What were the Effects of the External Invasion in India during the Tughlaq Rulers?

The Effects of the External Invasion to India during the Tughlaq Rulers were as follows:

(1) After the departure of Timur, the whole of Northern India was in indescribable disorder and confusion. Delhi was in ruins and almost depopulated. It was without a master. Whatever inhabitants were left, they had to face famine and pestilence. Famine was the natural consequence of the wholesale destruction of the stores of grain and standing crops by the invading army.

Pestilence had its origin in the pollution of the air and water supply of the city by the dead bodies of thousands of inhabitants. So complete was the destruction that, “the city was utterly ruined and those of the inhabitants who were left died, while for two whole months not a bird moved wings in Delhi.”

(2) The Tughluq empire was completely dissolved. Khwaja Jahan was an independent ruler at Jaunpur. Bengal had long been independent. Muzaffar Shah in Gujarat did not recognise any master. Dilawar Khan in Malwa wielded royal authority. The Punjab and Upper Sind were governed by Khizr Khan as the viceroy of Timur.

Samana was in the hands of Ghalib Khan. Bayana was in the hands of Shams Khan of Auhadi. Kalpi and Mohaba formed a small principality under Muhammad Khan. Mallu Iqbal remained at Baran for the present.

Nusrat Shah became of some time the Lord of Delhi but he was expelled from that place by Mallu and forced to take refuge in Mewat where he died soon afterwards. It cannot be denied that the invasion of Timur gave a death-blow to the tottering Tughluq dynasty which was replaced by the Sayyid dynasty in 1414.

(3) Timur destroyed the prosperity of India. Great buildings and works of art in Delhi, Bhatnir, Dipalpur, Meerut and Hardwar were destroyed. Loot, plunder and arson deprived India of her great wealth.

(4) The invasion of Timur widened the gulf between the Hindus and Muslim. On account of their intoleration towards the Hindus, the Muslim had failed to win over the Hindus who considered the Muslims as Mlechhas. The wholesale massacres of the Hindus and the building of towers with their skulls by Timur added to the existing bitterness. The invasion of Timur made it all the more difficult for the Hindus and Muslim to come nearer each other.

(5) Another effect of the invasion was that India art found its way in Central Asia. A large number of Indian artists and craftsmen were taken away by Timur to Samarkand where they were employed to construct mosques and other buildings.

(6) Timur’s invasion paved the way for Mughal conquest. Babur was a descendant of Timur and he claimed the throne of Delhi partly on account of his descent. In Timur’s conquest of the Punjab and Delhi, Babur found a legal and moral justification for his conquest of India.

(7) According to Dr. K. S. Lai, in spite of what Timur or his chroniclers have written, he was not clear in his mind why he was undertaking the invasion of India.

His was an aimless visitation. It was a terrible calamity. The vanquished had lost all and the victor had gained nothing. TUghluq Dynasty after Timur’s Invasion

It has already been pointed out that after the departure of Timur, Nusrat Shah occupied Delhi but he was driven out by Mallu Iqbal. In 1401, Mallu Iqbal felt that the prestige of Mahmud Shah would be useful to him and consequently he persuaded him to come back to the capital.

The experience of Mahmud Shah after his defeat at the hands of Timur had been bitter. He was not welcomed by Muzaffar Shah of Gujarat. He had been received well by Dilawar Khan of Malwa and given a residence at Dhar but he could not resist the temptation to come back to Delhi.

Mallu Iqbal received Mahmud Shah with every demonstration of respect but later on interned him in one of the royal palaces. He himself continued to govern the kingdom as if Mahmud Shah had not returned from Malwa.

In 1402, Mallu Iqbal marched to Kannauj. He also carried Mahmud Shah with him. Mahmud Shah resented his subjection to Mallu and ran away from his camp at Kanauj by night and took refuge with Ibrahim Shah, the ruler of Jaunpur.

However, he was not welcomed by Ibrahim Shah and he left him with a few followers. Mahmud Shah was able to expel Ibrahim Shah’s governor from Kanauj and he made that city his residence. Mallu Iqbal went back to Delhi. Ibrahim Shah submitted to the occupation of Kanauj by Mahmud Shah and went to Jaunpur.

In the same year, Mallu tried to capture Gwalior but he failed and was forced to retire. In 1404, Mallu besieged Etawah for four month but failed to capture it. He also tried to capture Kanauj but failed. In 1405, Mallu marched against Bahram Khan who had established himself in Samana. Bahram Khan ran away but was pursued up to Rupar.

A pious Shaikh was successful in composing the differences between Mallu and Bahram Khan and both of them joined hands to fight against Khizr Khan. Mallu treacherously caused Bahram Khan to be flayed alive. Khizr Khan advanced from Dipalpur on 12th November, 1405 and he defeated and slew Mallu in the neighbourhood of Pak Pattan.

After the death of Mallu Iqbal in 1405, the affairs of Delhi were controlled by a body of nobles headed by Dault Khan Lodi and Ikhtiyar Khan. They invited Mahmud Shah and the latter came back to Delhi in December 1405.

Daulat Khan Lodi was appointed the military governor of the Doab and Ikhtiyar Khan was made the governor of Firuzabad.

In 1406, Mahmud Shah sent Daulat Khan Lodi to reduce Samana. He himself marched to Kanauj with the intentioij of punishing Ibrahim Shah of Jaunpur for his own treatment when he visited his camp in 1402.

After some fighting between the armies of Mahmud Shah and Ibrahim Shah, a peace was made but in spite of that Ibrahim Shah besieged Kanauj and captured it. He even marched towards Delhi and was on the point of crossing the Jamuna when he learnt that the ruler of Gujarat intended to make conquests at the cost of Jaunpur. It was under these circumstances that Ibrahim Shah went back to Jaunpur. Daulat Khan Lodi, who had been sent to reduce Samana, drove Bahram Khan from Samana to Sirhind and forced him to surrender.

He befriended and patronised his defeated enemy and established himself at Samana. On the approach of Khizr Khan, Daulat Khan Lodi ran away to the Doab and his followers joined Khizr Khan. Besides Samana, Khizr Khan captured and annexed Sirhind, Sunam and Hissar so that beyond the walls of Delhi only the Doab, Rohtak and Sambhal remained under Mahmud Shah.

It is true that Mahmud Shah got back Hissar in 1408. In January 1409, Khizr Khan appeared before the walls of Firuzabad and besieged it. However, Khizr Khan was forced to retire as the country was not capable of supporting an army on account of famine and destruction. In 1410, Khizr Khan reduced Rohtak after a siege of 6 months and no attempt was made by Mahmud Shah to help the town. In 1411, Khizr Khan marched to Narnaul and plundered that town and three others to the south of Delhi.

He also besieged Mahmud Shah in Siri but he was saved once again by famine and Khizr Khan was forced to raise the siege and retire. In February, 1413, Mahmud Shah died at Kaithal after a nominal reign of 20 years during which he never wielded any authority and was more than once a fugitive from his captial.

With him ended the line of Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughluq. About Mahmud Shah, the author or Tarikh-i-Mubark Shahi obeserves thus: “The whole business was fallen into the greatest disorder. The Sultan gave no heed to the duties of his station and had no care for the permanency of the throne; his whole time was devoted to pleasure and debauchery.”