to march to Delhi and placate the nobles of Delhi in his favor when he takes up the control of sultanate. In 1296, he crossed Vindhyas to reach Devagiri and with shrewd use of rumours, tactics and force he was able extort immense wealth from Yadava king Ramachandra, who also agreed to pay Alauddin an annual tribute in return for peace. With immense extorted wealth he marched to Kara instead of Delhi. The gullible Jalal-ud-din Khalji, not knowing the intentions of his nephew agreed to visit him at Kara without his army and on July 1296 Alauddin treacherously killed Jalal-ud-din and declared himself the new Sultan and that’s how began the reign of Alauddin Khalji which lasted to his death in 1316.
Mongol and Northern Expansion (1296–1306)
By the Time of Alauddin Mongol Empire had already disintegrated into four separate khanates: the Golden Horde in Eastern Europe, the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia, the Ilkhanate in Southwest Asia, and the Yuan dynasty in East Asia. By 1290s it was Ilkhanate under Dawa khan (
r. 1282–1307) who made series of incursions into India, reaching as far as Delhi and Amroha.
Before diving further into Mongol incursions it is important to know major commanders or generals of Alauddin: Ulugh Khan, Nusrat Khan and Zafar Khan. Provided below are the chronology of the events that unfolded:
1296: Ulugh Khan, brother of Alauddin and Zafar Khan captured Multan which was then governed by Jalaluddin’s eldest son Arkali Khan.
1297–1298: The Chagatai noyan Kadar invested Punjab region but was defeated at Jaran Manjur on the banks of the Sutlej River On 6 February 1298 by combined forces of Ulugh Khan and Zafar Khan.
1298: Mongol army invaded the Sindh region and captured fort of Sivistan. Alauddin responded by sending army under Zafar Khan who retook the fort after siege. Zafar Khan’s reputation rose as result which made Alauddin and his brother Ulugh Khan jealous of him.
1299: Two major events took place in 1299. first was ransacking of Gujrat cities by Delhi forces led by Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan. Gujrat at that time was ruled by Vaghela king Karna, who fled from the region at the time of ransacking but regained control of it in subsequent years. Malik Kafur, who will later be leading all major deccan expedition for Alauddin was captured in this Gujrat campaign. Another event of importance was Battle of Kili (1299) that took place between Chagatai Khanate led by Qutlugh Khwaja, son of Dawa khan, and the Delhi Sultanate at Kili near Delhi, in which Zafar Khan got killed and Mongol armies retreated after indecisive confrontation between the two armies.
1301: on way back to Delhi after Gujrat campaign of 1299, a Mongol contingent that had been converted to Islam and absorbed into Delhi sultanate, revolted and after it was crushed brutally, few Mongol men took refuge under Hammiradeva, Chauhan king of Ranastambhapura (modern Ranthambore). In 1301 on the pretext of Hammiradeva giving asylum to rebels, Alauddin sent Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan to capture Ranthambore Fort, which had the reputation of being the strongest fort in Rajasthan, but their initial attempts were thwarted and Nusrat Khan died during the siege, prompting Alauddin to take charge of the siege himself. Fort was finally conquered by July of same year.
1302–1303: Alauddin commissioned two campaign, first to Chittorgarh, ruled by Rawal branch of Guhila Dynasty and second one to Warangal, capital of Kakatiyas. He himself led the Chittorgarh campaign and captured it after several month long seize, while he sent his generals Malik Juna and Malik Chajju to Warangal. While both army units were away from Delhi, Mongols of Chagatai Khanate decided to use this is an opportunity to invade Delhi. 1303, while Alauddin was still in Chittorgarh, he learned about the Mongol plans and decided to get back to Delhi as soon as possible to prepare for the defense of Delhi. He established his garrison in newly built Siri fort. Mongol invasion did took place in 1303 but they retreated after few months of seize.
1304- Delhi army invaded Gujrat for second time and this time they completely defeated Karna and took complete control of the region but Karna escaped to neighboring Yadava kingdom, where Ramachandra of Devagiri gave him the principality of Baglana.
1305- Alauddin’s Malwa campaign ended with Malwa becoming part of Delhi sultanate. In 1305, Mongol launched yet another invasion of India, but this time they bypassed frontier forts and Delhi and attacked regions around foot of the Shivalik Hills, and then proceeded south-east to the Gangetic plains along the Himalayan foothills and were finally defeated at Battle of Amroha on 20 December 1305 by Delhi forces led by Malik Nayak.
Kafur Expeditions
By 1305 all of the Alauddin’s Generals had died: Zafar Khan died during Battle of Kili (1299), Nusrat Khan died during the siege of Ranthambore fort (1301) and Ulugh Khan, just after siege of the same fort. But by 1305 another Commander who will be known to history as Malik Kafur took charge of Delhi’s campaign in the deccan and south.
In 1306, Sultanate faced yet another incursion from Mongols and this time Delhi forces were led by Malik Kafur. The attack was repulsed, raising the stature of Malik Kafur. Battle hardened Kafur and Delhi sultanate was now looking to expand towards south but before they had to conclude two pending issues.
Karan, Vaghela king of Gujrat, who had fled to Yadava kingdom, and was then holding Bagalna, and Yadava king Ramachandra, who had agreed to pay annual tribute to Alauddin after his defeat in 1296, was holding his payments for few years. In 1306–1307, Alauddin sanctioned two campaigns, one to defeat Karan and another to make Ramachandra subservient to Delhi again. As result of first campaign Karan was finally defeated and the second campaign led by Malik Kafur was able to accomplish its objective by making Devagiri surrender again to Delhi, but Ramachandra was allowed to rule but lost all its sovereignty to Delhi.
With Devagiri subjugated it was possible now for Delhi to launch strikes to kingdoms in south by using Devagiri as base. In 1309, Malik Kafur led an army to Warangal , then ruled by Prataparudra of Kakatiya dynasty and by January of 1310, Prataparudra surrendered, agreeing to pay annual tribute to Delhi. In Warangal he learned about riches of Hoysalas of Dwarasamudra and Pandyas of Madurai and with determination to subjugate them too, Kafur asked Alauddin to sanction yet another campaign to deep south, and it was granted.
In December of 1310, Malik Kafur made second expedition to plunder and subjugate Dwarasamudra and Madurai. By January of 1311 he reached Devagiri from there he moved to Hoysalas capital Dwarasamudra, whose ruler Veera Ballala III, sued for peace and surrendered their treasures and agreed to pay annual tribute to Delhi. After a brief stay in Dwarasamudra, Kafur moved further south to Pandya territories, which he couldn't subjugate but did plunder and ransacked the region.
After Ramachandra death, his son again hold up tributes to be paid to Delhi, In 1313, Kafur led his last major expedition to completely annex Devagiri for Delhi Sultanate, on which he succeeded and became governor of Devagiri.
Conclusion
Though Deccan and south India were not completely subjugated by sultanate’s raid during Alauddin Khalji’s reign but they did changed the dynamics of the region. All the four major kingdoms that we started with: Yadavas of Devagiri, Kakatiyas of Warangal, Hoysalas of Dwarasamudra and Pandyas of Madurai, perished in subsequent decades which gave rise two major players of the region Bahmani Sultanate and Vijayanagara Empire.
