Muzaffarids (Gujarat)
The Muzaffarid dynasty, also called the Muzaffarids, and sometimes, the Ahmedabad dynasty, ruled the Sultanate of Gujarat in western India from 1391 to 1583. The founder of the dynasty was Zafar Khan who was governor of Gujarat under the Delhi Sultanate. When the Sultanate was weakened by the sacking of Delhi by Timur in 1398, and Zafar Khan took the opportunity to establish himself as sultan of an independent Gujarat. His Grand son, Ahmed Shah I established the capital at Ahmedabad. The dynasty ruled for almost 200 years, until the conquest of Gujarat by the Mughal Empire in 1572. The sultanate reached its peak of expansion under Mahmud Begada, reaching east into Malwa and west to the Gulf of Kutch.
Origins
The Muzaffarid dynasty was founded by Zafar Khan. He has been described to be of indigenous origins by scholars. There have been various claims about their origin from medieval to modern historians.According to medieval sources, Zafar Khan was the son of Sahāran, a local notable and landholder. The 16th-century Gujarati chronicler Sikandar Ibn Manjhu, author of the Mirʾāt-i-Sikandarī, records that the Tanks and Khatris were originally one community, later separated when the former were expelled due to their fondness for drinking. On the basis of Sikandar’s account, several modern historians identify Zafar Khan’s family as belonging to the Tank subdivision of the Khatri caste from Southern Punjab.
Zafar Khan's father Saharan, has been variously described as a Chaudhary who was an agriculturist by profession of a caste lower in traditional hierarchy. Other historians including Aparna Kapadia suggest that he might have been a Tank Rajput. Kapadia has described him to hail from Thanesar in modern-day Haryana. Some historians like V.K. Agnihotri and S.A.A. Rizvi describe him to be a Jat convert to Islam. Some modern writers have proposed an association between Zafar Khan’s family and the Kalal caste, traditionally linked with wine-selling.
Zafar Khan adopted the name Wajih-ul-Mulk. Wajih-ul-Mulk and his brother were influential Chaudharis who were agriculturists by profession but could also muster thousands of fighting men on their call. His Hindu forebears claimed descent from Rāmachandra, who the Hindus worshipped as God. Such genealogies were fabricated to glorify royalty and were generally not accepted. When the Sultanate was weakened by the sacking of Delhi by Timur in 1398, and Zafar Khan took the opportunity to establish himself as sultan of an independent Gujarat. His grand son, Ahmed Shah I established the capital at Ahmedabad. The dynasty ruled for almost 200 years, until the conquest of Gujarat by the Mughal Empire in 1572. The sultanate reached its peak of expansion under Mahmud Begada, reaching east into Malwa and west to the Gulf of Kutch.