History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c33.s4.29

v3.c33.s4.29

The year is not given by Utbi and Nizamuddin gives 400 H while Firishta gives it as 412 which Elliot considers most probable. Nizamuddin states that when Mahmud heard that Raja Ganda had killed the Raja of Kanauj for having recognised and submitted to tha Sultan, he resolved to invade his territory. But this event must have happened later and Nizamuddin is wrong in assigning this cause for this expedition. For then there was no reason for attacking Kanauj and its chief Haibal and defeating him at the battle of the Rahib as Utbi and Nizamuddin both describe. Further we are not yet told by Utbi that Jaipal (Rājyapāl) had submitted to the Sultan. He had fled to Bari and had not come to any fight with Mahmud. To completely subjugate him the next expedition was undertaken by Mahmud. And it appears that like Shivaji or any astute general, Mahmud did not inform even his army that he was proceeding against Rājyapāla. Utbi says that Mahmud set out with the avowed intention of punishing the Afghan robbers who from their mountain fastnesses troubled caravans. Having done this Mahmud suddenly turned towards Hindustan " passed the desert and left behind fords and passages of rivers, ravaged the country as he passed and arrived at the river Rahib (not identified) whose whirlpools could carry away horsemen. Here in a fitting place Jaipal (Rājyapāla) had halted and would not permit any one to pass the water. The Sultan ordered hides to be inflated and eight men at night threw themselves into water. And Rājyapāla sent five elephants and a body of men to oppose them but they held on and pierced those elephants through and through with arrows and bore the men to the ground. And the Sultan encouraged every one to swim saying " we ought to endure the toil of a day for the rest of a whole life". And men holding horses' manes swam over. We are reminded here of a similar feat accomplished by Govind III, when he attacked Kanauj itsefl, described in Volume II (p. 166). And theyk illed many men and brought seventy elephants to the Sultan's yoke by compulsion. The infidels fled leaving their treasures as booty. The Sultan had taken augury from the Koran and the promise was fulfilled and "the Sultan was raised on the effectual settlement of the seat of justice and felt assured of extended prosperity and empire". Here ends Utbi's account of this expedition and even here Utbi does not mention that Rājyapāla submitted and even that Mahmud returned to Ghazni. It, however, seems that Mahmud did not retire without obtaining a formal submission from Rājyapāla who, as we shall have to state later on, must have promised to pay a yearly tribute to the Sultan. Thus fell the empire of Kanauj, though the Pratihāra line of its kings for a time continued to rule, as stated elsewhere, till it was supplanted by the Gāhadavālas under Chandra. Other historians bring in here Puru Jaipal. Nizamuddin mentions him and states that he opposed the crossing of the Jumna by Mahmud. Firishta mentions him as the grandson of Jaipal, Raja of the Panjab. Jumna is of course wrongly substituted for the Rahib which may have been the Ghaggar or some other river in Oudh in which province Bari is placed by Al-Beruni. We know that Oudh was directly under Kanauj and it may be possible, as Elliot has surmised, that Trilochanapāla after his defeat on the confines of Kashmir at the battle of the Tauśi may have taken refuge with Rājyapāla king of Kanauj. Al-Beruni states that Trilochanapāla died in 1021 A. D. (412 H.) and this battle on the Rahib may have been fought in that year and Trilochanapāla must have fought bravely in this battle and ended his life on the battle-field on the east bank of the Rahib.