The Mongol Empire launched several invasions into the Indian subcontinent from 1221 to 1306, with many of the later raids made by the Qaraunas of Mongol origin. The Mongols occupied parts of the subcontinent for decades. As the Mongols progressed into the Indian hinterland and reached the outskirts of Delhi, the Delhi Sultanate led a campaign against them in which the Mongol army suffered serious defeats. Delhi Sultanate officials viewed war with the Mongols as one of the Sultan's primary duties. While Sultanate chroniclers described the conflicts between the pagan Mongols and a monolithic Muslim community in binary terms, the Delhi Sultanate being an island of Islamic civilization surrounded by heathens to its north and south, it ignored the fact that a large number of Sultanate elites an