Till then Sultan Nasir- ud- din of the Tughlaq dynasty had done nothing to resist the invader. When finally the Sultan and his wazir Mallu Iqbal attacked the army of Timur, they were easily defeated. Another battle took place between the Indian army and Timur in 1398 and the Indian army was completely routed. The Sultan and his wazir fled away from the capital. In Delhi, Timur first agreed to spare the citizens when requested by the Ulema, but when the citizens resisted the tyrannical behavior of the soldiers of Timur, he ordered a general massacre and plunder. It continued for several days in which many people were killed, thousands were taken as slave and the entire wealth of the city was plundered. Timur stayed in Delhi for fifteen days and looted immense wealth. On his way back he plundered Firozabad, Meerut, Haridwar, Kangra and Jammu. He brought unparalled devastation in India. Wherever he went, he completely destroyed every thing. Thousands of villages were burnt, lakhs of people were massacred and all the cities were thoroughly plundered. Timur destroyed the Delhi Sultanate and also the dynasty of the Tughlaqs. Before Timur left India, he appointed Khizr Khan as governor of Multan, Lahore and Dipalpur. |