Ghiasuddin Balban - Even a Hardcore Cruel King Grieves

The penultimate king, Ghiasuddin Balban of Mamluk dynasty ruled over Delhi from 1266 till 1287 and his grave lies inside Mehrauli Archeological Park, next to the Qutub Minar Complex.


Balban was an Iberi Turk who was captured by the Mongols in his childhood and sold to Khwaja Jamaluddin Basri of Baghdad, a very learned man. Buying of slaves in open market, bringing them up and then selling them to Muslim monarchs used to be a very profitable trade in those days. 

Later Balban was bought by Iltutmish and rose to power by hard work, enormous will power and a keen sense of politics. He gained the trust and favor of his master and acquired a prominent seat in the Chehelgani (the forty court nobles) . Under the reign of Raziya Sultan, Balban rose a step closer to the throne – he was appointed the Amir-I-Shikar or the Lord of the Hunt which made his position stronger. The Sultanate was already in deep waters with very weak successors after Razia, who were unable to deal with the perennial invasion by the Mongols and the Rajput. Balban as the military head tackled the rebel forces and the opposition with incredible severity and efficiency. He ruled with an iron hand and brought in a sense of stability in Delhi Sultanate which had become weak at the core by then.

He rose to the position of the Prime Minister of Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud from 1246 to 1266 and married his daughter. Since Sultan Nasiruddin did not have male heir, after his death, Balban declared himself the Sultan of Delhi and ascended the throne at the age of sixty.

Balban's was the proverbial reign of terror. It is believed that he never conversed with persons of low origin or occupation and never indulged in any form of familiarity, by which the dignity of the Sovereign could be lowered.

He never joked with anyone, nor did he allow anyone to joke in his presence. He never laughed aloud, nor any one in his court was permitted to laugh. No frivolous talk was permitted in his presence. No officer or acquaintance was allowed to recommend any person of low position for employment.

Though he brought about a semblence of stability in his territory, with his political wisdom, he is remembered for his harshness and cruelty to all those who dared to oppose him. Testifying to this role of Balban, the Maharashtriya Gnankosh (encyclopedia), says (pg. G-191, part XII, 1922 edition): "Balban's life was one of turmoil and continuous warfare. He was extremely cruel and a killer. In suppressing interminable revolts around Delhi he massacred 100,000 people which caused rivers of blood to flow all around. Mangled dead bodies piled up in every town and the whole region emitted an unbearable stench."

The first thing he did was breaking the Chihalgani, the 40 nobles of highest position, or the king makers in the royal court, where he too belonged once. This was because he feared that they might bring him harm. Malik Bakbak, a member of the group, was reportedly flogged to death for a negligible reason. Haibatkhan was whipped 500 times and brought as a slave to the widow of a man Haibatkhan had murdered. Balban poisoned even his own cousin Sher Khan, a leading member of this gang of 40. And thus, by his own barbaric and cruel means, Balban tried to ensure that he can rule safely and without opposition.

Around this time, the Hindu Rajputs started resisting the Muslim rule. Afraid of the guerilla raids of the Rajputs, under the ambush of trees and foliage surrounding Delhi, he ordered mowing down of all trees around, slaughter all Hindus and loot their property. Till date, Delhi remains a semi desert region, dusty and bare.

His rule of repression and carnage continued far and wide as the revolts never seemed to rest. His fight against the revolt of Tughril Khan from Bengal was one of a kind. In 1279, as Tughril revolted and proclaimed himself king, Balban ordered Amin Khan, his governor in Oudh to take charge to suppress it. But as Amin Khan came back defeated, he was ordered to be killed and his corpse was hung from a gate in Ayodhya, as a reminder to all who dared to fail.

 Well... a second army failed as well. When a third army too came back defeated, Balban himself decided to lead an army to crush the revolt of Tughril. He lead a force of 200,000 and camped near Lakhnauti, or Lucknow of today. Tughril Khan escaped in Bengal, to save his life. But Balban hunted him down relentlessly, until he could capture and execute him. 

Returning to Lucknow, Balban took his revenge on Tughril's associates as well. They were said to be impaled on stakes on either side of a two-mile long main bazar road in the city center. It was such a ghastly sight that some onlookers fainted.

 "Never before had such a horrific scene been enacted," wrote chronicler Barni.

As if this was not enough, on his return to Delhi, he took on the sympathisers of Turghil as well. They were mercilessly slaughtered and blood flowed like water on the streets of Delhi, till the Qazi intervened and pleaded for peace. 

This is the final resting ground of Balban. The tomb is open to the sky and at present lying in ruins among local 'kikar' or Acacia trees. It is made of rubble masonary. Part of it still has traces of plaster decoration and it gives us an idea of how it might have looked originally, if we stretch our imagination a bit!!  The building stands as a proof of the emergence of Islamic architecture in India. Though the tomb is devoid of any grand ornamental detailing but was one among the first to include true arch in its construction!! It has three chambers. Two of them are empty. The one on the western side of the main chamber has a grave, which is believed to be of his favourite son Khan Shaheed.

It was in 1286 A.D. that the Mongols returned with a large army. Balban was well into his eighties and his son led the confrontation. Khan Shaeed died in the ensuing battle and it is said that the so called cruel, ruthless killer of millions, Balban, the Sultan of Delhi, died grieving for his own son!!





The Muslim Slave dynasty which had seized the throne in Delhi with a bang in 1206 A.D. under Qutubuddin Aibak ended in a whimper, after a monstrous 84 bloody years. The Muslim Slave dynasty was stamped out under the heels of the Khiljis after its eleven monarchs had rained fire and brimstone on the Hindu India of that age.

The torch and the sword were now picked up by the Khiljis and the stampede into India continued.