Raziya Sultan: An era of Empowerment and Courage

The eldest and the ablest son of Illtutmish had died in 1229 A.D. His next son Firoz, was lazy, pleasure-loving and irresponsible. Iltutmish, therefore nominated his daughter Raziya as his successor and cons were struck on with the name of Raziya was inscribed along with the name of the Sultan. But, probably, during his illness before his death, he changed his mind because of the opposition of certain nobles, brought Firoz to Delhi from Lahore and inscribe coins bearing the name of Firoz along with his own name. It meant that before his death, he desire that instead of Raziya, his son, Firoz shahs should succeed him. However, it is not quite certain whether Illtutimish desired that his daughter Raziya should succeed him or his son Firoz.

After the death of Iltutmish, Firoz succeeded the throne of Delhi. His mother, Shah Turkan, was a clever and intriguer lady and could enlist the support of Wazir, Nizam-ul-Mulk Mohammad Junaidi and the provincial governors who had gathered at Delhi after the campaign in the north west with Iltutmish. But, the reign of Firoz proved short-lived. While he himself engaged in sensual pleasures, his mother proved cruel and treacherous which created dissatisfaction among the nobility. It resulted into revolts. The governors of Multan, Hansi, Lahore and Badaun entered into an understanding against Firoz and marched with their armies towards Delhi with a view to depose Frioz from the throne. Firoz proceeded against them with his army. On the way, the large part of his army revolted, killed non-Turkish nobles and returned to Delhi. In the capital, Raziya took advantage of Firoz's absence . She succeeded in gathering the support of the people of Delhi and also that of the nobles and the soldiers who had left Firoz and returned to the capital. She declared herself Sultana in Firoz's absence. Shah Turkan was imprisoned and so was Firoz. Both were killed afterwards. Thus ended the reign of Firoz within seven months after his succession.

The accession and deposition of Firoz brought out one point. He was placed on the throne with the active support of the provincial governors and he was deposed from the throne because of the revolt of governors against him and active support of the people and nobles at Delhi to Raziya. It meant that Firoz and Raziya ascended the throne with the support of the nobles-the one with the support of provincial governors and the other with the support of the nobles at Delhi.(Altunia and Aitigin were the main ones.) It further meant that both the nobles at the court and the provincial governors desired to interfere and, in turn, succeeded in putting their respective candidates on the throne. However, the provincial governors had not participated directly in raising Raziya to the throne which they desired. The real probable was that while the Turkish slaves of Illtutmish accepted the right of his successors to be the sultan of Delhi, yet they asserted the right to choose the ruler themselves. Raziya refused to accept it, and therefore, her period of rule was the period of constant struggle between the Sultana and her nobles including Provincial Governors.

In one sense, the reign of Firoz can be accepted as that of struggle for power between the son and the daughter of Iltutmish. Firoz had succeeded in becoming Sultan because he could muster the support of provincial governors to his side and, in turn, Raziya succeeded in deposing him because she could get the support of the nobles at the court to her side. But, with the accession of Raziya on the throne, the struggle for power between the Sultana and her Turkish slave nobles became quite open. While Raziya asserted her rights as Sultan and decided to be the real ruler of her kingdom, the nobels and the provincial governors desired the right to choose the ruler sand keep her or him dependent on themselves. Raziya was more correct in upholding the cause of absolute monarchy initiated by Iltutmish in that infant stage of Turkish rule in India as compared to her nobles who meant to divide the power of the state. But, the selfishness of his nobles made them blind to realize this fact which led to an open conflict between them and the Sultan which, ultimately , led to her fall and elimination of power and respeCt of the Sultan till its restoration by Balban.

Raziya was the worthy daughter of a worthy father. In her personal life she was the first Muslim Sultana who challenged the traditions of Islam concerning women and, politically, she tried to establish her absolute rule as Sultan and refused to share her authority with her nobles and provincial governors. This led her into troubles from the beginning of her reign and finally to her downfall.

When Raziya ascended the throne, the governors of Badaun, Multan, Hansi and Lahore had already marched towards the capital with their armies with a view to depose Firoz from the throne. In the meantime, Raziya had captured the throne, the event in which they had ot participated. Therefore, they continued their march and besieged Delhi to place a candidate of their own choice on the throne. Firoz's vazir, Muhammad Junaidi had also joined them. Thus, Raziya's position became precarious in the very beginning of her reign. However, she moved diplomatically. She sowed dissension among her rivals and the confederacy of the nobles was broken. The governors of Badaun and Multan were brought to her side secretly and the rest of the two felt disheartened and fled away. They were capture and slain. Vazir Junaidi fled t9o the hills of Sirmur and died there as a fugitive.

After her initial success against the governors Raziya tried to concentrate power in her own hands and succeeded. Her primary aim was to make the Turkish slave-nobles subservient to the throne. She made fresh appointments of the governors and redistributed the high offices of the state. Khwaja Muhazzab-ud-din was appointed a vazir, Malik Izzudin Kabir Khan Ayaz was assigned Iqta of Lahore and after the death of Aibak Bahtu, the army was placed under the charge of Malik Qutb-ud0din Hassan Ghuri. Two more important appointments were made. Malik-I-Kabir Ikhtiyar-ud-din Aitigin was appointed as Amir-i-hajib and IKHTIYAR-UD-DIN ALTUNIA was appointed as governor of Bhatinda. Both of them rose to eminence as loyal officers of Raziya but both largely participated in her downfall.

One Abyssinian, Jamal-ud-din Yaqut was appointed as amir-i-akhur. Some historians charged Raziya to be in love with this officer but the story has been rejected by the majority of historians. Raziya succeded in bringing about submission of all nobles. The rebel noble Tughan Khan also accepted her suzerainty. Then, thus , she became mistress of all the territories extending from Uch in the west to Lakhnauti in the east. However, she failed to conquer Ranthambhor and Gwalior.

Raziya changed her personal behavior in order to raise the power and prestige of throne. She started dressing herself in male attire when attending the court, left purdah, went for hunting and horse-riding and met the people without veil. Surely, she must have annoyed the orthodox Muslim opinions but these actions were not the primary cause of dissatisfaction of the people against her.

Raziya also saved her kingdom form the invasion of the Mongols.

From the third year of her reign, her problems arose seriously. The Turkish slave nobles could not tolerate her policy of Concentration of power in her own hands. They started conspiring against her with a view to depose her from the throne. The conspirators were led by Aitigin, Kabir khan and Altunia.(Aitigin and Altunia were her childhood friends and Kabir Khan wanted to marry her.) But Raziya was safe in Delhi as she commanded loyalty of her subjects. A direct attack on her could probably fail. So Kabir Khan revolted in Lahore in 1240. Raziya marched against him so quickly that the supporters of Kabir Khan could not reach to help him in time. He was defeated and he fled away. Raziya pursued him and forced him to surrender himself near the bank of the river Chenab because he could not dare to corss the river due to the fear of the Mongols on the other side. But hardly ten days had passed after her return to the capital when Raziya received the message that Altunia had revolted at Bhatinda. She immediately marched against him and besieged the fort of Bhatinda. But she was deceived by her Turkish nobles. They murdered Yakut and imprisoned Raziya by surprise. Immediately, Bahram, the third son of Illtutmish was raised to the throne of Delhi. The leader of the conspirators , AITIGINwas appointed naib-i-mamlakat and was expected to control the whole administration by virtue of his newly created office. But, Bahram became so much dissatisfied with his behavior that he got him murdered within a month or two.

Malik Altunia was dissatisfied with the distribution of high offices of the state. He got nothing from the new Sultan and hoped for none after the murder of Aitigin. He married Raziya which seemed to be of advantage to both. While Raziya expected to win back her freedom and the throne, he saw it as an opportunity to enhance his status. Certain dissatisfied nobles like Malik Qaraqash and Malik Salari also joined them. They raised an army. They proceeded towards Delhi but were defeated. Raziya and Altunia were deserted by their soldiers and were murdered by robbers near kaithal on 13 october, 1240.