The Khilji Dynasty in India

Important History Notes: The Khilji Dynasty

The Khalji community or Khilji dynasty was a Muslim dynasty, that ruled large parts of the Indian subcontinent between 1290 and 1320. The founder of the dynasty was Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji. This dynasty is precisely the second Mughal Dynasty. This event traces the formation of Khilji clan and the origin of Afghan Village.

 Khilji Dynasty

It became the ruling dynasty of India replacing the Mamluk Dynasty in the 1290 AD. Jalal us din Khilji killed the last descendant of the Mamluk dynasty and further announced himself, the sultan of the Delhi Sultanate.

Read more: Mughal Dynasty: The Rise of Babur

Read more: Mughal Empire: The story of Akbar the Great

Jalal ud din Khilji’s name was originally Malik Firuz and was a peaceful man. There were several instances where he showed his mercy including the incident when Balban’s nephew Malik Chhajju imposed war on Jalal-ud-din Firuz Khilji. In this war, Balban was defeated and captured alive but was forgiven by the Sultan of Delhi.

Khilji Dynasty

The settlement with Mongols

Mongols, another prominent monarch of this period attacked India during Jalal Ud din Khilji’s reign. The emperor took the war to halt by settling the matter with some negotiations. Later, under Ulugh Khan also, Mongol attacked India and this time, the sultan of Khilji lead to a settlement by arranging the marriage of Ulugh Khan and his daughter in Delhi.

Irrespective of this, Sultan was a merciful kind and pardoned prisoners and criminals. Disappointed of this act, his nephew and son in law, Allaudin Khilji killed him and declared himself as the new king of Khilji Dynasty.

Alauddin Khilji

Alauddin Khilji (1296 – 1316) was the main sultan of the Khilji Dynasty. He extended the empire right up to the southern extreme of India. To please the people of the new, snatched empire and to help them forget the murder charge on him, he pleased people and the noble members of his empire by giving them gold ornaments and money.

Alauddin Khilji

He was the first sultan who did not ask for the investiture letter (Mansour) from the Caliph. In fact, he declared himself as the deputy Caliph. He took all the power of the state in his hands; making this period, the zenith of despotic government as well. He was later prisoned by Malik Kafur and died in January 1316.

The Khilji Dynasty under Alauddin

The main opponent of Khiljis was Mongol. It tried to put a lot of pressure and attacked the Indian soil several times. To restrict the invasion of Mongol, Allaudin adopted blood and iron policy of Balban. He leads to the construction of protecting walls around Delhi and repaired the forts on the way of Mongols. Khilji posted strong military forces around these forts.


Allaudin’s focus was to create good administration, strengthen the army, and gear up the machinery of land revenue administration and expand the cultivation and welfare of the people. He declared Zabita regulation Biswa as the standard unit of measurement of cultivable land. Also, the land revenue was calculated in kind but demanded in cash. Diwani Mustakharaj was established as the new revenue department. New intermediaries at the district level came into the picture and Amir Khsrau referred to them as Zamindars.

The Military under Allaudin

Allaudin used to pay the soldiers with cash that was possible due to land revenue in cash. Allaudin happens to be the first sultan to do so. The soldiers were selected by Arz-i-Malik.

He introduced the act of Daag i. e. Branding of course and also Huliua or Chehra i. e. Descriptive rolls of soldiers. Three grades of soldiers were also defined by him. The grades include foot soldier, soldiers with one course and soldiers with two courses.

Alauddin as a promoter of Art

Alauddin was a patron of art and learning. Although he himself was illiterate, he had some great patrons like Amir Khusrau and Mir Hasan Dehlvi. He also promoted the architecture and built an entire city called Siri and took to the enlargement of Qutabi mosque. He did make efforts for the construction of Alai Darwaza but unfortunately could not complete it. He also built Jamiat Khana Masjid at the dargah of Nizam-ud-din Auliya.

The last days of Alauddin were very distrustful. He started taking over all the powers in his hands. He treated family members as slaves. Alauddin died in 1316 and later his favorite Kufur tried to usurp the throne. He placed the infant son on the throne. Later Kafur was murdered five weeks after Alauddin. It is said that he was murdered by Khusrau Malik.

The Khilji Dynasty is one of the most important dynasties we need to study for the preparation of competitive exams like SSC CGL, UPSC, CHSL, Banking Exams etc. After the Mughal dynasty, we definitely need to study about the Khilji Dynasty.

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