The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.86

v3.c20.86

Ibrāhīm died on August 25, 1099, after a comparatively peaceful reign of forty-two years, and was succeeded by his twenty-third son, ‘Alā-ud-Daulah Mas‘ūd III, surnamed al-Karīm, who had married the daughter of Malik Shāh. The chief events of his peaceful reign of seventeen years were an expedition beyond the Ganges, led by Tughātigīn of Lahore, of whose exploits no details are given, and the appointment of Husain, son of Sām, to the government of Ghūr, which is interesting as evidence that the Shansabānī princes were still vassals of Ghaznī. Mas‘ūd III died in 1115 at the age of fifty-seven, and was succeeded by his son Shīrzād, who was deposed in the following year by his brother Arsalān ‘Abd-ul-Malik. Arsalān’s half brother Bahrām, who was the son of the Saljūq princess, fled for refuge to his uncle, Sultān Sanjar, in Khurāsān, and Arsalān was foolish enough to treat his stepmother with indignity, and even to offer her a gross insult. His folly incensed Sanjar, who was already disposed to espouse the cause of his nephew Bahrām, and he advanced on Ghaznī with a large army. Arsalān was defeated within a few miles of the city and fled to India, and Sanjar placed Bahrām on the throne and returned to Khurāsān. Arsalān, on learning of his departure, returned to Ghaznī and expelled Bahrām. In 1117 Sanjar, who had succeeded, on the death of his brother Muhammad, to the sovereignty of all the dominions of the Great Saljūqs, was too much occupied with his own affairs to be able to send assistance to Bahrām, but in 1118 he provided him with troops, and he marched to Ghaznī and defeated and captured his brother. He was at first disposed to spare his life, but, on discovering that he was hatching schemes for the recovery of the throne, put him to death.