The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c7.135

c7.135

Bakhtiyar’s ambitions allowed him no rest. Within two years from the raid on Nadia he began making preparations for a third adventure, an expedition to the northeast, to conquer “Tibet and China”³. On the face of it, it was a mad project; but the founder of Muslim rule in Bengal should, perhaps be credited with some calculating sense. Minhaj possibly hints at the real purpose of the expedition when he speaks of the trading routes, numbering about 35, that carried a brisk traffic in Tangan horses from “Karam Battan” (possibly Kumrikotah in Bhutan) and “Tibet” to Kamrup and thence to the districts of North Bengal⁴. Bengal being particularly deficient in horses, Bakhtiyar may reasonably have desired to obtain a monopoly of this imported breed. In undertaking it, however, he overstepped his limit. Having posted his lieutenant Muhammud Sheran to watch the frontier at Lakhanor, and securing the services of a converted Koch guide, he set out with ten thousand horsemen. From Lakhnauti he arrived, according to Minhaj, at Bardhankuti whence for ten days he marched northwards along the river named Bangmati, "three times as broad as the Ganges". He must have crossed the river and followed the Brahmaputra to be able to arrive at a place, in the hills, where there was a stone bridge spanning a river. At this spot, where his guide left him, he received a message from the king of Kamrup requesting him to postpone the expedition till next year when he would aid him with his forces¹. Paying no heed to the counsel, he left a detachment of troops under two officers to guard the bridge and crossed over into the hills. Pushing through the mountain defiles he arrived, on the 16th day, at the "open country of Tibet". The hazardous march, coupled with the alarming news of the imminent approach of "50,000, well-armed Turks" from the nearest fort of Karambattan, as well as a severe but indecisive battle with the local garrison, damped the spirit of his troops and he decided to return. The retreat was marked by terrible hardship, for the hill people destroyed every food and forage along the route. On reaching the bridgehead, he found it broken by the Kamrup forces who had been waiting to strike; his officers, quarrelling among themselves, had been driven off. Thus forced to halt, Bakhtiyar sought temporary shelter in a temple near by, while arrangements were started for the construction of rafts. But to his alarm he soon noticed that the Kamrup forces, lying hidden in the vicinity, were planning to entrap him within a bamboo stockade which began quickly to rise all round the temple. Bakhtiyar acted promptly and dashed out. On being driven to the edge of the water, the whole army threw itself into the river desperately hoping to find it fordable. It, however, proved deep with a strong current which carried away most of the troops; Bakhtiyar managed to reach the opposite bank with only a hundred followers¹. There he was met by his guide who brought him back to Devkot, a man crushed by the weight of the disaster.