113.212.85.62 at 04:18, 6 April 2022

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{{short description|Fourteenth century Vaghela princess}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2018}}
'''Deval Devi''' (variantly known as '''Dewal Devi''', '''Dewal Rani''', '''Deval Rani''' and '''Dewal Di''') was daughter of [[Karna (Vaghela dynasty)|Karan Deva II]] (the last sovereign of the [[Vaghela dynasty]] of [[Gujarat]]).She was married to Khizr Khan, the eldest son of [[Alauddin Khalji]], in 1308. Eight years later, Khizr Khan was executed by his brother [[Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah]] (1316–20), and Deval was taken into the latter's ''[[harem]].'' In 1320, Mubarak in turn was stabbed and beheaded by his supposed favourite, [[Khusro Khan]] (the last ruler of the [[Khalji dynasty]]), and his followers. Deval was then married to Khusro Khan. Her story, of a cultured and high-born Hindu princess being passed from hand to hand amongst a series of ambitious, power-hungry Muslim men is the basis of the celebrated [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] historical novel ''[[Karan Ghelo]]'' authored by [[Nandshankar Mehta]].

==Biography==
In 1298, the then [[Delhi Sultanate|Sultan of Delhi]], [[Alauddin Khalji]], sent an expedition into [[Gujarat]] under the command of [[Ulugh Khan]] and [[Nusrat Khan Jalesari|Nusrat Khan]]. Karan Deva II of the [[Vaghela dynasty]], the main ruler of Gujarat, was defeated. His queen, Kamla Devi, fell into the hands of the invaders and was sent as booty to Alauddin Khalji. Karna Deva himself, along with his very young daughter Deval Devi and other surviving followers, fled to the [[Deccan]] and took refuge in the court of [[Ramachandra of Devagiri|Rama Chandra Deva]], ruler of [[Deogiri]] (later known as Daulatabad).<ref name="Jayapalan2001">{{cite book|last=Jayapalan |first=N. |title=History of India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6L6avTlqJNYC&pg=PA24 |date=2001 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distri |isbn=978-81-7156-928-1 |page=24 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425213914/https://books.google.com/books?id=6L6avTlqJNYC&pg=PA24 |archive-date=2017-04-25 }}</ref>{{Sfn|Majumdar|1956|p=190}}

Meanwhile, in Delhi, Karan Deva's wife Kamla Devi was married to [[Alauddin Khalji]] as his third wife.{{Sfn|Mahajan|2015|p=136}}<ref name="Niazi1992">{{cite book|last=Niazi |first=Ghulam Sarwar Khan |title=The Life and Works of Sultan Alauddin Khalji |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nbZgnqfXjnQC&pg=PA169 |year=1992 |publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist |isbn=978-81-7156-362-3 |page=169 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425221307/https://books.google.com/books?id=nbZgnqfXjnQC&pg=PA169 |archive-date=2017-04-25 }}</ref> She soon became the favourite queen of Alauddin{{Sfn|Mahajan|2015|p=136}} and often told the sultan of how much she missed her little daughter. Therefore, when in 1308, ten years after mother and daughter had been separated, the Khalji sultan happened to send an expedition to the Deccan, he instructed his general, [[Malik Kafur]], to bring Deval Devi back with him whether by hook or by crook. By this time, Deval Devi had come of age. The historian [[Firishta]] tells us that Rama Chandra Deva, who had granted refuge to Deval's father and his party, had suggested that she be married to his son and heir, Shankara Deva. While in material terms this would be a great match for the refugee princess, her father was not inclined to accept, for reasons related to [[Caste]].{{Sfn|Majumdar|1956|p=191}} He initially refused to take the hint, then made polite excuses and demurred; the hosts realized that he was not interested in a matrimonial alliance and dropped the matter. At this point, Deogiri was faced with the invading army from Delhi. and the special interest of the invaders in Deval Devi became known. A deeply agitated Karna Deva now pressed his hosts to accept his daughter as bride for Prince Shankara Deva. They agreed to this, and advised Karna Deva to immediately send his daughter under escort into the fort of Devagiri (the refugee king had been granted an estate comprising a few nearby villages and was living there). Karna Deva immediately did as he was advised; bedecked as a bride, Deval Devi was seated in a palanquin and sent under armed escort towards the citadel to marry the crown prince. However, before reaching the fort, the party was waylaid by a contingent of Sultanate soldiers and Deval Devi was captured. Nizam ud-Din and [[`Abd al-Qadir Bada'uni]] opine that the party was led by [[Ulugh Khan]] personally.{{Sfn|Majumdar|1956|p=190}} She was sent to Delhi, where she was reunited with the mother whom she had not seen since childhood. Shortly afterwards, at the insistence of Kamla Devi, she was married to Alauddin's eldest son Khizr Khan (her mother's step-son).<ref name="Chandra2004">{{cite book|last=Chandra |first=Satish |title=Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals-Delhi Sultanat (1206–1526) – Part One |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L5eFzeyjBTQC&pg=PA92 |year=2004 |publisher=Har-Anand Publications |isbn=978-81-241-1064-5 |page=92 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425215657/https://books.google.com/books?id=L5eFzeyjBTQC&pg=PA92 |archive-date=2017-04-25 }}</ref>

Following Ala-ud-Din's death in 1316, his third son ascended the throne as [[Qutb ud din Mubarak Shah]].{{Sfn|Mahajan|2015|p=153}} During Mubarak Shah's reign, a conspiracy was made to murder him and put one of the sons of Khizr Khan on the throne. When Mubarak Shah came to know about the plan, he put everyone involved in the conspiracy, including his brother Khizr Khan, to death. Historian Haji-ud-Dabir writes that Mubarak Shah then married Deval forcibly, thus becoming her second husband.{{Sfn|Mahajan|2015|p=154}}<ref name="Mahajan1965">{{cite book|last=Mahajan|first=Vidya Dhar|title=Muslim Rule in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sLo9AAAAMAAJ|year=1965|publisher=Sultan Chand}}</ref>

Mubarak Shah was bisexual, and he was murdered by the associates of his favorite catamite, [[Khusro Khan]], on the night of 14 April 1320.<ref name="Houtsma1993">{{cite book|last=Houtsma |first=M. Th. |title=E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913–1936 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CP7fYghBFQC&pg=PA1168 |year=1993 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=90-04-09790-2 |page=1168 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160415040849/https://books.google.com/books?id=7CP7fYghBFQC |archive-date=2016-04-15 }}</ref> [[Ziauddin Barani]], the contemporary historian, writes that Khusro Khan then married Deval Devi, thus becoming her third husband.{{Sfn|Mahajan|2015|p=154}}<ref name="Chaurasia2002">{{cite book|last=Chaurasia|first=Radhey Shyam|title=History of Medieval India: From 1000 A.D. to 1707 A.D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XnaL7zPXPUC&pg=PA46|year=2002|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Dist|isbn=978-81-269-0123-4|page=46}}</ref>

The ''[[Karan Ghelo]]'' tells us that this marriage, her third, was acceptable to Deval Devi, ( though there is not much information available about her first marriage) mainly because [[Khusro Khan]] came from a background similar to her own. Born into a Rajput family, he had been captured as a young boy during a battle, brought up by Malik Shadi, the naib-i khas-i hajib (deputy royal chamberlain) to Alauddin Khalji in Delhi as muslim, where later his good looks had earned him the favour of Mubarak Shah, all of which is corroborated by [[Ziauddin Barani|Barani]]. However, after a reign of only five months, Khusro Khan was defeated by [[Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq]] and was put to death. This happened in September 1320. Historical sources are silent about Deval Devi's fate thereafter, but the ''[[Karan Ghelo]]'' tells us that she took recourse to poison and joined Khusro Khan in death. However, Karan Ghelo is not a historical text.

==In literature==
Deval Devi is an important character in the [[Gujarati language|Gujarati]] historical novel ''[[Karan Ghelo]]'' by [[Nandshankar Mehta]].<ref name="Scroll">{{cite web|last1=Mukherji|first1=Aban|last2=Vatsal|first2=Tulsi|title='Karan Ghelo': Translating a Gujarati classic of love and passion, revenge and remorse|url=http://scroll.in/article/764549/karan-ghelo-translating-a-gujarati-classic-of-love-and-passion-revenge-and-remorse|publisher=Scroll.in|access-date=14 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328131018/http://scroll.in/article/764549/karan-ghelo-translating-a-gujarati-classic-of-love-and-passion-revenge-and-remorse|archive-date=28 March 2016|date=25 October 2015}}</ref> [[Amir Khusraw]] wrote his [[Masnavi (poetic form)|masnavi]] ''Deval Devi—Khizr Khan'', a famous work on the romance between Khizr Khan and Deval Devi and popularly called ''Ishqiya'', ''Ishqia'' and ''Ashiqa''.<ref name="TH">{{cite news|title=The Padmavat affair|url=http://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/The-%E2%80%98Padmavat-affair%E2%80%99/article17289175.ece|access-date=14 April 2017|work=[[The Hindu]]|date=12 February 2017}}</ref><ref name="Scroll" /> She is the central character in Sudheer Maurya's Hindi book ''Deval Devi : Ek Aetihasik Upanyaas''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Buy Deval Devi : eak etihasik Upnyas Book Online|id={{ASIN|8190786644|country=in}}}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book|last1=Mahajan|first1=V. D.|author1-link=Vidya Dhar Mahajan|title=History of Medieval India|date=2015|publisher=Sultan Chand|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-81-219-0364-6|chapter=The Khalji Dynasty (1290–1320 A.D.)}}
* {{cite book|last1=Majumdar|first1=Asoke Kumar|title=Chaulukyas of Gujarat|date=1956|publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ffAdAAAAMAAJ|oclc=4413150}}
{{Refend}}

[[Category:Khalji dynasty]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:14th-century deaths]]
[[Category:13th-century births]]
[[Category:People from Gujarat]]
[[Category:Indian female royalty]]
[[Category:Indian queen consorts]]

Deval Devi - Revision history

113.212.85.62 at 04:18, 6 April 2022