History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c12.231.2

c12.231.2

According to Barani, when the Sultan formed the project of a Khorasanese expedition, 370,000 horsemen were enrolled in the muster-master's office (Diwān-i-'Arz) and lakhs and Crores were spent from the public treasury in maintaining them for one year.⁹⁵ This does not include the provincial auxiliaries, for surely the provinces could not have been depleted of their troops for an expedition outside Hindustan. Ibn Batūṭah in his account of the Qarājīl expedition estimates the royal army which marched under the command of Malik Nukbah at one hundred thousand horse and foot.⁹⁶ Excepting the figures given by the author of the *Masālik* there are no data which can enable us to arrive at the correct numbers of the army. A study of later military systems will enable us to form some idea of the military strength of Muhammad Tughluq. Sultan Firuz whose empire was confined merely to the northern region had 90,000 horse in Dihli in addition to the provincial garrisons and the slave corps which numbered 180,000.⁹⁷ That the army of Firuz was sufficiently large is indicated by the huge levies which he mobilised to suppress rebellions in the provinces. During his first expedition against Lakhnauti the army contained 90,000 horse and during the second it contained 70,000 cavalry, 470 elephants and a large number of boats. The infantry too must have been considerable, for we find it mentioned in the case of the provincial armies.