Persistent, smaller-scale raiding that plagued northwestern frontier for decades beyond the headline sieges of Delhi. Contemporary chroniclers like
Minhaj-i-Siraj Juzjani (in
Tabaqat-i-Nasiri) and
Ziauddin Barani (in
Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi) describe near-constant
hit and run tactics employed by Mongol detachments, primarily from the unstable Chagatai Khanate, between major invasions (roughly 1241-1290). These raids, often timed to coincide with harvest seasons, systematically devastated the fertile provinces of Multan, Sindh, and Lahore, deliberately targeting agricultural infrastructure and peasant populations to cripple the Sultanate's economic base and tax revenue. After a
civil war broke out in the Mongol Empire in the 1260s, the
Chagatai Khanate controlled
Central Asia which leader since the 1280s was
Duwa Khan, who was second in command of
Kaidu Khan. Duwa was active in
Afghanistan, and attempted to extend Mongol rule into India. The Muslim
Negudari governor Abdullah, who was a son of
Chagatai Khan's great-grandson, invaded
Punjab with his force in 1292, but his advance guard under Ulghu was defeated and taken prisoner by the Khalji sultan
Jalaluddin. The medieval sources claim invasions by hundreds of thousands of Mongols, numbers approximating (and probably based on) the size of the entire cavalry armies of the Mongol realms of Central Asia or
Western Asia. The number of 150,000 Mongol invaders during 1292 opposed by Jalaluddin were also recorded in
Wolseley Haig's work of
The Cambridge History of India. A count of the Mongol commanders named in the sources as participating in the various invasions might give a better indication of the numbers involved, as these commanders probably led tumens, units nominally of 10,000 men. These invasions were led by either various descendants of Genghis Khan or by Mongol divisional commanders; the size of such armies was always between 10,000 and 30,000 cavalry although the chroniclers of Delhi exaggerated the number to 100,000-200,000 cavalry. The 4,000 Mongol captives of the advance guard converted to Islam and came to live in Delhi as "new Muslims". The suburb they lived in was appropriately named
Mughalpura. Chagatai tumens were defeated by the Delhi Sultanate several times in 1296–1297. Unlike the previous invasions, the invasions during the reign of Jalaluddin's successor
Alauddin were major Mongol conquests. In the winter of 1297, the Chagatai noyan Kadar led an army that ravaged the Punjab region, and advanced as far as
Kasur. Alauddin's army, led by
Ulugh Khan and probably
Zafar Khan, defeated the invaders on the
Battle of Jaran-Manjur on 6 February 1298, where quite a large number of them were taken prisoner. Later in 1298–1299, a Mongol army (possibly
Neguderi fugitives) invaded Sindh, and occupied the fort of
Shivistan. These Mongols were
defeated by Zafar Khan: a number of them were arrested and brought to Delhi as captives. At this time, the main branch of Alauddin's army, led by
Ulugh Khan and
Nusrat Khan was busy raiding
Gujarat. When this army was returning from Gujarat to Delhi, some of its Mongol soldiers (former captives)
staged a mutiny over payment of
khums (one-fifth of the share of loot). The mutiny was crushed, and the mutineers' families in Delhi were severely punished. In late 1299, Duwa Khan dispatched his son
Qutlugh Khwaja to conquer Delhi. Alauddin Khalji led his army to
Kili near Delhi, and tried to delay the battle, hoping that the Mongols would retreat amid a scarcity of provisions and that he would receive reinforcements from his provinces. However, his general Zafar Khan attacked the Mongol army without his permission. The Mongols feigned a retreat, and tricked Zafar Khan's contingent into following them. Zafar Khan and his men were killed after inflicting heavy casualties on the invaders. The Mongols retreated a couple of days later: their leader Qutlugh Khwaja was seriously wounded, and died during the return journey. In the winter of 1302–1303, Alauddin dispatched an army to ransack the
Kakatiya (a
Telugu dynasty) capital
Warangal, and himself
marched to Chittor. Finding Delhi unprotected, the Mongols launched
another invasion around August 1303. Alauddin managed to reach Delhi before the invaders, but did not have enough time to prepare for a strong defence. He took shelter in a heavily guarded camp at the under construction
Siri Fort. The Mongols ransacked Delhi and its neighbourhoods, but ultimately retreated after being unable to breach Siri. This close encounter with the Mongols prompted Alauddin to strengthen the forts and the military presence along their routes to India. He also implemented a series of economic reforms to ensure sufficient revenue inflows for maintaining a strong army. Shortly afterward, Duwa Khan sought to end the ongoing conflict with the
Yuan Khan
Temür Öljeyitü, and around 1304 a general peace among the Mongol khanates was declared, bringing an end to the conflict between the Yuan dynasty and western khanates that had lasted for the better part of a half century. Soon after, he proposed a joint attack on India, but the campaign did not materialize. In December 1305, Duwa sent another 30,000 to 50,000 strong army that bypassed the heavily guarded city of Delhi, and proceeded southeast to the
Gangetic plains along the
Himalayan foothills. Alauddin's 30,000-strong cavalry, led by Malik Nayak, defeated the Mongols at the
Battle of Amroha. A large number of Mongols were taken captive and killed. In 1306, another Mongol army sent by Duwa advanced up to the
Ravi River, ransacking the territories along the way. This army included three contingents, led by Kopek, Iqbalmand, and Tai-Bu. Alauddin's forces, led by
Malik Kafur, decisively
defeated the invaders. In 1307 Duwa died and in the dispute over his succession this spate of Mongol raids into India already ended. Taking advantage of this situation, Alauddin's general
Malik Tughluq regularly raided the Mongol territories located in present-day Afghanistan. Tughluq, Alauddin's governor of
Dipalpur, adopted an aggressive policy against the Mongols. Over the next few years, he annually raided
Kabul,
Ghazni,
Kandahar, and
Garmsir, which were located on the Mongol frontier. He plundered these territories, and levied
tribute on the residents, without any resistance from the Chagatai Khanate. Amir Khusrau, in his
Tughluq-Nama, alludes to Tughluq's 20 victories, most of which were against the Mongols. Barani states that Tughluq, who also received the
iqta' of
Lahore at some point, defeated the Mongols 20 times. The Moroccan traveler
Ibn Battuta states that a mosque in
Multan had an inscription, in which Tughluq claimed to have defeated the Mongols 29 times. It is uncertain if these victories refer to the above-mentioned raids. == Late Mongol invasions ==