Mongols

   A Mongol (Tartar of European parlance) horde first ap-peared in India when Chingez Khan came up to the western bank of the Indus River in pursuit of Jalal al-Din Mingbarni in 1221. After the Mongols had established their control in Central Asia, Khurasan, and Ghazni, they had a tendency to make inroads into the territory of the Delhi sultanate. By the middle of the 13th century, the entire Punjab up to Lahore and Dipalpur had become vulnerable to the Mongol threat. Balban (1266-1286) tried to check them; his son and heir apparent died fighting Mongols in 1286. The Mongols were re-pulsed by 'Ala al-Din Khalji (1296-1316) with great ferocity. Sub-sequently, internal squabbles within the Mongol Empire combined with increased military might of the Delhi sultanate largely eliminated the threat of Mongol invasions. Many Mongol deserters and those taken prisoners converted to Islam and settled at Delhi, some of them joining service as troopers or military officers. Their pres-ence had a visible impact on the political and military institutions of the Delhi sultanate. Mongols are also credited with bringing to India the Chinese expertise of gunpowder-based fireworks.