Khiljis:
The Khiljis ruled for thirty years and had three principal rulers. None of them could win the support of the people in general. The opposition of Hindus to the Sultans of Delhi was a matter of course but the Khiljis failed to satisfy even the Muslims. Liberality and goodness of Jalaluddin made younger Khiljis and Balbanid nobles severely critical of him. Alauddin Khilji ruled for sixteen years with great eclat and magnificence and every-body was awed into submission to him but nobody loved him. Mubarakshah’s depravity and cruelty converted friends into foes. This peculiarity of the rulers of this dynasty is one of the reasons why it came to such a speedy end. Secondly, the rulers of this dynasty placed undue faith in unworthy persons so that it was easy to murder them. Jalaluddin was forewarned and yet he continued to trust the traitorous Alauddin. Alauddin threw his sons and wife into prison on the advice of Kafur who later on had him poisoned. Similarly, Qutbuddin Mubarakshah lost his life by trusting Khusrau. Among these rulers, the ablest and most renowned was Alauddin. If his administrative machinery had depended for its success not on his personality but on the intrinsic merits of institutions established by him, the empire would not have come to an end within four years after his death. For the defence of the north-western frontier, a large army had generally to be maintained. After the conquest of the Deccan, the central army had to be dispersed over a large area and the governors in the Deccan became so powerful that they often thought of founding independent kingdom. Alauddin, Kafur and Khusrau first aspired for sovereignty only on going to the Deccan and it was due to the evil influence of Kafur and Khusrau that the empire so rapidly crashed to its end.
But even in spite of their shortlived supremacy, the Khiljis have immortalized themselves in the history of India. They overrode conceptions of racial superiority and acknowledged the principle of universal equality and allowed all sections of their subjects to rise to the highest office in the state. On the one hand, they furnished the ideal of governing the land on principles of generosity and goodness, and on the other, they carried military despotism to its highest watermark. They strengthened the foundations of the Sultanates of Delhi, practically doubled the sphere of its supremacy and having repeatedly vanquished its worst enemy, the Mongols, forced them to keep out of India and restored the Indus as the natural boundary of the Sultanate once again. They made numerous experiments in government and opened the door to the conquest of the Deccan. They encouraged art and literature and adorned the empire with numerous beautiful edifices. Their courtiers included many men of letters who by their compositions have made the Khilji period a memorable epoch in the history of Persian Literature. Thus the rule of the Khiljis is in many respects of great historical importance.
Comments (No)