Destruction of Afghanistan and History of Invasion from Lamgham to battle of Bahraich

A few days back government of India gave 100 e-visas to last few Indian origin people left in Afghanistan. Lets have a look about the history of Invasion.

Rai Jayapala was the ruler of North west India from #Lamghan province in Afghanistan to Kashmir, Sirhind to Multan and Peshwar at Centre with his personal fort at Bhatinda. He ruled from 964 to 1001. He was a fierce warrior who gave strong resistance to the turkish religious invasion which was started by Amir Naseeruddin Sabuktigin. He was a slave of Turkish Alb-tigin who was slave of Amir Mansur. During Amir Mansur time Amir Naseeruddin came to Bukhara, Uzbekistan in the company of Abu Ishak (son of Alb-tigin). When Abu Ishak became governor of Ghazni he left the work of Bukhara in Amir Naseeruddin hands.

After death of Abu ishak, Naseeruddin Sabuktigin (from now mentioned as “Sabuktigin”) took over the command and decided to attack Kusdar (near Hindukush) and made his government. He brought down existing religious structure of Kusdar and converted them with his religion. Then he attacked Lamghan province of India and this started a series of war with Rai Jayapal who was a famous influential Raja of Hindustan. Lamghan province (Lampaka) was famous for worship of Hindu gods and Yaksh Kalahpriya of Buddhism. A complete destruction of palaces, temples, monasteries was done by him in 982. This was the #first battle.

The 2nd battle was huge and happened in 988 between Sabuktigin and Rai Jayapala with 1 Lakh army from side of Jayapala. The 2nd battle of Lamghan is a case study for India. The battle was moving easily in favour of Rai Jayapala but on last day the locals nomads who were converted Afghans and Khiljis joined Sabuktigin and Raja Jayapala lost the battle with unpredicted surprise. Sabuktigin got prisoners of war in heavy number who were either killed or converted or sold as slaves. After his death in 997 his son Amir Mahmud Sabuktigin took the charge. He destroyed the Indian civilization of Balkh, Khurasan, Herat and settled in Ghazni.

The 3rd Battle, Battle of #Peshwar: In 1002, Amir Mahmud Sabuktigin (widely known as Mahmud of Ghazni) attacked Peshawar with 10000 horsemen, this was again a great battle with Raja Jayapala. It went for many days and Amir Mahmud was winner and Raja jayapala was killed. The Tabaqat-i-akbari notes down that a Mala in the neck of Jayapala was worth 180,000 dinars. From here Mahmud went to Bhatinda which was residence of Raja Jayapala and looted the city and came back to Ghazni. This was first invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni inside India.

Battle of #Bhatia: The province of Bahera was ruled by a king name Biji Rai of Rai dynasty. Four days resistance came to an end and the province of was taken over with huge wealth. King Biji Rai was killed in the battle. The battle is widely known as The Battle of Bhatia. Mahmud left a commander for converting the place and left for Ghazni with war slaves and wealth.

Rai Jayapal son Rai Anandpal: In 1006 marched for multan whose king was Abi-l futuh. On the way to Multan, Rai Anandpal had his kingdom who lost the war from Mahmud after which it took seven days to take Multan and fully convert it. This was the time when Surya Mandir of Multan faced complete destruction.

2nd war with Anandpal: In 1009, second war with Rai Anandpal took place where his son Rai Brahmanpal also participated. The battle was in favour of Anandpal but the local converted population were mobilized from the back and Anandpal had to leave the war.

Mahmud in 1010 went to capture Bhimnagar near Multan city where huge treasure was seized in the temple and idols were destroyed

Mahmud in 1012 (402AH) went to thanesar in kurukshetra where he was reported about an idol worshippers in huge quantity. Rai Anandpal sent a message to leave this temple and he will be giving him 50 elephants, which was rejected by Mahmud quoting his religious law. Thanesar was the most religious place of hindus during that time which housed many huge temples of Lord Vishnu and #Jugsoma (Shiva). When he reached the city, Anandpal has made this city empty in haste by taking whatever can be carried. Mahmud couldn’t find anything other than temples and idols. The entire #Kurukshetra town was plundered with over 1000 temples. The idol of Jugsoma and Chakravarti was broken taken to Ghazni and was spread on the stairs of their religious place. From way on return he took over two lakhs women, children and men as slave to Ghazni. He gave some Indian men, women and children as slaves for the pleasure of his army and rest were sold in other international markets.

Seventh Attack: In year 1014, Mahmud again attacked India at #Balnath hill to capture the fort of Nandana as he heard about a huge Shiva temple and Vishnu temples erected by Rai Anandpal. This was his 9th religious raid in India. Nandana temple and fort ruins can still be seen today (now in pak’s Punjab province). The most famous account of #Nandna Fort and Vishnu temple is firstly mentioned during the fight of Alexander of Macedon with Raja Puru at the banks of Jhelum River. Alexander’s army passed right under Nandna Fort in 326 BC. Mahmud looted the temples and fort and left his attendant named Sarigh as commander and sent the looted treasures, idol remains back to Ghazni.

8th Attack: HE moved from Nandana fort to #Kashmir Valley which was ruled by another king named Narjaipal. He couldn’t win and Mahmud captured the treasure and destroyed temples. He left his commander for converting the people. Raja Narjaipal went to Raja Nanda to apprise all situation. This is the first reference of conversion of Kashmiri Hindus. He returned back to Ghazni after this.

9th Attack: In 1016, he attacked #Loharkot in Kashmir which was made by Lalita Aditya in past. Lohkot was known for his height and strategic buildup. Kashmiris got reinforcement in time and Mahmud has to runaway as his army were not capable to handle the mix of extreme winter and large kashmiri army. Rajatarigini gives detailed history of Loharkot.

10th Attack: In 1019, hearing about the large number of temples in #Kannauj he decided to march for the city. The ruler of Kannauj sent his embassy to bargain midway and Mahmud agreed to abandon his invasion of Kannauj and took the treasure. From here he left for Fort of #Baran where Raja paid money equivalent to One lakh Dirham. Then he heard about infidels having large number of temples in Mathura so he decided to raid Mathura. He reached fortress of #Mahaban near Mathura on the bank of Yamuna whose king was Kulchandra. After a great war the was killed and wealth beyond imagination was captured by him. A rough figure of value of the wealth was more than 10 lakh dirham.

The destruction of #Mathura: From Mahaban his army entered the Mathura which had more than 1000 temples of which 5-10 temples was so much of height that it could be seen from many miles away. Mahmud was awestruck by seeing the beauty of men, women, town and temples; everything was made of gold and other precious stones. He ordered his army to completely destroy all idols and temple structure and loot everything. One such gold idol was 98300 miskal (around 420 kgs) which was broken into pieces and carried, one such precious red ruby stone of 450 miskal which is now known as Yakut-i-Kuhli. After receiving everything, he left with all valuables for Ghazni. After reaching he counted for the loot money; overall he got treasure of value 10 Lakh Dirhams and from other places he brought 53,000 prisoners of wars and 350 elephant.

11th Attack: In 1020 a Raja named #Nanda of Gwalior slew the raja of Kannauj as he didn’t gave fight to Mahmud of Ghazni. Knowing this, Mahmud again decided to raid Kannauj and reached on the bank of Ganga where Raja Narjaipal of Kashmir had his camp from the side of Raja Nanda. Raja Nanda left to inform Nanda about the situation. Mahmud’s army consisted of 36000 horsemen, 145,000 foot soldiers and 390 elephants. Mahmud sent an envoy to Nanda and asked him to submit to his religion. Nanda refused and after winning Mahmud destroyed around 10000 temples in Kannauj and 07 forts. He returned after capturing indian as slaves, treasures, temple idols etc for Ghazni.

12th Attack: In 1022, he turned again to Loharkot of Kashmir which he lost. He and his army stayed there for a month. The loharkot king was expert in mountain wars and this time too Mahmud lost. His army faced heavy causality in loharkot with lots of wealth being lost and he decided to invade #Lahore and bakrah. Lahore too was a temple town of India and he followed similar pattern of religious war, destroyed all temples and treasure beyond calculation fell into his hands. He captured lots of Indian as slaves and returned back to Ghazni.

13th Attack: In 1023, he again decided to attack Raja Nanda at his home town in #Gwalior. After four days of war he won, he collected war booties and moved to fort of kalinjar where Raja Nanda had gone. On the way he destroyed every village and city, brought down every temple, looted the treasure. Mahmud laid down sieze for more than a month but #Kalinjar fort was not penetrated. Mahmud lost most of his army and decided to stretch hands of friendship with King Nanda. King Nanda bargained to leave all 15 fortresses which were of King Nanda and return all looted treasure before going. Mahmud having no choice, submitted everything and returned back to Ghazni. After returning he gave Ali Tigin the king of Turkmenistan lots of Indian treasure, elephants, women and other slaves as a gift collected from past seize.

14th Attack: IN 1026 (415 AH), his spies told him about the huge temple of #Somnath idol worshippers and richness of the temples. Tabaqat –I akbari informs that the spy told him in detail about the temple. He tells “ the place is one of the biggest worship in the area and lots of Brahmans of India live there. There are lots of idols of gold and infidels are idol worshippers. The main stone pillar of shiva is hanging in the air with gold chains and precious stones all around. He further says, THE BIGGEST IDOL IS OF #MANAT which was brought from makka and installed here”.

Hearing all this, Mahmud reached Nahrwala Patan in gujarat and found the entire town empty. He collected grains and marched for somnath. Salar Massod had strong fight with Brahmin warriors but the fort around the somnath was taken and town was plundered. The temple was pulled down and linga was broken. Some pieces were ordered to be taken and placed at gates of jama masjid in Ghazni. The total value of treasure collected was 25 lakh dirhams.

On return he faced a battle with first Gogaji Maharaj (who was martyred) and than Jats in Sindh who were trying to stop him. Jats did much damage to his army and were able to free Brahmin men, women & children and Mahmud couldn’t manage their strategy of war. In the same year, he decided to punish Indian Jats of #Sindh who had caused him great damage while returning from the Somnath. He marched to Sindh with a huge army and camped near a river where Jats used to live on the other side. Jats were outnumbered but decided to gave a stand. The battle results were in favour of Mahmud.

15th attack: He attacked kings of Asi which was ruled by chandal bhor. Ghazni was victorious.

16th Attack: In 1027, when Ghazni decided to attack kingdom of Punjab, the king got the information and asked help from other kings of India. Raja Bhoj decided to help him with his armies full of yantras. Raja bhoj was master in machines and had many yantras. This made Mahmud to run back seeing no chance to stand infront of combined army of Hindustan.

17th Attack: He again marched towards somnath but confronted with armies of param deo. He lost many men in the battle and decide to go back. He moved to Sindh with the army which were left with him. His troops faced lots of difficulty of food, water, health issues. Lot many died on the way and with extreme difficulty he reached Ghazni.

#Conclusion: The destruction of Somnath made entire kings of India united against him. Raja Bhoj, Param Deo and other Indian kings ordered to rebuilt Somnath and liberated Kota, Banaswada, Thanesar, Hansi and all other regions where Mahmud has put his commander. Entire converted population were ordered to go back to their original religion without any fear.

Raja #Bhoj decided to chase Mahmud till wherever he goes. The army of Raja Bhoj, Param Deo and others entered Lahore and freed Lahore from Mllecchas. All converted went back to the original faith. Hearing about Lahore incident, Mahmud ran away towards the fort of #Kabul. The Bhoj army chased him till Kabul fort where battle took place. Mahmud was no match to the battle skills of Raja Bhoj, Mahmud was wounded by Raja Bhoj and killed in 1027.

To avenge the death of mahumd Ghazni, In may 1031 Salar Masud entered India and reached delhi (stayed 6 months) with one lakh imperial well trained soldiers, 30000 horsemen and 550 elephants. Before reaching Bahraich he was checked by Rai Anandpal, Rai Arun, Mahipal Tomar (of Mahipalpur of Delhi) etc but were defeated infront of the huge army. He invaded all places from Meerut till Bahraich. He reached bahraich in mid 1033.

Battle of #Bahraich: Meanwhile, 17 Kings of North India including Rajputs forged an alliance under leadership of Suheldev and Raja Bhoj helped with the resources and strategy. This was the biggest confederation that have ever existed in India. They were Rai Raib, Rai Saib, Rai Arjun, Rai Bheekhan, Rai Kanak, Rai Kalyan, Rai Makaru, Rai Savaru, Rai Aran, Rai Birbal, Rai Jaypal, Rai Shreepal, Rai Harpal, Rai Hakru, Rai Prabhu, Rai Deo Narayan and Rai Narsinha.

The #FinalWar : At Bahraich, his army met with Raja #Suheldev. Last option was given to Masood Salar to return back to his land which is refused. This battle was the greatest decisive and most brutal battle to protect dharma. No prisoners of war was taken, no mercy was shown. Not even a single person from Salar Masud army was left alive. The battle location was Chittaura Jheel and started on 13th June-ended on 14th June. The invasion was completely crushed and such resounding was this victory that kings of Ghazni, Turkey and all other Northwest got scared of India and never dared to invade India for 160 years.