The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c24.63

v3.c24.63

In 1398 the Amīr Tīmūr, who was then at Delhi, and proposed to retire by the road which skirted the spurs of the Himālaya, sent his grandson Rustam and Mu‘tamad Zain-ud-dīn as envoys to Sikandar. They were well received, and when they left Kashmīr Sikandar sent with them as his envoy Maulānā Nūr-ud-dīn, and left Srīnagar with the intention of waiting personally on the conqueror. The envoys reached Tīmūr’s camp in the neighbourhood of Jammū on February 24, 1399, and the rapacious courtiers, without their master’s knowledge, informed Nūr-ud-dīn that Tīmūr required from Kashmīr 30,000 horses and 100,000 golden *dirhams*. The envoy returned to his master and informed him of this extravagant demand. Sikandar, whose gifts did not approach in value those required by the courtiers, turned back towards Srīnagar, either in despair or with a view to collecting such offerings as might be acceptable, and Tīmūr, who was expecting him, failed to understand the delay in his coming. The members of Nūr-ud-dīn’s mission who were still in the camp informed him of the demand and he was incensed by the rapacity of his courtiers, and sent Mu‘tamad Zain-ud-dīn with the returning mission to request Sikandar to meet him on the Indus on March 25, without fear of being troubled by exorbitant demands. Sikandar again set out from Srīnagar, but on reaching Bāramūla learnt that Tīmūr had hurriedly left the Indian frontier for Samarqand, and returned to his capital.