After Mahmud of Ghazni, the next prominent invader on India was Muhammad Ghori (1202-1206), who took the title of Moizuddin Muhammad bin Sam after he became sultan.
The actual name of Muhammad Ghori was Shahab-ud-din. The dynasty to which he belonged was Ghurid dynasty which supplanted the Ghaznavids in Afghanistan when he conquered the last Ghaznavid principality of Lahore in 1186 by defeating its ruler, Khusrau Malik, who was executed in 1191. His dynsty was so named as his family belonged to the territory of Ghor in Afghanistan.
He conquered several territories but remained a loyal subordinate to his brother Ghiyas-ud-din, the Ghur Sultan, until the latter's death in 1202 after which he became the Sultan and ruled until his murder in 1206.
Muizuddin made his first Indian expedition in 1175 AD. these invasions were on the Muslim states of Multan and the fortress of Uch.
During the reign of Chalukya or Solanki ruler Bhima II (1178-1241), Muhammad Ghori made an unsuccessful attempt to subjugate Gujarat in 1178 AD and was comprehensively defeated in the Battle of Kayadara that took place in Sirohi district in Rajasthan.
In 1191 Muhammad Ghori fought against Prithviraj Chauhan (known as Rai Pithaura to the Muslim historians), who was the Rajput ruler of Delhi, Ajmer and its allies, and was the greatest ruler of the Chauhan dynasty, whose kings also came to be known as Chahamanas of Sakambhari.
Rajput forces inflicted a terrible defeat on Muhammad Ghori whose army was completely routed. Muhammad Ghori saved his life with difficulty and retired to Ghazni. This is famously known as the First battle of Tarain or Thaneswar in history.
The defeat however did not deter Muhammad Ghori from carrying another military campaign against Prithviraj in the next year, in 1192 AD. Prithviraj appealed the neighboring rulers to join the campaign against the Sultan. Almost everyone, except the powerful Gahadvala king Jaichand, supported him. According to Tod, Jaichand, father-in-law of Prithviraj, felt a sense of jealousy of latter’s exalted position among the Indian rulers.
In this battle, known as the Second Battle of Tarain, fortune favoured Muhammad Ghori. The Turkish army dealt a body blow to the Hindu ranks. Prithviraj was captured and killed.
When Muhammad of Ghur died in 1206 issueless, Qutb-ud-din Aibak, who was his slave (Mamluk), assumed the title of Sultan and became the ruler of Indian territories won by his master. The dynasty which Qutb-ud-din founded came to be known as Mamluk Dynasty (Slave Dynasty), the first in the line of five dynasties that comprised Delhi Sultanate that ruled from 1206 to 1526.
Another slave, Nasir-ud-din Qabacha became the ruler of Sindh and Multan. He was defeated by the Slave Sultan Shams-ud-din Iltutmish (son-in-law of Qutb-ud-din Aibak) and Sindh and Multan became part of the Delhi Sultanate. He died in 1228 CE.
Tajuddin Yalduz, successor of Muhammad of Ghor in Ghazni, was beheaded at Badaun on the instruction of Iltutmish in 1216.
Another important slave was Bakhtiyar Khilji who is infamous for destroying the universities of Nalanda, Odantapura or Odantapuri and Vikramshila. He attacked the Sena capital Nadia in Bengal. The last Hindu ruler of Bengal Lakshman Sena of the Sena dynasty surrendered meekly to Bakhtiyar Khalji and escaped for his life by flight in 1203.
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