The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c10.30

c10.30

Secondly, the invaders were mostly well-mounted archers and their horses and arms gave them indisputable military superiority over our troops. The Arabian horses were proverbial in history, and Turkoman horses were even better. "The Turkoman horse is the noblest in the whole of Central Asia," says the *Cambridge Medieval History*, "and surpasses all other breeds in speed, endurance, intelligence, faithfulness and a marvellous sense of locality. The Turkoman horse is tall, with a long narrow body, long thin legs and neck......On their predatory expeditions the Turkomans often cover 650 miles in the waterless desert in five days . . . . . They owe their power to the training of thousands of years in the endless steppes and deserts, and to the continual plundering raids which demanded the utmost endurance and privation of which horse and rider were capable.”¹⁷ The Turks, whose homeland lay just south of that of the Turkomans, were only a little less hardy and were mounted on fleet Turkoman and Arab horses. “The Turks were so famous for the speed and vigour of their cavalry charges,” writes Sir Jadunath Sarkar, “that in the Asiatic world the phrase Turk-sawar (i.e., Turkish horseman) became a general name for the richly accoutred, superbly mounted dashing cavalry of any race.”¹⁸ The weapons of the rank and file of the invaders were a composite bow of two pieces joined together by a metal band which discharged deadly arrows to a range of 80 to 100 paces and “which pierced cuirass and shield with ease,” and long spears. The Turkish nobles and their horses were clad in armour and fought with bows and arrows and spears. Both were also equipped with long sharp swords.