Muhammad Bin Tughlaq – Khurasan and Qarachil Expeditions

Muhammad-Bin-Tughlaq (MBT) ascended the throne of Delhi Sultanate in c. 1325 AD. His 26 years long reign enjoyed a great significance in the history of Turko-Afghan rule in India. After ascending the throne of Delhi Sultanate, Muhammad Bin Tughlaq undertook number of reforms, innovations and military expeditions. Many of them was resulted in failure as portrayed by some historians but these were not complete failures. Khurasan and Qarachil were two prominent expeditions that undertook him.

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Khurasan Expeditions

Khurasan was centre of political importance located in the Central Asia. During the decade of 1320s, it was passing through the number of political crises. Many of nobles of Khurasan state took shelter in the court of MBT. Through them he became aware about the situation of the Khurasan and planned to conquer it. The preparations of this expedition went for more than 10 years (c. 1322 to c. 1333 AD).

A powerful army of approx. 3.7 lakhs soldiers was raised and they were paid in advance. But after six months, the expedition was cancelled and Sultan did not make any effort to take back advance salaries paid to soldiers. According to Barani, this campaign was cancelled because Sultan came to his sense and realized his mistake. But in reality, it was because of the change in geo-political scenario of the Khurasan that made him to cancel this expedition.

In c. 1333 AD, a powerful ruler named Abu Said captured the throne of Khurasan and once he sat on throne, it was not advisable to MBT to carry forward this expedition. Hence, cancelled the expedition. Barani criticized Sultan for not taking back advance salary given to soldiers but it also shows the liberal outlook of the Sultan Muhammad Bin Tughlaq because disbanded soldiers became unemployed.

But on the other hand, according to Barani, the unemployed soldiers switched to anti-social activities. But this view also not took seriously as they were paid in advance and unemployed for six months and hence there is no reason to be robbers to them.

Qarachil Expedition

Qarachil was a small Hindu kingdom located on Indo-China boarder in the modern-day state of Himachal Pradesh. A strong army of 10k cavalry men was sent to conquer Qarachil. Although only 10 soldiers return alive from this expedition but it was a success because Qarachil kingdom accepted the overlordship of Delhi. The terrain of Qarachil was most challenging for soldiers and other than that, local people also attacked the royal army.

The 10 soldiers who returned alive were also executed on the order of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq. According to Barani, the campaign was miserable failure because large number of soldiers were killed during this expedition. It can be accepted that the loss was big in number of death of soldiers but it cannot be accepted as the complete failure because at the end of this expedition, the Qarachil kingdom accepted the overlordship of the Delhi Sultanate.

And after that Qarachil regularly sent tribute to Delhi for many years. The loss suffered during the campaign were due to improper planning of officials as they failed to take the factor of monsoon in account and hence, it was not a failure of Sultan.

Hence, both the expedition cannot be accepted as failure because one expedition never executed and other was a success in real sense.