At the time when King Prithviraj Chauhan was entangled with the Chaulukyas in the south, the kings of Jammu and Kangra in the north, the Chandelas in the east and the Gahadavalas in the north-east, the Turks from Afghanistan in the west were expanding their territory rapidly in India. were.
Before entering into the history of the Turks' invasions in India, we must take a look at the history of the Turks. The ancestors of the Turks were Huns and they lived on the northwestern border of China. When the Turkic tribes left China and started spreading in Central Asia, the blood of Shakas and Iranians also got mixed in them. By the time Islam emerged in Arabia, the Turks were organized as a barbaric race and had a very low cultural status.
They were fierce and fighters. He had a natural love for war. When Islam began to spread in Arabia, many Turks were captured and enslaved and forced to accept Islam.
Being fighters, the enslaved Turks were appointed as bodyguards of the Arab caliphs. Later they began to be appointed to high positions in the army of the Caliph. When the Caliphs became weak, the Turks snatched the real power from the Caliphs. The Caliph remained a mere ruler.
When the work of spreading Islam slowed down due to the luxury of the Caliphs, only the Turks proceeded to spread Islam throughout the world. In the 10th century, the Turks overthrew their masters, the Caliphs, in Baghdad and Bukhara.
In AD 943, the Turkish slave Alaptagin occupied a small fort named Ghazni located in Afghanistan in Central-Asia, which was built by the Yaduvanshi Bhatis.
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Thus in AD 943, the first independent state of the Turks was established in Ghazni fort. In AD 977, Alaptagin's slave and son-in-law Subuktagin became the ruler of Ghazni. The dynasty of Subuktagin came to be known as Ghazni dynasty. Turks were attracted to India from Ghazni. These Turks spread Islam in India. The Arabs are believed to have brought Islam from Arabia to Cardova. The Iranians carried him to Baghdad and the Turks brought him to Delhi.
Subuktagin attacked Raja Jaipal of Punjab with a huge army. Jaipal made a treaty with him and promised to give him 50 elephants, but later Jaipal did not follow the terms of the treaty. On this Subuktagin attacked India and plundered Lamgan. Subuktagin died in AD997.
Subuktagin's successor Mahmud Ghaznavi transformed the small kingdom of Ghazni into a vast empire whose borders extended from Lahore to Baghdad and Sindh to Samarkand. We have discussed Ghaznavi's attacks on India in many episodes of this serial.
Mahmud died in AD 1030 but his successors were successful in retaining a large part of Punjab under their control. In AD 1115, Bahram Shah became the ruler of Ghazni. On 6 December 1118, he appointed Muhammad Bahlim as the governor of his Hindustani provinces. In AD 1119 Bahlim rebelled against his Sultan Bahram Shah and declared himself an independent ruler.
It is written in Tabaqat-i-Nasiri and Tarikh-i-Farishta that Bahlim moved south from Punjab and captured Nagaur. He got some construction done in Nagaur fort and strengthened his position. At that time Nagaur was under Chauhan ruler Ajayraj who was the son of Prithviraj (1st). King Ajayraj Chauhan had to lose many of his territories to Bahramshah and Bahlim.
Bahlim concentrated his treasury and his army in Nagaur and from here he started marching on the surrounding land. Bahlim's spirits were raised by small successes and he attacked his master Bahram Shah. Bahram Shah took a huge army and faced Bahlim. Bahlim was defeated near Multan and fled the battle field with his ten sons. The fleeing Bahlim along with his sons got trapped in the swamp and he and all his companions died in the swamp.
After getting rid of Bahlim, Bahra Shah appointed Ibrahim Alvi's son Salar Hussain as the governor of his Hindustani provinces. Nagaur was also included in these provinces. Later, when Ajayraj Chauhan's son Arnoraj Chauhan became the lord of the kingdom, Arnoraj defeated Salar Hussain and brought Nagaur under his control.
In this way the Turk fighters were oppressing Indian territories from China through Central Asia and Afghanistan, but the Indian rulers were fighting and dying each other instead of fighting these Turks.
It was the misfortune of the land of India that during this period the definition of country and nation was narrow only in the area ruled by its master and the meaning of religion was limited to dying fighting for one's master.
Watch in the next episode- Chaulukyas of Gujarat thrashed Muhammad Ghori!
-Doctor. Mohanlal Gupta