JALAL-UD-DIN FIRUZ SHAH (A.D. 1290-96)

جلال الدين فيروز شاه (1290-96 م)

This article contains : Legacy and Historical Significance/ Cultural Contributions and Architectural Marvels/ Military Campaigns and Strategic Initiatives/Administrative Reforms and Governance:/Early Life and Ascension to the Throne

By : S Roy . M.A, PHD

The accession of Malik Firuz on the throne of Delhi in June 1290 as Jalāl-ud-din Firüz Shah caused so much resentment among the people of Delhi, that for about a year he thought it prudent to remain at Kilughari. The people had become accustomed to the rule of the Ilbari Turks for about eighty years and saw in Firuz Shah an Afghan usurper who had put an end to the Turkish rule. In reality, the Khaljis were not Afghans as they were erroneously be- lieved to be, but Turks who had been settled for a long time in the region of Afghanistan called Khalj, lying on either side of the Helmand, and had adopted Afghan manners and customs. They had migrated to Hindusthän in the wake of the Ghaznavid and the Ghürid invasions as well as the Mongol pressure in Central Asia and Afghanistan. Jalāl-ud-din Firuz made Kilūghari his capital, completed the unfinished palace and gardens of Kaiqubād, and in- structed his courtiers and followers to build their houses around the palace. Thus Kilughari soon became a beautiful suburb of Delhi humming with life.

The Khalji revolution put an end to the supremacy of the Ilbarī Turks. Firüz, of course, did not exclude them from office, but he appointed his own relations to positions of trust. Malik Chhajjū, nephew of Balban and the only survivor of the late royal family, was allowed to retain the fief of Kara-Manikpur. The office of chief minister (wazir) was conferred on Khvaja Khatir, who had held it under Balban and Kaiqubad. Fakhr-ud-din, the kotwal of Delhi, continued to hold his position. The king's eldest son obtain- ed the title of Khan Khänän; the second, Arkali Khan, and the third, Qadr Khan. His younger brother was ennobled as Yaghrush Khán and appointed army minister ('ariz-i-mumālik). His nephews, 'Ala-ud-din and Almas Beg, obtained important posts in the royal household, while his relation, the witty but bluntly frank Malik Ahmad Chap, was appointed deputy master of the ceremonics.

Never was a ruler a greater misfit in his time than the first Khalji king of Delhi. A pious and God-fearing Muslim, Firuz was an old man of seventy when he came to the throne. His innate good nature, combined with weakness born of old age, made him unduly kind and generous, and deprived him of those manly quali-ties which are necessary for kingship.2

 The valiant governor of Samana, who had ably repelled the series of Mongol invasions, was very different from the Khalji king who would raise the siege of Ranthambhor, considering ten such forts not worth a single hair ol a Muslim. One could appreciate the man in Firuz, when he dis- mounted from his horse and stood with tears in his eyes before the Red Palace of Balban as the melancholy thought arose in his mind how often he had stood in awe before the same throne, but his Khalji followers could see in it nothing but sentimental rubbish attempting to cover his infirmity.

Malik Chhajjū was the first to take advantage of Firüz Shāh's reckless leniency, for as a Balbanite he could press his claim to the throne of Delhi and count on the support of its populace. Joined by Amir 'Ali, the sar-jändär, governor of Awadh and other old adherents of Balban, Malik Chhajjū, just a few months after the accession of Firüz, set up independent authority at Kara and march- ed towards Delhi with a large force. He was, however, defeated near Badäün and took to flight. Being hotly pursued, he was cap- tured along with his lieutenants, and was brought before the King at Badäün in fetters. Firuz not only released them, but entertained them and even expressed his appreciation of their loyalty to their former sovereign. To Malik Ahmad Chap's grave warning that such conduct on the part of a sovereign was unseemly and injudi- cious, tending to encourage rebellion, the old King replied that he would rather renounce the throne than shed the blood of Muslims. Malik Chhajjü's fief of Karä was given to the King's nephew and son-in-law, ‘Alä-ud-din, for his gallant participation in the campaign.

Firüz Shah's lenient and mild policy fostered disloyal ambition among the nobles who interpreted it as the result of his weakness. They were confirmed in their opinion by the King's treatment of the thags, who were a perpetual menace in the environs of Delhi. A thousand of these professed robbers and murderers were captur- ed, but the King merely sent them to Bengal where they had full freedom to carry on their criminal activities. In a drinking party some of the nobles even made the proposal of killing Firüz and offering the throne to Taj-ud-din Kūchi, who was a prominent nobleman and a member of the famous 'Forty'. When Firuz re- ceived this report, he sent for the conspirators and challenged them in an open duel, but his indignation was easily calmed down by the flattering words of one of them. Firüz pardoned them all, though they were dismissed from the court for a year with warning.

The proverbial leniency of Firüz, however, failed on one occa- sion. Sidi Maula, a saint who had migrated from Persia, was a disciple of Shaikh Farid-ud-din Ganj-i-Shakar of Ajūdhan and had settled at Delhi early in the reign of Balban. From the conflict- ing accounts in the chronicles, it is difficult to say whether he was really a saint or a charlatan. He offered prayers but never visited a mosque. He practised strict austerity, employed no maid or slave in his household, and accepted no offering, but maintained a hospice where a large number of people were sumptuously fed every day. Some believed that he possessed the knowledge of alchemy and magic, while some suspected that he was a pensioner of the thugs, but most probably he was financed by Khân Khānān, the King's, eldest son. In spite of the warning of his preceptor, Sidi Maula associated himself with politics and soon became the favourite of Khan Khanan, and in consequence the enemy of Arkali Khan, the second son of Firuz. Indeed, his hospice became the rendezvous of the malcontents among the old Turkish nobility who could not re- concile themselves to the Khalji regime. Sidi Maulā became a power and could count on some 10,000 men as his followers, and no wonder that his hospice with its regular nocturnal gatherings soon became the centre of political intrigue. There was a conspiracy to assassi- nate Firüz on the occasion of Friday prayer, proclaim Sidī Maulā as the Caliph, and marry him to a daughter of Näsir-ud-din Mahmûd. The plot, however, leaked out on account of the betrayal of one of the members, and the conspirators were arrested in time. They did not confess the guilt; custom did not sanction torture, and the juries would not sanction ordeal by fire. The King transferred Jalāl Käshani, one of the ring-leaders, to Badaun, punished some and exiled others, and asked his courtiers to avenge him on Sidi Maula. As soon as the saint was brought captive to the royal pre- sence, he was slashed with a razor and stabbed with a packing needle by a man belonging to a hostile sect, and then trampled to death under the feet of an elephant by order of Arkali Khän (1291). Sidi Maula's death, according to Barani, was followed immediately by a dust storm that darkened the day and shortly afterwards drought and famine took a heavy toll of human lives. All this was interpreted by the historian Barani and the pious orthodox section as expressions of heaven's wrath for murder of the saint. The Sidī Maulā affair may be regarded as the last attempt of the Ilbari party to recover its lost ground. It was not possibly altogether accidental that Khăn Khänän, who was the chief disciple of Sidi Maulā, died soon after, and Arkali Khần became heir apparent.

Shortly after, Firuz led an expedition to Ranthambhor, leaving Arkali Khan as regent at the capital. On the way the troops cap- tured Jhain, and the King, though he appreciated the art and archi- lecture of its teinples, did not fail to show his iconoclastic zeal by ordering their destruction and despatching the fragments of their idols to Delhi, to be thrown near the gates of the Jami' mosque to be trodden upon by all. The Rāņā of Ranthambhor shut himself up in the fort, and Fīrüz decided not to besiege it. When Ahmad Chap protested against it, he remarked that he did not consider ten such foris worth a single hair of a Muslim, and returned to Delhi on June 3, 1291.

In A.D. 1292, a vast horde of Mongols, estimated to be between 100,000 and 150,000, invaded India under the command of a grand- son of Hulāgū and penetrated as far as Sunām. Firuz, who had long served as the warden of the marches, met the Mongol advance guard and defeated it, but afraid to face the main force of the invaders, made peace with them. Ulghu, a descendant of Chingiz Khan, accepted Islām with 4,000 followers. They were settled in the sub- urbs of Delhi and came to be known as the 'New Muslims'. Towards the end of the year, Firüz took Mandor3 and made a second raid into Jhäin.

Meanwhile the centre of political gravity was shifting from the old King to his ambitious nephew, 'Ala-ud-din, the gov ernor of Kara, whose personal ambition was incited by the dis- affected nobles who were behind Malik Chhajju. They suggested to him the possibility of a successful coup with proper finance, the lack of which was the cause of Chhajju's failure. 'Alä-ud-din's un- happy relations with his wife, the daughter of Firüz, also promp/ed him to undertake a profitable, though perilous, undertaking with a view to taming her who was a veritable shrew. Towards the end of 1292, 'Ala-ud-din obtained permission of the King, who had just captured Mandor, for a raid into Bhilsa. After a surprise attack on it, 'Ala-ud-din returned to Delhi with an enormous booty among which were some metal idols which were laid down before the Badaun gate to be trampled by the faithful. He was rewarded by the King with the addition of Awadh to his governorship of Karā. Emboldened by royal favour and the steadily waning reputation of Firüz, he sought and obtained the King's permission for a raid into Chanderi and remission of the revenues of Kara and Awadh to en- able him to raise a fresh army for the purpose. 'Ala-ud-din set out on February 26, 1296,4 with an army of 3,000 or 4,000 horse and 2,000 infantry, ostensibly for Chanderi but in reality for Deva- giri (Deogir, modern Daulatābād), about whose fabulous wealth he had heard during his Bhilsa campaign. Malik 'Alä-ul-Mulk, uncle of the historian Barani, was left at Karā as his deputy with instruction to send false reports to Delhi with a view to allaying the King's suspicion about his movements. Passing through Chanderi and Bhilsa, he marched straight to Ellichpur, the northernmost oul- post of the Yadava kingdom of Devagiri, where he halled for two days and posed himself as a disaffected nobleman of the Delhi court seeking service under the Rājā of Rajahinundry. At the pass of Läsūra, some twelve miles west of Devagiri, 'Ala-ud-din met with stubborn resistance from Kanhã, governor of the place, who was greatly helped by two women, possibly rulers of principalities under him. Defeating them, 'Ala-ud-din appeared before Devagiri at an opportune moment, when, as he had already been informed by his scouts, the Yadava ruler Ramachandra (or Ramadeva) had sent away the main army to the frontier under his son, whose name is usually taken to be Sankara but seems to be really Singliana, Rämachandra was, therefore, forced to take shelter within the fort. 'Ala-ud-din thoroughly plundered the city and gave out that his army was but the advance guard of the main force of 20,000 horse that was following. The Yadava king, suffering from Jack of provisions and apprehending the enemy's strength, sued for peace at the end of a week. As 'Ala-ud-din was in a hurry to return from the unauthorised campaign, he accepted Ramachandra's proposals and concluded a treaty. Meanwhile Singhana, on learning of the Muslim invasion, had hastened towards the capital with a large army5% and, ignoring his father's remonstrance not to violate the treaty, attacked ‘Ali-ud- din. The Muslim troops were seized with panic and would possibly have lost the battle but for the timely arrival of the contingent of Nusrat Khan which ‘Alä-ud-din had left in charge of the investment of the fort immediately after the renewal of hostilities. This turned the tide, as it was mistaken by the Devagiri troops for the alleged 20,000 horse that was following, and they retreated in confusion. 'Ala-ud-din now pressed the siege and Ramachandra was forced, due to the shortage of provisions, to sue for peace again. The Khalji adventurer now dictated harder terms. Besides the booty in horses and elephants, he obtained huge indemnity, promise of the annual revenue of Ellichpur and the hand of a daughter of Ramachandra. Twenty-five days after his arrival at Devagiri, he left it, and with great speed returned to Kara on June 3, 1296, storming the fort of Asirgarh on the way.

'Ala-ud-din's brilliant campaign in the Deccan, which was to him a terra incognita and several hundred miles away from his base, was an extraordinary exploit. It marked the first step in Islām's march into the South, and made him, the governor of Karã, the king of Delhi, Delhi was really conquered at Devagiri, for it was the gold of the Deccan that paved the way for 'Ala-ud-din's accession to the throne.

During his absence ‘Ala-ud-din's deputy at Karā had explained his silence to the Sultan as due to his constant exertions in subduing refractory kingdoms; and Firuz, who had great affection for his nephew, was easily convinced in spite of the warning of some of the nobles. Early in 1296 the King marched with his army to Gwalior and it was there that he first learnt of his nephew's secret venture into the Deccan and of his return with immense wealth. Firuz not only turned a deaf ear to the warning of Ahmad Chap, but admonish- ed him for his advice to intercept 'Ala-ud-din at Chanderi. The King returned to Delhi and, shortly after, received a letter from his nephew at Karā, begging his pardon for undertaking an expedition without his leave and promising to return all the treasures he had obtained. 'Alä-ud-din followed this by sending another letter to his brother Almās Beg to the effect that he was repentant for his mis- conduct and was so panic-stricken that he would either leave for Bengal or commit suicide, and would not feel convinced of royal pardon unless the King would personally come to Kara and take him to Delhi. Almas Beg showed his brother's letter to Firuz who, moved by affection and lure of the Deccan gold, soon left for Karā by river with his trusted nobles; while the army, one thousand horse, proceeded by land. 'Ala-ud-din, as he received the report of the King's departure from Delhi, crossed the Gangā (Ganges) and moved to Manikpur with his army and treasures. When the boats of the King reached Karā, Almās Beg, who had arrived before, received him and persuaded him to meet his nephew alone, as any armed escort would frighten 'Alä-ud-din, while to the suspicious nobles of the King he explained the presence of 'Alä-ud-din's army in battle array as but the befitting arrangement to accord his uncle a royal reception in which the treasures would be delivered. So, accom- panied by a small number of unarmed nobles, Firüz proceeded to the other bank 'as a father goes to his son's house'. 'Alä-ud-din received his uncle as he landed at Manikpur and fell at his feet. The King raised him up, assured him of his never-failing affection and, lovingly taking his hand, led him towards his barge, when Muham- mad Salim at the preconcerted signal attacked Firüz with his sword. Wounded, the old King ran towards the river crying: 'Ah, you wretch, 'Ala-ud-din! What have you done?', when another assassin Ikhtyär-ud-din Hüd, who had pursued him, threw him down and, cutting off his head, presented it to ‘Alä-ud-din (July 20, 1296). The King's attendants were all put to death; but Ahmad Chap was able by difficult marches through rain to lead the army back to Delhi.