The 7 Invasions of Mohammad Gauriv.1.0 July 3, 2006 Amrit Pal Singh http://www.amritworld.com/gauri_invasions.html
Shahab-ud-Din, mostly known as Mohammad Gauri, was the
younger brother of Ghais-ud-Din, the ruler of Gaur. In 1173, Ghais-ud-Din conquered the Ghazni. He started
to rule over Gaur and gave the control of Ghazni to his younger brother,
Mohammad Gauri. Mohammad Gauri was not satisfied with just Ghazni. So,
he decided to attack on India. The Conquest of Punjab and Sindh In 1175, he attacked on Multan and defeated the
Ismailian Heretics, who were the ruling power there. Then, he conquered the
fort of Uch. Now, Mohammad Gauri was in high spirits. So, he decided
to attack on Gujrat, but it was not his right decision. The powerful king of
Gujrat, Bhimdev, defeated him. Mohammad Gauri could save his life by very
difficulty. During 1179 to 1186 Gauri occupied Lahore and Sindh.
With the help of king of Jammu, he attacked on Peshawar, and then he occupied
the fort of Sialkot. The occupation of Lahore opened the way for his future
conquests of India. Till now, he fought against Muslim rivals. Now, he could
turn to the Hindus. The First Battle of Tarain Mohammad Gauri wanted to conquer India, so he moved
forward to Delhi in 1191. He occupied Sirhind. Now, he had to face the Rajputs. The king of Delhi,
Prithavi Raj Chauhan, was a Rajput. In 1191, both the armies took stand
against each other in Tarain, a place about 10 miles far from Karnal (now in
Haryana state of India). The Rajputs were very brave soldiers. They used to fight
to the death. They showed their skill in the battlefield. The invaders could
not stand before them. Gauri was wounded badly. He had no other option. He
decided to return. It was absolutely a terrible defeat for the invaders at
the hands of the Hindus. The Second Battle of Tarain Next year, Mohammad Gauri invaded India again, with
1,20,000 army. This time, he got help of Afghans, Turks, and Persians etc. In the battlefield of Tarain, the king of Delhi,
Prithavi Raj Chauhan came forward to fight against the invaders. He had
2,00,000 army men. This time, Mohammad Gauri could defeat Prithavi Raj.
Prithavi Raj was captured and later, killed.
The Battle against Jai Chand Rathor When Mohammad Gauri was fighting against Prithavi Raj
Chauhan, the king of Kannauj; Jai Chand Rathor did not help Prithavi Raj. Jai
Chand rejoiced in the fall of Prithavi, but two years later the same tragic
fate was to overtake him. In 1194, Mohammad Gauri invaded India again and attacked
on Kannauj. In the battlefield of Chandawar, he defeated Jai Chand Rathor. Gauri appointed Kutab-ud-Din Aibak his viceroy and
returned to Ghazni. The Conquest of Gujrat and Bundelkhand As a viceroy of Mohammad Gauri, Kutab-ud-Din Aibak
attacked on Anhilwara, the capital of Gujrat. The king of Gujrat, Bhimdev,
fought bravely and defeated Kutab-ud-Din. Kutab-ud-Din attacked again and this time he could
defeat Bhimdev. He got too much money. Then, Kutab-ud-Din attacked on Bundelkhand, which was
under control of Chandel Rajputs. Kutab-ud-Din defeated them. 50,000 people
were arrested. Mosques were constructed destroying Hindu temples. The Conquest of Bengal and Bihar While Kutab-ud-Din was fighting in Gujrat and Bundelkhand,
another slave of Mohammad Gauri, Mohammad-Bin-Bakhtiyar Khilji, attacked on
Bihar in 1197. The Buddhist king of Bihar, Indraman, did not fight against
the invaders. Without any battle, this state was occupied by
Mohammad-Bin-Bakhtiyar. The Buddhist-temples were destroyed and thousands of
Buddhist monks were killed. In 1202, Khilji attacked on Bengal with a few soldiers.
Lakshman Sen, the king, ran away. The invaders looted the state. Now, Khilji
was the viceroy of Mohammad Gauri in Bengal and Bihar. Revolt of Khokhars In 1205, Mohammad Gauri came into India, when the
Khokhars stood in revolt. He defeated them and reestablished his rule. On March 15, 1206, when Gauri was going to Ghazni from
Lahore, someone killed him in Dhamyak in district of Jhelum (now in
Pakistan). It is said the murderer probably acted out of revenge for the
massacres that Gauri perpetrated in India, including one where 30,000 Mongols
who had settled outside Delhi were killed in a single day.
As Mohammad Ghori left no successor, his general and
freed slave Qutab-ud-din Aibak took over the Ghori’s Indian possessions. In
turn Iltutmish, who laid the foundations of Islamic rule in India by
defeating Hindu kings one after another and expanding the Delhi Sultanate, succeeded
him.
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