The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c19.s6.2

c19.s6.2

The first Mongol invasion occurred at the end of 1296 when Ala-ud-din had been only a few months on the throne. Zafar Khan, one of his four bosom friends, was despatched against them. He encountered the invaders near Jalandar and defeated them with great slaughter. The second invasion took place in 1297. This time the Mongols captured the fortress of Siri very near Delhi, but Zafar Khan, upon whom had devolved the work of guarding the north-western frontier, defeated the invaders, recaptured the town after a short siege and took the Mongol leader with 1,700 of his followers, including their wives and children, prisoners and sent them to Delhi. In 1299 the Mongols appeared again under their leader, `Qutlugh Khwaja, who had an army of two lakh Mongols under his command. Their object this time was not plunder but conquest. They marched to the neighbourhood of Delhi without molesting the inhabitants and prepared to besiege the capital city. It was a time of dangerous crisis for the Sultan who sought the advice of his friend, Ala-ul-mulk, as to the measures to be adopted for the safety of the capital. The kotwal advised him to temporise with the invaders instead of attacking them at once. Ala-ud-din, however, refused to accept this advice and attacked the `Mongols the next morning. The advance guard of the royal army was led by Zafar Khan who defeated the enemy and pursued him relentlessly. He was drawn away from the main part of the royal army and was surrounded and slain by the Mongols. But the invaders lost heart and fled back to their country. The impression created by Zafar Khan proved so lasting that Mongol soldiers urged their weary horses to drink water “by asking whether they had seen Zafar Khan that they feared to slake their thirst !” Ala-ud-din, however, did not seem to have taken seriously the loss of such a valiant commander as Zafar Khan, for he looked upon him as a dangerously ambitious man.