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Introduction
The Khilji Dynasty was the second Central Asian dynasty to rule the Delhi Sultanate. They eventually acquired the Khura Samian urbane culture and various Afghan customs and social traditions from the Ghaznavids. As a result, Khiljis’ court was multi-ethnic, with members of Persian, Indian, Arab, and Turkish heritage. This effectively ended the Ilbari Turks’ monopolisation of power and racial tyranny and broadened the governing class’s social basis. In the Delhi Sultanate, Alauddin Khilji was the second monarch of the Khilji dynasty.
Mongol invasion
The Mongols, another primary ruler of the time, raided India when Jalal Ud din Khilji was here. The emperor brought the conflict to a halt by resolving the issue via discussions. Later, under Ulugh Khan, the Mongols raided India again. This time they mediated a solution by arranging Ulugh Khan’s marriage with the king’s daughter in the city of Delhi.
Regardless, Sultan was a kind man who pardoned captives and criminals. Dissatisfied with this deed, his nephew and son-in-law, Alauddin Khilji, assassinated him and crowned himself the new ruler of the Khilji Dynasty.
Alauddin Khilji
- He was the greatest monarch of the Khilji Dynasty and the first Muslim ruler to extend his power to India’s extreme south. He liberally gave money and gold to his people, nobles, and ministers for them to forget Jalal-ud-din’s murder and support him.
- He put all of the state’s authority in his own hands, and hence the time represented the pinnacle of tyrannical administration.
- Malik Kafur is supposed to have poisoned Alauddin Khilji. He passed away in January 1316.
Reforms made by Alauddin Khilji
The Khiljis were part of Delhi’s Ilbari dynasty. Malik Firuz, the Ariz-I-Mumalik appointed by Kaiqubad after the collapse of the Ilbari Dynasty, was the founder of the Khilji Dynasty.
He took advantage of the political vacuum produced by the ineptitude of Balban’s successors. Malik Firuz came to the throne of Delhi as Jalal-ud-din Firuz Khilji on June 13, 1290.
Alauddin’s reforms intended to enhance administration, strengthen the army, and equip the machinery of land revenue management to increase and promote cultivation and people’s welfare.
Agrarian Reforms
Regulation of Zabita Biswa was established as the standard unit of measurement for cultivable land.
The land revenue (Kharaj) was established at half of the production based on paimash (measuring) in the Doab, i.e., the Ganga and the Jamuna tract. There was also a house tax (ghari) and a pasture tax (charai).
Although land revenue was estimated in kind, it was required in cash.
Diwan-i-Mustakharaj, a new revenue department, is established. Khuts, or the intermediary that emerged in the long run around the districts. For the first time, Amir Khusrau addressed them as zamindars.
Administrative Reforms
According to Barani, the economic rules were largely a military measure, i.e., to keep a big and efficient army on hand to keep the Mongols at bay. However, Amir Khusrau sees it as a welfare policy to assure the supply of essential items at acceptable prices.
Zabawit, or precise regulations, were created to set the price of all commodities, including food grains, horses, livestock, and enslaved people.
In Delhi, he constructed three distinct marketplaces for food grains, expensive fabrics, horses, enslaved people, and livestock.
Military Reforms
Arz-i-direct Mamalik’s recruiting of warriors. Like Balban, he erected and repaired forts throughout the North West boundary.
Implementation of the Daag (horse branding) and Huliya or Chehra (descriptive rolls of troops) systems.The establishment of three ranks of soldiers: Soldiers on foot; Soldiers on one horse (ek-aspa); Soldiers on two horses (do-asps)
His reign ended in 1320 with his assassination by his army general Khusraw Khan, who Ghazi Malik then assassinated. In 1320, the commander of Punjab assumed the throne as Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq, ushering in a new dynasty.
Conclusion
Alauddin Khilji died in 1316. His death signalled the end of the dynasty. Malik Kafur ascended to the throne in his place. However, the Muslim nobles did not support this convert. He was assassinated only a few months after his election. Following his death, three more Khilji dynasty members rose to the throne. The Muslim nobility installed Shihab-ud-din Omar, six years old, on the throne, with his adolescent elder brother Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah as regent.
