Corps of Forty

The Corps of Forty (Persian: گروه چهارده), historically known as the Shamsi Bandagan and also known as the Turkan-e-Chihilgani, was a council of 40 mostly Turkic slave emirs who administered the Delhi Sultanate as per the wishes of the sultan. However, their number was not always 40, as Minhaj-i Siraj Juzjani says the group numbered 25 for some time.

It was initially formed by Shamsuddin Iltutmish, the third ruler of the Mamluk dynasty. After Iltutmish's death, the balance of power shifted and the sultan became a puppet of these emirs. They would enthrone and depose Iltutmish's children and grandchildren, often murdering them when they proved troublesome. Balban, one of Iltutmish's slaves and a former member of the Corps, broke the power of the emirs and restored the power and stature of the sultan. This destruction of the Corps would prove to be a double-edged sword. Without the Chihilgani around to maintain a Turkic monopoly on power, this left them vulnerable to the Khalji faction, which took power through a series of assassinations, and ultimately overthrew the Turks during the Khalji Revolution. The Turkan-i-Chihilghani were broken up, and they fled to and settled down in different villages in the region of Katehar, also known as Rohilkhand.