Malika-i-Jahan (wife of Alauddin Khalji)

Last updated

Malika-è-Jahan
Shahzadi of the Delhi Sultanate
Malika of the Delhi Sultanate
Tenurec. 1296–1316
Spouse Alauddin Khalji
House Khalji (by birth)
Father Jalaluddin Khalji
MotherMalika-i-Jahan
Religion Sunni Islam

Malika-i-Jahan ("Queen of the World") was the first and chief wife of Sultan Alauddin Khalji, [1] the most powerful ruler of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate. She was the daughter of Alauddin's predecessor and paternal uncle, Sultan Jalaluddin Khalji, the founder of the Khalji dynasty.

Contents

Family and lineage

Malika-i-Jahan was the daughter of Jalaluddin Khalji, the founder and first Sultan of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate. [2] [3] Her mother, also titled Malika-i-Jahan, was Jalaluddin's chief wife. She was quite an ambitious lady and held great influence over the Sultan. She also influenced contemporary politics to great extent. [4] Malika-i-Jahan had at least three brothers: Khan-i-Khan, Arkali Khan and Qadr Khan. Her future husband, Alauddin, was the eldest son of Jalaluddin's older brother, Shihabuddin Mas'ud, making Malika-i-Jahan a first-cousin of Alauddin. [5] After his father's death, Alauddin was brought up by Jalaluddin. His younger brother, Almas Beg, also married a daughter of Jalaluddin. [6]

Marriage

Malika-i-Jahan married Alauddin long before the Khalji revolution of 1290. [5] Alauddin rose to prominence after the marriage, [7] for when Jalaluddin became the Sultan of Delhi in 1290, he was appointed as Amir-i-Tuzuk (equivalent to Master of ceremonies), while Almas Beg was given the post of Akhur-beg (equivalent to Master of the Horse). [8] The marriage was not a happy one; Malika-i-Jahan took pride in being the daughter of the Sultan, and was neglected by Alauddin due to her haughty demeanour. He fell out with the princess when she attempted to dominate him and exhibited open jealousy and contempt towards his second wife, Mahru, the sister of Alp Khan. [5] Once, while Alauddin and Mahru were together in a garden, Malika-i-Jahan attacked Mahru. In a fit of temper, Alauddin assaulted her. The incident was reported to Jalaluddin, but the Sultan did not take any action against Alauddin. [8]

Alauddin was also on bad terms with his mother-in-law, who convinced Jalaluddin that he was aiming to carve out an independent kingdom in a remote part of the country. [9] Fearful of his mother-in-law's influence on the Sultan, Alauddin brought no complaint against his wife. [10] In 1296, Alauddin murdered Jalaluddin and took over the throne, proclaiming himself the new sultan of the Delhi Sultanate. [11] Malika-i-Jahan never forgave her husband for the murder of her father. [1]

Malika-i-Jahan was portrayed by Aditi Rao Hydari in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period film Padmaavat (2018), where she is known as Mehrunisa. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hammiradeva</span> King of Ranastambhapura from 1283–1301

Hammiradeva was the last ruler from the Ranthambore branch of the Chauhans (Chahamanas). He is also known as Hamir Dev Chauhan in the Muslim chronicles and the vernacular literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malik Kafur</span> Indian slave-general

Malik Kafur, also known as Taj al-Din Izz al-Dawla, was a prominent slave-general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. He was captured by Alauddin's general Nusrat Khan during the 1299 invasion of Gujarat, and rose to prominence in the 1300s.

Hizabruddin, better known by his title Zafar Khan, was a general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. He held charge of Multan, Samana, and Sivistan, Sindh at various times during Alauddin's reign.

The Mongol Empire launched numerous invasions into the Indian subcontinent from 1221 to 1327, with many of the later raids made by the Qaraunas of Mongol origin. The Mongols occupied parts of the subcontinent for decades. As the Mongols progressed into the Indian hinterland and reached the outskirts of Delhi, the Delhi Sultanate of India led a campaign against them in which the Mongol army suffered serious defeats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alauddin Khalji</span> Turco-Afghan emperor of Khalji dynasty 1296–1316

Alauddin Khalji, born Ali Gurshasp, was a ruler from the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrative changes in India, related to revenues, price controls, and society. He also successfully fended off several Mongol invasions of India.

Shihab-ud-din Omar (r. 1316) was the third Sultan of the Khalji Dynasty and fourteenth Sultan of Delhi Sultanate in India. After the death of his father Alauddin Khalji in 1316, he ascended the throne as a minor, with the support of Alauddin's slave-general Malik Kafur. His brother Qutb-ud-din Mubarak became the regent after the assassination of Kafur and subsequently dethroned him to become the Sultan.

Almas Beg, better known by his title Ulugh Khan, was a brother and a general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. He held the iqta' of Bayana in present-day India.

The Battle of Kili was fought in 1299 between the Mongols of the Chagatai Khanate and the Delhi Sultanate. The Mongols, led by Qutlugh Khwaja, invaded India, intending to conquer Delhi. When they encamped at Kili near Delhi, the Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji led an army to check their advance.

In the winter of 1297, Kadar, a noyan of the Mongol Chagatai Khanate invaded the Delhi Sultanate ruled by Alauddin Khalji. The Mongols ravaged the Punjab region of modern-day Pakistan and India, advancing as far as Kasur. Alauddin sent an army led by his brother Ulugh Khan to check their advance. This army defeated the invaders on 6 February 1298, killing around 20,000 of them, and forcing the Mongols to retreat.

In 1298–99, a Mongol army invaded the Sindh region of the Delhi Sultanate, and occupied the fort of Sivistan in present-day Pakistan. The Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji dispatched his general Zafar Khan to evict the Mongols. Zafar Khan recaptured the fort, and imprisoned the Mongol leader Saldi and his companions.

As a general of Jalal-ud-din Khalji, his nephew and son-in-law Alauddin Khalji raided the Paramara city of Bhilsa in 1293 CE. He damaged the city's Hindu temples, and looted a large amount of wealth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alauddin Khalji's raid on Devagiri</span>

In 1296, Alauddin Khalji raided Devagiri, the capital of the Yadava kingdom in the Deccan region of India. At the time, Alauddin was the governor of Kara in Delhi Sultanate, which was ruled by Jalaluddin Khalji. Alauddin kept his march to Devagiri a secret from Jalaluddin, because he intended to use the wealth obtained from this raid for dethroning the Sultan.

In November 1296, the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji sent an expedition to conquer Multan. His objective was to eliminate the surviving family members of his predecessor Jalaluddin Khalji, whom he had assassinated to usurp the throne of Delhi. Multan was governed by Jalaluddin's eldest son Arkali Khan. Alauddin's generals Ulugh Khan and Zafar Khan besieged Multan for around two months. They managed to gain control of the city after Arkali Khan's officers defected to their side. The surviving family members of Jalaluddin were imprisoned, and later, several of them were either blinded or killed.

In 1303, a Mongol army from the Chagatai Khanate launched an invasion of the Delhi Sultanate, when two major units of the Delhi army were away from the city. The Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji, who was away at Chittor when the Mongols started their march, returned to Delhi in a hurry. However, he was unable to make adequate war preparations, and decided to take shelter in a well-guarded camp at the under-construction Siri Fort. The Mongols, led by Taraghai, besieged Delhi for over two months, and ransacked its suburbs. Ultimately, they decided to retreat, having been unable to breach Alauddin's camp.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alauddin Khalji's conquest of Devagiri</span> Conquest in India (c. 1308)

Around 1308, the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji sent a large army led by his general Malik Kafur to Devagiri, the capital of the Yadava king Ramachandra.

Alp Khan was a general and brother-in-law of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. He served as Alauddin's governor of Gujarat, and held considerable influence at the royal court of Delhi during the last years of Alauddin's life. He was executed on the charges of conspiring to kill Alauddin, possibly because of a conspiracy by Malik Kafur.

Nusrat Khan was a general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. He served as Alauddin's wazir at the start of his reign, and played an important role in the Sultan's Devagiri (1296) and Gujarat (1299) campaigns. He was killed during the Siege of Ranthambore in 1299.

In 1311, the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji ordered a mass massacre of the "New Muslims", after some Mongol amirs of Delhi conspired to kill him. According to chronicler Ziauddin Barani, 20,000 or 30,000 Mongols were killed as a result of this order.

Chhan is a village in the Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan, India. It is identified with Jhain, which is mentioned in the Delhi Sultanate chronicles as an important town of 13th and 14th century India.

The Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji implemented a series of major fiscal, land and agrarian reforms in northern India. He re-designated large areas of land as crown territory by confiscating private properties and by annulling land grants. He imposed a 50% kharaj tax on the agricultural produce, and ordered his ministry to collect the revenue directly from the peasants by eliminating the intermediary village chiefs.

References

  1. 1 2 Hasan, Masudul (2007). History of Islam (Rev. ed.). New Delhi: Adam Publishers & Distributors. p. 155. ISBN   9788174350190.
  2. ↑ Chandra, Satish (2004). Medieval India : from Sultanat to the Mughals (Rev. ed.). New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications. p. 75. ISBN   9788124110645.
  3. ↑ Lethbridge, Sir Roper (1881). A Short Manual of the History of India: With an Account of India as it is. Macmillan and Company. p.  190.
  4. ↑ Hasan, Masudul (2007). History of Islam (Rev. ed.). New Delhi: Adam Publishers & Distributors. p. 88. ISBN   9788174350190.
  5. 1 2 3 Mehta, Jaswant Lal (1980). Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India. Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd. p. 137. ISBN   9788120706170.
  6. ↑ Banarsi Prasad Saksena 1992, p. 321.
  7. ↑ Congress, Indian History (1985). "Proceedings – Indian History Congress". 45. Indian History Congress.: 273. Retrieved 12 November 2017.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. 1 2 Kishori Saran Lal 1950, p. 41.
  9. ↑ Nand, Lokesh Chandra (1989). Women in Delhi Sultanate (1st ed.). Allahabad, India: Vohra Publishers. p. 85. ISBN   9788185072524.
  10. ↑ "Journal of Indian History". 9. University of Kerala. 1931: 220.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ↑ Ahmed, Farooqui Salma (2011). A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: From Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century. Pearson Education India. p. 69. ISBN   9788131732021.
  12. ↑ "Mehrunisa in Padmaavat was tiny but special: Aditi Rao Hydari". The Express Tribune . IANS. 5 February 2018. Retrieved 16 February 2018.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.