'Ala al-Din Khalji

(?-1316)

   He was the second in line of the Khalji dynasty established by his uncle Jalal al-Din Firuz Shah Khalji (1290-1296) in the Delhi sultanate. 'Ala al-Din rose to prominence in the service of his uncle. As governor of Kara, he raided Deogir (later Daulatabad), the capital of the Yadava king-dom, in 1294 and collected a large treasure from there as tribute. He occupied the throne in 1296 after assassinating Jalal al-Din Firuz and ruled until 1316. 'Ala al-Din's reign marked the highest point of the Delhi sultanate's political power in terms of the area firmly administered and the authority exercised by the sultan over the nobles as well as hereditary chiefs and other local authorities.

   His success in throwing back with great violence repeated Mongol invasions of the years 1298-1303 was indicative of the increased military prowess of the Delhi sultanate. The same was also manifested by the annexation of Gujarat (1297) and capture of the famous strongholds Ranthambhor (1302) and Chitor (1303) in eastern Rajasthan. These military successes were followed, in 1303-1311, by the submission of the whole of the Deccan as well as a large part of southern India up to Dorasamudra (modern Mysore) and the Coromandal coast. To check the fraudulent practices of nobles maintaining military contingents, a new rule was created. It provided for the maintenance of descriptive rolls of horses and horsemen in the central office looking after military organization and for the occasional muster of contingents. The salaries of the troopers paid according to a prescribed scale were barely sufficient for meeting their needs. Soldiers were compensated for these meager salaries by market regulations aimed at keeping the prices of essential commodities very low. State granaries supplied food grains to grocery shops for distribution in urban centers at fixed prices.

   The land revenue came to be assessed at the rate of one half of the produce and was calculated on the basis of the measurement of land under different crops. Revenue was realized from the cultivator soon after harvest, obliging the farmer to sell his produce at prevailing prices to grain merchants (banjaras) deputed by the central government for bringing grains to state granaries. 'Ala al-Din was remembered in the Delhi sultanate for his market regulations long after his death in 1316.