Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan

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Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan
Sultan
1st Sultan of Ma'bar
Reign1335 – 1339
SuccessorAla-ud-din Udauji Shah
Died1339
IssueIbrahim
ReligionIslam

Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan (died 1339), initially Hasan Kaithali,[1] also known as Jalal al-Din Ahsan Shah,[2] was the first Sultan of Madurai Sultanate and father-in-law of the great traveller Ibn Battuta.

Origin[edit]

His original name was Sayyid Hasan Kaithali or Kithli, the nisba 'Kaithali' distinguishing his origin from the village of Kaithal, Haryana in Northern India.[3]

Declaration of independence[edit]

In 1335, Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, the Muslim Governor of Madurai, declared his independence and established the independent sultanate of Madurai.[4] As a response to his rebellion, the Sultan of Delhi punished the Sayyid and other Indian Muslim inhabitants of Kaithal out of spite for Ahsan Khan as he belonged to Kaithal.[5] He claimed the whole of the Delhi Sultanate province of Ma'bar which included a small part of the ancient Tamil country.[4] However, he scarcely had any authority beyond the realm of the Pandyas and the territory to the north of the river Kaveri was largely independent under the Cholas and the Hoysalas.[6]

Reign[edit]

Coin of Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, first ruler of the Sultanate of Madurai

Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan took over as the independent sultan of Madurai in 1335.[7] Ferishta, however, gives a date of 1341 for his assumption of the sultanate.[8] Ferishta refers to Ahsan Khan as Syed, Hasan and Husun.[8] Ahsan Khan was also the father-in-law of the Moorish traveller Ibn Battuta.[8] Immediately, Muhammad bin Tughluq sent an army to reassert his control over the region. But Ahsan Khan easily defeated this army.[8] Tughluq took his revenge by killing Ahsan Khan's son Ibrahim who was the purse-bearer of the Emperor. Ahsan Khan was killed in 1340 by one of his nobles after having ruled for a brief span of 5 years.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Qanungo (1960). Historical Essays.
  2. ^ Jalāl al-Dīn Aḥsan Shah at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  3. ^ Qanungo (1960). Historical Essays. p. 142. Sayyid Hassan Kaithali...half a dozen Hasans, each distinguished from the other by an epithet indicative either of domicile or of birth
  4. ^ a b Aiyangar, Pg 155
  5. ^ Qanungo. Historical Essays. p. 38.
  6. ^ Aiyangar, Pg 156
  7. ^ Sen, Sailendra (2013). A Textbook of Medieval Indian History. Primus Books. p. 95. ISBN 978-9-38060-734-4.
  8. ^ a b c d Aiyangar, Pg 165

References[edit]