The Khalji or Khilji dynasty was a Turko-Afghan dynasty that ruled on the Delhi sultanate, covering large parts of the Indian subcontinent for nearly three decades between 1290 and 1320. Founded by Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji as the second dynasty to rule the Delhi Sultanate of India, it came to power through a revolution that marked the transfer of power from the monopoly of Turkish nobles to a heterogeneous Indo-Mussalman nobility. Its rule is known for conquests into present day South India and successfully fending off the repeated Mongol invasions of India.
Jalal al-Din Firuz Khalji was the commander in chief of the army under Sultan Kaiqubad and took advantage of the chaos in the sultanate and the sultan’s complete incompetence to seize power and establish the Khalji dynasty. The Khaljis were of Turkic origin and got their name from having lived in the area of Khalj in what is now Afghanistan. Firuz Shah was already 70 years old when he ascended the throne and he was soon deposed and murdered by his ambitious and capable nephew, Alauddin.
Alauddin spent all of his 20 year reign expanding his kingdom, putting down rebellions and defending the sultanate from a series of Mongol invasions. After Alauddin died, his army commander Malik Kafur, attempted to install a child of 5 or 6, Shihab al-Din Umar, as sultan with himself as the child’s step-father and regent. However, Alauddin’s third son, Mubarak Khan, managed to have Malik Khafur murdered, deposed Umar, and installed himself as Sultan Qutb al-Din Mubarak. Mubarak, however, was not an able ruler. He reigned for four short years, the sultanate was left in disarray, and a few short-lived sultans later, it was ripe for takeover by Ghazi Tughluq.
Ala ud din Khliji issued coins in gold, silver, copper and billon. Gold and silver tankas issued by him are very common and were struck at three places: Delhi, Dar Al Islam, and Deogir. He also struck some square tankas in both the metals, but they did not have the mint name inscribed on it. Some of these tankas are heavier than the usual.
Billon coins issued by him are of two types, both of them have the same weight, but the silver quantity in both the coins are different; one has around 25% of silver and other is a bilingual type which contains around 7 ½ % of silver.