Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan (died 1340), also known as Jalal al-Din Ahsan Shah, was the first

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

Madurai Sultanate Ma'bar Sultanate ( fa, ), unofficially known as the Madurai Sultanate, was a short lived kingdom based in the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, India. The sultanate was proclaimed in 1335 led by Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan declared his independenc ...

and father-in-law of the great traveller

Ibn Battuta Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berbers, Berber Maghrebi people, Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, ...

Declaration of independence

In 1335, Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan, the Muslim Governor of Madurai, declared his independence and established the independent sultanate of Madurai. Aiyangar, Pg 155 He claimed the whole of the

Delhi Sultanate The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526).

province of Ma'bar which included a small part of the ancient Tamil country. However, he scarcely had any authority beyond the realm of the Pandyas and the territory to the north of the river

Kaveri The Kaveri (also known as Cauvery, the anglicized name) is one of the major Indian rivers flowing through the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The Kaveri river rises at Talakaveri in the Brahmagiri range in the Western Ghats, Kodagu dis ...

was largely independent under the

Cholas The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century BCE d ...

and the

Hoysalas The Hoysala Empire was a Kannadiga power originating from the Indian subcontinent that ruled most of what is now Karnataka between the 10th and the 14th centuries. The capital of the Hoysalas was initially located at Belur, but was later moved ...

. Aiyangar, Pg 156

Reign

Jalaluddin Ahsan Khan took over as the independent sultan of Madurai in 1335.

Ferishta Firishta or Ferešte ( fa, ), full name Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah Astarabadi ( fa, مُحَمَّد قاسِم هِندو شاہ), was a Persian historian, who later settled in India and served the Deccan Sultans as their court historian. He was ...

, however, gives a date of 1341 for his assumption of the sultanate. Aiyangar, Pg 165 Ferishta refers to Ahsan Khan as Syed, Hasan and Husun. Ahsan Khan was also the father-in-law of the Moorish traveller

. Immediately,

Muhammad bin Tughluq Muhammad bin Tughluq (1290 – 20 March 1351) was the eighteenth Sultan of Delhi. He reigned from February 1325 until his death in 1351. The sultan was the eldest son of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. In 1321, the youn ...

sent an army to reassert his control over the region. But Ahsan Khan easily defeated this army. Tughluq took his revenge by killing Ahsan Khan's son Ibrahim who was the purse-bearer of the Emperor. Ahsan Khan was killed in 1340 by one of his nobles after having ruled for a brief span of 5 years. His rule and those of his successors were very brutal. The land of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

saw widespread, indiscriminate killings of a level unheard of. Even Ibn Battuta lamented on the cruelty set by the Sultan. Ibn Battuta was a product of his times, believing in sex slavery and murdering infidel men. However, he criticized the Sultan in his books for killing Hindu women and kids instead of enslaving them, and he considered the killings anti-Islamic practices.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Khan, Jalaluddin Ahsan History of Madurai 1340 deaths Year of birth unknown