Alp Khan (died late 1315 or early 1316) was a general and brother-in-law of the Delhi Sultanate ruler

Alauddin Khalji Alaud-Dīn Khaljī, also called Alauddin Khilji or Alauddin Ghilji (), 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 ...

. He served as Alauddin's governor of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the nin ...

, and held considerable influence at the royal court of Delhi during the last years of Alauddin's life. He was executed on the charges of conspiring to kill Alauddin, possibly because of a conspiracy by

Malik Kafur Malik Kafur (died 1316), also known as Taj al-Din Izz al-Dawla, was a prominent slave-general of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Alauddin Khalji. He was captured by Alauddin's general Nusrat Khan during the 1299 invasion of Gujarat, and rose to promi ...

Early life

Alp Khan was originally named Junaid, and was later called

Malik Malik, Mallik, Melik, Malka, Malek, Maleek, Malick, Mallick, or Melekh ( phn, 𐤌𐤋𐤊; ar, ملك; he, מֶלֶךְ) is the Semitic term translating to "king", recorded in East Semitic and Arabic, and as mlk in Northwest Semitic duri ...

Sanjar. He appears to have come from a family of Khalji chiefs. According to

Isami Isami (written: 勇) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * Isami Doi (1903–1965), American printmaker and painter * Isami Enomoto (1929-2016), American ceramicist *, Japanese professional wrestler * (1834� ...

, Alauddin brought him up since his childhood. Upon becoming the Sultan of Delhi in 1296, Alauddin gave him the title Alp Khan ("Powerful Khan"). His sister (called Mahru according to the 16th-17th century chronicler Haji-ud-Dabir) married Alauddin: Khizr Khan was the issue of this marriage.

Career

Alauddin appointed Alp Khan as ''Amir-i-Majlis'' (chief of protocol), and granted him the

iqta' An iqta ( ar, اقطاع, iqṭāʿ) and occasionally iqtaʿa ( ar, اقطاعة) was an Islamic practice of tax farming that became common in Muslim Asia during the Buyid dynasty. Iqta has been defined in Nizam-al-Mulk's Siyasatnama. Administrat ...

Multan Multan (; ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, on the bank of the Chenab River. Multan is Pakistan's seventh largest city as per the 2017 census, and the major cultural, religious and economic centre of southern Punjab. Multan is one of the olde ...

. In c. 1310, Alauddin granted Alp Khan the iqta' of

. The

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

works praise Alp Khan for allowing reconstruction of the shrines destroyed by the Muslim conquerors. Kakka Suri's ''

Nabhi-nandana-jinoddhara-prabandha The ''Nābhi-nandana-jinoddhāra-prabandha'' is a 1336 Sanskrit book in the prabandha genre written by the Jain scholar Kakka Suri (Kakkasūri). The main objective of the book is to record the renovation of the Rishabhanatha Jain temple in Shatru ...

'' records the

Shatrunjaya Shatrunjaya or Shetrunjaya ("place of victory against inner enemies") originally Pundarikgiri), are hills located by the city of Palitana, in Bhavnagar district, Gujarat, India. They are situated on the banks of the Shetrunji River at an elevat ...

temple renovation permitted by him. In 1308, Alauddin ordered Alp Khan to support

during the invasion of Devagiri. Alp Khan's forces invaded

Baglana Baglana was a small Rajput kingdom of India that was situated on the main trade route between Surat and Daulatabad and Golkonda, with Burhanpur nearby. Over a period of many centuries up until 1637, the kingdom had paid a tribute to various Musl ...

, where the Vaghela king

Karna Karna (Sanskrit: कर्ण, IAST: ''Karṇa''), also known as Vasusena, Anga-raja, and Radheya, is one of the main protagonists of the Hindu epic '' Mahābhārata''. He is the son of the sun god Surya and princess Kunti (mother of the Pa ...

had been given a principality by the Devagiri ruler

Ramachandra Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular ''avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Being ...

. Alp Khan's soldiers were unable to apprehend Karna, but managed to capture Karna's daughter Devaladevi. Alp Khan sent her to Delhi, where she was married to his nephew Khizr Khan.

Death

Alp Khan's daughters married Alauddin's sons Khizr Khan and Shadi Khan. As the maternal uncle and the father-in-law of the

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

Khizr Khan, Alp Khan held considerable influence at the Delhi court, especially during the last years of Alauddin. In 1315, when Alauddin suffered from a serious illness, he vied with Alauddin's slave-viceroy

for control of power. Kafur convinced Alauddin to sanction the murder of Alp Khan. It was alleged that Alp Khan, his sister and Khizr Khan had conspired to poison Alauddin in order to make Khizr Khan the new king. However, this might have been Kafur's propaganda.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{Alauddin Khalji Alauddin Khalji 14th-century Indian Muslims 1310s deaths