Khusro Khan

Khusro Khan (Gujarati: ખ઼ુસરો ખ઼ાન, Urdu: خسرو خان‎; also spelled Khusrau Khan or Khusru or Khusraw Khan) was a medieval Indian military leader, and ruler of Delhi as Sultan Nasir-ud-din for a short period of time. He was a native of the Bawariya region of Saurashtra in Gujarat, India.

Capture and enslavement

In 1297, Alauddin Khilji sent an army under the command of Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan to plunder Gujarat. They first captured Patan by defeating the last Hindu ruler Karan Vaghela, then reached the Somanath temple in Saurashtra. They found no resistance and later fought with Hamirji Gohil of the Lathi State and his friend Vegado Bhil, who were both killed in a battle near the Somnath temple. Khusro Khan, whose original name is not known, was fighting alongside Vegada Bhil and Hamirji Gohil. Before his death at Somanath, Vegado Bhil ordered Khusro Khan to escape and to take revenge with Alauddin Khilji. Khusro Khan was captured, converted to Islam and enslaved. Known as 'Hasan,' he was subsequently given the title Khusro Khan by Mubarak. As a favorite of Mubarak, he led armies to the south. The historian Farishtah writes about Mubarak's homosexual relations with Khusro Khan and also that Khusro Khan was a shemale.^[1]

Capturing the throne

It is said that Mokhadaji Gohil of Piram also met Khusro Khan. At that time, Khusro Khan also advised Mokhadaji Gohil to fight against Delhi Sultanate. Khusro Khan got Allauddin Khilji killed by his friend Jahiriya. In 1320 Khusro Khan managed to kill Alauddin Khilji’s son, Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah, ending the Khilji dynasty. He captured the throne of Delhi and held it for four months, after which he was defeated and killed by Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, who founded the Tughlaq dynasty in 1320 in Delhi.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

He was against laws which favoured tax system based on religion. It is said that he was against women being treated as war booty. He took strong steps to prevent harems and sex slaves. Perhaps his own sufferings made him think this way but this caused nobles to go against him.

Rule

Everything known about his rule is mostly corroborated through Tareekh-e-Farishtah I, which, like many other South Asian medieval literatures, is a well-known politico-religious propaganda against Khusro Khan, especially in the light of him being supposedly a homosexual or being of Hindu origin. After capturing the throne by assasinating the decadent Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah, as alleged in Tareekh-e-Farishtah I, he collected all of the Qurans placed them on chairs of his court and ordered his Muslim ministers to sit on the Qurans. Khusro Khan also often urinated on his cabinet of Muslim ministers.^[10] There was no end to the decadence and disrespect of this new king so when the ministers had enough they requested Emir Ghazi Malik of Dipalpur to invade Delhi. Ghazi Malik captured Delhi and killed Khusro Khan.

Religion

Khusro Khan was a non-Rajput Hindu from Gujrat. He was forced to convert to Islam from Hinduism at the time of his capture.^[11] He became the first Hindu to sit on the throne of Delhi. It is clear from the writing of Muslim chroniclers that Khusrau Khan had converted back to Hinduism. That the occasion of Sultan Nasir-ud-din’s accession to the throne of Delhi was a moment of joy for the despairing Hindus in the North is given by the following passage:

“In those dreadful days the infidel rites of the Hindus were highly exalted, the dignity and the importance of the Parwárís were increased, and through all the territory of Islám the Hindus rejoiced greatly, boasting that Dehlí had once more come under Hindu rule, and that the Musulmáns had been driven away and dispersed”. (Baranī)

References