Suppression of Gurshasp’s Rebellion by Muhammad Bin Tughlaq

In A.D. 1327 a danger in the form of a challenge to the authority of Muhammad bin Tughlaq, the second Tughlaq ruler, came from Bahauddin Gurshasp who was Ghiyas-ud-din’s (Muhammad Bin Tughlaq’s father) sister's son. Gurshasp, who was the governor of Sagar, situated about thirteen km north of Shorapur in Karnataka, raised the banner of revolt against the Sultan.

After a prolonged battle Gurshasp was captured by the Delhi Sultanate army under Prime Minister Ahmad Ayaz who sent him to Delhi where he was meted out the severest punishment. Gurshasp was flayed alive and his meat was cooked and served as the meal of the elephants. His skin was paraded round the city with the intention of warning to persons of rebellious disposition, "Thus shall all traitors to their king perish."

He was flayed alive there, his dead body was paraded round the city, and his execution was proclaimed by way of warning to persons of rebellious disposition "Thus shall all traitors to their king perish."

Quotes about Muhammad bin Tughlaq of Delhi Sultanate

With the best intentions, excellent ideas, but no balance or patience, no sense of proportion, Muhammad Tughlaq (sic) was a transcendent failure - ­ Stanley Lane-Poole.  

Muhammad Tughlaq was "a Prince of Moneyers" - Edward Thomas.

On Muhammad Tughlaq’s death Badauni, wrote, “Muhammad bin Tughlak was freed from his people and they from their king."

According to Stanley Lane-Poole, the transfer of capital by Muhammad bin Tughlaq from Delhi to “Daulatabad was a monument of misdirected energy."

Jalaluddin Khilji: Founder of Khilji Dynasty

Jalaluddin Firuz Khilji was the founder of the Khilji dynasty that supplanted the Slave dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. Amidst the intense rivalry between Turkish and Afghan nobles, Jalaluddin, who represented the Afghan nobility, seized the Delhi throne by murdering Kaiqubad, the last Sultan of Slave dynasty and his infant son Kayumars. Aitamar Kachhan and Aitamar Surkha, the leaders of the Turkish Nobility were also put to death. Thus came into being the Khilji dynasty which ushered in a new era of cruel imperialism in India in 1290.

Jalal-ud-din Firuz Khilji was seventy when he ascended the throne. Citizens of Delhi did not like the change in the line of rulers. This compelled him to make Kilokhri the seat of his government. With the passage of time he succeeded in minimizing the discontent of his nobles by disbursement of land and his generosity which was sometimes construed as being below the dignity of a sovereign.

His was a case of split personality. Jalal-ud-din Firuz Khilji was averse to the idea of military expeditions as it will cost the lives of his co-religionists. When, in 1991 Malik Chhajju, a nephew of Balban and governor of Kara, assisted by several nobles, unfurled the banner of revolt against him, he was imprudent enough to show mercy on him by pardoning the rebels. On the other hand, Siddi-Maula, a darvesh, was trampled by an elephant on his order.

As was only to be expected he could not subdue the Ranthambhor fort. He however, was successful in inflicting a crushing defeat on the Mongols, who under a grandson of Halaku (Hulagu) invaded the territory of Delhi Sultanate in 1292.

Jalaluddin Khilji was paid back in his own coin when he was murdered in 1296 by his ambitious nephew and son-in-law Alauddin Khilji when he went to Kara to facilitate him for his victory in the South India which brought him large amount of booty. As mentioned at the outset, Jalaluddin captured the throne of Delhi Sultanate by murdering the last Slave ruler Kaiqubad, grandson of Balban, and his infant son Kayumars. 

Chattrapati Shahu Maharaj: Champion of the Backward Classes

It is interesting to know that one of the most revolutionary reforms for the uplift of the backward classes was initiated by a ruler of a princely state in the British India. Chattrapati Shahu Maharaj, the ruler of Kolhapur, was the earliest Indian ruling prince to have launched the social and religious reforms for the lower classes. He championed the cause of the non-Brahmins.

Also known as Rajarshi Shahu, Chattrapati Shahu was born in 1874. A follower of Arya Samaj, he tried his honest best to free the society from the shackles of the caste system and had the courage to ban untouchability in his state. He opened the gates of education and public offices to all irrespective of caste discriminations. He advocated widow remarriage and discouraged child marriage.  

A follower of Arya Samaj, Chattrapati Shahu is mainly remembered for his work in the field of education. He voiced his support for western liberal education. With a view to providing free education and residence to the children of the poor he started a number of hostels.  

Chattrapati Shahu died in 1922.

Dr. Bhogaraju Pattabhi Sitaramayya: Official Historian of the Congress

Born in Andhra Pradesh in 1880 in a poor family, Dr. Pattabhi Sitaramayya was a nationalist and important leader of freedom struggle.  He is famous for his defeat by Subhash Chandra Bose in 1939 he lost the Congress presidential election which was termed by Mahatma Gandhi as his own defeat. Subhash Chandra Bose was later expelled from the Congress Party.

A doctor by profession, he chose politics as his profession and was a member of All India Congress Committee and Congress Working Committee. In August, 1942, he was arrested during Quit India Movement and kept in prison for three years.  

In 1935 he wrote History of the Indian National Congress which was the official history of the party.

Sitaramayya was elected President of the  Indian National Congress in 1948. He served as the Governor of Madhya Pradesh in Independent India. He passed away in 1959.

Amritlal Vithaldas Thakkar (Thakkar Bapa ): Friend of Tribal People

Born in Gujarat in 1869, Amritlal Vithaldas Thakkar (A V Thakkar), affectionately known as Thakkar Bapa, was a leading Gandhian social reformer whose work in the field of uplift of   tribal people is immense. He was a devout member of the Servants of India Society which was founded in 1905 by Gopal Krishna Gokhale.
 

Though he never joined Congress, he was made a general Secretary of the Harijan Sevak Sangh, founded by Mahatma Gandhi. During 1934-35, he undertook a harijan tour accompanied by Gandhi. He was the founder of Bhil Seva Mandal and Gond Seva Sangh. Gond Seva Sangh was started in the Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh. It is now known as Vanavasi Seva Mandal.

Amritlal Vithaldas Thakkar had written the book ‘Tribes of India’ that was published in 1950.

Thakkar Bapa died in 1951.

Amir Khusrau: Sufi Mystic and Poet

Yaminuddin Abul Hasan Ameer Khusro or Amir Khusrau, as he is popularly known in the Indian sub-continent, is a great name in literature and music. Born in 1252 in a Turkish family at Patiyali in the Kasganj district of Uttar Pradesh, Amir Khusrau was a man of culture who was witness to the reigns of six Sultans of Delhi Sultanate spanning different dynasties: Slave, Khilji and Tughlaq.  

Amir Khusrau mixed spiritual and mundane with ease. One the one hand, he has a liking for mysticism and became a disciple of the famous Sufi Chisti saint Nizamuddin Auliya, on the other, he used to accompany the Sultanate army in their military expeditions. He was captured by the Mongols during the fight which claimed the life of Prince Muhammad, son of Slave Sultan Balban, in 1286. However, he managed to escape.  

An academic genius, Amir Khusrau was a prolific writer. 

Composed in 1289, Qiran-us-sadin is the first historical masnavi of Amir Khusrau. Written in verse, it describes the meeting between Kaiqubad, the Sultan of Delhi, and his father Bughra Khan, the governor of Bengal and son of Balban. 

His Khazain ul Futuh, also known as Tarikh-i-Alai, deals with the first fifteen years of the reign of 'Ala-ud-din Khalji.

Nuh Siphr (the nine skies), another historical  masnavi described the reign of Mubarak Khilji.

In 1291 Amir Khusrau wrote Miftah-ul-Futh where he deals with the military campaigns of Jalaluddin khilji, the founder of the Khilji dynasty. It contains the account of the suppression of the rebellion by Malik Chajju.