A History of Agriculture in India v2.c63.s1: Timur's Invasion of India
A History of Agriculture in India v2.c63.s1
- Language
- English
Timur's Invasion of India
v2.c63.s1.1
When Timur started on his career of conquests the choice before him was China or India. Both these countries were inhabited by infidels.
v2.c63.s1.3
Fig. 6. The extent of the Sultanate of Delhi in 1398 and the route of Timur's invasion of northern India.
v2.c63.s1.4
Why he chose to attack India is thus described in his autobiography. 'About this time there arose in my heart the desire to lead an expedition against the infidels, and to become a ghazi; for it had reached my ears that the slayer of infidels is a ghazi and if he is slain he becomes a martyr. It was on this account that I formed this resolution, but I was undetermined in my mind whether I should direct my expedition against the infidels of China or against the infidels and polytheists of India. In this matter I sought an omen from the Kuran, and the verse I opened upon was this, "O' Prophet, make war upon infidels and unbelievers, and treat them with severity."
v2.c63.s1.5
'My great officers told me that the inhabitants of Hindustan were infidels and unbelievers. In obedience to the order of Almighty God, I determined on an expedition against them. Throwing themselves upon their knees they all wished me good fortune. I demanded of the warrior chieftains whether I should direct my expedition against the infidels of Hindustan or China. At first they repeated fables and wise sayings, and then said, in the country of Hindustan there are four defences, and if any one invading this extensive country breaks down these four defences, he becomes the conqueror of Hindustan.'¹
v2.c63.s1.6
¹ *Malfuzat-i Timuri*, in Elliot and Dowson, *The History of India*..., Vol. III, pp. 394, 395
v2.c63.s1.7
In the autumn of A.D. 1398 Timur crossed the Indus, the first defence of India, with a cavalry force of ninety thousand. He defeated Mahmud Tughlak at Loni and again near Delhi. Then he carried out his notorious massacre of the inhabitants of Delhi. The economic prosperity of the Delhi Sultanate was completely shattered by the catastrophe of Timur's invasion. All the four cities of Delhi were thoroughly and mercilessly sacked and an immense booty consisting of male and female slaves, precious stones and pearls, as well as gold and silver, was taken away from the unfortunate inhabitants of the capital. He also carried away skilled artisans whom he employed in construction of his monuments at Samarkand.
v2.c63.s1.8
After his conquest of northern India, Timur conquered Iran and Syria. At Isfahan he massacred the entire population. He defeated Bayezid, Sultan of Turkey, at Angora in A.D. 1402. Tamerlane failed to take advantage of his victory. His empire was too loose and too far-flung, too much the product of marauding successes, to have any permanence. It began to disintegrate almost as soon as it was formed. Only in northern India it survived as a compact state. From Asia Minor, the Mongols soon disappeared, leaving the Turks in control.
v2.c63.s1.9
Timur destroyed the cities of Islamic Iran and Turkey and Hindu India with equal impartiality. He slaughtered lakhs of men, burnt many cities, and laid waste one-half of the then civilized world. There was a strange blend of cruelty and artistic sensibility in this man; while he enjoyed raising pyramids of skulls at Isfahan and Dehli, he also created gardens of great beauty at Samarkand, where he died in A.D. 1405 in the midst of his Chinese campaign.