which the royal authority was in the hands of sottish wastrels, the
chance of independence was no doubt seized.

~Mongol Invasions.~--In 1221 the Mongol cloud rose on the north-west
horizon. The cruelty of these camel-riding Tatars and the terror they
inspired may perhaps be measured by the appalling picture given of their
bestial appearance. In 1221, Chingiz Khan descended on the Indus at the
heels of the King of Khwarizm (Khiva), and drove him into Sindh. Then
there was a lull for twenty years, after which the Mongol war hordes
ruined and ravaged the Panjab for two generations. Two great Panjab
governors, Sher Khan under Balban and Tughlak under Ala ud din Khalji,
maintained a gallant struggle against these savages. In 1297 and 1303
the Mongols came to the gates of Delhi, but the city did not fall, and
soon after they ceased to harry Northern India. During these years the
misery of the common people must often have been extreme. When foreign
raids ceased for a time they were plundered by their own rulers. In the
Panjab the fate of the peasantry must have depended chiefly on the
character of the governor for the time being, and of the local
feudatories or _zamindars_, who were given the right to collect the
State's share of the produce on condition of keeping up bodies of armed
men for service when required.

~The Invasion of Timur.~--The long reign of Muhammad Tughlak's successor,
Firoz Shah (1351-1388), son of a Hindu Rajput princess of Dipalpur,
brought relief to all classes. Besides adopting a moderate fiscal
policy, he founded towns like Hissar and Fatehabad, dug canals from the
Jamna and the Sutlej, and carried out many other useful works. On his
death the realm fell into confusion. In 1398-99 another appalling
calamity fell upon it in the invasion of Timurlang (Tamerlane), Khan of
Samarkand. He entered India at the head of 90,000 horsemen, and marched
by Multan, Dipalpur, Sirsa, Kaithal, and Panipat to Delhi. What lust of
blood was to the Mongols, religious hatred was to Timur and his Turks.
Ten thousand Hindus were put to the sword at Bhatner and 100,000
prisoners were massacred before the victory at Delhi. For the three
days' sack of the royal city Timur was not personally responsible. Sated
with the blood of lakhs of infidels sent "to the fires of Hell" he
marched back through Kangra and Jammu to the Indus. Six years later the
House of Tughlak received a deadly wound when the Wazir, Ikbal Khan,
fell in bat