Battle of Jhelum (1206)

After the death of Ghurid ruler Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad in March 1203, his junior partner in the dyarchy, Muhammad of Ghor mounted an invasion of the Khwarezmian Empire, only to suffer a disastrous defeat near Andhkhud to whom they lost any claim to Khurasan.^[1] The disastrous expedition led to the widespread insurrection in the Ghurid Sultanate with several uprisings against the authority of Muhammad.^[2]

The most potent of these insurrections were from the Khokhars who were influential in the zone between Indus Valley down to the Churia Hills.^[3] The Khokhars under their leaders Sarkha and Bakan in coalition with a chief of Salt Range - Raisal^[a] began raiding the Ghurid domains west of the Indus Delta around Lahore and pillaged the whole countryside.^[5] The Khokhars further made a thrust for annexation of Lahore by cutting off the roads between Peshawar and Multan.^[6] Ghurid governors stationed in these domains by Muhammad were Bahauddin Muhammad and Sulaiman who both made an attempt to oust the Khokhars but were made to fled with heavy losses.^[7]

The news of a Khokhar uprising in the Panjab region reached the court of Muhammad of Ghor in Ghazna through Sirajuddin Abu Bakar, startled by the situation, Muhammad summarily made arrangements to crush the Khokhar uprising and thus, himself advanced with a large army from Ghazna during the winters of 1205. Furthermore, Muhammad directed his lieutenant Qutubuddin Aibak who was in charge of Delhi along with Aibak's slave Iltutmish who was holding the Badaun region then to join the Ghurid forces with their respective contingents.^[8][9]

When the forces of Qutubuddin Aibak gathered to join Muhammad, the Khokhar rebels made an attempt to stop him crossing the Chenab river and join his master but were defeated and crushed. ^[10] A pitched battle took place between the rivers Chenab and Jhelum in course of which the Khokhars offered a stiff resistance from early morning until the sunset and nearly carried the day, although the timely arrival of Aibak and Iltutmish decided the issue in favour of Muhammad who restored to a mass slaughter of the Khokhars after their victory.^[11]

Contemporary chronicler Hasan Nizami in his florid "Taj-ul-Masir" exemplify the role of Iltutmish during the battle and hailed him as the "Sultan of Sultans" despite being a slave at the point. Nizami further describes the battle that "at the head of the army of Islam and the support of warriors of faith was the second Alexander - Shamsuddin Iltutmish who "kneaded the soil of the battlefield with the blood of Khokhars".^[8]

After routing the Khokhars, Muhammad marched further in the Salt Range on the next day, where son of an eminent Khokhar chief who was in possession of a strong citadel from where they were raiding the Ghurid domains, surrendered it to the Ghurids after a brief siege and accepted Muhammad's suzerainty.^[12] After capitulation of the citadel, several Khokhars who took refuge in it after their defeat a day before in the pitched battle, fled to the nearby forest which was callously burnt down by Muhammad and his army.^[13]

The Khokhars were thus subdued by Muhammad with a great deal of barbarity as a large number of them were massacred and many were taken as prisoners who were subsequently converted to Islam.^[14][15] According to the chronicler Juzjani - Muhammad conferred Iltutmish with a robe of honour for his heroic performance in the battle. He also ordered the deed of manumission on him and freed him of his mawālī obligations despite the fact that his master Qutb al-Din Aibak was not manumitted until then.^[16] The campaign against the Khokhars also yielded Muhammad an enormous amount of slaves and booty.^[17]

After crushing the Khokhar insurrection in Lahore and granting Qutubuddin Aibak to leave for Delhi, Muhammad started his return to Ghazna. However, on his way back from the Salt Range, Muhammad was assassinated at Dhamiak (in present-day Pakistan) while offering the evening prayers. According to the 17th century chronicler Ferishta, Muhammad was assassinated by the Khokhars who avenged the slaughter of their kinsman in the latestly concluded battle, although this is not attested by the earlier accounts of Juzjani and other Muslim historians who attributed the murder of Muhammad to the Ismāīlīs.^[18] Some scholars, on the basis of the writings of Ibn al-Athir, speculated that Muhammad was jointly assassinated by the pact of Khokhars and Ismailis given the life-long persecution they endured from Muhammad of Ghor.^[19]