The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c11.127.5

v1.c11.127.5

Maḥmūd proceeded against him, and surrounding him and his adherents, many of them were slain, many drowned, and but a few escaped.'² As this author calls the last prince of Manṣūrah an apostate Muhammadan and as he expressly states that Maḥmūd then placed a Muhammadan prince on his throne, we can safely conclude that the previous ruler was regarded as a heretic, and possibly belonged to the Qarmāṭian sect. Elliot has suggested that this heretical family had usurped the government from the Habbārī dynasty who were ruling at Manṣūrah in the 10th century.³ If Firishta is to be believed, the ruling dynasty of Multan, which was destroyed by Maḥmūd, was an Afghan family. As he calls Shaikh Ḥamīd Lodī 'the first ruler of Multan' and as he is described as a contemporary of Alp-tigīn (*c.* 963 A.D.), he must be placed sometime after the middle of the 10th century.⁴ It appears likely however that Ḥamīd Lodī was preceded by Jalam Ibn Shaibān, who is mentioned by al-Bīrūnī as the Qarmāṭian usurper of Multan.⁵ If that was so it was Jalam who put an end to the rule of the Quraishite 'children of a Usāmah' who were ruling in Multan in the period A.H. 332 to 340 (A.D. 943-51).