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A silver coin of Ala-ad-din.

Chapter 7 – Ala-ad-din’s Conquests in the Deccan

1310 A.D.

After Balban, the supremacy of the Slave Kings gave place to the Khalji Rulers, so called from their place of origin, the village of Khalj in Afghanistan. The greatest of these sovereigns was Ala-ad-din, who sat upon the throne of Delhi for twenty years (1296–1316 A.D.) and stretched his conquering arm even over the Deccan and the south of India.

The main events of Ala-ad-din’s reign have been previously given in this history, but an excerpt from the annals of the Mohammedan writer Amir Khusru, narrating the story of the campaign in Ma’ bar (710 A.H., 1310 A.D.), may be appropriate as a record contemporaneous with the events described. Ma’bar appears to have been situated on the lower western coast of India (Malabar?), although some have claimed that it was located on the eastern shore. The style of Amir Khusru’s narrative possesses a special interest as an example of a certain kind of Oriental writing; and the

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stanch Mohammedan orthodoxy of the author is manifest from the exultant note which marks the opening paragraph of his description of the conquest of Ma’bar, an event which he regards as a memorable victory of Islam over the Hindu religion. His account follows:–

The tongue of the sword of the caliphate of the time, which is the tongue of the flame of Islam, has imparted light to the entire darkness of Hindustan by the illumination of its guidance. On the one side an iron wall of royal swords has been raised before the infidel Magog-like Tartars, so that all of that God-forsaken tribe drew their feet within their skirts among the hills of Ghazni, and even their advance-arrows had not strength enough to reach into Sind. On the other side so much dust arose from the battered temple of Somnath that even the sea was not able to lay it, and the army has conquered right and left from sea to sea, and several capitals of the gods of the Hindus, in which Satanism has prevailed since the time of the Jinns, have been demolished. All these impurities of unbelief have been cleansed by the Sultan Ala-ad-din’s destruction of idol-temples, beginning with his first holy expedition against Deogir, and now the flames of the light of the law illumine all these unholy countries, and places are exalted on high for the criers to prayer, and prayers are read in mosques. God be praised!

Now, the country of Ma’bar is so far distant from the city of Delhi that a man travelling with all speed could reach it only in a journey of twelve months, nor had the arrow of any holy warrior as yet reached there,

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The so-called Gates of Somnath

but this world-conquering king, Ala-ad-din, determined to carry his army to that distant country and to spread the light of the Mohammedan religion there.

Malik Naib Barbak was accordingly appointed to command the army for this expedition, and a royal canopy was sent with him. The Malik represented that on the coast of Ma’bar there were five hundred elephants, larger than those which had been presented to the Sultan from Arangal, and that when he was engaged in the conquest of that place he had thought of

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possessing himself of them, so that now, since the wise determination of the king had combined the extirpation of idolaters with this object, he was more than ever rejoiced to enter on this grand enterprise.

The army left Delhi on the twenty-fourth of Jumad-al-akhir, 710 A.H. (Oct. 31, 1309 A.D.), and after marching by the banks of the Jumna, halted at Tankal for fourteen days, where a muster of the army was taken. “After that the royal soldiers, like swift greyhounds, made lengthened marches for twenty-one days until they arrived at Kanhun, and in the course of seventeen days more, they arrived at Gurganw. During these seventeen days the Ghats were passed and great heights and depths were seen among the hills, where even the elephants became nearly invisible. Three large rivers, moreover, had to be crossed, and the passage of them caused the greatest fear. Two of them were equal to each other, but neither of them equalled the Narbada.”

After crossing those rivers, hills, and many depths, the raja of Telingana sent twenty-three powerful elephants for the royal service. For the space of twenty days the victorious army remained at Telingana, for the purpose of sending on the elephants, and they took a muster of the men present and absent, until the whole number was counted And, according to the command of the king, they suspended swords from the standard poles, in order that the inhabitants of Ma’bar might be aware that the day of resurrection had arrived among them, and that the accursed Hindus would all

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be despatched by the sword to their brothers in hell, so that fire, the improper object of their worship, might mete out proper punishment to them.

The tempestuous army moved swiftly, like a hurricane, to Gurganw. Everywhere the accursed tree that produced no religion was found and torn up by the roots, and the people who were destroyed were like trunks carried along in the torrent of the Jihun, or like straw tossed up and down in a whirlwind and carried forward. When the army reached the Tawi (Tapti), they saw a river like the sea. The soldiers crossed it by a ford quicker than the hurricane which they resembled, and afterwards employed themselves in cutting down jungles and destroying gardens.

On Thursday, the 13th of Ramazan, 709 A.H. (Feb. 14, 1310 A.D.), the royal canopy cast its shadow on Deogir, which had been protected by the angels, and there the army determined to make all preparations for extirpating Billal Deo and other Deos (demons). The Maharaja, Ram Deo, who had heard safety proclaimed by the dreadful Mohammedan timbals, considered himself secure under the protection assured to him, and, true to his allegiance, forwarded with all his heart the preparations necessary for the equipment of the army sent by the court, so as to render it available for the extermination of rebels and the destruction of the Bir and Dhur Samundar. The city was adorned in honour of the occasion, and food and clothes were supplied in abundance to the Mussulmans.

Dalvi, a Hindu, who had been sent on to hold the

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A group of Indian Mussulmans

gates of access to the Bir and Dhur Samundar, was directed by the Maharaja to attend on the Mussulman camp, and he was anxious to see the conquest of the whole of Dhur Samundar by the fortunate devotees of the Ka’ba of religion.

The Mohammedan army remained for three days and departed on the seventeenth of Ramazan from the Imanabad Deogir to the

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Kharababad of Paras Deo Dalvi, advancing for five stages, in which three large rivers, the Sini, Godavari, and Binhur, were crossed and also some other frightful streams. On the fifth day they arrived at Bandri, in the country (ikta’) of Paras Deo Dalvi, who was obedient to his exalted Majesty, and who desired that, by the force of the arms of the victorious Mohammedan soldiers, Bir Dhul and Bir Pandya might be reduced into one cup2, together with the seas which encircle them.

Here Ala-ad-din halted to inquire about the countries in advance, and was informed that the two rajas of Ma’bar, the elder named Bir Pandya, the younger Sundar Pandya, who had continued on friendly terms up to that time, had advanced against each other with hostile intentions, and that Billal Deo, the raja of Dhur Samundar, on learning this fact, had marched for the purpose of sacking their two empty cities and of plundering the merchants; but that, on hearing of the advance of the Mohammedan army, he had returned to his own country.

On Sunday, the twenty-third of Ramazan, 709 A.H. (Feb. 24, 1310 A.D.), after holding a council of his chief officers, Ala-ad-din took a select body of cavalry with him and pressed on against Billal Deo, reaching the fort of Dhur Samundar on the fifth of Shawwal (March 8) after a difficult march of twelve days over the hills and valleys, and through thorny forests.

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The fire-worshipping raja, when he learnt that his idol temple was likely to be converted into a mosque, despatched Kisu Mal to ascertain the strength and condition of the Mussulmans, but the latter returned with such alarming accounts that the raja despatched Balak Deo Naik the next day to the royal canopy, to say to the Sultan: “Your slave Billal Deo is ready to swear allegiance to the mighty emperor, like Laddar Deo and Ram Deo, and whatever the Solomon of the age may order, I am ready to obey. If you desire horses like demons, and elephants like fiends, and valuables like those of Deogir, they are all present. If you wish to destroy the four walls of this fort, they are no obstacle to your advance. The fort is the fort of the king; take it.” The commander replied that he was sent with the object either of converting him to Islam or of slaying him, if the terms were not assented to. When the raja received this reply, he said he was ready to give up all he possessed, except his sacred thread.

On Friday, the sixth of Shawwal, the raja sent Balak Deo Naik, Narain Deo, and Jit Mal, with some others, to bow before the royal tent, and these envoys were accompanied by six elephants. Next day some horses followed and on Sunday, the sun-worshipper, Billal Deo, seeing the splendour of the sword of Islam above his head, bowed beneath it, descended from his fortress, and came before the shadow of the shadow of God, in whose presence, trembling and abject, he prostrated himself upon the earth and rubbed the forehead

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of subjection on the ground. He then returned to fetch his treasures and was engaged all night in bringing them out, and next day he conveyed them before the royal tent and made them over to the king’s treasurer.

The commander remained twelve days in that city, which is four months’ distance from Delhi, and sent the captured elephants and horses to that capital.

On Wednesday, the eighteenth of Shawwal (March 21), Ala-ad-din’s general, Malik Kafur, beat his drums, loaded his camels for his expedition to Ma’bar, and after five days arrived at the mountains which divide Ma’bar from Dhur Samundar. In this range there are two passes – one Sarmali, the other Tabar. After traversing the passes, they arrived at night on the banks of the river Kanobari and bivouacked on the sands. Thence they departed for Birdhul, massacring and devastating all around it. The Raja Bir intended at first to flee for refuge to his islands in the ocean, but as he was not able to carry out this plan, his attendants counselled him to flee by land. With a small amount of treasure and property he deserted the city and fled to Kandur, yet even there he dared not remain, but fled again to the jungles.

Thither the Malik pursued “the yellow-faced Bir,” and at Kandur was joined by some Mussulmans who had been subjects of the Hindus, now no longer able to offer them protection. They were half-Hindus and not strict in their religious observances, but as they could repeat the profession of faith, the Sultan of Islam

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A Richly Caparisoned Elephant

spared their lives. Though they were worthy of death, yet, as they were Mussalmans, they were pardoned.

After returning to Birdhul, Malik Kafur again pursued the raja to Kandur and took 108 elephants, one of which was laden with jewels.

The raja again escaped him, and then Malik Kafur ordered a general massacre at Kandur. It was thereupon ascertained that the raja had fled to Jalkota, “an old city of the ancestors of Bir.” Malik Kafur, the general of Ala-ad-din, closely pursued him thither, but he had again escaped to the jungles, which the general found himself unable

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to penetrate, and he therefore returned to Kandur, where he searched for more elephants.

Here he heard that in Brahmastpuri there was a golden idol, round which many elephants were stabled. The Malik started on a night expedition against this place and in the morning seized no less than 250 elephants. He then determined to raze the magnificent temple to the ground. The beauty of this shrine was such that you might say that it was the Paradise of Shaddad, which those hellites had found after it was lost, or that it was the golden Lanka of Rama. The roof was covered with rubies and emeralds, and, in short, it was a holy place of the Hindus. Nevertheless Malik Kafur dug it up absolutely from its foundations, and the heads of the Brahmans and the idolaters danced from their necks and fell to the ground at their feet, and blood flowed in torrents.

These stone idols, called Ling Mahadeo, had long been established at that place, but up to this time the kick of the horse of Islam had not attempted to break them, and now the Mussulmans destroyed all these images, and Deo Narain fell down, and the other gods, who had fixed their seats there, jumped so high that the idols themselves would have fled had they had any legs to stand on. Much gold and valuable jewels fell into the hands of the Mussulmans, who returned to the royal tent, after executing their holy project, on the thirteenth of Zu-l-ka’da, 710 A.H. (April, 1311 A.D.).

After five days, the royal tent was moved from

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The temple at Madhura

Birdhul on Thursday, the seventeenth of Zu-l-ka’da, and set up at Kham, and five days later the army arrived at the city of Mathra (Madura, in Southern India), the dwelling-place of the brother of the Raja Sundar Pandya. They found the city empty, for the raja had fled with his queens, but he had left two or three elephants in the temple of Jagannath. The elephants were captured and the temple was burned.

When Malik Kafur came to take a muster of his captured elephants, they extended over a length of three parasangs and amounted to 512, besides five thousand Arabian and Syrian horses, and five hundred mans of jewels of every description – diamonds, pearls, emeralds, and rubies.

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On Sunday, the fourth of Zu-l-hijja, 710 A.H. (Apr. 24, 1311 A.D.), Malik Kafur, accompanied by his army, returned toward Delhi with all the plunder, and arrived in safety on Monday, the fourth of Jumada-s-sani, 711 A.H. Sultan Ala-ad-din held a public durbar in front of the Golden Palace, and all the nobles and chiefs stood on the right and on the left, according to their rank. Malik Kafur, with the officers who had accompanied him, were presented to the Sultan, before whom the rich booty was exhibited. The Sultan was much gratified, loaded the warriors with honour, and then dissolved the durbar.

Footnotes

2. There is much punning here about wells (bir) and buckets (dalvi), which it is impossible to render into English so as to make it comprehensible.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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