The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c8.s4.14

c8.s4.14

The description of Vidyapati clearly shows how impressive and awe-inspiring the army of the Sultanate looked. The soldiers had excellent horses, magnificent armour, and fine costumes.¹⁵⁷ A soldier usually carried two swords.¹⁵⁸ Besides he had bows and arrows, maces and battle axes. The Muslim soldier was an enthusiastic fighter. Psychologically, he was a soldier of Allah. The word *Jihad* had a magic appeal for him. His enthusiasm for war was whetted by the promises of rewards, prospects of plunder and religious slogans.¹⁵⁹ Consequently, he exhibited great zeal and practised extreme ruthlessness and cruelty.¹⁶⁰ This cruelty gave the army of the Sultanate superiority over indigenous forces because it inspired terror wherever it went. The Turushka had become a bogey and everywhere inspired a paralysing fear.¹⁶¹ As Ruben Levy points out, the Turks have always been amongst the most active of Muslim peoples, and if they are not greatly given to pious exercise they are bigoted believers in this faith and excellent fighters in its cause.¹⁶² The Afghans were equally ferocious. These and other Central and West Asian soldiers of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate were neither merciful nor compassionate and created consternation whenever they launched an attack. Balban in the thirteenth century held the conviction that no king could succeed against the army of Delhi, be he a Hindu Raja or a Rana (*Midanam ke pesh lashkar-i-dihli hech badshahi dast astad natawaned kard fikef rayan wa rajgan-i-hinduan*).¹⁶³