2024-09-10 07:48:29
New Delhi: When a lame and cruel ruler from a shepherd family of Uzbekistan turned towards India, his intention was not to rule here. Mongol Timur had heard a lot about the immense wealth and grandeur of India. Sunni Muslim Timur attacked India in 1398 after looting the Bhatner fort and stormed cities like Sirsa, Fatehabad, Sunam, Kaithal and Panipat with his 92,000 Tatar army. According to Persian historian Sharaf Addin Ali Yazdi, Timur looted these cities and burnt them.
When Taimur’s Tatar army reached Sarsuti (Sirsa), the residents fled from their homes due to its dreadful attack. Thousands of people were killed by the Tatar army while fleeing. The same happened in Fatehabad. At Aharuni, the Ahirs fought against Taimur’s soldiers but were defeated. Many of them were killed and many were made prisoners of war. The city was burnt to ashes. When Taimur’s army reached Tohana, the Jats there took up the fight, but they could not stand for long against such a large executioner army. The Tatar army killed 2,000 Jats. Their property was looted. Their wives and children were made slaves. Today in the first installment of the special story, we will know how Haryana fought against external attacks, which is recorded in history.
Calling it the sword of Islam, he would have killed the ‘fire worshippers’ of Haryana
According to historian Yazdi, wherever Timur went in Haryana, he would burn and destroy the city. He would ruin villages and fields. Men would be beheaded and women and children would be made slaves. The reason for this was that he used to call himself the sword of Islam. He believed that he would establish the rule of Islam all over the world like his predecessor Genghis Khan. Timur’s army committed mass massacre and looting in Kaithal. From there he came to Asandh, who left the village and city and fled to Delhi. Before the Tatar army reached Panipat, he captured Tughlaqpur Fort and Salwan. From here he marched towards Loni Fort.
Why were 1 lakh Hindu Pandits killed by drowning them in Dal Lake of Kashmir, the cruel Sultan died in agony
As soon as he entered the Jat region he said- kill whoever you find
Timur has written the reason for his attack on India that my purpose of attacking Hindustan is to fight a religious war against the infidel Hindus, so that the army of Islam can also get the wealth and valuables of the Hindus. In the attack on the famous fort of Kator in Kashmir, men were killed. Minarets were erected with their heads. Then the fort of Bhatner was besieged.
Timur writes that ‘in a short time all the people of the fort were killed by sword. In an hour 10 thousand people were beheaded. The sword of Islam bathed in the blood of infidels. The second city which was attacked was Saraswati. All infidel Hindus were killed. Their women, children and property became ours. When Timur entered the territory of Jats, he ordered his army to kill whoever is found. Due to his lameness, he was called Timur Lang.
The food and drink items of the Tatar army were carried on 1.5 lakh horses
Historian Justin Marozzi’s book ‘Tamerlane, Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World’ states that Timur’s army was passing through various regions whose climates were not the same. But, his Tatar army had become accustomed to such weather. Between Samarkand and Delhi, there was a large area of snow-covered rocks, scorching deserts and barren land, where not even a grain could be grown for the soldiers to eat.
The entire logistics of the Tatar army were carried on the backs of about one and a half lakh horses.
Before reaching Delhi, Timur captured 1 lakh Hindus
Timur’s army passed through Kabul and stopped at the Sutlej river in October, where a commander Sarang Khan blocked its way. But Timur defeated him. Before reaching Delhi via Punjab, Haryana, Timur captured about one lakh Hindu people on the way. After reaching near Delhi, Timur set up his army camp in Loni and stood on a mound near the Yamuna river and took stock of the situation. At that time, the Sultanate of Delhi was ruled by a very weak Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud. It is said that Timur had killed about 1.7 crore people all over the world. He had the Turkish Caliph put in a cage, where he died.
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1 Timur beheaded 1 lakh prisoners out of fear
According to Justin Marozzi, the first clash between Timur and Delhi soldiers took place when the advance party of Timur’s 700 soldiers was attacked by the soldiers of Tughlaq’s commander Mallu Khan. Then Timur feared that if Mallu Khan’s soldiers attack him, the one lakh Hindu prisoners accompanying him might revolt in his support. He ordered to kill all the Hindu prisoners on the spot. He asked the maulanas to kill these prisoners of war. Sir David Price’s book ‘Memoirs of the Principal Events of Mohammedan History’ states that there is no other example of such barbarism in human history.
When camels’ backs were set on fire to kill elephants
Timur has written in his autobiography ‘Tuzuke Timuri’ that my biggest concern was the powerful Indian elephants. I had heard about them in Samarkand. These elephants were armoured, on whose backs sat people throwing torches in howdahs, archers and mahouts. I had also heard that the teeth of these elephants were coated with poison, which would enter the stomach of the enemy. He used a new trick to kill these elephants. He loaded grass on camels and horses and set them on fire. When these horses came to the battlefield, the elephants would get enraged and attack their own army like death. With this Timur won many wars easily.
Delhi was defeated in a few hours of fighting, piles of dead bodies on the streets
Yazdi says that by the time Timur came to Delhi, 15,000 soldiers of his Tatar army had already reached there. Iranian historian Mohammad Qasim Farishta, who visited Vijayanagara, has written in his book ‘History of the Rise of Mohammedan Power in India’ that when the Hindus saw that their women’s honour was being auctioned in public, they closed the doors and set their own houses on fire. After killing their wives and children, they attacked Timur’s soldiers. After this, such a massacre took place in Delhi that heaps of dead bodies were piled up on the streets. Timur’s entire army entered Delhi. Delhi succumbed in a few hours of battle.
A tower was built of the severed heads of Hindus, it took 100 years to recover
Yazdi has written in his book that the Mongol Tatars created such a massacre in Delhi that blood and severed heads were seen everywhere. These Tatar soldiers killed the Hindus who had taken refuge in a mosque in Old Delhi. They built a tower of the severed heads of the Hindus. Even their severed torsos were left for eagles and crows to eat. Such a massacre continued for three days that it took Delhi 100 years to recover from this attack. A historian Giyasuddin Ali’s book ‘Diary of Taimur’s Campaign in India’ writes that Taimur’s Tatar army attacked the people of Delhi like a pack of hungry wolves attack a group of sheep. At that time, the stench of rotten corpses emanated from every corner of Delhi.
Got it written on his grave- If I stand up after death, the world will tremble
It is written on Timur’s grave in Uzbekistan that when I stand up after my death, the world will tremble. Along with this, it was written on the grave that whoever opens my grave will find an enemy more terrible than me. Because of this, many rulers came, but they did not harm the grave. It is said that in 1941, the ruler of Russia, Joseph Stalin, also tried to dig this grave. A day after digging the grave, on 11 June 1941, Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. After this, the grave was buried again. Germany was defeated shortly after this. It is also said that the Iranian ruler Nadirshah took away a special stone from Timur’s grave, but when his downfall started, he put that stone on the grave again due to fear.