The Foundation of Muslim Rule in India: A History of the Establishment and Progress of the Turkish Sultanate of Delhi, 1206–1290 A.D. c6.s1.8

c6.s1.8

² Minhaj: p. 55ff. It is not certain who was the antagonist of Alauddin at Ghazni, for the accounts are not unanimous as to the date of Bahram's death and the accession of his son Khusrau. Minhaj, pp. 24-5, states that Bahram was driven out of Ghazni by Alauddin, and places his death in 552/1156. An anecdote on p. 115, however, implies that it was Khusrau who opposed Alauddin. Guzidah, i, p. 406, and Ibnul Asir, xi, p. 85, date Bahram's death in 544/1149 and 548/1153, respectively. Baizawi, f. 51a, states that Bahram died before Alauddin's march on Ghazni, which must have occurred soon after 544, the year on which Saifuddin's head was sent to Sanjar. Ibnul Asir, xi, p. 74, places Alauddin's sack of Ghazni after his defeat by Sanjar in 547, which seems improbable. He further states that Alauddin placed his brother Saifuddin on the throne of Ghazni and on Bahram subsequently murdering the latter, once again marched to sack the city. But Bahram had died in the meantime and his successor Khusrau had fled to the Punjab. Guzidah supports this but confuses Khusrau with his son Khusrau Malik, last of the Ghaznawides. According to Minhaj, Khusrau left Ghazni only on the approach of the Ghuzz who then occupied it for 10 years. The dates 552/1157 and 555/1160 for the accessions of Khusrau and his son, Khusrau Malik, quoted by Raverty: op. cit., p. 114, note—from their suppositions coins described in a manuscript entitled Tafsil-i-sikkah, do not prove anything, since the legends given therein are fictitious and the work was admittedly compiled late in the 18th century.