The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c8.s5.2

c8.s5.2

Dahir, who seems to have pinned his faith on a pitched battle, was now roused to a sense of the danger he had landed himself in by his policy of drift, and collected, according to the Arab accounts, 50,000 troops, raised mostly on the spur of the moment, and moved from Brahmanabad to Rawar to meet the invader. After several days' skirmishes between the scouts of both the sides, a well contested engagement took place on 20th June, 712 A.D. Dahir himself, mounted on an elephant, led the attack, as if to redeem his character. He rehabilitated his reputation as a soldier, though not as a general, by a valiant fight. But his elephant, being struck by a naphtha arrow that set fire to the *hauda*, fled into the river, causing a great deal of confusion in the ranks of his army. The animal was, however, induced to return from the mid-stream. Dahir hit the enemy hard and carried out great slaughter among the Arab troops. But, as ill-luck would have it, he himself was struck by an arrow and fell from the elephant. He recovered himself in an instant and mounted a horse. Meanwhile the enemy hurled a mortal blow at him and his army fled in panic.¹⁰