The Khilji Dynasty and Alauddin’s Reforms

1. What was the Khalji revolution of 1290?

The Khaljis first served the Mamluk Sultans as minor nobles. Balban broke the Forty, the Turkic officers who backed the throne. That weakened the Turkic elite as a whole. It left the Khalji faction free to act.

The change of 1290 is called the Khalji revolution:

• Mamluk officers were removed one by one in a string of killings.
• The last Mamluk ruler, Qaiqubad, was killed in the Kailu-gheri palace.
• Jalaluddin Firuz Khalji took the throne in January 1290, at about seventy.
• His house was Turko-Afghan, and the old Turkic nobles saw it as an outsider.

Some Turkic nobles opposed him from the start. He ruled from Kilokhri for the first year to avoid them.

2. How did a gentle Sultan rule?

Jalaluddin was known as a mild, humble and kind ruler. His reign ran from 1290 to 1296. Mildness did not remove every danger:

• Balban’s nephew revolted against him. Jalaluddin put the revolt down and executed some commanders.
• He took Mandawar and Jhain from the Chahamana king Hammira. He could not take the capital, Ranthambore.
• In 1292 a Mongol force under Abdullah invaded Punjab. Its advance guard under Ulghu was beaten and captured.
• Ulghu’s group then accepted Islam and asked to settle in India. Jalaluddin gave them homes and allowances. They became known as the New Muslims.

Keep the New Muslims in mind. Their story ends badly under his nephew.

3. Who was Alauddin before he was Sultan?

Alauddin was born around 1266-67 and was first named Ali Gurshasp. He was Jalaluddin’s nephew. He also married Jalaluddin’s daughter, so he was a son-in-law too.

His climb was steady:

• Jalaluddin made him Amir-i-Tuzuk, the master of ceremonies.
• In 1291 he helped crush a revolt and became governor of Kara.
• In 1293 he raided the rich town of Bhilsa. He handed the loot to the Sultan and won more trust.
• The Sultan made him Ariz-i Mamalik (minister of war) and governor of Awadh.

At Bhilsa he also heard of the huge wealth of the Yadava kingdom at Devagiri. He kept that news to himself.

4. Why did the Devagiri raid matter?

In 1296 Alauddin raided Devagiri. He took gold, jewels, silk, elephants, horses and slaves. This was his own raid, not one led by a general. It paid for his coup.

The Sultan came to Gwalior, hoping to meet him and receive the loot. Alauddin marched straight to Kara instead. He then wrote a letter of apology and asked for a signed pardon. The Sultan sent it at once.

His brother Almas Beg, who was also Jalaluddin’s son-in-law, helped the plan. He assured the Sultan of Alauddin’s loyalty. He said Alauddin might kill himself unless the Sultan came in person.

5. What happened at Kara in 1296?

Jalaluddin set out for Kara with his army. Near Kara he sent his main force by land. He crossed the Ganges with only about 1,000 soldiers.

The end came quickly:

• On 20 July 1296 Alauddin pretended to greet him and had him killed.
• Jalaluddin’s companions were also killed.
• Alauddin was proclaimed Sultan at Kara.
• He recruited soldiers freely and spread gold among the crowds to look generous.

By the time he reached Badaun, his army was very large. Many nobles who had opposed him now joined him.

6. How did he take Delhi and clear rivals?

Floods on the Yamuna delayed the march. In October 1296 Alauddin reached Siri, near Delhi. Part of the Delhi army went over to him at midnight. The rival Sultan, Ruknuddin Ibrahim, fled to Multan with his mother. Alauddin was proclaimed Sultan in Delhi on 21 October 1296.

He then secured the throne in steps:

• He gave every soldier a year and a half of pay in cash.
• In November 1296 an army took Multan, where Jalaluddin’s son held out.
• Nusrat Khan arrested, blinded or killed the rest of Jalaluddin’s family.
• In 1297 the nobles who had switched sides were arrested, blinded or killed. Their property was taken.

He also took a grand title, Sikandar-i-Sani, “the Second Alexander”. It appears in his coin legend.

7. How did the five Mongol tests go?

Under Alauddin the Mongol raids became real invasions. The Chagatai Khanate sent armies again and again:

• Jaran-Manjur, 6 February 1298: Ulugh Khan beat them after they reached Kasur.
• Kili, 1299: Qutlugh Khwaja led them toward Delhi. General Zafar Khan was killed, but the Mongols retreated.
• Delhi, 1303: the most serious attack. Alauddin sheltered at Siri.
• Amroha, December 1305: Malik Nayak’s 30,000 horsemen beat them.
• Ravi, 1306: Malik Kafur won a decisive victory.

The Chagatai ruler Duwa died in 1307. After that no Mongol expedition came during Alauddin’s reign.

8. Why did Siri Fort hold in 1303?

In 1303 the Mongols reached Delhi while Alauddin’s best troops were far away. His Warangal army had failed and lost men. The blockade stopped reinforcements from entering the city.

Alauddin took shelter in a guarded camp at the half-built Siri Fort. The Mongols fought small clashes but could not break in. They plundered Delhi and its edges, then left.

The lesson was clear. Alauddin strengthened forts and garrisons along the Mongol routes. He also began the economic reforms that could pay for a bigger army. Siri became the second of the seven cities of medieval Delhi.

9. Which lands did he conquer in the north and west?

While the Mongols were held off, Alauddin’s armies took one kingdom after another:

• Gujarat: raided in 1299, with Somnath plundered. It was annexed in 1304. A slave named Malik Kafur was captured here.
• Jaisalmer: besieged in 1299.
• Ranthambore: taken in July 1301 from Hammiradeva. Alauddin led the final siege himself.
• Chittor: captured in 1303 after a siege of eight months.
• Malwa: conquered in 1305. Siwana fell in 1308 and Jalore in 1311.

Later stories say he attacked Chittor to win Queen Padmini. Most modern historians reject that legend.

10. Where did Malik Kafur march in the south?

The loot of Devagiri made Alauddin look south. He gave the command to his slave-general Malik Kafur. The campaigns ran in this order:

• Devagiri (Yadavas), 1308: Ramachandra became a lifelong vassal.
• Warangal (Kakatiyas), January 1310: Prataparudra agreed to pay tribute.
• Dwarasamudra (Hoysalas), 1311: Ballala III accepted a truce and gave up wealth.
• Madurai (Pandyas), 1311: Kafur raided the towns, but the Pandya princes fled.

Barani called the Dwarasamudra and Pandya loot the greatest seizure since the capture of Delhi. These raids brought tribute and treasure, not direct rule. Kafur went back to Devagiri in 1313 to crush a revolt.

11. What was the New Muslims massacre?

The New Muslims were the Mongols who had settled under Jalaluddin. Alauddin’s Mongol wars had made them suspect. In 1311 his agents found a plot against his life among their leaders.

He ordered a mass killing. Barani puts the dead at 20,000 to 30,000. Another summary of the dynasty gives a lower range and a different date. So treat the exact figure as uncertain.

This is a common exam link. The New Muslims appear first under Jalaluddin and last under Alauddin.

12. Why did the reforms come?

Alauddin faced Mongol invasions and several rebellions. He needed a huge army. A huge army needs money and obedient nobles. His reforms tried to supply both.

Historian Satish Chandra reads them as one plan. Fear and control were the basis of good government. The reforms also served his military ambitions.

Remember the bigger pattern:

• Take land and wealth from those who could rebel.
• Raise steady revenue directly from farmers.
• Hold prices low so a cash army could live on low pay.

13. How did he change land revenue?

Alauddin cancelled many land grants and revenue assignments in the Ganga-Yamuna Doab. He turned that fertile region into crown land. It is called khalisa land.

He then changed the tax itself:

• The land tax (kharaj) was set at 50% of the produce. This was the most Hanafi law allowed.
• Tax was tied to the area of land, so big landholders paid more.
• Village chiefs lost the share they used to keep. Officials now collected tax from the farmers directly.
• Account books were audited, and small errors were punished.

The result was heavy. Farmers kept barely enough to live and sow the next crop.

14. How was the standing army paid in cash?

Alauddin was the first Delhi Sultan to pay every soldier in cash. Earlier Sultans leaned on nobles who kept their own troops. His treasury now paid the whole army directly.

The pay was fixed low:

• A well-equipped cavalryman got at most 234 tankas a year.
• A rider with two horses got 78 tankas more.
• The soldier had to keep his own horse and gear from this pay.

To stop fraud he kept a descriptive roll of each soldier. He also branded the horses. That stopped officers from showing the same horse twice or swapping in a weak one. Chronicler Firishta gave the army as 475,000 horsemen. Treat such round figures with caution.

15. How did price control work in Delhi?

Low pay only worked if goods were cheap. So the state fixed prices. Alauddin set up separate markets in Delhi:

• Mandi: the central grain market, plus grocery shops in every area.
• Sera-i Adl: the market for cloth and imported goods. It also sold sugar, herbs, dry fruits and ghee.
• Slaves and animals: their own market.
• General goods: a market for everything else.

Barani says the Diwan-i-Riyasat, a ministry of commerce, set prices by production cost. Each market had its own supervisor. Prices were not allowed to rise, even when rain failed.

16. How did the state keep markets honest?

Setting prices was easy. Enforcing them was the hard part. The state used several tools together:

• Hoarding and regrating (buying cheap to resell dear) were banned.
• Grain carriers were registered and made to live in villages along the Yamuna. They had to move grain fast to Delhi.
• The government kept its own granaries and sold from them in shortages.
• In drought, each neighbourhood got a daily grain allowance.
• Cheats using false weights were punished harshly.

Alauddin took daily reports from three separate sources: the market supervisor, intelligence officers and secret spies. If the reports differed, the supervisor was punished. That fear kept officials honest.

17. Why did he fix prices? Two answers

Historians do not agree on why he fixed prices. The sources give two answers:

• Amir Khusrau says Alauddin cared about the welfare of ordinary people.
• Barani says the aim was a large army on low pay, and to punish Hindu traders.

Barani’s view has a weak spot. Much of Delhi’s long-distance trade was run by Khorasani and Multani merchants, many of them Muslims. They were hit too. Cheap goods also helped the general public, Hindus included.

Barani is the main source, but he wrote about fifty years after Alauddin. So read his motives with care.

18. How did he control the nobles?

Alauddin attacked the habits that let nobles plot. He put them under heavy watch:

• A spy network reached into noble households.
• Marriage alliances between noble families needed the king’s approval.
• Nobles lost wealth and charity lands that could fund a rebellion.
• Alcohol was banned in Delhi, because drinking parties could turn into plotting. Public sale stayed banned even after private brewing was allowed.

Some of his work lasted. His land tax system survived into the nineteenth century or later. Later rulers such as Sher Shah and Akbar built on his land reforms. His price controls ended within months of his death.

19. What did Alauddin build?

Alauddin’s buildings are some of the best-known Delhi Sultanate monuments:

• Hauz-i-Alai (1296): a large water reservoir of about 70 acres, later called Hauz-i-Khas.
• Siri Fort: the new city begun to defend Delhi against the Mongols.
• Alai Darwaza (completed 1311): the southern gateway of the Qutb complex.
• Alai Minar: meant to be twice the size of the Qutb Minar. It was abandoned, probably at his death.
• He also repaired the Hauz-i-Shamsi reservoir in 1311 and built a dome at its centre.

His tomb and a madrasa sit at the back of the Qutb complex in Mehrauli.

20. How did Kafur take charge?

In his last years Alauddin fell ill and trusted few officers. Malik Kafur rose to be na’ib, the viceroy, and became the real ruler.

The purge that followed was heavy:

• The office of wazir was abolished.
• The minister Sharaf Qa’ini was executed.
• His eldest sons, Khizr Khan and Shadi Khan, were blinded.
• His brother-in-law Alp Khan was put to death.

Alauddin died on the night of 4 January 1316. Barani reports that some people blamed Kafur. Kafur then put Alauddin’s six-year-old son Shihabuddin on the throne as a puppet.

21. How did Mubarak Shah undo the work?

Kafur’s rule lasted about a month. He was killed by Alauddin’s former bodyguards in February 1316. Alauddin’s elder son Mubarak Shah first became regent. He took the throne in April 1316, aged about seventeen or eighteen.

He blinded and imprisoned his young brother Shihabuddin. Then he tried to win support by reversing his father’s policies:

• Thousands of imprisoned officers were released.
• The price controls were revoked, and prices rose sharply.

He did win back Devagiri and forced Warangal to pay tribute. But he came to rely on a slave named Hasan, who was given the title Khusrau Khan.

22. How did the dynasty end in 1320?

Khusrau Khan had Mubarak Shah murdered in July 1320 and took the throne. Ghazi Malik, the governor of Dipalpur, refused to accept him. His son Fakhruddin Jauna helped push the plan. Jauna later ruled as Muhammad bin Tughluq.

The father and son beat Khusrau Khan’s forces in two battles, at Saraswati and Lahrawat. Ghazi Malik took the throne on 6 September 1320 as Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq. Khusrau Khan was beheaded. That began the Tughlaq dynasty.

Here are the rulers in order:

• Jalaluddin (1290-1296): the founder.
• Alauddin (1296-1316): the great centraliser.
• Shihabuddin (1316): the puppet of Kafur.
• Mubarak Shah (1316-1320): the one who undid the reforms.
• Khusrau Khan (1320): the last, for a few months.

23. Which question was already asked?

An SSC CGL 2024 question asked which region Alauddin’s first southern campaign was aimed at. The answer was Devagiri. The wrong options were Warangal, Dwarasamudra and Madurai.

Those wrong options are the later Kakatiya, Hoysala and Pandya targets of Malik Kafur. Kafur reached Devagiri in 1308. Alauddin himself had raided Devagiri earlier, in 1296. Read the wording of any question on this topic with care.

24. Which traps should you avoid?

Most mistakes come from half-remembered facts. Check each statement against these five.

• “Alauddin was Jalaluddin’s son” is wrong. He was the nephew and son-in-law.
• “Kafur led the 1296 Devagiri raid” is wrong. Alauddin led it himself. Kafur’s campaign was in 1308.
• “Price control lasted after Alauddin” is wrong. Mubarak Shah revoked it.
• “Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq defeated Mubarak Shah” is wrong. He defeated Khusrau Khan, who had murdered Mubarak Shah.
• “The Khaljis were Turks” is wrong. They were Turko-Afghan, and the 1290 change moved power away from the Turkic elite.