The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.100

v3.c20.100

The later successors of the great Mahmūd had been unable to maintain their position in India by the strength of their own arm and the hostility of the rajas of Jammū had compelled them to ally themselves to the Khokars. The support of Khusrav Malik enabled these tribesmen to repudiate their allegiance to Chakra Deo of Jammū and to resist his demands for tribute and the raja avenged himself by inviting Muhammad to invade the Punjab and promising him his assistance. Muhammad accepted the offer with an alacrity which did little credit to his zeal for Islam, reduced Khusrav to submission as has already been described, and at Chakra Deo’s suggestion built the fortress of Siālkot for the purpose of curbing the Khokars. It was at the instance and with the assistance of these tribesmen that Khusrav Malik attacked the fortress after Muhammad’s departure, and it was owing to Chakra Deo’s aid to the garrison that the siege was unsuccessful. In 1186, when Muhammad invaded the Punjab for the second time, Vijaya Deo, the son and successor of Chakra Deo, aided him against Khusrav Malik, who was treacherously seized and carried to Ghaznī as already described. ‘Alī Karmākh, who had hitherto been governor of Multān, was appointed to Lahore, and Muhammad, having thus established himself in India, proceeded, by a series of operations differing entirely from Mahmūd’s raids, to the conquest of further territory in that country.