The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; Persian: دودمان غوریان, romanized: Dudmân-e Ğurīyân; self-designation: شنسبانی, Šansabānī) was a Persianate dynasty and a clan of presumably eastern Iranian Tajik origin, which ruled from the 10th-century to 1215. The Ghurids were centered in the Ghor of present-day central Afghanistan, where they initially started out as local chiefs. They gradually converted to Sunni Islam from Buddhism after the conquest of Ghor by the Ghaznavid ruler Mahmud of Ghazni in 1011. The dynasty ultimately overthrew the Ghaznavid Empire when Muhammad of Ghor conquered the last Ghaznavid principality of Lahore in 1186 from Khusrau Malik.
The Ghurids initially ruled as vassals of the Ghaznavids and later of the Seljuks. However, the long-standing rivalry between the Seljuks and Ghaznavids created a power vaccum in Khurasan to which the Ghurids cashed in and began their territorial expansion, during the early twelfth century. Ala al-Din Husayn launched a devastating raid in the Ghaznavid territory and sacked their capital, although he was defeated by the Seljuks which, for a brief period of time, would halt the rapid Ghurid expansion.
Alauddin's nephews, however, Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad and Muhammad of Ghor expanded the Ghurid domains on an unprecedented scale. While, Ghiyasuddin was occupied with the Ghurid expansion in the west, his sibling Muhammad of Ghor along with his Turkic slaves began raiding in the east and by the turn of the twlefth century expanded the Ghurid empire till Bengal in the east, while the Ghurids reached till Gorgan in the west under Ghiyath al-Din Ghori.
Ghiyath al-Din Ghori died in 1203 and soon after the Ghurids suffered a catastrophic defeat against the Qara Khitais (aid of Khwarezmian Empire) in battle fought on the bank of river Amu Darya. Muhammad of Ghor was assassinated after a year or so in March 1206 on the bank of Indus which effectively ended the Ghurid sovereignty as the subsequent rulers were vassalized by the Khwrezmian ruler Muhammad II of Khwarezm after the assassination of Muhammad of Ghor. The Ghurids continued to rule as their vassals, before they were overthrown in 1215, although their conquests in the Indian Subcontinent survived for several centuries under the Delhi Sultanate established by the Ghurid Mamluk Qutb ud-Din Aibak.
The Ghaznavid dynasty (Persian: غزنویان Ġaznaviyān) was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic mamluk origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest Indian subcontinent from 977 to 1186. The dynasty was founded by Sabuktigin upon his succession to the rule of Ghazna after the death of his father-in-law, Alp Tigin, who was an ex-general of the Samanid Empire from Balkh, north of the Hindu Kush in Greater Khorasan.
Sabuktigin's son, Mahmud of Ghazni, expanded the Ghaznavid Empire to the Amu Darya, the Indus River and the Indian Ocean in the east and to Rey and Hamadan in the west. Under the reign of Mas'ud I, the Ghaznavid dynasty began losing control over its western territories to the Seljuk dynasty after the Battle of Dandanaqan, resulting in a restriction of its holdings to modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan (Punjab and Balochistan).
In 1151, Sultan Bahram Shah lost Ghazni to the Ghurid sultan Ala al-Din Husayn. The Ghaznavids retook Ghazni, but lost the city to the Ghuzz Turks who in turn lost it to Muhammad of Ghor. In response, the Ghaznavids fled to Lahore, their regional capital. In 1186, Lahore was conquered by the Ghurid sultan, Muhammad of Ghor, with its Ghaznavid ruler, Khusrau Malik, imprisoned and later executed.
#SultanShahabUddinGauri
#MuhammadofGhor
#سلطان شہاب الدین غوری
