21 Facts About Khusrau Khan

Nasir ud-Din Khusrau Shah, better known as Khusrau Khan, was an Indian Sultan of Delhi for around two months in 1320.

Khusrau Khan led a successful campaign to reassert Delhi's control over Devagiri in 1317.

Khusrau Khan then dispatched a force led by Malik Ikhtiyaruddin Talbagha to pursue Harapaladeva, who was later captured and beheaded.

Chronicler Ziauddin Barani writes that Khusrau Khan resented "the way the Sultan forced himself upon him and took advantage of him", and secretly planned revenge against him.

Mubarak's other subordinates warned him about Khusrau's treacherous plans, but while being sodomized by the Sultan, Khusrau convinced him that the accusers were falsely slandering him.

Khusrau Khan convinced Mubarak Shah to allow him to raise an army of Baradu Hindus by arguing that all other nobles had their own groups of followers.

Khusrau Khan enlisted several soldiers at Bahilwal and in the province of Gujarat.

Khusrau Khan told the Sultan that he wanted his men to be granted access to the palace, so that they could meet him without requiring him to leave the Sultan's company.

Randhol, the maternal uncle of Khusrau Khan, entered the palace with a large number of Baradus, who hid daggers under their clothes.

However, Khusrau Khan told him that the royal horses had broken loose, and the noise was caused by the guards trying to catch the animals.

Khusrau Khan then beheaded the Sultan, and the head was later thrown in the courtyard on the ground floor.

Khusrau Khan initially planned to install a son of the deceased Sultan on the throne as a puppet ruler.

Shortly after ascending the throne, Khusrau Khan married the widow of Mubarak Shah.

The Hindus rejoiced at Khusrau Khan's ascension, hoping to weaken the Muslims, and make Delhi a Hindu-majority city again.

Pakistani-Canadian academic Aziz Ahmad writes that after usurping the kingdom, Khusrau Khan "reverted to his ancient faith, began a reign of terror heaping dishonour on Muslim nobles".

Khusrau Khan wished to be seen as a normal Muslim monarch, and had the khutba in the mosques read in his name.

Tughluq's son Fakhruddin Jauna, who held the office of akhur-bek in Khusrau Khan's government, was not happy with the regime at Delhi.

Khusrau Khan convened a secret meeting of his friends, and on their advice, sought help from his father to overthrow Khusrau Khan.

When Khusrau Khan learned of the conspiracy, he dispatched his minister of war Shaista Khan in pursuit of Fakhruddin, but the royal army was unable to capture the rebels.

Khusrau Khan fled from the battlefield, but was captured and killed a few days later.

However, 14th century chronicler Isami states that Khusrau Khan reigned for "two or three" months.