History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c36.3

v3.c36.3

Ghor is a mountainous territory to the northwest of Ghazni peopled by Afghans and the king and people of Ghor were originally Hindus, as elsewhere in Afghanistan. They were converted to Mahomedanism before and during the days of Mahmud of Ghazni. The kings of Ghor ruled in subordination to the Sultans of Ghazni for long time, till in the time of Sultan Bahram a quarrel arose between them. Bahram unnecessarily first killed Kutubuddin Ghori and then his brother Saifuddin with the greatest possible indignity at Ghazni. Allauddin, their brother, vowed vengeance and marched on Ghazni, when Bahram marched out of Ghazni to oppose him with a formidable force the chief arm of which was the elephant force. By the bravery of certain heroes, Allauddin was able to defeat the elephant force as also the army of Bahram who fled leaving Ghazni to the tender mercies of Allauddin. A most terrible vengeance was exacted by him from Ghazni which was plundered and burnt for seven days continuously. Every man that was found there was slain and the women and children were made slaves. He destroyed all the palaces of the Mahmudi kings "which had no equals in the world." After that he returned to Ghor with the remains of his brothers and he interred them in the tombs of their ancestors (Tabakat-i-Nasiri E. II p. 289). A terrible vengeance indeed on the people for the fault of their king!!! Bahram fled to India but died on the way. Allauddin Ghori for this act of cruelty is properly called Jahān-soz or burner of the world. After his death his son succeeded him and after his death within a short time Ghiyasuddin Muhammad bin Sam, his cousin, succeeded in Ferozkoh, the capital of Ghor. His brother Muez-ud-din Muhammad bin Sam became king of Ghazni in 1172 A. D. The Gozz Turks who held the possession of Ghazni for twelve years, the Mahmudi Sultan Khusru having fled to India, were driven away by him. He ruled in behalf of his brother Ghiyasuddin but was virtually master. He was an ambitious energetic king and naturally formed the design of conquering all the Indian territory of the Mahmudi Sultans of Ghazni and of conquering Hindustan itself. Muhammad Ghori was also called Shiha-buddin or ‘flaming star of religion.’