The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c31.s8.39

c31.s8.39

In Bihār and Bengal both Pālas and Senas were swept away by the torrent of Muhammadan invasion at the end of the twelfth century, when Kutb-ud-dīn's general, Muhammad the son of Bakhtyār, stormed Bihār in or about A. D. 1197, and surprised Nūdīah (*vulgo* Nuddea) a year or two later. The Musalman general, who had already made his name a terror by repeated plundering expeditions in Bihār, seized the capital by a daring stroke. The almost contemporary historian met one of the survivors of the attacking party in A. D. 1243, and learned from him that the fort of Bihār was seized by a party of only two hundred horsemen, who boldly rushed the postern gate and gained possession of the place. Great quantities of plunder were obtained, and the slaughter of the 'shaven-headed Brahmans', that is to say the Buddhist monks, was so thoroughly completed, that when the victor sought for some one capable of explaining the contents of the books in the libraries of the monasteries, not a living man could be found who was able to read them. 'It was discovered', we are told, 'that the whole of that fortress and city was a college, and in the Hindī tongue they call a college Bihār.'¹