Abraham Eraly - The Age of Wrath - A History of the Delhi Sultanate

The first of the major expansionist military campaigns of Ala-ud-din was against Gujarat, in 1298, the second year of his reign. Though Gujarat had been raided and plundered by Turks several times previously, it had not yet been annexed by the Sultanate. The primary objective of Ala-ud-din too was to gather plunder, but he also intended to annex this commercially important region to his empire. The invading army ‘plundered … all Gujarat,’ reports Barani. ‘The wives and daughters, the treasure and elephants of Raja Karna (of the Vaghela dynasty that ruled Gujarat at this time) fell into the hands of Muslims,’ though the raja himself, along with a young daughter, managed to escape and take refuge with the king of Devagiri in Deccan.

After routing the raja, the Sultanate army advanced to the temple city of Somnath, plundered its renowned Shiva temple — which had been rebuilt after it was sacked by Mahmud Ghazni in the early eleventh century — and sent its idol to Delhi, where its fragments were laid on the ground at the entrance of the Friday Mosque for the faithful to tread on.

From Somnath the Sultanate army proceeded to the flourishing port city of Khambhat (Cambay), plundered its merchants and obtained a vast booty — and, what turned to be far more valuable to the sultan, the army there seized a young, handsome and exceptionally talented slave eunuch named Kafur, who bore the nickname Hazardinari (Thousand Dinars), as his original price was one thousand dinars. Taken to Delhi, Kafur became an intimate of the sultan — his ‘beauty captivated Ala-ud-din,’ says Barani — and he would in time play a central role in the history of the times.

The invasion of Gujarat, like everything else that Ala-ud-din did, was remarkably successful, and the kingdom was annexed by the Sultanate. But the success of the campaign was somewhat marred by a mutiny in the Sultanate army when it was on its way back to Delhi. The trouble erupted, according to Barani, when the generals demanded that all soldiers should hand over to them one-fifth of the spoils they got in Gujarat, and ‘instituted inquisitorial inquiries about it’ to ensure that this was done. Though the mutiny was easily suppressed, its ringleaders managed to escape. So when the army returned to Delhi, the families of the rebel leaders were, in reprisal, subjected to dreadful punishments. ‘The crafty cruelty which had taken possession of Ala-ud-din induced him to order that the wives and children of the mutineers, high and low, should be cast into prison,’ states Barani. ‘This was the beginning of the practice of seizing women and children for the faults of men.’ Further, Nusrat Khan, one of the army generals, whose brother had been murdered by the mutineers, in revenge ‘ordered the wives of the assassins to be dishonoured and exposed to most disgraceful treatment; he then handed them over to vile persons to make common strumpets of them. Their children he caused to be cut to pieces on the heads of their mothers. Outrages like this are practised in no religion or creed. These and similar acts … filled the people of Delhi with amazement and dismay, and every bosom trembled.’

ALA-UD-DIN’S NEXT MILITARY target was the fort of Ranthambhor in Rajasthan. Though Rajasthan was not, in terms of spoils, a particularly inviting region for Turks to conquer, its control was of crucial strategic importance to the Sultanate, as the route from Delhi to central and peninsular India passed through the region. Rajasthan therefore had to be secured before the Sultanate could expand southward. Besides, it was dangerous for the Sultanate to let the turbulent Rajput rajas remain in power in the very backyard of Delhi. Moreover, Ranthambhor was an impregnable fort, which could serve as an excellent outpost of Delhi. All this made its conquest essential for the Sultanate.

Aibak had captured this fort during the early history of the Sultanate, but it had subsequently changed hands several times, and was at this time in the possession of a Rajput raja. Recognising the strategic importance of Ranthambhor, Ala-ud-din himself led the army against it, and he succeeded in capturing it after a protracted siege and much bloodshed. A factor in Ala-ud-din’s success at Ranthambhor was the defection of the raja’s minister, Ranmal, to him. Characteristically, after capturing the fort, Ala-ud-din executed Ranmal — the sultan had no tolerance for those who betray their masters, even in the instances in which he benefited from their defections. The raja of Ranthambhor, Hamir Deva, was also executed. The kingdom of Ranthambhor was then annexed by the Sultanate, and its fort was placed under the command of a Turkish general.

During the Ranthambhor campaign Ala-ud-din very nearly lost his life in a coup attempt by his brother’s son, Akat Khan. This happened on the sultan’s way to Ranthambhor, when he was diverting himself by hunting in a forest near his camp. It was early morning and he was sitting on a stool in a clearing in the woods, accompanied by just a few guards, waiting for the game to be driven towards him by his soldiers. As Barani describes the scene, seeing Ala-ud-din to be virtually defenceless, Akat Khan with a contingent of New Muslim cavalry soldiers galloped up to him, ‘shouting “Tiger! Tiger!” and began to discharge arrows at him. It was winter, and the sultan was wearing a large overcoat. He jumped up … and seizing the stool on which he had been sitting, made a shield of it. He warded off several arrows, but two pierced his arm, though none reached his body.’ Apparently he fainted then, because of the loss of blood. Meanwhile the sultan’s guards covered him with their bucklers, and, as the attackers galloped up, they shouted that the sultan was dead. ‘Akat Khan was young, rash and foolish. He had made a violent attack on his sovereign, but he lacked the decision and resolution to carry it through, and cut off the sultan’s head. In his folly and rashness he took another course.’

Confronted by the royal guards who stood firm with their swords drawn around the fallen sultan, Akat Khan dared not dismount and lay his hands on the sultan. Instead he galloped back to the royal camp and ‘seated himself on the throne of Ala-ud-din, and proclaimed to the people of the court in a loud voice that he had slain the sultan.’ The courtiers believed him, as they felt that he would not have dared to sit on the throne if Ala-ud-din was not actually dead. So ‘the chief men of the army came to pay their respects to the new sovereign. They kissed the hand of that evil doer and did homage. Akat Khan in his egregious folly then attempted to go into the harem,’ but there his entry was barred by the guards who warned him that he had to first produce the sultan’s severed head before he could enter the harem.

Meanwhile Ala-ud-din regained consciousness, and his attendants dressed his wounds. He then reflected on what had happened, and concluded that Akat Khan would not have dared to do what he did, if he did not have the support of many royal officers and courtiers. He therefore felt that it would not be safe for him to return to his camp, and that the best course of action for him would be to retreat somewhere and regroup his forces. But one of his officers strongly argued against that course of action, and urged him to return immediately to the camp, and assured him that as soon as the people in the camp realised that he was safe, they would flock to him.

Ala-ud-din heeded that advice. He then proceeded to the camp, and was on the way joined by many of his men, so that by the time he reached the camp he had an escort of five or six hundred solders. ‘He immediately showed himself on a high ground, and being recognized, the assembly at the royal tent broke up, and his attendants came forth with elephants to receive him,’ records Barani. ‘Akat khan then rushed out of the tents and fled on horseback.’ But he was pursued, captured and immediately beheaded. And those who had connived with Akat Khan’s plot were ‘scourged to death with thongs of wire.’