History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c11.52

c11.52

were thieves, dacoits, and runaway slaves.²³ Ballāla III had set his heart on the extirpation of the Madura Sultans and for the last fifteen years he had ceaselessly waged war against the Muham-madans to establish his dominion over the entire Coromandel coast. In 1342 A.D. he made a gallant attempt to invade Ma‘bar. The Sultan had at that time a force of only 6,000 men, half of whom were practically useless and ill-equipped for active service. No time was lost and the parties engaged each other in battle outside the city of Kubbān belonging to the Sultan of Madura, in which the Ma‘bar forces were routed and compelled to retreat towards the capital. From Ibn Batūṭah’s narrative it appears that the city of Kubbān was either in the north or north-west of Madura and was