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Alauddin Khalji
Alaud-Dīn Khaljī (r. 1296–1316), also called Alauddin Khilji, born Ali Gurshasp, was an emperor of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrative changes, related to revenues, price controls, and society. He also successfully fended off several Mongol invasions of India.
علاءالدین خِلجی
Sikander-e-Sani (Alexander the Second)
A 17th century portrait of Alauddin Khalji
13th Sultan of Delhi
19 July 1296–4 January 1316
Jalaluddin Firuz Khalji
Shihabuddin Omar
Governor of Awadh
c. 1296–19 July 1296
Governor of Kara
Malik Chajju
ʿAlāʾ ul-Mulk
Amir-i-Tuzuk
(equivalent to Master of ceremonies)
Ali Gurshasp
Qalati Khalji (present-day Zabul, Afghanistan)[1]
4 January 1316(1316-01-04) (aged 49–50)
Delhi (present-day India)
Madrasa and tomb of Alauddin Khalji, Delhi[2]
Malika-i-Jahan (daughter of Jalaluddin)
Mahru (sister of Alp Khan)
Kamaladevi (ex-wife of Karna)
Jhatyapali (daughter of Ramachandra)
Khizr Khan
Shadi Khan
Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah
Shihab-ud-din Omar
Regnal name
Alauddunya wad Din Muhammad Shah-us Sultan
Khalji dynasty
Shihabuddin Mas'ud (brother of Jalaluddin Khalji)
Alauddin was a nephew and a son-in-law of his predecessor Jalaluddin. When Jalaluddin became the Sultan of Delhi after deposing the Mamluks, Alauddin was given the position of Amir-i-Tuzuk (equivalent to master of ceremonies). After suppressing a revolt against Jalaluddin, Alauddin obtained the governorship of Kara in 1291, and the governorship of Awadh in 1296, after a profitable raid on Bhilsa. In 1296, Alauddin raided Devagiri, and acquired loot to stage a successful revolt against Jalaluddin. After killing Jalaluddin, he consolidated his power in Delhi, and subjugated Jalaluddin's sons in Multan.
Over the next few years, Alauddin successfully fended off the Mongol invasions from the Chagatai Khanate, at Jaran-Manjur (1297–1298), Sivistan (1298), Kili (1299), Delhi (1303), and Amroha (1305). In 1306, his forces achieved a decisive victory against the Mongols near the Ravi riverbank, and later ransacked the Mongol territories in present-day Afghanistan. The military commanders that successfully led his army against the Mongols include Zafar Khan, Ulugh Khan, and his slave-general Malik Kafur.
Alauddin conquered the kingdoms of Gujarat (raided in 1299 and annexed in 1304), Jaisalmer (1299), Ranthambore (1301), Chittor (1303), Malwa (1305), Siwana (1308), and Jalore (1311). These victories ended several Rajput and other Hindu dynasties, including the Paramaras, the Vaghelas, the Chahamanas of Ranastambhapura and Jalore, the Rawal branch of the Guhilas, and possibly the Yajvapalas. His slave-general Malik Kafur led multiple campaigns to the south of the Vindhyas, obtaining a considerable amount of wealth from Devagiri (1308), Warangal (1310) and Dwarasamudra (1311). These victories forced the Yadava king Ramachandra, the Kakatiya king Prataparudra, and the Hoysala king Ballala III to become Alauddin's tributaries. Kafur also raided the Pandya kingdom (1311), obtaining much treasure, elephants, and horses.
During the last years of his life, Alauddin had an illness and relied on Malik Kafur to handle the administration. After his death in 1316, Malik Kafur appointed Shihabuddin, son of Alauddin and his Hindu wife Jhatyapali, as a puppet monarch. His elder son Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah seized the power shortly after his death.
1 Early life
1.1 Marriage to Jalaluddin's daughter
1.2 Governor of Kara
2 Conspiracy against Jalaluddin
3 Ascension and march to Delhi
4 Consolidation of power
5 Military campaigns
5.1 Mongol invasions and northern conquests, 1297–1306
5.1.1 Conquest of northern India
5.2 Marwar and southern campaigns, 1307–1313
6 Administrative changes
6.1 Revenue reforms
6.2 Market reforms
6.3 Military reforms
6.4 Social reforms
7 Last days
10 Religious policy
10.1 Views on religion
10.2 Relationship with Hindus
10.3 Relationships with Jains
12 In popular culture
Early lifeEdit
Contemporary chroniclers did not write much about Alauddin's childhood. According to the 16th/17th-century chronicler Haji-ud-Dabir, Alauddin was 34 years old when he started his march to Ranthambore (1300–1301). Assuming this is correct, Alauddin's birth can be dated to 1266–1267.[3] His original name was Ali Gurshasp. He was the eldest son of Shihabuddin Mas'ud, who was the elder brother of the Khalji dynasty's founder Sultan Jalaluddin. He had three brothers: Almas Beg (later Ulugh Khan), Qutlugh Tigin, and Muhammad.[4]
Alauddin was brought up by Jalaluddin after Shihabuddin's death.[5] Both Alauddin and his younger brother Almas Beg married Jalaluddin's daughters. After Jalaluddin became the Sultan of Delhi, Alauddin was appointed as Amir-i-Tuzuk (equivalent to Master of ceremonies), while Almas Beg was given the post of Akhur-beg (equivalent to Master of the Horse).[6]
Marriage to Jalaluddin's daughterEdit
Gold coinage of 'Ala al-Din Muhammad (AH 695-715 / AD 1296–1316). Dar al-Islam mint. Dated AH 709 (AD 1309–10).
Alauddin married Jalaluddin's daughter, Malika-i-Jahan, long before the Khalji revolution of 1290. The marriage, however, was not a happy one. Having suddenly become a princess after Jalaluddin's rise as a monarch, she was very arrogant and tried to dominate Alauddin. According to Haji-ud-Dabir, Alauddin married a second woman, named Mahru, who was the sister of Malik Sanjar alias Alp Khan.[7] Malika-i-Jahan was greatly infuriated by the fact that her husband had taken a second wife. According to Dabir, this was the main cause of the misunderstanding between Alauddin and his first wife.[7] Once, while Alauddin and Mahru were together in a garden, Jalaluddin's daughter attacked Mahru out of jealousy. In response, Alauddin assaulted her. The incident was reported to Jalaluddin, but the Sultan did not take any action against Alauddin.[6] Alauddin was not on good terms with his mother-in-law either, who wielded great influence over the Sultan. According to the 16th-century historian Firishta, she warned Jalaluddin that Alauddin was planning to set up an independent kingdom in a remote part of the country. She closely monitored Alauddin and encouraged her daughter's arrogant behavior toward him.[8]
Governor of KaraEdit
In 1291, Alauddin played an important role in crushing a revolt by the governor of Kara Malik Chajju. As a result, Jalaluddin appointed him as the new governor of Kara in 1291.[6] Malik Chajju's former Amirs (subordinate nobles) at Kara considered Jalaluddin as a weak and ineffective ruler and instigated Alauddin to usurp the throne of Delhi.[7] This, combined with his unhappy domestic life, made Alauddin determined to dethrone Jalaluddin.[5]
Conspiracy against JalaluddinEdit
The army of Alaudeen on March to Deccan, a 20th-century artist's impression
While instigating Alauddin to revolt against Jalaluddin, Malik Chajju's supporters emphasized that he needed a lot of money to raise a large army and stage a successful coup: Malik Chajju's revolt had failed for want of resources.[7] To finance his plan to dethrone Jalaluddin, Alauddin decided to raid the neighboring Hindu kingdoms. In 1293, he raided Bhilsa, a wealthy town in the Paramara kingdom of Malwa, which had been weakened by multiple invasions.[5] At Bhilsa, he learned of the immense wealth of the southern Yadava kingdom in the Deccan region, as well as about the routes leading to their capital Devagiri. Therefore, he shrewdly surrendered the loot from Bhilsa to Jalaluddin to win Sultan's confidence, while withholding the information on the Yadava kingdom.[9] A pleased Jalaluddin gave him the office of Ariz-i Mamalik (Minister of War), and also made him the governor of Awadh.[10] In addition, the Sultan granted Alauddin's request to use the revenue surplus for hiring additional troops.[11]
After years of planning and preparation, Alauddin successfully raided Devagiri in 1296. He left Devagiri with a huge amount of wealth, including precious metals, jewels, silk products, elephants, horses, and slaves.[12] When the news of Alauddin's success reached Jalaluddin, the Sultan came to Gwalior, hoping that Alauddin would present the loot to him there. However, Alauddin marched directly to Kara with all the wealth. Jalaluddin's advisors such as Ahmad Chap recommended intercepting Alauddin at Chanderi, but Jalaluddin had faith in his nephew. He returned to Delhi, believing that Alauddin would carry the wealth from Kara to Delhi. After reaching Kara, Alauddin sent a letter of apology to the Sultan and expressed concern that his enemies may have poisoned Sultan's mind against him during his absence. He requested a letter of pardon signed by the Sultan, which the Sultan immediately despatched through messengers. At Kara, Jalaluddin's messengers learned of Alauddin's military strength and of his plans to dethrone the Sultan. However, Alauddin detained them and prevented them from communicating with the Sultan.[13]
Meanwhile, Alauddin's younger brother Almas Beg (later Ulugh Khan), who was married to a daughter of Jalaluddin, assured the Sultan of Alauddin's loyalty. He convinced Jalaluddin to visit Kara and meet Alauddin, saying that Alauddin would commit suicide out of guilt if the Sultan didn't pardon him personally. A gullible Jalaluddin set out for Kara with his army. After reaching close to Kara, he directed Ahmad Chap to take his main army to Kara by land route, while he himself decided to cross the Ganges river with a smaller body of around 1,000 soldiers. On 20 July 1296, Alauddin had Jalaluddin killed after pretending to greet the Sultan and declaring himself the new king. Jalaluddin's companions were also killed, while Ahmad Chap's army retreated to Delhi.[14]
Ascension and march to DelhiEdit
Extent of the Delhi Sultanate at the time of Jalaluddin Khalji's ascension (1290)
Alauddin, known as Ali Gurshasp until his ascension in July 1296, was formally proclaimed as the new king with the title Alauddunya wad Din Muhammad Shah-us Sultan at Kara. Meanwhile, the head of Jalaluddin was paraded on a spear in his camp before being sent to Awadh.[4] Over the next two days, Alauddin formed a provisional government at Kara. He promoted the existing Amirs to the rank of Maliks, and appointed his close friends as the new Amirs.[15]
At that time, there were heavy rains, and the Ganga and the Yamuna rivers were flooded. But Alauddin made preparations for a march to Delhi, and ordered his officers to recruit as many soldiers as possible, without fitness tests or background checks.[15] His objective was to cause a change in the general political opinion, by portraying himself as someone with huge public support.[16] To portray himself as a generous king, he ordered 5 manns of gold pieces to be shot from a manjaniq (catapult) at a crowd in Kara.[15]
One section of his army, led by himself and Nusrat Khan, marched to Delhi via Badaun and Baran (modern Bulandshahr). The other section, led by Zafar Khan, marched to Delhi via Koil (modern Aligarh).[15] As Alauddin marched to Delhi, the news spread in towns and villages that he was recruiting soldiers while distributing gold. Many people, from both military and non-military backgrounds, joined him. By the time he reached Badaun, he had a 56,000-strong cavalry and a 60,000-strong infantry.[15] At Baran, Alauddin was joined by seven powerful Jalaluddin nobles who had earlier opposed him. These nobles were Tajul Mulk Kuchi, Malik Abaji Akhur-bek, Malik Amir Ali Diwana, Malik Usman Amir-akhur, Malik Amir Khan, Malik Umar Surkha, and Malik Hiranmar. Alauddin gave each of them 30 to 50 manns of gold, and each of their soldiers 300 silver tankas (hammered coins).[16]
Alauddin's march to Delhi was interrupted by the flooding of the Yamuna river. Meanwhile, in Delhi, Jalaluddin's widow Malka-i-Jahan appointed her youngest son Qadr Khan as the new king with the title Ruknuddin Ibrahim, without consulting the nobles. This irked Arkali Khan, her elder son and the governor of Multan. When Malika-i-Jahan heard that Jalaluddin's nobles had joined Alauddin, she apologized to Arkali and offered him the throne, requesting him to march from Multan to Delhi. However, Arkali refused to come to her aid.[16]
Alauddin resumed his march to Delhi in the second week of October 1296, when the Yamuna river subsided. When he reached Siri, Ruknuddin led an army against him. However, a section of Ruknuddin's army defected to Alauddin at midnight.[16] A dejected Ruknuddin then retreated and escaped to Multan with his mother and the loyal nobles. Alauddin then entered the city, where a number of nobles and officials accepted his authority. On 21 October 1296, Alauddin was formally proclaimed as the Sultan in Delhi.[17]
Consolidation of powerEdit
Initially, Alauddin consolidated power by making generous grants and endowments and appointing many people to government positions.[18] He balanced the power between the officers appointed by the Mamluks, the ones appointed by Jalaluddin and his own appointees.[17] He also increased the strength of the Sultanate's army, and gifted every soldier the salary of a year and a half in cash. Of Alauddin's first year as the Sultan, chronicler Ziauddin Barani wrote that it was the happiest year that the people of Delhi had ever seen.[18]
At this time, Alauddin could not exercise his authority over all of Jalaluddin's former territories. In the Punjab region, his authority was limited to the areas east of the Ravi river. The region beyond Lahore suffered from Mongol raids and Khokhar rebellions. Multan was controlled by Jalaluddin's son Arkali, who harbored the fugitives from Delhi.[18] In November 1296, Alauddin sent an army led by Ulugh Khan and Zafar Khan to conquer Multan. On his orders, Nusrat Khan arrested, blinded, and/or killed the surviving members of Jalaluddin's family.[19][20]
Shortly after the conquest of Multan, Alauddin appointed Nusrat Khan as his wazir (prime minister).[21] Having strengthened his control over Delhi, the Sultan started eliminating the officers that were not his own appointees.[22] In 1297,[23] the aristocrats (maliks), who had deserted Jalaluddin's family to join Alauddin, were arrested, blinded or killed. All their property, including the money earlier given to them by Alauddin, was confiscated. As a result of these confiscations, Nusrat Khan obtained a huge amount of cash for the royal treasury. Only three maliks from Jalaluddin's time were spared: Malik Qutbuddin Alavi, Malik Nasiruddin Rana, and Malik Amir Jamal Khalji.[24] The rest of the older aristocrats were replaced with the new nobles, who were extremely loyal to Alauddin.[25]
Meanwhile, Ala-ul Mulk, who was Alauddin's governor at Kara, came to Delhi with all the officers, elephants, and wealth that Alauddin had left at Kara. Alauddin appointed Ala-ul Mulk as the kotwal of Delhi and placed all the non-Turkic municipal employees under his charge.[22] Since Ala-ul Mulk had become very obese, the governorship of Kara was entrusted to Nusrat Khan, who had become unpopular in Delhi because of the confiscations.[25]
Military campaignsEdit
Mongol invasions and northern conquests, 1297–1306Edit
In the winter of 1297, the Mongols led by a noyan of the Chagatai Khanate raided Punjab, advancing as far as Kasur. Alauddin's forces, led by Ulugh Khan, defeated the Mongols on 6 February 1298. According to Amir Khusrow, 20,000 Mongols were killed in the battle, and many more were killed in Delhi after being brought there as prisoners.[26] In 1298–99, another Mongol army (possibly Neguderi fugitives) invaded Sindh, and occupied the fort of Sivistan. This time, Alauddin's general Zafar Khan defeated the invaders and recaptured the fort.[27][28]
In early 1299, Alauddin sent Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan to invade Gujarat, where the Vaghela king Karna offered a weak resistance. Alauddin's army plundered several towns including Somnath, where it desecrated the famous Hindu temple. The Delhi army also captured several people, including the Vaghela queen Kamala Devi and slave Malik Kafur, who later led Alauddin's southern campaigns.[29][30] During the army's return journey to Delhi, some of its Mongol soldiers staged an unsuccessful mutiny near Jalore, after the generals forcibly tried to extract a share of loot (khums) from them. Alauddin's administration meted out brutal punishments to the mutineers' families in Delhi, including killings of children in front of their mothers.[31] According to Ziauddin Barani, the practice of punishing wives and children for the crimes of men started with this incident in Delhi.[32]
In 1299, the Chagatai ruler Duwa sent a Mongol force led by Qutlugh Khwaja to conquer Delhi.[33] In the ensuing Battle of Kili, Alauddin personally led the Delhi forces, but his general Zafar Khan attacked the Mongols without waiting for his orders. Although Zafar Khan managed to inflict heavy casualties on the invaders, he and other soldiers in his unit were killed in the battle.[34] Qutlugh Khwaja was also seriously wounded, forcing the Mongols to retreat.[35]
Conquest of northern IndiaEdit
Jaisalmer Fort was captured by Alauddin Khalji in 1299 CE.
Around the same time, Alauddin turned his attention towards the present-day state of Rajasthan to subdue the Rajput kingdoms for a secure base to Gujarat and Malwa and for further expeditions in the South. In 1299 CE, Alauddin besieged the fortress of Jaisalmer ruled by Bhatis at the time under Jait Singh I. Following a long siege and due to the dearth of food and resources, eventually, the besieged Rajputs under the command of Mularaja performed Saka where the women committed Jauhar and the men fought until death. Thus, Alauddin successfully penetrated into territories of the Bhattis. After the conquest of Jaisalmer, it remained under the Khalji's for few more years.[36]
In 1301, Alauddin ordered Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan to invade Ranthambore, whose king Hammiradeva had granted asylum to the leaders of the mutiny near Jalore. After Nusrat Khan was killed during the siege, Alauddin personally took charge of the siege operations, and conquered the fort in July 1301.[37] During the Ranthambore campaign, Alauddin faced three unsuccessful rebellions.[38] To suppress any future rebellions, he set up an intelligence and surveillance system, instituted a total prohibition in Delhi, established laws to prevent his nobles from networking with each other, and confiscated wealth from the general public.[39]
Alauddin Khalji conquered the Chittor Fort in Rajasthan, in the Siege of Chittorgarh (1303).
In the winter of 1302–1303, Alauddin dispatched an army to ransack the Kakatiya capital Warangal. Meanwhile, he himself led another army to conquer Chittor, the capital of the Guhila kingdom ruled by Ratnasimha.[40] Alauddin captured Chittor after an eight-month long siege.[41] According to his courtier Amir Khusrau, he ordered a massacre of 30,000 local Hindus after this conquest.[42] Some later legends state that Alauddin invaded Chittor to capture Ratnasimha's beautiful queen Padmini, but most modern historians have rejected the authenticity of these legends.[43]
While the imperial armies were busy in Chittor and Warangal campaigns, the Mongols launched another invasion of Delhi around August 1303.[44] Alauddin managed to reach Delhi before the invaders, but did not have enough time to prepare for a strong defence.[45][46] Meanwhile, the Warangal campaign was unsuccessful (because of heavy rains according to Ziauddin Barani), and the army had lost several men and its baggage. Neither this army, nor the reinforcements sent by Alauddin's provincial governors could enter the city because of the blockades set up by the Mongols.[47][48] Under these difficult circumstances, Alauddin took shelter in a heavily guarded camp at the under-construction Siri Fort. The Mongols engaged his forces in some minor conflicts, but neither army achieved a decisive victory. The invaders ransacked Delhi and its neighbourhoods, but ultimately decided to retreat after being unable to breach Siri.[49] The Mongol invasion of 1303 was one of the most serious invasions of India, and prompted Alauddin to take several steps to prevent its repeat. He strengthened the forts and the military presence along the Mongol routes to India.[50] He also implemented a series of economic reforms to ensure sufficient revenue inflows for maintaining a strong army.[51]
Sultan Alau'd Din put to Flight; Women of Ranthambhor commit Jauhar, a Rajput painting from 1825
In 1304, Alauddin appears to have ordered a second invasion of Gujarat, which resulted in the annexation of the Vaghela kingdom to the Delhi Sultanate.[52] In 1305, he launched an invasion of Malwa in central India, which resulted in the defeat and death of the Paramara king Mahalakadeva.[53][54] The Yajvapala dynasty, which ruled the region to the north-east of Malwa, also appears to have fallen to Alauddin's invasion.[55]
In December 1305, the Mongols invaded India again. Instead of attacking the heavily guarded city of Delhi, the invaders proceeded south-east to the Gangetic plains along the Himalayan foothills. Alauddin's 30,000-strong cavalry, led by Malik Nayak, defeated the Mongols at the Battle of Amroha.[56][57] Many Mongols were taken captive and killed; the 16th-century historian Firishta claims that the heads (sir) of 8,000 Mongols were used to build the Siri Fort commissioned by Alauddin.[58]
In 1306, another Mongol army sent by Duwa advanced up to the Ravi River, ransacking the territories along the way. Alauddin's forces, led by Malik Kafur, decisively defeated the Mongols.[59] Duwa died next year, and after that the Mongols did not launch any further expeditions to India during Alauddin's reign. On the contrary, Alauddin's Dipalpur governor Malik Tughluq regularly raided the Mongol territories located in present-day Afghanistan.[60][61]
Marwar and southern campaigns, 1307–1313Edit
Khalji territory at its maximum extent (dark green) and territory of the Khalji tributaries (light green)
Around 1308, Alauddin sent Malik Kafur to invade Devagiri, whose king Ramachandra had discontinued the tribute payments promised in 1296, and had granted asylum to the Vaghela king Karna at Baglana.[62] Kafur was supported by Alauddin's Gujarat governor Alp Khan, whose forces invaded Baglana, and captured Karna's daughter Devaladevi (later married to Alauddin's son Khizr Khan).[63] At Devagiri, Kafur achieved an easy victory, and Ramachandra agreed to become a lifelong vassal of Alauddin.[64]
Meanwhile, a section of Alauddin's army had been besieging the fort of Siwana in Marwar region unsuccessfully for several years.[65] In August–September 1308, Alauddin personally took charge of the siege operations in Siwana.[54] The Delhi army conquered the fort in the Siege of Siwana, and the defending ruler Sitaladeva was killed in November 1308.[66]
The plunder obtained from Devagiri prompted Alauddin to plan an invasion of the other southern kingdoms, which had accumulated a huge amount of wealth, having been shielded from the foreign armies that had ransacked northern India.[67] In late 1309, he sent Malik Kafur to ransack the Kakatiya capital Warangal. Helped by Ramachandra of Devagiri, Kafur entered the Kakatiya territory in January 1310, ransacking towns and villages on his way to Warangal.[68] After a month-long siege of Warangal, the Kakatiya king Prataparudra agreed to become a tributary of Alauddin, and surrendered a large amount of wealth (possibly including the Koh-i-Noor diamond) to the invaders.[69]
Meanwhile, after conquering Siwana, Alauddin had ordered his generals to subjugate other parts of Marwar, before returning to Delhi. The raids of his generals in Marwar led to their confrontations with Kanhadadeva, the Chahamana ruler of Jalore.[70] In 1311, Alauddin's general Malik Kamaluddin Gurg captured the Jalore fort after defeating and killing Kanhadadeva.[71]
Alauddin Khalji conquered Daulatabad Fort in 1308.
During the siege of Warangal, Malik Kafur had learned about the wealth of the Hoysala and Pandya kingdoms located further south. After returning to Delhi, he took Alauddin's permission to lead an expedition there.[72] Kafur started his march from Delhi in November 1310,[73] and crossed Deccan in early 1311, supported by Alauddin's tributaries Ramachandra and Prataparudra.[74]
At this time, the Pandya kingdom was reeling under a war of succession between the two brothers Vira and Sundara, and taking advantage of this, the Hoysala king Ballala had invaded the Pandyan territory. When Ballala learned about Kafur's march, he hurried back to his capital Dwarasamudra.[75] However, he could not put up a strong resistance, and negotiated a truce after a short siege, agreeing to surrender his wealth and become a tributary of Alauddin.[76][77]
From Dwarasamudra, Malik Kafur marched to the Pandya kingdom, where he raided several towns reaching as far as Madurai. Both Vira and Sundara fled their headquarters, and thus, Kafur was unable to make them Alauddin's tributaries. Nevertheless, the Delhi army looted many treasures, elephants and horses.[78] The Delhi chronicler Ziauddin Barani described this seizure of wealth from Dwarasamudra and the Pandya kingdom as the greatest one since the Muslim capture of Delhi.[79]
During this campaign, the Mongol general Abachi had conspired to ally with the Pandyas, and as a result, Alauddin ordered him to be executed in Delhi. This, combined with their general grievances against Alauddin, led to resentment among Mongols who had settled in India after converting to Islam. A section of Mongol leaders plotted to kill Alauddin, but the conspiracy was discovered by Alauddin's agents. Alauddin then ordered a mass massacre of Mongols in his empire, which according to Barani, resulted in the death of 20,000 or 30,000 Mongols.[80]
Meanwhile, in Devagiri, after Ramachandra's death, his son tried to overthrow Alauddin's suzerainty. Malik Kafur invaded Devagiri again in 1313, defeated him, and became the governor of Devagiri.
Administrative changesEdit
Alauddin was the most powerful ruler of his dynasty.[81] Unlike the previous rulers of the Delhi Sultanate, who had largely relied on the pre-existing administrative set-up, Alauddin undertook large-scale reforms.[82] After facing the Mongol invasions and several rebellions, he implemented several reforms to be able to maintain a large army and to weaken those capable of organizing a revolt against him.[83] Barani also attributes Alauddin's revenue reforms to the Sultan's desire to subjugate the Hindus by "depriving them of that wealth and property which fosters rebellion".[84] According to historian Satish Chandra, Alauddin's reforms were based on his conception of fear and control as the basis of good government as well as his military ambitions: the bulk of the measures were designed to centralise power in his hands and to support a large military.[85]
Some of Alauddin's land reforms were continued by his successors, and formed a basis of the agrarian reforms introduced by the later rulers such as Sher Shah Suri and Akbar.[86] However, his other regulations, including price control, were revoked by his son Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah a few months after his death.[87]
Revenue reformsEdit
Main article: Revenue reforms of Alauddin Khalji
Copper coin of Alauddin Khalji
The countryside and agricultural production during Alauddin's time was controlled by the village headmen, the traditional Hindu authorities. He viewed their haughtiness and their direct and indirect resistance as the main difficulty affecting his reign. He also had to face talk of conspiracies at his court.[88]
After some initial conspiracies and Hindu revolts in rural areas during the early period of his reign, he struck the root of the problem by introducing reforms that also aimed at ensuring support of his army and food supply to his capital. He took away all landed properties of his courtiers and nobles and cancelled revenue assignments which were henceforth controlled by the central authorities. Henceforth, "everybody was busy with earning a living so that nobody could even think of rebellion". He also ordered "to supply some rules and regulations for grinding down the Hindus, and for depriving them of that wealth and property which fosters rebellion. The Hindu was to be so reduced as to be unable to keep a horse to ride on, wear fine clothes, or to enjoy any luxuries of life."[88]
Alauddin brought a large tract of fertile land under the directly governed crown territory, by eliminating iqta's, land grants and vassals in the Ganga-Yamuna Doab region.[89] He imposed a 50% kharaj tax on the agricultural produce in a substantial part of northern India: this was the maximum amount allowed by the Hanafi school of Islam, which was dominant in Delhi at that time.[90]
Alauddin Khalji's taxation system was probably the one institution from his reign that lasted the longest, surviving indeed into the nineteenth or even the twentieth century. From now on, the land tax (kharaj or mal) became the principal form in which the peasant's surplus was expropriated by the ruling class.
—  The Cambridge Economic History of India: c.1200-c.1750, [91]
Alauddin also eliminated the intermediary Hindu rural chiefs, and started collecting the kharaj directly from the cultivators.[92] He did not levy any additional taxes on agriculture, and abolished the cut that the intermediaries received for collecting revenue.[93] Alauddin's demand for tax proportional to land area meant that the rich and powerful villages with more land had to pay more taxes.[94] He forced the rural chiefs to pay same taxes as the others, and banned them from imposing illegal taxes on the peasants.[94] To prevent any rebellions, his administration deprived the rural chiefs of their wealth, horses and arms.[95] By suppressing these chiefs, Alauddin projected himself as the protector of the weaker section of the rural society.[96] However, while the cultivators were free from the demands of the landowners, the high taxes imposed by the state meant a cultivator had "barely enough for carrying on his cultivation and his food requirements."[93]
To enforce these land and agrarian reforms, Alauddin set up a strong and efficient revenue administration system. His government recruited many accountants, collectors and agents. These officials were well-paid but were subject to severe punishment if found to be taking bribes. Account books were audited and even small discrepancies were punished. The effect was both large landowners and small-scale cultivators were fearful of missing out on paying their assessed taxes.[97]
Alauddin's government imposed the jizya tax on its non-Muslim subjects, and his Muslim subjects were obligated to contribute zakat.[98] He also levied taxes on residences (ghari) and grazing (chara'i), which were not sanctioned by the Islamic law.[99] In addition, Alauddin demanded four-fifths share of the spoils of war from his soldiers, instead of the traditional one-fifth share (khums).[98]
Market reformsEdit
Main article: Market reforms of Alauddin Khalji
Alauddin implemented price control measures for a wide variety of market goods.[86] Alauddin's courtier Amir Khusrau and the 14th century writer Hamid Qalandar suggest that Alauddin introduced these changes for public welfare.[100] However, Barani states that Alauddin wanted to reduce the prices so that low salaries were acceptable to his soldiers, and thus, to maintain a large army.[101][102] In addition, Barani suggests that the Hindu traders indulged in profiteering, and Alauddin's market reforms resulted from the Sultan's desire to punish the Hindus.[94]
To ensure that the goods were sold at regulated prices, Alauddin appointed market supervisors and spies, and received independent reports from them. To prevent a black market, his administration prohibited peasants and traders from storing the grains, and established government-run granaries, where government's share of the grain was stored. The government also forced the transport workers to re-settle in villages at specific distances along the Yamuna river to enable rapid transport of grain to Delhi.[103]
Chroniclers such as Khusrau and Barani state that the prices were not allowed to increase during Alauddin's lifetime, even when the rainfall was scarce.[104] The shopkeepers who violated the price control regulations or tried to circumvent them (such as, by using false weights) were given severe punishments.[105]
Military reformsEdit
Alauddin maintained a large standing army, which included 475,000 horsemen according to the 16th-century chronicler Firishta.[106] He managed to raise such a large army by paying relatively low salaries to his soldiers, and introduced market price controls to ensure that the low salaries were acceptable to his soldiers.[102] Although he was opposed to granting lands to his generals and soldiers, he generously rewarded them after successful campaigns, especially those in Deccan.[107]
Alauddin's government maintained a descriptive roll of every soldier, and occasionally conducted strict reviews of the army to examine the horses and arms of the soldiers. To ensure that no horse could be presented twice or replaced by a poor-quality horse during the review, Alauddin established a system of branding the horses.[108]
Social reformsEdit
Main article: Rebellions against Alauddin Khalji § Measures for preventing rebellions
Although Islam bans alcoholic drinks, drinking was common among the Muslim royals and nobles of the Delhi Sultanate in the 13th century, and Alauddin himself was a heavy drinker. As part of his measures to prevent rebellions, Alauddin imposed prohibition, because he believed that the rampant use of alcoholic drinks enabled people to assemble, lose their senses and think of rebellion. According to Isami, Alauddin banned alcohol, after a noble condemned him for merrymaking when his subjects were suffering from a famine. However, this account appears to be hearsay.[109]
Subsequently, Alauddin also banned other intoxicants, including cannabis.[109] He also banned gambling, and excommunicated drunkards and gamblers from Delhi, along with vendors of intoxicants.[110] Alauddin's administration strictly punished the violators, and ensured non-availability of alcohol not only in Delhi, but also in its surrounding areas. Nevertheless, alcohol continued to be illegally produced in and smuggled into Delhi.[111] Sometime later, Alauddin relented, and allowed brewing and drinking in private. However, public distribution and drinking of wine remained prohibited.[112]
Alauddin also increased his level of control over the nobility. To prevent rebellions by the nobles, he confiscated their wealth and removed them from their bases of power. Even charitable lands administered by nobles were confiscated. Severe punishments were given for disloyalty. Even wives and children of soldiers rebelling for greater war spoils were imprisoned. An efficient spy network was set up that reached into the private households of nobles. Marriage alliances made between noble families had to be approved by the king.[113]
Alauddin banned prostitution, and ordered all existing prostitutes of Delhi to be married.[110] Firishta states that he classified prostitutes into three grades, and fixed their fees accordingly. However, historian Kishori Saran Lal dismisses this account as inaccurate. Alauddin also took steps to curb adultery by ordering the male adulterer to be castrated and the female adulterer to be stoned to death.[114]
Alauddin banned charlatans, and ordered sorcerers (called "blood-sucking magicians" by his courtier Amir Khusrau) to be stoned to death.[115]
Last daysEdit
Tomb of Alauddin Khalji, Qutb complex, Delhi
During the last years of his life, Alauddin had an illness, and became very distrustful of his officers. He started concentrating all the power in the hands of his family and his slaves.[116] He became infatuated with his slave-general Malik Kafur, who became the de facto ruler of the Sultanate after being promoted to the rank of viceroy (Na'ib).[117][118]
Alauddin removed several experienced administrators, abolished the office of wazir (prime minister), and even executed the minister Sharaf Qa'ini. It appears that Malik Kafur, who considered these officers as his rivals and a threat, convinced Alauddin to carry out this purge.[116] Kafur had Alauddin's eldest sons Khizr Khan and Shadi Khan blinded. He also convinced Alauddin to order the killing of his brother-in-law Alp Khan, an influential noble who could rival Malik Kafur's power. The victims allegedly hatched a conspiracy to overthrow Alauddin, but this might be Kafur's propaganda.[116]
Alauddin died on the night of 4 January 1316.[119] Barani claims that according to "some people", Kafur murdered him.[120] Towards the end of the night, Kafur brought the body of Alauddin from the Siri Place and had it buried in Alauddin's mausoleum (which had already been built before Alauddin's death). The mausoleum is said to have been located outside a Jama Mosque, but neither of these structures can be identified with certainty. According to historian Banarsi Prasad Saksena, the ruined foundations of these two structures probably lie under one of the mounds at Siri.[119]
The next day, Kafur appointed Alauddin's young son Shihabuddin as a puppet monarch.[119] However, Kafur was killed shortly after, and Alauddin's elder son Mubarak Khan seized the power.[121]
Alauddin's tomb and the madrasa dedicated to him exist at the back of Qutb complex, Mehrauli, in Delhi.[122]
Personal lifeEdit
Alauddin's wives included Jalaluddin's daughter, who held the title Malika-i-Jahan, and Alp Khan's sister Mahru.[7] He also married Jhatyapali, the daughter of Hindu king Ramachandra of Devagiri, probably after the 1296 Devagiri raid,[123] or after his 1308 conquest of Devagiri.[124] Alauddin had a son with Jhatyapali, Shihabuddin Omar, who succeeded him as the next Khalji ruler.[123]
Alauddin also married Kamala Devi, a Hindu woman, who was originally the chief queen of Karna, the Vaghela king of Gujarat.[125] She was captured by Khalji forces during an invasion, escorted to Delhi as part of the war booty, and taken into Alauddin's harem.[126][127] She eventually reconciled to her new life.[128] According to the chronicler Firishta, sometime between 1306 and 1307, Kamala Devi requested Alauddin to secure her daughter Deval Devi from the custody of her father, Raja Karan.[128][129] Alauddin sent an order to Raja Karan telling him to send Deval Devi immediately.[129] Deval Devi was eventually brought to Delhi and lived in the royal palace with her mother.[130]
Malik Kafur, an attractive eunuch slave captured during the Gujarat campaign,[131] caught the fancy of Alauddin.[132] He rose rapidly in Alauddin's service, mainly because of his proven ability as military commander and wise counsellor,[117] and eventually became the viceroy (Na'ib) of the Sultanate.[133] A deep emotional bond developed between Alauddin and Kafur.[132] According to Barani, during the last four or five years of his life, Alauddin fell "deeply and madly in love" with Kafur, and handed over the administration to him.[120] Based on Barani's description, scholars Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai believe that Alauddin and Kafur were in a homosexual relationship.[134] Historian Judith E. Walsh, scholar Nilanjan Sarkar and scholar Thomas Gugler also believe Alauddin and Kafur were lovers in a sexually intimate relationship.[135][136][137] Given his relationship with Kafur, historians believe Alauddin may have been bisexual or even homosexual.[138] Historian Banarsi Prasad Saksena believes that the closeness between the two was not sexual.[118]
In 1296, Alauddin constructed the Hauz-i-Alai (later Hauz-i-Khas) water reservoir, which covered an area of 70 acres, and had a stone-masonry wall. Gradually, it became filled with mud, and was desilted by Firuz Shah Tughlaq around 1354. The autobiographical memoirs of Timur, who invaded Delhi in 1398, mention that the reservoir was a source of water for the city throughout the year.[139]
In the early years of the 14th century, Alauddin built the Siri Fort. The fort walls were mainly constructed using rubble (in mud), although there are some traces of ashlar masonry (in lime and lime plaster).[139] Alauddin camped in Siri during the 1303 Mongol invasion, and after the Mongols left, he built the Qasr-i-Hazar Situn palace at the site of his camp. The fortified city of Siri existed in the time of Timur, whose memoirs state that it had seven gates. It was destroyed by Sher Shah Suri in 1545, and only some of its ruined walls now survive.[140]
The Hauz-i-Khas
Ruined wall of Siri
Alai Darwaza
Courts to the east of Quwwat ul-Islam mosque, in Qutb complex added by Khalji in 1300 CE.
Alauddin's Madrasa, Qutb complex, Mehrauli, which also has his tomb to the south.
The unfinished Alai Minar
Alauddin commissioned the Alai Darwaza, which was completed in 1311, and serves as the southern gateway leading to the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque built by Qutb al-Din Aibak.[141] He also started the construction of the Alai Minar, which was intended to be double to size of the Qutb Minar, but the project was abandoned, probably when he died.[142]
The construction of the Lal Mahal (Red Palace) sandstone building near Chausath Khamba has also been attributed to Alauddin, because its architecture and design is similar to that of the Alai Darwaza.[143]
In 1311, Alauddin repaired the 100-acre Hauz-i-Shamasi reservoir that had been constructed by Shamsuddin Iltutmish in 1229, and also built a dome at its centre.[139]
Religious policyEdit
Views on religionEdit
Like his predecessors, Alauddin was a Sunni Muslim. His administration persecuted the Ismaili (Shia) minorities, after the orthodox Sunnis falsely accused them of permitting incest in their "secret assemblies". Alauddin ordered an inquiry against them sometime before 1311. The inquiry was conducted by the orthodox ulama, who found several Ismailis guilty. Alauddin ordered the convicts to be sawn into two.[144]
Ziauddin Barani, writing half a century after his death, mentions that Alauddin did not patronize the Muslim ulama, and that "his faith in Islam was firm like the faith of the illiterate and the ignorant". He further states that Alauddin once thought of establishing a new religion. Just like the Islamic prophet Muhammad's four Rashidun caliphs helped spread Islam, Alauddin believed that he too had four Khans (Ulugh, Nusrat, Zafar and Alp), with whose help he could establish a new religion.[145] Barani's uncle Alaul Mulk convinced him to drop this idea, stating that a new religion could only be found based on a revelation from God, not based on human wisdom.[146] Alaul Mulk also argued that even great conquerors like Genghis Khan had not been able to subvert Islam, and people would revolt against Alauddin for founding a new religion.[147] Barani's claim that Alauddin thought of founding a religion has been repeated by several later chroniclers as well as later historians. Historian Banarsi Prasad Saksena doubts the authenticity of this claim, arguing that it is not supported by Alauddin's contemporary writers.[145]
According to Barani, Alauddin was the first sultan to separate religion from the state. Barani wrote that he:[148]
came to the conclusion that polity and government are one thing, and the rules and decrees of law are another. Royal commands belong to the king, legal decrees rest upon the judgment of the qazis and muftis. In accordance with this opinion, whatever affair of state came before him, he only looked to the public good, without considering whether his mode of dealing with it was lawful or unlawful. He never asked for legal opinions about political matters, and very few learned men visited him.
—  Tarikh i Firoze Shahi by Ziauddin Barani[148]
Historian K. S. Lal disagrees with Barani, mentioning that Alauddin had great faith in his religion and never permitted anything irreligious to be said,[149] the 14th-century Indian historian and court poet, Abdul Malik Isami confirms this:
Allaudin realized his duties as a king. To him, this kingly office was divine, which carried a lot of responsibilities with itself. For he was very thankful to God Almighty. Moreover, as a Muslim, he believed in the day of judgment & considered himself answerable for all his deeds on that day. Therefore he always tried his best to do the deeds which were acceptable to God. He introduced many reforms only to remove the sufferings of the masses, irrespective of their color and creed so that he could win the pleasure of his creator[150]
Relationship with HindusEdit
At times, he exploited Muslim fanaticism against Hindu chiefs and the treatment of the zimmis.[148] Persian historian Wassaf states that he sent an expedition against Gujarat as a holy war and it was not motivated by "lust of conquest".[151] The masnavi Deval Devi—Khizr Khan by Amir Khusrau states that Gujarat was only annexed in the second invasion which took place seven years after the first one, implying the first was merely a plundering raid.[152] At Khambhat, it is said that the citizens were caught by surprise.[153] Wassaf states that "The Muhammadan forces began to kill and slaughter on the right and on the left unmercifully, throughout the impure land, for the sake of Islam, and blood flowed in torrents."[154]
Alauddin and his generals destroyed several Hindu temples during their military campaigns. These temples included the ones at Bhilsa (1292), Devagiri (1295), Vijapur (1298–1310), Somnath (1299), Jhain (1301), Chidambaram (1311) and Madurai (1311).[155]
He compromised with the Hindu chiefs who were willing to accept his suzerainty. In a 1305 document, Khusrau mentions that Alauddin treated the obedient Hindu zamindars (feudal landlords) kindly, and granted more favours to them than they had expected. In his poetic style, Khusrau states that by this time, all the insolent Hindus in the realm of Hind had died on the battlefield, and the other Hindus had bowed their heads before Alauddin. Describing a court held on 19 October 1312, Khusrau writes the ground had become saffron-coloured from the tilaks of the Hindu chiefs bowing before Alauddin.[156] This policy of compromise with Hindus was greatly criticized by a small but vocal set of Muslim extremists, as apparent from Barani's writings.[157]
Alauddin rarely listened to the advice of the orthodox ulama. When he had asked about the position of Hindus under an Islamic state, the qazi Mughis replied that the Hindu "should pay the taxes with meekness and humility coupled with the utmost respect and free from all reluctance. Should the collector choose to spit in his mouth, he should open the same without hesitation, so that the official may spit into it... The purport of this extreme meekness and humility on his part... is to show the extreme submissiveness incumbent upon this race. God Almighty Himself (in the Quran) commands their complete degradation in as much as these Hindus are the deadliest foes of the true prophet. Mustafa has given orders regarding the slaying, plundering and imprisoning of them, ordaining that they must either follow the true faith, or else be slain or imprisoned, and have all their wealth and property confiscated."[158]
Alauddin believed "that the Hindu will never be submissive and obedient to the Musalman unless he is reduced to abject poverty." He undertook measures to impoverish them and felt it was justified because he knew that the chiefs and muqaddams led a luxurious life but never paid a jital in taxes. His vigorous and extensive conquests led to him being viewed as persecutor both at home and abroad, including by Maulana Shamsuddin Turk, Abdul Malik Isami and Wassaf.[159] Barani, while summing up his achievements, mentions that the submission and obedience of the Hindus during the last decade of his reign had become an established fact. He states that such a submission on the part of the Hindus "has neither been seen before nor will be witnessed hereafter".[160]
Under the Mamluk dynasty, obtaining a membership in the higher bureaucracy was difficult for the Indian Muslims and impossible for Hindus. This however seems to have changed under the Khaljis. Khusrau states in Khazainul Futuh that Alauddin had dispatched a 30,000 strong army under a Hindu officer Malik Naik, the Akhur-bek Maisarah, to repel the Mongols.[161] During Ikat Khan's rebellion, the Sultan's life was saved by Hindu soldiers (paiks). Because of the large presence of non-Muslims in the imperial army, Alaul Mulk advised him not to leave Delhi to repel the Mongol Qutlugh Khwaja who had surrounded it.[162]
Relationships with JainsEdit
Per Jain sources, Alauddin held discussions with Jain sages and once specially summoned Acharya Mahasena to Delhi.[163] There was no learned Digambracarya in North India during this period and Mahasena was persuaded by Jains to defend the faith. Alauddin was impressed by his profound learning and asceticism. A Digambara Jain Purancandra was very close to him and the Sultan also maintained contacts with the Shwetambara sages. The Jain poet Acharya Ramachandra Suri was also honored by him.[164]
Kharataragaccha Pattavali, completed in 1336–1337, details atrocities on Jains under his reign including destruction of a religious fair in 1313 while capturing Jabalipura (Jalor). The conditions seem to have changed a year later. Banarasidas in Ardhakathanaka mentions that Jain Shrimala merchants spread over North India and in 1314, the sons of a Shrimala and others along with their cousins and a huge congregation of pilgrims were able to visit a temple at Phaludi despite Ajmer and its neighbourhood being under siege by Muslim forces.[164]
Alp Khan who was transferred to Gujarat in 1310, is praised by Jain sources for permitting reconstruction of their temples.[165] Kakkasuri in Nabhi-nandana-jinoddhara-prabandha mentions Alp Khan issuing a farman permitting the Jain merchant Samara Shah to renovate a damaged Shatrunjaya temple.[166] Alp Khan is also mentioned to have made huge donations towards repairing Jain temples.[167][168]
Copper half Gani
Billion Gani
Silver Tanka
Bilingual coin
Silver Tanka Dar al-Islam Mint
Silver Tanka Qila Deogir Mint
Khalji minted coins using the title of Sikander Sani. Sikander is Old Persian for 'Alexander', a title popularized by Alexander the Great, while sani is Arabic for 'Second'. The coin legend (Sikander-e -Sani) translates to 'The Second Alexander' in recognition of his military success.[169]
He had amassed wealth in his treasury through campaigns in Deccan and South India and issued many coins. His coins omitted the mention of the Khalifa, replacing it with the self-laudatory title Sikander-us-sani Yamin-ul-Khilafat.[170] He ceased adding Al-Musta'sim's name, instead adding Yamin-ul-Khilafat Nāsir Amīri 'l-Mu'minīn (The right hand of the Caliphate, the helper of the Commander of the Faithful).[171]
In popular cultureEdit
Alauddin Khalji is the antagonist of Padmavat, an epic poem written by Sufi poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi in 1540.[172]
He is also depicted as a central character of the Medieval Bengali epic poem Padmavati (poem) in 1648 by Bengali-Arakani poet of medieval era Syed Alaol.
Khalji was portrayed by M. N. Nambiar in Chitrapu Narayana Rao's film Chittoor Rani Padmini (1963).[173]
Om Puri portrayed Alauddin Khalji in Doordarshan's historical drama Bharat Ek Khoj.[174]
Khalji was portrayed by Mukesh Rishi in Sony Entertainment Television's historical drama Chittod Ki Rani Padmini Ka Johur.[175]
Ranveer Singh portrayed a fictional version of Alauddin in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's epic period drama film Padmaavat.[176]
^ Hermann Kulke, Dietmar Rothermund: Geschichte Indiens. Von der Induskultur bis heute. 2. verbesserte und aktualisierte Auflage. Beck, München 1998, ISBN 3-406-43338-3 (Beck's historische Bibliothek).[page needed]
^ Lafont, Jean-Marie & Rehana (2010). The French & Delhi : Agra, Aligarh, and Sardhana (1st ed.). New Delhi: India Research Press. p. 8. ISBN 9788183860918.
^ Kishori Saran Lal 1950, pp. 40–41.
^ a b Banarsi Prasad Saksena 1992, p. 326.
^ a b c Banarsi Prasad Saksena 1992, p. 321.
^ a b c Kishori Saran Lal 1950, p. 41.
^ a b c d e Kishori Saran Lal 1950, p. 42.
^ Kishori Saran Lal 1950, p. 43.
^ A. B. M. Habibullah 1992, p. 322.
^ Banarsi Prasad Saksena 1992, p. 322.
^ Banarsi Prasad Saksena 1992, pp. 322–323.
^ a b c d e Banarsi Prasad Saksena 1992, p. 327.
^ a b c d Banarsi Prasad Saksena 1992, p. 328.
^ Peter Jackson 2003, p. 85.
^ a b Kishori Saran Lal 1950, p. 81.
^ Peter Jackson 2003, p. 221.
^ Peter Jackson 2003, pp. 219–220.
^ Mohammad Habib 1981, p. 266.
^ Kishori Saran Lal 1950, pp. 159–161.
^ Rima Hooja (2006). A HISTORY OF RAJASTHAN (PB). p. 368. ISBN 978-81-291-1501-0. The attack on Jaisalmer during Sultan Alauddin Khilji's reign seems to have begun in AD 1299, when its Bhati king Jait Singh I was ruling. The besieged fort withstood the assault and encirclement until, at long last, scarcity of food and provisions played their inevitable part in deciding the issue. By this time, Jait Singh may have already lost his life, as tradition holds, and the crown taken up by his son, Mularaj. It was at this stage that the women of Jaisalmer fort performed jauhar, while the men, led by Rawal Mularaj, and his younger brother Ratan Singh, flung open the gates of the fort and rushed forth to die fighting to the last. Some sources suggest that Mularaj died in an earlier sortie, and that Ratan Singh (or Ratan-Si), succeeded him as Rawal and carried out the defence of Jaisalmer, until the final shaka. In any event, once Jaisalmer was invested, it is known to have remained in Khilji hands for the next few years
^ Satish Chandra 2004, p. 89.
^ Kishori Saran Lal 1950, p. 164-165.
^ Banarsi Prasad Saksena 1992, p. 366-369.
^ Asoke Kumar Majumdar 1956, p. 191.
^ a b Peter Jackson 2003, p. 198.
^ Kishori Saran Lal 1950, p. 175.
^ Ashok Kumar Srivastava 1979, pp. 48–50.
^ Ashok Kumar Srivastava 1979, p. 52-53.
^ Habib, Irfan (2002). Essays in Indian history : towards a Marxist perception. London: Anthem Press. p. 81. ISBN 9781843310617.
^ Hermann Kulke & Dietmar Rothermund 2004, p. 172.
^ Hermann Kulke & Dietmar Rothermund 2004, pp. 172–173.
^ Satish Chandra 2004, p. 76-79.
^ a b Satish Chandra 2007, p. 105.
^ a b Hermann Kulke & Dietmar Rothermund 2004, p. 171-173.
^ Satish Chandra 2007, p. 102.
^ Irfan Habib 1982, p. 62.
^ a b Satish Chandra 2004, p. 78-80.
^ a b c Satish Chandra 2007, p. 104.
^ a b Kishori Saran Lal 1950, p. 250.
^ a b Abraham Eraly 2015, p. 166.
^ a b c Peter Jackson 2003, p. 176.
^ a b Abraham Eraly 2015, p. 177-8.
^ a b R. Vanita & S. Kidwai 2000, p. 132.
^ Abraham Eraly 2015, pp. 178–179.
^ Qutb Complex: Ala al Din Khalji Madrasa, ArchNet
^ a b Kishori Saran Lal 1950, pp. 56–57.
^ S. Digby 1978, p. 419.
^ a b Shanti Sadiq Ali 1996, p. 35.
^ Abraham Eraly 2015, p. 177-178.
^ R. Vanita & S. Kidwai 2000, p. 113, 132.
^ Judith E. Walsh (2006). A Brief History of India. Infobase Publishing. p. 71. ISBN 1438108257.
^ Nilanjan Sarkar (2013). "Forbidden Privileges and History-Writing in Medieval India". The Medieval History Journal. 16 (1): 33–4, 48, 55.
^ Gugler TK (2011). "Politics of Pleasure: Setting South Asia Straight". South Asia Chronicle. 1: 355–392.
^ Craig Lockard (2006). Societies, Networks, and Transitions: A Global History. Cengage Learning. p. 366. ISBN 0618386114.
^ a b c Kishori Saran Lal 1950, p. 375.
^ a b Banarsi Prasad Saksena 1992, pp. 336–337.
^ a b c J. L. Mehta. Advanced Study in the History of Medieval India – Vol. III: Medieval Indian Society And Culture. Sterling Publishers. p. 102. ISBN 9788120704329.
^ K. S. Lal , History of the Khaljis: A.D. 1290-1320, p. 308
^ Abdul Malik Isami, Fatuh Us Salatin, p. 306
^ M.B. Deopujari (1973). "The Deccan Policy of the Sultanate (1296–1351)". Nagpur University Journal: Humanities. Nagpur University. 24: 39.
^ M. Yaseen Mazhar Siddiqi. "Chronology of the Delhi Sultanate". Islam and the Modern Age. Islam and the Modern Age Society; Dr. Zakir Husain Institute of Islamic Societies, Jamia Millia Islamia. 27: 184.
^ Mary Boyce (2001). Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Psychology Press. p. 168. ISBN 9780415239028.
^ R. C. Majumdar 1967, p. 625.
^ Richard M. Eaton 2001, pp. 72–73.
^ Kishori Saran Lal. "Political conditions of the Hindus under the Khaljis". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Indian History Congress. 9: 234.
^ Kishori Saran Lal. "Political conditions of the Hindus under the Khaljis". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Indian History Congress. 9: 234–235.
^ Kishori Saran Lal. Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India. Aditya Prakashan. p. 128.
^ Mohammad Habib, Afsar Umar Salim Khan. The Political Theory of the Delhi Sultanate: Including a Translation of Ziauddin Barani's Fatawa-i Jahandari, Circa, 1358-9 A.D. Kitab Mahal. p. 150.
^ Kanhaiya Lall Srivastava (1980). The position of Hindus under the Delhi Sultanate, 1206–1526. Munshiram Manoharlal. p. 142.
^ Burjor Avari (April 2015). The Age of Wrath: A History of The Delhi Sultanate. Penguin UK. ISBN 9789351186588.
^ a b Pushpa Prasad. "The Jain Community in the Delhi Sultanate". Proceedings of the Indian History Congress. Indian History Congress. 54: 224, 225.
^ Iqtidar Alam Khan (25 April 2008). Historical Dictionary of Medieval India. Scarecrow Press. p. 24. ISBN 9780810864016.
^ Hawon Ku Kim. Re-formation of Identity: The 19th-century Jain Pilgrimage Site of Shatrunjaya, Gujarat. University of Minnesota. p. 41.
^ Salma Ahmed Farooqui (2011). A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-eighteenth Century. Pearson India Education Services. p. 13. ISBN 9788131732021.
^ Vipul Singh (2009). Interpreting Medieval India: Early medieval, Delhi Sultanate, and regions (circa 750–1550). Macmillan. p. 17. ISBN 9780230637610.
^ Thomas Walker Arnold (2010). The Caliphate. Adam Publishers. p. 88. ISBN 9788174350336.
^ Sharma, Manimugdha S. (29 January 2017). "Padmavati isn't history, so what's all the fuss about?". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
^ Guy, Randor (13 June 2015). "Chitoor Rani Padmini (1963)". The Hindu. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
^ Ghosh, Avijit (27 February 2017). "Actor's actor Om Puri redefined idea of male lead". The Times of India. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
^ Shah, Shravan (21 September 2017). "Did You Know? Deepika Padukone is not the first actress to play Padmavati on-screen?". www.zoomtv.com. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
^ Palat, Lakshana N (21 November 2017). "Padmavati row: Who was Rani Padmavati's husband Maharawal Ratan Singh?". India Today. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
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Mohammad Habib (1981). Politics and Society During the Early Medieval Period. People's Publishing House. OCLC 32230117.
Peter Jackson (2003). The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-54329-3.
R. C. Majumdar (1967) [1960]. "Social Life: Hindu and Muslim Relations". The History and Culture of the Indian People: The Delhi Sultanate. Vol. VI (Second ed.). Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. OCLC 634843951.
R. Vanita; S. Kidwai (2000). Same-Sex Love in India: Readings in Indian Literature. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-05480-7.
Richard M. Eaton (September 2000). "Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim states". Journal of Islamic Studies. Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. 11 (3): 283–319. doi:10.1093/jis/11.3.283.
Richard M. Eaton (5 January 2001). "Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim states: II" (PDF). Frontline: 70–77.
S. Digby (1978). "Kāfūr, Malik". In E. Van Donzel; B. Lewis; Charles Pellat (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. 4, Iran–Kha (2 ed.). Brill. p. 419. ISBN 90-04-05745-5.
Satish Chandra (2004). Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206-1526) - Part One. Har-Anand Publications. ISBN 9788124110645.
Satish Chandra (2007). History of Medieval India: 800-1700. Orient Longman. ISBN 978-81-250-3226-7.
Shanti Sadiq Ali (1996). The African Dispersal in the Deccan: From Medieval to Modern Times. Orient Blackswan. ISBN 978-81-250-0485-1.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alauddin Khalji.
Khazáínu-l Futúh (also known as Táríkh-i 'Aláí), a book describing Alauddin's military career by his court poet Amir Khusrau.
English translation, as it appears in The History of India, as Told by Its Own Historians: The Muhammadan Period, by Sir H. M. Elliot. Vol III. 1866–177. Page:67-92.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alauddin_Khalji&oldid=1137660285"


text:
Home This Day in History Vermont Timeline 1910 to 1940
Vermont Historical Society. "1910 to 1940." Vermont History Explorer. https://vermonthistoryexplorer.org/this-day-in-history/vermont-timeline/1910-to-1940 (accessed January 19, 2021).
Creating an Image 1910 - 1940
Nineteen-year-old George Schmitt of Rutland became the first Vermonter to make an engine-powered airplane flight.
Charles Willard flew an airplane for six minutes in St. Johsbury. The plane was brought by train from Boston to the Caledonia County Fairgrounds.
Important child labor laws are passed by the U.S. government. They limit the work week of children to fifty-eight hours. Photographs taken of children working even longer hours at woolen mills in Winooski and Bennington help convince people that these laws are needed.
The Bitter Cry of the Children (PDF)
Child Labor in Vermont
Four hundred women gather in Montpelier, in the pouring rain, in support of the nineteenth amendment giving women the right to vote.
Edna Beard of Orange became Vermont's first woman legislator. There has never been a legislative session since without a woman member.
WLAK, Vermont's first radio station, began broadcasting in Bellows Falls. Charles Doe, the announcer, was on the air six hours a day, with weather, farming tips, and piano and gramophone music.
At his family home at Plymouth, vice-president Calvin Coolidge was awakened in the night and sworn in as the thirtieth president of the United States, after president Warren G. Harding died. His father, John Coolidge, a notary public, administered the oath of office.
From Vermont Farm to the White House (PDF)
Vermont's first radio broadcast was made by WCAX from Burlington, Vermont.
Charles Lindbergh, the first person to make a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris, visited Vermont's first airfield and flying school in Springfield.
Vermont experienced the worst flood in its history. Over 9 inches of rain fell in two days causing rivers, fields and roads to flood.
Rain, Rain, and Still More Rain (PDF)
The airplane, The Green Mountain Boy, took off from Berlin, Vermont, for Norway and disappeared without a trace.
The first Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) in Vermont started work in Danby. The C.C.C. put unemployed men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-three to work on projects in the nation's forests and rural areas.
A Forest Army Goes to Work (PDF)
The temperature in Bloomfield, Vermont, dropped to fifty degrees below zero. This still stands as the lowest official temperature ever recorded in the state.
Above the Surface: Small State, Big Weather (PDF)
The first ski tow in the United States was set up in Woodstock, Vermont. The tow was powered by a Model T Ford engine which pulled the 900 yards of rope at a speed of thirty miles per hour. The first ticket for the rope tow was sold on January 28th.
Small Beginnings: The First Rope Tow in Vermont (PDF)
Amelia Earhart, who later became the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean, speaks to the legislature on the future of the airplane.
Voters on Town Meeting Day vote against building the Green Mountain Parkway, a highway to connect the peaks of the Green Mountains.
Look at a larger map of the proposed road
A terrible hurricane caused the deaths of five Vermonters and cost more than twelve million dollars in damage.
Do you know of another important event in Vermont history that should be on this list? Email the date and the details to education@vermonthistory.org
Vermont Timeline
First People to 1750
1940 to Today
Vermont History Timeline

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text:
Richard Joseph "Dick" Davisson (December 29, 1922 – June 15, 2004) was an American physicist.

Davisson was the son of Clinton Davisson, a Nobel laureate, and his wife Charlotte. Davisson's maternal uncle, Sir Owen Richardson, was also a Nobel laureate.

During World War II he worked on the Manhattan Project as part of the Special Engineer Detachment.  At Los Alamos, he met Professor Robert Williams, who later recruited him to teach at the University of Washington.

As a graduate student at Cornell after World War II, Davisson built a cosmic ray machine that would do everything but write a grad student's thesis. He acquired a huge magnet from Navy surplus, built a cloud chamber and a set of Geiger counters and designed a universal-focus camera to record cosmic ray events. Then he designed and built an early electronic computer to record and sort the events according to energy, mass, charge, direction and frequency. Davisson went on to the University of Washington without a PhD.

Davisson was a member of the University of Washington's team which designed a system for detecting subatomic particles known as muons. After the U.S. government pulled the funding on the Superconducting Super Collider project, the team was recruited by CERN to help build part of the muon detector of the ATLAS experiment in the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator, in which Davisson took part, e.g., creating tools to test the detector tubes and as a liaison between the University of Washington's team and the rest of the collaborating group.

Davisson retired in 2000, at the age of 77. He was married for forty years to Elizabeth "Betty" Davisson, a retired psychiatric social worker from whom he separated after fourteen years. They had one son.

References

External links

1922 births
2004 deaths
20th-century American physicists
Manhattan Project people
People associated with CERN

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text:
Passengers at Beirut's international airport increase by more than 50 percent in first nine months of 2022
The number of passengers at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport increased by 51.3 percent in the first nine months of 2022 compared to this time last year, with a total of 4.84 million travelers, according to data released by the airport. There were 3.11 million passengers during the same period in 2021.
Nearly half of these passengers (46.9 percent) arrived at the airport during the third quarter of the year, which included a large portion of the summer months. There were 2.27 million passengers at the airport between the beginning of July and the end of September this year, compared to 1.66 million during the same period in 2021. In other words, there was an annual increase of 36.43 percent in the summer months.
In more detail, slightly more than one million travelers arrived in Lebanon by the end of September 2022, compared with 748,483 arrivals during that same period in 2021 — meaning there was a 42.98 percent increase. In terms of departures, 1.2 million passengers took off from the airport at by end of September 2022, compared with 911,053 the year before, representing an increase of 32.13 percent.
In September 2022 alone, the airport recorded a year-on-year increase of 40.51 percent, with 648,935 passengers setting food at the airport. Aviation activity, meanwhile, recorded a 38 percent year-on-year increase, with 39,539 takeoffs and landings in the first nine months of the year.


text:
Home / Smarter Living / Walmart Is Getting Rid of This in Stores and Online—Effective Immediately
Walmart Is Getting Rid of This in Stores and Online—Effective Immediately
The retailer is ending the sale of this product after a successful petition.
By Kali Coleman
Walmart is known for selling a large variety of products, which lets shoppers do their grocery shopping, pick up the latest technology, and get new furnishings for their home all in one place. But whether the retailer is changing its stock from season to season or removing products from shelves because of a recall, it often has to whittle down some of this inventory. Now, Walmart is getting rid of one thing both in stores and online. Read on to find out what the retailer is ending the sale of completely.
RELATED: Walmart Is Closing These Stores Permanently, Starting April 22.
Walmart is getting rid of fake service dog vests.
Walmart has chosen to remove fake service dog vests from stores and its website, Spectrum News 1 in Worcester, Massachusetts, reported on March 30. According to the news outlet, the company notified NEADS World Class Service Dogs, a non-profit organization that trains service dogs, that it is getting rid of all service dog paraphernalia online and in stores.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb
"We are amazingly proud of Walmart for doing this," Cathy Zemaitis, NEADS director of development, told Spectrum News 1. "It was a big deal, and it happened very quickly. All of this communication began in January and it's only March and they've already done it, so we are pretty pleased."
This decision comes after a petition was made against the retailer.
Walmart's decision to remove fake service dog products from its inventory follows backlash the company received for having them. In Jan. 2022, an online petition was created, demanding Walmart stop selling these service dog vests in stores. As of April, the petition has reached more than 1,200 signatures.
But part of the backlash also came from the NEADS organization. Zemaitis told Spectrum News that when the organization received a photo of the fake service dog vests on display in a Walmart store, they contacted Assistance Dogs International who wrote a letter to Walmart on the organization's behalf.
RELATED: For more retail news delivered straight to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter.
NEADS says it can be dangerous to try to pass dogs off as service animals.
While there are legitimate service dogs, vests and other paraphernalia sold at retailers like Walmart are often used for dogs that have not actually been trained or certified as service animals. And while this might seem harmless, Zemaitis said that trying to pass your dog off as a service dog or an emotional support animal when it is not can be dangerous.
"Bringing untrained, unsocialized animals into public spaces, a lot of times these animals become very worried, very upset. On an airplane, for example, become very claustrophobic," she told Spectrum News 1. "The reaction that an animal will have when put into that kind of situation can be very dangerous. It can be dangerous for the animal, it can be dangerous for the animal's handler, it can certainly be dangerous for the public and it can certainly be dangerous for service dogs who may be working in the area."
Walmart has a strict policy against dogs in its stores.
When it comes to Walmart's own stores, the retailer only allows service animals. "Walmart welcomes service animals as defined by the ADA in our stores, and we recognize the important role they play in many of our customers' lives," the company states on its website. "We do not allow pets in our stores."
In 2019, the retailer cracked down on shoppers trying to pass off non-service animals as such in their stores. According to Florida Today, Walmart added signs in its stores that year saying, "Service animals welcome. No Pets." The signs also explicitly stated what the retailer's definition of a service animal entails, per Insider: "Service animals are trained to do work or perform tasks for persons with disabilities. Comfort or emotional support animals are not service animals."
A Walmart spokesperson told Insider in 2019 that store associates will usually determine if a dog is a service animal by asking the owners. But even a legitimate service dog could get removed from its stores. "If a service animal poses a threat to health or safety, Walmart can exclude the animal from a store at that time," Walmart said in 2017 in response to a tweet.
RELATED: Walmart Is Now Facing Backlash for Selling This.
Animals • News • Retail • Shopping
50 Crazy Celebrity Facts You Won't Believe Are True
All of the reasons why stars are definitely <em> not </em> like us.
200 Awesome Facts About Everything
Prepare to be amazed!
20 Crazy Facts That Will Blow Your Mind
The everyday trivia that proves truth is stranger than fiction.
How Long It Takes to Save for a House in Your City
A report shows which areas take more time.
Bear in Colorado Takes Hundreds of Cute Selfies on Wildlife Camera
"These pictures made us laugh, and we thought others would, too."
See Lucy From "Dallas" Now
Charlene Tilton played the role over 40 years ago.
The Jacket Each Zodiac Sign Should Wear
Are you a cool moto jacket or a practical puffer?


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Beyond Zork (full title: Beyond Zork: The Coconut of Quendor) is an interactive fiction computer game written by Brian Moriarty and released by Infocom in 1987. It was one of the last games in the Zork series developed by Infocom (titles such as Zork Nemesis and Zork: Grand Inquisitor were created after Activision had dissolved Infocom as a company and kept the Infocom brand name). It signified a notable departure from the standard format of Infocom's earlier games which relied purely on text and puzzle-solving: among other features, Beyond Zork incorporated a crude on-screen map, the use of character statistics and levels, and RPG combat elements.

The game, Infocom's twenty-ninth, was available on the Amiga (512KB), Apple (128KB), Atari ST, Commodore 128, IBM (192KB), and the Macintosh (512KB) computers.

Plot
The player explores the Southlands of Quendor somewhat aimlessly at first. Soon, however, a task is bestowed by the Implementors, a group of godlike creatures jokingly based on Infocom's game designers. The Coconut of Quendor, a mighty artifact that embodies the whole of Magic, has fallen into the claws of an unspeakably foul beast: an Ur-grue. Rumoured to be the spirits of fallen Implementors, Ur-Grues can surround themselves in a sphere of darkness that only sunlight can pierce. The player must recover the Coconut from this monster's grasp or face the unthinkable consequences.

Ur-grue

Beyond Zork introduces the "Ur-grue", a being which game materials describe as the progenitor and ruler of the monstrous race of grues—the term "Ur-grue" combines the German prefix ur- signifying "original" and "grue"—as well as the source of many other evil monsters. He is said to have originated as the shade of a "fallen Implementor".

The Ur-Grue character in Beyond Zork may be a reference to Brian Moriarty himself, the creator of the game, who is notably absent from the game's portrayal of an "Implementors' Luncheon", where each Implementor is recognizably based on a member of the Infocom staff. His persona as the progenitor of grues and creator of monsters may be linked to his role as the creator of the games' challenges, Infocom having long made joking references to grues being the foremost example of the Implementors' capricious, sometimes nonsensical design decisions.

The Ur-grue is revealed to be the primary villain of the story. The player, sent to retrieve the Coconut of Quendor from the Implementors, arrives at the Implementors' Luncheon on the Ethereal Plane of Atrii only to find he has been followed by the Ur-grue in shadow form, who takes the opportunity to steal it for himself. The player must then venture into the Ur-grue's extensive underground lair and retrieve it.

The Ur-grue is shown to be a dungeon master of sorts, controlling huge parts of the Zork underground and having accumulated an enormous hoard of treasure, of which the Coconut is his crowning acquisition. He has not only an army of grues at his disposal but also bizarre creatures of evil such as Lucksuckers, spirits who attack the player by draining his good fortune (reducing his Luck stat). The Ur-grue himself is surrounded by a pool of magical darkness that is capable of overcoming and destroying all artificial light sources, and is therefore only vulnerable to pure sunlight—the player, therefore, can only best him by using a series of mirrors to transmit a beam of light at him from outside the dungeon.

After doing so, the Ur-grue's shadowy form is dissipated revealing what may be his true form, that of a broken, withered old man. It is implied that the Ur-grue cannot survive long in this form and must possess others' bodies, like a demon, in order to survive—he attempts to possess the player. If he succeeds, a negative ending is revealed where the possessed player-character finds and strangles baby grues until he finds one strong enough to hold the Ur-grue's essence, implying that the Ur-grue's usual shadowy form is an enhanced version of a grue's body.

If the player's Compassion stat is high enough—represented by having done enough good deeds throughout the game—the Ur-grue is shown to be unable to possess the player, his evil apparently unable to coexist in the same body with an extremely pure or virtuous spirit, and the Ur-grue's old man form fades away. Whether this means the Ur-grue was permanently destroyed in this encounter is unclear, as is the possibility of others of his kind existing somewhere in the world, although, being magical in nature, it seems unlikely any Ur-grues could survive in Quendor following the Great Change.

Feelies
Almost since the company's beginning, Infocom's games included "extras" (called feelies) in the packages, often serving a dual purpose of entertainment and copy protection. Beyond Zork is no exception. The game package contained:
A large fold-out map of the "Southland of Quendor"
A small book titled The Lore and Legends of Quendor, a field guide of sorts to the flora and fauna of the area (several entries contained the information necessary to defeat or incapacitate creatures in the game)

Notes

Beyond Zork combined procedural generation and character creation with a very plot-heavy story, as the player's scores affected not just numerical gameplay mechanics, but crucial puzzles as well.  The game's mechanics combine the engine of a broader puzzle-based adventure game with areas featuring the mechanics of a simplified role-playing game or Multi-User Dungeon, particularly in the implementations of character statistics and levels. The "attributes" that affected the character were endurance, strength, dexterity, intelligence, compassion, and luck. These attributes could be manually allocated by the player at the beginning of the game or randomly set by the computer. Additionally, there were several preset characters that could be used. The values of these attributes affected combat and other aspects of the game.  Combat sections of the game were dependent on the player's strength, dexterity, and endurance (and slightly on luck);  meanwhile, puzzles often depended not just on solving a creative puzzle but on a required value in any one of the six statistics as well.

The game's design encouraged multiple playthroughs. The map was presented nonlinearly, and some paths and interactions required a high statistic to successfully complete the task. Every statistic could unlock at least one, and usually several, crucial puzzles and solutions;  but the player would find him or herself at a disadvantage in others. For example, an intelligent player character could read the words on magical scrolls, and use magical items, from early on in the game - this allowed the wide-ranging traversal of the map and the completion of many plot points, but the value required generally meant taking points away from the combat statistics. A dexterous character could traverse paths and enter rooms unavailable to the clumsy. Some enemies did not damage the character's hit points but instead their other statistics, and "dying" due to a non-hit-point statistic score falling to zero resulted in quite interesting death sequences. All values could be improved to the required solution values by gaining experience levels, eating or drinking certain foods or magical items, or wearing or using certain objects. Every playthrough of the game was different, due to procedural generation of maze-like dungeon areas, and many items that could actually unlock puzzles were semi-randomly placed.  Puzzles for which the easiest solution was disallowed by a low statistic required either raising that statistic through items and exploration, or alternate solutions not dependent on player scores, with some of these solutions quite obscure and/or requiring wide-ranging map traversal. (Humorously, repeated typing of profanities would lower the player's intelligence.)

Many locations, creatures and events encountered in other Zork games were referenced in Beyond Zork via its fictional setting in Quendor, the legendarium of the other Zork games.  As with all Zork games, the player must find and carry a light source in any darkened area of the map or be "eaten by a grue" within several turns of wandering around in the dark.

A short section of the game involves the magical land of Froon, "the setting for a series of beloved children's books by L. Frank Fzort, and later became a successful movie musical starring Judy Garlic." This is a not-very-subtle tribute to (or parody of) L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Beyond Zork was one of 20 Infocom games bundled in the 1991 compilation The Lost Treasures of Infocom published by Activision.

Technical details

The game's most noticeable enhancement relative to its Infocom predecessors is the addition of an onscreen map to the heads-up display, which shows the player's location in relation to the surrounding area. In addition, game navigation can be accomplished via mouse clicks on the map, if the operating system that the game is running on supports mouse input.

In addition, the game continued the Zork series' early use of procedural generation in videogaming.  A number of magic items have initial locations and descriptions that are randomly determined, and some sections of the area map are randomly reorganized, each time a new game is played.  Role-playing game-like elements are also present in combat, including the concept of hit points and character statistics. Infocom had used these concepts before only in a rather limited way in Zork I and III.

Like Infocom's other games, Beyond Zork is platform independent and runs on a virtual computer architecture called the Z-machine. There were 4 versions of the game released in 1987, all using version 5 of the Z-machine. The game has 144 rooms and 77 objects, with a vocabulary of 1569 words and a total of 32778 opcodes.

Reception
A review in Computer Gaming World was pleased with some of Beyond Zork'''s features, particularly the ability to define macros and bind them to the function keys. The randomness of the game was described as frustrating, particularly as maps and item properties randomize upon restoring a previous game save. The review concluded by describing Beyond Zork as "a curious hybrid... mostly tough Infocom adventure with a patina of role-playing elements." In 1993 the magazine stated that the game's "merging of CRPG with adventure does not mix as well as it should". The game was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon #132 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 5 stars. Compute! stated that the game's combination of text adventure and RPG "introduces the next stage in interactive fiction". It concluded, "Beyond Zork reaffirms Infocom's position as king of the text adventures". Antic'' stated that "this hack-and-slash approach is not what we have come to expect from Infocom". While approving of Undo and other user interface improvements, the magazine disliked the loss of "exactly what Infocom writers do best—lots of descriptive text with a loving eye for detail that adds a sense of realism to good adventures". The reviewer concluded, "if adding these bells and whistles cuts into the heart of your product, is the trade-off worth it?"

References

External links

 Beyond Zork overview and information (archived)
 Scans of the Beyond Zork package, documentation and feelies
 Partial transcripts of Beyond Zork
 The Infocom Bugs List entry on Beyond Zork

1980s interactive fiction
1987 video games
Adventure games
Amiga games
Apple II games
Apple IIGS games
Atari ST games
Classic Mac OS games
Commodore 128 games
DOS games
Fantasy video games
Games commercially released with DOSBox
Video games developed in the United States
Video games featuring protagonists of selectable gender
Zork


text:
Choose another justice inspectorate
HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate
HM Inspectorate of Probation
Criminal Justice Joint Inspection
Promoting improvements
in policing and fire & rescue
services to make everyone safer
Integrated PEEL Assessments
Organisational documents
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/ PEEL assessments
/ PEEL Assessment 2016
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/ Legitimacy
Cleveland PEEL 2016
How legitimate is the force at keeping people safe and reducing crime?
Cleveland Police has been assessed as requiring improvement in respect of how legitimate it is in keeping people safe and reducing crime. The force needs to improve the ways it seeks feedback on issues of fairness and respect from the people it serves, how it ensures its workforce acts ethically and how it treats its workforce with fairness and respect.
Cleveland Police has shown improvement since our 2015 PEEL inspections in respect of the workforce's awareness and understanding of the Code of Ethics, including the importance of treating all of the people it serves with fairness and respect.
Read more about Legitimacy
The force uses several sources to obtain the views of the public about how they are treated, but it does not bring this together with other management information to create a comprehensive picture of issues associated with fair and respectful treatment. This is particularly the case in relation to those with less trust and confidence in the police. However, the force has established the 'everyone matters' project, which aims to address this problem. As part of the project, the force provides sessions for officers and staff on cultural awareness and training about 'words that hurt' which raises awareness of language that may offend people.
Cleveland Police creates an ethical culture by vetting its new recruits according to national standards and by making the workforce aware of the standards of behaviour expected of them and of the policies they are required to adhere to. The force's counter-corruption unit is able to investigate information once reported, but it does not have the capacity and capability to look for potential corruption. The workforce is aware of the seriousness of abuse of authority for sexual gain and reports of suspicious behaviour are investigated. However, the force could do more to raise awareness of warning signs among the workforce.
Both the public and the workforce are informed of the outcomes from misconduct investigations, and misconduct hearings are publicised.
Cleveland Police uses a number of techniques to seek feedback relating to the fair and respectful treatment of its workforce, including surveys and exit interviews. It could improve the way it communicates action taken in response to workforce feedback, as some of the staff we spoke to were not aware of what action had been taken as a result of the staff survey.
The force has a new wellbeing strategy and is working towards gaining national accreditation for its wellbeing provision, although as HMIC raised this issue last year, we had hoped to see more progress in this area.
The force has recently introduced a new performance assessment process that is yet to be adopted fully across the force. There is currently no supervision of the system and it is not clearly linked to continuous professional development or performance processes.
Questions for Legitimacy
Cleveland Police was able to demonstrate that it uses a variety of methods to communicate and engage with the public. There were some examples of the force seeking feedback. Victim surveys are conducted and independent custody visitors speak to detainees in custody. However, apart from these standard processes, we did not see any evidence of the force regularly seeking challenge and feedback from those with less trust and confidence in the police. The 'everyone matters' project team has started some work in relation to making contact with those members of the community who are less likely to use traditional means to give feedback.
Areas for improvement
The force should improve how it seeks feedback from the people it serves about their experiences (or perceptions) of how the police have treated them.
PEEL: Police legitimacy 2016 – Cleveland Police
PEEL: Police legitimacy 2016 – A national overview
2016 legitimacy inspection data
It's a fair cop? Police legitimacy, public cooperation, and crime reduction (PDF document)
Fair cop 2: Organisational justice, behaviour and ethical policing (PDF document)
Integrity matters and Literature review – Police Integrity and Corruption
Best Use of Stop and Search Scheme (PDF document)
Stop and Search Powers – are the police using them effectively and fairly?
Code of Ethics – A Code of Practice for the Principles and Standards of Professional Behaviour for the Policing Profession of England and Wales (PDF document)
Cleveland Police needs to improve the steps it takes to ensure its workforce behaves ethically and lawfully. The workforce is aware of the standards of behaviour expected of them and all the staff we spoke to had received some briefing or training regarding the Code of Ethics. The counter-corruption unit investigates reports of potential corruption but has limited resources to conduct any proactive intelligence gathering, and the recording and the force's assessment of intelligence is not comprehensive. The force publishes misconduct outcomes and provides information to its workforce about lessons from misconduct investigations. The force vets all new recruits, including volunteers and contractors. It is currently recruiting new staff and the retrospective vetting of existing staff is on hold.
In our 2016 national overview of police legitimacy, we recommended that all forces should have started to implement a plan to achieve the capability and capacity required to seek intelligence on potential abuse of position for sexual gain. In 2017, we reviewed of the plans put in place by all forces to in response to this recommendation.
Abuse of position assessment – Cleveland Police
The force should ensure it complies with all aspects of the current national guidelines for vetting.
The force should review the capacity and capability of its counter-corruption unit, to ensure it can manage its work effectively.
The force should improve the way corruption intelligence is assessed, graded and stored.
Promoting ethical behaviour and preventing wrongdoing in organisations (PDF document)
The role of leadership in promoting ethical police behaviour (PDF document)
The abuse of police powers to perpetrate sexual violence (PDF document)
Cleveland Police has sought the views of the workforce in relation to their perception of fair and respectful treatment but it could do more to tell the workforce it has taken action to address issues raised. We found examples of initial steps taken to improve the workplace, such as the 'Everyone Matters' project. This project is in its infancy and its effectiveness is yet to be established.
The force has recognised the importance of wellbeing, particularly psychological wellbeing. It is just beginning a self-assessment process to gain national accreditation for its wellbeing provision. Supervisors have received training from the mental health charity MIND to identify areas of concern among their staff.
The workforce performance assessment process has recently changed as a result of a poor completion rate across the force. There is no formal oversight of the process and the force cannot be sure that assessments are fair and effective.
The force should improve how it manages individual performance.
Organisational justice: Implications for police and emergency service leadership (PDF document)
PDR Making it Count
Definitions and interpretations
How to contact HMICFRS
© Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services
Globe House
89 Eccleston Square
SW1V 1PN
contacthmicfrs@hmicfrs.gov.uk
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