III at the close of the 12th Century.That Nagaur town came under the invaders is clear since Balban, before becoming Sultan, was given an estate centered on this desert town. But just as there were petty Hindu chiefs (of numerous castes) in the vast lands between Ajmer and Delhi, it is reasonable to suppose that such landholders were also present in the lands between Ajmer and Nagaur, paying land revenue to the Muslims and probably joining their army.
Another similarity between Ajmer and Nagaur is the early founding of Sufi shrines at both places. One of the earliest Sufis to come to Nagaur was Sultan Tarkin, whose shrine was established during Hindu rule. After Khwaja Moinuddin established the Chishtiy Sufi order at Ajmer one of his disciples, named Hamiduddin, came to Nagaur. Hazrat Hamiduddin accommodated some Hindu principles in his teachings—he became a strict vegetarian and lovingly reared a cow in his shrine.
In 1306 a Mongol army ravaged Nagaur. The Khalji Turks had begun pushing deeper into the lands of the independent Rajput rulers and even further into South India. In the midst of this expansion they lost some of the important Rajput forts like Jaisalmer, Chittor, and Siwana, while guerrilla warfare made the regions of Marwar and Mewar impassable for the Muslim armies. Some of the other forts and towns were lost to the Rajputs after the break-up of the Delhi Sultanate in 1351. With the death of Firuz Tughlaq in 1388 the remaining strongholds like Ajmer and Nagaur came under their own hereditary governors. Turks of the Dandani tribe became Sultans,The Sultans of Nagaur taxed the money earned by the people from trade, agriculture, and from the vast herds of cattle, goats, and camels. In addition, like in the Delhi Sultanate, jaziya and a pilgrimage tax taken from Hindus brought significant sums to the treasury and enabled the Dandani Turks to match their neighbors in battle.
While Nagaur was still swearing a nominal allegiance to
