GK SERIES FOR SSC,IAS,PCS,HAS,HCS AND OTHER COMPETITIVE EXAMS (HISTORY-9)

GK SERIES FOR SSC,IAS,PCS,HAS,HCS

AND OTHER COMPETITIVE EXAMS

(HISTORY-9)

KHILJI DYNASTY

Khilji Dynasty (1290 - 1320)

The Khiljis had a Turkish-Afghan origin. AlauddinKhilji (1296-1316 AD) was a prominent Khilji ruler.

Jallauddin Khalji(1290 – 96 AD)

·         Jalaluddin Khilji founded the Khilji dynasty.

·         He was a liberal ruler and adopted the policy of religious toleration.

·         In order to win the goodwill of the Mongols, the sultan married one of his daughters to the Mongol leader Ulugh Khan, a descendent of Chengiz Khan.

·         One of the most important events of Jalaluddin’s reign was the invasion of Devagiri, the capital of the Yadava kingdom in the Deccan, by Ali Gurshasp (later sultan Allaudin Khilji), the nephew and son – in – law of the sultan, and the governor of the Kara. After his successful campaign to Devagiri in 1296, Ali Gurshasp invited the sultan to come to Kara, to receive the enormous wealth brought from the Deccan as present. Jalaluddin came to Kara in 1296, where he was murdered by Ali Gurshasp, who proclaimed the sultan with the title of Allahuddin.

Allauddin Khalji(1296 – 1316 AD)

·         He was the first Turkish Sultan of Delhi who separated religion from politics.

·         He proclaimed Kingship knows no Kinship.

·         First ruler among the Delhi Sultans who didn’t ask for Mansur (letter of investiture) from the Caliph but called himself the deputy of Caliph.

·         He adopted the title Sikander – e – Sani or the second Alexander.

·         He annexed Gujarat (1298), Ranthambhor (1301), Mewar (1303), Malwa (1305), Jalor (1311).

·         In Deccan, Aluddin‘s army led by Malik Kafur defeated Ram Chandra (Yadava ruler of Devagiri), Pratap Rudradeva (Kakatiya ruler of Warangal), Vir Ballal III (Hoyasala ruler of Dwarsamudra) and Vir Pandya (Pandya ruler of Madurai).

·         Malik Kafur was awarded the title Malik Naib.

·         In order to avoid the problems created by the nobles, Alauddin issued 4 ordinances:

o   Confiscation of the religious endowments and free grants of lands.

o   Reorganized the spy system.

o   Prohibited the use of wine.

o   Nobles should not have convivial parties and they should not inter-marry without his permission.

·         He introduced the system of Dagh (the branding of horse) and Chehra (descriptive roll of soldiers).

·         The post of special officer called Mustakharaj was created for the purpose of collection of revenue.

·         All goods for sale were brought to an open market called Sarai Adal.

·         Many forts were built by him and the most important of them was Alai fort. He also constructed the Alai Darwaja, the entrance gate of Qutub Minar. He also built the Palace of thousand Pillars called Hazar Sutun.

·         Amir Khusrau, the poet musician, was his favorite court poet.

·         Alauddin appointed his trusted commanders, including Ghazi Malik (later known as sultan Giyasuddin Tuglaq), as warden to the North-western marches.

·         In 1316, after death of Alauddin, Malik Kafur seized the throne.

·         Before Kafur died, he nominated Shihabuddin (Alauddin‘s 6 year old prince) as King but imprisoned eldest prince Mubarak Khan.

Shiabuddin Umar (1316)

·         He was the minor son of Jhitaipali who was raised to throne after the death of Allauddin.

·         He became victim of the court politics and was later blinded.

Mubarak Khalji (1316 - 20)

·         He released 18,000 prisoners

·         He reversed all the administrative and market reforms of Allauddin Khalji.

·         During his time Devgiri was annexed.

Tughlaq Dynasty (1321 to 1394 AD)

The Tuglaqs were of Turkish origin.

Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq(1320 – 1325 AD)

·         Ghazi Malik or Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq of Qaurana tribe was the founder of Tughlaq dynasty.

·         He was the governor of Dipalpur before coming to power as Sultan.

·         He built the fortified city Tughlaqabad.

·         He died in the collapse of the victory pavilion near Delhi.

Mohammad Bin Tughlaq (1325 - 51)

·         Prince Jauna, son of Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq ascended the throne in 1325.

·         He gained the title Ulugh Khan.

·         He was a great scholar of Persian and Arabic, astronomy, philosophy, mathematics, medicine and logic.

·         He built the mausoleum of Nizamuddin Auliya at Delhi.

·         He offended the orthodox muslim ulema by curbing their political influence and tried to resolve secular problems through secular methods.

·         Two principal contemporary sources of the history of his time are Zia-ud-din Barani and Ibn Batuta.

·         He created a department Diwan-e-Amir-e-Kohi for the improvement of the agriculture.

·         He distributed Sondhar i.e. agriculture loans advanced for extension of agriculture of barren land. He encouraged cash crops in place of cereals.

·         He shifted the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad, a move that failed.

·         He was responsible for the expansion of the Delhi Sultanate southwards into the Deccan region

·         Muhammad bin Tughlaq introduced copper based token currency. Another failed experiment that could have been a turning point in history.

Feroz Shah Tughlaq (1351 - 88)

·         He was a cousin of Mohammad bin Tughlaq.

·         He adopted the policy of appeasement with the nobility, the army and theologians.

·         The new system of taxation was according to Quran. Four kinds of taxes sanctioned by the Quran were imposed and those were Kharaj, Zakat, Jizya and Khams.

·         Kharaj was the land tax, which was equal to 1/10 of the produce of the land.

·         Zakat was 2% tax on property.

·         Jizya was levied on non-Muslims.

·         Khams was 1/5 of the booty captured during war.

·         Firoz tried to ban practices, which the orthodox theologians considered non-Islamic. Thus he prohibited the practice of Muslim women going out to worship at graves of saints and erased paintings from the palace.

·         It was during the time of Firoz that Jizya became a separate tax.

·         He was very fond of collecting a large number of slaves. A dept of slaves called Diwan-i-Bandajani was setup by him.

·         Firoz repaired a number of canals and imposed Haque-i-Sharb or water tax.

·         He founded cities of Fatehabad, Hisar, Jaunpur and Firozabad.

·         The two pillars of Ashoka, one from Topra (Haryana) and other from Meerut (U.P.) were brought to Delhi.

·         The Sultan established at Delhi, a hospital described as Dar-ul-Shifa.

·         A new department of Diwan-i-Khairat was set up to make provisions for marriage of poor girls.

·         Firoz Shah Tughlaq rebuilt the top two storeys of the Qutub Minar with white marble.

He was succeeded by one of his grandsons, Tughlaq Shah, who assumed the title of Giyasuddin Tughlaq II. Within a year of his accession, he fell victim to intrigue and was beheaded in early 1389. During the next 5 years, three sultans – Abu Bakr, Mohd. Shah, and Alauddin Sikandar Shah – ascended the throne. The last sultan of the dynasty was Nasir-ud-din Mohd (1394 - 1412). During his reign, Timur, the great Mongol leader of Central Asia, invaded India. Timur reached Delhi in December 1398 and ordered general massacre. Timur left delhi in early 1399.