The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c10.34

c10.34

Fourthly, our leaders and commanders had failed to keep pace with the development of tactics that had been taking place in Asia even before the birth of Islam and were perfected by Arab and Turkish converts to Islam. These tactics consisted in employing mounted archers as light troopers for harassing and bewildering the enemy and causing confusion in his ranks by archery fire, and then charging with armoured heavy cavalry. The squadrons of the invading army were divided into five divisions, namely, right wing, centre, left wing, advance guard and reserve, and used to be drawn up in the form of a crescent. The enemy would not attempt to come close or make a general or frontal attack; but large bodies of the enemy mounted archers would hover round and ply their arrows against the Indian army that was posted in a long formation and divided only into three parts, right wing, centre and left wing. The enemy would late in the day steal round the wings and would molest the fighting Indian army from round behind. In the moment of its confusion the Turkish horses would pour a cloud of arrows and the horns of the crescent would enclose the Indian rear.