Mahmum Tughluq,

The Defeat by Timur of the Sultan of Delhi, Nasir Al-Din Mahmum Tughluq, in the winter of 1397-1398. The picture below is a forensic reconstruction of Timur's face by M Gerasimov in 1941.

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Timurlang, Langda Taimur, Timur the Lame, raided India in September 1398. He maintained the bloody pattern of his raids by killing off all males in the towns and villages that he attacked. The first major massacre  was at Tulma, the city that had been in existence for 2500 years. Today this city is known as Tulamba. Then he occupied Multan in October and killed off the people. 

As he marched towards Delhi he camped at the fort at Aspandi.  He asked his soldiers to massacre all 'heretics' (i.e. Hindus) at Aspandi, Kaithal and Samana

From Aspandi, Taimur tells us,  he moved 'six leagues' to the village of Tughlaqpur. This was a village inhabited by 'Sanawis'. These were Zoroastrians, Yazadis,  whom Taimur hated because they worshipped fire and Ahriman. Tughlaqpur was ordered to be razed to the ground as also the fort here. 

The next day he marched towards Panipat. 

On reaching Panipat he found the town to be empty. Everyone had fled to Delhi. Taimur ordered the entire town and fort to be ransacked and anyone found to be killed. 

It was only when Taimur reached Loni  that the people chose to stand up to him and fight the raider. The defenders of the fort put all their women and children in one building and set the building on fire. Then they went forth to fight Taimur's army and were killed. Taimur now ordered that Muslims at Loni be separated from Hindus and the Hindus be killed. All the houses except those of the elite Muslims, were pulled down and or burnt.

After this, at Loni, on 18th December 1398, Taimur crossed the river Yamuna and planned his attack on Delhi. A reconnaissance  of the fort of Jahan Numa across the river gave Taimur ideas on how to tackle the Tughlaq forces.

It was only when he moved towards Delhi that the Sultan of Delhi decided to do something to stop Taimur. At that time Delhi was ruled by the Tughlaq Sultan, Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah.

By now, Taimur's soldiers had collected some 100,000 Hindus as prisoners. Just before the attack on Delhi, he ordered that all of them be put to death by the soldier who currently owned them. Anyone who hesitated in murdering the innocent prisoners was to be killed by others. This massacre took place on 13h December 1398. Taimur notes with some satisfaction the success of his orders to massacre: "Maulana Nasir-ad-din Omar, a counsellor and man of learning, who had never killed a sparrow in all his life, now, in execution of my order, killed fifteen idolatrous Hindus, who were his captives."

 Nasiruddin Mahmud's army, consisting of war elephants, was forced to flee by Taimur stampeding into it a herd of camels whose howdahs had been filled with wood and hay and set of fire. 

The Tughlaq Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah fled leaving Delhi at the mercy of Taimur. Delhi at that time was one of the richest cities in the world. When the people of Delhi protested against the exactions of Taimur, he had most of them killed and a hillock made of their heads. This happened on 14th December 1398.

Early the next day, 15th December 1398, Taimur and his forces crossed the Yamuna. After a short engagement the Tughlaq forces retreated and took refuge in the fort, Jahanpanah. Taimur set up his camp near Hauz Khas.

On December 17th, the Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud and his generals secretly fled from the fort and passing through the gates at Hauz Rani, they escaped into the jungles. A large number of escapees, including Princes of Delhi, were caught after a chase and brought back.

By Decembr 17th, 1398, Wednesday, Taimur recounts, he had taken full control of Delhi and the bigwigs of the city had paid obeisance to him, accepted his sovereignty. 

On 26th of December, some of the Timur's soldiers misbehaved with the women of Delhi and looted some of shops. When the people objected, Timur ordered all the inhabitants of Delhi to be massacred. The killings took place in the area between Jahanpanah and the Siri Fort. The killings lasted three days. Then on the fourth day, Sunday, the remaining Hindu inhabitants were killed. 

With everyone dead, rotting carcasses poisoned the air and water of the city. It would take another 100 years for Delhi to become a normal town once again.

Taimur had stayed in the city of Delhi for a total of 15 days.

After having massacred almost a million people in India merely because they were 'hindus', before the end of the year Taimur had wandered off to attack the cities of the Ottoman empire.