The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c12.s6.2

c12.s6.2

Mahmud was a brave soldier and a great general. It is said that he was not gifted with extraordinary personal prowess, but he was fearless and extremely intrepid. As a general his success lay in making a clever use of the extant material and in infusing a new life into the old system then in existence. He was a judge of human character and understood and appreciated the qualities of his subordinates and troops and thus he made each individual contribute to his success in the manner in which he liked and to the extent to which each man was capable of contributing. He was a born leader of men. His army was not a homogeneous force; it was composed of diverse racial and religious elements, such as Arabs, Afghans, Turks and Hindus. But his able generalship welded them all into a powerful unit. It is sometimes supposed that Mahmud displayed conspicuous military capacity against the then effete Hindus only and hence his generalship has been unduly exaggerated. This is a mistaken view, for we know that he attained equal success in Central Asia and in Persia.