Muhammad Ghori

Also called: Muhammad of Ghor, Muizzuddin Muhammad bin Sam · Topic: Turkic Invasions and the Delhi Sultanate · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 4 "Turning Tides: The 11th and 12th Centuries"

Meaning

Muhammad Ghori (Muizz al-Din Muhammad ibn Sam) was the sultan of the Ghurids, a dynasty from Ghur in Afghanistan. He took parts of Punjab and Sindh, failed in Gujarat in 1178 and lost the First Battle of Tarain in 1191. He then defeated Prithviraja III at the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192 and captured Delhi [2]. He was killed in 1206.

He matters because he came to rule, not just to raid. He left generals such as Qutb-ud-din Aibak behind to hold the land he won. After his death, Aibak went on to found the Delhi Sultanate. Britannica calls 1192 a watershed (a turning point) in medieval Indian history [2].

Explanation

Background: from Ghazni to Ghur

• Mahmud of Ghazni died, and his empire broke up.
• The Ghaznavid provinces slipped away one by one.

• The chiefs of Ghur rose in their place. Ghur is a hilly region in Afghanistan, west of Ghazni.

• The Ghurid chiefs had been vassals of the Ghaznavids. A vassal is a junior ruler who pays respect and tribute to a bigger ruler.

• They turned on their old masters and seized Ghazni itself.
• Their sultan was Muhammad Ghuri, also called Muizz al-Din Muhammad ibn Sam [2].

The march into India, step by step

• Parts of Punjab and Sindh were taken first. They gave him a base inside India, not just a route for raids.
• 1178, Gujarat: his campaign failed. His India project was not one smooth march. He lost, learnt and came back.
• 1191, First Battle of Tarain:
• Prithviraja III (Prithviraj Chauhan), the Chahamana/Chauhan ruler of Ajmer and Delhi, defeated Ghuri [2].

• A joint Rajput force backed Prithviraja. It included Jaichandra (Jai Chand) of Kannauj and Banaras [2].

• 1192, Second Battle of Tarain (the decisive one):

• Ghuri came back to the same field with a larger army.
• This time Prithviraja fought without Jaichandra's support [2].
• How Ghuri won: his cavalry tactics (moves by soldiers on horseback) confused the Rajputs. Then his main force smashed their centre [2].
• He defeated and executed Prithviraja, then captured Delhi.

How he held the conquest

• Ghuri went back to Ghazni himself, but he left his generals behind to hold and extend the new lands.
• The most important general was Qutb-ud-din Aibak.
• In AD 1198 Aibak built the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque. It is the earliest surviving mosque built by the Delhi Sultans, and it was made from material taken from about 20 Brahmanical temples [3].

• In AD 1199 Aibak laid the foundation of the Qutb Minar and built its first storey [3].

• Aibak's army commander Bakhtiyar Khilji pushed east from the end of the 12th century and conquered Bihar and Bengal [4]. On the way he destroyed the monastic universities of Nalanda and Vikramashila.

• Ghuri's coins show both worlds:
• A gold coin shows him as a mounted conqueror, with the name 'Muhammad ibn Sam'.
• Another coin carries the Goddess Lakshmi, an image used on Indian coins since the Kushanas.
• New rulers kept familiar images so that local people would trust and use the money.

Results

• 1206 was a double-death year. Muhammad Ghuri was killed, and Bakhtiyar Khilji was assassinated, apparently by his own men.
• Even so, north India stayed in the hands of Ghuri's generals. The conquest did not fall apart.
• Aibak went on to found the Delhi Sultanate.
• The Second Battle of Tarain broke Rajput power in the Indo-Gangetic plain. It also firmly set up Muslim rule in north India [2].

Time, place and evidence

• Period: late 12th to early 13th century, with his main Indian campaigns from 1178 to 1192. He died in 1206.
• Dynasty: the Ghurids of Ghur, in Afghanistan west of Ghazni.
• Main battlefield: Tarain, today Taraori in Haryana. It lies between Karnal (about 110 km north of Delhi) and Thanesar [2].
• Key people:
• Prithviraja III, the Chauhan ruler of Ajmer and Delhi
• Jaichandra of Kannauj, Prithviraja's ally in 1191 but not in 1192 [2]
• Qutb-ud-din Aibak, Ghuri's chief general in India

• Bakhtiyar Khilji, Aibak's army commander in the east [4]

• How we know:

• Coins: the gold coin naming 'Muhammad ibn Sam', and the coin with Lakshmi.
• Buildings: the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque (1198) and the Qutb Minar (1199) in Delhi [3]. Qutb Minar and its Monuments became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 [3].
• Chronicle: the Tabakat-i-Nasiri of Minhaj al-Siraj Juzjani. It records the Ghurid-era campaigns in the east, including the destruction of Nalanda.

Don't confuse with

• Mahmud of Ghazni: he raided India, took the wealth and went back. Ghuri wanted territory and left generals behind to rule it.
• First Battle of Tarain (1191) vs Second Battle of Tarain (1192): Prithviraja won the first battle. Ghuri won the second and executed Prithviraja [2].
• Muhammad bin Tughlaq: a much later Delhi Sultan of the Tughlaq dynasty. He is a different ruler. Muhammad Ghuri (Muhammad ibn Sam) was a Ghurid who ruled from Ghazni.
• Bakhtiyar Khilji vs Alauddin Khilji: Bakhtiyar was Aibak's commander who conquered Bihar and Bengal and died in 1206 [4]. Alauddin was a later sultan of the Khilji dynasty of Delhi.

Prelims Hooks

• Ghur is in mountainous Afghanistan, west of Ghazni. Its chiefs had been Ghaznavid vassals, and they captured Ghazni.
• Chronological order: Gujarat failure (1178) → First Tarain, Ghuri defeated (1191) → Second Tarain, Ghuri wins and takes Delhi (1192) → Ghuri killed (1206).
• Tarain is modern Taraori, Haryana, between Karnal and Thanesar [2].
• Jaichandra of Kannauj supported Prithviraja in 1191 but not in 1192 [2].
• Ghuri's coins carry both a mounted conqueror ('Muhammad ibn Sam') and the Goddess Lakshmi, a motif used since the Kushanas.
• Trap: it was Aibak, not Ghuri, who built the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque (1198) and began the Qutb Minar (1199) [3].

Mains Points

• Why 1192 was a turning point and Mahmud's raids were not.
• Mahmud took away wealth. Ghuri removed a ruling dynasty and put a governing one in its place.
• The test is what came after: Aibak stayed, built (mosque 1198, Minar 1199) and founded a sultanate [3].

• Raids change a treasury. Conquest changes a state.

• Why the Rajputs lost. Avoid a simple "brave versus weak" answer. Give two concrete reasons.

• Broken alliances: Jaichandra backed Prithviraja in 1191 but not in 1192 [2].

• Battle method: Ghurid cavalry moves confused the Rajputs, and then one concentrated charge broke their centre [2].

• Conquest was cultural as well as military.

• The same regime that reused temple stone in the Quwwat-ul-Islam mosque [3] also struck coins showing Lakshmi.
• Destruction and continuity ran side by side. A good answer shows both and avoids a one-line verdict either way.
• The conquest also had limits: Bakhtiyar's 1205 expedition to Tibet through Kamarupa collapsed. Local people used scorched earth (destroying food and supplies so the invaders would starve), and his army starved.

Related concepts

• Ghurids
• First Battle of Tarain
• Prithviraj Chauhan
• Second Battle of Tarain
• Qutbuddin Aibak
• Bakhtiyar Khilji
• Tabaqat-i-Nasiri

Read more

• The Ghurid turning point: Tarain and the conquest of the north