Machine summary:
THE USE OF ARTILLERY DURING THE SULTANATE PERIOD YAR ivluHAMMAD KHAN* RTILLERY is a term originally applied to all engines for discharging rniss ilcs, and in this sense used in English in the early seventeenth cen• tury.
He mentions that in Anand Pal's battle with Sultan Mahmud in 1008, near Peshawar, the farmer's elephant fled from the field frightened by the sudden noise of 'top' (cannon) and 'tufang' (musket) employed by the latter.
But neither the contemporary chronicle of Ghaznawid period nor any later historian except Firishta speaks of the use of guns and cannon either by Sultan Mahmud or by his successors.
Firishta, who records this incident after a period of about four hundred years, quoted no authority in his account, while we notice that in des• cribing another incident, in which Sultan Mahmud employed firearms, Firishta has used the word 'qarurah-i-naft' (missile containing naphta) and not the expression "top-o-tufang ".
" Had Sultan Mahmud had his guns and cannon, he would have employed them in this naval action?
D. Amir-Khusrau mentions that fire-missiles were employed by Sultan Jalal ud-Din Khalji in the Battle of Mandu.
r" But his account seems to be hardly credible, because Amir Khusrau, the contemporary writer, does not mention 'top or zarbzan' (cannon or mortar) being employed by' Alaud-Deen Khilji 11.
Had cannon been used during 'Ala-ud-Din Khilji's period ( r 295--1316), Amir Khusrau or Barani would have definitely mentioned them in their accounts.
is Sultan Mahmud Shah of Delhi employed grenades and rockets in the battle against Timur in 1399.