Khalji dynasty (Bengal)

History

Origin and establishment

The Khalji dynasty was of Turko-Afghan origin. Its ancestors, the Khalaj, are said to have been initially a Turkic people or a Turkified people of possibly of Indo-Iranian origin who migrated together with their ancestors the Hunas and Hephthalites from Central Asia, into the southern and eastern regions of modern-day Afghanistan as early as 660 CE, where they ruled the region of Kabul as the Buddhist Turk Shahis. According to R.S. Chaurasia, the Khaljis slowly inherited many Afghan habits and customs, and that they were treated as Afghans by the Turkic nobles of the Delhi Sultanate. Even to the point where Turkic nobles in the Delhi Sultanate opposed Khalji ascension to the throne of Delhi after the Khalji Revolution.

According to The New Cambridge History of Islam in the thirteenth century the Khalji were regarded as a separate people distinct from the Turks. The later so-called “Khalji Revolution” was the transfer of power from a Turkish ruling elite to a non-Turkish one.

André Wink however, states that Khaljis were a Turkicized group and remnants of early Indo-European nomads such as Kushans, Hephthalites, and Sakas who later merged with the Afghans. Also, stating that "at that time they were not perceived as Turks or Mongols. Contemporary historians clearly distinguish the Khaljis from the Turks"

The Khalaj are, according to Doerfer, perhaps of Sogdians who were Turkicized. These Khalaj were later Afghanized and are believed to be the ancestors of Ghilzai/Ghilji Pashtuns.

Many of them traced their origins to Garmsir and under the leadership of Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji, they desired to be employed by the provincial Delhi army of the Ghurid Empire. After being refused rank by Delhi governor Qutb al-Din Aibak, the Khaljis proceeded eastwards where they commanded different troops and were granted land-estates in places such as Mirzapur.

In a short amount of time, the Khaljis became established and Bakhtiyar began to successfully carry out raids towards the east. After subjugating Bihar in 1200, his forces entered Nabadwip in Bengal three years later. Subsequently, Bakhtiyar went on to capture the capital and the principal city, Lakhnauti, and conquered much of Bengal.

Rule

Given the considerable overland distance between Delhi and Bengal, the Khaljis had carved an independent territory of their own, establishing their own administrative system. Bakhtiyar became the dynasty's first ruler, and the conquered territory was divided into jagirs which were granted to other Khalji tribesmen. Iwaz Khalji was appointed to govern Kangori and Ali Mardan Khalji in Devkot.

Bakhtiyar initiated his Tibet campaign not long after, and so entrusted the capital, Lakhnauti, to Muhammad Shiran Khalji. Gathering his army in 1206, Bakhtiyar managed to also gain the support of the tribal chief Ali Mech, though this was not enough to gain victory over the Tibetans. Failing to conquer Tibet, Bakhtiyar returned to Devkot severely ill and with only one hundred men. The Tabaqat-i Nasiri by Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani states that Bakhtiyar died of illness, although it also mentions that some narrators considered Ali Mardan Khalji to have assassinated bed-ridden Bakhtiyar. Nevertheless, Bakhtiyar's death marked the beginning of an internal feud between his senior officers. Shiran, who was governing the capital, immediately visited Devkot where he paid his respects to his deceased leader and was nominated as Bakhtiyar's rightful successor by the Khalji nobles.

Shiran's first principal task was marching against Ali Mardan and his supporters who had fled to Ghoraghat, and had Ali Mardan imprisoned by of Baba Isfahani, the local kotwal. Shiran maintained the former policies and reinstated the titles of the pro-Mardan rebels to maintain peace. This peace was however short-lived as Ali Mardan managed to escape the prison in 1208 and flee to the Delhi court where he requested Sultan Qutb al-Din Aibak to intervene. The Sultan dispatched an army under Qaymaz Rumi, governor of Awadh; this was the first invasion of Bengal by the Delhi Sultanate. Iwaz Khalji showed no hostility to the Delhi army as they marched through his jagir on the way to confront Shiran, which pleased Rumi. Shiran refused to surrender and a battle took place between the Khaljis and the Delhi forces. Upon the Delhi victory, Shiran fled to Mahisantosh where he later died. Iwaz was thereafter appointed to govern Bengal under the vassalage of Delhi.

In 1210, Ali Mardan returned to Bengal and the governorship was conceded to him by Iwaz Khalji. After Sultan Aibak's death, Ali Mardan had the khutbah (Friday sermon) read in his own name like his Khalji predecessors but also assumed the title of Sultan Ala ad-Din, which the former Khalji rulers had not done. According to the Tabaqat, he also executed a large number of Khalji noblemen. Variously described as a madman and tyrant, the Khalji nobles rejected Ali Mardan's rule and eventually conspired against him. The assassination of Ali Mardan marked the end of the internal feud, referred to as the "Khalji Civil War" by Jadunath Sarkar. The Khalji nobles appointed Iwaz to return as Bengal's governor, though this time as an independent sultan.

With the absence of conflict, Iwaz Khalji managed to significantly develop the territory as its ruler. He founded Bengal's first naval force, innovated flood defence systems and linked Lakhnauti with the Grand Trunk Road. He was the first Khalji ruler to officially declare independence as a Sultan, which caused conflict with Sultan Iltutmish of Delhi on more than one occasion. During his reign, invasions were carried out across Vanga, Tirhut and Utkala and the Khalji territory expanded to its greatest extent. In 1227, Iwaz was killed in battle by an army led by Iltutmish's son Nasiruddin Mahmud who once again established Bengal as a province of the Delhi Sultanate.

Revival

Nasiruddin Mahmud died in 1229 and the Khaljis managed to briefly regain control. Historians differ as to whether it was one or two members of the Khalji tribe that ruled before the installation of Alauddin Jani as Bengal's governor. Different manuscripts of the Tabaqat-i Nasiri provide different names of Jani's predecessor(s). The chronicle mentions Iltutmish travelling to Bengal with the intention of suppressing Ikhtiyaruddin Balka Khalji, who had rebelled after Mahmud's death. The 19th-century British historian Henry George Raverty, who first translated the book into English, found the mention of Ikhtiyaruddin Dawlat Shah Balka in two manuscripts, both of which claimed he was Iwaz's son. Other historians provide names like Iran Shah Balka Khalji. The English writer Edward Thomas discovered coins which bear the name of Dawlat Shah bin (son of) Mawdud in 627 AH (1230 CE). Modern historians such as Abu Mohammed Habibullah and ABM Shamsuddin Ahmed are of the opinion that they are indeed two separate individuals. The former found the name Dawlat Shah Khalji among Iltutmish's regional officers, and considered Balka to be a different rebel. Similarly, Ahmed wrote that Dawlat Shah bin Mawdud was ousted by fellow tribesman Balka Khalji who was opposed to Delhi overlordship, and was then replaced by Alauddin Jani by the Delhi administration.