History of the Qaraunah Turks in India c9.58

c9.58

by General Cunningham. This makes it clear that the royal forces entered the mountains somewhere in the north of the Moradabad district. In concluding his account of the expedition Ibn Batūṭah writes that the hill-men made a treaty with the Sultan, because they could not cultivate their lands at the base of the mountain without his permission. This shows that the territory of the mountain Prince extended to the foot of the hills. Mr. Gardner Brown is of opinion that the country attacked was that which is now known as Kūlū to the east of Kangra.²³ The Bamsāvalī of the chiefs of Kūlū informs us that Sikandar Pal, the fifteenth Pal, went to the king of Dihli to seek shelter against the Chinese who had invaded his kingdom. The Raja of Dihli came with an army in person, marched through Kūlū and took Gya Murr Orr (?) and Baltistan together with the country as far as Mansarowar lake.²⁴ This is an indefinite account without any dates, and it would not be right to connect it with Muhammad Tughluq in view of the clear statements of Barani and Ibn Batūṭah. Besides, as Hunter says, authentic history first recognises Kūlū in the fifteenth century when Raja Sudh Singh, whom tradition places 7th in descent from the original founder of the dynasty, ascended the throne²⁵ and early in the 14th century it was not so important as to require a lakh of men from Dihli to subdue it, particularly when the chief of Nagarkot had been conquered the year before. This is in conflict with Ibn Batūṭah who says that the mountain attacked was 200 miles distant from Dihli. Ibn Batūṭah's mention of the Qarāchil mountain along with the hazarah of Amroha,²⁶ and the Ramganga river supports the view that the country attacked was a petty hill state in the Kamayun-Garhwal region not far from the plains. Kamayun was in the fourteenth century under the sway of the rulers of the Chand dynasty who wielded considerable power. It was never subdued thoroughly by the Muhammadans. Indeed, we learn from the *Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi* that the hilly region of Kamayun was the refuge of rebels against the imperial authority. When Khargū, the chief of Katehar, who murdered Sayyid Muhammad of Badaon fled before the arms of Sultan Firuz, he sought refuge in the mountains of Kamayun in the country of the Mahtas who were attacked and defeated by the Sultan.²⁷ We learn from the Muhammadan historians that the Muhammadans encroached upon the lands of hill-men, and consequently Gyan Chand (1374-1419), the ruler of Kamayun, on his accession waited on Sultan Firuz to apply for the grant of the strip of country at the foot of the hills, which had formerly belonged to the Katyuri Rajas.²⁸ The mention of the land at the foot of the mountain is significant.