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Deval Devi

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Deval Devi(variantly known asDewal Devi,Dewal Rani,Deval RaniandDewal Di) was the daughter ofKaran Deva II(the last sovereign of theVaghela dynastyofGujarat). She was married to Khizr Khan, the eldest son ofAlauddin Khalji,in 1308. Eight years later, Khizr Khan was executed by his brotherQutb ud din Mubarak Shah(reigned 1316–1320), and Deval was taken into the latter'sharem.In 1320, Mubarak in turn was stabbed and beheaded by his supposed favourite,Khusro Khan(the last ruler of theKhalji dynasty), and his followers. Deval was then married to Khusro Khan. Her story, of being passed from hand to hand amongst a series of ambitious, power-hungry Muslim men is the basis of the celebratedGujaratihistorical novelKaran Gheloauthored byNandshankar Mehta.

Biography

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In 1298, the thenSultan of Delhi,Alauddin Khalji,sent an expedition intoGujaratunder the command ofUlugh KhanandNusrat Khan.Karan Deva II of theVaghela dynasty,which may be Adivasi tribe the main ruler of Gujarat, was defeated. His queen, Kamla Devi, fell into the hands of the invaders and was sent as booty to Alauddin Khalji. Karna Deva himself, along with his very young daughter Deval Devi and other surviving followers, fled to theDeccanand took refuge in the court ofRama Chandra Deva,ruler ofDeogiri(later known as Daulatabad).[1][2]

Meanwhile, in Delhi, Karan Deva's wife Kamla Devi was married toAlauddin Khaljias his third wife.[3][4]She soon became the favourite queen of Alauddin[3]and often told the sultan of how much she missed her little daughter. Therefore, when in 1308, ten years after mother and daughter had been separated, the Khalji sultan happened to send an expedition to the Deccan, he instructed his general,Malik Kafur,to bring Deval Devi back with him whether by hook or by crook. By this time, Deval Devi had come of age. The historianFirishtatells us that Rama Chandra Deva, who had granted refuge to Deval's father and his party, had suggested that she be married to his son and heir, Shankara Deva. While in material terms this would be a great match for the refugee princess, her father was not inclined to accept, for reasons related toCaste.[5]He initially refused to take the hint, then made polite excuses and demurred; the hosts realized that he was not interested in a matrimonial alliance and dropped the matter. At this point, Deogiri was faced with the invading army from Delhi. and the special interest of the invaders in Deval Devi became known. A deeply agitated Karna Deva now pressed his hosts to accept his daughter as bride for Prince Shankara Deva. They agreed to this, and advised Karna Deva to immediately send his daughter under escort into the fort of Devagiri (the refugee king had been granted an estate comprising a few nearby villages and was living there). Karna Deva immediately did as he was advised; bedecked as a bride, Deval Devi was seated in a palanquin and sent under armed escort towards the citadel to marry the crown prince. However, before reaching the fort, the party was waylaid by a contingent of Sultanate soldiers and Deval Devi was captured. Nizam ud-Din and`Abd al-Qadir Bada'uniopine that the party was led byUlugh Khanpersonally.[2]She was sent to Delhi, where she was reunited with the mother whom she had not seen since childhood. Shortly afterwards, at the insistence of Kamla Devi, she was married to Alauddin's eldest son Khizr Khan (her mother's step-son).[6]

Following Ala-ud-Din's death in 1316, his third son ascended the throne asQutb ud din Mubarak Shah.[7]During Mubarak Shah's reign, a conspiracy was made to murder him and put one of the sons of Khizr Khan on the throne. When Mubarak Shah came to know about the plan, he put everyone involved in the conspiracy, including his brother Khizr Khan, to death. Historian Haji-ud-Dabir writes that Mubarak Shah then married Deval forcibly, thus becoming her second husband.[8][9]

Mubarak Shah was bisexual, and he was murdered by the associates of his favorite catamite,Khusro Khan,on the night of 14 April 1320.[10]Ziauddin Barani,the contemporary historian, writes that Khusro Khan then married Deval Devi, thus becoming her third husband.[8][11]

TheKaran Ghelotells us that this marriage, her third, was acceptable to Deval Devi, ( though there is not much information available about her first marriage) mainly becauseKhusro Khancame from a background similar to her own. Born into a Rajput family, he had been captured as a young boy during a battle, brought up by Malik Shadi, the naib-i khas-i hajib (deputy royal chamberlain) to Alauddin Khalji in Delhi as muslim, where later his good looks had earned him the favour of Mubarak Shah, all of which is corroborated byBarani.However, after a reign of only five months, Khusro Khan was defeated byGhiyath al-Din Tughluqand was put to death. This happened in September 1320. Historical sources are silent about Deval Devi's fate thereafter, but theKaran Ghelotells us that she took recourse to poison and joined Khusro Khan in death. However, Karan Ghelo is not a historical text.

In literature

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Deval Devi is an important character in theGujaratihistorical novelKaran GhelobyNandshankar Mehta.[12]Amir Khusrawwrote hismasnaviDeval Devi—Khizr Khan,a famous work on the romance between Khizr Khan and Deval Devi and popularly calledIshqiya,IshqiaandAshiqa.[13][12]She is the central character in Sudheer Maurya's Hindi bookDeval Devi: Ek Aetihasik Upanyaas.[14]

References

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  1. ^Jayapalan, N. (2001).History of India.Atlantic Publishers & Distri. p. 24.ISBN978-81-7156-928-1.Archivedfrom the original on 25 April 2017.
  2. ^abMajumdar 1956,p. 190.
  3. ^abMahajan 2015,p. 136.
  4. ^Niazi, Ghulam Sarwar Khan (1992).The Life and Works of Sultan Alauddin Khalji.Atlantic Publishers & Dist. p. 169.ISBN978-81-7156-362-3.Archivedfrom the original on 25 April 2017.
  5. ^Majumdar 1956,p. 191.
  6. ^Chandra, Satish (2004).Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206–1526) – Part One.Har-Anand Publications. p. 92.ISBN978-81-241-1064-5.Archivedfrom the original on 25 April 2017.
  7. ^Mahajan 2015,p. 153.
  8. ^abMahajan 2015,p. 154.
  9. ^Mahajan, Vidya Dhar (1965).Muslim Rule in India.Sultan Chand.
  10. ^Houtsma, M. Th. (1993).E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936.BRILL. p. 1168.ISBN90-04-09790-2.Archivedfrom the original on 15 April 2016.
  11. ^Chaurasia, Radhey Shyam (2002).History of Medieval India: From 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D.Atlantic Publishers & Dist. p. 46.ISBN978-81-269-0123-4.
  12. ^abMukherji, Aban; Vatsal, Tulsi (25 October 2015)."'Karan Ghelo': Translating a Gujarati classic of love and passion, revenge and remorse ".Scroll.in. Archived fromthe originalon 28 March 2016.Retrieved14 April2017.
  13. ^"The Padmavat affair".The Hindu.12 February 2017.Retrieved14 April2017.
  14. ^Buy Deval Devi: eak etihasik Upnyas Book Online.ASIN8190786644.

Bibliography

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