Alauddin Khalji's conquest of Gujarat

"“In the beginning of AH 697 ‘Alãu’d-Dîn sent Almãs Beg and Nasrat Khãn along with other chiefs of Dehlî and the army of Sindh, for the conquest of Gujarãt… Gujarãt had a very famous idol which was not only of the same name as Somnãt but was also equally prestigious. The Musalmans got hold of this idol and had it sent to Dehlî so that it could be trampled upon…”"

"“In the third year after the accession, the Sultãn sent Ulugh Khãn and Nasrat Khãn, with large armies to invade Gujarãt. They ravaged and plundered Nahrwãlah, and all the cities of the province… Ulugh Khãn and Nasrat Khãn also brought the idol, which the Brãhmans of Somnãth had set up, and were worshipping, in place of the one which Sultãn Mahmûd had broken to pieces, to Delhi, and placed it where the people would trample upon it…”"

"Ulugh Khan invaded Gujarat. He sacked the whole country. He pursued the Rai upto Somnath. He destroyed the temple of Somnath which was the principal place of worship for the Hindus and great Rais since ancient times. He constructed a mosque on the site and returned to Delhi."

"Mahmud demolished Somnath in the year 416 (1122)' and carried its relics to Ghazni. After his death, unbelief returned to Naharwala as its residents took an idol and buried it on a side. There was publicity of return of Somnath. They took it out from its burial place. It was exhibited and fixed at a place where it was. Malek Ulugh Khan took it along with all the spoils to Delhi. They made it the threshold at its gate. This victory took place on Wednesday, 20th Jamadi I, 698 (1299)'....'It was kept by a Brahmin after being mutilated by MaHamud. It was Lamnat. They named it Somnath. They worshipped it out of misguidance from ancient times. They carried it to Delhi. It was placed at the entrance of the gate"

"At the beginning of the third year of the reign, Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan, with their amirs and generals, and a large army marched against Gujarat' All Gujarat became a prey to the invaders, and the idol, which after the victory of Sultan Mahmud and his destruction of (the idol) of Manat, the Brahmans had set up under the name of Somanat, for the worship of the Hindus, was carried to Delhi where it was laid for the people to tread upon95"

"In the third year after the accession, the Sultan sent Ulugh Khan and Nasrat Khan, with large armies to invade Gujarat. They ravaged and plundered Nahrwalah, and all the cities of the province Ulugh Khan and Nasrat Khan also brought the idol, which the Brahmans of Somnath had set up, and were worshipping, in place of the one which Sultan Mahmud had broken to pieces, to Delhi, and placed it where the people would trample upon it"

"On Wednesday, the 20th of Jamadi-ul Awwal in AH 698 (23 February, 1299), the Sultan sent an order to the manager of the armed forces for despatching the army of Islam to Gujarat so that the temple of Somnat on its shore could be destroyed. Ulugh Khan was put in charge of the expedition. When the royal army reached that province, it won a victory after great slaughter. Thereafter the Khan-i-Ãzam went with his army to the sea-shore and besieged Somnat which was a place of worship for the Hindus. The army of Islam broke the idols and the biggest idol was sent to the court of the Sultan."

"And in the year AH 698 (AD 1298) he appointed Ulugh Khan to the command of a powerful army, to proceed into the country of Gujarat' Ulugh Khan carried off an idol from Nahrwala' and took it to Dihli where he caused it to be trampled under foot by the populace; then he pursued Rai Karan as far as Somnat, and a second time laid waste the idol temple of Somnat, and building a mosque there retraced his steps.'"

"'In the year 696, six hundred and ninety-six, he sent an army for the conquest of Gujarat under the command of Ulugh Khan who became famous among the Gujaratis as Alp Khan and Nusrat Khan Jalesri. These Khans subjected Naharwala that is, Pattan and the whole of that dominion to plunder and pillage' They broke the idol of Somnat which was installed again after Sultan Mahmud Ghaznawi and sent riches, treasure, elephants, women and daughters of Raja Karan to the Sultan at Delhi....[Somnath (Gujarat) ] 'After conquest of Naharwala and expulsion of Raja Karan, Ulugh Khan occupied himself with the government. From that day, governors were appointed on this side on behalf of the Sultans of Dilhi. It is said that a lofty masjid called Masjid-i-Adinah (Friday Masjid) of marble stone which exists even today is built by him. It is popular among common folk that error is mostly committed in counting its many pillars. They relate that it was a temple which was converted into a masjid' Most of the relics and vestiges of magnificence and extension of the ancient prosperity of Pattan city are found in the shape of bricks and dried clay, which inform us about the truth of this statement, scattered nearly to a distance of three kurohs (one kuroh = 2 miles) from the present place of habitation. Remnants of towers of the ancient fortifications seen at some places are a proof of repeated changes and vicissitudes in population due to passage of times. Most of the ancient relics gradually became extinct. Marble stones, at the end of the rule of rajas, were brought from Ajmer for building temples in such a quantity that more than which is dug out from the earth even now. All the marble stones utilized in the city of Ahmedabad were (brought) from that place[Patan (Gujarat)]"

"A century later, 1297-1298, Ulugh Khan and Nasrat Khan Jalesari, the generals of Sultan ‘Alaudin invaded Gujarat, sacked the temple of Somanatha, defeated the Raja Kama Vaghela—who fled and took refuge with Ramadeva of Devagiri—and captured Nahrwalah (Anahilavada). Then Gujarat became a province of the Mughal empire, and thenceforward the great architectural works of the Solanki and Vaghela kings were wilfully and maliciously dilapidated by Islam bigotry. Ulugh Khan, known as Alp or Alaf Khan, one of the first governors of Nahrwalah, we are told by ‘Ali Muhammad Khan, the author of the Mirdt-i Ahmadi , “ built the Adinah masjid of white marble which remains at the present time (1756). . . . There is a fine masjid which it is said at that time stood in the centre of the city, but is now far away from the inhabited part."

"“So the temple of Somnath was made to bow towards the Holy Mecca; and as the temple lowered its head and jumped into the sea, you may say that the building first said its prayers and then had a bath… It seemed as if the tongue of the Imperial sword explained the meaning of the text: ‘So he (Abraham) broke them (the idols) into pieces except the chief of them, that haply they may return to it.’ Such a pagan country, the Mecca of the infidels, now became the Medina of Islam. The followers of Abraham now acted as guides in place of the Brahman leaders. The robust-hearted true believers rigorously broke all idols and temples wherever they found them. Owing to the war, ‘takbir,’ and ‘shahadat’ was heard on every side; even the idols by their breaking affirmed the existence of God. In this ancient land of infidelity the call to prayers rose so high that it was heard in Baghdad and Madain (Ctesiphon) while the ‘Ala’ proclamation (Khutba) resounded in the dome of Abraham and over the water of Zamzam… The sword of Islam purified the land as the Sun purifies the earth.”"

"Somanath: “They made the temple prostrate itself towards the Kaaba. You may say that the temple first offered its prayers and then had a bath (i.e. the temple was made to topple and fall into the sea)… He (Ulugh Khan) destroyed all the idols and temples, but sent one idol, the biggest of all idols, to the court of his Godlike Majesty and on that account in that ancient stronghold of idolatry, the summons to prayers was proclaimed so loudly that they heard it in Misr (Egypt) and Madain (Iraq)” (Tarikh-i-Alai)."

"Alauddin became Sultan in 1296 AD. In 1298 AD he equipped an expedition to Gujarat under his generals Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan. The invaders plundered the ports of Surat and Cambay. The temple of Somnath, which had been rebuilt by the Hindus, was plundered and the idol taken to Delhi for being trodden upon by the Muslims. Kamala Devi, the queen of Gujarat, was captured along with the royal treasury, brought to Delhi and forced into Alauddin’s harem."

"Jalaluddin’s nephew and successor Alauddin Khalji (1296-1316) turned out to be a very strong king. He marched against Devagiri in 1296. On his way through Gondwana and Khandesh he took prisoners a large number of Mahajans and cultivators, and ransomed them for wealth.33 At Devagiri he enslaved a number of the Raja’s relatives, and Brahmans and Mahajans. He put them in shackles and chains and paraded them in front of the fort to pressure the besieged king. After victory, he released many of the captives because of compulsions of the situation. He was only a prince who had marched to the Deccan without the Sultan’s permission. But his taking of slaves in large numbers was in consonance with the policy of Muslim sultans and gave a foretaste of what was to follow during the course of his reign.... In 1299 he despatched a large army for the invasion of Gujarat. There all the major towns and cities like Naharwala, Asaval, Vanmanthali, Surat, Cambay, Somnath etc. were sacked. There the temples were broken, wealth looted and large numbers of captives of both sexes captured, including the famous Malik Kafur and the Vaghela king’s consort Kamala Devi. In the words of Wassaf, the Muslim army in the sack of Somnath “took captive a great number of handsome and elegant maidens, amounting to 20,000, and children of both sexes… the Muhammadan army brought the country to utter ruin, and destroyed the lives of inhabitants, and plundered the cities and captured their offspring…” In 1301 Ranthambhor was attacked and in 1303 Chittor. In the invasion of Chittor, 30,000 people were massacred in cold blood and obviously females and minors of their families were captured.38 Slaves were also taken in large numbers in the expeditions to Malwa, Sevana and Jalor (1305-1311); these will be referred to again in the course of this study. Maybe the number of captives obtained from Rajasthan was not that large knowing the bravery and chivalry of the Rajputs and their prevailing customs of Jauhar and Sati. But the highly successful Deccan campaigns of Malik Kafur must have supplied a large corps of captives. Besides, Alauddin did not confine to obtaining Hindu slaves....“The Mongol invaders were certainly infidels,” says Mahdi Husain."

"Minhaj Siraj writes that "Ulugh Khan Balban's taking of captives, and his capture of the dependents of the great Ranas cannot be recounted". Such was the scale of slave-taking by Muslims in Hindustan that information about it travelled abroad, so that Wassaf writes that in the sack of Somnath in 1299 the Muslim army "took captive a great number of handsome and elegant maidens, amounting to 20,000 and children of both sexes"."

"Barni endorsed the statement that the image was taken to the imperial capital, .. and the idol which after the victory of Sultan Mahmud and his destruction of (the idol) Manat, the Brahmans had set up under the name Somnath for the worship of the Hindus, was removed and carried to Dehli, where it was laid down for people to tread upon ."

"He made efforts at the proclamation of the word of God (confession of the Muslim faith). He led an army for plundering the temple of Somnat, that is, Pattan Dev. He spread Islam at most of the places."

"Padmanabha, in his Kanhadade Prabandha, presented a noticeably different account of the attack on Somnath. He composed his work in 1455 ck, at the behest of the fifth in descent of Raval Kanhadade Chauhan of Jalor, who had fought the Khalji forces. "he work recounted the heroic tale of Kanhadade and the people of Jalor, who resisted the Delhi armies till the very end (Padmanabha 1991: vii-xxii). The text stated, Profound calamity had fallen upon Lord Somanatha’s temple. The locks (of the doors) were broken open and the enemy rushed through the doors tumultuously, and took possession of the temple drum and Kansala. The Mlechchha (asura) stone-breakers climbed up the sikhara of the temple (to take off the golden kalasa) and began to rain blows on the stone idols on all the three sides (pasa) by their hammers, the stone pieces falling all around. They loosened every joint of the temple building, and then began to break the different layers (thara), and the sculptured elephants and horses on them by incessant blows of their hammers. Then, amidst loud and vulgar clamour, they began to apply force from both the sides to uproot the massive idol by means of wooden beams and iron crowbars. Such strange and improper happenings were taking place: the kaliyuga was, no doubt, showing its true temper: Lord Siva, leaving the earthly abode, went away to Kailasa. Ulug Khan now ordered: ‘The temple will remain without its God idol! Despatch the idol (bhuta) to Delhi where I will have it crushed and made into lime.’ Half cart (Faraka i.e. Firg) and rekhala, with wheels fitted with iron rims, were brought to place the idol with the help of strong wooden beams. Dark coarse Bhoias loaded the linga on the huge cart to which were yoked three pairs of bullocks, and the idol was sent off towards Delhi (Padmanabha 1991: 10). The next day, the Rauts surveyed the battlefield. The palhans of the horses, turrets (panjari) carried by the elephants, and slaughtered horses were lying scattered all over the ground... Also could be seen severed heads and torsos lying here and there. The ground had become wet and miry with flesh and gore of the slain. The Raval secured back Lord Somanatha’s idol and then washed his weapons... No sooner the people of Jalor came to know of Kanhadade’s victory, they came to greet him and offer felicitations... (Padmanabha 1991: 25-27). At Jalor, Kanhadade now worshipped Lord Somanatha, daily bathing the idol with panchamrita, performing all the sixteen rituals, and adorning the idol with sandal paste, flowers, tilaka, etc... Of the Ekalinga, which saves one from falling into the hell and dire troubles and afflictions, five idols were carved out; there is no sixth one like them. One of these was ceremoniously installed at Soratha and another at Lohasing in Vagada. One was sent to a pleasant spot on the Abu hill for consecration, while one was installed at Jalor where the Rai built a temple and one was sent to Saivadi (Jalor district). At all these five places, worship of Lord Siva is performed"

"This is contrary to our dharma! The Kings do not give passage when by doing so villages are devastated, people are enslaved, ears of women torn (for omaments), and cows and Brahmanas are tortured."

"(Now, coming back to the doings of the Turks, a sorry and dark narration indeed). People were made prisoners, Modasa was destroyed, and the villages set on fire. The plunderers, taking advantage of the confusion and fleeing of people from their villages., rushed about looting and pillaging.*” Kahanama (Kanam) and Charottara regions (defa) were thoroughly destroyed. So also were Bavan and Khedara (Kheda) regions of Gujarat. And yet there was no end to violence and destruction by the invaders. The Muslim troops overran Dandahi and Dahottara, Dhanadhara, and Dhan-dhol, spreading consternation everywhere."

"After the flight of Karna, Patana fort was destroyed, its well-filled stores and treasures were captured, and excellent horses of fine breed in the royal stables taken away by Ulugh Khan.™ What took place in Anhalapur (Patana) had never happened earlier, nor would ever happen again. Where formerly temples stood, now the call to prayer (bang) by Musalmans (Sillari) could be heard. Ulugh Khan first destroyed Patanagarh and then dwelt on its good aspects. He then had Alauddin's sovereignty proclaimed there."

"The Muslim troops then marched towards Asaval, after establish- ing military post (tha@na) at Patanagarh. Everywhere in Gujarat, terror spread following Turkish conquest of Patana.‘” Asaval, Dholka, Khambat, Strat and Raner—how many other towns may be mentioned—Champaner including—all these began to tremble (on hearing of the fall of Patana). The coastal towns alike were utterly shaken and terrorised. The Turks saw there vast stores, like sea itself, full of gold, silver, silk, and raw camphor."

"The scene in Gujarat had changed suddenly. The ravaging and plundering Turkish troops were now roaming about all over the country. They plundered grain, seized cattle of good breed, and made people prisoners.” They behaved with great severity in Gujarat and took away everything. Drums were now struck and the Khan set out with his army for Somanatha Patana (Somaiya).”!"

"The Sultan's army burnt down the villages and devastated the country (desu). They completely destroyed several towns, spread constemation in Soratha region, and plundered the property of the people.’ They made people captive — Brahmanas and children, and women, in fact, people of all the eighteen varnas, huddled them and tied them by straps of raw hide. The number of prisoners made by them was beyond counting.'*"

"How to deal with the war, now raging like a forest fire fanned by a strong wind! How to save oneself from the Turks who had descended with their swords on this fair and beautiful land! Junagarh and Gimar were destroyed, the land of Kachchha (Cutch) overrun, and Kanthagehadi, Parkar and Thatta were trembling with fear.”"

"When Sultan ‘Alau-d din, the Sultan of Dehli, was well established in the centre of his dominion and had cut off the heads of his enemies and slain them, and had imparted rest to his subjects from the fountain of his kindness and justice, the vein of the zeal of religion beat high for the subjection of infidelity and destruction of idols, and in the month of Zi’l-hijja 698 H. (1298 A,D.) his brother [p. 47] Malik Mu’izzu-d din3 and Nusrat Khan, the chief pillar of the state and the leader of his armies, a generous and intelligent warrior, were sent to Kambayat, the most celebrated of the cities of Hind in population and wealth. Its air is pure, its water clear, and the circumjacent country beautiful and charming both in scenery and buildings. With a view to holy war, and not for the lust of conquest. he enlisted under their banners about 14,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry, which, in their language, are called dakk.” They went by daily marches through the hills, from stage to stage, and when they arrived at their destination at early dawn they surrounded Kambayat, and the idolators were awakened from their sleepy state of carelessness and were taken by surprise, not knowing where to go, and mothers forgot their children and dropped them from their embrace. 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. They plundered gold and silver to all extent greater than can be conceived, and an immense number of brilliant precious stones, such as pearls, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, etc., as well as a great variety of cloths, both silk and cotton, stamped, embroidered, and coloured. They took captive a great number of handsome and elegant maidens amounting to 20,000, and children of both sexes, more than the pen can enumerate, and thirteen enormous elephants; whose motions would put the earth in tremor.” In short, the Muhammadan army [p. 48] brought the country to utter ruin, and destroyed the lives of the inhabitants, and plundered the cities, and captured their offspring, so that many temples were deserted, and the idols were broken and trodden under foot, the largest of which was one called Somnat, fixed upon stone, polished like a mirror, of charming shape and admirable workmanship. It stood seven yards high. Its position was such as if it was about to move, and its expression such as if it was about to speak. If the introducer of idolatry were to look on it he would become enamoured of its beauty. The infidels objected to people going near it. Its head was adorned with a crown set with gold and rubies and pearls and other precious stones, so that it was impossible for the eyes to trace the redness of the gold on account of the excessive lustre of the jewels, and a necklace of large shining pearls, like the belt of Orion, depended from the shoulder towards the side of the body. The Muhammadan soldiers plundered all those jewels and rapidly set themselves to demolish the idol. The surviving infidels were deeply affected with grief, and they engaged to pay a thousand thousand pieces of gold as a ransom for the idol, but they were indignantly rejected, and the idol was destroyed, and its limbs, which were anointed with ambergris and perfumed, were cut off. The fragments were conveyed to Dehli, and the entrance of the Jami’ Masjid was paved with them, that people might remember and talk of this brilliant victory. “Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds. Amen!” After some time, among the ruins of the temples, a most beautiful jasper-coloured stone was discovered, on which one of the merchants had designed some beautiful figures of fighting-men and other ornamental figures of globes, lamps, etc., and on the margin of it were sculptured verses from the Kuran. This stone was sent as an offering to the shrine of the pole of saints, Shaikh Murshid Abu Is’hak Ibrahim bin Shahriar. At that time they were building a lofty octagonal dome to the [p. 49] tomb. The stone was placed at the right of the entrance. At this time, that is, in the year 707 H. (1307 A.D.), ‘Alau-d din is the acknowledged Sultan of this country. On all its borders there are infidels, whom it is his duty to attack in the prosecution of a holy war, and return laden with countless booty."