History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c8.63

c8.63

this discreditable occurrence, but it must be remembered that Barani is not a detailed chronicler who attempts to supply information about everything relating to Muhammad's reign. The nearest successor of Barani who mentions this invasion is the author of the *Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi*. According to him the invasion took place in 729 A.H. after the transfer of the capital.³⁰ Badāoni copies him.³¹ Firishta who also consulted the *Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi* gives a different account of the invasion and it appears that he relied upon some other history of which he does not make mention in the body of his work. He assigns the date 727 A.H. to this invasion, and as Sir Wolseley Haig rightly says, this date might have been attributed to the mistake of the scribes who very often substitute سبع for تسع but for the fact that the sequence of events mentioned by him makes it quite clear that he means 727 A.H. and not 729 A.H.³² According to Firishta, it was after this invasion that Muhammad Tughluq subjugated the distant provinces of India such as Dwarsamudra, Ma‘bar, Kampil, Warangal, Lakhnauti, Satagaon and Sonargaon. He must have relied for the chronology of Muhammad's reign upon some other work or works, for all his dates do not tally with those given by the author of the *Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi* and Badaoni. The only corroboration of his date is to be found in the *Haft-i-Risalah-i-Taqwīm-al-Buldān* a history of the Mughals, but this is a later work and, therefore, not of much value.³³ Besides, its chronology is far from satisfactory.³⁴ Hajji-ad-Dabīr, who is an independent authority, basing his information on the oft-quoted *Tarikh Husām Khani* corroborates the *Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi*, although he does not favour us with a date. In the sequence of events he places this invasion after the appointment of Nusrat Khan to the fief of Bidar, which occurred much later than 729 A.H. But incidentally he says that the Mughals in Khorasan and ‘Iraq heard of the depopulation of Dihli Tarmāshirin, brother of Qutlugh Khwajah, advanced into Hindustan at the head of a large army, and this seems probable. We have no reason to reject Yahyā’s date which is supported by the trend of circumstances. Besides, Yahyā is an earlier authority than Firishta, who except for matters that came within his personal knowledge is a mere compiler. The earlier years of Muhammad Tughluq's reign were fully occupied with other recorded events. The year 726 A.H. does not appear to have been disturbed, and if Northern India had been threatened by a serious Mughal invasion at this time, Muhammad Tughluq would have hardly thought of launching his Deccan campaigns in 727 A.H. He was evidently at Dihli, when the invasion occurred, but during a great part of 727 and to some extent in 728 A.H. he was absent in the Deccan, completing his conquests and busy in resettling the new capital of his empire. All evidence tends to show that the invasion occurred in the earlier years of Muhammad's reign. The date 729 A.H. is an early enough date, for in that year Muhammad Tughluq had been only four years on the throne.