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Muhammad of Ghor (Persian:محمد شہاب الدین غوری) also Muhammad Ghori,Mohammad Ghauri, etc., originally named Mu'izz-ad-din, b.1162 - d.1206, was a Ghurid emperor and the governor of Ghazni from 1173 to 1206.
Muhammad was the brother of the Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din Muhammad of Ghor, a region of what is now a province in Afghanistan. Ghor lay on the western boundary of the Ghaznevid empire. Before 1160, the Ghaznevid empire covered an area running from central Afghanistan to the Punjab, with capitals at Ghazni and Lahore.
In 1160, the Ghorids conquered Ghazni from the Ghaznevids, and in 1173 Muhammad was made governor of Ghazni. In 1186-7 he conquered Lahore, ending the Ghaznevid empire and bringing the last of Ghaznevid territory under his control.
Muhammad attacked the north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent many times. The first time he was routed in present-day Gujarat by Rajputs. A battle was fought at Kayadara near Mount Abu, where Ghauri's advance was defeated. Gujarat later fell to Muhammad Ghori's armies in 1197.
One account recounts that after taking him prisoner, Ghori ordered the eyes of Prithviraj to be gouged out and made the blind Prithviraj a subject of ridicule in his court.After some time, an archery competition was held in Ghori's kingdom. Prithviraj, being a skilled archer of repute was also brought for this competition and asked to compete to ridicule him further. Prithviraj refused to shoot his arrow on the orders of Ghori's generals, being a king himself. As such, Ghori himself asked Prithviraj to shoot at the target. Prithviraj, instead, turned around and locating the source of the voice, shot his arrow straight into Ghori's throat, killing him instantly. Prithviraj was thus able to avenge his defeat at the hands of Ghori. It was as a result of this that Qutb-ud-din-Aybak, one of Ghori's generals, was able to succeed him and control his empire.
Another version says Muhammad returned to Lahore after 1200 to deal with a revolt of the Gakhar tribe in the Punjab. He suppressed the revolt, but was killed during a Gakhar raid on his camp on the Jhelum River in 1206.
Muhammad Ghori conducted massacres of Hindus at Koi (modern Aligarh), Kalinjar and Varanasi, according to Hasan Nizami's Taj-ul-Maasir, 20,000 Hindu prisoners were slaughtered and their heads offered to crows. Hasan Nizami's Taj-ul-Maasir records that in Kol (Modern Aligarh) "those of the horizon who were wise and acute were converted to Islam, but those who stood by their ancestoral faith were slain with the sword. 20,000 prisoners were taken and made slaves. Three bastions were raised as high as heaven with their heads and their carcases became food for the beasts of prey." In Kalinjar "50,000 prisoners were taken as slaves." Similarly, in Varnasi or Kasi (Benaras) :Kamil-ut-Tawarikh of Ibn Asir records, "The slaughter of Hindus (at Varanasi) was immense; none were spared except women and children,(who were taken into slavery) and the carnage of men went on until the earth was weary."
Legacy
Upon his death, Qutb-ud-din Aybak, Muhammad Ghori's most capable general, took control of Muhammad's Indian conquests and declared himself the first Sultan of Delhi. Muhammad's former territory in Afghanistan was conquered by the Mongols.
Muhammad, like his predecessors, routinely killed non-Muslim priests and destroyed non-Muslim temples and towns while his armies pillaged their way across the Indus.
The tomb of Pir Sultan Muhammad Ghori is located at Punjab, Pakistan. Pakistan considers Sultan Muhammad Ghori as a hero, and has named its intermediate-range ballistic missile the Ghauri missile in his honor.
See also
References and footnotes
- Keay, John. "India: A History". Grove Press.
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- John Keay (2001). India: A history. Grove Press; 1 Grove Pr edition. ISBN 0-8021-3797-0.
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