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

The sultan, notes Barani, ‘granted a canopy to Khusrav Khan, and raised him to a dignity and distinction higher than that had ever been attained by Malik Kafur. In fact, his infatuation for this infamous and traitorous Parwari exceeded that of Ala-ud-din for Malik Kafur … Khusrav Khan was a base, designing, treacherous, low-born fellow … [But the sultan raised him] from one dignity to another … He was made the commander-in-chief, and all the affairs of the army were in his hands.’

Mubarak’s ‘passion and rashness carried him so far that he raised the youth to the office of wazir, and he was so doting that he could never endure his absence even for a moment,’ continues Barani. Once, according to Barani, when Khusrav was returning to Delhi after a military campaign in peninsular India, the sultan suffered such acute pangs of separation that he ‘sent relays of bearers with a litter to bring him with all haste from Devagiri [to Delhi],’ covering a distance of over 1100 kilometres in seven days. And another time, again according to Barani, when some royal officers warned the sultan that Khusrav was plotting a rebellion, ‘fate so blinded the sultan that he would not believe [the charge], but grew angry with the accusers, [some of whom were blinded or imprisoned, and some degraded or stripped of their offices]. Whoever … testified to the treachery of Khusrav Khan received condign punishment, and was imprisoned or banished.’

KHUSRAV’S POSITION AT the court thus became unassailable. But despite all the favours shown to him by the sultan, Khusrav seems to have despised him. According to Barani, Khusrav ‘had often thought of cutting down the sultan with his sword when they were alone together.’ He had, during his peninsular campaign, evidently formulated a secret plan to usurp the throne, and on his return to Delhi persuaded Mubarak to allow him to raise a personal army from men of his own tribe. Something was clearly afoot, but Mubarak, blinded by his infatuation, saw nothing amiss. Khusrav in fact further persuaded the sultan to give him the keys of a palace gate, on the pretext that he needed it to allow his friends and relatives to come into the palace to visit him at night. When one of the nobles cautioned Mubarak against allowing Khusrav’s armed men to enter the palace at night, the sultan, according to Barani, ‘grossly abused him, and spurned his honest counsels.’ And when Mubarak told Khusrav about the suspicions of the noble, ‘the infamous wretch began to weep and lament, saying that the great kindness and distinction which the sultan had bestowed upon him had made all the nobles and attendants of the court his enemies, and they were eager to take his life. The sultan [then] said that even if the all the world were turned upside down, and all his companions were of one voice in accusing Khusrav, he would sacrifice them all for one hair on his head.’

The final scenes of the unfolding drama are described in absorbing detail by Barani. One day late at night in mid-April 1320, a band of Khusrav’s armed men under the leadership of Jahariya, their captain, entered the palace and assaulted the guards there. This created an uproar, which roused the sultan from his sleep, and he asked Khusrav, who was evidently sleeping with him, to go and find out what the trouble was. ‘He went and looked, and told the sultan that some of his horses had broken loose, and were running about in the courtyard, where men were engaged in catching them. Just then Jahariya and some of his followers came to the upper storey [of the palace, where the sultan was sleeping,] and they despatched the officers and door-keepers there. The [ensuing] violent uproar convinced the sultan that treason was at work, so he put on his slippers and ran towards the harem. The traitor saw that if the sultan escaped into the women’s apartments, it would be difficult to consummate the plot. Prompt in his villainy, he [therefore] rushed after the sultan and seized him from behind by the hair, which he twisted tightly round his hand. The sultan then flung him down and got upon his chest, but still the rascal would not release his hold. They were in this position when Jahariya entered at the head of the conspirators … [and he] struck the sultan in the chest with a spear and dragged him off Khusrav, dashed him to the ground and cut off his head.’ The headless trunk of the sultan was then flung into the courtyard.

When the royal guards and others realised what had happened, many of them ‘fled and hid themselves,’ but quite a few of them were caught and killed by the Gujaratis. The rebels then entered the harem, killed Ala-ud-din’s widow, and committed many atrocities there. Khusrav’s men thus took full control of the palace. ‘Lamps and torches were then lighted in great numbers and a court was held.’ The great nobles of the sultanate were then sent for ‘and were brought into the palace and made accomplices in what happened. By daybreak the palace was full inside and out with … [Khusrav’s men]. Khusrav Khan had prevailed. The face of the world thus assumed a new complexion. A new order of things had sprung up, and the foundation of the dynasty of Ala-ud-din was utterly razed.’

‘As the day broke, Khusrav, in the presence of those nobles whom he had brought into the palace, mounted the throne and assumed the title of Sultan Nadir-ud-din … He had no sooner begun to reign, than he ordered all the personal attendants of the late sultan, many of whom were of high rank, to be slain. Their wives, women, children and handmaids were all given to the Parwaris and Hindus.’ Khusrav then won over many nobles, even several Muslim clerics, to his side by scattering gold and other opulent gifts among them. He also took care to honour and appease several of the Khalji loyalists. Prominent among those he thus sought to placate was Fakhr-ud-din Jauna, the future Muhammad bin Tughluq, who was appointed Master of the Horse and was honoured in various ways; Khusrav was particularly keen to win over Jauna, for he was the son of Ghazi Malik, the governor of Punjab, a most respected and powerful royal officer.

CONTEMPORARY MUSLIM CHRONICLERS speak of Khusrav’s usurpation of the throne as a Hindu coup. ‘In the course of four or five days preparations were made for idol worship in the palace,’ writes Barani. ‘The horrid Parwaris sported in the royal harem. Khusrav married the wife of the late sultan; and the Parwaris, having gained the upper hand, took to themselves the wives and handmaids of the nobles and great men. The flames of violence and cruelty reached to the skies. Copies of the Holy Book were used as seats, and idols were set up in the pulpits of mosques … Hindus rejoiced greatly … boasting that Delhi had once more come under Hindu rule.’ Ibn Battuta, a later chronicler confirms this, and states that ‘Khusrav Khan upon becoming king, showed great favour to Hindus,’ and prohibited cow slaughter.

Many of Khusrav’s close followers were Hindus, and it is likely that some Hindu rites were performed by them in the palace. Because of all this, but perhaps mainly because the Turkish nobles of the sultanate could not reconcile themselves to having an Indian Muslim as their sultan, opposition to Khusrav soon began to mount. The prime mover against Khusrav was Ghazi Malik who, according to Barani, ‘writhed like a snake when he heard of the overthrow of the dynasty of Ala-ud-din.’ He had initially acquiesced with the usurpation of Khusrav, because any hostile move by him would have endangered the life of his son Jauna, who was in Delhi. Eventually, some two months after Khusrav’s accession, Jauna, escorted by just a couple of his men, managed to escape from Delhi one afternoon and join his father in Punjab, outpacing a body of cavalrymen Khusrav sent in pursuit of him.

Ghazi Malik was then free to move against Khusrav. He tried to form a confederacy of nobles and provincial governors with the rallying cry that Islam was in danger, but not many responded to his call, as they did not want to risk their official positions, and preferred to wait for the situation to clarify before deciding which side to join. Meanwhile Khusrav, hearing of the moves of Ghazi Malik, sent an army against him under the command of his brother and another young officer. Comments Barani: ‘So these two foolish, ignorant lads went forth, like newly hatched chickens just beginning to fly, to fight with a veteran warrior like Ghazi Malik … who twenty times had routed the Mongols.’ Hearing of their advance, Ghazi Malik set out from Dipalpur to confront them, and he easily routed them in a brief encounter.