Accession of Ala-ud-Din Khilji (1296-1316)

Accession :

Ala-ud-Din Khalji was the nephew of Jalal-ud-Din Firuz. As Ala-ud-Din was fatherless, he was brought up by Jalal-ud-Din with affection and care and also made his son-in-law. When Jalal-ud-Din became the Sultan, he gave Ala-ud-Din the fief of Kara in the district of Allahabad.

It was here that Ala-ud-Din became ambitious. Barani tells us that “craftily suggestions of the Kara rebels made a lodgment in his brain and from the very first year of his occupation of that territory, he began to follow up his design of proceeding to some distant quarter and amassing money.”

Due to the intrigues to Malika-Jahan, his mother-in-law, and his wife which made him unhappy, Ala-ud-Din decided to make himself independent of Delhi. In 1292, he successfully invaded Malwa and captured the town of Bhilsa. He was also given the fief of Avadh. Ala-ud-Din also invaded Devagiri and defeated its ruler. He came back to Kara with a lot of booty in gold, silver, silk, pearls and precious stones.

He had no intention of sharing this wealth with Sultan Jalal-ud-Din and through cleverness was able to bring about his murder. On 19 July, 1296, Ala-ud-Din was proclaimed Sultan in his camp.

Barani rightly points out that Ala-ud-Din also “did not escape retribution for the blood of his patron. Fate at length placed a betrayer in his path (Malik Kafur) by whom his family was destroyed…. and the retribution which befell upon it never had a parallel even in any infidel land.”

Rival on Throne :

The murder of Jalal-ud-Din did not put Ala-ud-Din on the throne of Delhi. As soon as Malika Jahan learnt about the murder of her husband, she put her younger son Qadir Khan Rukum-ud-Din (Ibrahim) on the throne and called for her elder son Arkali Khan from Multan. Without wasting any time, Ala-ud-Din marched towards Delhi from Kara.

On his way to Delhi, he scattered small gold and silver coins among the people. The distribution of the gold brought by Ala-ud-Din from the South won for him a large number of followers.

He was also able to win over the bulk of the army by fair foul means. When Ibrahim found that resistance was impossible, he fled towards Multan with his mother and Ahmad Chap. Ala-ud-Din entered Delhi and occupied the palace of Balban. On 3 October, 1296, he was proclaimed the Sultan of Delhi.

It is true that Ala-ud-Din was on the throne of Delhi but he knew that his position was still insecure. No wonder, he sent a large army under his brother Ulugh Khan to capture his rivals. Ulugh Khan captured Multan and blinded Ibrahim, Arkali Khan and Ahmed Chap. Malika Jahan, widow of Jalal-ud-Din, was imprisoned.

Destruction of Jaiali Nobles

Ala-ud-Din also had to deal with the Jalali nobles who were not loyal to him. Nusrat Khan was deputed to take strong measures against them. Their Jagirs were confiscated. Those nobles who had been won over by Ala-ud-Din with the help of money were also punished.

The contention of Ala-ud-Din was that those nobles who had not been faithful to his uncle and could be bought with gold by him, could also betray him if an opportunity arose.

The result was that some of those nobles were blinded, some were thrown into prison and some were put to death. Their Jagirs were incorporated in the Khalsa land. The wealth confiscated from them was put in the state treasury. It is estimated that Nusrat Khan added about a crore to the royal treasury.