Twilight of the Sultanate c7.s4.1

c7.s4.1

Surprisingly enough it was after this not so easy victory that Tīmūr thought of leaving Hindustan. His almost sudden decision to depart was due to many reasons. Famine and pestilence raged in the countryside devastated by him. None of his sons, officers and men, were anxious to continue the thankless task of waging wars against the infidels. On the other hand, satiated with bloodbath and plunder, they were anxious to return home to enjoy the fruits of the campaign. Tīmūr himself was sixty-three years of age and a victim of rheumatism. But the most compelling reason seems to be the trouble that was brewing in many parts of his empire. It was on the banks of the Ganga that Tīmūr had been informed by his swift messengers of the disturbance which had arisen on the confines of Georgia and Anatolia, of the revolt of the Christians, and the ambitious designs of Sultan Bāyazīd.¹⁴⁰ Revolt simmered along the Caucasus, and Bāyazīd had occupied all Mesopotamia.¹⁴¹ Tīmūr, who had no intention of founding an empire in India, could hardly stay there after receiving such alarming news from his homeland.