The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.300

v3.c20.300

These measures, crude as was the conception of political economy on which they were based, attained so well the object at which they aimed that ‘Alā-ud-dīn was able to raise and maintain a standing army of nearly half a million horse. Nevertheless in 1304 a horde of Mughuls invaded India under ‘Alī Beg, a descendant of Chingīz, and another leader, whose name is variously given¹. The invasion was a mere raid, undertaken with no idea of conquest. The Mughuls evaded the frontier garrisons and marched in a south-easterly direction, following the line of the Himālaya until they reached the neighbourhood of Amroha, plundering, slaying, ravishing, and burning as they advanced. The king sent the eunuch Kāfūr Hazārdīnārī, who was already in high favour, and Malik Ghiyās-ud-dīn Tughluq, master of the horse, against them. These two commanders intercepted them on their homeward journey, when they were burdened with plunder, and defeated them. The two leaders and 8000 others were taken alive and sent to Delhi, together with 20,000 horses which the invaders had collected. ‘Alā-ud-dīn held a court in the open air, beyond the walls of the city, and the two chiefs were trampled to death by elephants in view of the people. The other prisoners were decapitated and their heads were built into the walls of the fortress of Sīrī, where the king habitually dwelt.