The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c13.76

c13.76

Ulugh Khan’s exertions could change but little the situation in the west. The following year witnessed another Mongol invasion led by the Nuin, Sali Bahadur, and once again Delhi suzerainty was negatived from over Sind. The invaders proceeded to Multan and by a close siege compelled the deputy governor, Changiz Khan, to open negotiations for peace. The saint Bahauddin Zakariya was sent to ask Shamsuddin Kurt, the vassal ruler of Herat who accompanied the Mongols on this occasion, to intercede for the besieged town and an idemnity of 100,000 dinars was offered¹. Agreeing to the terms, Sali raised the siege and marched on to Lahore whose governor had to purchase immunity by a similar contribution. He even agreed to be a tributary vassal of the Mongols². The political settlements following Mahmud’s accession probably kept Ulugh Khan busy at Delhi and no reinforcement could at once be sent to the affected regions. His expedition towards the end of the same year, although ostensibly planned to resume operations against the Rana Jaspal of the Salt Range, yet could not have been entirely unconnected with this Mongol invasion³. On reaching the Chinab, he pushed into the hills and is reported to have inflicted prodigious losses on the tribesmen, and to have plundered "as far as the neighbourhood of