The Sultanate of Delhi, 711–1526 A.D. c9.s3.1

c9.s3.1

What the greatest empire of the medieval world failed to do was achieved by the ruler of a petty principality, Yaqub ibn Layth, who started his career as a brigand in Seistan and rose to be the founder of the Saffarid dynasty of Persia and the neighbouring territories that lay to the west and south-west of the Hindu kingdoms of Kabul and Zabul, thanks to the internal dissension among the ruling party in Kabul and the successful use of downright treachery by the invader against his unsuspecting Hindu neighbour. In 870 A.D. Legaturman, destined to be the last Kshatriya ruler of Kabul, was overthrown by his Brahman minister, Lallya *alias* Kallar, who, though credited by Kalhan, the author of Rajtarangini, with ability and strength, was defeated and driven out of Kabul by Yaqub ibn Layth within a year of his usurpation. During an invasion of the Zabul territory Yaqub sent a message that he would submit to the Hindu king and should be permitted to do him homage along with his troops, for otherwise the latter would disperse and prove dangerous to both of them. Yaqub’s troops “carried their lances concealed behind their horses and wearing coats of mail under their garments. The Almighty made the army of Rusal (Ratbil ?) blind, so that they did not see the lances. When Yaqub drew near Rusal, he bowed his head as if to do homage, but he raised the lance and thrust it into the back of Rusal, so that he died on the spot. His people also fell like lightning upon the enemy, cutting them down with their swords and staining the earth with the blood of the enemies of religion. The infidels, when they saw the head of Rusal upon the point of a spear, took to flight and great bloodshed ensued… This victory which he achieved was the result of treachery and deception, such as no one had ever committed.”¹² Lallya’s position seems to have become untenable after the above disaster, and he abandoned Kabul and shifted his capital to Udbhand (the modern village of Und) on the right bank of the Indus, 15 miles above Attock in Rawalpindi district. This happened¹³ in 870 A.D. (256 A.H.), and the Hindu rule ended in Afghanistan once for all.¹⁴