Foreign Policy of Jalal ud din Firuz Khilji

Ranthambor

As regards his foreign policy, he led his first expedition against Ranthambor in 1290. The ruler offered stiff resistance. The result was that the Sultan gave up the campaign and came back to Delhi.

The plea put forward by the Sultan was that “he did not value the fort so much as the hair of one Mussalman.” Ahmad Chap tried to impress upon the Sultan the dangers of such a policy but that had absolutely no effect on him.

Ala-ud-Din’s Exploits

Another expedition was undertaken against Mandawar which was captured in 1292. In the same year, Ala-ud-Din invaded Malwa and captured the town of Bhilsa.

On his return, Ala-ud-Din was made the Governor of Avadh in addition to that of Kara. In 1294, Ala-ud-Din defeated Ram Chandra Deva, the ruler of Devagiri. He brought from there a lot of wealth.

The Mongols

India was attacked by the Mongols during the reign of Jalal-ud-Din. Abdullah, grandson of Halaku, attacked India in 1292. In spite of his old age. Jalal-ud-Din went in person to oppose them and was successful in defeating them.

However, the Sultan allowed some of the Mongols to settle in India. The descendants of those Mongols came to be known as New Mussalmans.

Devagiri

Ala-ud-Din was the nephew and son-in-law of Jalal-ud-Din. He was a very ambitious man. He had heard of the wealth of the Deccan and decided to have the same. He started for the Deccan at the head of 18,000 horsemen.

While proceeding towards the Deccan, he gave out that he was dissatisfied with his uncle and was going to the South to have service under some Hindu ruler. The result was that no resistance was offered to him on the way.

However, when he entered the boundaries of Devagiri, Raja Ram Chandra decided to gave battle to Ala-ud-Din Khalji but he was defeated. At that time, a large number of soldiers of Devagiri had gone to the South to fight against a fellow Hindu Raja. It was due to this reason that the ruler of Devagiri was defeated and he was made to pay a heavy tribute.

When the son of Ram Chandra came back from the South with his troops, he refused to pay tribute as promised and decided to fight. It is true that for some time the Hindu armies had the upper hand but ultimately they were defeated. Ala-ud-Din came back to Kara after getting a lot of riches.