In 1398, the Central Asian conqueror Timur initiated a military campaign into northern India that resulted in the catastrophic destruction of Delhi. At the time, the ruling Delhi Sultanate was severely weakened by internal succession conflicts, which left the capital’s substantial wealth exposed to external exploitation. Historical consensus indicates that Timur did not aim to incorporate the territory into his existing empire or establish permanent governance over the region. Instead, the campaign functioned largely as a highly destructive, opportunistic raid to secure resources. In effect, he treated the destruction of one of the medieval world’s greatest cities like a casual side-quest just to pass the time and gather loot before heading back home. Over a span of several weeks, Timur’s forces executed widespread massacres of the local populace, systematically plundered centuries of accumulated state treasures, and reduced substantial portions of the metropolitan infrastructure to rubble. Following the thorough pillaging of the capital, Timur loaded the acquired wealth onto thousands of captured war elephants and immediately evacuated the subcontinent to pursue subsequent campaigns against the Ottoman Empire and Mamluk Egypt.