2.3 Muhammad Ghori (Muizzuddin Muhammad bin Sam) (r. Ghor, invasions c. 1175–1206 CE)

• Ruler of the Ghurid dynasty (Ghor, Afghanistan); unlike Mahmud of Ghazni, Ghori aimed at establishing permanent rule in India, not just plunder.
• Key battles:
  • First Battle of Tarain (1191 CE): Ghori defeated by Prithviraj Chauhan III (Chahamana ruler of Delhi-Ajmer); Ghori was wounded and retreated.
  • Second Battle of Tarain (1192 CE): Ghori returned and decisively defeated Prithviraj Chauhan, who was captured and killed. This battle is a major turning point — it laid the foundation of Muslim/Turkish rule in North India and is considered the beginning of the process leading to the Delhi Sultanate.
  • Battle of Chandawar (1194 CE): Ghori (through his general/later himself) defeated Jayachandra, the Gahadavala ruler of Kannauj — this completed Turkish control over the Gangetic plains.
• After these victories, Ghori returned to Ghazni/Ghor, leaving Indian conquests under his trusted slave general Qutbuddin Aibak, who administered Delhi as a viceroy.
• Ghori was assassinated in 1206 CE (by Khokhars, in Punjab, on the banks of the Indus), after which his Indian territories became independent under Qutbuddin Aibak — marking the formal beginning of the Delhi Sultanate.
• Other generals of Ghori: Bakhtiyar Khalji conquered Bihar (destroyed Nalanda/Odantapuri, Buddhist monastic centres, c. 1197 CE) and Bengal (defeated Lakshmanasena of the Sena dynasty, c. 1204 CE).

Key Facts / Quick Revision Points

• First Battle of Tarain (1191): Ghori loses to Prithviraj Chauhan.
• Second Battle of Tarain (1192): Ghori defeats and kills Prithviraj Chauhan — foundational event for Delhi Sultanate.
• Battle of Chandawar (1194): Ghori defeats Jayachandra of Kannauj.
• Ghori assassinated 1206 CE by Khokhars.
• Qutbuddin Aibak — Ghori's slave general, became first Sultan of Delhi (1206 CE).
• Bakhtiyar Khalji destroyed Nalanda and conquered Bengal.

PART 3: THE DELHI SULTANATE (1206–1526 CE)

Five dynasties ruled Delhi over ~320 years: