Early history A certain Ghurid prince named Amir Banji was the ruler of
Ghor and ancestor of the medieval Ghurid rulers. His rule was legitimized by the
Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid. Before the mid-12th century, the Ghurids had been bound to the
Ghaznavids and
Seljuks for about 150 years. Beginning in the mid-12th century, Ghor expressed its independence from the Ghaznavid Empire. The early Ghurids followed
Paganism before being converted to Islam by
Abu Ali ibn Muhammad. In 1149 the Ghaznavid ruler
Bahram-Shah of Ghazna poisoned a local Ghurid leader, Qutb al-Din Muhammad, who had taken refuge in the city of
Ghazni after having a quarrel with his brother
Sayf al-Din Suri. In revenge, Sayf marched towards Ghazni and defeated Bahram-Shah. However, one year later, Bahram returned and scored a decisive victory against Sayf, who was shortly captured and crucified at Pul-i Yak Taq.
Baha al-Din Sam I, another brother of Sayf, set out to avenge the death of his two brothers, but died of natural causes before he could reach Ghazni.
Ala al-Din Husayn (1149–61), one of the youngest of Sayf's brothers and newly crowned Ghurid king, also set out to avenge the death of his two brothers. He managed to defeat Bahram-Shah, and then had Ghazni sacked; the city burned for seven days and seven nights. He also sacked the Ghaznavid fortresses and palaces of
Bost. These actions earned him the title of
Jahānsūz, meaning "
the world burner". The Ghaznavids retook the city with
Seljuq help, but later lost it to
Oghuz Turks. In 1152, Ala al-Din Husayn refused to pay tribute to the
Seljuks and instead marched an army from Firozkoh but was defeated and captured at Nab in the Harīrūd Valley by
Sultan Ahmed Sanjar after his forces defected to the Seljuqs. During the battle, 6000 nomads from Ala al-Din's forces went over to the Seljuk army. Despite relatively smaller size of both armies, the defection of nomads at critical point of the battle eventually decided the issue in favour of the Seljuks. Ala al-Din Husayn remained a prisoner for two years, until he was released in return for a heavy ransom to the Seljuqs and was allowed to reclaim his principality in Ghor. However, Sanjar was soon captured and imprisoned by the Ghuzz nomads in 1153, which allowed the Ghurids to expand their polity again. Meanwhile, a rival of Ala al-Din named Husayn ibn Nasir al-Din Muhammad al-Madini had seized
Firozkoh, but was murdered at the right moment when Ala al-Din returned to reclaim his ancestral domain. Ala al-Din spent the rest of his reign expanding the domains of his kingdom; he managed to conquer Garchistan,
Tukharistan,
Zamindawar, Bust,
Bamiyan and other parts of Khurasan. Ala al-Din died in 1161, and was succeeded by his son
Sayf al-Din Muhammad, who died two years later in a battle against the
Oghuz Turks of
Balkh. During the reign of Ala ad-Din, the Ghurids firmly established themselves at
Firuzkuh and made it their capital, at the same time, the minor branches of the family who were the offshoot of concubinage with
Turkish slave girls whom chronicler Juzjani called "Kanizak-i-turki" established themselves in
Bamiyan and elsewhere.
The Ghurids at their zenith as printed on an Afghan banknote. Sayf al-Din Muhammad was succeeded by his cousin
Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad, who was the son of Baha al-Din Sam I, and proved himself to be a capable king. Right after Ghiyath's ascension, he, with the aid of his loyal brother
Muhammad of Ghor (later known as "Shihabuddin Ghuri"), killed a rival Ghurid chief named Abu'l Abbas. Ghiyath then defeated his uncle Fakhr al-Din Masud who claimed the Ghurid throne and had allied with the Seljuq governor of Herat and Balkh. In 1173, Muhammad of Ghor after multiple attempts reconquered the city of Ghazni from the
Ghuzz Turks, who had deposed the
Ghaznavids from there earlier. In 1175, the Ghurids took control of
Herat from the Seljuks, and the city became one of their main power bases and centers of cultural development, together with
Firozkoh and Ghazni. They also took control of the areas of
Nīmrūz and
Sīstān, and extended their suzerainty as far as the Seljuks of
Kerman.
Ghurid conquest of Khorasan Afterwards, Muhammad assisted his brother Ghiyath in his contest with the
Khwarezmian Empire, who were at times supported by their "pagan" suzerains the
Qara Khitai, for the lordship of
Khorasan. In 1181,
Sultan Shah, a pretendent to the Khwarezmian throne, managed to take control of Khorasan, until 1192 when he was defeated near
Merv by the Ghurids, who captured his territories. The Ghurids then took control of all Khorasan following the death of his successor
Tekish in 1200, capturing
Nishapur in 1200, and reaching as far as
Besṭām in the ancient region of Qūmes. Muhammad became the successor of his empire and ruled until his assassination in 1206 near
Jhelum by
Ismāʿīlīs whom he persecuted during his lifetime.
Conquest of India (1175 to 1206) in 1192 coinage of Turkic general
Bakhtiyar Khalji (1204–1206 CE). Struck in the name of Muhammad of Ghor, dated
Samvat 1262 (1204 CE). On the eve of the Ghurid invasion of the subcontinent, northern India was ruled by many independent
Rajput kings, often fighting with each other, such as the
Chahamana ruler
Prithviraja III in
Delhi and
Ajmer, the
Chaulukya ruler
Mularaja II in
Gujarat, the
Gahadavala ruler
Jayachandra in
Kanauj, further in the east of Ganges Plain there were other independent
Hindu powers such as the
Sena's under
Lakshmana in
Bengal etc. Northern India and Bengal were conquered by
Muhammad of Ghor during the period from 1175 to 1205, just before his death in 1206. His capital was in
Ghazni, while his elder brother
Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad with whom Muhammad ruled in a
diarchy, governed the western part of the empire from his capital at
Fīrōzkōh. In 1175, Muhammad crossed the
Indus River, approaching it through the
Gomal Pass instead of
Khyber Pass, in order to outflank the Ghaznavids in
Panjab. Muhammad captured
Multan from the
Carmathians, and also took
Uch by 1176. In 1178, he turned south and again marched through the
Gomal Pass, marching by the way of
Multan and
Uch to enter into the present-day
Gujarat via
Thar desert, where his armies got exhausted in their long march from
Ghazna and were routed in the
Battle of Kasahrada fought near
Mount Abu at Kasahrada in the southern
Aravalli Hills by a coalition of Rajput chiefs, which forced him to change his route for further incursions into India. Afterwards, Muhammad pressed upon the Ghanzavids, whose domain was considerably truncated, though they were still controlling parts of Punjab and Pakistan down to the valley of Kabul which were of strategic importance in the pathway to northern India. Thus by the turn of next decade, Muhammad conquered
Sindh,
Peshawar,
Sialkot and annexed the last Ghaznavid principality in
Punjab, with their capital in
Lahore, in
1186 through stratagem after three incursions. In 1191, the Ghurids seized
Bathinda and marched towards
Delhi, but were defeated in the
First Battle of Tarain by the
Rajput confederacy led by the
Ajmer-Chahamana king
Prithviraja III. Nevertheless, Muhammad returned a year later with an army of Turkish mounted archers and routed the Rajput forces in the
Second Battle of Tarain, and executed Prithviraja shortly afterwards.
Govindaraja IV, son of Prithviraj Chauhan, submitted to the Ghurids the region of
Ajmer, which became a vassal state. In 1193,
Delhi was conquered by Muhammad of Ghor's general
Qutbu l-Din Aibak. In 1194, Muhammad returned to India and crossed the
Yamuna River with an army of 50,000 horses and at the
Battle of Chandawar defeated the forces of the
Gahadavala king
Jayachandra, who was killed in action. After the battle, Muhammad continued his advance to the east, with his general
Qutb ud-Din Aibak in the vanguard. The city of
Benares (Kashi) was taken and razed, and "idols in a thousand temples" were destroyed. It is generally thought that the Buddhist city of
Sarnath was also ravaged at that time. In 1196, Qutb ud-Din Aibak vanquished Sulakshanapala, the ruler of the
Kachchhapaghata dynasty of
Gwalior, capturing
Gwalior fort. Also in 1196, Qutb ud-Din Aibak
vanquished a coalition of the
Rajputs of
Ajmer and the
Chaulukyas under king
Bhima II at
Mount Abu, thereafter sacking
Anhilwara. In Bengal, he sacked the ancient city of
Nudiya in central Bengal, and established an Islamic government in the former
Sena capital of
Lakhnauti in 1205. Muhammad placed his faithful Turkic generals, rather than his own Ghurid brethens, in position of authority over local tributary kings, throughout the conquered Indian lands. After the assassination of Muhammad in March 1206, his territories fragmented into smaller Sultanates led by his former
Mamluk generals.
Tajuddin Elduz became the ruler of
Ghazni,
Nasir-ud-Din Qabacha became Sultan of
Multan,
Bahauddin Tughril became Sultan of
Bayana and
Qutb al-Din Aibak became Sultan of
Delhi.
Bakhtiyar Khilji became Sultan of
Bengal, but was soon assassinated and succeeded by several
Khalji rulers, until Bengal was incorporated into the
Delhi Sultanate in 1227. Between 1206 and 1228 the various Turkic rulers and their successors rivaled for preeminence until the Sultan of Delhi
Iltutmish prevailed, marking the advent of the
Mamluk dynasty. This was the first dynasty of the
Delhi Sultanate, which in total had five dynasties and would rule most of India for more than three centuries until the advent of the
Mughal Empire in 1526.
Decline and fall Ghiyath died on 13 March 1203 due to
gout and was succeeded by Muhammad of Ghor as the sole ruler of the vast Ghurid Empire. Soon after,
Alauddin Khwarazm Shah besieged and captured some of the strongholds of the Ghurids around
Merv, although Muhammad drove him back and further besieged their capital
Gurgānj. After the death of Muhammad Ghori in 1206, a confused struggle then ensued among the remaining Ghūrid leaders and the
Khwarezmians. The Khwarezmians under
Ala al-Din Muhammad captured
Herat and
Ghor in 1206, and finally
Ghazni in 1215, completing the takeover of the western part of the Ghūrid empire. The Ghurid capital was transferred to
Delhi, recognizing Khwarazmian rule on north and central
Afghanistan. The Ghurids continued their rule on much of the
Indian subcontinent,
Sisitan region of
Iran and south of
Afghanistan. Though the Ghūrids' empire was short-lived, Muhammad of Ghor's conquests strengthened the foundations of Muslim rule in India. ==Religion And Creed==