भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

Muslim Invasions on South India upto the
Beginnings of the 14th Century
703. Right from the beginnings of known history, i.e. from about 500 to
600 B.C. to the beginning of the 14th century, South India never knew any
great foreign invasion either by land or sea. The Hindu states there enjoyed
their political liberty and power almost unhampered and unimpeded. On the
contrary, millions of Hindu people and armies of the Kalings, Pandyas,
Chers, Chols, Andhras, Rashtrakuts, Chalukyas, Yadavas and others up to
Dwarka had victoriously spread their political and commercial supremacy,
their theological and scientific knowledge, their art and sculpture up to
Mexico on the one side and to central Africa on the other.
704-705. But this glorious achievement of the Hindu states of the South of
maintaining their independence for over two thousand years has never been
so specifically and forcibly stated anywhere in history! We, however,
challenge if any country or state of such magnitude as that of the continent
like South Indian peninsula can be found on the face of this earth, which
has valiantly maintained its independence, power and empire and kept
foreign invaders either by land or sea, off its territories for such a long
period!
706. And such a country like India, more than half of whose territory
enjoyed such a glorious past, is derided by some half-crazy jealous
historians, foreign as well as Indian, or by some Hindu-haters like Dr.
Ambedkar or by some quite ignorant writers, so as to say, “Indian history
from the beginning is a history of a slavish people sunk deep into foreign
bondage and constantly trampled under foreign heels. “The word ‘slavery’
sums up the whole history of the Hindus who have been dragging on the
poor existence for tens and scores of centuries!”
707. At least, from now onwards, every Indian or non-Indian historian
must, for the love of truth, mention specifically this glorious peculiarity of
South India! Then alone, their writings would deservedly be called history!!
The Credit due to the Hindus of the North
708. Of course, while speaking of this glorious achievement of the South
of India—of maintaining its independence and vast empire over such a
long period—due credit must be given to the Hindu warriors, who

tenaciously fought for more than six or seven hundred years the bloody and
disastrous wars with the Arabs, the Pathans, the Turks, the Moghals,
millions of pillaging aggressors of numerous nations and communities of
almost the whole of Asia and halted their all-sweeping advance there in the
North for such a long period; and to those millions of Hindu martyrs who
gave away their lives for defending their religion by leaping into the
hungry flames, into the bounding waves of the Hooded rivers or in the
wholesale man-slaughter carried on by the enemy, but never forsook their
religion as per their various beliefs! The Hindus, history can never forget—
must never forget—these immeasurable obligations of those generations of
Hindus of the North over the whole of the Hindu nation-obligations which
can have no requital whatsoever!
709. However, world history itself tells us that even the greatest of
nations, too, fall victims some time or the other, even if after a very long
lapse of time, to some foreign domination. Similarly, towards the very end
of the 13th century (in A.D. 1294), this sub-continent of South India was
overcome with this calamity of the foreign Muslim aggression.
710. But it must be remembered here that the only nation in the then known
world, which could be fairly compared with India as regards its extent and
greatness—the Chinese nation—was overrun from end-to-end, and
subjugated by Chengeezkhan nearly a hundred years prior to the 14th
century; and simultaneouly with the first invasion of South India by
Allauddin—of which we are going to write very shortly—it had already
become the footstool of the foreign throne of the Mongol Emperor, Kublai
Khan! But can any profane, abusive writer make bold to say that the Chinese
nation has all along been rotting in foreign bondage?
Modern History of South India
711. The relevant and sufficient portion of the ancient history of South
India has already been referred to in an early part of this book. We can
safely assume that with the downfall of the Shalivahan dynasty in A.D. 236
or thereabout, began the modern history of South India. Thereafter, the
gallant Chalukya Emperor, Pulakeshi shone like a lighthouse tower,
counting the passage of time, in the history of the South. He too has been
mentioned in the earlier chapters. To his court had come the famous
Chinese traveller, Huen-tsang (or Yuan Chwan), who has first used the word
Maharashtra to describe Pulakeshi's kingdom. That is the first important
recorded use of the word in history. Emperor Pulakeshi fell fighting with the

Pullav King, Nursinh Varma, of the South in A.D. 642 and his kingdom was
conquered by the Pallavas. But very shortly afterwards, it was reconquered
by his son, Vikramaditya I, after defeating the Pallavas in a furious battle.
712. To this very Chalukya dynasty, belonged Vikramaditya II, who later
on in the 8th century A.D., sent a huge army to Navasari and defeated the
Arab invaders there!
713. Various such Hindu conquests over the Muslims are not even
mentioned in modern histories. History, of late, has become too partial and
vulgar. The various such incidents of Hindu supremacy and superior craft,
that have been mentioned heretofore, can very rarely be found in the
contemporary histories written by Muslim writers. Hereafter, at least Hindu
writers should describe such glorious acts of valour of the Hindu kings and
warriors after careful research.
714. The above-mentioned royal dynasty of the Pallavas was one of the
valorous and prosperous ones of the South. They had their capital at Kanchi
(Kanjivaram) for some time. At the end of the ninth century A.D., a Chol
king of South India itself, named Aditya, overpowered Aparajit Pallav and
subdued his kingdom for ever.
The Rashtrakuts
715. After the Chalukyas, the Rashtrakuts had established a prominent and
very powerful kingdom, bringing practically the whole of the South and
even the southern part of Gujarat under their sway. For some time, they had
their capital at Malkhed. By far, the most important achievement of theirs is
getting the famous Kailas cave carved at Verul (Ellora).
716. After the 10th century A.D., there were only two prominent
kingdoms in the South: those of the Cholas of Tanjawar (Tanjore) and the
Pandyas of Madura. Fortunately, we have the eyewitness account of the
political independence of the South, their prosperous state, and their
gallantry, by a third party, namely Marco Polo, the celebrated, discerning,
learned European (Italian) traveller and writer, who had spent many years
of his life in the court of Kublai Khan in China and who on his way back,
had at this very time, stayed for some days at Madura, the Pandya capital.
His testimony as to the Hindu mastery of the three seas and their overseas
empires, which we can find in his book of travels, is the most important. For
when he came from China to India, he came via Indo-China and visited the
Hindu states in Sumatra and other islands. At the time of his sojourn in
Sumatra, the island was ruled by one Hindu King, Shree Vijay, who gave

equal protection to the Buddhists also. Marco Polo, thereafter, went back to
Venice, his place of birth, about the year A.D. 1295. Two or three other
foreign travellers had come and stayed in India at that time, and have left
behind them some account of their travels, which, along with that of Marco
Polo, bear important and independent witness to the fact of the complete
political freedom of the Southern Hindu states, of their political,
commercial and religious supremacy over many other nations around them,
of their overlordship of the Eastern, Western and Southern Seas, of their
powerful navies and merchant marine, which traversed the tides of the three
seas unopposed, and of the unrivalled title of ‘Trisamudreshwar’, which
these Southern Hindu kings proudly took lor themselves.
717. ‘Trisamudreshwar’ emperor Rajendra Chola died in A.D. 1042 and
after one or two powerful kings after him, the Chowl dynasty and the
Chowl empire perished at the end of the 13th century.
Religious Preachers like Shankaracharya and others
718. During these years, South India saw not only the rise of royal heroes
like Rajendra Chowl, but also the glorious heights reached by religious
heroes, the foremost among them being Shreemat Shankaracharya, defeating
the various so-called heretical views that were being advocated throughout
India against the Vedic religion. At Kalindi in Karal, was born this great
personality of Shankaracharya in a Nambudri Brahmin family. Being well-
versed in the Vedic lore and having taken the vow of Sannyas (having
renounced the worldly life) even before the tender age of sixteen, he began
to preach and conquer the heretics in all quarters. Kumarilbhatta, the well-
known exponent of the Karma theory, who successfully refuted the Buddhist
religious opinions, was also preaching throughout the four corners of India
round about this time. Another preacher Diggaja (दिग्गज)—(the elephant
defending the directions)—Mandanmishra, was also the contemporary of
this young Shankaracharya. In order to establish his theory of अद्वैत (the non-
existence of duality between—the unison [unity] of—Jeevatma and
Paramatma) and to hoist the victorious banner of Vedic religion throughout
the whole of India, Shankaracharya went on searching out and completely
defeating in religious debate not only the followers of the absolute theory of
karma, but also the other non-Vedic beliefs and even the renowned leaders
of the Buddhist religion. Finally he paraded the victorious Vedic banner
througout India and established authoritative religious institutions of his

order at four places in the four directions of India: at Shringeri in the south,
at Dwarka to the west, Jagannathpuri in the eastern quarter and at Kashmir
to the farthest north. These religious seats (institutions) received full
Government support so long as Hindu states existed in those various places.
Having accomplished this wonderful work of religious propaganda and
having written the (unparalleled) unrivalled book, ‘Shankarbhashya’, he
entered the cave-took a living samadhi—(ended his life by restraining his
breath).
The Political Activities of the Shaivite sects like the Pashupatas
719. Even before this period was resuscitated, the Shaivite Sect of the
Pashupatas, which being militant like the Shaktas, extremely hated the
meek अहिंसा—‘non-violence’—and renunciation of the worldly life of
the Buddhists and Jains. It fomented and fanned to red heat’, at least
indirectly, among the Hindus, the tendency to oppose the non-Hindu
religious aggressors and a love for war. Shree Lakulesh was their apostle,
who was born in Gujarat and whose great work and Influence made the
Hindus take him for the very incarnation of Lord Har (Shiv), and whom
even Shankaracharya mentions proudly.
Bengal during these years
720. Till 700 to 800 A.D., Bengal was ruled by the Pal kings, the first of
whom was king Gopal. He was a Buddhist. He had from his queen
Deddadevi, a son, named Dharampal, who ruled from 800 to 825 A.D. He
too was a Buddhist and had been married to Ranadevi, the daughter of the
Rashtrakut king Govind, who was most famous in the South. By about A.D.
1095, the Sen dynasty destroyed the Pal kings and founded their own
kingdom. These Sen kings were the Kshatriyas from karnatak in the South,
who had their silent access to the royal circle perhaps through the retinue of
the above-mentioned Rashtrakut princess, Ranadevi. Whatever that is, as
these Sen kings were the staunch followers of the Vedic religion, they
suppressed Buddhism in Bengal and vigorously revived the caste-system,
rendered chaotic by intermingling of different castes during the Buddhist
period as also the Vedic lore and other Vedic religious institutions. The
book on Sanskrit grammar, Mugdhabodh, written by Bopdev was very
popular in Bengal at this time.
The contemporary history of Gujarat
721. The famous King Karnaraj, who built the extensive lake of
Krishnasagar, ruled Gujrath from A.D. 1063 to 1093. The original capital of

his royal family was at Pattan, which he shifted later on to a new place and
named it Karnavati, and it remained the capital of Gujarat even afterwards.
722. But later on, when Gujarat was overcome by the Muslims, Sultan
Ahmedshah, who persecuted the Hindus most cruelly, changed the
historical Hindu name of Karnavati to Ahmedabad in A.D.1412, befitting
the traditional Muslim malignity towards the Hindus, and added to it, a
newly built suburb. And the meek and submissive attitude of the Hindus of
those times has been fondling that name ever since as their own.
The first Invasion of the South by the Foreigners and Non-Hindus
723. Sultan Jalalluddin's nephew, Allauddin crossed the Vindhyas with a
huge army without any permission from his uncle and attacked the south of
India, to loot the fabulous wealth, of which he had so long been receiving
tempting reports. This invasion was so unexpected and the negligence,
conceit and narrow-mindedness of the South Indian Hindu Kings of that
time were so profound and criminal, that perhaps it is after his kingdom was
actually attacked that the king of Devgiri, Maharaja Ramdevrao Yadav,
came to know of it, and being thoroughly unprepared to face it, was utterly
confused.
723A. Is it not really strange that even while the Muslim states were
being founded everywhere in the north of India, while they had been so
very cruelly ravaging the Hindu religion and Hindu states for two or three
centuries, while thousands of Hindu temples were being continuously and
insultingly demolished, while Kashi was almost turned into Mecca, while
Dnyandev, Namdev and other saints and their followers and millions of
travelling Hindu pilgrims were going right up to the Punjab to visit the
holy places and were returning aggrieved at the sad plight of Hindu
religion there, while the Muslims were openly swearing and voicing their
ambition to invade the South and convert it to Islam, the Hindu kings of
the South should be so very careless and negligent, that instead of
collecting their armies and sending them to the north to help the Rajputs
face the Muslim aggression, Ramdevrao's forces under some of his
chieftains, should have gone far to the South, and Ramdevrao himself
should have been wandering most frivolously with his small army, hunting
wild animals away from his capital? But...
724. Let alone Ramdevrao's state of Devgiri, but didn't even a single spy
from the secret intelligence service of the four or five prominent Hindu
states in the south go to the north and observe and inform his king or kings

much ability and skill, as Allauddin himself. The ageing Allauddin began to
call the slave Maliq-Kafur. Later still, he began to run the whole
administration of the empire with the latter’s advice.
The second Muslim campaign on Ratanbhor
730. It has already been told that Jalalludin was defeated by the Hindus of
Ratanbhor. In order to avenge that defeat, Allauddin marched again for the
second time on the fort of Ratanbhor in A.D. 1301. Even the then Rana
Hameer of Ratanbhor fought to the last, and laid down his life along with
thousands of his soldiers in that furious battle, and on seeing the fall of the
Rajput warriors, hundreds of Rajput ladies including Hameer’s queen
standing on the ramparts of the fort, leapt into the blazing fire according to a
pre-settled plan and burned themselves to death. How often have the Hindu
warriors and their brave wives done such magnificent deeds of valour and
sacrificed their lives! That is the only reason why the Hindu nation could
still remain alive!
Invasions of Chitod Subsequent to the fall of Ratanbhor
731. The most beautiful daughter of the Rajput king of Ceylon, named
Padmini, was married to Rana Bheemsingh of Chitod. According to the
shameless but proud vaunt of the Muslims in general that to kidnap the non-
Muslim beautiful women openly was a Muslim’s religious duty, Allauddin
openly demanded from Rana Bheemsingh his charming queen, and as the
Rajputs spurned it, Allauddin marched on Chitod round about A.D. 1302.
While describing the battles at that time, the Rajput history tells a story how
in order to deceive Allauddin, the Rajputs promised to send Padmini to him
but actually sent armed gallant fighters disguised as women in several
palanquins and successfully executed a daring plan of rescuing the captured
Bheemsingh, but the paucity of space prevents us from narrating it in any
detail. Finding it impossible to crush the mighty Rajput valour even in that
furious battle, Allauddin had to return to Delhi. This incident clearly shows
that Rajputs, too, could resort to cunning.
732. In order to avenge the defeat inflicted by the Rajputs in this battle and
for the sake of Padmini, Allauddin once again invaded Chitod in A.D. 1303,
when once again the brave Rajputs donned the ‘ Kesaria’ (saffron garments)
and fought till the end, slaying hundreds of Muslims, and died to a man.
Seeing the victory smile upon the Muslims and fortune darken upon the
Rajputs, about ten thousand Rajput women, including Rani Padmini, leapt
into the blazing fire with their children at their breasts. Allauddin conquered

Chitod, only to collect the ashes of Padmini! When the Hindu warriors and
Hindu women fought, they fought thus!
733. It must be told here that before the old Allauddin breathed his last, this
defeat of the Hindus was avenged under the very nose of Allauddin in A.D.
1313 by the famous Rajput, Hameer, who conquered Chitod, after inflicting a
crushing defeat upon the Muslims. He even captured a son of Allauddin alive
—but he was not converted to Hinduism. He should have been, at least, to
pay the enemy in its own coin! This is the very same suicidal generosity of
the Hindus.
734. In A.D. 1307, this Maliq Kafur, Allauddin’s famed general, was sent
by the Sultan to invade the South. Ramdevrao was once again defeated, but
he made peace by paying off the accumulated ransom. But during this
turmoil, the runaway Princess Devaldevi of Gujarat, who was married to
Ramdevrao’s son Shankardev, was captured and sent to Delhi by Maliq
Kafur. Soon after in A.D. 1308, he invaded the Deccan for the third time and
defeated in a bloody action Raja Pratapdev of Varangal, the heroic king who
had once vanquished the Muslims. Raja Pratapdev had to swear allegiance to
the Sultanate at Delhi.
735. Flushed at this success, Maliq Kafur marched on the third Hindu State
in the Deccan and defeated the Hoysal king there likewise. Kafur’s victorious
sword then subdued the remaining Hindu kingdom of Madura.
736. Thus, for the first time, during the past two thousand years, practically
the whole of the Deccan passed into foreign and non-Hindu enemy hands!
The independence and prosperity of the Deccan came to an end in this year!
At the Southern-most end of the Deccan, Maliq Kafur built a fine Masjid as
if to commemorate this Muslim conquest of South India. But the Hindu
reaction to it was to precipitate the successful Hindu conspiracies against
Muslim bondage.
737. Ramdevrao’s son, Shankardev, succeeded him to the throne of
Devgiri, and soon repudiated the oath of allegiance to Sultan Allauddin,
whereupon Maliq Kafur swooped down on the Deccan once again.
Shankardev did not surrender till the last and fought furiously till he was
killed.
738. As Allauddin and Maliq Kafur stamped out the Hindu political
power from the Deccan during their frequent invasions, they likewise
crumbled to dust the huge and magnificent Hindu temples of the South, cut
up their golden pinnacles and in majority of the cases, built palatial masjids

on their sites, forced thousands of Hindus to be converted. These
innumerable converted Hindus made big farming and feudal estates in this
Deccan itself. But Hindus, however, did not massacre these Muslims nor
did they destroy them outright as and when they subdued the Muslim
power later on. This is what we call the perversion of the concept of
virtues!
Most often the Hindus used the same War strategy of the Muslims,
according to the Military Science of the time
739. On the religious front, the Hindus were, thus, being vanquished
mostly because of their own foolish religious concepts and traditions, but
on the political front, they were fighting with the Muslims as they ought to
have done! Even after being completely overcome, they rose again and
again and defeated the Muslims! Craftiness and cunning were generally
matched with the same strategic moves by the Hindus!
740. Allauddin surpassed every other Sultan before him in cruelty in the
persecution of the Hindus. He would have reached greater heights in cruelty
in respect of his treatment of the Hindus, had he not been forced to fight on
the other front with the Mongols, who unceasingly hurled their armed might
against the western borders of India and caused a great turmoil throughout
Mongolia and Cenral Asia. A few of them took to Islam and formed a new
Muslim colony in Delhi itself. At last, the enraged Allauddin cut off the
whole of this new Muslim colony to a man!
Death of Allauddin
741. Allauddin was the first and the last Muslim Sultan to rule over
practically the whole of India with the exception of some Hindu states like
those of Chitod and others. Neither Akbar nor even Aurangzeb can take that
place, as their territories never equalled those of Allauddin.
742. But in his old age, Allauddin was surely afflicted by his bodily
diseases, which were the outcome of his physical vices. Naturally, he
became a tool in the hands of Maliq Kafur, and in that miserable state, this
valorous but Hindu-hater Sultan died of dropsy in A.D. 1316 or as it is said,
Maliq Kafur killed him or had him killed. His ‘Allah’ could not bless him
with a happy death because of his virtue of Hindu-hatred! In a few days
Maliq Kafur, a one-time slave of Allauddin, usurped the whole power of
Allauddin, but in the political chaos that ensued after Allauddin, he was
soon killed. In the turbulent days that followed, a certain Khushrukhan of
exceptional abilities, who had been shining in the diplomatic circles at

Delhi, rose to the highest seat of power. From the point of view of the
Hindu nation, his story deserves a separate chapter in the history of India.
❑

Khushrukhan and Devaldevi
743. If the millions of students who are learning history in all the states in
the Indian Union today are asked what they know of Khushrukhan, a unique
unforgettable character, who was acclaimed as the Sultan of Sultans in the
Muslim Sultanate at Delhi, and who was worthy of high praise from the
point of view of the Hindus, it is more likely than not, that at least 93 per
cent of these millions of students will reply with evident surprise,
“Khushrukhan? No, we haven’t come across any major reference to such a
man as you describe!” Let alone the students, but even if you were to ask
the same question to the teachers in general, to the whole editorial staff of
the newspapers in India or even to any educated man or woman, at least 75
per cent of them will very probably reply in the same manner; ‘who is this
Khushrukhan? We have never heard even of his name!’
744. It is for this very reason that we are attempting to give a brief sketch
of his life and work, as far as we can do so with the available evidence. For,
although he is a unique character in the modern Indian history, his name has
been obliterated, as it were, by the Muslim historians and their blind foreign
and Indian, Hindu followers, from the textbooks of history used in schools,
for his sole offence of putting the Muslim Sultanate to shame in order to
avenge the wrongs and insults hurled by them at the Hindu nation.
Wherever he has been mentioned, he has been given the most insulting and
abusive attributes like, ‘low-bred’, ‘depraved’, ‘a knave’, ‘a hell-hound’ by
the Muslim writers.
The early history of Khushrukhan
745. When in the reign of Allauddin, Gujarat had to face the first
onslaught of the Muslims in A.D. 1298 and the governing authority of the
Hindus was much shaken down, in the chaotic conditions then prevailing, a
very tender, attractive but very brilliant Hindu youth had been captured and
made a slave by the Muslim noblemen and was offered into the service of
Allauddin, much the same way and for the same reason as Maliq Kafur was
made a slave. This youth was originally a Hindu, belonging to the
untouchable caste of Paria of Parwar (sweepers) in Gujarat. One or two
Muslim writers deny that he was a Paria (sweeper), but emphatically assert
that he was a Rajput. Alter having been captured and converted to Islam, he
was first called ‘Hasan’. When he was taken in the service of Allauddin at

Delhi, in keeping with the social vice of the Muslims (viz., sodomy;
paragraph 729), the greatest noblemen and generals of the court had
unnatural sexual relations with him, and so they were extremely solicitous
about serving his whims! When after Allauddin’s death in A.D. 1316, Maliq
Kafur became the chief administrator, he also came to have great regard for
his abilities. Very soon, Hasan was given the title of Khushrukhan. For,
even in the days of Allauddin, he was being sent independently on some
small military expeditions in charge of small troops. That Hasan should
become Khushrukhan and then a general in the army so rapidly, bespeaks of
his exceptional qualities. But more than these qualities of his limitless love
that Mubarik, the son of Allauddin, bore towards this charming young man,
was responsible for such a spectacular rise. So after both Allauddin and
Maliq Kafur died or were dispatched as the case may be, Mubarik got the
Sultanate of Delhi mainly with Khushrukhan’s assistance and quite
naturally, all the reins of the government passed easily into the hands of
Khushrukhan, the dearest, ablest and the most trustworthy young nobleman
of Mubarik’s court, and young Khushrukhan, too, proved wholly efficient in
the discharge of his responsible job. Mubarik was vicious and pleasure-
seeking by nature. Therefore, he considered it a godsend gift to have such
an efficient assistant in the person of Khushrukhan to run the whole
administration, and especially, a loyal executive to manage his private
affairs in the harem.
Devaldevi
746. When in the court of Delhi, the attractive Maliq Kafur, who was born
a Hindu but converted by Allauddin to Islam, became later on the
commander-in-chief and an astute politician, practically at the same time,
rose in status another young, handsome, Hindu convert, Khushrukhan, who
after the death of Maliq Kafur, wielded all authority at the court of Delhi. In
a similar way and simultaneously enough, rose a third figure in the political
circles at Delhi, who was equally important, able, and who managed the
affairs of the state only with the twitch of her eyebrows, and her sidelong
glances—I mean the former Hindu princess of Gujarat and the sometime
wife of Shankardev Yadav of Devgiri, namely Devaldevi.
747. Of these three Hindu converts, Maliq Kafur seems later on to have
wholly turned a Muslim even mentally, completely forgetting his Hindu
origin, the Hindu blood running through his veins, his Hindu parentage, let
alone his love for all these! But Khushrukhan and this royal princess of

Gujarat, Devaldevi, seem to have borne in their mind not only the memory,
but a love, a fascination for their Hindu origin, their Hindu blood, and their
essential Hindu make-up—there seems to be rankling in their hearts,
intermittently or continuously, the atrocities inflicted on them by the
Muslims. It seemed to burst out through their actions. At last, it is because
of their irrespressible yearning to avenge the wrongs done to their
‘Hindutwa’ that in Delhi itself, broke out that great conflagration which like
the wild fire of Khandav forest of Mahabharat, reduced to ashes the Muslim
Sultanate which had under its sway practically the whole of India, if only
for a short while!
748. In the very first expedition of Allauddin against Gujarat, after the
Gujarat ruler’s defeat, his crowned queen Kamaldevi fell into the hands of
Allauddin while she was fleeing for safety. But the ruler, however, could
effect his escape along with his princely daughter, Devaldevi, a mere child
then. Used to all sorts of royal comforts and pleasures till the very previous
day as she was, how hard and unbearable might this tender and beautiful
royal princess have found it to undergo all the calamities and privations and
exertions of wandering for days together through forest-after-forest, and
trying to evade the ever present possibility of capture by the pursuing
Muslims, might easily be imagined. In that tender age, hatred for the
Muslims must have been engraved deeply on her bosom, because of other
people’s and her own actual experience. Her very mother, Rani Kamaldevi,
had become the beloved queen of Sultan Allauddin at Delhi, and that very
mother of hers was now out to seize her and make her a Muslim! How
painful must this news have been to her tender heart! In order to evade this
terrible fate, she was married, even a little against her father’s wishes, to
Ramdevrao’s son, Shankardev, the staunch follower of Hinduism. But her
evil star did not leave her alone there. In one of the invasions of Maliq
Kafur against the Hindus, she was caught and carried away to Delhi as a
captive. She must have been smarting with pain and humiliation a hundred
thousand times in that moment of despair! At last, on reaching Delhi, she
was forced to marry Khijrakhan, the eldest son of Allauddin. Some writers
vouch that Devaldevi and Khijrakhan greatly loved each other. But this
seems to be the flattering way of the courtly writers. Her subsequent course
of action makes it abundantly clear! But that shrewd Hindu princess seems
to have affected her love for Islam and for her husband till she got the
desired opportunity.

749. It becomes crystal clear from the latter part of her life that after all
     the atrocities and persecutions, she was constantly worshipping the Hindu
     god.
750. Even after being forced to marry Allauddin’s eldest son, the mental
     agonies of Devaldevi did not cease. For, immediately after Allauddin’s
     death, there was a revolution, in which Allauddin’s second son, Mubarik,
     attacked and blinded his brother along with his followers and then put them
     to death. Installing himself as the Sultan, he seized his brother’s wife,
     Devaldevi, and forced her to marry him.
751. This alone seems to be the civilized and polite tradition of the
     Muslim Sultans and Emperors to marry again the fairest of queens and
     wives of the late Sultans or Emperors, dead or put to death!
752. This way did the former Hindu princess, Devaldevi rise to the highest
     status of a Sultana! However, she abhorred Mubarik most bitterly, yet she
     had, per force, to keep marital relations with him. Although her precious
     body was thus continually defiled, she had the most favourite opportunity of
     her life owing to this marriage of hers with Mubarik.
753. In gaining the Sultanate of Delhi, Mubarik had mainly to depend on
     the former Hindu slave, who later on was forced to become a Muslim, and
     who now had become the commander-in-chief of the whole Sultanate of
     Delhi—namely Khushrukhan! Mubarik himself had willingly entrusted the
     whole administration to Khushrukhan, for he had no time to mind other
     things except every sort of depravity and vice. For instance, he was
     extremely fond of dressing like a woman, going to the greatest noblemen of
     the court with the whole band of dancing girls, and there dancing himself,
     or having dancing and musical concerts there. So, while this licentious
     Mubarik was fully engrossed with his various vices, his chief minister of
     state, Khushrukhan, who had the burning memory of his former Hindu
     wife, and his present wife but the former Hindu princess, Devaldevi, who
     had similar thoughts and tendencies and similar mishaps in life as the
     former—both being Gujarati Hindus originally—had the greatest
     opportunity of coming into closest contact, of developing the strongest
     love-ties and the greatest confidence in each other. They could carry on the
     day-to-day political intrigues and plans authoritatively and with impunity,
     even to the solitude of the innermost secret chambers of the Sultan’s private
     palace.

754. It has to be taken for granted from the latter course of events, that it
     is there, that they must have hatched some important conspiracy for the
     benefit of Hinduism.
755. The first proof that contributes to this assertion is that Khushrukhan
     appointed his former Hindu Paria or Parwar brother to the governorship of
     Gujarat, his native province.
756. The second very important pointer: Khushrukhan appointed openly
     in Delhi itself, for his own protection, thousands of his former Hindu
     warrior compatriots—at least twenty to thirty thousand strong—in the
     Muslim army.
757. The Third Pointer: These manoeuvres of his were highly resented to
     by many of the Muslim grandees. But the innormost intention behind them
     all was kept so very secret that, it is doubtful, whether, it had by that time,
     become so crystal clear to Devaldevi or even to Khushrukhan himself, let
     alone the others! Faintly and slowly, yet surely enough, was that intention
     taking shape in their minds.
758. The Fourth Pointer: Khushrukhan incited the most incapable Sultan
     like Mubarik to lead an expedition to the South to put down in good time,
     the rebellions of the conquered Hindus in the Deccan, and he himself
     accompanied him second-in-command. The Hindus were worsted a lot.
     Their immeasurable wealth, taken as spoils of war, filled the Sultan’s
     treasury. Most probably, it was during this expedition, that after the death of
     Shankardev of Devgiri, his relative, King Harpaldev, rebelled and founded
     the kingdom of Devgiri once again, for which he was defeated and ordered
     by the Sultan to be skinned alive and then put to death! And for the defence
     of his religion, the royal Hindu warrior bore it bravely.
759. Thereafter, Mubarik returned with his army to Delhi. Because of
     these deeds of valour of his for the sake of a Muslim Sultan and the Muslim
     state, and because of his devastation of the Hindus, his rival Muslim
     grandees, too, could not breathe a single word against his unshakable faith
     in the Islamic religion. They could at the most, only whisper that there was
     danger of his overthrowing Sultan Mubarik and become the Sultan himself
     in his stead. But that, he would be a Muslim Sultan and none else, there was
     not the least doubt.
760. But if at this very time that future conspiracy of a Hinduistic
     revolution, which was very strange and unheard of before, had germinated

in the minds of Khushrukhan and Devaldevi, it must have been kept highly
secret with utmost caution.
761. Very soon, Mubarik sent Khushrukhan to the Deccan for an extensive
conquest but he himself did not go with him. So complete was his faith in
Khushrukhan! In this expedition, Khushrukhan subdued the King of
Malabar too, and exacted therefrom immeasurable plunder in the name of
Sultan Mubarik!
But
762. But in this very campaign of South India, various open or secret
Hindu conspiracies against the Muslim empire began to brew up from
various quarters of the South Indian peninsula. The royal Hindu families of
Varangal and Gujrath, the valiant Rana Hameer, the redeemer of Chitod,
and other Hindu Chiefs, the religious leaders and propagandists in the
various religious institutions and monasteries like those of the
Shankaracharya and even the common people were becoming restless and
agitated with a common antagonism to the Muslim domination. And
anonymous complaints by Khushrukhan’s enemies had reached the ears of
the Sultan of Delhi to the effect that Khushrukhan was in some mysterious
way and most secretly connected with this universal discontent!
763. So, scanty and self-contradictory bits of information are available in
the writings of the contemporary Muslim writers about this Khushrukhan,
the conqueror of Malabar, and the whole of the Muslim empire, that we
have to correlate them into some sort of consistent account, only as far as it
is possible from the later happenings! Once in the open court of the Sultan
at Delhi there was a rumour, which apprehended that instead of coming
back to Delhi amongst the ring of his adversaries, Khushrukhan was about
to escape to some neighbouring foreign island by sea with the immense
wealth he had amassed in the South. One Muslim writer has gone to the
length of saying that Khushrukhan was brought back to Delhi in fetters!
764. With an exceptional daring and ability to cut off the strings of the net
of inimical conspiracies with one stroke, Khushrukhan at once declared his
intention to go back to Delhi in the grand manner of the conqueror of the
South with all his army. For, his secret accomplice, the former Hindu
princess but now the Muslim empress, Devaldevi, must have been keeping
him posted with every detail of the daily happenings at Delhi!
765. From the few English translations of the Muslim books of the time
that are now available, even those who do not know either Persian or

Arabic can have some information. Most of the Muslim writers mention
Khushrukhan with utmost scorn and finish him within four or five lines
only. The reason is plain enough. The Muslim historians can never bear
with equanimity Khushrukhan’s taking the conceit out of the Muslim rule at
Delhi. Even these Muslim historians have found it at places improper to
distort and garble up the truth about Khushrukhan or to suppress it
altogether. Their manuscripts, especially the recently published ones, prove
very useful in this respect. Even the account by the recent Hindu historians,
who based their conclusions on the above mentioned old Muslim books, is
to that extent useless. The Hindu writers have done nothing more than
merely repeating the obloquies like ‘mean-minded’, ‘shameless’,
‘dastardly’, hurled at him by the Muslim writers. But there are two
honourable exceptions to this general tendency: one is that of the veteran
historian Riasatkar Sardesai and the other of Shree Munshi. These two
historians, however, have given a comparative account of Khushrukhan and
Devaldevi, too, and have attempted to appraise, though very faintly and
cursorily, the great revolution they had finally effected to etablish a Hindu
empire. But theirs is a half-hearted attempt, which fears its own
conclusions, and which could never fully grasp nor could explain the real
implications and nature of that unprecedented revolution. A contemporary
Hindu writer, who could elucidate the Hindu side of this great event is,
obviously enough, not to be found! For, no Hindu of the time could have
been dared to express his own independent opinions or judgement.
766. Under these circumstances, it is only possible to give in the form of a
connected narrative, the obvious conclusion that can be drawn from what
little consistency can be found in the disconnected reports in the above-
mentioned original Muslim writings, and the actual undisputed acts of the
leading personalities like Khushrukhan, Devaldevi and others.
767. As already told above, Khushrukhan went to Delhi with his
victorious army and the immense spoils he had gathered in the Deccan, But
why did he go there? Not only in Delhi but even in the Deccan a political
rumour was secretly disseminated amongst the Hindu political circles that
the Hindu leaders, who were organizing Hindu revolts in the south against
the Muslims, were in collusion with Khushrukhan about some deep-laid
conspiracy to disrupt the Muslim empire. In Gujarat, Khushrukhan’s brother
himself was the de facto ruler, while all the Rajputs were inspired by Rana
Hameer to overthrow the India-wide unitary Muslim empire, the first of its

kind, at least till that day. And most wonderful of all, was the fact that
Sultan Mubarik's supreme commander and chief administrator,
Khushrukhan himself, working as he was directly under Sultana
Devaldevi's confidential orders, was taken in confidence by the Rajput
leaders in respect of this daring plot to establish a Hindu empire! Such a
rare concurrence of opposing forces is bound to astound history itself!
Stand to reason, it never can, till at least something miraculous happens.
768. But something of the kind did begin to shape itself at the time. In the
fiery brains of Sultana Devaldevi and Khushrukhan, there really was
seething some such extraordinarily magnificent and by its very nature
almost an incredible idea or plan, which seemed possible only to some
mysterious intrigue and daring of a Nurshinh!
769. But neither their enemies nor their friends could breathe it openly!
For with what magic wand was this supreme commander of Mubarik—the
commander, who had brought all the Hindu states in the Deccan to meek
submission before the Muslim Sultan-who had very recently devastated the
wealthy Hindu kingdom of Malabar and hoisted there the green Muslim flag
of the Delhi Sultanate—and who, above all, had come to Delhi to lay down
all that success, all that glory, as an humble homage at the feet of the
Muslim emperor—how was he, the sole supporter of the India-wide foreign
and non-Hindu empire—he, who, born though he was as a Hindu, had
become converted to Islam—how was a man of such a status likely to
transform so suddenly the whole Muslim empire into a Hindu one? No
staunch Muslim could even dare express it openly. Khushrukhan and
Devaldevi had been keeping up till the last, the pretence of their being
diehard Muslims and of their greatest loyalty to the Muslim Sultan and his
empire so scrupulously and thoroughly, that even their direst enemies who
had dark suspicions of their having underground connections with the
Hindu rulers, feared that were they personally to charge Khushrukhan
before the Sultan in Delhi or in the open court, the Sultan would point out
proofs to the contrary and outwit them forthwith. Even the top-level
Muslim officials feared this eventuality. Whatever complaints had reached
the general populace of Delhi of the ears of the Sultan himself were so
baseless and completely anonymous, that nobody credited them with any
more veracity or seriousness than they would do hearsay report or false
accusations by some mischief-mongers!

770. As soon as he came to Dehli, Sultan Mubrarik did not put him under
     heavy fetters and custody, as his Muslim enemies had expected, but being
     extremely pleased with the immense treasure Khushrukhan had laid at his
     feet and the unlimited power he had gained for the Delhi Sultanate,
     Mubarik, on the contrary, conferred upon Khushrukhan the administrative,
     military, civic and all other residual authority. And if he had put anybody
     under arrest, it was the great Muslim noblemen and Khankhanas of the
     court, who were dismissed for charging Khushrukhan unreservedly.
     770A. On the other hand, in the regime of Khushrukhan as the chief
     administrator, the strictest bans against the Hindu introduced by Allauddin
     in former days were now being gradually relaxed; the exploitation of the
     Hindu-Muslim farmers, and the people in general, also was stopped; the
     Hindus, too, got much relief in matters religious; the common discontent
     amongst the subjects against the tyrannical rule of the emperors was on the
     wane. And the whole credit of this comparatively happy state of things
     began to go very naturally to Khushrukhan, who was the chief of the
     imperial administration at that time. Gradually, by Sultan, the common
     people came to understand, not the vicious and good-for-nothing Mubarik,
     but his all-in-all, valiant and popular administrator, Khushrukhan, and
     behind him loomed the Sultana, Devaldevi, with whose internal and open
     support he could wield this authority.
771. The Hindu began to look upon Khushrukhan as their saviour; even
     though he was still a Muslim, because he had set them free to a great extent
     from the vexatious taxes and restrictions imposed on them by Allauddin and
     the untold humiliation they had to undergo. Khushrukhan began to be
     popular amongst the Muslim farmers and other citizens, because of the
     relief they got from heavy taxes. And, above everything else, because of his
     military exploits, which had resounded throughout the whole of India and
     his superb adroitness in statecraft, many of the high-ranking Muslim
     noblemen had enlisted themselves on his side.
772. Seeing such a favourable opportunity, Khushrukhan and Devaldevi
     thought the right moment had come for them to proclaim boldly their grand
     scheme of a politicial revolution—for one who hesitates to undertake this
     hazard under favourable circumstances must be a coward, who would
     accomplish no daring feat! It was not merely a coup d'etat in a small state;
     it was an imperial revolution, which sought to subvert the India-wide
     unitary and danger-free Muslim empire of the late Allauddin and of the