Alauddin Khalji’s raid on Bhilsa

01The raid

Barani says that Alauddin, ambitious and short of money of his own, sought leave to raid Bhilsa, which lay in the weakened Paramara kingdom of Malwa. He took the town, plundered it, and sent the spoils, including bronze images from its temples, to Delhi, where some were laid at the Badaun gate to be trodden on. The gift won him the governorship of Awadh as well as Kara, and the sultan’s trust.

02The road to Devagiri

At Bhilsa Alauddin heard of the treasure of the Yadava kingdom of Devagiri in the Deccan. He kept the news to himself, and in 1296 led a secret raid on Devagiri that brought back enormous wealth, which he used to murder his uncle and take the throne. Vidisha itself had been a sacred and royal city for fifteen centuries, with the Heliodorus pillar and the Udayagiri caves nearby.

Dynasty · c. 948–1305 CE (chiefs from the 9th century)Paramaras of MalwaThe Paramaras traced their birth to the fire-pit of Vasishtha on Mount Abu. Their king Bhoja of Dhara was the scholar-king the whole of India remembers.Read →