Mohammad Ghori

Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad ibn Sam ( fa, معز الدین محمد بن سام), also Mu'izz ad-Din Muhammad Ghori, also Ghūri ( fa, معز الدین محمد غوری) (1144 – March 15, 1206), commonly known as Muhammad of Ghor, also Ghūr, or Muhammad Ghori, also Ghūri, was a ruler from the Ghurid dynasty based in what is today Afghanistan who ruled from 1173 CE to 1206 CE. He extended the Ghurid dominions eastwards and laid the foundation of Islamic rule in the Indian Subcontinent, which lasted after him for nearly half a millennium. During his joint reign with his brother Ghiyasuddin Ghori (r. c. 1163–1203), the Ghurids reached the epogee of their territorial expansion.

During his early military career as a prince and governor of the southern tract of the Ghurid Empire, Muhammad subjugated the Oghuz tribe after multiple raids and captured Ghazna where he was crowned by his brother Ghiyasuddin Ghori, who was ruling from his capital Firozkoh since 1163. Muhammad of Ghor crossed the Indus River in 1175, approaching it through Gomal Pass and captured Multan and Uch from the Qarmatīa rulers within a year. Afterwards, Muhammad marched via Multan and Uch into present-day Gujarat in 1178, where his forces were routed at the foot of Mount Abu in the southern Aravali ranges by a coalition of Rajput chiefs led by Mularaja Solanki of Anhilwara, which forced him to change his route for future inroads into India. Hence, Muhammad of Ghor pressed upon the Ghaznawids, and uprooted them by 1186, conquering the upper Indus Plain along with most of the Punjab. After consolidating his hold in northwest, Muhammad of Ghor, penetrated through the traditional route of Khyber Pass into northern India.

In 1191, his forces were defeated by a Rajput Confederacy led by Prithviraj Chauhan near Tarain. However, in 1192, Muhammad of Ghor returned with a vast army of Turkish mounted archers and secured a decisive victory on the same battleground and executed Prithviraj shortly afterwards. His victory at Tarain marked a watershed in medieval history of India. He concentrated thereafter on expansion in the west along with raiding in northern India from his base in Ghazna and left his conquests in India to his slave generals who swiftly raided local kingdoms and expanded the influence of the Ghurids until Bengal in the east.

After the death of his brother in 1203, Muhammad of Ghor ascended the throne of Fīrōzkōh as well. Within a year or so in conflict with the Khwarazmian Empire, he suffered a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Andkhud against the Qara-Khitai forces (came in as aid of Khwarazmian Empire) led by Tayangu which halted his expansion in Central Asia and resulted in the loss of Merv and most of the Khorasan. Muhammad of Ghor suppressed the rebels which arose after the defeat and built a boat bridge across the Oxus to launch a full-scale invasion of Transoxiana to avenge his defeat, although a rebellion by the Khokhars forced him to move towards Punjab, where he brutually crushed the Khokhar revolt during his last campaign.

On his way back, Muhammad of Ghor was assassinated on the bank of Indus at Damyak on 15 March 1206, by a group of assassins from the rival Ismāʿīlīyah sect while offering the evening prayer. After his death, his empire fragmented amidst the rise of Khwarazmian Empire under Muhammad II of Khwarezm who overthrew the Ghurids by 1215. His conquests in the Indian Subcontinent, although continued to thrive under the Mamlūk dynasty established by his slave commander Qutb ud-Din Aibak.

Early years

Name and title

Muhammad of Ghor was born in the Ghur region of present-day Afghanistan to the Ghurid ruler Baha al-Din Sam I who ruled ruled his ancestral realm briefly before he died in 1149, when Muhammad of Ghor was a child. His name is variously transliterated as Muizuddin Sam, Shihabuddin Ghuri, Muhammad Ghori and Muhammad of Ghor. According to the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, his birth name was "Muhammad" which is vernacularly spelt as "Hamad" by the Ghurids. During his childhood, his mother used to call him "Zangi" due to his dark skin tone. After the coronation in Ghazna, he styled himself as "Malik Shihabuddin" and after his occupation of Khurasan, he took the title of "Muizzuddin" or "Mu'izz al-Din".

The synchronous accounts did not write much about Muhammad's exact birth date, although Minhaj al-Siraj states that Muhammad was four odd years younger to Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad who was born in 1140. Assuming Minhaj account to be correct, Muhammad's birth year can be dated to 1144-1145.

Early career

The early years of both Muhammad of Ghor and his brother Ghiyath al-Din were spent in constant hardship. Their uncle Ala al-Din Husayn after his campaign in Ghazna, initially installed them as governors of Sanjah. However, their efficient administration of the province, made him doubtful of their uprise and seeing a possible challenge to his own authority, he ordered his nephews to be imprisoned in the castle of Gharjistan. Although, they were released from the captivity by his son Sayf al-Din Muhammad after the death of his father in 1161. Sayf al-Din, later died in a battle against the nomadic Oghuzs of Balkh.

‌After their release from the captivity, " Tarik-i-Firishtah" states that the Ghurid brothers were reinstated in Sanjah, although earlier account of "Tabaqat-i-Nasiri" stated that the hardship continued due to their financial conditions. Muhammad thus, took shelter in the court of his uncle Fakhruddin Masud who held the principality of Bamiyan as vassal of Alauddin Husayn.

Later, Fakhr al-Din Masud laid his own claim for the succession after Sayf al-Din death as the elder member of the Ghurid family. Muhammad of Ghor helped his brother in suppressing the revolt of Fakhruddin who garnered a sizeable army in alliance with the chiefs of Balkh and Herat who both were executed in the battle, although Fakhruddin was reinstated in Bamiyan in 1163. Afterwards, with support of the remaining local Ghurid officers and " maliks", his brother succeeded Sayf al-Din to the throne in 1163 and initially placed Muhammad as a minor officer in his court, which result in him retiring (unhappy with his position) to the court of Sistan where he spend a whole season. However, later Ghiyath-al din sent an envoy to brought him back who subsequently placed him in charge of the southern part of the Ghurid domains which possibly included Istiyan and Kajuran.
‌

During the early campaigns of Muhammad of Ghor as a prince, he was instructed to subdue the Oghuz tribes whose power and influence began to wane, although they were still controlling extensive territories. He used Qandhar as a base and raided the principality of Oghuzs multiple times, before defeating them decisively along with Ghiyath al-Din and followed up their victory by conquering Ghazna in 1169 along with some other territories in what is present-day eastern Afghanistan. Soon, his coronation took place in Ghazna in 1173 and his brother returned to Firuzkuh for the westwards expansion in Transoxania. In 1174, he led an expedition against the Ghuzzs of Sanquran in present-day Turkmenistan and subdued them.

In 1175, Muhammad of Ghor marched from Ghazna and helped his brother in the annexation of Herat and Pushang after defeating a former general of Seljuk ruler Ahmed Sanjar and brought Nasrid dynasty of Sistan under their sway whose ruler Taj al-Din III Harb ibn Muhammad ibn Nasr acknowledged the Ghurid suzerainty and later sent his armies many times assisting the Ghurids in their warfares. Afterwards, Ghiyath al-Din captured Balkh and territories adjoining Herat in Khurasan. Meanwhile, Muhammad of Ghor, turned himself towards the Indian Subcontinent and began to invade the territories in the present-day Pakistan from 1175.

Invasion of India

Early invasions

Muhammad of Ghor's expeditions in the Indian subcontinent started against the Qarmatians ( sevener branch of Isma'ilis) who regained their hold on Multan, soon after the death of Mahmud of Ghazna who installed a Sunni governor there. Muhammad defeated the Qarmatian ruler Khafif in 1175 and annxed Multan. The defeat turned to be a death blow for the Qarmatian power in Multan, who never regained their influence in the region again.

After the conquest of Multan, Muhammad of Ghor captured Uch which was situated south of the confluence of the rivers Chenab and Jhelum. While his campaign in Uch is not mentioned in detail in the near contemporary accounts except Kāmil fit-Tārīkh, although the detail in the text about his expedition in Uch is possibly blurred by a legend associated with the Bhati Rajputs. Nonetheless, Firishta, a later chronicler mentioned the year of Uch conquest as 1176. It was placed under Malik Nasiurdin Aitam until his defeat in Battle of Andkhud in 1204. Afterwards, it was placed under Qabacha.

After capturing Multan and Uch, Muhammad of Ghor turned south towards present-day Gujarat in Anhilwara. Before entering in Anhilwara, he laid siege to the fort of Nadol (around Marwar) and captured it after a short siege from Kelhanadeva along with sacking the Shiva temple in Kiradu. After marching through the dry Thar Desert south of Marwar, the Ghurid army got exhausted, when they reached Mount Abu where they were routed in the mountainous pass of Gadararaghatta, by the Solanki ruler Mularaja II who was also aided by other Rajput chiefs mainly the Naddula Chahamana ruler Kelhanadeva (who was earlier deposed by from Nadol by Muhammad), the Jalor Chahamana ruler Kirtipala, and the Arbuda Paramara ruler Dharavarsha. The Ghurid army suffered heavy casualties during the battle, and also in the retreat back across the desert to Ghazni. The defeat forced Muhammad of Ghor to opt for the northern routes who thenceforth, concentrated on creating a suitable base in Punjab and northwest for further incursions into northern India.

Conquest of Punjab

In 1179, Muhammad of Ghor conquered Peshawar which was possibly ruled by the Ghaznavids. Thereafter, he advanced further and besieged Lahore in 1181, although Khusrau Malik managed to kept him around the borders of Lahore for few more years by sending tributes along with one of the Ghaznavid prince (Malik Shah) under his custody in Ghazna as a hostage. In 1182, Muhammad subjugated the Soomra rulers of Sindh, capturing enitre region till the seashore in Debal. In the subsequent years, he expanded and consolidated his conquests around present-day Pakistan and annexed Sialkot along with sacking Lahore and the countryside. After Khusrau Malik made a unsuccessful attempt to dislodge the Ghurid garrison in Sialkot, Muhammad of Ghor made the final assault on Lahore and forced him to surrender after a short siege. He later treacherously imprisoned Khusrau Malik in the fort of Gharchistan, breaching his own agreement of safe conduct for his presence. Khusrau Malik and all his kinfolks were executed before 1192. Thus, ended the lineage of Ghaznavids and their historic struggle with the Ghurids.

After uprooting the Ghaznavids, Muhammad of Ghor now established his sway over the upper Indus Plain, including most of the Punjab. He, appointed Mulla Sirajuddin who was earlier a high-ranking Qāḍi in his father court, as the head of judicature department in the newly conquered Ghaznavid territories along with the charge of Multan. His son Minhaj al-Siraj (born 1193) later composed the Tabaqat-i-Nasiri in 1260 which is regarded as a monumental work from the medieval period on the Ghurid dynasty and the Delhi Sultanate.

First Battle of Tarain

In 1190, after consildating in Sindh and western Punjab, the Ghurid generals began to raid the eastern Punjab region and captured a fortress, Bathinda in present-day Punjab state on the northwestern frontier of Prithviraj Chauhan's kingdom. After appointing a Qazi Zia-ud-Din of Tulak as governor of the fortress with 1200 horsemen, Muhammad received the news that Prithviraj's army, led by his vassal prince Govind Rai were on their way to besiege the fortress. The two armies eventually met near the town of Tarain, 14 miles from Thanesar in present-day Haryana. The battle was marked by the initial attack of mounted Mamluk archers to which Prithviraj responded by counter-attacking from three sides and thus dominating the battle. Muhammad mortally wounded Govind Rai in personal combat and in the process was himself wounded, whereupon his army retreated and Prithvīrāj's army was deemed victorious.

According to Minhaj, Muhammad was carried away from the battleground in wounded state by a Khalji horsemen. A largely different account from Za'inul Masir claimed that Muhammad after being wounded in combat with Govindraja fell unconscious and his forces withdrew in disarray after assuming him to be dead, later a remnant of his soldiers arrived in the night and searched for his body at the battlesite. Muhammad in extremely critical situation recognised his soldiers, who rejoiced after finding him alive and took him from the battlefield in a litter to Ghazna. However, the version from Za'inul Masir is not corroborated by any other contemporary and later writers, which made its authenticity dubious and the version of Minhaj more credible.

The Ghurid garrison of Tabarhind under Ziauddin, held out for thirteen months before being capitulated. The Rajputs could not make quick progressions during the siege due to absence of siege engines on their part, which strengthened the position of Muhammad of Ghor during these months to raise a formidable army.

Second Battle of Tarain

After the defeat in Tarain, Muhammad of Ghor meted out severe punishments to the Ghurid, Khalji