Timur the Lame, also known as Tamerlane (1336-1405 CE), was one of history’s most formidable and successful emperors. Despite a debilitating injury in his youth that left him lame, his resolute nature and ruthless tactics enabled him to defeat rivals, invade neighboring countries, and plunder distant lands. Emulating Genghis Khan, Timur built an empire that spanned from Europe to Eastern Asia. His campaigns were brutal, with his armies reportedly causing the death of about 5% of the world’s population at the time.
Paradoxically, Timur was also a patron of the arts, transforming the city of Samarkand into a flourishing cultural hub adorned with unparalleled mosques and monuments. The identity of modern Uzbekistan is deeply rooted in his legacy.
After subduing his main eastern rivals, Timur turned his attention to India, enticed by the riches of Delhi. In 1398, he attacked the Tughlaq Sultanate of Delhi, overcoming various forces in the west before reaching the plains outside the city. The decisive battle took place in Hauz Khas village, now a posh locality in South Delhi. Timur employed a novel tactic, using fire-laden camels to scare the Delhi army’s elephants. The subsequent sacking of Delhi was devastating, with an estimated 100,000 civilians killed. Delhi suffered one of its darkest weeks under Timur’s assault. Having amassed immense wealth, Timur departed as swiftly as he had arrived.
The Eidgah in Hauz Khas village, South Delhi, was constructed in 1404-1405 by Mallu Iqbal Khan, the de facto ruler during Mahmud Tughlaq’s reign (1392-1412 CE). This Eidgah, the oldest surviving example in Delhi, served as a place for Friday congregational prayers for Muslims. The structure features a battlemented rubble wall with a series of five niches flanking a central mihrab, originally capped by circular bastions at both ends, though only the southern one survives.
An inscription on the southern bastion provides the exact construction date, and includes quite a lot of self congratulation for the builder. He claims to have been ‘able by great efforts and endeavors to restore all the charitable foundations, and repopulate the capital of Delhi and other parts of the country’ following the devastation of Timur’s invasion.
Following Timur’s 1398 sack of Delhi, he appointed Khizr Khan as the deputy of Multan (Punjab). Khizr Khan held Lahore, Dipalpur, Multan, and Upper Sindh. Gathering his forces in Multan, he defeated and killed Mallu Iqbal Khan in Delhi in 1405. On May 28, 1414, he captured Delhi, establishing the Sayyid dynasty.
Timur’s connection to India did not end there. About 130 years later, his great-great-great-grandson, Babur, the ruler of Kabul, poet, and writer, came to India and founded the Mughal dynasty.
Today, the Eidgah stands in isolation within a small park in the middle of Padmini Enclave. Nearby is the Chor Minar, or “Tower of Thieves,” built earlier during the rule of Alauddin Khalji, the second Sultan of the Khalji dynasty. The Eidgah is now protected by the Archaeological Survey of India.
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