Muhammad of Ghor (Persian:محمد شہاب الدین غوری) also Muhammad Ghori,Mohammad Ghauri, etc., originally named Mu'izz-ad-din, b.1162 - d.1206, was a Ghurid emperor and the governor of Ghazni from 1173 to 1206.

Muhammad was the brother of the Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din Muhammad of Ghor, a region of what is now a province in Afghanistan. Ghor lay on the western boundary of the Ghaznevid empire. Before 1160, the Ghaznevid empire covered an area running from central Afghanistan to the Punjab, with capitals at Ghazni and Lahore.

In 1160, the Ghorids conquered Ghazni from the Ghaznevids, and in 1173 Muhammad was made governor of Ghazni. In 1186-7 he conquered Lahore, ending the Ghaznevid empire and bringing the last of Ghaznevid territory under his control.

Muhammad attacked the north-western regions of the Indian subcontinent many times. The first time he was routed in present-day Gujarat by Rajputs.A battle was fought at Kayadara near Mount Abu, where Ghauri'sadvance was defeated. Gujarat later fell to Muhammad Ghauri's armies in 1197.

In the First Battle of Taraori in 1191 Prithvi Raj Chauhan defeated Muhammad Ghouri. Prithviraj met Ghauri in a personal combat and injured Ghauri. Later both armies attacked each other and Ghauri's army was defetaed. Ghauri took his army back to North India and started preparing for another battle. It is said that he vowed not to sleep on a bed or take a bath until he had defetaed Prithviraj. Next year, he again reached Taroro and challenged Prithviraj, defeated him and siezed control of his kingdom.

One account recounts that after taking him prisoner, Ghauri ordered the eyes of Prithviraj to be gouged out and made the blind Prithviraj a subject of ridicule in his court.

After some time, an archery competition was held in Ghauri's kingdom. Prithviraj, being a skilled archer of repute was also brought for this competition and asked to compete to ridicule him further. Prithviraj refused to shoot his arrow on the orders of Ghauri's generals, being a king himself. As such, Ghauri himself asked Prithviraj to shoot at the target. Prithviraj, instead, turned around and locating the source of the voice, shot his arrow straight into Ghauri's throat, killing him instantly. The valorous Prithviraj was thus able to avenge his defeat at the hands of Ghauri. It was as a result of this that Qutb-ud-din-Aybak, one of Ghauri's generals, was able to succeed him and control his empire.

A different version, propogated by Muslim historians, says that after defeating Prithviraj Ghauri killed him and gained control of his kingdom and went on to control northern Rajasthan and the northern part of the Ganges-Yamuna Doab.Allegedly, Muhammad Ghauri returned east to Ghazni to deal with the threat to his western frontiers from the Turks and Mongols, but his armies, mostly under Turkish generals, continued to advance through northern India, raiding as far east as Bengal.

Muhammad returned to Lahore after 1200 to deal with a revolt of the Gakhar tribe in the Punjab. He suppressed the revolt, but was killed during a Gakhar raid on his camp on the Jhelum River in 1206.

Legacy

Upon his death, Qutb-ud-din Aybak, Muhammad Ghauri's most capable general, took control of Muhammad's Indian conquests and declared himself the first Sultan of Delhi. Muhammad's former territory in Afghanistan was conquered by the Mongols.

The tomb of Pir Sultan Muhammad Ghauri is located at Punjab, Pakistan.

Pakistan considers Sultan Muhammad Ghauri as a hero, and has named its intermediate-range ballistic missile the Ghauri missile in his honor.

See also

• Ghurids

History of Afghanistan | Islamic rule in India | History of India | History of Pakistan | 1162 births | 1206 deaths | Muslim generals

Muhammad Ghûrî