The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c23.18

v3.c23.18

Husain’s military strength far exceeded that of Buhlūl, for, if the historians are to be believed, he was able, after concluding peace, to assemble an army of 300,000, with 1,400 elephants, for a predatory incursion into Orissa, where Kapileshwar Deva, of the Solar line, had established his authority in 1434. The numbers may be exaggerated, but without a very numerous army Husain could not have risked an advance to distant Orissa through or along the frontier of the intervening kingdom of Bengal, still less a retreat, laden with spoil. His first step was to crush the now virtually independent landholders of Tirhut, which province was devastated and plundered. He then marched on to Orissa, where the depredations of his great army overawed the raja and induced him to purchase peace by the payment of an immense ransom in elephants, horses, money, and valuable goods, which is represented by Muslim vanity as the first instalment of an annual tribute.