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The Indian Analyst
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South Indian Inscriptions |
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA Sultāns of Delhi dispatched against Tiling. According to Baranī, Sultān ‘ Alā-ud-dīn Khaljī planned an invasion of Tiling as early as 1301 A. D. ‘ Four or five months after the Sultān left Rantambhōr ’, says he, ‘ UlughKhān collected a large force with the intention of attacking Tiling and Ma’abar, but his time was come, and the angel of destiny took him to the blessed city. His corpse was conveyed to Delhi and buried in his own house’.[1] The expedition to Tiling did not obviously proceed. The idea was not, however, abandoned. Some two years later, ‘ at the time when the Sultān was engaged in the siege of Chitor, Malik Fakhr-ud-dīn Jūna, dadbak-i-Hazarat and Malik Jhāju of Karra, nephew of Nusrat Khān, had been sent with all the forces of Hindustan against Arangal ’. On their arrival there the rainy season began and proved such a hindrance that the army could do nothing and in the beginning of the winter returned greatly reduced in numbers, to Hindustan.[2] The expedition thus ended in disaster. Although the Muslim historians attribute the failure to the outbreak of rains, it is not unlikely that they came into condict with the Tiliṅgas and were worsted by them in the fight. The failure of the expedition rankled in the mind of ‘ Alā-ud-dīn ; and in 1309-10 A. D., he despatched another expedition under the famous Malik Nā’īb Kāfūr and Khwāja Ḥājī, the ‘āriz-i-Mamālik. This expedition, according to the unanimous testimony of Muslim historians, was a resounding success of Muslim arms. The derails of it are far too well known to need description. The Muslim armies marched to Warangal by way of Dēvagiri without meeting serious opposition on the way ; defeated the Kākatīya forces, laid siege to and captured the outside mud fort, and invested the inner stone fort. Pratāparudra sued for peace. Malik Nā’īb Kāfūr agreed to accede to his request on condition that he surrendered all his wealth, together with his elephants and horses, jewels and valuables and promised to send every year a certain amount of treasure and a certain number of elephants by way of tribute to Delhi. Pratāparudra who had no alternative accepted the conditions and Malik Nā’īb Kāfūr raised the siege, and marched away to Delhi laden with booty.[3]
Of the next invasion, which was sent from Dēvagiri in 1318 A.D. by Sultān Qutb-ud-dīn Mubārak Shāh, two conflicting accounts have come down to us. The cause of the expedition was the failure of Pratāparudra to pay the annual tribute for some years. To collect the arrears of this tribute, the Sultān sent Khusru Khān at the head of an army to Tiling. According to AmīaKhusru, Pratāparudra offered resistance, but was defeated and had to purchase peace at a very heavy price. Amīr Khusru’s account of Khusru Khān’s expedition to Tiling reads like another version of Nalik Na’īb Kāfūr’s invasion in 1310 A. D. The encounter with Pratāparudra’s forces, their defeat, the investment and capture of the mud fort, the attack on the stone fort, and Pratāparudra’s surrender of all his wealth besides elephants and horses, follow the same pattern.[4] …’lsāmy, who also describes Khusru Khān’s expedition to Tiling, narrates the events differently : he does not refer to hostilities. Pratāparudra, on the contrary, is said to have received Khusru Khān with respect, paid the tribute due to the Sultān readily and sent him back to Dēvagiri well satisfied.[5] Which of these two accounts is true is not easy to decide. ______________________________________________
[1] Elliot, History of India, Vol. III, p. 179.
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