This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 24.1.124.196 (talk) at 04:28, 31 December 2005. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 04:28, 31 December 2005 by 24.1.124.196 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Muhammad of Ghor or Muhammad Ghori (originally named Mu'izz-ad-din) (1162 - 1206) was a Muslim conqueror and sultan of Turkic descent in Afghanistan between 1171 and 1206.
Muhammad was from the region of Ghor in what is now central Afghanistan, which lay on the western boundary of the Ghaznevid empire. Before 1160, the Ghaznevid empire covered an area running from central Afghanistan east to the Punjab, with capitals at Ghazni, a city on the banks of Ghazni river in present-day Afghanistan, and at Lahore in present-day Pakistan. In 1160, the Ghorids conquered Ghazni from the Ghaznevids, and in 1173 Muhammad was made governor of Ghazni. In 1186-7 he conquered Lahore, ending the Ghaznevid empire and bringing the last of Ghaznevid territory under his control.
Ghori attacked India many times. First time he was routed in present day Gujarat by Rajputs. Mularaja-II was not even a teen yet and his mother organized the defences of Pattan. Battle was fought at Kayadara near Mount Abu and Ghori was resoundingly defeated. After this defeat he never entered India through Gujarat. In first battle of Taraori (tarain is misspelledword) in 1191 Prithviraj Chauhan captured Ghori and Ghori begged for his life. Prithviraj allowed him to go despite his generals asking him not to do so. Following year Ghori came again. Prithviraj advanced with his army and sent a letter to Ghori. In this letter ghori was asked to return as he had been beaten last year and was spared his life. Ghori replied that he was in India on the orders of his brother and he can only retreat after he gets a word from his brother. This letter was sent in the evening and Ghori moved his camp back a few kilometers. On receiving this letter and seeing Ghori move his camp back Prithviraj assumed that Ghori is not interested in fighting. Ghori also knew that Rajputs did not fight in the night and only started fighting after sun had come up. He attacked in the early morning hours when Prithviraj and his army were sleeping and was able to win this war.
In a few years Muhammad controlled northern Rajasthan and the northern part of the Ganges-Yamuna Doab. Muhammad returned east to Ghazni to deal with the threat to his western frontiers from the Turks and Mongols, but his armies, mostly under Turkish generals, continued to advance through northern India, raiding as far east as Bengal.
Muhammad returned to Lahore after 1200 to deal with a revolt of the Gakhar tribe in the Punjab. He suppressed the revolt, but was killed during a Gakhar raid on his camp on the Jhelum River in 1206. Upon his death, Qutb-ud-din Aybak, Muhammad's most capable general, took control of Muhammad's Indian conquests and declared himself the first Sultan of Delhi. Muhammad's former territory in Afghanistan was conquered by the Mongols.
Categories: