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Alauddin Khalji

13th Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate and 2nd from the Khalji dynasty (1266-1316)

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 28, 2026
Entity authorityQ335362 ↗
Source-derived summary

Ala al-Din Muhammad Shah (Persian: علاء الدین محمد شاہ) better known as Alauddin Khalji (Persian: علاء الدین خلجی; born Ali Gurshasp; c. 1266 – 4 January 1316) was the Khalji dynasty Sultan of Delhi from 1296 until his death in 1316. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrative changes in the Delhi Sultanate, related to revenues, price controls, and society. He also successfully fended off several Mongol invasions of India.

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 used the 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.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Alauddin Khalji” as 13th Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate and 2nd from the Khalji dynasty (1266-1316). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful synthesis for locating the documentary relationships between formal authority, participants and affected communities. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1266, 1316, 1296, 1291—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1266-01-01. The account is most persuasive where Alauddin, Khalji and 13th can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as 13th Sultan of the Delhi Sultanate and 2nd from the Khalji dynasty (1266-1316). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q335362. VIAF identifies the subject as 38469568. The Library of Congress control number is n88154037. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1266, 1316, 1296 and 1291.

Critical limits

Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
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Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Alauddin Khalji”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Alauddin Khalji primary sources, Alauddin Khalji archive and Alauddin research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Alauddin Khalji”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Alauddin Khalji” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.