| Mongol invasions of India | |||||||
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| Part of theMongol invasions and conquests | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Mongol Empire |  Delhi Sultanate | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Qutlugh Khwaja (DOW) Ali beg † Tartaq † Taraghai Kopek Hiljak Iqbalmand Abdullah[a][1] Targhi Saldi Zulju Tarmashirin Tair Bahadur | IltutmishGhiyasuddin BalbanJalal-ud-Din KhaljiAlauddin KhaljiZafar Khan †Malik KafurUlugh KhanNusrat Khan JalesariGhiyath al-Din TughluqSultan Chanesar II Soomro Ikhtyaruddin Qaraqash Dindar Muhammad † Aqsanqar † | ||||||
TheMongol invasions of India were numerousinvasions that theMongol Empire launched into theIndian subcontinent from 1221 to 1327, with many of the later raids made by theQara'unas ofMongol origin. The Mongols occupied parts of the subcontinent for decades. As the Mongols progressed into the Indian hinterland and reached the outskirts ofDelhi, theDelhi Sultanate of India led a campaign against them in which the Mongol army suffered serious defeats.[2]
Delhi Sultanate officials viewed war with the Mongols as one of thesultan's primary duties. While the sultanate's chroniclers described the conflicts between theTengrist Mongols andMuslim community inbinary terms, with the Delhi Sultanate being an island ofIslamic civilization surrounded byHindus andBuddhist to its north and south, it ignored the fact that a large number of the sultanate's elites and monarchs were ofTurkic/Mongol ethnicity or had previously served in their armed contingents.[3]
After pursuingJalal al-Din into India fromSamarkand and defeating him at theBattle of Indus in 1221,Genghis Khan sent twotumens (20,000 soldiers in total) under commanders Dorbei the Fierce and Bala to continue the chase. The Mongol commander Bala chased Jalal ad-Din throughout theLahore region and attacked outlying provinceMultan, and even sacked the outskirts of Lahore. Jalal ad-Din regrouped, forming a small army from survivors of the battle and sought an alliance, or even an asylum, with the Sultan of Delhi Sultanate,Iltutmish, but was turned down.[4]
While fighting against the local governor ofSindh, Jalal ad-Din heard of an uprising in theKirman province of southernIran and he immediately set out for that place, passing through southernBaluchistan on the way. Jalal ad-Din was also joined by forces fromGhor and Peshawar, including members of theKhalji,Turkoman, and Ghori tribes. With his new allies he marched onGhazni and defeated a Mongol division under Turtai, which had been assigned the task of hunting him down. The victorious allies quarreled over the division of the captured booty; subsequently the Khalji, Turkoman, and Ghori tribesmen deserted Jalal ad-Din and returned toPeshawar. By this timeÖgedei Khan, third son of Genghis Khan, had becomeGreat Khan of the Mongol Empire. A Mongol general namedChormaqan sent by the Khan attacked and defeated Jalal ad-Din, thus ending theKhwārazm-Shāh dynasty.[5]
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Some time after 1235 another Mongol force invadedKashmir, stationing adarughachi (administrative governor) there for several years, and Kashmir became a Mongolian dependency.[6] Around the same time, a Kashmiri Buddhist master, Otochi, and his brother Namo arrived at the court of Ögedei. Another Mongol general named Pakchak attacked Peshawar and defeated the army of tribes who had deserted Jalal ad-Din but were still a threat to the Mongols. These men, mostly Khaljis, escaped to Multan and were recruited into the army of the Delhi Sultanate. In winter 1241 the Mongol force invaded theIndus valley and besieged Lahore. However, on 30 December 1241, the Mongols under Munggetu butchered the town before withdrawing from the Delhi Sultanate. At the same time the Great Khan Ögedei died (1241).
The Kashmiris revolted in 1254–1255, andMöngke Khan, who became Great Khan in 1251, appointed his generals,Sali and Takudar, to replace the court and appointed the Buddhist master, Otochi, as darugachi of Kashmir. However, the Kashmiri king[who?] killed Otochi atSrinagar. Sali invaded Kashmir, killing the king, and put down the rebellion, after which the country remained subject to the Mongol Empire for many years.[7]
The Delhi prince Jalal al-Din Masud, traveled to the Mongol capital atKarakorum to seek the assistance of Möngke Khan in seizing the throne from his elder brother in 1248. When Möngke was crowned as Great Khan, Jalal al-Din Masud attended the ceremony and asked for help from Möngke. Möngke orderedSali Noyan to assist him to recover his ancestral realm. Sali Noyan made successive attacks on Multan and Lahore.Shams-uddin Muhammad Kurt I, the clientmalik (ruling prince) ofHerat, accompanied the Mongols. Jalal al-Din Masud was installed as client ruler of Lahore,Kunjah andSodhra. In 1257 the governor of Sindh offered his entire province toHulegu Khan, Möngke's brother, and sought Mongol protection from his overlord in Delhi. Hulegu led a strong force under Sali Noyan into Sindh. In the winter of 1257 - beginning of 1258, Sali Noyan entered Sind in strength and dismantled the fortifications of Multan; his forces may also have infested the island fortress ofBukkur on the Indus.[8]
But Hulegu refused to sanction a grand invasion of the Delhi Sultanate and a few years later diplomatic correspondence between the two rulers confirmed the growing desire for peace.
Ghiyas ud din Balban's (r.1266–1287) one absorbing preoccupation was the danger of a Mongol invasion. For this cause he organized and disciplined his army to the highest point of efficiency; for this he made away with disaffected or jealous chiefs, and steadily refused to entrust authority toHindus; for this he stayed near his capital and would not be tempted into distant campaigns.[9]
Large-scale Mongol invasions of India ceased and the Delhi sultans used the respite to recover the frontier towns like Multan,Uch, and Lahore, and to punish the localranas andrais who had joined hands with either the Khwarazmian or the Mongol invaders.
Persistent, smaller-scale raiding that plagued northwestern frontier for decades beyond the headline sieges of Delhi. Contemporary chroniclers likeMinhaj-i-Siraj Juzjani (inTabaqat-i-Nasiri) andZiauddin Barani (inTarikh-i-Firuz Shahi) describe near-constanthit and run tactics employed by Mongol detachments, primarily from the unstable Chagatai Khanate, between major invasions (roughly 1241-1290). These raids, often timed to coincide with harvest seasons, systematically devastated the fertile provinces of Multan, Sindh, and Lahore, deliberately targeting agricultural infrastructure and peasant populations to cripple the Sultanate's economic base and tax revenue.[10][11]
After acivil war broke out in the Mongol Empire in the 1260s, theChagatai Khanate controlledCentral Asia which leader since the 1280s wasDuwa Khan, who was second in command ofKaidu Khan. Duwa was active inAfghanistan, and attempted to extend Mongol rule into India.
The MuslimNegudari governor Abdullah, who was a son ofChagatai Khan's great-grandson,[12] invadedPunjab with his force in 1292, but his advance guard under Ulghu was defeated and taken prisoner by the Khalji sultanJalaluddin. The medieval sources claim invasions by hundreds of thousands of Mongols, numbers approximating (and probably based on) the size of the entire cavalry armies of the Mongol realms of Central Asia orWestern Asia.[13] The number of 150,000 Mongol invaders during 1292 opposed by Jalaluddin were also recorded inWolseley Haig's work ofThe Cambridge History of India.[14] A count of the Mongol commanders named in the sources as participating in the various invasions might give a better indication of the numbers involved, as these commanders probably led tumens, units nominally of 10,000 men.[15] These invasions were led by either various descendants of Genghis Khan or by Mongol divisional commanders; the size of such armies was always between 10,000 and 30,000 cavalry although the chroniclers of Delhi exaggerated the number to 100,000-200,000 cavalry.[16] The 4,000 Mongol captives of the advance guard converted to Islam and came to live in Delhi as "new Muslims". The suburb they lived in was appropriately namedMughalpura.[17][18] Chagatai tumens were defeated by the Delhi Sultanate several times in 1296–1297.[19]
Unlike the previous invasions, the invasions during the reign of Jalaluddin's successorAlauddin were major Mongol conquests. In the winter of 1297, the Chagatai noyan Kadar led an army that ravaged the Punjab region, and advanced as far asKasur.[20] Alauddin's army, led byUlugh Khan and probablyZafar Khan, defeated the invaders on theBattle of Jaran-Manjur on 6 February 1298,[20] where quite a large number of them were taken prisoner. Later in 1298–1299, a Mongol army (possiblyNeguderi fugitives) invaded Sindh, and occupied the fort ofShivistan.[21] These Mongols weredefeated by Zafar Khan: a number of them were arrested and brought to Delhi as captives.[22] At this time, the main branch of Alauddin's army, led byUlugh Khan andNusrat Khan was busy raidingGujarat. When this army was returning from Gujarat to Delhi, some of its Mongol soldiers (former captives)staged a mutiny over payment ofkhums (one-fifth of the share of loot).[23] The mutiny was crushed, and the mutineers' families in Delhi were severely punished.[24]
In late 1299, Duwa Khan dispatched his sonQutlugh Khwaja to conquer Delhi.[25] Alauddin Khalji led his army toKili near Delhi, and tried to delay the battle, hoping that the Mongols would retreat amid a scarcity of provisions and that he would receive reinforcements from his provinces. However, his general Zafar Khan attacked the Mongol army without his permission.[26] The Mongols feigned a retreat, and tricked Zafar Khan's contingent into following them. Zafar Khan and his men were killed after inflicting heavy casualties on the invaders.[27] The Mongols retreated a couple of days later: their leader Qutlugh Khwaja was seriously wounded, and died during the return journey.[28] In the winter of 1302–1303, Alauddin dispatched an army to ransack theKakatiya (aTelugu dynasty) capitalWarangal, and himselfmarched to Chittor. Finding Delhi unprotected, the Mongols launchedanother invasion around August 1303.[29] Alauddin managed to reach Delhi before the invaders, but did not have enough time to prepare for a strong defence. He took shelter in a heavily guarded camp at the under constructionSiri Fort. The Mongols ransacked Delhi and its neighbourhoods, but ultimately retreated after being unable to breach Siri.[30] This close encounter with the Mongols prompted Alauddin to strengthen the forts and the military presence along their routes to India.[31] He also implemented a series of economic reforms to ensure sufficient revenue inflows for maintaining a strong army.[32]
Shortly afterward, Duwa Khan sought to end the ongoing conflict with theYuan KhanTemür Öljeyitü, and around 1304 a general peace among the Mongol khanates was declared, bringing an end to the conflict between the Yuan dynasty and western khanates that had lasted for the better part of a half century. Soon after, he proposed a joint attack on India, but the campaign did not materialize. In December 1305, Duwa sent another 30,000 to 50,000 strong army that bypassed the heavily guarded city of Delhi, and proceeded southeast to theGangetic plains along theHimalayan foothills. Alauddin's 30,000-strong cavalry, led by Malik Nayak, defeated the Mongols at theBattle of Amroha.[33][34] A large number of Mongols were taken captive and killed.[35] In 1306, another Mongol army sent by Duwa advanced up to theRavi River, ransacking the territories along the way. This army included three contingents, led by Kopek, Iqbalmand, and Tai-Bu. Alauddin's forces, led byMalik Kafur, decisivelydefeated the invaders.[36] In 1307 Duwa died and in the dispute over his succession this spate of Mongol raids into India already ended. Taking advantage of this situation, Alauddin's generalMalik Tughluq regularly raided the Mongol territories located in present-day Afghanistan. Tughluq, Alauddin's governor ofDipalpur, adopted an aggressive policy against the Mongols. Over the next few years, he annually raidedKabul,Ghazni,Kandahar, andGarmsir, which were located on the Mongol frontier. He plundered these territories, and leviedtribute on the residents, without any resistance from the Chagatai Khanate.[37] Amir Khusrau, in hisTughluq-Nama, alludes to Tughluq's 20 victories, most of which were against the Mongols. Barani states that Tughluq, who also received theiqta' ofLahore at some point, defeated the Mongols 20 times. The Moroccan travelerIbn Battuta states that a mosque inMultan had an inscription, in which Tughluq claimed to have defeated the Mongols 29 times. It is uncertain if these victories refer to the above-mentioned raids.[38]
In 1320 the Qara'unas under Zulju (Dulucha) entered Kashmir by theJehlam Valley without meeting any serious resistance. The Kashmiri king, Suhadeva, tried to persuade Zulju to withdraw by paying a large ransom.[39] After he failed to organize resistance, Suhadeva fled toKishtwar, leaving the people of Kashmir to the mercy of Zulju. The Mongols burned the dwellings, massacred the men andmade women and children slaves. Only refugees under Ramacandra, commander in chief of the king, in the fort of Lar remained safe. The invaders continued to pillage for eight months until the commencement of winter. When Zulju was departing via Brinal, he lost most of his men and prisoners due to a severe snowfall inDivasar district.[citation needed] His departure paved the way for a Buddhist princeRinchan and a former councillorShah Mir who established theKashmir Sultanate.
The next major Mongol invasion took place after the Khaljis had been replaced by theTughlaq dynasty in the Sultanate. In 1327 the Chagatai Mongols underTarmashirin, who had sent envoys to Delhi to negotiate peace the previous year, sacked the frontier towns ofLamghan and Multan and besieged Delhi. The Tughlaq rulers of the Sultanate tried to save it from further ravages.Muhammad bin Tughluq asked theIlkhanAbu Sa'id to form an alliance against Tarmashirin, who had invadedKhorasan, but an attack didn't materialize.[40] Tarmashirin was a Buddhist who later converted to Islam. Religious tensions in the Chagatai Khanate were a divisive factor among the Mongols.[citation needed]
No more large-scale invasions or raids into India were launched after Tamashirin's siege of Delhi. However, small groups of Mongol adventurers hired out their swords to the many local powers in the northwest.Amir Qazaghan raided northern India with his Qara'unas. He also sent several thousand troops to aid the Delhi sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq in suppressing the rebellion in his country in 1350.[citation needed]
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The Delhi sultans had developed cordial relations with the Yuan dynasty in Mongolia and China and the Ilkhanate in Persia and the Middle East. Around 1338, Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq of the Delhi Sultanate appointedMoroccan travelerIbn Battuta an ambassador to the Yuan court underToghon Temür (Emperor Huizong). The gifts he was to take included 200 slaves.
The Chagatai Khanate had split up by this time and an ambitious Chagatai Mongol chieftain namedTimur claiming Mongol descent had brought Central Asia and the regions beyond under his control. He launched an invasion of the Delhi Sultanate and sacked the capital.Timur's empire broke up and his descendants failed to hold on to Central Asia, which split up into numerous principalities. One of his descendants establishedMughal Empire in India.
