Muhammad Bin Tughlaq carried out 2 military conquests as a Sultan. They were,
Plan to conquer Khurasan
He wanted
his authority over Khurasan, with the following objectives in mind:
Ø Amir Khurd in his book Suyar-ul-Auliya mentions the Sultan to have said,” I want to overthrow the descendants of Chengiz Khan”.
Ø Farishta mentions the presence of a large number of Princes and Maliks of Iraq in Khurasan who had convinved the Sultan that the conquest of this region was very easy.
Ø
According to Prof. K.A. Nizami, there was a political vaccum in Central Asia and Persia. This encourages the Sultan to conquer Khurasan. This was in fact the real objective behind the campaign.
Elaborate preparations were done by the Sultan. They included,
Ø A huge Army of 3,70,000
soldiers was raised and all the soldiers were paid salary in cash and in the form of Iqtas(currency of those times).
Ø The Sultan entered into an alliance with the Princes of the region.
The campaign was a failure and soon abandoned. This was because there were no resources for maintaining the Army for the 2nd year. Hence, the army was disbanded. The alliances made with the princes also failed. The abandoned army spread frustration, disgust and unemployment among the soldiers.
Qarachil Project (1337-1338 A.D.)
Qarachil is identified with the Mid-Himalayan tract in the Kumayun-Garhwal region. Muhammad Bin Tughlaq undertook an expedition to Qarachil in 1337-’38 A.D. The main objectives behind the expedition were:
Ø Ibn-Batuta writes that the Sultan was encouraged by Chinese encroachment in the independent Rajput kingdom of Himalayas.
Ø It was a continuation of the Khurasan project.
Ø Farishte states that he went to conquer Qarachil as Chinese conquest was one of his military aims.
Ø In fact the real aim was simply to secure the frontier position in the strategic regions by forcing the chiefs of hilly regions to accept his Lordship.
Preparations:
An Army of 10,000 troops was prepared and sent under the leadership of Khurasan Malik, who was in charge of operations and strategy. Jidyah was captured and Khurasan was ordered to annex the region to the empire. Disregarding the instructions, he went with his army to capture Tibet where he was badly routed. According to Barani, only 10 soldiers and 3 according to Ibn-Batuta, had survived.
Effects:
Ø There was a great loss of men and material.
Ø There was a lot of discontentment among the masses.
Ø Loss of prestige for the Sultan
Ø Politically, the Sultan succeeded in making peace with the people of hilly regions who paid him taxes as a mark of their security.
(to be continued)….