Effects of Timur’s Invasion
The effects of Timur invasion of India were:
Timur’s journey with his large army up to Delhi and back had laid waste the fields of agriculture on both sides of the route of their march. Standing crops were destroyed, granaries were looted, trade and commerce virtually ceased for the time being. A terrible famine broke out in Delhi and its suburbs followed by pestilence that stalks the land in the wake of famine.
A large number of inhabitants were butchered and the entire tract of northwestern provinces including Rajasthan and Delhi had been pillaged, ravaged and plundered and laid waste.
The Delhi Sultanate already shriveled up had been now confined to the capital and a few districts around it. For some months there was no sultan in Delhi. In March, 1399 Nusrat Shah Tughlaq returned to Delhi only to be expelled by his Prime Minister Mallu Iqbal. He then invited Mahmud Khan, Nursat Shah’s rival to the throne to Delhi and began to rule over Delhi himself keeping Mahmud only as a puppet. Prime Minister Mallu Iqbal sought to recover some of the lost areas of the Delhi Sultanate but was killed in action against Khizr Khan of Multan (1405). This freed Mahmud from the galling tutelage of his prime minister but he was incapable of consolidating his authority. He died in 1413 and with his death the Tughluq dynasty came to an end.
The Delhi nobles put one of themselves named Daulat Khan in charge of the state, but he did not assume royal titled or dignity. He failed to put down rebellion all over the country. In the circumstances Khizr Khan of Multan came and besieged Delhi. Daulat Khan after a few months resistance surrendered. He was captured and sent to Hissar. Khizr Khan became the ruler of Delhi on May 28, 1414 and founded the Sayyid Dynasty of the Delhi sultanate.
