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who was an incompetent and pleasure-loving youth. Kaikhusrau was
subsequently murdered.
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KAMAL AL-DIN GURG " 85
KAIMURS, SULTAN SHAMS AL-DIN (? 1290?). Kaimurs was the
infant son of Kaiqubad in whose favor he abdicated in the begin-
ning of 1290. The Khalji officers seized control of the infant sultan,
and Jalal al-Din Firuz Khalji, the na ib, ran the administration for
a few months. Around April May 1290, Kaimurs was removed from
the throne, which now came to be occupied by Jalal al-Din Firuz
himself.
KAIQUBAD, SULTAN MUIZZ AL-DIN (? 1290). On Balban s
death (1286), the nobles brought to the throne Kaiqubad, one of Bal-
ban s grandsons, overlooking Kaiqubad s father, Bughra Khan, then
the commandant of Lakhnauti. Kaiqubad proved to be a worthless
ruler who wasted his time in drunken orgies. The administration was
left in the hands of nobles, leading to sharp factional fights. Bughra
Khan had a meeting with Kaiqubad and advised him to remedy this
situation, but it was of no avail. Kaiqubad was finally removed from
the throne in 1290 by a group of Khalji nobles who set up their
leader, Jalal al-Din Firuz Khalji, as the sultan.
KAKATIYA DYNASTY. The Kakatiyas rose to power in the central
part of the Deccan during the 12th century when the Chaulukyas
were fast declining. They came to rule over Telingana from their
capital at Warangal. The Kakatiyas were subjugated in 1310 by Ala
al-Din Khalji s general Malik Kafur. Their kingdom was eventually
annexed to the Delhi sultanate in 1321.
KALAHANA (1100? ?). The historian of Kashmir who belonged to a
family of learned Brahmans in the employ of King Harsha
(1089 1101) of Kashmir. Like his father, Kalahana was a devotee of
Shiva but was also respectful toward Buddhism. He wrote his cele-
brated work Rajatarangini in the middle of the 12th century.
KAMAL AL-DIN GURG (? 1315). He belonged to a family hailing
from Kabul. Kamal al-Din was a noble of high standing in 1315, hav-
ing Jalor as his iqta . Malik Kafur deputed him to pacify an officers
revolt in Gujarat following Alp Khan s removal from there. He also
collaborated with Malik Kafur in putting Alp Khan to death. Kamal
al-Din was killed in Gujarat while conducting military operations the
same year.
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86 " KAMAN-I RA D
KAMAN-I RA D. Literally meaning lightening bow, this was the
generic name that applied to gunpowder-based artillery and handguns
used in different parts of India during the second half of the 15th cen-
tury. According to contemporary descriptions, these were cast in
bronze and threw spherical projectiles. See also FIREARMS.
KANAUJ. Writing in the second decade of the 11th century, Abu Re-
han Alberuni describes Kanauj as the sociopolitical center of the
Ganga-Yamuna Doab. At the beginning of the century, it was the cap-
ital of the Pratihara kingdom. Its ruler, Rajapala, submitted to Mah-
mud of Ghazni in 1018. By the end of the century, Kanauj came to
be ruled by the Gahadavalas. The last ruler of that dynasty, Jaichan-
dra, was defeated and killed by Muizz al-Din Muhammad Ghauri
in 1193, and Kanauj was annexed to the Ghaurid Empire. Subse-
quently, Kanauj was always an important iqta . Under Sikandar
Lodi (1489 1517), the sarkar Kanauj yielded around 13.663 million
Bahluli tankas per annum.
KARA. Situated on the bank of the Ganges River about 56 kilometers
west of its confluence with the Yamuna, Kara was already a part of
the Delhi sultanate under Iltutmish (1211 1236). In 1290, at the
time of Jalal al-Din Firuz Khalji s accession, Kara was held by Ma-
lik Chajju, who subsequently revolted and could only be suppressed
with some difficulty because he commanded the support of a large
number of Hindu chiefs of the region. In 1296, Ali Garshasp, then
holding Kara as his military charge, assassinatated his uncle, Jalal al-
Din Firuz Khalji, who had come to visit him there, and declared him-
self sultan with the title Ala al-Din Khalji. Kara subsequently re-
mained an important iqta and was generally referred to along with
Awadh as representing the territory of Hindustan within the Delhi
sultanate.
KARKHANA. This was a workshop that produced articles required for
the royal household and court as well as for the use of the sultan s
armed retainers. The workforce in these workshops comprised en-
slaved as well as hired labor.
KARMATHIANS. See QARAMITAH.
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KHALISAH " 87
KASHANI, JALAL AL-DIN. A Tajik by origin, Kashani was the
grand qazi in 1242 under Sultan Bahram Shah (1240 1242). He be-
came a party to the conspiracy of slave nobles led by Badr al-Din
Sonqur against that sultan. After Sonqur s execution, Kashani was
dismissed and banished from Delhi.
KASHANI, QAZI JALAL. He was serving as an ordinary qazi at
Delhi in 1292 where he was implicated in the affair of Sidi Maula
and was sent to Badaun as the local qazi.
KATEHR. The territory east of Delhi across the Ganges that later
came to be called Rohilkhand was known in the Delhi sultanate as
Katehr. It was first subdued by Iltutmish in 1227. Roughly until
Balban s rise to kingship (1266), Katehr continued to be largely
controlled by defiant Hindu chiefs. Several important places lo-
cated between the Ganges and Ram Ganga had come to be gar-
risoned with the Delhi sultanate s troops during Nasir al-Din Mah-
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