According to Ferishta, In 682 AD, the Afghans from their mountains, who had, even at that early period, embraced the Islam, wrested certain possessions from the Hindu Rajput king of Lahore, Prithviraj Chauhan. Afghans also came to the Indus plains from
Roh in 711-12 A.D with the army of Muhammad Bin Qasim , the conqueror of Sindh and allied themselves politically with the Hindu-Shahi, rulers of Lahore, and receiving parts of Laghman for settlement , built a fort in the mountains of Peshawer to protect the Punjab from raids. During Alapatgin government at Ghazna, when his commander-in-chief Subuktigin raided Lamghan and Mulatn, the Afghans sought help from Raja Jaipal who appointed their chief , Shiekh Hamid Lodhi, viceroy of Wilayats of Lamghan and Multan. Shiekh Hamid appointed his own men as governors of those districts , and thereby the Afghans gained political importance; their settlements stretched southwards from Laghman to Multan, incorporating the tracts of Bannu and Dera Isamel Khan.
Later a family of the Lodhi tribe settled at Multan , which was ruled in 1005 A.D by Abu Fateh Daud, a grandson of Shiekh Hamid Lodhi. There was also a strong Afghan element in the forces of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna and Shahabudin of Ghor. The latter on his third campaign to India had 12,000 experienced Afghan horsemen in his army and he defeated the Rajputs under Pritviraj Chauhan. He apponted Malik Mauz al din Ghori at the head of 20,000 men to transplant the Afghans from Ghor to the new settlements , tract extending from Kabul to Indus, thereby paving his way for the conquest of Hindostan. Each clan was granted an
Ikta in the environs of Nilab and the Indus
.
Serving thus in the army of Shahabudin Ghori , the Afghans rose to power and settled over a large tract of land. Their leader Ali Kirmakh was appointed governor of Multan in 1186-87 A.D.
Balban brought areas known as kohpaya.Bharatpur, Dholpur and parts of what became Jaipur and Lawar, under the sword with the help of a body of Afghans. From about the same time fortresses on Mongol frontier had begun to be garrisoned by Afghans. Balban garrisoned other forts in the Mewati territory with Afghans, who kept who kept the road between Delhi and Bengal open and they were employed later in Awadh.
Balban continued to use Afghans after he became Sultan. They were deployed in the strategic areas of the Ganges-Jammuna doab soon after his accession and the further afield in the areas of Haryana and western Punjab. Old military cantonments were refortified and Afghans were given charge of these strategically important areas. A decade after this deployment, Afghans controlled the cantonments that encircled the capital of sultanate.
Afghans made a marked progress during Muhammad bin Tughlaq’s reign. Malik ikhtiyar-ud-din Yal Afghan who had been noticed earlier in connection with nobility under Ala-ud-din khalji continued to hold the position under Muhammad bin Tughlaq. Malik Makh Afghan, his younger brother was sent by ghiyas-ud-din to the expedition against Warangal in A.D 1321 under the leadership of his son ulugh khan. Other notable Afghans of Muhammad bin tughlaq were Malik khattah Afghan, Jalhu Afghan, tughal-al-Afghan, Bahram Afghan, Mandi Afghan and last but the least Malik Shahu Lodhi. His successor Firuz Tughlaq continued to patronize the Afghans and prominent among them were Malik Afghan, Malik Daud Khan Afghan, the muqti of bihar, Malik Muhammad Shah Afghan, the muqti of tughluqpur, Malik Bali Afghan and Yasin, son of Malik Shah Afghan.
During Muhammad bin tughlaq reign, the lower grade officers came to be called
Sadah, jagir of a hundred villages. The
Sadah amirs were Mongols as well as Afghans. The emergence of large number of Afghan zamindars during the latter part of 14th century was, in fact, made possible by the position enjoyed by them as
Sadah amirs.
In 1341 Malik Shahu Lodhi, an Afghan noble,who had considerable following of his own tribe, slew Malik Bihzad, governor of Multan. When this news reached Delhi, the Sultan Muhammad bin Tughlaq assembled his army and set out to crush him. He had hardly covered two or three stages, when he heard that his mother had died but sultan continued his march. When he reached Dipalpur, he learnt that Shahu had fled to Afghanistan. The sultan thereupon return to his capital and issued orders for the wholesale arrest of Afghans in his empire.
In 1347 the nobles of Deccan rose into rebellion against Muhammad bin Tuqhlaq, they occupied the city of Daulatabad and one of them an Afghan chief—Ismail Mukh became the King of Deccan. He assumed the title Nasir-ud-din Shah. Nasir-ud-din Shah was an old man and hence he resigned from the post and the nobles nominated Hasan Gangu or Zafar Khan, an Afghan general of Tughlaqs, as the new chief under the title Abul Muzaffar Alauddin Bahman Shah.
During Feroz Shah Tughlaq's times , In 1376-1377 the fief of Bihar was given to Malik Bir Afghan ..Malik Bir was succeeded on his death, by his son, Daud Khan. In 1377 malik Bulli Afghan was appointed to the muqta of Ikhal.
During the invasion of India by Timur in 1398, Afghan groups fought on both sides. Malik Khidr Lodhi , Malik Baha al-Din Jilwani , Malik Yusuf Habib Sarwani and Malik habib Niazi joined Timur with 12,000 soldiers.
About this time Malik Bahram Lodhi had come as a warrior-trader to Multan from Balot , a pargana in the Birun-i-pandjand sarkar on the border of Balochistan , according to the Ain-i-Akbari. He took service under Firoz Shah Tughlaq's governor Multan, namely Malik Mardan Dawlat ( Tabakat i akbari and Tarikh i Mubarak shahi). Malik Bahram organized a tribal militia. After his death , his sons Sultan Shah Lodhi, Malik Feroz , Malik Muhammad , Malik Khwaja and Malik Kala stayed on in Multan while the city passed during the political confusion and unrest , into several hands. After the death of Malik Mardan Dawlat , his son Malik Shiekh and his adopted son Malik Sulieman were appointed after his death governors of Multan in succession by Feroz Shah Tughlaq. Malik Sulieman was succeeded in the governorship by his son Khizr Khan , the founder of Delhi dynasty of Delhi, who had been appointed governor of Multan and Punjab by Tughlaqs in recognition of his military service , but later betrayed the Tughlaqs and joined the invading Mongol force under Timur.
Sultan Shah Lodhi , who succeeded his father Malik Bahram as chief of Afghan mercenaries, distinguished himself in the service of Khizr Khan and helped him in overpowering the Tughlaqs. He succeeded in killing Malik Ikbal Khan, the de facto ruler of Delhi and the staunch supporter of Mahmud Tughlaq, in the battlle of Ajodhan fought on the banks of sutlaj (11 November 1405). Thus Multan together with the Punjab seceded from Delhi, and Sultan Shah Lodhi was put in charge of Sirhind with the title of Islam Khan. On the death of Muhammad Tughluq, the throne of Delhi was occupied by Daulat khan Lodhi, who governed the country for about two years. In 1414, he was defeated by Khizar Khan. After the defeat of Dualat Khan, Khizar Khan became the king of Delhi.
During the times of Sultan Mubarik Shah , son of Khizr Khan, the Afghan chief Sultan Shah Lodhi obtained power and held Sirhind with the neighboring districts in Jagir. He settled there with his four brothers and gathered a strong contingent of 12,000 horse , mostly of his own tribe. Malik Kala married his uncle's daughter , received Dawrala (Sirhind sarkar) in Jagir and served under Nasir Khan who held Multan as governor on behalf of Sayyid Sultan Khizr khan. His child was named Bahlol, the subsequent founder of Lodhi dynasty. He died in a struggle against Niazi emigrants in the indus valley, and the child was brought up by his uncle Malik Sultan Shah Lodhi at Sirhind. Finding him a soldier of promising character, Sultan Shah Lodhi gave him his daughter , Shams Khatun , in marriage.
Sultan Shah Lodhi nominated Bahlol as his heir apparent in preference to his adult son Kutb Khan. On his father-in-law's death in march 1431 , the Afghan militia became divided into three camps under Kutb Khan, Malik Feruz (brother of Sultan Shah Lodhi) and Bahlul Lodhi; the latter won over his uncle Malik Feroz to his side against the confederation of Kutb Khan and Muhammad Shah , the Sayyid ruler of Delhi. The latter sent a force under his wazir Malik Sikander Tuhfa and Jasrath Khokar to drive the Afghans out of Sirhind and to deprive Bahlol Lodhi of his jagir. The Afghans, defeated, fled to the hills. Malik Feroz was made captive and his son Malik Shaheen Khan was killed. Bahlol escaped, and , on Jasrath return to Punjab, he managed to re-gather his scattered army. Malik Feruz escaped from Delhi and joined Bahlul. The contrite Kutb Khan also joined Bahlul's camp. Thus re-mustering his forces, Bahlul Lodhi re-captured Sirhind in 1436 A.D. The Sayyid Sultan Muhammad Shah sent a large force under one of his chiefs, Haji Shudani, better known as hussam khan , which was defeated at Kara near Khizrabad Sadhura, and, Husam Khan escaped to Delhi While Bahlul firmly established himself in Punjab.
Source:
1-
The Encyclopaedia of Islam
2.A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province
3- Tarikh-i-ferishta
4- Tarikh mubarak shahi
Brief History of Afghans in India from 682 A.D to 1436 A.D | History of Pashtuns