History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c11.210

c11.210

The Sultan arrived at Āsāwal¹⁰⁵ where he stayed for nearly a month on account of the rains and the illness of his horses. Taghī profited by this inaction of the Sultan; he marched towards Āsāwal and arrived at the town of Kādī.¹⁰⁶ The Sultan lost no time, and notwithstanding the rains, he started in pursuit of the rebel and reached Kādī on the third or fourth day. Taghī saw no other alternative but to fight an open engagement. He made the amirs of his party dead drunk and under the influence of strong liquor " with their lives on their sleeves and their naked swords in their hands " they fearlessly rushed upon their enemies. Fully realising that defeat meant disgrace and death, Taghī's men fought with a courage worthy of a better cause, but the trained elephants of the emperor marched against them and the ranks of the rebels were broken up. Unused to such a method of warfare, which baffled all their military tactics, the nonplussed amirs were completely defeated and they fled towards Nehrwālā in confusion. The author of the Sīrat describes the scene of this battle at Takalpur and says that the Sultan himself superintended the campaign and inflicted a crushing defeat upon the followers of Taghī, a great many of whom were massacred by the imperialists. All writers agree in saying that the engagement was a well-contested one, and the success of the imperialists was due mainly to the use of elephants who rendered the valour of Taghī's men practically useless. The rebels suffered heavy losses ; about four or five hundred of them were made captives and finally put to the sword, and all their baggage was seized.¹⁰⁷ The rout of Taghī gave a brief interval of repose to the imperialists and the Sultan at once sent Khizr, the son of the late Yūsuf Bughrā with a force to chase the fugitives.¹⁰⁸ The reason for the appointment of this young man at such a critical moment is given by the author of the Sīrat who writes that the Sultan entrusted him with such an important command in the hope that he would fight with all his vigour in order to avenge the death of his father, who had been slain by Taghī. But the young general who had no experience of war was affrighted ; he proceeded slowly and before he reached Patan, Taghī had left the place. Driven from pillar to post by his relentless pursuers, Taghī hastily went to Nehrwālā, and having collected all his men and dependents, he started with his family for Kant barāhī,¹⁰⁹ from where he opened negotiations with the Rai of Girnar and implored him to render assistance. This was probably refused and the rebel who had lost nothing of his high-spirited courage, in spite of the vicissitudes he had suffered, left Girnar and went over to Thatta and Damrīlā in Sindh,¹¹⁰ where he sought refuge with the Sumrah chieftains who had also rebelled against the authority of the Sultan. Taghī moved from one place to another with great rapidity, when he failed to obtain the support and sympathy of the local chiefs.¹¹¹ His ultimate flight to Damrīlā in Sindh is mentioned by Barani and he is corroborated by the author of the *Sirat*. All authorities agree more or less as to the order of Taghī's march. According to Nizam-al-Din he left Patan, as soon as he came to know that Khizr bin Yusuf was marching in pursuit of him, and crossing the Rann he went to Kāntā in Kutch and, after halting there for some days, fled to Thatta in Sindh.¹¹² Firishta who probably copied Nizam-al-Din corroborates him by saying that the rebels crossed the Rann and fled into Kāntā by way of Kutch.¹¹³