Although the Mongols constantly threatened South Asia, and despite the fact that Changhadaid raids led to a brief occupation of Delhi, much of the subcontinent remained free from Mongol subjugation. The region’s engagement with the Mongol world of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was multilayered and complicated. It involved military skirmishes and diplomatic exchanges with multiple Mongol khanates; the circulation of people, knowledge, and technologies; extensive commercial exchanges; and cultural exchanges associated with Buddhism and Islam. This chapter focuses on several facets of these encounters and interactions in order to demonstrate the intricate links between South Asia and the various Mongol khanates that significantly contributed to transforming Eurasian connections through both overland and maritime routes.

Shrine and cult survived the Mongols. The saint cult blossomed politically and financially under the Ilkhanids and Kartids. Qutb al-Din Muhammad Jami, and his son, Shihab al-Din Ismaʿil, were the first accumulators of wealth and power. Qutb al-Din had opaque connections to a wealthy Indian benefactor, and hosted Shams al-Din Muhammad Kart, instituting a bond between the families. Shihab al-Din married a son to a Kartid princess, and accepted a Kart king (malik) as his acolyte, thereby garnering tangible and intangible benefits for shrine and cult. The apogee of the shrine’s affluence and influence was under the Timurids.