The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.122

v3.c20.122

Muhammad *bin* Sām sustained at the hands of the Turkmāns of 'Alā-ud-dīn Muhammad Khvārazm Shāh, near Andkhūī, in 1205, a defeat which dealt a fatal blow at his military reputation in India. It was reported, and for some time believed, that he had been killed, and his old enemies the Khokars and some other tribes to the north of the Salt Range rose under the leadership of Rāi Sāl, a petty raja who, having been converted to Islam, had since relapsed. The rebels defeated the deputy governor of Multān and plundered Lahore, and by closing the roads between that city and Ghaznī prevented the remittance of revenue from the Punjab. Muhammad, intent on avenging his defeat at the hands of Khvārazm Shāh, ordered Aibak to deal with the rebellion in India, but this step confirmed the rebels in their belief that the reports of his death were true, for they did not understand the difficulties which confronted him in Central Asia and could not believe that he would entrust to a subordinate a task so important as the suppression of their rebellion. Muhammad at length perceived the necessity for taking the field in person, and on October 20, 1205, set out from Ghaznī for India. He left Peshāwar on November 9 and fell suddenly on the Khokars in a position of their own choosing between the Jhelum and the Chenāb. They withstood him from daybreak until the afternoon with such obstinacy that the tide of battle was only turned by the arrival of Aibak with the army of Hindūstān. The Muslims pursued the Khokars with great slaughter and took so many alive that five Khokar slaves sold in the camp for a *dīnār*. Of the two leaders of the Khokars one, Sarka, was slain and the other, Bakan, made his way to a fortress in the Salt Range but, being pursued thither, saved his life by surrendering. A body of the more determined rebels fled from the fortress into a dense jungle where they perished miserably when the forest was fired by the Muslims.