History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c8.37

c8.37

A modern writer has suggested that the transfer of the capital was to some extent dictated by the consideration that the importance of the Punjab had declined owing to the Mughal raids and owing to a great flood that ‘had rendered thousands homeless and changed the river courses.¹⁶ No Muslim historian mentions this reason which, although strikingly original, is of doubtful validity. The writer of the article in question has followed Major Raverty, who, relying upon the information supplied by the author of the Khulāṣat-ut-tawārīkh, who was a native of Batala in the Punjab says: ‘the exact year in which this flood took place is not fixed, but it was a long time before the invasion of Hindustan by Amir Timur.¹⁷ In all probability it happened a short time before Sultan Firuz commenced opening canals; and the vast changes which this flood appears to have caused may have been the reason of his bringing canals to his