The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c16.459

v1.c16.459

There are differences of opinion about the date of this conquest. But it must have happended before 1205 A.D., when Muḥammad started on his ill-fated expedition to Tibet, and after 1193, when he met Quṭb ud-Dīn Aibak after the conquest of Bihar. As Minhāj says that the Rāi died soon after the capture of Nūdiāh; and as we know from the colophon of the *Sadukti-karṇāmṛta* that he was living in 1206 A.D., I think we are justified in placing the date of the expedition nearer 1205 than 1193.¹ Though much fiction is mixed up in the account of Minhāj, the general outline of his story is fairly reliable. Without going so far as to say that there was a real conspiracy between the officers and Brahmans of the court and the Muḥammadans² we may assume that there was a general panic at the capital. The fall of the powerful dynasties of the Cāhamānas and the Gāhaḍavālas convinced the courtiers that nothing could possibly stop the oncoming tide. A sudden cavalry attack by a bold leader on such a demoralised city may well have produced the results described by Minhāj, and Niẓām ud-Dīn. It should be noted that the former distinctly says that the city was captured when the whole army arrived, and the only function undertaken by the advanced party appears to have been to completely destroy the *morale* of the citizens.