MUHAMMAD GHURI AN EMPIRE BUILDER

AishaNoor
May 7, 2020
12 min read

LITERATURE REVIEW:

WHAT MAKES ME CHOOSE THIS PERSONALITY?

History is never same for everyone, A hero for you in your perspective can be a traitor or enemy to me. And this is what basically makes a twist in learning history with more adventure. As we know that conflicts are made as times goes on and new events took place things can change by the passage of time and new events can come wiping off the memories of past, Similarly some heroes or people who marked history left their traces with unforgettable footprints and their names are written in golden letters of history. Today we shall be discussing over such a big personality, you can have a negative perspective about him because it’s history of course, and one can never satisfy other to impose his perspective on another. But this specific person who embarked his name in history is Muizuddin Muhmmad bin Sam, better known in history as Muhammad Ghuri.

We all know why he is famous, what he did, and this would be our deep character analysis what he actually did, his biography. Now what makes me choose Muhmmad Ghuri is that he was like Sultan Mahmud and both of the personalities had their own image during Medieval age, and as a said history is an interesting topic but only golden personalities with big achievements are appreciated, I won’t say that Muhammad Ghuri wasn’t a big a personality, he was no doubt, but with less work done for his appreciation. So I am contributing this work for the appreciation of this specific personality (Thanks he makes it to Wikipedia).

This Blog post would carry , his conquest in India and his achievements and his character as a Just ruler.

How Muhammad Ghuri Make it to the throne:

This turn in history was started from the origin of two main hills which laid the foundation of Ghur and those hills were Ghazani and Herat.Which we know was conquered by the great Sultan Mahmud in 1010 A.D. Since that time those hills were in custody of Ghaznavid Empire but not for too long. What happens next was everyone was in peace and Ghur served very well during the reign of Sultan Mahumd. But when his successors ascended throne history took a serious end. How? Let’s discover the main events:

1. Qutbuddin the famous chief of Ghur was being murdered by Bahram, the descended of Sultan Mahmad.

2. Saifuddind brother of Qutbuddin was blinded to take revenge and he come in ground to kill his brother’s murderer.

3. Saifuddin marched against Bahram and dispel him out of Ghazni.

4. Bahram came back and defeated Saifuddin not only he defeated he also murdered Saifuddin.

5. Upon hearing the loss, the brother of Saifuddin whose name was Alauddin was burnt in the desire of revenge and he really did take revenge from Sultan Ghazni.

HOW!

Alauddin attacked Bahram and put him to flight. Not only had this but he sacked the city and for seven continuous days the massacre raged in full fury.

6. And in the result of this many splendid buildings in Ghazni were destroyed and many of its innocent inhabitants became the victim of this cruel blood fight.

Often we see that in order to take revenge of those who are dead we forget that our revenge will result in taking those lives which were alive.

Because of this act he became famously called as “Jhansaz” which means (World burner)

7. In between this another personality walks in known as “khausrau Shah”, who was the son and successor of the opponent Bharam, who made an unsuccessful attempt to recover the prestige of his house.

8. Khausrau shah was succeeded by his son “khausrau Malik” who was then defeated and killed in 1191 A.D by Muhammad Ghuri.

9. After the death of Alauddin, his son saifuddin ascended the throne who was soon killed in a battle against the Ghuzz Turks.

10. After then the nobles raised Ghiyassudin the nephew of Alauddin, to the vacant throne Ghiyassudin occupied Ghazni then, which had fallen in the hands of Ghuzz Turks during the reign of Khausrau shah.

11. Then he himself appointed his brother, Muhammad Bin sam, to the government if the new province and conferred upon him the title. Shihabuddin.

(And here comes the Personality of our talk Muhammad Bin Sam)

“The two brothers maintained perfect cordiality in their political and personal relations”

And as soon as Bin sam’s death, Ghiyassudin enjoyed the loyalty and devotion of his brother and as a sign of deep affection for Shibuddin, Ghissayadun allowed him complete freedom over his activities.

At the time of accession to the throne, Muhammad Assumed the title of Muizzuddin instead of Shihabuddin.

INTRO OF MUHAMMAD BIN SAM:

· Muizuddin Muhammad Bin Sam, who is famously known in history as Muhammad Ghuri, became the ruler of Ghazni in 1173.
He was no doubt an enthusiastic king and his soul was rich with the passion of conquest and acquiring power.
Having his empire established in Ghazni he placed his eyes on the fertile lands of our sub-continent

FACTORS THAT MAKE MUHAMMAD GHORI INVADE INDIA:

There were several factors .which led Muhammad Ghuri to invade India.

· Firstly, he had a thought of establishing his name and his empire in India but this thought of establishing his empire was not successive as he was defeated by Shah of Khawarizm so his thought to establish his empire in central Asia became only a thought so he turned his attention towards India.
Secondly, the defeated Ghurids took shelter in the Punjab. They became so strong in the country that their very presence was regarded as a source of future troubles to the Ghurids. Accordingly, it becomes clear for the destructive power of Ghaznavid in the Punjab demanded the immediate attention of the Ghuri king
Lastly, India was scattered in different states and there were no political unity in the country.
So, the Muhammad Ghuri Found in the disunited condition of India a brilliant aspect of his success.

CONDITION OF INDIA ON THE EVE OF MUSLIM CONQUEST:

As discussed we need to know actually what makes him so progressive to invade India. First of all the political condition of the sub-continent at the time of Muhammad Ghuri’s invasion was in no way better than that Muhammad of Ghazni found on the eve of his invasion. The whole country as I discussed above was scattered in different number of independent states the states which were in a state of bloody warfare.

As we know when there is no controlling authority makes state affairs badly confused.

Putting this thing aside we see rather than Muslim provinces, there were Rajput Kingdoms there were Muslim provinces, there were Rajput kingdoms in other parts.

MUSLIM STATE:

(i) THE PUNJAB:

Till the invasion of Mahmud the Punjab had been a part under the Ghaznavid rule. At the time of Muhammad Ghori’s invasion luckily the king of Punjab was khausrau Malik, who was a weak and pleasure loving king, was its ruler and it was under him that the Ghaznavid empire had been reduced in size and strength.

(i) Multan And Sind:

Sultan Mahmud had conquered Multan and Sind, but till the time of Ghuri’s invasion they were became independent. Multan was under Karmithian dynasty and Sindh under the local tribe named Sumras.

RAJPUT KINGDOMS:

The most powerful Rajput clans which ruled over northern India at the time of Ghuri’s invasion are listed below:

(i) THE CHAUHAN KINGDOM:

One of the most powerful Rajput kingdoms was the chahan kingdom of of Delhi and Ajmer. Pritharaj Chahun was the ruler of this kingdom. Who was often in conflict with other neisssghboring states.

(ii) THE GHARWARS OR RATHORS OF QANUJ:

Jai Chand who was the ruler of Qanauj, Beneras, Allahbad etc. Jai chand was a deep rooted enemy of prithviraj chauhan who had forcibly taken away the former’s daughter. As a result, the Rathor ruler of Qanauj did not join prithviraj Chahuhan in his fight against the Ghuri chief.

(iii) THE CHALUKYA KINGDOM OF GUJRAT AND ANHILWARA:

Bhim Dev of Chalukya dynasty was the powerful ruler of this important kingdom.

(iv) THE CHANDEL KINGDOM OF BUNDELKHAND:

Parmardi deva of Chandela dynasty was the ruler of Bundelkhand which included Kalinjar, Jhansi, Ajai Ghar etc.

(v) THE PALA KINGDOM OF BIHAR:

Due to its weak rulers like Kumar Pala (1126-30) and Madan Pala (1130-50), the Palas were left to rule over only some territories of Bihar.

(vi) THE SENA KINGDOM OF BENGAL:

Lakhman sena was the ruler of Bengal at the time of Ghuri’s invasion.

COMPAIGNS IN INDIAN BY MUHAMMAD GHURI:

We will have a deep insight over the invasions of Muhammad Ghuri.

The first invasion of Muhammad Ghuri was directed against Multan which was at that time ruled by the karamathias. He invaded the city and appointed his own governor there.

Then he marched against Uch in sind “which was captured after sometime by aid of Allah”.

In 1178 Muhammad Ghuri led an expedition against Anhilwara, which is capital of Gujrat, but he was unlucky he was defeated by Bhim II, the Vaghela king of Anhilwara.

Finding the circumstances not favorable to conquer India through sind and Multan, Muhmmad Ghuri thought of conquering Punjab which was the basic key to Hindustan.

In 1179, Muhammad Ghuri invaded Peshawar successfully and captured it.

Muhammad Ghuri then led his expedition to Punjab, then he conquered Sialkot which became base against Khausrau Malik, who was the last ruler of Ghaznavid Dynasty.

After some time of war, Khusrau Malik was captured and imprisoned in Ghur.

The Punjab then was seized to Ghuri’s empire and the Ghaznavid rule in West Pakistan came to an end.

When the Ghaznavid rule was ended, Muhammad Ghuri needed to face very strong opposition which was Rajputs.

When Muhammad Ghuri’s successive invasions were heard by Priththviraj, the chuahan ruler of Delhi and Ajmer they got Alarmed.

He gathered s big force which, according to Ferishta, included 2,00,000 horses and 300 elephants and marched against the Ghuri chief.

In 1191 A.D both the armies met in the field of Tarain near Thanseswar and a battle was fought in which the Muslims had to face brittle defeat and routed.

But Muhammad Ghuri was not a small hearted man he was brave enough to accept his failure.

He planned again and this time having organized and a strong army, he invaded India in 1192 A.D.

Muhammad Ghuri accompanied with a force of 1,20,000 cavalry, reached a place near Tarain and encamped there.

Prithviraj appealed to the other Rajput princes to join him agaianst the Muslim invader and it is said that as many as 150 Rajput princes with the exception of Raja of Qaunaj lent him their help and prithviraj’s forces, according to Farsihta came to 5,00,000 horses and 3,000 elephants.

Muhammad Ghuri adopted a new tactics of attacks.

TACTICS OF MUHAMMAD GHURI’S ATTACKS!

Muhammad Ghuri attempted different tactics to make his attacks successful.

· He divided his army into four divisions and ordered to engage the Rajput sat one time, while the others were resting.

· The division was further ordered to pretend or feign flight after sometime of fighting.

BATTLE STARTED!

The battle started in the historic field of Tarain and the Rajputs fought bravely but the new tactics brought by Ghuri’s proved to be strong for them.

Prithviraj tried to escape from the battle field but he was captured and put to death.

The second battle of Tarain is one of the influential battles in the history of Indo –Pakistan.

It was indeed a significant victory of the Muslims over the combined forces of Rjputs.

TRIBUTING WORDS:

· According to V.A Smith, “The second battle of Tarain in 1192 may be regarded as decisive contest which assured the ultimate success of the Muhammadan attack on Hindiustan”.
It worn out the predominance of the Rajputs and established the Muslim rule in Indo Pakistan.
The victory of Tarain really laid the foundation of Muslim Rule in the sub continent.
After the second battle, came to an end. Muhammad Ghuri returned to Ghazni and he gave the charge of conquered territories to his entrusted and loyal lieutenant, Qutbuddin Aibak.

QUTBUDDIN AIBAK ACHIEVEMENTS:

· Qutbuddin was undoubted man of excellent military ability and have a command over political forsights. He integrated and extended the conquest of his master.
He soon conquered Meersst, Koil and Delhi.
He also made the Delhi the capital of the empire (1194) thinking that Lahore was too far from his possessions.

In 1194 A.D Muhammad Ghuri again came to India in order to subdue Jai chand of Qaunaj the mortal enemy of prithviraj .

Qutbuddin joined his master with force.

Jai chand met the combined forces of his enemy and was badly defeated in a battle at Chandwar. The victories army then proceeded to Benaras and captured it.

According to Prof. S. R sharma: “The fall of Jai chand at chandwar, made Muhammad the master of the political as well as the religious capitals of Hindisutan, Qaunaj and Beneras”.

On the departure of Muhammad Ghuri to Ghazni, his able viceroy Qutbuddin Aibak continued the work of conquest.

He captured Gwalior, and then marched against Bhim Deva of Anhilwara.in Gujrat (1198) which had successfully resisted the Muslim arms under Muhammad Ghuri in 1178.

While Qutbuddin Aibak was bringing Northern India, under the sway of his master, Ikhtiyaruddin Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji, a lieutenant of Qutbuddin was extending the Turkish supremacy over Eastern India.

Muhmmad bin baktiyar khalji was an outstanding figure in the history of Bengal.

In his early life, he tried but failed to secure a job both in Ghazni, and Delhi.

He at last took service under Malik Husamuddin Ughulbak, the commander of the beneras and Oudh, the commander of the Beneras and Oudh divisions and was assigned the villages of Bhahawat and Bhiuli. Here he was able to collect a number of his tribesman and with their help, Baktiyar khalji captured Udantapuri, the capital of Bihar which was then ruled by the Pala kings. He brought this conquest under the supervision of Delhi government and with the permission of Qutbuddin, he invaded Bengal.

He then marched against Nadia, the capital of Bengal, with such rapidity that only 18 hirsemen could keep up with the pace with him.

He was so bold that he did not fear such an attack with this small force.

When heard about the news of his attacks, Lakshman Sen who was taking his meals, fled away by the back door and took shelter at Vikrampur near Sonargoan.

Bengal was captured and the seat of government was transferred to lakhnauti or Ghur. The successful conquest of Bihar and Bengal emboldened bakhtiyar khalji who kept his eyes focused to invade Tibet.

In 1206 he undertook his Tibet expedition and marched from Devkot with 10,000 horsemen. But his attempt ultimately ended in failure. On his return journey to Devkot most of his soldiers were lost and he died at Devkot in 1206 A.D.

After the death of his elder brother Ghisyaddinin 1203 A. D Muhammad Ghuri became the undisputed ruler of Ghazni, Ghur and Delhi.

But his position was soon endangered by some revolts and insurrections.

In 1204, he attacked the Shah of Khawarizm in central Asia, but was badly defeated. The sultan with great difficulty escaped.

As soon as this disaster was noised abroad, the forces of confusion began to work.

The majority of the governors in various provinces revolted and declared themselves independent.

The gates of Ghazni and Multan were closed against Sultan. But the most dangerous of these rebillions was that of the khokars who created trouble in Punjab.

Muhammad Ghuri accompanied with his lieutenant,Qutbuddin marched to India, suppressed the rebellions everywhere, inflicted a crushing defeat on the khokhars and regained Multan and Ghazni. But he did not live long to enjoy the fruits of his labour.

He was treacherously assassinated in 1206 by a fanatic of the khokhar tribe when he was going to Ghazni from Lahore and stayed at Damik( in Jhelum district).

WHAT MAKES MUHAMMAD GHURI UNIQUE?

· Muhammad Ghuri was a great politician and far sighted statesmen.
As he had excellent far sighted he immediately realized the rotten political condition of India and he decided to establish a permanent kingdom here.
As compared to Sultan Mahmud he did not aim to at permanent conquests in India. He came, conquered and returned to his own country. And this results that all his expeditions left no permanent results except in the shape of conquest of Punjab.
Whereas, the policy of Muhammad Ghuri in this respect, is quite different. He not only conquered the country but also consolidated it.
His first and foremost aim was to permanent Muslim empire in India and he furnished during his life time all the resources required for the maintenance of this empire.
· He trained under his guidance a number of able administrators who amply justified his confidence and trust.
· Qutbuddin Aibak was left in charge of the conquest of India.After the battle of Tarainand he completed the task with reputation. Though the life of Muhammad Ghuri came to a tragic end by the traditions made by him were continued under his able successors, The Turkish slaves who ruled after him.
· He Lives in history not as a mere conqueror but also an empire builder.
· Muhammad Ghuri is therefore justly called the founder of Muslim Empire in sub-continent.

TRIBUTING WORDS FOR MUHAMMAD GHURI:

· Muhammad Ghuri was one of the most remarkable figures in Medieval India. He was a man of courage, enterprise and spirit.
· He had to fight against the hindu states incessantly for several years and during this period he showed extra ordinary coolness and perseverance.
· It was no small credit for him that he, with limited resources, was able to establish a large empire “Which extended from Afghanistan to Bengal”.
· Like other rulers of Indo- Pakistan, he was interested in learning and literature and scholars like fakhruddin Razi enjoyed his patronage.
· He was a man of Action, Full of life and energy and unfailing resources.
· He was a” God Fearing and just sovereign” who was well known for his sympathy and kindness to his subjects.

CONCLUSION:

From all the above history given it is proved that Muhammad Ghuri embarked the history with the Golden letters and his story will always be seen with positive perspective, we see his justly commandments, his excellent skills to tackle situations and he does not fear defeat, he learnt from his mistakes not only this but he was also called Empire builder.