How many of us know Khushrukhan ? – The forgotten story of a great Hero

If somebody asks a question as to “Who was Khushrukhan ?”, I am confident that 90% of the people who have studied Indian history in Indian schools and colleges wouldn’t be able to answer. Even majority of the history teachers in India might not have heard of this name. The story of Kshusru Khan is a typical example of darkening of the golden chapters of Indian history by our leftiest and pseudo secular historians.

The Hindus of Gujarath faced the onslaught of Muslim armies during the reign of Allauddin Khiljee and lost their power for the first time to foreigners in 1295 CE. A handsome and intelligent Hindu youth was captured from there and was brought in front of the sultan in Delhi. He was a Parwar (Sweeper), an untouchable cast among Hindus. He was converted to Islam and was named as Hasan. As it was prevalent among the rulers of the Muslim dynasties in Delhi, he was used as a sex slave by the members of the royal family as well as prominent members of the administration. When Allauddin Khiljee was killed in 1316, his lieutenant Maliq Kafur became the ruler. As an appreciation of his abilities and intelligence, Hasan, who was a close confidant of Maliq Kafur was conferred with the title ‘Khushrukhan’. Even before that itself Hasan had acquired the confidence of the rulers and he used lead small units of armies in battles. After the death of Maliq Kafur, Khiljee’s second son Mubarik ascended to power. Mubarik could achieve that mainly with of the help of Khushrukhan.

Mubarik was a person who loved to live his life indulged in luxuries and royal comforts. This naturally brought the control of the Delhi administration in to the hands of Khushrukhan. Mubarik considered the help of an able person like Khushrukhan as a boon granted by god.

At the same time there was another lady who happened to be brought to Delhi under similar circumstances. It was Devala Devi, who was the princess of Gujarath. When Gujarath was attacked during the regime of Allauddin, when faced with the defeat, the royal Hindu family was forced to flee. But unfortunately their queen Kamala Devi fell in the hands of Khiljee’s army. She was taken to Delhi, forcefully converted and married by Allauddin. In this struggle, the king of Gujarat could escape along with his little daughter Devala Devi. After walking through the forests and mountains for many days, finally they escaped to south and later Devala Devi married a Hindu king Shankar Dev. But her misfortune continues to haunt her. Couple of years later, the army of Maliq Kafur attacked her kingdom and she was captured and was brought to Delhi. She was forcefully converted and married to Khijrakhan, the eldest son of Allavuddin.

When Allavuddin was killed, his second son Mubarik imprisoned his elder brother Khijra Khan and companions. Later they were blinded and killed. Mubarik declared himself the sultan of Delhi and married Devala Devi, the wife of his elder brother. Thus Devala Devi was elevated to the status of the queen of Delhi sulanate.

Though Devala Devi became the queen, all these ordeals had made deep scars in her mind. Later it became evident that she could never accept the Muslim rulers who forcefully converted and married her. She was nursing her hurt feelings towards those who enslaved her. Though on outside she pretended to be a loyal queen and a follower of Islam, she kept her Hindu phyche intact and undiluted. Interestingly though Maliq Kafur himself was a born Hindu who was converted later, he behaved just like the Muslim invaders and inflicted untold miseries on Hindus across India.

While Mubarik was indulged in luxurious life without caring for the administration and day to day affairs of the large kingdom, slowly Khushrukhan was becoming the man in control of the affairs. This situation brought Khushrukhan and Devala Devi closer as both had similarities in their life experiences. Both were from Gujarath, both were born Hindus, both were enslaved and forcefully converted. Both were nursing their hurt feelings and injured self respects. Both developed confidence in each other and they started sharing their feelings. Historians believe that this proximity would have made them think about a plan to overthrow the suppressive regime which brought humiliations to them as well as countless other Hindus.

Soon, Khushrukhan who had assumed a great position in the administration started executing a well thought out plan. He appointed his own brother as the governor of Gujarath. He brought about twenty thousand Hindu troops in Delhi as his security men.

Though Muslim generals expressed their displeasure about this, he could keep the real intention of these moves a secret. That time even Khushrukhan himself was not very sure about the success of his moves. Khushrukhan with his smart tactics, did every thing to build the Sultan’s confidence in him. He encouraged Sultan Mubarik to lead a campaign towards south and he himself accompanied as the second in command. In this campaign they gathered enormous amount of wealth and brought to Delhi. This made him appear like an ardent Muslim and confidant in the eyes of the Sultan. Though few Muslim satraps were suspecting Khushrukhan and tried their level best to conspire against him, they couldn’t succeed.  

Before long, Khushrukhan was again sent to Deccan with a huge army to conquer the kingdoms in the south. He lead the campaign successfully and amassed huge wealth for the Sultan.

At this time there were wide spread discontent and trouble brewing up against the Muslim rule across India. The royal families of Warangal, Chitor, Gujarath etc were conspiring against the Muslim rule. Even Hindu Sanyasins and Acharyas like Sankaracharya were supporting the mood of the people. Finding an opportunity in this unrest, the opponents of Khushrukhan in Delhi even informed the Sultan about Khsru Khan’s plan to escape to some island along with the enormous wealth he acquired with the help of Sultan’s army. The developments in Delhi were being updated to Khushrukhan by his confidant Devala Devi who was the Sultana herself. Instead of fleeing, Khushrukhan surprised everybody by returning to Delhi and presented all the amassed wealth to the Sultan. After that the Sultan could never suspect his entrusted general.

On return to Delhi, Khushrukhan was given even more powers in the administration. He started his rule by relaxing the draconian religious laws which were discriminatory against Hindus. He reduced the taxes, which was appreciated by both the Muslim and Hindu peasants. People slowly accepted him as their ruler rather than Sultan Mubarik.

Once the atmosphere was right, Khushrukhan and Devala Devi took their last step towards achieving one of the most dramatic coups in Indian and probably even in world history. He requested the Sultan that the thousands of his people who were staying in Delhi wanted to formally embrace Islam ! But they are reluctant to do it openly in the city. He requested Sultan to grand him permission to bring few chosen ones from his people to the palace and convert them to Islam ! He was given permission. He brought few hundreds of his men to the palace and accommodated them in the barraks.

In 1319, one night there was a coup, and Mubarik was killed ! Since coups were common in those days, people didn’t feel surprised. Khushrukhan took over the kingdom as the new ruler and married Devala Devi. The next declaration made by Khushrukhan shook the entire country like a massive earth quake. It made the otherwise usual coup a very special one. It converted the simple political coup in to a Dharmic one. It thrilled the Hindus across the land. All from kings to ordinary citizens, belonging to all casts.
It was like this….

“Though I have been leading the cursed life of a converted musalman all these years, I am the son of a Hindu. Now occupying the seat of Sultan, and having acquired all the powers I want to declare that I have removed all the stains of my conversion. I declare myself as the Hindu emperor of the entire Hindustan. Devala Devi, who was a Hindu by birth was forcefully taken away after her husband was killed in the battle. She also comes back to Hinduism and being my wife she will be the queen of the entire Hindustan.”

Khushrukhan, later on accepted the title “Nasir-ud-din” which means the protector of Dharma (Dharma Rakshak). Thus after converting the Muslim kingdom in to a Hindu state just by making a declaration, Khushrukhan distributed the enormous wealth he has amassed, among his people. He declared many economic relief programs for all his subjects irrespective of their religion and caste. He increased the salary of the soldiers. Released thousands of prisoners from jails who were imprisoned as part of religious atrocities. Withdrew Jazia, the discriminatory religious tax imposed on Hindus and also lifted the ban imposed on pilgrimages. A Hindu elevating to the supreme power had it’s psychological impacts as well. Contrary to the initial period of Muslim rule, now Muslim soldiers and other workers were conditioned to work under Hindu leaders. He brought back thousands of converted Muslims of Delhi to Hindu Dharma. Renovated many of the Hindu temples which were destroyed and converted to mosques.

But even Nasir-ud-din didn’t go beyond that. He didn’t try to bring back all the Hindus who were converted to Islam across India. One possible reason for this could be that, he was not sure of the stability of his kingdom. And unfortunately Hindu society as a whole failed to support him at this critical juncture. Even they were not sure of the lifespan of this kingdom.

With his superior diplomacy and admistrative abilities, Dharma Rakshak Nasir-ud-din managed to run the country for many months without facing any rebellion. Even Muslim satraps like Aynul Mulk Multhani, Yousaf Sahi, Hatimkhan Kamaludin sufi, Faruq Udin Thuglak, Mulgathi, Muhammad Shaw, Baharam were attending his durbars as usual. On the other side Hindu kings across India utilized this rare opportunity and started ruling as though they are independent. But the biggest strategical error from their part was that, they didn’t convert this opportunity to come together and establish a unified Hindu administration at Delhi.

Nasir-ud-din was aware of ground realities, and he knew that his authority is fully dependent on his military prowess. So he had kept thousands of Hindu soldiers and also Muslim soldiers who have declared their loyalty at strategic locations in his kingdom. This Hindu rule which could not be expected to last even a day, continued for almost a year. In the middle of centuries of Muslim rule, Hindus thus regained their confidence and self respect for short period. But the biggest surprise is that, there is no serious mention of such a development in any history books written by Hindu historians. Whatever limited information available today comes from Muslim records.

Almost a year later, some conspiracies started among Muslim satraps to throw away the rule of a Hindu which forced Muslims to bow in front of a kafir and made them obey his orders. Gyasuddin Thuglak who was the ruler of Punjab, which was under the Delhi ruler, started riding this wave of unrest. His son was a high official under Delhi emperor. From his son, Gyasuddin came to know the real under currents in Delhi. He understood that, Allauddin didn’t have any heirs to take over his kingdom and that is the opportunity which elevated a Hindu Parawar to the throne. He instigated the religious fanatic feelings of Muslims against the Hindu kafir who grabbed power from the hands of Muslim rulers. In the following military campaign, on the first day, Nasir-ud-din was in an advantageous position. But on the second day, Gyasuddin got a secret message that, couple of Muslim generals from Nasir-ud-din’s side were planning to switch to his side. That encouraged Gyasuddin which prompted him to attack with renewed vigor. This time Nasir-ud-din could not withstand. Though he withdrew to Delhi, unfortunately he was caught by the enemy. Later Nasir-ud-din was killed by Gyasuddin. After Prithvi Raj Chuhan, Nasir-ud-din was the Hindu Samrat who tried to ascend the thron of Delhi. It is our duty as the children of India to offer our homage and respect towards this Hindu Samrat who sacrificed his life for upholding the Hindu self respect. As a Muslim he could have ruled Delhi Sultanate unopposed just like the kings of other Muslim dynasties. But because of his great self respect he choose to declare himself as a Hindu Samrat.

Nasir-ud-din’s rise and successful toppling of Muslim rule in Delhi had a ripple effect. After a long time, it demolished the myth about the invincibility of the Muslim rule in India. It gave supreme confidence to Hindu masses and Hindu kingdoms. Within 15 years of his death, there were rebellions in many parts of India and eventually the Muslim rule in Delhi was weakened. His effort was the first one of it’s kind from Hindus to re-convert on large scale those who were forcefully converted to Islam. It was a great blow to Muslim psyche at a time when they were unopposed on religious front.  

This story of the brave and brilliant defenders of our Dharma like Nasir-ud-din and Devala Devi explains why Muslims could not succeed in subjugating the Hindu nation completely. Though there were continuous waves of attacks and destruction against Hindus from Muslim barbarians, it was never without any resistance. Hindus always had many heroes fighting for us and protecting our Dharma. More and more Nasir-ud-din’s have to come out from the clutches of the imposed foreign cult and help bringing out our brethren whose ancestors were enslaved at the tip of the swords.

Courtesy : Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History by V D Savarkar