Influence of Religious Beliefs
Much has been said about the religious beliefs of the opposing armies playing a part in the engagements that were fought. The Muslim submission to God's Will may be claimed to have influenced the conduct of the soldiers on the battlefield; it does not however seem to have restrained Muhammad Ghori's soldiers at the first battle of Taroari. The Hindu belief in astrology does, however, seem to have played its part occasionally in bringing about their discomfiture. Dahar lost the first battle of Sind when a missile struck the flag staff of the temple of the protecting deity of the City. His son, Jaisingh lost his country finally to the enemy when his astrologers told him not to fight as the stars in the sky were against him. Bakhtiar Khilji's task of conquering Gaur was made easier, it is said, because the astrologers had told Lakshman Sen that he was destined to lose his state when strange looking, garlic smelling strangers entered the capital. The common belief that, if fighting to the last, one fell into the hands of the enemy, one would ceased to be Hindu, might have played a part in making the soldiers play safe. It would thus, be considered safer to run away from the battlefield as soon as the fortune of war showed any sign of deserting one's side.