The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c10.21

c10.21

The neighbouring kingdom of Kamrup also proved a strong military power and the elephant-hunting expeditions by the Lakhnauti governors proved more hazardous than before. Kamrup was an extensive kingdom comprising the country from the Karatoya and north-eastern Mymensingh to Gauhati, where the capital seems to have been located. Since Bakhtiyar's ill-fated expedition no large-scale attempt had been made to penetrate the Brahmaputra valley. Kamrup thus gathered sufficient strength to deal a crushing blow to any one emulating Bakhtiyar's example. The ambitious Yuzbak fell into this trap. Considering Lakhnauti too small for his ambitions, shortly after 1255, he collected a large force and crossed the Karatoya into Kamrup. He met no resistance, for the king, adopting his traditional strategy, withdrew to the hills and allowed the invader to march unopposed to the capital. Yuzbak there proclaimed himself king of 'Lakhnauti and Kamrup' and instituted the Friday religious services; "the signs of Islam thus became manifest in Kamrup." The Hindu king then sent to offer his submission and requested to be restored as a tributary vassal promising to continue the "coin and the khutba in Yuzbak's name." The latter refused the offer and evidently meant to stay there. Relying on the country's flourishing crops and with a criminal lack of foresight he, foolishly however, sold all his grain stock to the agents of the Kamrup king who in pursuance of his plan, meant to starve the invaders. A terrible situation therefore confronted Yuzbak when he found the entire harvest destroyed by the flood caused by deliberate cutting of the embankments by the Hindu forces. Faced with the prospect of utter starvation he thereupon resolved to withdraw. The route through the plains having been rendered impassable by the floods, he