The Administration of the Sultanate of Dehli c12.86

c12.86

Of much greater antiquity were the various mechanical devices for battering the walls of fortresses, for throwing large balls, for projecting naphtha and fireworks. The different war engines used by the sultanate of Dehlī have been mentioned in the chronicles; but they have nowhere been described fully and it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. The *maghribī* was adopted from the Western Caliphate and may signify cannon.⁶ The *manjanīq* and the *arrādah* were used to throw stone balls or vessels containing Greek fire or a moving army.¹ Besides, so long as the army was within the frontiers of the sultanate, it could depend on large stores of grain belonging to the state.² Tributary chiefs showed their loyalty by bringing provisions when the army was in their dominions. In the enemy territory, it had to rely on the banjārās, the local population and sometimes on plunder; but the last was the extreme resort for it tended to frighten away the local merchants and the peasants, with the result that supplies would ultimately fail.