The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c21.7

c21.7

In individual fighting qualities the Rajput nearly surpassed the Turk, but he was a poor organiser. The feudatories fought more for individual glory than for wider issues of the contest. Only the king could hold the mutually jealous and ambitius troop-leaders together and when he fell in battle, all was lost. In fighting methods also, the Rajput showed a singularly unprogressive military talent. He depended on the weight of numbers rather than on mobility and tactics. A solid, almost unwiedly phalanx, arranged according to a stereotyped formation was his usual battle-array, with archers carried on elephants and also on foot drawn up in front. His mass frontal attacks were weighty and difficult to stand, but his cavalry could accomplish little in the serried ranks. The elephant was considered a mighty arm, and, accordingly, the field of battle had to be a level ground, for uneven soil would place it at a disadvantage. Such a ground however, was precisely where the Turk could put his cavalry to the best use, for, enclosed, mountainous terrain hampered its freedom of manoeuvre; Muizzuddin's defeat and Aibak's hesitation at Kayadra below Abu, in front of the Chalukya forces, are cases in point. The Turk initially possessed no elephants; he charged with the cavalry whose impetuosity broke the Hindu phalanx and would often turn the elephants against their own ranks. The Rajput made little provision against an attack from the flank or rear; as the cavalry broke through his lines and put the archers out of action, a body of light-armed horse wheeling round the flank at the crucial moment decided the contest.