Mamluk dynasty (Delhi)

The Mamluk Dynasty (sometimes referred as Slave Dynasty or Ghulam Dynasty) was directed into Northern India by Qutb ud-Din Aibak, a Turkic Mamluk slave general from Central Asia. The Mamluk Dynasty ruled from 1206 to 1290; it was the first of five unrelated dynasties to rule as the Delhi Sultanate till 1526.

Ghiyas ud din Balban

 * Minhaj Siraj writes that Ulugh Khan Balban’s “taking of captives, and his capture of the dependents of the great Ranas cannot be recounted”. Talking of his war in Avadh against Trailokyavarman of the Chandela dynasty (Dalaki va Malaki of Minhaj), the chronicler says that “All the infidels’ wives, sons and dependents… and children… fell into the hands of the victors.” In 1253, in his campaign against Ranthambhor also, Balban enslaved many people. In 1259, in an attack on Haryana, many women and children were enslaved. Twice Balban led expeditions against Kampil, Patiali, and Bhojpur, and in the process enslaved a large number of women and children. In Katehar he ordered a general massacre of the male population of over eight years of age and carried away women and children. In 658 H. (1260 C.E.) Ulugh Khan Balban marched with a large force on a campaign in the region of Ranthambhor, Mewat and Siwalik. He made a proclamation that a soldier who brought a live captive would be rewarded with two silver tankahs and one who brought the head of a dead one would get one silver tankah. Soon three to four hundred living and dead were brought to his presence.
 * Minhaj; Elliot and Dowson, II, 348, 367, 371, 380-81, Farishtah, I, 73. Farishtah, I. 73. As quoted from Lal, K. S. (1994). Muslim slave system in medieval India. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. Chapter 5


 * Balban, when he was Ulugh Khan Khan-i-Azam, once brought to Delhi (in about 1260) two hundred fifty 'Hindu leading men and men of position” from Mewar and Siwalik, bound and shackled and chained. During the expedition he had proclaimed that a royal soldier would be rewarded with two silver tankahs if he captured a person alive and one tankah if he brought the head of a dead one. They brought to his presence 300 to 400 living and dead everyday. The reigning Sultan Nasiruddin ordered the death of the leading men. The others accompanying them were shaken to the bones and completely tamed.
 * Lal, K. S. (1994). Muslim slave system in medieval India. New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan. Chapter 5


 * As a minister Balban was not softhearted. When he became the Sultan, he followed the policy of blood and iron, which means that his killings became even more sanguinary.  His sphere of operations was, however, confined to the Ganga-Jamuna doab and Avadh, Katehar and Mewat.  In Katehar large sections of the male population were massacred and, according to Barani, in villages and jungles heaps of human corpses were left rotting.  During his expedition to Bengal, ‘on either side of the principal bazar (of Lakhnauti) in a street two miles in length, a row of stakes was set up and the adherents of Tughril were impaled upon them.’
 * Lal, K. S. (1990). Indian muslims: Who are they.


 * It is true that Balban also made detailed enquiries about the families of all his officers. He refused to grant audience to a low-born officer (Amir-i-Bazariyan) for “granting him an interview would reduce the status of the king in the eyes of the common people and diminish the prestige of the throne”.
 * Lal, K. S. (1990). Indian muslims: Who are they.


 * Muslim power in India suffered a serious setback after Iltutmish. Balban had to battle against a revival of Hindu power. The Katehar Rajputs of what came to be known as Rohilkhand in later history, had so far refused to submit to Islamic imperialism. Balban led an expedition across the Ganges in 1254 AD. According to Badauni, “In two days after leaving Delhi, he arrived in the midst of the territory of Katihar and put to death every male, even those of eight years of age, and bound the women.” But in spite of such wanton cruelty, Muslim power continued to decline till the Khaljis revived it after 1290 AD.
 * `Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni, quoted from Goel, Sita Ram (2001). The story of Islamic imperialism in India. ISBN 9788185990231 Ch. 6

Ziaudin Barni, Tarikh i Firoz Shahi

 * Ziaudin Barni, Tarikh i Firoz Shahi in Elliot and Dowson


 * Sultan Ghiyasu-d  Balban  was  a  man  of  experience  in  matters  of  government.


 * In the  administration  of  justice  he  was  inflexible,  showing  no  favour  to  his  brethren  or  children,  to  his  associates  or  attendants.


 * Sultan Balban,  while  he  was  a  Khan,  was  addicted  to  wine  drinking.


 * In the  year  of  his  accession,  the  Sultan  felt  the  repression  of the  Miwdttis  to  be  the  first  of  his  duties,  and  for  a  whole  year  he  was  occupied  in  overthrowing  them  and  in  scouring  the  jungles,  which  he  effectually  accomplished.  Great  numbers  of  Miwdttis  were  put  to  the  sword.
 * 103-6


 * After the  Sultan  had  thus  routed  out  the  Miwdttis,  and  cleared away  the  jungle  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  city,  he  gave  the towns  and  country  within  the  Doab  to  some  distinguished  chiefs, with  directions  to  lay  waste  and  destroy  the  villages  of  the marauders,  to  slay  the  men,  to  make  prisoners  of  the  women  and children,  to  clear  away  the  jungle,  and  to  suppress  all  lawless proceedings.  The  noblemen  set  about  the  work  with  strong forces,  and  they  soon  put  down  the  daring  of  the  rebels.  They scoured  the  jungles  and  drove  out  the  rebels,  and  the  ryots  were brought  into  submission  and  obedience.
 * 103-6


 * In two  nights  and  three  days  he  crossed  the  Ganges  at Kateher,  and  sending  forward  a  force  of  five  thousand  archers,  he gave  them  orders  to  burn  down  Kateher  and  destroy  it,  to  slay every  man,  and  to  spare  none  but  women  and  children,  not  even boys  who  had  reached  the  age  of  eight  or  nine  years.  He  remained for  some  days  at  Kateher  and  directed  the  slaughter. The  blood  of  the  rioters  ran  in  streams,  heaps  of  slain  were  to  be seen  near  every  village  and  jungle,  and  the  stench  of  the  dead reached  as  far  as  the  Ganges.  This  severity  spread  dismay among  the  rebels  and  many  submitted.  The  whole  district  was ravaged,  and  so  much  plunder  was  made  that  the  royal  army was  enriched,  and  the  people  of  Badaun  even  were  satisfied. Woodcutters  were  sent  out  to  cut  roads  through  the  jungles,  and the  army  passing  along  these  brought  the  Hindus  to  submission. From  that  time  unto  the  end  of  the  glorious reign  no  rebellion made  head  in  Kateher,  and  the  countries  of  BadAun,  Amroha, Sambal,  and  Kanwari  continued  safe  from  the  violence  and  turbulence of  the  people  of  Kateher.
 * 103-6