The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c16.24

c16.24

Our information is much too little as to the existence of a reserve volunteer militia. Fakhre Mudir, writing early in the reign of Iltutmish, describes a military review and mentions a body of infantry “who have voluntarily joined the forces and who should present themselves individually to the *ariz* and be enrolled in a separate list in charge of the *naqib* (trumpeter)”¹. Barani also mentions a class of soldiers who supplied their own arms and horse and joined the regular army². In 1259, when Hulaku’s envoys were received in Delhi, the royal army, including the contingents from the provinces, numbering about two hundred thousand infantry and fifty thousand horsemen, was, for the purpose of military display, supplemented by a huge number of volunteers from among the citizens who appeared in their own arms and horses and were drawn up alongside the regulars³.