-XLIII-
"War of the Holy Men"
Magadha, Lakhnauti Sultanate, November 1304
Ryouchuu gazed at the enemy army assembling in the plain by the river. They seemingly numbered ten thousand men, and he spied countless banners of the Sultan of Bengal. Horsemen and even those enormous elephant riders rode about, each waiting for the chance to destroy his small force. Ryouchuu did not like these odds, nor the force he commanded. They were men of a dozen nations, driven by nothing but shared professed belief in the wisdom Buddhism, and it was only his forceful insistence and clear knowledge of Buddhist precepts that they even bothered to follow him.
A few of his followers--lamas from Tibet with their strange and questionable beliefs--sat meditating and praying for success. But most of his army from the Mongols to the Turks to the Indians who followed him seemed to be tending to their horses or weapons or eating a quick meal from the meager rice local Indian servants prepared. One of his commanders, a Tibetan adventurer named Rinchan who seemed to just as much a merchant as a warrior, approached him.
"They number well over 10,000," Rinchan noted, speaking in the Sanskrit that served as their only unifying tongue [1]. "We have but 500. Perhaps we retreat, Tono no Houin?"
"Never," Ryouchuu replied, the memories of the desolation at Nalanda still fresh in his mind. During those years after he left Japan, he studied no text more than
Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, and to see so few traces of what the eminent Xuanzang described shocked him. The library of Nalanda held so few scriptures and what remained was but a community of monks living amongst ruins. And he knew exactly why--it was not just the hypocritical and foolish brahmins who preached their lies and heresies, but those violent invaders from abroad who preached an even more false belief in monotheism.
"Let us not retreat," a monk named Dhyanabhadra said. Ryouchuu recalled he was a disciple of that abbot at Nalanda called Vinayabhadra, the one who welcomed them and insisted on bringing Mongol rule into the region. "We shall pray for victory, and these heathens will falter."
"Prayer is a good thing, but they have their own god," Rinchan replied. "And their god has clearly served them well. I have discovered that army is commanded by a certain Tajuddin, the son of the great sultan who has conquered the land of Bengal and now is conquering the land of Magadha. He is assisted by many wise advisors and captains and priests."
"You border on blasphemy, merchant," Ryouchuu growled, annoyed he once more had to rely on this man for advice and aid. "Come, you will join me in the attack."
"And I shall pray for your success," Dhyanabhadra said. "Those lamas praying there are beyond wise. They too share in the sorrow we all hold of the sorry state of Nalanda and the many other great monasteries of this land. They will ensure the results of the enemy's actions return to them."
The cavalry assembled as Ryouchuu mounted his horse and raised his club to the sky.
"Let us ride out against these heathens and drive them from the land Shakyamuni Buddha once tread! We number few, but as long as we devote ourselves to faith, we shall be victorious! So many wise monks pray for our victory where we shall receive the chance of stopping the enemy from their sins against the country of Magadha! Forward!"
The cavalry charged down the slopes of the hill, and arrows flew forth at the enemy's scouts--not a single one escaped. They careened right into the front lines of the enemy who did not expect such an aggressive attack. Ryouchuu brought his iron club down on the skulls of the enemy he passed as he penetrated deeply into their ranks. He dehorsed an enemy leader before him, but knew he must not get too deep into their ranks.
The enemy counterattack proved just as fierce. They began retreating and opened space for their own cavalry, turbaned men wielding those curved swords Ryouchuu saw so much of. Soon it began a cavalry duel, made all the worse as their focus
"Ha, enough of this, let's get the hell out of here!" Rinchan shouted, his armour covered in blood as he cleaved an enemy's head in twain with a stroke of his axe. He fended off several powerful foes with his shield. All around, Ryouchuu could see the damage--the corridor they were in was collapsing, and he would have to fight for his life to leave it. Already some of his cavalrymen were retreating in dismay.
"Circle about, circle about!" Ryouchuu yelled, clubbing another enemy as he rode forward. A spear pierced through his horse's next, but he deftly lept from his mount and crushed an enemy beneath his foot. He parried the sword of an enemy cavalryman and to his fortune one of his allies shot the man from his horse, permitting him to seize it as his own mount. He retreated as fast as possible, knocking aside enemy infantry and enemy cavalry who tried to get in front of him.
But just as he cleared the encirclement, Tono no Houin saw an amazing sight--the enemy refused to pursue. It seemed unreal--they stopped moving seemingly all at once. Even the horsemen chasing him did not pursue past the front ranks of enemy infantry. The elephants which his men attacked settled down, the horses drew deep breaths, and not a single flew at them as they fled.
It is a miracle! I am rewarded for my piety and belief!
As he came to the top of the hill, Rinchan took off his bloodstained helmet as servants nursed the many wounded.
"What a disaster! We lost half our number or more, and we're no closer to defending Magadha!" Ryouchuu wished to strike the man down on the spot for saying such words, but Dhyanabhadra intervened.
"It was not a disaster, but a miracle," he said. "Their animals stopped all at once for fear seized their heart. And once fear took them, it took their riders as well. We have succeeded!"
"Precisely!" Ryouchuu said. "We are in the country Shakyamuni once traveled, and every day we are succeeding at its restoration! It is only natural that we receive such miracles!" Rinchan didn't seem convinced, but clearly the majority of soldiers agreed on his interpretation. Ryouchuu looked toward the enemy lines, now somewhat smaller than before.
If such a miracle might occur today, just how many might occur tomorrow?
---
Garhpar [2], Magadha, January 9, 1308
Ryouchuu rode with his troops, looking out upon the lines of his allies as they shuffled about for the decisive battle in front of the hill of Garhpar, the ruins of an old Buddhist center of learnin. All seemed arranged perfectly, with tens of thousands of Mongol and Turkish cavalry, and an infantry center of mostly local Indians, urban men from Central Asia, Nepalese footsoldiers, and the Tibetans with their odd armor and brilliant banners. In contrast, the enemy seemed almost bland with their dull banners and their turbaned cavalry and footsoldiers.
His new commander, the brother of his sovereign Tanehito the Prince-Priest Ejo, stopped his horse, and Ryouchuu followed him at once and raised his arm for all others to cease.
"I fear our odds are not good," Ejo said. "Our forces barely maintained cohesion over these past days, while our enemy is zealous, determined, and numerous."
"I concur," Rinchan said, his increasing skill at Japanese these past years surprising to Ryouchuu. "Our elephants are gone while they have a hundred or more. And our soldiers drawn from a dozen nations with only those Mongols in the center uniting them. We might fear the Turks and Muslims going over to aid those of the same faith, we might fear the Nepalese and Magadhis fleeing to their homes. For all I know, perhaps that priestly prince boy in charge of us all will flee back to Japan."
"Enough of your sarcasm in front of his majesty!" Ryouchuu shouted. "We chose to make our stand here so Nalanda might suffer no further damage at the hands of those foul ignorant barbarians we fight! Just as those miracles we saw three years ago in this land where our force the enemy beasts refused to advance further, we shall surely see more miracles today! The faithful of the
sangha have gathered from across the world to defend the land of the
sangha's birth, and in this decisive moment the world shall bow toward our wills as the enemy suffers the consequences of their wickedness! They are as likely to flee to their homelands as you were to flee to Maryul three years ago!"
Ejo and Rinchen glanced at each other before the young princely monk lowered his head.
"I feel you are correct, Tono no Houin. I have too little knowledge of both the faith and this land on account of my youthful age and origin," Ejo conceded. "But must we charge headlong into death?"
"If we do it now, we shall shatter them at once," Ryouchuu said. "Let us go!"
Ejo blew his shell trumpet, and mounted Tibetan warriors started beating gongs. The most holy of units, the first to defend Magadha and see its miracles, prepared their charge even as the other units of the Chagatai army turned about.
"Now, forward into rewards for our deeds as we stop the evildoer from his ignorant wickedness!" Ryouchuu yelled as he waved and jangled his iron staff, spurring his horse forward at the head of the cavalry. He started repeating a sutra to himself, seeking the fortune of the power governing this world and so many others that the enemy might fall at his feet.
His horse lept over a surprised enemy soldier and trampled him as the cavalry burst through enemy lines. His arms proved strong as he clubbed enemy skull after enemy skull as clouds began blotting out the sun. Even though only a few hundred cavalry followed him, their impact registered heavily on the enemy. Ejo too managed to club countless enemies while Rinchan's axe sent heads flying everywhere. Other men fired their bows, the way cleared by the light cavalrymen at the front.
The invader prince we follow chose a wonderful strategy. The enemy is too greedy for a victory, and their men did not expect such a sudden turnabout.
Even as the enemy ranks surrounded Ryouchuu, he felt no fear. Arrows from behind only added to the chaos as the thundering hooves of the main Mongol force arrived. He even glanced banners from a few different cavalry units, each cutting their way through the enemy's center. A bloodlust gripped Ryouchuu as he couldn't help but laugh as he crushed the skull of a warrior with an arrow through his shoulder who foolishly tried stabbing his horse.
"Their first lines have broken! Forward, forward! Kill their prince, that foul and ignorant barbarian who despoils this holy land!" Ryouchuu yelled as his troops pushed forward, shattering apart enemy ranks further.
It seemed the enemy spaced their vanguard further from their true center, for a somewhat wide gap lay between them and the main enemy host. He paused as Ejo blew his shell trumpet to order a regroup as the vanguard broke around them and ran toward the center. There Ryouchuu saw a strange sight. An elderly man in white sat on a mat praying fervently as his attendants dressed in finely decorated turbans and armour held an umbrella over their head, seemingly unconcerned of the enemy cavalry. Nothing about the man or situation felt right.
The fools we fight bring their own wicked priests to these battles to counter our own.
All of a sudden the man arose from his prayer and raised his arm. Drums began pounding from enemy lines as a swarm of arrows flew at them.
"J-Just what sort of priest is that man!?" Ejo asked with wide eyes as he blocked the arrows with his shield.
"He is not just a priest, but an enemy commander!" Rinchan yelled. "There's no way but forward!" [3]
"That's right! Send that man to his worthless god!" Ryouchuu ordered, and his cavalry charged forward. But the swarm of arrows continued as the elderly man returned to his prayers, completely unconcerned about Ryouchu's cavalry in front of him. His guards braced themselves with a shield wall, prepared to defend their master and promptly vanished with the charge of thousands and thousands of enemy infantry and worse, cavalry arriving from the flanks.
Ryouchuu halted his advance at once, parrying the blows from an enemy horseman as his horse reared back in pain from a sudden spear attack. Even as Ejo slew the spearman, the concern and fear in his eyes were apparent.
"Retreat! Retreat!" Ejo yelled, blaring his shell trumpet to the soldiers. All around him, men were dying and horse collapsing, the result of a perfectly executed enemy strategy performed by men just as zealous in their false faith as Ryouchuu was in the dharma.
"What are you doing! We must stand and fight!" Ryouchuu yelled as he advanced forward and trampled an enemy soldier. "There shall be another miracle soon! Behold, is not the sky growing darker?"
"What use is a miracle if the devout are not there to explain the truth of it, Tono no Houin. I am sorry, I must order my men to retreat now," Ejo said.
As Ryouchuu wished to argue further, suddenly an arrow struck his thigh. He grit his teeth in pain and struck the first enemy soldier he saw. Worse, he lost control of his horse for a spear pierced the beast and he fell to the ground, barely able to stand from the painful arrow.
"Very well, we retreat for now," Ryouchuu growled, slowly backing up in pain from his injury as he parried blows from an enemy before him. "Let us regroup with the footsoldiers and try again shortly."
---
Garhpar, Magadha, January 9, 1308
Hours after he was wounded, Ryouchuu still felt sheer anger he had not returned to the fight. As much as he ordered the Mongols to give him another horse, he had yet to find one. They all claimed the battle was going poorly, not that he could see anything for even standing was difficult with the arrow in his thigh.
"Lord Ejo, consider leaving the field soon," Rinchan advised. "They're saying the warriors of Nepal fled the field after the enemy's elephants trampled their king. That is why we have not seen those beasts in this battle--they have busied themselves wrecking our left.
"I already know your opinion, Tono no Houin," Ejo said. "But I am not certain of my own. We have rendered much service in this battle already, and nearly half our number are gone."
"You are a prince of divine lineage in this life, my lord, but should you leave you may not find yourself so lucky in your next," Ryouchuu warned. "We were the first to enter battle, and we shall be the last to leave it."
The monk Dhyanabhadra approached them, and all bowed at the young spiritual master.
"That would not be wise," he said. "Should you not live to see another day in this land and glimpse more of Shakyamuni Buddha's country for yourself? No matter, I am very appreciative to see the greed you once held transform into zeal, Tono no Houin."
"That is true. How can you gain the treasures of this world if you are dead?" Rinchan laughed.
Ryouchuu shook his head, but reflected on Dhyanabhadra's words.
It is true this battle serves me no purpose in gaining wealth. There are no offerings to worthless gods to plunder and no slaves to sell waiting for me at the end.
"Defending the
sangha comes before even wealth," Ryouchuu conceded. "But in this land, defending the
sangha is a pathway to wealth."
A sudden gust of wind swept them, and rain began to fall. Toward the south, an ominous horizon approached them, dark as night and flickering more and more with lightning.
"How strange," Dhyanabhadra said. "It is not the rainy season, so why is there a storm now?"
The rain began pounding down as it dawned on them there was something powerful in the air, more powerful than even the fierce gusts of wind.
"It is a miracle," Dhyanabhadra muttered. "A storm is here to aid us."
"It could just as easily destroy us," Ejo said. "Surely those priests of the enemy can conjure a storm as well."
"Stand up, stand up!" Rinchan shouted to the warriors and monks behind him. "We are attacking again, now!"
"I will not attack until I have a horse," Ryouchuu protested.
"That doesn't matter now," Rinchan said. "Our left flank is to our north, thus the enemy faces south from whence these winds and rains blow forth. Their arrows will be useless and vision blinded and they will be useless. That leaves only their center. If they were counting on keeping their center weak and detatched, it will be very much vulnerable. We must hurry and take advantage of this!"
As Ryouchuu pondered the situation, a messenger rode toward them, his face illuminated by a sudden nearby burst of lightning.
"Our general, the great prince Qutlugh Khwaja orders all to venerate in respect the great storm the Sakya lamas conjured and take advantage of its might! Already the enemy is blinded and fleeing! Do as you must and let us claim victory!"
Those words raised a great commotion in the camp, for dozens of the men had been present at the previous encounter where the lamas stopped the enemy's animals in their tracks.
First they force the animals to obey, and now they bring a storm? The monks of Tibet are truly immense in their spiritual power.
"U-Unbelievable," Ryouchuu said. "If the Sakya lamas say such a thing, than it truly is another miracle."
"They are men of impressive power," Rinchan conceded.
"I see now why this is a land of miracles," Ejo said.
"Give me your horse, messenger, so I might carry out those orders!" Ryouchuu said, climbing to his feet in pain. "I am the deputy commander of a thousand men and a holy monk of the
sangha, and I must lead my men to victory! You risk the same divine punishment as our enemy should you abuse a monk such as I!"
The messenger seemed puzzled, but the stares of the monks around Ryouchuu unnerved him enough to climb down off his horse, a disappointingly small but hopefully sufficient mount.
"Good! Fortune shall bless you as it shall bless our khan!" Ryouchuu turned to his men, still mostly wounded from the battle even as the pouring rain washed away the blood and dirt from their faces. "We shall finish what we started and be the punishment for that priest's ignorance!"
The warriors cheered as they rode forth, joining another wave of Mongol cavalry who once more braved the enemy's center. The winds blew ever harder, but that too was only a sign of the winds blowing for victory.
---
The landlocked Chagatai Khanate of Central Asia invaded India several times during the 13th century but gained little success until the tremendous Battle of Kili in 1299 that saw the dynamic leader Alauddin Khalji assassinated and Delhi captured. The collapse of the Delhi Sultanate in the aftermath of this battle began a chain of events that led to the Mongol conquest of India. With the Delhi Sultanate's power on the wane and on and off alliances with the Rajput tribes and states, the Chagatai Mongols pressed deeper and deeper into India. There they would lay the roots for a khanate of equal splendour to the Yuan of China and Ilkhanate of Persia.
At the eastern edge of Chagatai gains lay the region of Magadha, the sacred land from which Buddhism had originated. Despite being ravaged for nearly a century by Islamic raiders, the religion still persisted among many there. Chagatai forces first penetrated the area in 1303 in their clashes with the Delhi Sultanate remnants of Alp Khan. Mongol aggression in this region lay in their attempt to stop Alp Khan from arranging an alliance with Shamsuddin Firuz Shah, the sultan of Bengal who ruled from Lakhnauti. In this they failed, for the Lakhnauti army under the spiritual leadership of the Sufi leaders Shah Jalal proved too powerful and repelled their initial assault.
Yet they did not stop the advance of zealous Buddhists like the Japanese warrior monk Ryouchuu, best known as Tono no Houin. At the head of many Mongol and Central Asian Buddhists, Tono no Houin's cavalry advanced well ahead of other forces, destroying mosques and murdering Sufis. Just a few hundred warriors drove off a great attack from the Lakhnauti governor in the region, Tajuddin Hatim Khan, allegedly because the piety of the Buddhists caused the enemy horses and elephants to refuse to move and thus let the Buddhists rout the enemy. In truth, it was likely due to Tajuddin's belief he clashed with only a small vanguard and that he was outnumbered against the main Mongol force.
The fallen state of the University of Nalanda, the Mahabodhi, and other Buddhist monasteries and monuments brought despair to these zealous Buddhist warriors. They had fallen into decay a century ago due to the Delhi Sultanate, subject to only partial and unsuccessful restorations by local lords or Tibetan monasteries. Yet it likely deepened their faith, for it proved to them that even these venerable places had fallen to ruin in the age of declining dharma.
It was here that the Chagatai found a surprising ally--the Myinsaing Kingdom of Burma. The elite of Pagan had for centuries made regular pilgrimages to Bodh Gaya and the Mahabodhi, and even in the era of chaos with the Mongol invasions and replacement of Pagan with Myinsaing they maintained this tradition. In 1297, the three brothers of Myinsaing funded a group of pilgrims to Bodh Gaya with supplies and craftsmen for repairing the Mahabodhi. Perhaps they deemed this would give them the spiritual aid needed to rule Burma, and after repairing the Mahabodhi the following year, these rulers of Myinsaing succeeded at repelling a Mongol invasion and seizing the throne for themselves [4].
Normalisation of relations with the Yuan in 1305 gave the brothers of Myinsaing much freedom to act. Hearing of the Chagatai success in India and the peril that Magadha found itself in, they sent their viceroy Thawun Gyi of Taungoo with 5,000 soldiers to escort a large number of pilgrims and craftsmen to Magadha. However, this expedition frequently met conflict with the hill tribes and the Ahom kingdom and was forced to turn back so only a few dozen soldiers, craftsmen, and monks arrived in Magadha. It is however likely that captured monks and deserters succeeded at establishing Buddhism in several communities in the region, judging by the existance of that faith in the region in later times [5]. Despite their failure, these soldiers aided diplomatic relations between Myinsaing and the Mongols and reconstruction and defense of Buddhist monuments in Magadha continued.
As for Tono no Houin, he wrote to his family and demanded they send monks and craftsmen to him so he might head the restoration efforts--this drew much attention in the Kingdom of Japan and brought Tono no Houin a force of 600 warrior monks commanded by the warrior monk Prince Ejo (恵助法親王), half-brother of King Tanehito. Yuan emperor Temur Khan granted Ejo the rank of
mingghan with orders to represent the Yuan in India. Ryouchuu became deputy commander. While mostly Japanese, these 1,000 men included many Central Asian and Tibetan Buddhists, most famously the exile adventurer Rinchan from the Himalayan realm of Maryul [6].
Following this unit were hundreds more Japanese monks and nuns eager to see these sacred places for themselves. Among these monks Kokan Shiren (虎関師錬), a Zen monk who would later compose the
Tenjikuki (天竺記), a lengthy and influential chronicle regarding the state of Buddhism in India and the travels and battles of the Japanese. These reinforcements arrived in 1306 and were perhaps the most famous Japanese to serve the Mongol Empire outside their homeland.
While Japanese sources glorify Tono no Houin's efforts, he was not the only Buddhist leader drawn to Magadha. Most notable of all was the Sakya lama and nominal ruler of Tibet Zangpo Pal (達尼欽波桑波貝), who learned of Mongol success in India and was determined to spread his influence there. The number of Indian monks in Tibet further convinced him of the value of such an operation, as did the Kagyu lamas who maintain their pro-Chagatai stance even after the Yuan expedition against them 15 years prior [7]. The Sakya lama proved a controversial figure for he lived much of his life outside Tibet and was said to lack the legitimacy to inherit his post, was deficient in religious knowledge, and prone to fits of anger. Perhaps because of this, Zangpo Pal decided the best way to strengthen his rule over Tibet would be the legitimacy of restoring order in Magadha.
Zangpo Pal demanded each of Tibet's thirteen myriarchies contribute 800 men each for a total of 10,400 men. He named the Yuan administrator of Tibet Sengge Pal as its commander and ordered the army to protect the holy sites of Magadha and escort Buddhist monks, starting by ensuring no Muslim forces retreated to Nepal. The embattled ruler of the Kathmandu Valley, Ananta Malla, accepted this aid and raised his own force. However, the Chagatai army did not wish to permit Yuan vassals to seize land they claimed so backed Ananta Malla's rivals, Anandamalla of Khasa to the west and Harisimhadeva of Maithila to the south [8]. This impaired relations between the Chagatai and Yuan, a situation not helped by the civil war between Ananda and Ayurbarwada in 1307.
The Mongol position in northern India was insecure and largely restricted to forts controlled by the former Delhi Empire. Through these forts they inherited the bureaucracy of the Delhi Sultanate and ability to control and tax a vast number of villages in the largely Hindu countryside. The Yamuna and Ganges served as the main arteries of transportation, and in the early years the Chagatai rarely strayed far from these rivers lest they encounter the independent rulers who lived in high castles. Descended from lesser sons of powerful princes and successful farmers and herders, these rulers--termed Rajputs--were the true local power in much of northern India [9].
In these areas reigned a state of anarchy, for the powerful states that once controlled northern India had broken down under Muslim invasions in the prior century. In their place had risen several smaller states like Hammiradeva's Ranthambore Kingdom or the Guhila dynasty of Mewar, but these were an exception. East of these states lay another area of collapsed authority still loosely controlled by the nominally pro-Mongol Chandela dynasty along with recently migrated Rajput clans, and local tribes. Their hold on land outside of their main forts was tenuous, and they frequently warred amongst each other.
Regardless of their disunity, these Rajputs and other small Hindu rulers frequently posed a threat to Mongol authority. Few of them willingly submitted, and even fewer volunteered soldiers. Unlike other regions with many autonomous states like Anatolia, Russia, or Japan, there was no higher authority the Mongols might use to corral these autonomous castle lords into their governance.
Rajput alliances frequently shifted, as evidenced by several clashes in 1304 and 1305 against the Delhi Sultanate general Malik Nayak. Duwa's son Esen Buqa and his general Ali Beg of the Khongirad allied with the Khangars, a Rajput clan which had suffered many defeats against their rivals. The Khangars proved more eager to enlist Mongol units in raiding their Bundela rivals, but eventually Esen Buqa succeeded at bringing them to a major battle against Malik Nayak where the Mongols proved victorious. However, the Khangar ruler and his warriors departed the Mongol camp after stealing all their plunder and baggage train, very little of which was recovered. The Mongols then allied with their rivals, the Bundela Rajputs, and warred against the Khangars for several years.
The strongest Mongol ally Hammiradeva proved essential for controlling these smaller rulers. In 1306, Duwa sent his general Kopek with 10,000 men into the kingdom of Mewar in alliance with Hammiradeva. There they besieged the large fort of the king Ratnasimha in a siege that lasted over a year before it finally fell, leading to the fall of the Guhila dynasty of Mewar. The Mongols seized much plunder, but the crafty Hammiradeva occupied the land for himself, imprisoned several
darughachi Duwa appointed, and named his allies as governor. Duwa prepared to invade Ranthambore in 1307, but relented when Hammiradeva released the imprisoned men and paid tribute to Duwa with a herd of a hundred trained war elephants.
As for the remnants of Alauddin Khan's once might Khalji dynasty, they had suffered several major defeats thanks to the efforts of former Delhi general Diler Khan who integrated his forces with the Chagatai. Many enemies of the Khalji dynasty who lost power with the ascension of the Khaljis in 1290 regained their positions under the Mongols. Hammiradeva of Ranthambore's defense of his lands and generally pro-Mongol stance further crippled their forces, and in early 1306 Alp Khan's generals Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq and Malik Kafur murdered him and sent the boy sultan Khizr Khan to the Mongols (who executed him) in exchange for high titles in the Chagatai Khanate.
But this was not the end of the Muslim resistance in India. Delhi generals Kamal al-Din Gurg and Ayn al-Malik Multani still commanded a substantial army, and held the loyalty of many former Khalji bureaucrats and governors. In late 1306 they invaded Gujarat, where the Hindu Vaghela dynasty had returned to power thanks to the defection of the Delhi Sultanate's ethnic Mongol generals Balchaq and Shadibuqa who restored a distant cousin of the last king to the throne and pledged allegiance to the Chagatai. Gurg and Multani crushed these Gujarat remnants, and most of the remaining Vaghelas fled eastwards where they became known as the Baghela Rajputs.
The Chagatai responded to the Delhi occupation of this strategic region by sending the general Tartaq with 20,000 men, including many led by Malik Kafur's chief general Malik Dinar, into Gujarat to disperse these invaders. There the 15,000 men of Kamal al-Din drove off Tartaq's army in a great victory. It is recorded that Balchaq, who had fled to the Chagatai after his defeat, was captured here along with thousands of men--all were beheaded. After this victory, his warriors acclaimed him as a sultan and thus Kamal al-Din founded the Gujarat Sultanate.
The end of the Delhi remnants and the upheaval in the Yuan in 1306 secured the Gujarat Sultanate's fate. Duwa scaled back his operations in India and played both sides of the war to his benefit, as he had in the past with Kaidu and the House of Ogedei. He sent Ghiyas ud-Din Tughlaq, now emir of Dipalpur, with over 10,000 Delhi Sultanate warriors into China to aid the Muslim emperor Ananda. Their vacant positions he filled with loyalists from the rest of the Chagatai Khanate, be they Hindus, Central Asian Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, or pagans, informing Malik Kafur that such postings were temporary until Ghiyas ud-Din and his warriors returned.
The influx of new soldiers into India encouraged the Chagatai to become increasingly assertive, for the Delhi Sultanate's raids and disruption of the wider Indian political scene had caused the Himalayan foothills to fall into turmoil years before. By 1307, it became clear that Harisimhadeva and his Karnat dynasty along with the Khasa were little but Chagatai vassals, while Nepal had effectively submitted to the Yuan. The Yuan installed the prince Asengge (阿僧哥), son of Yuan architect and court painter Araniko (阿尼哥), as
darughachi and administrator there.
The Chagatai also sought to conquer the Himalayan states of Kashmir, Kumaon, and Maryul, although the Yuan claimed these as their tributaries. Laying in the western Himalayas, these states had in the past been raided by the Mongol Empire, most notably Mongke Khan's general Sali Noyan's attack on Kashmir in the 1250s. But Mongol rule had not been maintained and these mountainous areas remained independent. The Mongols intervened in Kumaon at the request of Indian princes seeking protection from the expansionistic Chand rulers, and the land was devastated in 1305 and 1306--the ruling king Damaru Chand submitted to Chagatai rule.
Kashmir was raided in 1307 to devastating effect by 10,000 men led by the general Zulju, but as he left the kingdom the talented Kashmiri general Ramacandra attacked his forces weighed down by loot and returned much of it to the Kashmiri people. Maryul and the small adjoining states centered at Skardu and Gilgit faced attacks from Zangpo Pal's forces, but the Tibetans were ambushed and defeated by the ruler of Swat, and no permanent Mongol control west of Maryul was established at the time [10].
Meanwhile, the Chagatai intervention in the war between Ananda and Ayurbarwada failed dramatically--even the pro-Ananda Yuan generals disliked while the local populace despised them. Most of them perished when Ayurbarwada's general Kuchu crushed them at Huozhou, including Ghiyas ud-Din Tughlaq himself. The few survivors of subsequent battles mostly joined local rebellions, such as the rebellion of the Muslim administrator Masud in Yunnan which had allied with the perserving rebel Song Longji. It is said only 40 men returned to India, and Duwa executed all of them for incompetence and cowardice. He ordered their families enslaved and granted as tribute to Ayurbarwada, now ruling as Buyantu Khan. Of course, Duwa sent many other tributes to the new Great Khan, who seems to have so many domestic issues to resolve he ignored Duwa's disloyalty.
Around this time, Buddhasena II of the small state of Bodh Gaya attempted to gain from the Yuan a title confirming his pre-eminence in the region. He emphasised his role as a Buddhist preceptor and particularly his dynasty's hereditary role as the defender of the Diamond Throne of Bodh Gaya where Siddhartha Gautama reached enlightenment (from whence his dynasty name Pithipati--"Lord of the Seat of Enlightenment"--derived). This represented a direct challenge to Chagatai affairs and Yuan interference in the region. But due to the ever present Lakhnauti threat, they arranged for a treaty at the request of a senior monk of Nalanda named Vinayabhadra [11].
In 1308, Vinayabhadra arrived in Dadu where he presented his request to the Yuan emperor Buyantu Khan. Buyantu worked out a treaty delineating spheres of influence out of his desire to maintain the fragile Mongol unity his uncle Temur Khan re-established. Thus Maryul and the nearby valleys of Baltistan were to be governed as the 14th and 15th of Tibet's myriarchies, while Kashmir would pay tribute to the Yuan. In exchange, Kumaon would pay tribute to the Chagatai and the Chagatai received a free hand in India, Nepal, and the Khasa Kingdoms, but a Tibetan administrator was to be appointed to supervise these Buddhist lands. Buddhism was to perpetually be the state religion in this area, with no tolerance given to those who defile Buddhist sites be they Brahmin or Muslim. The land of Bengal was to be ruled by the Chagatai, but everything east of there would be Yuan tributaries.
The treaty did not involve the matter of the Chagatai family's hereditary appanages within China, a sticking point in Yuan-Chagatai relations for the anti-Yuan stance the Chagatai had taken for decades ensured that revenue from those lands defacto belonged to the Yuan state. However, Buyantu ensured that one year's income arrived to Duwa's treasury in 1308 with the caveat that it be used to restore Buddhist sites in Central Asia, Magadha, elsewhere in India (most notably the city of Mathura) and that their autonomous Mongol legal system be harmonised with the laws of the rest of China.
The Chagatai were grateful for this and accepted Buyantu's terms, but they would continue insisting on decades of delayed revenue. For this reason, they denied Buyantu his demand to grant an appanage to a descendant of Kublai Khan. Instead, the Chagatai granted this territory to Chin-Pulad, the luckless son of the deposed Ilkhan Gaykhatu who had been overthrown for his Buddhist and pro-Yuan policies. Chin-Pulad would become one of the more notably Toluid princes resident in the Chagatai realm.
Clash with the Sultan of Lakhnauti and the Eastern Hindu princes
Buddhasena II's newfound alliance with the Mongols constituted rebellion against his overlord, the Lakhnauti Sultanate of Bengal, who sent an army against him. Lakhnauti was a powerful state, having absorbed many warriors from the Delhi Sultanate. Among these was even Malik Kafur's general Malik Dinar, who defected to Lakhnauti alongside 10,000 Muslim warriors in 1307 after a dispute with Diler Khan.
After subduing the Khasa Kingdom and several skirmishes against Lakhnauti in 1307, in January 1308 the Chagatai set out once more into Magadha. At least 70,000 Mongol warriors under ultimate command of Qutlugh-Khwaja met around 80,000 Lakhnauti soldiers under Tajuddin Hatim Khan and Syed Nasiruddin near the town of Deoghar. The Mongols fended off the initial skirmish, but Qutlugh Khwaja deemed the place a poor battlefield so conducted a feigned retreat.
In many ways it was a typical Mongol feigned retreat, for the Mongols and Bengalis skirmished for days and days with no decisive battle. The Mongols lost the entirety of the elephant units they brought with them due to their slow speed. However, Qutlugh-Khwaja's plans came to naught after a week of this retreat, for the Buddhist soldiers stopped near Nalanda University and demanded battle be given there. Similarly, Buddahsena II feared an invasion of his lands if he continued accompanying the Mongol army. Therefore on January 9, Qutlugh-Khwaja established his headquarters at the fort of Garhpar on the ruins of the Buddhist monastic complex of Odantapuri and ordered his men to turn about and attack.
The minute the order was relayed, the zealous Buddhists of Tono no Houin turned about as the vanguard and mounted a terrifying attack that was immediately followed by the advance of Mongol horse archers. There they were countered by equally zealous ghazi warriors for Syed Nasiruddin showed no fear before the Mongols--the ghazi forced back the Mongol army. Tajuddin then counterattacked with his elephants all in one flank followed by waves of cavalry. They fell upon the Nepalese positioned on the Mongol left, where king Ananta Malla perished from the fierce attackk.
But before the Lakhnauti could turn the Chagatai flank, a thunderstorm broke out, allegedly summoned by a Sakya lama (in truth perhaps a tropical cyclone). Lightning struck dead the emir Tajuddin Hatim Khan and several men around him, and Tono no Houin's zealous men charged once more into the Lakhnauti center alongside thousands of others. The thunderstorm convinced the Chagatai force they were favoured by the gods and their morale improved. Although the Lakhnauti held against this attack, by this time Diler Khan's cavalry on the Mongol right had driven off the Lakhnauti forces. This allowed Diler Khan to attack the Lakhnauti center, which began a great rout that ultimately claimed half of the Lakhnauti army, including Syed Nasiruddin himself.
Accounts of death vary in Muslim and non-Muslim sources, but all depict him as a powerful holy man in both life and death. Indian Muslim historian Ziauddin Barani, a government official of Lakhnauti in this period. Barani asserts that Syed Nasiruddin voluntarily surrendered to Diler Khan in exchange for the retreat of his associates. In Diler Khan's tent, Nasiruddin warned the former Delhi general of the spiritual danger of associating with infidels and in particular their priests, who used dangerous black magic. He begged Diler Khan to come to Lakhnauti where he might take his place, but Diler Khan refused. The Mongol leaders overheard Nasiruddin and sent him to Delhi in chains while reprimanding their general, but he vanished along the way for his captors embraced Islam and freed the elderly leader, who died several days later from exertion after cleansing several villages of idolatry.
The Battle of Garhpar ended Lakhnauti's rule in Magadha and resulted in their expulsion from the region. For his participation in battle and eager pro-Mongol stance, Duwa named Buddhasena II the ruler of Magadha and overlord of the local chiefs and kingdoms of the region. Although Bodh Gaya was not a powerful force within Magadha, Duwa sought to appoint a Buddhist to govern such a sensitive region to balance the powerful Hindu and Muslim influences in Chagatai India.
The Karnats and other small Hindu kingdoms opposed Buddhasena II's appointment. Duwa placated them with promises that the Pithipatis would be forced to follow Mongol law and function as little but local tax collectors and military commanders, but these allies of the Mongols came to dislike their new overlord and sought to expel them as yet more mleccha invaders.
In this they found a powerful ally--the Ujjainiya clan of Rajputs. They were among the many clans of Rajputs who over the past several decades had migrated from further west into the forests of Magadha and were led by a certain Raja Ganesh, a kinsman of the Paramara dynasty of Malwa. This dynasty suffered immensely from Muslim raids that even after the advent of Chagatai rule continued unabated, but Magadha's dense forests offered vast wealth and above all, the chance to be cleared and converted into rich farmland.
Ganesh likely arrived in the first years of the 14th century. His clan regularly battled the Cheros, a powerful coalition of forest tribes and minor lords who sought to protect their land from the invading Ujjainiyas. After a particularly harsh defeat around 1307, the Chero chiefs turned to the Chagatai for protection and paid tribute to them and Buddhasena II's kingdom. They forced Ganesh to abandon many of his ambitions and pay tribute as well, but this was unacceptable to him and several other clans of Rajputs recently arrived in Magadha. Fortunately for Ganesh, the Chero army in Chagatai service suffered heavy casualties at Garhpar so the Ujjainiyas regrouped.
Ganesh's Rajput coalition threatened Mongol supply lines--along with the 10,000 casualties suffered by the Mongols, Qutlugh Khwaja could not follow up his success at Garhpar. He attacked several more forts southeast of Magadha, but encountered difficulties from the dense forests of Bengal, the Lakhnauti armies, and Bengali peasants both Hindu and Muslim who ensured his army could advance no further. Thus he returned to Delhi once more with the onset of the rainy season, bringing with him a great quantity of plundered treasures and slaves.
Of other leaders, the Hindus also formed an alliance with the elderly but vigorous ruler Gour Govinda, the ambitious and zealous ruler of the Hindu Gour Kingdom, located northeast of Bengal in what became the Srihatta region [12]. Having ruled since 1260, Govinda reformed his tribal kingdom's army and subjugated several petty kingdoms and hill tribes to become one of the most powerful local rulers. He invited Brahmins and Hindu ascetics to his kingdom out of a desire for culture and wisdom in his remote kingdom, and these men influenced his policy which proved staunchly Hindu. He had been at war with the Lakhnauti since 1303 and already repelled several attacks, thus giving him a reputation as a defender of Hindus.
The Chagatai learned of Govinda shortly after the Battle of Garhpar when they sent emissaries to negotiate an alliance--and his submission. Govinda ordered them mutilated, for he was a fanatical supporter of the Brahmins and an opponent of Buddhism. The Chagatai then tried allying with those rulers who had submitted to Govinda in the past, but Govinda's army suppressed these rebellions while crushing another Lakhnauti attack in 1308.
\While Lakhnauti still persisted thanks to the many from the Delhi Sultanate who fled there, the defeats against the Mongols and Govinda's Gour kingdom damaged their state enough that Hindu remnants rose up and occupied Lakhnauti's attention for some time. Even in defeat, these rebels fled to Gour and joined Govinda's force. Meanwhile, Govinda himself might send armies at will through the Lakhnauti realm which by this point was restricted to only several forts and cities, enabling him to conclude alliances with Hindu princes of eastern India against the true threat--the Mongols.
Duwa prepared an invasion of Bengal itself for winter 1308 to destroy both Lakhnauti and Gour, but in August of that year he suddenly died. His son Qutlugh-Khwaja assumed rule over the khanate (as confirmed by Buyantu Khan himself) but immediately faced a challenge by his Muslim kinsman Taliqu who sought the support of various conquered Muslims. Many nobles of the Delhi Sultanate allied with Taliqu, and Taliqu further counted many non-Muslim allies as well such as Kaidu's son Yangichar and his chief general Tukme who wished to restore the House of Ogedei's position. Therefore the great civil wars of the Mongol Empire would now engulf India as well.
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Author's notes
This is another chapter dealing with India. Most of the states and dynasties discussed here are quite obscure (although they many left descendants and are notable social groups within India to this day), but from what I can tell this indeed was the political situation in 1300, and a fairly interesting one to drop an empire like the Chagatai Khanate into. There's a lot of legend and folklore surrounding groups like the Rajputs (especially from this era where many notable Rajput groups emerged or conquered new lands), so I've tried to keep it vague and based on what I could find from sources dealing with Indian archaeology.
Because this TL is focused on Japan first and foremost (as hard as it seems to believe sometimes), I've decided to emphasise elements like what happens with Indian Buddhism TTL and the adventure of Ryouchuu/Tono no Houin. That's why he gets narrative sections.
My next update will cover this particular Chagatai Civil War, then I will return to China. I have also written a third India entry, but I don't think it fits in this part of the TL so I'll return to it another time. Thank you for reading!
[1] - Yes, this is supposed to be the same Rinchan who OTL converted to Islam and took over Kashmir. I have some interesting ideas for him TTL. He fled Ladakh (then known as Maryul) after murdering several members of a rival clan who had helped kill his parents.
[2] - Garhpar was a medieval fort that was built on the old Odantapuri
vihara (monastery) and today lies within Bihar Sharif, Bihar, India
[3] - This is Syed Nasiruddin, a prominent Sufi and important general of the Lakhnauti Sultanate who was evidently quite successful in his wars and was venerated as a saint by later Sufis. He was probably quite elderly at this point since he was from Baghdad and fled from the city to India when the Mongols advanced.
[4] - See Chapter 36 for details. Pagan and Myinsaing both had lengthy connections to the Mahabodhi and were indeed funding its repair as late as 1300 and supporting the local Pithipati dynasty. To this day the Mahabodhi has traces of Burmese architecture due to Burmese craftsmen aiding in its reconstruction, which is rather recursive as the Burmese themselves were heavily influenced by the Buddhist architecture of Magadha and even built a copy of the Mahabodhi in Pagan
[5] - The Ahoms and several other "hill tribes" in northeastern India are Tai peoples who had maintained some contact with lowland Southeast Asian states. As a result, their ethnic religions have some influences of Buddhism, although today it's more influenced by Hinduism. In later times, the nearest Buddhist power (Burma) was not well regarded in this region.
[6] - Maryul is the old name for Ladakh, which today is mostly in northern India and disputed with China and Pakistan
[7] - Several prominent Tibetan Buddhist monks of the 10th-14th century were Indians who traveled north, and IIRC many who survived the Muslim raids against Nalanda and other Buddhist centers fled to Tibet and brought with them various texts and treasures
[8] - Despite having the same name and both being called rulers of a "Malla dynasty", the rulers of Khasa and Kathmandu (Nepal Mandala) had no connection. I will call the Kathmandu ruler "Ananta Malla" and his Khasa counterpart "Anandamalla" to disambiguate. "Nepal" in these days referred to a region far smaller than today.
[9] - Classical Rajput culture was still emerging in the 14th century, but the class certainly existed and consisted of warrior families who owned land and particularly those who controlled forts. Practically any family who was successful (which invariably included success at war) might become a founder of a Rajput family, be they warriors, princes, tribal chiefs, or wealthy farmers and herders. I'm going to generalise these sorts of local Indian warrior clans as "Rajputs" for the sake of this TL, even if some groups today might not be considered as such
[10] - For instance, Gilgit, Hunza, the Swat Valley, Chitral, Nagar, etc. in the disputed areas of northern India and Pakistan--before Pakistan and India abolished the princely states, there were many in this region. Details are hard to come by since they often mythologised themselves as long having been Islamic, but even in this era Buddhism was still likely an important force and culturally and economically they had affinities with Tibet (although growing in influence of course was Islam thanks to the Sufis and power of nearby Turkic emirs)
[11] - The Pithipati dynasty of Bodh Gaya were probably the last Buddhist rulers in India and persisted into the early 14th century, but although they styled themselves rulers of Magadha, they rarely controlled much beyond Bodh Gaya and were usually vassals of a larger power. Buddhasena II himself is known for helping the OTL Burmese mission to Bodh Gaya in this era, so he was likely a reasonably connected ruler.
[12] - An archaic name for the modern Sylhet region of northeastern Bangladesh. In this era it was a collection of petty kingdoms, of which Govinda's Gour kingdom became the largest and most dominant
