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Ala-ud-din Khalji

Ala-ud-din Khalji was sultan of Delhi from 1296 to 1316. He sent the first armies of Delhi against Warangal, the capital of the Kakatiya king Prataparudra. The first, about 1302–03, came back beaten by the rains or by the Telugu army. The second, under Malik Kafur, stormed the outer mud wall of Warangal in 1310. Prataparudra then gave up his elephants, horses and treasure and promised a yearly tribute, which he sent to Delhi.

Ala-ud-din Khalji was sultan of Delhi from 1296 to 1316.12 He was the first sultan to send armies against Warangal, the capital of the Kakatiya king Prataparudra.34 The first army failed.3 The second, under Malik Kafur, made Prataparudra pay tribute to Delhi.56 See the Delhi Sultanate in the Telugu country.

Who he was

Ala-ud-din was the nephew of Sultan Jalal-ud-din Firuz Khalji.7 He had his uncle murdered, and his army proclaimed him king on 19 July 1296.7 He was crowned at Delhi on 3 October 1296.1 He died on 2 January 1316.2

The first army, 1302–03

In the winter of 1302–03 Ala-ud-din marched against Chitor, in the country of the Rajputs.8 At the same time he sent an army against Warangal.38 Barani names its leaders as Malik Fakhr-ud-din Juna and Malik Jhaju of Karra.3 When they arrived the rains began, and they came back at the start of winter “greatly reduced in numbers”.3

Ferishta says this army went “by the way of Bengal”.9 Wolseley Haig, in the Cambridge History of India (1928), thought it went through Bengal and Orissa.8 In his account, the rain and the bad roads broke its spirit, and it was defeated near Warangal.8

Malik Kafur’s siege, 1309–10

In 1309, Barani says, the sultan sent Malik Naib Kafur and Khwaja Haji against Warangal.4 Kafur was to take the fort and overthrow “Rai Laddar Deo”, that is Prataparudra.4 But if the king gave up his treasure, elephants and horses, and promised more the next year, Kafur was to accept and not press him too hard.4 Haig adds that the sultan did not want to annex land that Delhi could not easily govern.10

The army marched by way of Devagiri, whose king helped it with supplies.410 After it crossed into the Kakatiya country at Indur, it laid the land waste with fire and sword.11 The court poet Amir Khusrau says that the defenders of the fort of Sarbar burned themselves with their families.12 Kafur’s men then took the hill of Anumakonda, from which they could see the whole of Warangal.12 See Hanamkonda.

The besiegers stormed the outer mud wall, and the king asked for peace.13 Barani says that Prataparudra gave “a hundred elephants, seven thousand horse, and large quantities of jewels and valuables”.5 He also signed a promise of yearly tribute.5 Kafur left Warangal in March 1310, with “a thousand camels” carrying the treasure.14

Tribute from Warangal

At the end of the next year twenty elephants reached Delhi from “Laddar Deo Rai of Tilang”.6 With them came an offer to pay the tribute at Devagiri.6 Haig wrote that Kafur went south again in 1313 partly because Prataparudra had asked for an officer nearby to receive the tribute.15 The siege itself is described on the Warangal Fort page.

Where the sources disagree

  • The first army. Barani blames the rains.3 Haig says it was defeated.8
  • The year of Kafur’s march. Barani gives AH 709, that is 1309.4 Haig gives 1308.10
  • Whether there was a siege. The Persian writer Wassaf says the Rai submitted at the frontier and sent “6,000 loads of gold”.16 Amir Khusrau and Barani describe a siege and an assault.134
  • The price of peace. Barani gives a hundred elephants and seven thousand horses.5 Ferishta gives three hundred elephants.17 Haig also gives three hundred, but notes that most historians give three thousand.11

Footnotes

  1. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 99 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  2. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 119 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  3. Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III (1871), p. 189, Barani, Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  4. Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III (1871), p. 201, Barani (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  5. Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III (1871), p. 203, Barani (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III (1871), p. 204, Barani (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. Wolseley Haig (ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 98 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 108 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  9. Muhammad Qasim Ferishta, tr. John Briggs, History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, Vol. I (1829), p. 353 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  10. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 114 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  11. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 115 and note 1 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  12. Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III (1871), p. 80, Amir Khusrau (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  13. Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III (1871), p. 83, Amir Khusrau (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  14. Elliot and Dowson, Vol. III (1871), p. 84, Amir Khusrau (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  15. Haig, Cambridge History of India, Vol. III (1928), p. 118 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  16. H. M. Elliot and John Dowson, The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians, Vol. III (1871), p. 49, Wassaf (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  17. Ferishta, tr. Briggs, Vol. I (1829), p. 372 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Dynasties

Delhi Sultanate in the Telugu country

c. 1303–1344 CE

The Khalji and Tughluq sultans of Delhi sent five armies against the Kakatiya capital Warangal between 1303 and 1323. Malik Kafur's siege of 1309–10 and Khusrau Khan's of 1318 ended in tribute. Ulugh Khan, who later became Muhammad bin Tughluq, took the city at his second attempt. He sent Prataparudra towards Delhi and renamed Warangal Sultanpur. For a little over a decade Telingana (Tilang) was a province of the sultanate. The Telugu convert Malik Maqbul governed it for a time. Then a revolt under Kapaya Nayaka, called Kanya Naik by Barani, drove the Delhi officers out.

References

Sources (3)
  1. H. M. Elliot and John Dowson (eds.), The History of India as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, Vol. III (opens in a new tab), Trübner and Co., London, 1871, pp. 49, 80, 83–84, 189, 201–204. Wassaf, Amir Khusrau and Barani in translation. [Public domain]
  2. Wolseley Haig (ed.), The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans (opens in a new tab), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1928, pp. 98–99, 108, 114–115, 118–119. [Public domain]
  3. Muhammad Qasim Ferishta (tr. John Briggs), History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India till the Year A.D. 1612, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London, 1829, pp. 353, 372. [Public domain]

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