Deval Devi

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Deval Devi (variantly known as Dewal Devi, Dewal Rani, Deval Rani and Dewal Di) was the daughter of

Khusro Khan (the last ruler of the Khalji 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 celebrated Gujarati historical novel Karan Ghelo authored by Nandshankar Mehta
.

Biography

In 1298, the then

Deogiri (later known as Daulatabad).[1][2]

Meanwhile, in Delhi, Karan Deva's wife Kamla Devi was married to

`Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni opine that the party was led by Ulugh Khan personally.[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 as

Qutb 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]

The

Khusro Khan came 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 by Barani. However, after a reign of only five months, Khusro Khan was defeated by Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq and was put to death. This happened in September 1320. Historical sources are silent about Deval Devi's fate thereafter, but the Karan Ghelo
tells us that she took recourse to poison and joined Khusro Khan in death. However, Karan Ghelo is not a historical text.

In literature

Deval Devi is an important character in the

masnavi Deval Devi—Khizr Khan, a famous work on the romance between Khizr Khan and Deval Devi and popularly called Ishqiya, Ishqia and Ashiqa.[13][12] She is the central character in Sudheer Maurya's Hindi book Deval Devi : Ek Aetihasik Upanyaas.[14]

References

  1. ISBN 978-81-7156-928-1. Archived
    from the original on 25 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b Majumdar 1956, p. 190.
  3. ^ a b Mahajan 2015, p. 136.
  4. ISBN 978-81-7156-362-3. Archived
    from the original on 25 April 2017.
  5. ^ Majumdar 1956, p. 191.
  6. ISBN 978-81-241-1064-5. Archived
    from the original on 25 April 2017.
  7. ^ Mahajan 2015, p. 153.
  8. ^ a b Mahajan 2015, p. 154.
  9. ^ Mahajan, Vidya Dhar (1965). Muslim Rule in India. Sultan Chand.
  10. ISBN 90-04-09790-2. Archived
    from the original on 15 April 2016.
  11. ISBN 978-81-269-0123-4
    .
  12. ^ a b Mukherji, Aban; Vatsal, Tulsi (25 October 2015). "'Karan Ghelo': Translating a Gujarati classic of love and passion, revenge and remorse". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 28 March 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  13. ^ "The Padmavat affair". The Hindu. 12 February 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  14. ^ Buy Deval Devi : eak etihasik Upnyas Book Online. ASIN 8190786644.

Bibliography

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