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{{Short description|Series of military offensives (1221–1327)}}
The [[Mongol Empire]] launched numerous [[Mongol conquests|invasions]] into the [[Indian subcontinent]] from 1221 to 1327, with many of the later raids made by the [[Qaraunas]] of Mongol origin. The Mongols occupied parts of the subcontinent for decades. As the Mongols progressed into the Indian hinterland and reached the outskirts of [[Old Delhi|Delhi]], the [[Delhi Sultanate]] led a campaign against them in which the Mongol army suffered serious defeats.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/TheMongols|title=The Mongols|last=Herbert M. J. Loewe}}</ref> Delhi Sultanate officials viewed war with the Mongols as one of the Sultan's primary duties. While Sultanate chroniclers described the conflicts between the pagan Mongols and a monolithic [[Muslims|Muslim]] community in [[binary opposition|binary]] terms, the Delhi Sultanate being an island of [[Islamic Golden Age|Islamic civilization]] surrounded by heathens to its north and south, it ignored the fact that a large number of Sultanate elites and monarchs were of Turk/Mongol ethnicity or had previously served in their armed contingents.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kumar |first=Sunil |date=2009 |title=The Ignored Elites: Turks, Mongols and a Persian Secretarial Class in the Early Delhi Sultanate |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20488071 |journal=Modern Asian Studies |volume=43 |issue=1 |pages=45–77 |issn=0026-749X}}</ref>

== Background ==
{{Campaignbox Mongol invasions of India}}
{{Campaignbox Mongol invasions}}

After pursuing [[Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu|Jalal ad-Din]] into India from [[Samarkand]] and defeating him at the [[battle of Indus]] in 1221, [[Genghis Khan]] sent two [[Tumen (unit)|tumens]] (20,000 soldiers) under commanders Dorbei the Fierce and Bala to continue the chase. The Mongol commander Bala chased Jalal ad-Din throughout the [[Lahore region]] and attacked outlying province [[Multan]], 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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/amongmongols00gilm|title=Among the Mongols|last=Gilmour|first=James|date=n.d.|publisher=London, Religious Tract Society|others=Boston University School of Theology}}</ref>

While fighting against the local governor of [[Sindh]], Jalal ad-Din heard of an uprising in the [[Kerman Province|Kirman]] province of southern [[Iran]] and he immediately set out for that place, passing through southern [[Balochistan (region)|Baluchistan]] on the way. Jalal ad-Din was also joined by forces from [[Ghor]] and Peshawar, including members of the [[Khalji dynasty|Khalji]], [[Turkmen people|Turkoman]], and Ghori tribes. With his new allies he marched on [[Ghazni]] 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 dynasty|Khalji]], Turkoman, and Ghori tribesmen deserted Jalal ad-Din and returned to [[Peshawar]]. By this time [[Ögedei Khan]], third son of Genghis Khan, had become [[Great Khan]] of the Mongol Empire. A Mongol general named [[Chormaqan]] sent by the Khan attacked and defeated Jalal ad-Din, thus ending the [[Khwārazm-Shāh dynasty]].<ref>Chormaqan Noyan: The First Mongol Military Governor in the Middle East by Timothy May</ref>

== Mongol conquest of Kashmir==
{{unreliable sources|date=August 2018}}
[[File:Jalal al-Din Khwarazm-Shah crossing the rapid Indus river, escaping Chinggis Khan and his army.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Artist's depiction of [[Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu]] fleeing after the [[Battle of Indus]]]]
Some time after 1235 another Mongol force invaded [[Kashmir]], stationing a [[darughachi]] (administrative governor) there for several years, and Kashmir became a Mongolian dependency.<ref>[[Thomas T. Allsen]]-Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia, p.84</ref> 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 the [[Indus valley]] and besieged [[Lahore]]. However, on December 30th, 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, and [[Möngke Khan]], who became Great Khan in 1251, appointed his generals, [[Sali Noyan|Sali]] and Takudar, to replace the court and appointed the Buddhist master, Otochi, as darugachi of Kashmir. However, the Kashmiri king{{who|date=August 2021}} killed Otochi at [[Srinagar]]. Sali invaded Kashmir, killing the king, and put down the rebellion, after which the country remained subject to the Mongol Empire for many years.<ref>André Wink-Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World, p.208</ref>

==Intrusion into Delhi Sultanate==
The Delhi prince Jalal al-Din Masud, traveled to the Mongol capital at [[Karakorum]] 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 ordered Sali to assist him to recover his ancestral realm. Sali made successive attacks on Multan and Lahore. [[Shams-uddin Muhammad Kurt I|Sham al-Din Muhammad Kart]], the client [[malik]] (ruling prince) of [[Herat]], accompanied the Mongols. Jalal al-Din was installed as client ruler of Lahore, Kujah and Sodra. In 1257 the governor of Sindh offered his entire province to [[Hulagu Khan]], Möngke's brother, and sought Mongol protection from his overlord in Delhi. Hulagu led a strong force under Sali Bahadur 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 of [[Bukkur]] on the Indus.

But Hulagu 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|Ghiyas ud din Balban's]] (reigned: 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 to Hindus; for this he stayed near his capital and would not be tempted into distant campaigns.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2WzfwgEACAAJ|title=Medieval India: Under Mohammedan Rule (A.D. 712-1764)|last=Lane-Poole|first=Stanley|date=March 2019|publisher=Alpha Editions|isbn=9789353601669}}</ref>

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 local Ranas and Rais who had joined hands with either the Khwarazim or the Mongol invaders.

== Chagatai Khanate-Dehlavi Wars ==

===Rise of the Chagatais===
After civil war broke out in the Mongol Empire in the 1260s, the [[Chagatai Khanate]] controlled Central Asia and its leader since the 1280s was [[Duwa]] Khan who was second in command of [[Kaidu]] Khan. Duwa was active in [[Afghanistan]], and attempted to extend Mongol rule into India. 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]] or [[Western Asia]]: about 150,000 men. 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.<ref>John Masson Smith, Jr. ''Mongol Armies and Indian Campaigns''.</ref> 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.<ref>John Masson Smith, Jr. ''Mongol Armies and Indian Campaigns'' and J.A. Boyle, ''The Mongol Commanders in Afghanistan and India''.</ref>

The Muslim [[Negudar]]i governor Abdullah, who was a son of [[Chagatai Khan]]'s great-grandson,<ref>Rashid ad-Din - The history of World</ref> invaded [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] with his force in 1292, but their advance guard under Ulghu was defeated and taken prisoner by the Khalji Sultan [[Jalaluddin Khalji|Jalaluddin]]. 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 named Mughalpura.<ref name="cyberistan">{{cite web|url=http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/misub5859.pdf|date=21 May 2002|title=Muslims in the Indian Subcontinent|pages=58–59|author=Dr. A. Zahoor|access-date=2015-08-20}}</ref><ref>J.A. Boyle, "The Mongol Commanders in Afghanistan and India According to the Tabaqat-I-Nasiri of Juzjani," Islamic Studies, II (1963); reprinted in idem, The Mongol World Empire (London: Variorum, 1977), see ch. IX, p. 239</ref> Chagatai tumens were beaten by the Delhi Sultanate several times in 1296–1297.<ref>Although Muslim historians claimed Mongols were outnumbered and their army ranged from 100,000 to 200,000, their force was not enough to cow down Delhi mamluks in reality. See John Masson Smith, Jr. ''Mongol Armies and Indian Campaigns''.</ref>

===Battle of Jaran-Manjur===
Unlike the previous invasions, the invasions during the reign of Jalaluddin's successor [[Alauddin Khalji|Alauddin]] 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 as [[Kasur]].{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=332}} Alauddin's army, led by [[Ulugh Khan]] and probably [[Zafar Khan (Indian general)|Zafar Khan]] defeated the invaders on the [[Mongol invasion of India, 1297-98|Battle of Jaran-Manjur]] on the 6th February 1298 {{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=332}} where quite a large number of them were taken prisoner.

===Siege of Sehwan===
Later in 1298–99, a Mongol army (possibly [[Neguderi]] fugitives) invaded [[Sindh]], and occupied the fort of [[Sehwan Sharif|Sivistan]].{{sfn|Peter Jackson|2003|pp=219-220}} These Mongols were [[Mongol invasion of Sindh|defeated by Zafar Khan]]: a number of them were arrested and brought to Delhi as captives.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=336}} At this time, the main branch of Alauddin's army, led by Ulugh Khan and [[Nusrat Khan Jalesari|Nusrat Khan]] was busy raiding Gujarat. When this army was returning from Gujarat to Delhi, some of its Mongol soldiers [[Alauddin Khalji's conquest of Gujarat#Mutiny near Jalore|staged a mutiny]] over payment of ''[[khums]]'' (one-fifth of the share of loot).{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1950|p=87}} The mutiny was crushed, and the mutineers families in Delhi were severely punished.{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1950|p=88}}

===Battle of Killi===
In late 1299, Duwa dispatched his son [[Qutlugh Khwaja]] to conquer Delhi.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=338}} [[Alauddin Khalji]] led his army to [[Battle of Kili|Kili]] 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 (Indian general)|Zafar Khan]] attacked the Mongol army without his permission.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=340}} The Mongols feigned a retreat, and tricked [[Zafar Khan (Indian general)|Zafar Khan]] contingent into following them. Zafar Khan and his men were killed after inflicting heavy casualties on the invaders.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=341}} The Mongols retreated a couple of days later: their leader Qutlugh Khwaja was seriously wounded, and died during the return journey.{{sfn|Peter Jackson|2003|pp=221-222}}

===Siege of Delhi===
In the winter of 1302–1303, [[Alauddin Khalji|Alauddin]] dispatched an army to ransack the [[Kakatiya]] capital [[Warangal]], and himself [[Siege of Chittorgarh (1303)|marched to Chittor]]. Finding Delhi unprotected, the Mongols launched [[Mongol invasion of India, 1303|another invasion]] around August 1303.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=368}} [[Alauddin Khalji|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-construction [[Siri Fort]]. The Mongols ransacked Delhi and its neighbourhoods, but ultimately retreated after being unable to breach Siri.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|pp=369-370}} This close encounter with the Mongols prompted Alauddin to strengthen the forts and the military presence along their routes to India.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=372}} He also implemented a series of economic reforms to ensure sufficient revenue inflows for maintaining a strong army.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=373}}

Shortly afterward, Duwa Khan sought to end the ongoing conflict with the Yuan Khagan [[Temür Khan, Emperor Chengzong of Yuan|Temür Öljeytü]], and around 1304 a general peace among the Mongol [[khanate]]s 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.

===Battle of Amroha===
In December 1305, Duwa sent another army that bypassed the heavily guarded city of Delhi, and proceeded south-east to the [[Gangetic plains]] along the [[Shivalik Hills|Himalayan foothills]]. Alauddin's 30,000-strong cavalry, led by Malik Nayak, defeated the Mongols at the [[Battle of Amroha]].{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|pp=392-393}}{{sfn|Peter Jackson|2003|pp=227-228}} A large number of Mongols were taken captive and killed.{{sfn|Banarsi Prasad Saksena|1992|p=393}}

===Battle of Ravi (1306)===
In 1306, another Mongol army sent by Duwa advanced up to the [[Ravi River]], ransacking the territories along the way. This army included three contingents, led by Kopek, Iqbalmand, and Tai-Bu. Alauddin's forces, led by [[Malik Kafur]], decisively [[Mongol invasion of India (1306)|defeated the invaders]].{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1950|pp=171-172}}

===Delhi Counter-raids===
In 1307 the Mongol Khan, [[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 general Malik Tughluq regularly raided the Mongol territories located in present-day Afghanistan.{{sfn|Kishori Saran Lal|1950|p=175}}{{sfn|Peter Jackson|2003|p=229}}

== Late Mongol invasions ==

In 1320 the [[Qaraunas]] under Zulju (Dulucha) entered Kashmir by the Jehlam Valley without meeting any serious resistance. The Kashmiri king, Suhadeva, tried to persuade Zulju to withdraw by paying a large ransom.<ref>Mohibbul Hasan-Kashmir Under the Sultans, p.36</ref> After he failed to organize resistance, Suhadeva fled to [[Kishtwar]], leaving the people of Kashmir to the mercy of Zulju. The Mongols burned the dwellings, massacred the men and made 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 in [[Divasar]] district.{{cn|date=September 2022}}

The next major Mongol invasion took place after the Khaljis had been replaced by the [[Tughlaq]] dynasty in the Sultanate. In 1327 the [[Chagatai Khanate|Chagatai]] Mongols under [[Tarmashirin]], who had sent envoys to Delhi to negotiate peace the previous year, sacked the frontier towns of Lamghan and Multan and besieged Delhi. The Tughlaq ruler paid a large ransom to spare his Sultanate from further ravages. [[Muhammad bin Tughluq]] asked the [[Ilkhan]] [[Abu Sa'id (Ilkhanid dynasty)|Abu Sa'id]] to form an alliance against Tarmashirin, who had invaded [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]], but an attack didn't materialize.<ref>The Chaghadaids and Islam: the conversion of Tarmashirin Khan (1331-34). The Journal of the American Oriental Society, October 1, 2002. Biran</ref> Tarmashirin was a [[Buddhist]] who later converted to [[Islam]]. Religious tensions in the Chagatai Khanate were a divisive factor among the Mongols.{{cn|date=September 2022}}

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.{{cn|date=September 2022}}

== Timur and Babur ==
{{Main|Timurid conquests and invasions#South Asia}}
[[Image:Timur Exhumed.gif|thumb|right|[[Timur]]]]
[[File:Timur defeats the sultan of Delhi.jpg|left|200px|thumb|[[Timur]] defeats the [[Sultan of Delhi]], Nasir Al-Din Mahmud Tughluq, in the winter of 1397–1398]]
[[Image:Babur.jpg|thumb|right|180px|[[Babur]], the [[Turco-Mongol]] descendant of [[Timur]], who later invaded India in the 16th century.]]

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 appointed Moroccan traveler [[Ibn Battuta]] an ambassador to the Yuan court under [[Toghon Temür]] (Emperor Huizong). The gifts he was to take included 200 slaves.

The [[Chagatai Khanate]] had split up by this time and an ambitious Mongol Turk chieftain named [[Timur]] had brought Central Asia and the regions beyond under his control. He launched an invasion of the Dehli 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 descendant, [[Babur]], launched his own invasion of the subcontinent and established the [[Mughal Empire]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/babor-zahir-al-din|title=BĀBOR, ẒAHĪR-AL-DĪN MOḤAMMAD – Encyclopaedia Iranica|website=iranicaonline.org|access-date=2018-01-30}}</ref>

When Babur occupied [[Kabul]] and began invading the Indian subcontinent, he was called a Mughal like all the earlier invaders from the Chagatai Khanate. Even the invasion of Timur had been considered a Mongol invasion since the Mongols had ruled over Central Asia for so long and had given their name to its people.

==See also==
* [[India–Mongolia relations]]
* [[Sali Noyan]]
* [[Protectorate General to Pacify the West]]

== References ==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{ref begin}}
* {{cite book |author=Banarsi Prasad Saksena |author-link=Banarsi Prasad Saksena |chapter=The Khaljis: Alauddin Khalji |editor=Mohammad Habib and Khaliq Ahmad Nizami |title=A Comprehensive History of India: The Delhi Sultanat (A.D. 1206-1526) |volume=5 |edition=Second |year=1992 |publisher=The Indian History Congress / People's Publishing House |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9cmAQAAMAAJ |oclc=31870180 }}
*{{cite thesis|title=Chormaqan Noyan: The First Mongol Military Governor in the Middle East|first=Timothy |last=May|year=1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060206152119/http://radar.ngcsu.edu/~tmmay/Chormaqan_thesis.pdf|url=http://radar.ngcsu.edu/~tmmay/Chormaqan_thesis.pdf|archive-date=6 February 2006}}
*{{cite book|author-link= Harold Lamb|first=Harold|last=Lamb|title=Genghis Khan: Emperor of All Men|date=June 1986|isbn=0-88411-798-7}}
*{{cite journal|author-link=John Andrew Boyle|last=Boyle|first=John Andrew|title=The Mongol Commanders in Afghanistan and India According to the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri of Juzjani|journal=Central Asiatic Journal|volume=9|year=1964|pages=235–247}}
*{{cite thesis|first=John |last=Masson Smith|title=Mongol Armies and Indian Campaigns|publisher=University of California, Berkeley|url=http://www.mongolianculture.com/MONGOL-ARMIES.htm}}
* {{cite book |author=Kishori Saran Lal |author-link=K. S. Lal |title=History of the Khaljis (1290-1320) |year=1950 |publisher=The Indian Press |location=Allahabad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2XXqAQAACAAJ |oclc=685167335 }}
* {{cite book |author=Peter Jackson |author-link=Peter Jackson (historian) |title=The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lt2tqOpVRKgC&pg=PA221 |year=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-54329-3 }}
* {{cite book |author=René Grousset |author-link=René Grousset |title=The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppes00grou |url-access=registration |year=1970 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |isbn=978-0-8135-1304-1 }}
{{ref end}}

==External links==
* {{YouTube|rCtw2adDL3k|Khilji - The Man who Defeated the Mongols 6 times!}}

{{Mongol Empire}}

[[Category:13th-century conflicts]]
[[Category:14th-century conflicts]]
[[Category:Invasions by the Mongol Empire|India]]
[[Category:Wars involving India]]
[[Category:Medieval India]]
[[Category:History of Pakistan]]
[[Category:13th century in the Mongol Empire]]
[[Category:14th century in the Mongol Empire]]
[[Category:Wars involving the Chagatai Khanate|India]]

Mongol invasions of India - Revision history

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