The Khilji Dynasty ruled the Delhi Sultanate from 1290 to 1320. It is the second of the five Delhi Sultanate dynasties and represents the sultanate at its administrative and military peak. The Khiljis were of Turkish-Afghan mixed descent, settled long in the Helmand valley around the town of Qalat before they entered the service of the Ghurids and the early Slave Dynasty. They were considered ethnically Turkish enough to claim the throne but had been kept out of the inner circle of the Slave Dynasty’s Chahalgani. When the Slave Dynasty collapsed in 1290, the Khiljis took power as outsiders to the older Turkish nobility.
The thirty-year span of the Khilji Dynasty is dominated by one figure — Alauddin Khilji, who ruled from 1296 to 1316. Alauddin Khilji’s reign is famous for three things. First, the market control system that fixed prices on grain, cloth, slaves and horses in Delhi. Second, the southern conquests carried out by his slave-general Malik Kafur, which extended Khilji authority for the first time as far south as Madurai. Third, the military reforms — the dagh branding of horses and the chehra descriptive roll of soldiers — that gave the sultanate the largest standing army it had ever had.
This article walks through the three Khilji rulers, sets out Alauddin Khilji’s reforms in detail, and explains the rapid collapse of the dynasty within four years of his death.
Quick Facts
- Founder: Jalal-ud-din Firoz Khilji, 1290
- Greatest ruler: Alauddin Khilji, 1296-1316
- Last ruler: Qutb-ud-din Mubarak Shah Khilji, killed 1320
- Capital: Delhi (Siri added by Alauddin)
- Major reforms: Market control system, dagh and chehra, land revenue measurement
- Major campaigns: Gujarat (1299), Ranthambore (1301), Chittor (1303), Malwa (1305), Devagiri (1296, 1307), Warangal (1310), Hoysala (1311), Madurai (1311)
- General: Malik Kafur, slave-general who led the Deccan campaigns
- End: 1320 when Khusraw Khan assassinated Mubarak Shah; soon overthrown by Ghazi Malik who founded the Tughlaq Dynasty
Origin of the Khilji Dynasty
The Khilji clan was an Afghan-Turkish group settled around the Helmand region for several centuries. They entered Indian service under the Ghurids and rose through military command. Bakhtiyar Khilji, who conquered Bengal for Aibak in around 1204, was the first famous Khilji in Indian history, but he was killed in 1206 and the line did not produce a Delhi sultan.
By the 1280s, the Khilji nobles were a major bloc in the late Slave Dynasty army. Jalal-ud-din Khilji, the senior Khilji, commanded the frontier against the Mongols. When the Slave Dynasty collapsed after Balban’s death — see our notes on the Slave Dynasty for the full sequence — Jalal-ud-din took the throne in 1290 at the age of about seventy.
Jalal-ud-din Firoz Khilji (1290-1296)
Jalal-ud-din Khilji was old and mild by the standards of medieval kingship. He continued the existing administrative system, avoided massacres of the displaced Turkish nobility, and tried to rule by conciliation. His nephew and son-in-law, Ali Gurshasp, was sent as governor of Kara near Allahabad. Ali Gurshasp was ambitious and used his governorship to launch independent campaigns.
In 1296, Ali Gurshasp marched secretly south to Devagiri, the capital of the Yadava king Ramachandra. He defeated Ramachandra and looted Devagiri of an enormous treasure. Then he returned north, met Jalal-ud-din at Kara, and had him assassinated. Ali Gurshasp took the throne under the name Alauddin Khilji.
Alauddin Khilji (1296-1316)
Alauddin Khilji is the central figure of the Khilji Dynasty. His twenty-year reign reshaped the Delhi Sultanate.
Northern campaigns
Alauddin first secured the north. He suppressed Mongol invasions on the western frontier four times between 1297 and 1306. The Mongol commander Qutlugh Khwaja reached Delhi itself in 1299 and was driven back. Alauddin built a chain of frontier forts at Multan, Dipalpur and Siri and stationed his most senior commander Zafar Khan there. After 1306, the Mongols ceased to be a serious threat for two decades.
He conquered Gujarat in 1299 and captured Ranthambore in 1301 after a long siege. The Chittor siege of 1303 against Rana Ratan Singh is the most famous of his Rajput campaigns and is the subject of the Padmavat literary tradition. Malwa fell in 1305.
Market control system
Alauddin’s market control system is the most studied economic policy of the Delhi Sultanate. It had four pillars.
The first was price fixation. Alauddin fixed the price of about a dozen essential commodities at the Delhi grain market — wheat, barley, paddy, gram, sugar, salt, ghee, oil, cloth, horses, cattle and slaves. The prices were below market and were enforced.
The second was three regulated markets — the shahna-i-mandi (grain market), sara-i-adl (cloth and manufactures market) and the horse and slave market. Each had a market controller, the shahna, who enforced prices and weighed grain.
The third was state procurement. The sultan stockpiled grain from the land revenue collected in kind from the doab. The state granaries at Delhi could be drawn on during shortages.
The fourth was strict enforcement. Spies and the sultan’s officers checked weights, measured the customer’s grain, and punished short measures. Hoarding was punished severely.
The purpose of the market control was military, not welfare. Alauddin needed to keep prices low so that he could pay a large standing army in cash at affordable wages. He had calculated, with his minister Sharaf Qai, that a trooper at 234 tankas a year could be maintained only if grain was at the fixed price.
Dagh and chehra military reforms
Alauddin maintained the largest standing army in the history of the Delhi Sultanate, estimated at over 475,000 cavalry by some chroniclers. To prevent corruption, he introduced two innovations.
Dagh was the branding of cavalry horses with the royal seal. This stopped the practice of nobles bringing the same horse on multiple muster rolls or selling state-purchased horses privately.
Chehra was a descriptive roll of every soldier — name, father’s name, place, physical features. The roll prevented impersonation during muster. Both reforms were later imitated by the Mughal mansabdari system.
Deccan campaigns under Malik Kafur
Alauddin’s slave-general Malik Kafur, originally a Hindu slave from Khambhat purchased by the sultan, led four major southern campaigns between 1307 and 1311.
In 1307 Malik Kafur captured Devagiri again. Ramachandra Yadava became a tributary. In 1310 Kafur stormed Warangal and forced the Kakatiya king Pratapa Rudra to surrender the Koh-i-Noor diamond among other treasures. In 1311 Kafur defeated Vira Ballala III of the Hoysala dynasty at Dwarasamudra and then marched on Madurai, the Pandyan capital. The Pandyan kingdom paid tribute. The Khilji armies reached the southernmost tip of the peninsula for the first time in the history of the sultanate.
The Khilji policy in the south was not annexation but tribute. The local Hindu kings remained on their thrones and sent regular tribute to Delhi. The system collapsed quickly after Alauddin’s death.
Land revenue reforms
Alauddin abolished the older system of revenue farming through intermediaries in the doab. He insisted on direct assessment based on measurement (paimaish) of cultivated land at the rate of one biswa per bigha. The state took half of the produce as land tax. He also imposed a grazing tax (charai) and a house tax (ghari). The result was a tighter revenue grip on the doab heartland and a steady flow of grain to the state granaries.
Mubarak Shah and Khusraw Khan (1316-1320)
Alauddin Khilji died in 1316. The succession was chaotic. Malik Kafur briefly held power as regent for Alauddin’s infant son, but he was killed within a month. Alauddin’s son Mubarak Shah Khilji took the throne, dismantled the market control system, recalled the Deccan garrisons and replaced senior nobles with his favourites.
In 1320 Mubarak Shah was assassinated by his Hindu convert favourite Khusraw Khan, who briefly took the throne as Sultan Nasir-ud-din Khusraw Shah. Khusraw Khan was overthrown within five months by the frontier commander Ghazi Malik, who took the throne as Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq and founded the Tughlaq Dynasty.
Decline of the Khilji Dynasty
The decline of the Khilji Dynasty after Alauddin Khilji is one of the fastest collapses in Indian history. The dynasty lasted thirty years in total, but the rule of competent men lasted only twenty. Three reasons explain the collapse.
First, the system was personalised. Alauddin’s market control, the army size, the revenue intensification — all depended on the sultan’s personal supervision through spies and direct orders. The system did not survive him.
First (continued), the Deccan tribute system depended on the southern kingdoms fearing Delhi. The moment Delhi fell into civil war after 1316, the tribute stopped.
Second, the dismantling of the market control under Mubarak Shah meant that the standing army could no longer be paid at the existing rate. Disbandment and disaffection followed.
Third, the succession was not regularised. There was no ruling council, no formal khutba arrangement, no Chahalgani equivalent of consensus. The Khilji nobles had displaced the Chahalgani but had not built an institutional substitute.
Administration and Society
The Khilji administration retained the Delhi Sultanate’s four diwans — wazarat, arz, insha, rasalat. The empire was divided into iqtas held by Khilji nobles and a few retained Turkish nobles. The land revenue was collected partly in cash and partly in kind. The currency continued to be the silver tanka introduced by Iltutmish.
Slavery was a major institution. Alauddin owned an estimated 50,000 slaves at his court. Malik Kafur was the most famous slave-officer, but there were many. The Hindu population paid jizya and continued in cultivation, trade and lower administration.
Architecture and Culture
The Khilji period contributed two major monuments — the Alai Darwaza (1311) and the unfinished Alai Minar at the Qutb complex. The Alai Darwaza is the southern gateway to the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque and is the first monument in India to use the true arch and dome based on Persian-Islamic engineering rather than corbelled construction. The Alai Minar was meant to be twice the height of the Qutb Minar but only the first storey was finished.
Amir Khusrau, the Persian-Indian poet, was at Alauddin’s court. His works include the Khazain-ul-Futuh (chronicle of Alauddin’s victories) and the Tughlaq Nama. The Chishti Sufi Hazrat Nizam-ud-din Auliya was also at Delhi during this period.
Prelims Pointers
- Khilji Dynasty period: 1290-1320.
- Jalal-ud-din Firoz Khilji founded the dynasty in 1290.
- Alauddin Khilji ruled 1296-1316.
- Alauddin’s market control covered grain, cloth, horses, slaves and cattle.
- Three regulated markets: shahna-i-mandi, sara-i-adl, horse and slave market.
- Dagh = branding of horses; chehra = descriptive roll of soldiers.
- Malik Kafur led the Deccan campaigns: Devagiri (1307), Warangal (1310), Hoysala (1311), Madurai (1311).
- Chittor was captured in 1303 from Rana Ratan Singh.
- Ranthambore was captured in 1301 from Hammir Dev.
- Alai Darwaza was built in 1311; Alai Minar was left unfinished.
- Amir Khusrau wrote Khazain-ul-Futuh on Alauddin’s reign.
- The Koh-i-Noor diamond came to Delhi after the Warangal campaign of 1310.
- Khusraw Khan briefly took the throne in 1320 before Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq overthrew him.
Mains Questions
- Critically examine the market control system of Alauddin Khilji. Was it a welfare measure or a military device? (GS Paper I, 15 marks)
- “The Khilji Dynasty represents the high noon of the Delhi Sultanate.” Discuss with reference to administrative reforms, military expansion and economic policy. (GS Paper I, 15 marks)
- Examine the role of Malik Kafur in the southern campaigns of Alauddin Khilji and assess the long-term consequences for the Deccan. (GS Paper I, 10 marks)
Legacy and Way Forward
The Khilji Dynasty left two enduring legacies. The first is the administrative template — measurement-based land revenue, dagh and chehra military verification, and price regulation — that the Tughlaqs, Sher Shah Suri and even the early Mughals borrowed. The second is the geographical scope. Khilji armies under Malik Kafur reached Madurai in 1311. No previous Delhi power had penetrated so far south. The political imagination of an all-India sultanate begins here.
Reading the Khilji Dynasty alongside the Slave Dynasty, the Tughlaq Dynasty and the Lodi Dynasty gives the full Delhi Sultanate arc up to the Battles of Panipat. For the contemporary southern kingdoms that resisted the Khilji push, see our notes on Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded the Khilji Dynasty?
Jalal-ud-din Firoz Khilji founded the Khilji Dynasty in 1290 by deposing the last Slave Dynasty sultan, Shams-ud-din Kayumars. He was the senior Khilji noble and had commanded the frontier under the late Slave Dynasty sultans.
What was Alauddin Khilji’s market control system?
Alauddin Khilji fixed prices on grain, cloth, horses, slaves and cattle in Delhi through three regulated markets — the shahna-i-mandi, sara-i-adl and the horse and slave market. The state stockpiled grain in granaries and enforced prices through market controllers. The purpose was to support a large standing army at affordable wages, not consumer welfare.
What were dagh and chehra?
Dagh was the branding of cavalry horses with the royal seal to prevent multiple-muster fraud. Chehra was a descriptive roll of every soldier — name, father’s name, physical features — to prevent impersonation. Both were introduced by Alauddin Khilji and were later adapted by the Mughal mansabdari system.
Who was Malik Kafur?
Malik Kafur was a slave-general of Alauddin Khilji, originally a Hindu slave from Khambhat. He led the Khilji armies on four southern campaigns between 1307 and 1311, capturing Devagiri, Warangal, Dwarasamudra and Madurai, and brought the Koh-i-Noor diamond to Delhi.
What happened at the Chittor siege of 1303?
In 1303 Alauddin Khilji besieged Chittor, the Mewar capital, then ruled by Rana Ratan Singh. The fort fell after a long siege. The siege is the historical kernel of the Padmavat literary tradition associated with Malik Muhammad Jayasi, though the romance with Rani Padmini is a later poetic addition.
How did the Khilji Dynasty end?
Alauddin Khilji died in 1316. His son Mubarak Shah was assassinated in 1320 by Khusraw Khan, who briefly took the throne. Khusraw Khan was overthrown within five months by Ghazi Malik, the frontier commander, who founded the Tughlaq Dynasty as Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq.
Why did Alauddin Khilji not annex the southern kingdoms?
Alauddin Khilji preferred tribute to annexation in the south because direct administration of distant southern territories was logistically impossible with the technology of the time. The Hoysala, Pandyan and Yadava kings were left on their thrones and sent regular tribute to Delhi, which collapsed after Alauddin’s death.
Why is the Khilji Dynasty important for UPSC?
The Khilji Dynasty represents the administrative and military peak of the Delhi Sultanate. Questions on Alauddin Khilji’s market control, dagh-chehra, Deccan campaigns and revenue reforms appear in almost every UPSC cycle for both prelims and mains, especially in medieval history segments.
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