History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c9.2

c9.2

Muhammad Tughluq was not satisfied with his vast possessions in Hindustan and the Deccan and like some of the great rulers of the middle ages, he wished to conquer distant countries. It was during the early years of his reign that he formed the ambitious design of conquering Khorasan, 'Iraq and Transoxiana. This project of foreign invasion must have been formed before Ibn Batūṭah's arrival in India in 1333 A.D., for he speaks definitely of friendly relations between the rulers of Hind and Khorasan, and says nothing about the Sultan's plans of conquest outside India. The author of the *Majm-al-Fasihi*, who wrote early in the fifteenth century, and who is an independent authority, writes that in 728 A.H. Muhammad Tughluq sent an envoy to the court of Abu Sa'id who reciprocated his friendship and sent with the Indian envoy one Sayyid Azd-al-Din with numerous presents for the Sultan. When the Sayyid presented himself to the Sultan, he ordered him to be taken to the royal treasury where he was permitted to take as much wealth as he desired. But he accepted nothing except a copy of the Quran whereupon the Sultan was immensely pleased and gave him enormous wealth.¹ Now, this account of an independent authority, who had no need to speak in flattering terms of Sultan Muhammad may not be literally true, but it is certainly correct in so far as it suggests friendly relations between the two monarchs. This relationship did not last long, and during the next three or four years, very probably, after the invasion of Tarmāshirīn, Sultan Muhammad began to organise and collect a large army for the invasion of Khorasan. That the scheme was no mad freak of the Sultan is made clear by Barani's account. He was encouraged in his designs by the Khorasani nobles and *amirs* who came to his court, allured by his lavish generosity. Most of these men had entered the Sultan's service, and they sedulously spurred him on to embark upon this enterprise of doubtful utility. Others who had personal grievances to redress, and who had old accounts to settle with the government of Khorasan, made deceitful representations about the condition of their country and the easy nature of the suggested conquest. A large army was needed for the purpose, and Barani writes that 3,70,000 men were enrolled in the Diwan-i-‘arz or muster-master’s office and were paid for one whole year from the treasury.² But as they remained unemployed, it was found difficult to maintain them during the next year, and so they were disbanded. Barani’s statement that there was not sufficient money in the treasury or in the iqtas to support them is not to be literally accepted, for the treasury was not emptied as has been shown before.