The Cambridge History of India, Vol. III: Turks and Afghans v3.c20.87

v3.c20.87

Shortly after his accession Bahrām marched into India to reduce to obedience Muhammad Bāhlīm, who, having been appointed governor of the Punjab by Arsalān, refused to acknowledge his successor. Bāhlīm was defeated and captured on January 22, 1119, but Bahrām, with culpable leniency, not only pardoned but reinstated him, and returned to Ghaznī. Bāhlīm displayed great energy in subduing the minor Hindu chieftains on the borders of the Punjab and established himself in Nāgaur, where he again repudiated his allegiance to Bahrām. Bahrām marched from Ghaznī against the rebel, who foolishly advanced northward and met him in the neighbourhood of Multān, where he was defeated, and in attempting to escape was swallowed up, with two of his sons, in a quicksand. He deserves to be remembered, because he established Muhammadan rule over provinces which had never acknowledged the authority of the greatest of the Ghaznavids. Nāgaur is situated more than 300 miles to the south of Lahore, and it is said that Bāhlīm was accompanied, on his march against Bahrām, by ten sons, each of whom ruled a province or district.