ABSTRACT
The Mongol conquest of Central Eurasia had a transformative effect upon the political, social, and economic history of South Asia during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Beginning in 1219, Chinggis Khan’s invasion of the Khwarazmshah Empire set in motion a wave of migrations out of Mawarannahr, Khurasan, and Persian Iraq, which saw the increased dissemination of Turkic, Persian, and Islamic culture in Kashmir, Sind, and the Gangetic Plains. Balban sought to stem the flow of Mongol attacks by sending his son, Muhammad Khan, to organize the protection of the Sind River Valley, whilst another son, Bughra Khan, supported him from fortresses built further south at Samana and Sunnam. Tarmashirin’s attack was the last time that the Mongols threatened Delhi. Mongol attacks on Kashmir also decreased in the first half of the fourteenth century, though the region still saw intermittent raids by Mongol commanders based in Central Eurasia.
