KILOKHRI

 CHISTI MYSTIC QUTBUDDIN BHAKTYAR KAKI.

 KILOKHRI AS MILITARY EMCAMPMENT.
 FOUNDING OF ROYAL CAPITAL.
 TRANSFORMATION OF KILOKHRI INTO SHAHR-I-NAU.
 WHY JALALUDDIN KHILJI MADE KILOKHRI AS HIS
CAPITAL?
 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS DURING 1290-96.
 LOCATION AND EXTEND OF THE CITY.
 FESTIVITIES OF NAU ROZ IN KILOKHARI.
 KILOKHRI AS A LOST CITY.
 CHISTI MYSTIC QUTUBUDDIN
BHAKTYARKAKI
INTRODUCTION
3
The place was not entirely uninhabited before Muizzuddin
Kaiqubad chose to built an imperial city. Referance to an early PRIMARY GOALS
settlement in Kilokhri in Persian histories occur in traditions about the 4
chisti mystic Qutubuddin Bhaktyar Kaki. Kaki was staying in AREAS OF
Multan with his preceptor Bahauddin Zakariya when the city was GROWTH
besieged by the mangol in 1191 . Later he set out for delhi and halted at 5
Kilokhri with the help of Iltutmish Jamaluddin Muhammad Bustami and TIMELINE
Qazi Hmiduddin Nagori brought Kaki to qutb delhi 11 . Whereas Firista , a 10
historian writes that Kaki settled in kilokhri because of proximity of
SUMMARY
water. Subsequent to the departure of the mystic, the place became a site 13
for military activity. 10
• 10
Abu’l Qasim Firishta: Tarikh-i-Firishta,1874. P-379
• 11
Muhammad Ghausi Shattari, Gulzar-i-Abrar,ed.Muhammad Zaki, P-32
 KILOKHRI AS MILITARY
EMCAMPMENT
During reign of Iltutmish’s son Ruknuddin Firuz (1236 AD) ,there was a
rebellion against his rule. Nizamulmulk Junaidi , who was part of rebel alliance ,
was camping at Kilokhri 12 . Junaidi lost courage and fled from kilokhri to Kol
(Aligarh) 13. Sultan moved on to deal with the other rebel but in his absence
Delhi too was lost and his sister Raziya was raised to throne. While marching
back to Delhi , Ruknuddin stopped at Kilokhri. Where he was captured by the
army sent from Delhi. 14
• 12
Irfan Habib, ‘Formation of the sultanate ruling class of the 13 th cen.’, ed. Idem 1992 p-
• 13
Minhaj Siraj, Tabaqat I nasiri, vol1,ed Abdul Habibi,1963-64, p-456,83,84.
• 14
Fawaidu’l Fawad, ed. Latif Malik 1966, p-195,311.
 FOUNDING OF ROYAL TOWN.
Kaiqubad gave up his residence in the Qutb Delhi and came out
of the Red palace built by Balban. On the bank of river Yamuna at
Kilokhri he laid the foundation of grand palace (Kaushik-i-b-
nazir) 15. Kaiqubad moved there and started living with his officers,
nobles, close courtiers and servants. The head of each profession
also moved from Shahr to Kilokhri and took up residence there.
Kilokhri became populous and flourishing. Kilokhri was not meant
to be the new capital of Kaiqubad’s kingdom since there is no
evidence to suggest that Qutb Delhi ceased to be the capital of
sultanate. 16

• Barani, Tarikh-i-firuzshahi. Ed. Syed Ahmad, Calcutta 1862,p-

15

165.
• 16 Sunil Kumar , ‘capital and kingship’,p-129.
TRANSFORMATION OF
KILOKHRI INTO SHAHR-I-NAU.
Jalaluddin Firuz Khilji’s eventual of sovereignity in
June 1290,signified more than a dynastic change. His reign
(1290-96) served to bridge the gap between the improvised
government of early sultan (turks) and planned imperialist
economy of Alauddin Khilji. Under sultan Jalaluddin Khalji
a, new city called Shahr-i-nau developed around walled
palace called Qasr. He ordered his nobles, commanders and
great men of the city to built houses in Kilokhari and bring
in certain merchants from Shahr. Large market established
here and Kilokhari was named Shahr-i-nau
mangols(Mughals) are said to settle in Kilokhri, Ghayaspur
and Indapat, Bakula. There settlement were known as
Mughalpur. 17
• 17
M. Athar Ali, “capital of the sultans Delhi during 13th and 14th centuary in Delhi through the
ages, essay in urban history, culture and social. Ed. By RE Frykenberg p-34.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

 WHY JALALUDDIN KHILJI MADE
presentation title

KILOKHRI AS HIS CAPITAL?

It appers that initially the Khilji were not prepared to assume royal power. Jalaluddin Khilji
installed Kaikaus (minor son Kaiqubad) at the Kailughari palace and continued to act as his
regent for three months. Barani gives the title of minor king as Shamsuddin 18. To make the
transition from Turkish to an allegedly non Turkish government easy , sultan Jalaluddin Khilji
delayed his entry into Delhi and set up court in Kailughari. In the reorganization of
government that followed, a general dispossession of the old nobility was prudently avoided.
Uncomfortable with the arrogance of the Ulama who represented Islamic orthodoxy, even
number of Sufis preferred to stay away from old delhi 19
• Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shashi, ed. M hidayat Hosain 1931,p-
18

66,61
• 19 Barani p-175-78
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS 20XX

DURING 1290-96 Natural calamities like

drought and flood caused
increase in price of grain
The iqtas had begun to
yield surplus revenues.

Measures for famine

relief were inadequate.
Sactions for royal
Jalaluddin was plagued
expenditure depended
with famines, flood,
upon the personal nature
rebellion and invasions.
and whim of sultan.
• 20
Tarikh-i-Mubarak shahi , ed. M.Hidayat Hosain p-
 LOCATION AND
EXTENT OF THE
AtCITY.
present in Delhi there is a locality on the Ring Road , south of
Sarai Kale Khan and north east of Jangpura , by the name of
Kilokhri , walking around the place or talking to the local people
give no indication of the location or history of Kilokhri. 21 There is
not a stone or sign post either to guilde the visitor. There is however
a bus stop called Kilokhri. It is quite clear from the literature
produced in the period that Kilokhri (shahr-i-nau) was located on the
west of the river Yamuna , a few kilometres north east of Qutb Qutb
Delhi. The river since then has changed course and moved east of
locality with Ring Road laid in between. 22

• 21
Muhammad Ghausi Shattari,Gulzar-I Abrar.,ed. Muhammad Zaki, Patna, 1994, p-
32
• 22
Najaf Haider, “A lost city of Delhi through Persian histories” dec 3, 2014.
 FESTIVITIES OF NAU
ROZ IN KILOKHRI.
Nau Roz was a festival celebrated to mark the beginning of the
Iranian solar year. The first day of the year was the day of vernal
eyuinox (21 march) when the sun entered aries (burj I hand). We
have in the pages of long poem composed by Amir Khusrau in 1289,
an accont of celebration of nau roz at Kilokhri in that very year. The
palace (Qasr I nau), a lofty building of brick walls, gypsum (Gach)
and stone dome ( sang-i-safed), was brilliantly illuminated. The nine
arched doors of palace were covered with curtains of silk broaded with
gold and silver thread (zarbaft). The main venue was decorated with
five large canopies (chhatri) 23
NAU ROZ.
The black canopy was laced with white pearl as if raindrops were falling
from a dark cloud. The Sultan sat underneath it like the shadow of god
on earth. The white canopy hadgold stands studded with pearls. The red
one had sapphires. The green canopy , sign of prosperity, had tree and
leaves of diamond and pearls. The fifth canopy was made of flowers to
give the impression of large garden. On the both sides of the river
Yamuna red and black royal standards stood with 1000 caparisoned
horses studded with jewel. There was an array of elephants. A floating
garden was in the middle of river ornamented with gems and pearls. The
court was decorated and scented with Chinese musk (Nafa-i-Chini). 24

• 23
Amir Khusrau, Qiranu’s sa ‘dayn, ed. Qudrat Ahmad, p-56-66.
• 24
Sunil kumar ‘capital and kingship’ p-129.
 KILOKHRI AS A LOST CITY.
Delhi is known for its proverbial seven cities albeit it lacks precision. The ruins of the city
of kilokhri , however, have not survived the wrath of time. 25 The use of saivaged materials
for construction of buildings was also commonduring this period. The practice of reusing
building materials is evident from the complete physical disappearance of Kilokhri , use of
bricks from seven forts built by seven kings (from Iltutmish to Balban) at Rai-pithora in the
construction of Firuzabad abd demolition and reuse of materials from Siri’s surviving
structures in Dinpanah. 26

• Anjali Sharma, Manoj kumar, M. P. Singh, H. K. Mazhari- “ Medieval (islamic) cities in india (1206-1764): An
25

environment review and its contemporary relevance.

• 26 Haider, Najaf. (2014). ‘Persian histories and a lost city of delhi’, studies in people’s history, vol.1, p-163-171.