Timur’s Invasion of Delhi, 1398

A Central Asian conqueror crossed the Indus with 92,000 cavalry. Five days later, one of the world’s great cities lay in ruins.

Timur’s Invasion of Delhi, 1398

MedHist0072

30 SEP 1398

Crosses the Indus

Timur enters India with 92,000 cavalry

17 DEC 1398

Battle of Delhi

Sultan Mahmud Shah Tughlaq’s army routed

DEC 1398

5-Day Sack

Delhi is reduced to rubble

1414

Sayyid Dynasty Founded

Khizr Khan, Timur’s appointed vassal, takes Delhi

A city he never meant to keep: Timur sacked Delhi, then withdrew to Samarkand within weeks – but the power vacuum he left behind reshaped India for over a century.

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Timeline

• 30 September 1398: Timur crosses the Indus River, entering India with a force of roughly 92,000 cavalry.
• October 1398: His forces capture Multan, after already sacking Tulamba further south.
• 17 December 1398: At the Battle of Delhi, Timur defeats Sultan Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shah Tughlaq’s army, including its war elephants.
• December 1398: Timur’s forces sack Delhi over five days, before he withdraws toward Samarkand.
• 1414: Khizr Khan, Timur’s appointed vassal, finally secures Delhi, founding the Sayyid dynasty.

The March to Delhi Need to Know

• Timur (also known as Tamerlane) was the founder of the Timurid Empire, ruling from Samarkand in Central Asia.
• He invaded India in 1398, framing the campaign partly as a religious war, and partly as a plundering expedition.
• Timur crossed the Indus River on 30 September 1398, entering with a force of around 92,000 cavalry.
• His army sacked Tulamba, then captured Multan in October, advancing steadily toward Delhi.
• Delhi, at the time, was ruled by Sultan Nasir-ud-din Mahmud Shah Tughlaq, of the Tughlaq dynasty.

The Battle of Delhi Need to Know

• Before the battle, Timur reportedly ordered the killing of tens of thousands of captives his army had already taken.
• On 17 December 1398, Timur’s army met the Sultan’s forces, including his war elephants, outside Delhi.
• Timur knew that cavalry horses feared elephants. He had his men dig trenches around his own cavalry units for protection.
• His forces used fire and camels to panic the Sultan’s elephants, turning them back against the Sultan’s own army.
• The Sultan’s army broke and fled. Timur’s forces then entered Delhi itself.

The Sack and Its Toll Good to Know

• Once inside Delhi, Timur’s forces carried out a five-day massacre and sack, reducing much of the city to ruins.
• Skilled artisans and craftsmen were captured and enslaved, later taken back to Samarkand to work on Timur’s own building projects.
• Timur concluded that he could not realistically hold and govern India from Samarkand, so far away.
• He withdrew his army soon after the sack, taking his plunder and captives, rather than attempting to rule Delhi directly.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. Timur crossed the Indus River and entered India on which date, in 1398?

17 December

30 September

1 January

15 August

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Aftermath: The Sultanate Fragments Great to Know

• Timur’s invasion badly weakened the Delhi Sultanate’s authority, even outside the city itself.
• Before leaving, Timur appointed Khizr Khan, a former Multan governor who had sided with him, as his vassal over the region.
• It took Khizr Khan years to actually secure control, against surviving Tughlaq claimants. He finally founded the Sayyid dynasty in 1414.
• The weakened Sultanate could no longer hold its provinces. Regional governors broke away and declared independent kingdoms of their own.
• Two of these were the Malwa Sultanate and the Gujarat Sultanate, both founded by former Delhi Sultanate governors within a decade of Timur’s invasion.

Current Affairs

• Tughlaqabad Fort, built by the same Tughlaq dynasty that Timur’s invasion crippled, remains an ASI-protected monument in Delhi today. In 2024-2025, the Delhi High Court ordered a joint survey to remove illegal encroachments around the site. (Source: The Tribune)