Canberra, 22 March 2020 For millennia the nomadic tribes of North-Central Asia have sustained themselves by herding their animals and exercising their unique ability to hunt en masse. Their pasturages were in the more habitable areas of the bleak desert that was their home, they moved along the minor watercourses and when needed, found refuge […]
Continue readingIndian History Part 58 The Sayyid Dynasty Section I: Khizr Khan Sayyid
Canberra, 29 September 2017 When Timur ‘the Scourge of God’ departed India, the Delhi Sultanate was in an appalling state of disintegration. The once large empire had fragmented into small independent states, some of which were larger than the core Delhi Sultanate itself. Even so, the Sultanate endured for another 114 years, mostly in perilous […]
Continue readingIndian History Part 57 The Disintegrated Sultanate
Canberra, 24 September 2017 Even though Timur had ravaged the land and sacked Delhi, for a few more years after his departure the Tughluqs continued their internecine war for control of the Sultanate. A little over a decade later, Khizr Khan, who had been appointed by Timur as the governor of Multan, but left without […]
Continue readingIndian History Part 56 The Tughluq Dynasty Section IX: A Typhoon Called Timur
Canberra, 26 August 2017 The story of the Mongols as an all-conquering force begins with the rise of Genghis Khan. The creation of the Mongol Nation, as recorded in history, is the work of this one man. His story that started in the 12th century is a remarkable tale of an individual’s triumph over […]
Continue readingIndian History Part 56 The Tughluq Dynasty Section VIII The Later Tughluqs: A Decade of Decline
Canberra, 12 August 2017 The story of the Tughluqs after the death of Firuz Shah is one of rebellions, assassinations and deceit, within the realm of worthless sultans. It is a continuous saga of faithless ministers and nobles who manipulated their inept masters like master puppeteers. The process of political disintegration had already started […]
Continue readingIndian History Part 53 Genghis Khan marches through the Khyber Pass
Canberra, 26 July 2016 Of all the armies that have passed through the Khyber Pass over the centuries, none was imbibed with as much hurried determination as the great, all-conquering Mongol army of Genghis Khan. The presence of the Mongols in this region raises two interesting questions. What made Genghis Khan’s command so powerful that […]
Continue reading
Recent Comments